Part 18

I have now a Piece of Wheat drill’d early the last Autumn upon an Hill, fallowed and well pulveriz’d: Part of it was drill’d with Wheat in double Rows upon the Level Nine Years ago, Horse-ho’d, and the Partitions thoroughly Hand-ho’d to cleanse out the Poppies, of which the Land was very full; the other Part of this Piece was never drilled till this Year: The whole Piece hath not been before this Winter Horse-ho’d. Now the Partitions of the Part that was never any Way Ho’d, are so stock’d with Poppies matted together, that unless they are taken out early in the Spring, they will totally devour the Rows of Wheat; but in the other Part that was ho’d so long since, there are now very few Poppies to be seen. Both these Parts have had several sown Crops of Barley together since, and have lain with St. Foin these last Five or Six Years.

And except also such Weeds, whose Seed is carried by Birds, which is the most common Manner of transporting the Seeds of Vegetables from Field to Field, against the Content of the Owner: For Birds, whether great or small, do not care to eat their Prey where they take it, but generally chuse some open Place for that Purpose. ’Tis, I am persuaded, by this Means chiefly, that a Vineyard or Field, made ever so clean from Grass, will, in lying untilled a few Years, be replenished with a Turf of that neighbouring Species of Grass, which best suits the Heat and Moisture of the Soil: Yet there are some Species of Seeds that Birds (at least such as frequent this Place) do not affect; else the Burrage-weed (mentioned in p. 77.) would have appeared again in my Field in some of the many Years since the Hoeing has extirpated it there; for it grows plentifully in the unplowed Way adjoining thereto.

The Seeds of some Weeds may be suspected to come in the Air; as the Seed of the Grass that grew in the Cheapside, in the Time of the Plague; but it might come from Seeds in the Dirt, brought thither by the Feet of People and Cattle, and by the Wheels of Coaches, Carts carrying Hay: Or otherwise continual Treading might keep it from Growing; and when the Treading ceased, ’tis no Wonder the Seeds should furnish the Streets with Grass.

And I have observ’d on the Floors, two Stories high, of a lone, ruinous, uninhabited House, being long uncover’d, a sort of Herb growing very thick; I think it was Pimpernel, and believe that its Seeds did not come thither in the Air; but in the Sand which was mix’d with the Mortar that had fallen from the Cielings; and ’tis like there were few Seeds at first: Yet, these, ripening for several Years, shed their Seeds annually, until the Floors became all over very thick planted: Besides, Hay-seeds and Pimpernel are too heavy to be carry’d far by the Air.

CHAP. VIII.

Of TURNEPS.

As far as I can be inform’d, ’tis but of late Years that Turneps have been introduc’d as an Improvement in the Field.

All Sorts of Land, when made fine by Tillage, or by Manure and Tillage, will serve to produce Turneps, but not equally; for chalky Land is generally too dry (a Turnep being a thirsty Plant); and they are so long in such dry poor Land before they get into rough Leaf, that the Fly is very apt to destroy them there; yet I have known them succeed on such Land, tho’ rarely.

Sand and Gravel are the most proper Soil for Turneps, because that is most easily pulveriz’d, and its Warmth causeth the Turneps to grow faster, and so they get the sooner out of the Danger of the Fly; and such a Soil, when well-till’d, and Horse-ho’d, never wants a sufficient Moisture, even in the driest Weather; and the Turneps being drill’d will come up without Rain, and prosper very well with the sole Moisture of the Dews, which are admitted as deep as the Pulveration reacheth; and if that be to Five or six Inches, the hottest Sun cannot exhale the Dews thence in the Climate of England: I have known Turneps thrive well in a very dry Summer by repeated Horse-hoeings, both in Sand and in Land which is neither sandy nor gravelly.

When I sow’d Turneps by Hand, and ho’d them with a Hand-hoe, the Expence was great, and the Operation not half perform’d, by the Deceitfulness of the Hoers, who left half the Land unho’d, and cover’d it with the Earth from the Part they did hoe, and then the Grass and Weeds grew the faster: Besides, in this Manner a great Quantity of Land could not be managed in the proper Season.

