Great Britain -- Description and travel; Great Britain -- Rural conditions
Mr. SAMUEL CLARKE, my host, has about 30 acres of _Swedes_ in rows. Some
at 4 feet distances, some at 30 inches; and about 4 acres of the 4-feet
Swedes were transplanted. I have seen thousands of acres of Swedes in
these counties, and here are the largest crops that I have seen. The
widest rows are decidedly the largest crops here; and, the
_transplanted_, though under disadvantageous circumstances, amongst the
best of the best. The wide rows amount to at least 20 tons to the acre,
exclusive of the greens taken off two months ago, which weighed 5 tons
to the acre. Then, there is the inter tillage, so beneficial to the
land, and the small quantity of manure required in the broad rows,
compared to what is required when the seed is drilled or sown upon the
level. Mr. NICHOLLS, a neighbour of Mr. CLARKE, has a part of a field
transplanted on _seven turn ridges_, put in when in the other part of
the field, drilled, the plants were a fortnight old. He has a much
larger crop in the transplanted than in the drilled part. But, if it had
been a _fly-year_, he might have had _none_ in the drilled part, while,
in all probability, the crop in the transplanted part would have been
better than it now is, seeing that a _wet_ summer, though favourable to
the hitting of the Swedes, is by no means favourable to their attaining
a great size of bulb. This is the case this year with all turnips. A
great deal of leaf and neck, but not bulbs in proportion. The advantages
of transplanting are, _first_, you make sure of a crop in spite of fly;
and, _second_, you have six weeks or two months longer to prepare your
ground. And the advantages of wide rows are, _first_, that you want only
about half the quantity of manure; and, _second_, that you _plough_ the
ground two or three times during the summer.
_Grove, near Holt, Thursday, 13th Dec._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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