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eaten when no other green food is presented as a choice to cattle; but I have no doubt that cattle will make very little progress towards condition, when using them. The weight of the largest parsnips grown in gardens in Scotland, varies from 10 ounces to 2 lb. each.*

(1266.) The carrot (Daucus carrota sativa of De Candolle) is raised in the fields in several parts of this country. The varieties most suited for field-culture are the large orange, Altringham, long red, and green top white. In giving a detailed statement of the general treatment of the carrot, Mr Burrows says, in regard to their use in winter, "I take up, in the last week of October, with 3-pronged graips, a sufficient quantity to have a store to last me out any considerable frost or snow that may happen in the winter months. The rest of the crop I leave in the ground, preferring them fresh out of the earth for both horses and bullocks. The carrots keep best in the ground, nor can the severest frosts do them any material injury. The first week in March, it is necessary to have the remaining part of the crop taken up, and the land cleared for barley. The carrots can either be laid in a heap, with a small quantity of straw covered over them, or they may be laid in some empty outhouse or barn, in heaps of many hundred bushels, provided they are put together dry. This latter circumstance it is indispensable to attend to; for if laid together in large heaps when wet, they will certainly sustain much injury. Such as I want to keep for the use of my horses until the month of May and June, in drawing over the heaps (which is necessary to be done the latter end of April, when the carrot begins to sprout at the crown very fast), I throw aside the healthy and most perfect roots, and have their crowns cut completely off and laid by themselves. By this means, carrots may be kept the month of June out in a high state of perfection." When the ground is desired to be cleared for wheat, carrots should be taken up in autumn, and stored in the manner described for mangel würzel (1239), in a dry state, though with fewer precautions against the frost. Arthur Young gives the average produce of an acre of carrots in Suffolk at 350 bushels; but Mr Burrow's crops averaged upwards of 800 bushels, which, taking the bushel at 42 lb., will make the former crop 6 tons 11 cwt., and the latter 15 tons exactly. In the fields in Scotland, the Altringham carrot has been grown to 14 lb., and in gardens to 24 lb.; and a crop of the large orange carrot, manured with night-soil, has been raised by Mr Spiers of Calcreuch at the rate of 9 tons the acre,-probably the Scotch acre,—which is equal to 7 tons 1 cwt. the imperial.‡

(1267.) Varieties of the common potato (Solanum tuberosum) are also used in the feeding of cattle, but as the crop is of more importance as human food, I shall reserve the description of storing them until the proper season, in autumn, when they are removed from the ground. Meantime, I may mention that the varieties raised exclusively for cattle are the common yam, red yam, and oxnoble.

* Lawson's Agriculturists' Manual, p. 270.

+ Communications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. vii. p. 72.
Lawson's Agriculturists' Manual, p. 268-70.

31

32. OF THE FEEDING OF SHEEP ON TURNIPS IN WINTER.

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(1268.) Having prepared room on the turnip land for the sheep intended to be fattened upon turnips, by removing the proportion of the crop in the manner described above, that is, by drawing 2 rows and leaving 2 rows alternately, and having prepared that part of the field to be first occupied by the sheep, which will afford them shelter in case of need, the first thing to be afterwards done is to carry on carts the articles to the field requisite to form a temporary enclosure to confine the sheep within the ground allotted them. It is the duty of the shepherd to erect temporary enclosures, and as, in doing this, he requires but little assistance from other labourers, he bestows as much time daily upon it until finished as his avocations will allow.

(1269.) There are two means usually employed to enclose sheep upon turnips, namely, by hurdles made of wood, and by nets of twine. Of these I shall first speak of the hurdle or flake. Fig. 216 represents 2

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hurdles set as they should be. The mode of setting them is this; but in doing it, the shepherd requires the assistance of another person,-a field-worker will serve the purpose. The flakes are set down with the lower ends of their posts in the line of the intended fence. The first flake is then raised up by its upper rail, and the ends of the posts are

sunk a little into the ground with a spade, to give them a firm hold. The second flake is then raised up and let into the ground in the same way, both being held in that position by the assistant. One end of a stay ƒ is then placed between the flakes near the tops of their posts, and these and the stay are made fast together by the insertion, through the holes in them, of the peg h. The peg i is then inserted through near the bottom of the same posts. The flakes are then inclined backwards away from the ground fenced, until their upper rail shall be 3 feet 9 inches above the ground. The stake e is driven into the ground by the wooden mallet, fig. 218, at such a point as, where the stay ƒ is stretched out from the flakes at the above inclination, that a peg shall fasten stake and stay together, as seen at g. After the first two flakes are thus set, the operation is easier for the next, as flake is raised after flake, and fastened to the last standing one in the manner described, until the entire line is completed.

