The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1861-07-02 00:00:00

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DOUBLE CULTURE OF ROOT CROPS, ko.
_

Double culture of root crops bow been practised for
many )eare with varied sucoeas. We have grown upon
the sante laud mixed crops of suangel wane' and
carrots, after the plan adopted at Badininton • few
year 4 ago, a statement of which appeared at the time in
the Journals of the Royal Agricultural Society of
England. We have also grown mangel and beans in
alternate rows ; also swedish turnips and beans,
carrot.' and Leans, as well u turnips and rape amongst

the bean crop.
The result of the mange' and carrot crop wan very
satisfactory ; there were 27 tons of inangel and 13 tons
of carzota per acre. This weight of crop may be
expected under generous treatnient in favourable
italliUllll, for when it is considered bow much soon is
required for the mangels to spread their leaves, and on
the other band how little ruoui is required fur the carrot
peens, each crop seems to interfere with the other as
little as possible ; the apace between the rows being 2
feet, gives ample room for both croje to come to high
perfection.
The mixed crop of mangel and beam was also suc-
cessful, the yield proving, on the average of two gessoes,
20 tons of menisci and 6 sacks of beans ler acre ; if we
take the value of this double crop at its feeding price it
stands very high, and certainly higher thau the average
of root crepe alone. The value of other root IMPS
where mixed with beans, via., wrote, etudes. turnips,
Ste., was good, but not equal to the mensal!, hi they
were more affected by the by, wire-worm, &a., by
reason of the bean crop preventing the late spring
tillage required ; whereas, the mangel being it necessity
put In early, started fair with the beans, and held their
own against the shading of the bean crop, particularly
when the beans were topped, as is the practice in
garden culture, tho topping being also attended
with
favourable remits ie. the crop of b. ans.
Having been large growers of potatoes for the past 15
yearly we were, however,ea much opposed to their
culture in the field previous to the attack of potato
blight as we are DO V.' in favour of it ; fiading that sinew
the disease has att.icked the crop, as much or more
money per acre has on realised from the diminished
crop (owing to the ii her price they bear in the market)
as was obtained at •uc former period ; although the
crops were then roue I.irger, the haulm more gross, and
the varieties in cult,. ...ion much later than now, such
is the advantage of th • early sorts, and the result of the
haulm beiug attacked ~y the blight, that the crop does
not extract so much otrimeut from the soil, aid con-
sequently leaves the : .rid in much higher condition for
the succeeding corn e, ,pe, and whether our sucecediug
Porn crophas been wh, it or oats it has uniformly proved
the best crop of the f. n, whereas formerly, when the
late varieties of radio s were grown, it WM rare to see
an average produce of On from tire succeeding crop.
There Ms, however, been sowe drawback upon the
state of the land after the potato crop in field culture
(when the lisulm has been ',truck down by blight),
because the crops are in .41y sold by the acre, or dug by
the grower on his ow:. account; in either ease delay
smelly .occurs, and the crop is not raised until after
harvest; in the mem time, especially upon highly tilled
land, the weeds will lunge astonnhing growth, and in
wet Yea$01:111 like the past their p has been so
rapid after the fall uf the potato larethat before the
crop could be lifted, the weeds must be either mowed
down by the scythe, or hand-pulled at • great expense,
arid it is easy to understand bow the growing • heavy
crop of weeds must result in a great deterioration of the
soil for the production of after crops.
Having suffered greatly from the before-named came
fur souls years, we were reduced last season to try •
plan of double culture, in order if possible to occupy
the land ill the autumn with a valuable crop of roots, in
lieu of a damaging crop of weeds. Our potato crop for
the season 1860 consisted of 8 sere' of York regents,
5 acres of Fortyfold", and 7 acres of the Fluke variety
of potatoes, making together 19 acres ; the whole of
which land was seeded with Norfolk white round
ter nips, in the following manner 3 The potat..s
hiving been horse-hoed and hand-hoed in due mimeo,
and the land being perfectly clean, it was then ready for
the moral process of earthing or billing as-it is termed,
which was does with a one horse double-mould plough
during the second and third week of June ; and every
dry during the time of earthing, we bowed with
, lieunett's broadcast seeding barrow about a pound of
seed per acre, just before the plough, which salt pro-
ceeded buried all the turnip seed and lifted it on the
ridge, in which position the seed when it vegetated was
placed to avail itself of the manure which had been
previously deposited in the rqws for the potato crop,
, and in either case, both where yard manure or guano
was used, Um turnip plants struck their roots directly
into the manure • and although the young plants
maintained themselves with some difficulty owing to
the gross foliage of the potatoes, yet, as soon as the
blight destroyed the potato lea the turnip grew in •
most extraordinary manner, and to some extent this
may be attribated to the fact of the land being ridged, ,
the furrows in • wet season like the past taking away I
rapidly ell superfluous water. The disposal of the crop
of potatoes and turnips was effected in the following
manner :—The Fluke potatoes, although attacked with
blight in the haulm, the mine as the fortyfold. and
York regents. were however sound in the tubers, and
were said at LW per acre in the land, whilst the forty-
fold. and regents were diseased and sold for less than
4:10 per acre in the laud. The potatoes were all lifted
between the let of October and the 14th of November,
the turuips were removed by clearing 20 TORII at a time,
the potato diggers following, and as fast as the 20 rows
of potatoes were dug, the next 20 rows were cleared of
turnips by women, who carried them on to the land
entirely cleared, where they were prepared for the
stack, the greens being separated from time route, and
each being placed in separate heaps, carts following to
remove the roots to the stack, and the greens for daily
consumption; the result of the turnip crop on the field
tint cleared (being in the full vigour of growth) 1
estimated at 15 tons per ace of roots and greens; on
the second field at 22 tone per acre of roots and greens;
and on the last field, winch was not cleared until the
14th November, the crop was weighed in several parts,
and found to contain 19 tous 16 cwt. of roots, and Stone
of grains p.r acre; the whole of the turnip crop was
cleared before the roots were full grown, mid whilst the
greens were very geese, the number of roots per pole
varied from 300 to 400, The crop was never hoed or
thinned, and proved no expense until digging time.
"he greens were given daily during six weeks to 16
of fatting bullocks, besides pigs. The bullocks
good progress, receiving at the mine time tbs. of
each per day, with a little pasture hay, but no
green food, amid the whole of the manure arising
from the consuoition of the turnip greens was removed
from the cattle. leb, and immediately applied to the
land from whence the greens were taken, as • pre-
paration for the succeeding wheat crop. The roots
were also removed daily, a large portion being wracked
in an adjoining field and consumed thereon by sheep, •
coaridemble portion being stacked near (be homestead
for feeding builocke. Sic., and were in use during the
whole winter as late as the first week at April.
Another portion war ooirever sold on the land with the
potatoes to the market gardeners. The whole of this
double crop was removed from the land, and a deeming,
Of 1101 M•is al roe mppileta 4..5 in.' 1.1•41 wheat.
at the present time is as fine •Grop as con be men —J. B

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