and thus every alternate 2 drills left unpulled become the receptacle of the turnips pulled by every 2 workers. The cart then passes along a or b, without touching the turnips in e and g, or in f and h, and clears away the heaps in the line of c d. In the figure the turnips are represented much thinner on the ground than they usually grow, in order to make the particulars more conspicuous; but the size of the bulb in proportion to the width of the drills is preserved both in the drills and the heaps. The seats of the pulled turnips are shown upon the bared drills.

814. The most common state in which turnips are placed in the temporary heaps,c and d, is with their tops on, and the tails or roots cut away. The cleanest state for the turnips themselves, and the most nutritious for cattle, is to take away both the tops and tails. Many farmers have the idea, that turnip-tops make good feeding for young beasts or calves at the beginning of the season,-not from the knowledge that the tops contain a larger proportion of bone-producing matter than the bulbs, as chemical analysis informs us, but from a desire to keep the turnips for the larger beasts, and to rear the young ones in

any way; but the notion is a mistaken one, as might easily be proved by giving one lot of calves turnip-tops and another bulbs without tops, when the latter will present a superiority in a short time, both in bone and flesh. No doubt the large quantity of watery juice the tops contain at this season makes the young cattle devour them with eagerness on coming off a bare pasture, and indeed any cattle will eat the tops before the turnips, when both are presented together; but observation and experience confirm me in the opinion that the time of cattle in consuming turnip-tops is worse than thrown away; inasmuch as tops, in their cleanest state, are apt to produce looseness in the bowels, partly, perhaps, from the sudden change of food from grass to a very succulent vegetable, and partly from the dirty, wetted, or frosty state in which tops are usually given to beasts. This looseness never fails to bring down the condition of cattle in so considerable a degree, that part of the winter passes away before they entirely recover form the shock their system has received. Like my neighbours, I was impressed with the economic idea of using turnip-tops, but their weakening effects upon young cattle caused me to desist from their use;

and fortunate was the result, as ever after their abandonment the calves throve apace. A few tops may be given to young cattle with impunity along with straw, but that few will starve, not feed or rear, young cattle. The tops are not thrown away, when spread upon the ground, as they serve to manure it. I have no hesitation in recommending the tops and tails to be left in the field. Sheep are not so easily injured by them as cattle, on account, perhaps, of their costive habit; and perhaps in spring, when turnips are naturally less juicy, tops might be of service as a gentle aperient, but at that season, when they might be most useful, they are the most scanty and fibrous.

815. The tops and tails of turnips are easily removed by means of very simple instruments. Figs. 33 and 34 represent these instruFig. 33. Fig. 34. ments in their simplest form, fig. 33 being an old scythereaping hook, with the point broken off. This makes a light instrument,and answers the purpose pretty well; but fig. 34 is better.

It is made of INSTRUMENT FOR ANOTHER IN

TOPPING AND TAILING TURNIPS.

STRUMENT

FOR THE

SAME PURPOSE.

the point of a worn out patent scythe, the very point being broken off, and the iron back to which the blade is riveted driven into a helve protected by a ferule. This is rather heavier than the other, and on that account removes the top more easily.

816. A superior instrument to either has lately been contrived by Mr James Kinninmonth, at Inverteil in Fife, and its form is seen in fig. 35, under the name of the "Turnip trimming-knife." The necessity for another instrument of the kind arises from the fact, that when the top of a turnip has dwindled into a comparatively small size, it affords but an inadequate hold for pulling the turnip from the ground; and when the attempt is felt by

Fig. 35.

the worker likely to fail, she naturally strikes the point of the instrument into the bulb to assist her, and the consequence is, that a deep gash is made in the turnip, which, being stored for months, generally suffers in its useful qualities, by producing premature decay in the wounded part. In fig. 35, a is the handle, b the cutting edge, TURNIP TRIMMING-KNIFE. steeled and pro

perly tempered, and c an appendage welded to the extremity of the back, in the form of a narrow edge or hoe. If the turnip requires any effort to draw it, the front of the hoe c is inserted gently under the bulb, and the operation of lifting it is effected with the greatest ease and certainty. The price of this knife, when made on purpose, is 1s. 6d., but, were it brought out as a regular article of manufacture, its price might be considerably less.*

817. The mode of using these instruments in the removal of the tops and tails of turnips is this: The field-worker moves along between the two drills of turnips to be drawn, at a, fig. 32, and pulling a turnip with the left hand by the top from either drill, holds the bulb in a horizontal direction, as in fig. 36, over and between Fig. 36.

the drills e and f, fig. 32, and with the hook or knife described, first takes off the root at b with a small stroke, and then cuts off the top at a, between the turnip and the hand, with a sharper one, on which the turnip falls down into the heap c or d, whichever is forming at the time. Thus, pulling one or two turnips from one drill, and then as many from the other, the two drills may be cleared. Another fieldworker acts as a companion to this one, by going up b, pulling the turnips from the drills on either side of her, and dropping them, topped and tailed, into the same heaps as her companion. The tops are scattered upon the cleared ground. A left and a right-handed field-worker get on best together at this work.

816. Due care is requisite, on removing the tops and tails, that none of the bulb be cut by the instrument, as the juice of the turnip will exude through the incision. When turnips are to be consumed immediately, an incision does no harm; but the slicing off a portion, and hacking the skin of the bulb, indicates carelessness, and, if persevered in, will confirm into a habit.