(1270.) Various objections can be urged against the use of flakes, the first being the inconvenience of carrying them from one part of a field to another in carts, and of their liability to breakage in consequence; as also the shepherd himself cannot set them up well and speedily without assistance, and even with that they require a good deal of time in setting up. They are also easily upset by a high wind blowing behind them; and when in use they almost require constant repair and replacing of pegs, stays, and stakes; though, when repaired and set carefully bye at the end of the season, they will last several years. The mode of making flakes, and their price, are mentioned below.

(1271.) The other method of enclosing sheep on turnips is with nets

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made of twine of the requisite strength. These nets having square meshes when stretched upon the stakes, usually extend to 50 yards in length,

and stand 34 feet in height. They are furnished with a rope along both sides passing through the outer meshes, which are called the "top" and "bottom rope" as the position of either may be at the time. These ropes are wound round the stakes by a peculiar sort of knot called the "shepherd's knot." The stakes are best formed of thinnings of ashtrees that have been planted very thick together and grown up long and small, and they should be 3 inches in diameter and 4 feet 9 inches long; allowing 9 inches of a hold in the ground, 3 inches between the ground and the bottom of the net, and 3 inches from the top of the net to the top of the stake; or they may be made of larch weedings, 4 inches in diameter and 4 feet 9 inches long; but every kind of wood of which they may be made should be seasoned with the bark on before being cut into stakes. They are pointed at one end with the axe, and that end should be chosen to be pointed which will make the stake stand in the same position as when it was growing in the tree, for its bark, it has been found, is then in the best state for repelling rain.

(1272.) A net is set in this way. If the ground is in its usual soft state, the stakes may simply be driven into the ground with a hardwood mallet, fig. 218, in the line fixed on for setting the net, at distances of 3 paces asunder. The wood of the apple-tree makes the best mallet, as not being apt to split. Should the soil be thin and the subsoil moderately hard, a hole sufficiently large for a stake may be made in the subsoil with the tramp-pick, fig. 37; but should the subsoil be so very hard as to require a larger hole to be made than what can easily be Fig. 218.

Fig. 219.

THE SHEPHERD'S WOOD MALLET.

THE DRIVER.

formed by the tramp-pick, or should the ground be so dry and hard as to require the use of any instrument at all, the most efficient one for the purpose is one called a driver, fig. 219. It is formed of a piece of pointed hard-wood, strongly shod with iron, and its upper end is protected by a strong ferrule of iron to prevent its splitting by the

VOL. II.

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strokes of the mallet. The stakes being thus driven so that their tops may not be less than 4 feet high, along as many sides of the enclosure as are required at the place to form a complete fence.

(1273.) A net is set in this manner. Being in a bundle, having been rolled up on the arms and fastened together by the spare ends of the top and bottom ropes, these are unloosened and tied to the stake that has been driven close to the fence, whatever that may be, and then the net is run out in hand towards the right as far as it will extend in a loose manner, on the side of the stakes facing the ground the sheep are to occupy. On coming to the next stake from the commencement, the bottom rope gets a turn to the left round the stake, and the top rope above it a similar turn round the same stake, so as to keep the leading coil of the rope uppermost. The bottom rope is then fastened with the shepherd's knot to the stake, 3 inches from the ground, and the top rope is fastened with a similar knot near the top of the stake, stretching the net even and upwards; and in this way the net is fastened to one stake after another until the whole of it is set up, as it is called, care being taken to make the top of the net run uniformly throughout its entire length.

Fig. 220.

(1274.) The shepherd's knot is made in this way. Let a, fig. 220, be the continuation of the rope which is fastened to the first stake, then press the second stake with the hand towards a or the fastened end, and at the same time tighten the turn round the stake with the other hand by taking a hold of the loose end of the rope d, and moving it so as to cause it to pass under a at c, and screwing

A NET IS FASTENED TO A STAKE.

it round the stake to b, where the elastic force THE SHEPHERD'S KNOT, BY WHICH of the stake will secure it tight under a at b when the stake is let go. The bottom rope is fastened first, to keep the net at the proper distance from the ground, and then the top rope is fastened to the same stake in the same manner. Proceed in this manner at each successive stake until the whole net is set up. A net may be thus set up either towards the right or the left as the starting point may be situate, but in proceeding in either direction care must be taken to pass the top and bottom ropes round the stakes, so as the leading coil of the rope is always uppermost towards the direction in which the net is to be set up. Thus, in fig. 220, the rope d was uppermost until it was passed under a, because the setting of the net in this case is from right to left, and it continues to be uppermost until it reach the next stake to the left. If both the cord and stake are dry, the knot may slip as soon

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