When I drill’d upon the Level, at Three Feet Intervals, a Trial was made between those Turneps and a Field of the next Neighbour’s, sown at the same Time, whereof the Hand-hoeing cost Ten Shillings per Acre, and had not quite half the Crop of the drill’d, both being measur’d by the Bushel, on Purpose to find the Difference.

’Tis impossible to hoe-plow them so well when planted upon the Level, as when they are planted upon Ridges; for if we plow deep near the Row, the Earth will come over on the Left-Side of the Plough, and bury the younger Turneps; but when they stand on Ridges, the Earth will almost all fall down on the Right Side into the Furrow in the Middle of the Interval.

And I have since found, that Turneps on the same Land, planted on Ridges, with Six-feet Intervals, make a Crop double to those that are planted on the Level, or even on Ridges with Three-feet Intervals.

In the new Method they are more certain to come up quickly; because in every Row, half the Seed is planted about Four Inches deep; and the other Half is planted exactly over that, at the Depth of half an Inch, falling in after the Earth has cover’d the first Half: Thus planted, let the Weather be never so dry, the deepest Seed will come up; but if it raineth (immediately after planting), the Shallow will come up first: We also make it come up at Four Times, by mixing our Seed, half new and half old (the new coming up a Day quicker than the old): These four Comings up give it so many Chances for escaping the Fly, it being often seen, that the Seed sown over Night will be destroy’d by the Fly, when that sown the next Morning will escape, and vice versa; or you may hoe-plow them, when you see the Fly is like to devour them; this will bury the greatest Part of those Enemies; or else you may drill in another Row, without new-plowing the Land.

Turnep seed will come up from a greater Depth than most other Sorts of Seeds.

I have seen drill’d Turnep-seed come up daily for a Fortnight together, when it has not been mixt thus, the old with the new.

I have had the first Turneps that came up all destroy’d by the Fly; and about a Fortnight afterwards more have come up, and been ho’d time enough, and made a good Crop.

This Method has also another Advantage of escaping the Fly, the most certain of any other, and infallible, if the Land be made fine, as it ought to be: This is to roll it with a heavy Roller across the Ridges, after ’tis drill’d, which closing up the Cavities of the Earth, prevents the Fly’s Entrance and Exit, to lay the Eggs, hatch, or bring forth the young ones to prey upon the Turneps; which they might intirely devour, if the Fly came before they had more than the first two Leaves, which, being form’d of the very Seed itself, are very sweet; but the next Leaves are rough and bitter, which the Fly does not love: I have always found the Rolling disappoint the Fly; but very often it disappoints the Owner also, who sows at Random; for it makes the Ground so hard, that the Turneps cannot thrive, but look yellow, dwindle, and grow to no Perfection, unless they have a good Hoeing soon after the rough Leaves appear; for when they stand long without it, they will be so poor and stinted, that the Hand-hoe does not go deep enough to recover them; and ’tis seldom that these rolled Turneps can be Hand-ho’d at the critical Time, because the Earth is then become so hard, that the Hoe cannot enter it without great Difficulty, unless it be very moist; and very often the Rain does not come to soak it, until it be too late; but the drill’d Turneps being in single Rows with Six-feet Intervals, may be roll’d without Danger: For be the Ground ever so hard, the Hand-hoe will easily single them out, at the Price of Six-pence per Acre, or less (if not in Harvest); and the Horse-hoe will, in those wide Intervals, plow at any Time, wet or dry; and, tho’ the Turneps should have been neglected till stinted, will go deep enough to recover them to a flourishing Condition.

Drill’d Turneps, by being no-where but in the Rows, may be more easily seen than those which come up at Random; and may therefore be sooner singled out by the Hand-hoe; which is another Advantage; because the sooner they are so set out, the better they will thrive.