817. When two-thirds of the turnips are drawn at b, and one-third left, c, the field-worker goes up b, fig. 31, and, pulling the 2 drills there, drops the prepared turnips between c and d. When threefourths are pulled, as at e, and one-fourth left, as at c, the turnips may still be dropped in the same place between c and d, the fieldworker pulling all the 3 drills herself, and the horse walking alonge when taking them away. When 3 drills are pulled, as at e, and 3 left, as at f, the same field-worker pulls all the 3 drills, and drops the turnips along the outside row next herself of those that are left in f. When three-fifths are left, as at f, and two-fifths pulled, as at g, the field-worker pulls the 2 drills at g, and drops the turnips between the two rows next her off. When six drills are pulled, as at i, 3 women work abreast, each pulling 2 drills, and all three drop the turnips into the same heap, in front of the woman in the middle. This plan has the sole advantage of collecting a large quantity of turnips in one place, and causing little carting upon the land. When the field is intended to be entirely cleared of turnips,

VOL. I.

the clearance is begun at the side nearest the gate, and carried regularly on from top to bottom of the field-the nearest part of the crop being cleared when the weather is least favourable, and the farthest when most so. The workers are all abreast.

818. When a field is begun to be stripped for sheep, that part should be first chosen which will afford them shelter whenever

the weather becomes coarse. A plantation, a good hedge, a bank sloping to the south, or one in a direction opposite to that from which high winds prevail in the locality, or a marked inequality in the form of the ground, will all afford shelter to sheep in case of necessity. On the sheep clearing the turnips from this part first, it will always be ready for a place of refuge against a storm, when required.

819. On removing prepared turnips from the ground, the carts should be filled by the field-workers, as many being employed as will keep them a-going-that is, to have one cart filled by the time another approaches the place of work in the field. If there are more field-workers than will be required to do this, the remainder should be employed in topping and tailing. The topped and tailed turnips should be thrown into the cart by the hand, and not with forks or graips; the cart should be placed alongside the drill near two or more heaps; and the carter should manage the horses and assist in the filling, until the turnips rise as high in the cart as to require a little adjustment from him in heaping, to prevent their falling off in the journey.

820. As it is scarcely probable that there will be as many field-workers as to top and tail the turnips, and assist in filling the cart at the same time, so as to keep even two carts at work, it will be necessary for them to begin the pulling so much sooner,-whether one yoking, or a whole day, or two days,-but so much sooner, according to the quantity to be carried away, as to keep the carts a-going when they begin to drive away the turnips; for it implies bad management at all times to let horses wait longer in the field than the time occupied in filling a cart. And yet how common it is to see horses waiting until the turnips are pulled, and tailed, and thrown into the cart, by, perhaps, only two

N

women, the carter building them up not as fast as he can get them, but as slow as he can induce the women to give them. The driving away should not commence at all until a sufficient quantity of turnips is prepared to employ at least two carts, one yoking; nor more turnips than will employ that number of carts for that time, should be allowed to lie upon the ground before being carried away, in case frost or rain should prevent the carts entering the field for a time.

821. Dry weather should be chosen for the pulling of turnips, not merely for the sake of keeping the turnips clean, but for that of the land, which ought not to be cut up and poached by the cart-wheels and horses' feet; because, when so cut, the sheep have a very uncomfortable lair, and the ruts form receptacles for water, not soon emptied; for let the land be ever so well drained, its nature cannot be entirely changed-clay will always have a tendency to retain water on its surface, and soil every thing that touches it, and deep loam and black mould will still be penetrated by horses' hoofs, and rise in large masses, with the wheels, immediately after rain. No turnips should therefore be led off fields during, or immediately after severe rain; nor should they be pulled at all, until the ground has again become consolidated; and as they cannot be pulled in frost, and if they are urgently required from the field in any of these states of weather, a want of foresight is evidently manifested by the farmer and his manager.

822. In commencing the pulling of turnips, one of the fields to be occupied by the sheep should first be stripped to provide a break for them whilst on pasture, to be ready to be taken possession of before the pasture becomes bare.

823. On the weather proving unfavourable at the commencement of the operation, that is, too wet or too frosty, or an important operation intervening-such as the wheat-seed, no more turnips should be pulled and carried off than will suffice for the daily consumption of the cattle in the steading; but, whenever the ground is dry at top and firm, and the air fresh, no opportunity should be neglected of storing

as large a quantity as possible. This is a very important point of management, and, as I conceive, too much neglected by most farmers, who frequently provide no more than the quantity of food daily required. Some employ one or two carts an afternoon's yoking, to bring in as many turnips as will serve the cattle for two or three days at most, and these are brought in with the tops on, after much time has been spent in the field in waiting for their pulling and tailing. This is a slovenly mode of providing provender for cattle. To provide turnips in the best state, iudependent of the states of the weather, should be regarded a work of the first importance in winter; and it can only be done by storing a considerable quantity in good weather, to be used when bad weather comes. When a store is prepared, the mind remains easy as to the state of the weather, and having a store does not prevent you taking supplies from the field as long as the weather permits the ground to be carted upon with impunity, to be immediately consumed or to augment the store. I believe no farmer would dissent from this truth; and yet many violate it in their practice! The excuse most ready to be offered is the want of time to store turnips when the potato-land should be ploughed and sown with wheat; or when the beasts are doing well enough yet upon the pasture; or when the turnips still continue to grow. The potato-land should be sown; and, after a late harvest, it may be so after the pasture has failed; but the other excuses, founded on the growing state of the turnips and rough state of the pastures, are of no force when adduced against the risk of reducing the condition of the stock. Rather than incur such a risk, give up the rough pasture to the sheep. The ewes may require it.

824. The storing of turnips is well done in this manner. Choose a piece of lea ground, convenient of access to carts, near the steading, for the site of the store, and, if possible, in an adjoining field, on a 15feet ridge, running N. and S. Fig. 37 gives the form of the turnip-store. The cart with the topped and tailed turnips is backed to the spot of the ridge chosen to begin the store, and there emptied of its contents. The ridge being 15 feet wide, the store should not exceed 10 feet in