[69]’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.
[70]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[71]; 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[72] 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[73]; 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.
[71]Turnep seed will come up from a greater Depth than most other Sorts of Seeds.
[72]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.
[73]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[74], may be more easily seen than those which come up at Random; and may therefore be sooner[75] singled out by the Hand-hoe; which is another Advantage; because the sooner they are so set out, the better they will thrive[76].
[74]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.
[75]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.