Drill’d Turneps coming all up nearly in a Mathematical Line, ’tis very nearly that a Charlock, or other like Weed, comes up in the same Line amongst them, unless it be drill’d in with the Turnep-seed, of which Weeds our Horse-ho’d Seed never has any; there being no Charlock in the Rows, nor any Turnep in the Intervals: We know, that whatever comes up in the Interval is not a Turnep, though so like to it, that, at first coming up, if promiscuously, it cannot easily be distinguished by the Eye, until after the Turneps, &c. attain the rough Leaf; and even then, before they are of a considerable Bigness, they are so hard to be distinguished by those People, who are not well experienced, that a Company of Hand-hoers cut out the Turneps by Mistake, and left the Charlock for a Crop of a large Field of sown Turneps. Such a Misfortune can never happen to drill’d Turneps, unless wilfully done, be they set out ever so young.

The sooner they are made single, the better; but yet, when they are not very thick, they may stand till we have the best Convenience of singling them without much Damage; but, when they come up extraordinary thick, ’twill be much more difficult to make them single, if they are neglected at their very first coming into rough Leaf.

Because such young Turneps will enjoy the more of the Pasture made by the Plowing, and by that little Pulveration of the Hand-hoe, without being robb’d of any Pasture by their own supernumerary Plants.

Three or Four Ounces of Seed is the usual Quantity to drill; but, at random, Three or Four Pounds are commonly sown, which, coming thick all over the Ground, must exhaust the Land more than the other, especially since the sown must stand longer, before the Hoers can see to set them out.

The Six-feet Ridges, whereon Turneps are drill’d in single Rows, may be left higher than for double-row’d Crops; because there will be more Earth in the Intervals, as the single Row takes up less.

There is no prefix’d Time for planting Turneps, because that must be according to the Richness of the Land; for some Land will bring them as forward, and make them as good, when planted the beginning of August, as other Land will, when planted in May; but the most general Time is, a little before, and a little after Midsummer.

Between these Rows of Turneps, I have planted Wheat in this Manner; viz. About Michaelmas, the Turneps being full grown, I plow’d a Ridge in the Middle of each of their Intervals, taking most of the Earth from the Turneps, leaving only just enough to keep them alive; and on this Ridge drill’d my Crop of Wheat, and towards the Spring pull’d up my Turneps, and carried them off for Cattle.

As I have formerly drilled Wheat between Rows of Turneps, so I have since had the Experience of drilling Turneps between Rows of Barley and Rows of Oats: I have had them in the Intervals between Six-feet Ridges, and between Four-feet Ridges, and between those of several intermediate Distances; but which of them all is the best, I leave at present undetermined. I shall only add, that the poorer the Land is, the wider the Intervals ought to be; and that, in the narrow, ’tis convenient at the Hoeing, to leave more Earth on that Side of each Interval whereon the Turneps are to be drill’d; and this is done by going round several Intervals with the Hoe-Plough, without going forwards and backwards in each immediately: But in the wide Intervals the Earth may be equal on both Sides of them.

I will propose another Method of Drilling, which may be very advantageous to those who sow their Barley upon the Level, and sow Turnep-seed amongst it, at Random, as they do Clover; which is, of late, a common Practice in some Places. The Barley keeps the Turneps under it, and stints them so much, that they are useful in the Winter or Spring, chiefly by the Food their Leaves afford to Sheep, their Roots being exceeding small; and for this small Profit they lose the Time of tilling the Ground, until after the Turneps are eaten off; which is a Damage we think greater than the Profit of such Turneps; To prevent which Damage, they may drill them in Rows at competent Distances, and Horse-hoe them, and set them out as soon as the Barley is off: This will both keep the Ground in Tilth, fit for another Crop of Spring Corn, and cause the Turneps to grow great enough (especially if Harvest be early, and the Winter prove favourable) for feeding of Sheep in a moveable Fold to dung the Ground into the Bargain.