THE BOOK OF 31. OF DRAWING AND STORING TURNIPS, MANGEL-WÜRZEL, CABBAGE, CARROTS, AND PARSNIPS. "Beneath dread Winter's level sheets of snow The sweet nutritious Turnip deigns to grow." BLOOMFIELD. (1219.) The treatment of live stock receives early attention amongst the farm operations of winter; and whether they or land get the precedence depends entirely on the circumstance of the harvest having been completed late or early. If the harvest have been got through early, there is ample time to plough a large portion of stubble-land, in preparation of green crops in spring, before winter quarters are required. to be provided for stock; but should it occupy all hands until a late period,—that is, until the pastures have failed to supply stock with the requisite quantity of food,-provision for their support should be made in the steading, in preference to ploughing land. The usual occurrence is, that the harvest is entirely completed before the failure of the pasture; and, accordingly, I have described the methods of ploughing the land before taking up the subject of winter treatment of live stock; and in doing so, have included the ploughing of lea after that of stubble-ground, in order to keep all the particulars of winter ploughing together, although the usual occurrence is, that the live stock are snugly housed in the steading, and the stubble nearly all turned over, before the ploughing of lea is commenced, unless there happen to be an old piece of lea to plough on strong land, in which case it should be turned over before the setting in of the winter's frost. (1220.) Sheep always occupying the fields, according to the practice of this country, the only varieties of stock requiring accommodation VOL. II. ་ in the steading in winter are cattle and horses. The horses consist chiefly of those employed in draught, which have their stable always at command, and any young horses besides that are reared on the farm. Of the cattle, the cows are housed in the byre at night for some time before the rest of the cattle are brought into the steading, in case the coldness of the autumnal dews and frosts should injure their milking properties; so that it is only the younger and feeding cattle that have to be accommodated, and of these the feeding are generally housed before the younger stock, which usually get leave to wander about the fields as long as they can pick up any food. I am only here describing what is the common practice, without remarking whether it is a good or bad one, as the whole subject of the treatment of cattle will very soon engage our attention. (1221.) By the time the cattle are ready to occupy the steading, turnips should be provided for them as their ordinary food, and the supply at all times sufficient; and it should be provided in this way. The lambs of last spring, and the ewes which have been drafted from the flock, as being too old or otherwise unfit to breed from any longer, are fed on turnips on the ground in winter, to be sold off fat in spring. The portion of the turnip-ground allotted sheep is prepared for their reception in a peculiar manner, by being drawn or stript, that is, a certain proportion of the turnips is left on the ground, for the use of the sheep, and the other is carried away to the steading to be consumed by the cattle. The reason for stripping turnips is to supply food to the sheep in the most convenient form, and, at the same time, enrich the ground for the succeeding crops by their dung, which is applied in such quantity as to prevent the ground being manured beyond what would be proper for the perfect development of the future crops; for it has been found, that, were an entire good crop of turnips consumed on the ground, the yield of corn would be scanty and ill-filled. The usual proportion drawn, if a good crop, is, but should the soil be in low condition, only is taken away, and should it be in fine condition, or even may be drawn; but, on the other hand, the quantity drawn is dependent upon the bulk of the crop. If the crop is very large, and the ground in very fine condition, may be drawn, but it is rarely the case that the soil is so rich and the crop so large as to make too great a proportion to be left to be consumed. If the crop is poor, only should be drawn, and a very poor crop should be wholly eaten on, whatever condition the soil may be in. There is another consideration which materially affects the quantity to be left on the ground, which is the occurrence of a poor crop of turnips over the whole farm. Hitherto I have only been speaking of that part of the crop of turnips which is to be appropriated to the use of the sheep, but when the entire crop is bad, that is, insufficient to maintain all the stock fully, then the proportion to be consumed by the sheep and cattle respectively, should be determined at the commencement, and maintained throughout the season, that neither class of stock may receive undue advantage. In such a case, it is evident that neither the sheep nor cattle can be fattened on turnips; and other expedients must be resorted to to fatten them, such as, either the sheep or cattle should get as many turnips as will feed them, and the other be fed on extraneous matter, or both classes of stock be left in lean condition. When foreign matters for feedingsuch as oil-cake-can be procured, the cattle should get the largest quantity of them, and the sheep the largest portion of the turnips; because oil-cake can be more easily administered at the steading than turnips, and sheep, saving the trouble of manuring the ground afterwards, can more easily be supplied with turnips. Thus, then, considerations of the state of soil and crop are required to determine the proportion of the turnip crop that should be drawn; but the standard proportion is, and when that is deviated from, it should only be from very urgent circumstances, such as those alluded to above. (1222.) Fig. 208 shews how turnips are stripped in the various pro THE METHODS OF STRIPPING THE GROUND OF TURNIPS IN ANY GIVEN PROPORTIONS. portions noticed above. When is drawn, it can be done in various ways, but each not alike beneficial to the land; for example, it can be done by leaving 2 drills a and taking away 2 drills b; or by taking away 3 drills e and leaving 3 drills f; or by taking away 6 drills i and leaving 6 drills h; or by taking away 1 drill and leaving 1 drill k; and so on in every other proportion. Though the same result is attained in all these different ways, in so far as the turnips are concerned, there are cogent reasons against them all except the one which leaves 2 drills a and takes away 2 drills 6; because, when 1 drill only is left, as at 7, the sheep have not room to stand and lie down with ease between k and m, without interfering with the turnips, and, besides, sufficient room is not left for horses and cart to pass along 7, without injuring the turnips on either side with the horses' feet or the cart wheels; whereas, when 2 or more drills are pulled, as at b, and only 2 left, as at a, the sheep have room to stand and eat on either side of the turnips, and the cart can pass easily along 6 without injuring the turnips, that is, the horse walks up the centre hollow of the drills, and a wheel occupies a hollow on each side. Again, when 3 drills are left, as at ƒ, and 3 taken away, as at e, the sheep injure the turnips of the two outside rows to reach the middle one at ƒ; and much more will they injure those at h, when 6 drills are left; and there is, besides, this serious objection to this latter mode, that when practised on light soils, it is observed that the succeeding grain crop is never so good on the ground that has been cleared as where the turnips are left. When other proportions are determined on, may be easily left, by pulling 2 drills, as at b, and leaving 1, as at c; or may be left, by pulling 3 drills, as at e, and leaving 1, as at c; or may be left, by pulling 2 as at g, and leaving 3, as at f. There are thus various ways in which the same and different proportions of turnips may be pulled and left on the ground; but in whatever proportion they may be taken, the rule of leaving 2 empty drills for the horses and carts to pass along without injury to the turnips, should never be violated. (1223.) But the convenience and propriety of the plan of leaving 2 and taking 2 drills, when the of the crop is to be eaten on, will be best appreciated in witnessing the mode of doing it, as shewn in fig. 209, where the drills are represented on a larger scale than in the preceding figure. One field-worker, being a woman, clears the 2 drills at a, and another simultaneously the other 2 at b; and in clearing these 4 drills, the turnips are thrown into heaps at regular distances, as at c and d, amongst the standing turnips of the 2 drills e and f, to the right of one woman, and to the left of the other; and thus every alternate 2 drills left unpulled become the receptacle of the turnips pulled by every 2 women. The cart then passes along a or b, without touching the turnips |