Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/410

Rh 384 AGRICULTURE [LIVE STOCK From the strong tendency in tlie best varieties of turnips and swedes to degenerate, and the readiness with which they hybridise with each other, or with any member of the family Brassica, no small skill and pains are needed, to raise seed that can be depended upon to yield roots of the best quality. Turnip seed is saved either from selected and transplanted roots, or from such as have been sown for the express purpose, and allowed to stand as they grow. The first plan, if the selection is made by a competent judge, is undoubtedly that by which seed of the purest quality is obtained. But it is an expensive way, not only from the labour required in carrying it out, but from the yield of seed being generally much less than from plants that have not been disturbed. Professional seed-growers usually re sort to a compromise by which the benefit of both plans is secured, viz., by selecting with great care and transplant ing a limited number of bulbs, and saving the seed obtained from them to raise the plants which are to stand for their main seed crop. The latter are carefully examined when they come into bloom, and all plants destroyed the colour of whose flower varies from the proper shade. Turnips that are to bear seed are purposely sown much later in the season than when intended to produce cattle food, as it is found that bulbs about 1 B&amp;gt; weight are less liable to be injured by frost or to rot before the seed is matured, than those of larger size. The management of a turnip-seed crop, both as regards culture and harvesting, is identical with that of rape for its seeds, which has already been described. Mustard. Both the white and brown mustard is culti vated to some extent in various parts of England. The former is to be found in every garden as a salad plant ; but it has of late been coming into increasing favour as a forage crop for sheep, and as a green mamire, for which purpose it is ploughed down when about to come into flower. The brown mustard is grown solely for its seeds, which yield the well-known condiment. When white mus tard is cultivated for its herbage, it is sown usually in July or August, after some early crop has been removed. The land being brought into a fine tilth, the seed, at the rate of 12 Ib per acre, is sown broadcast, and covered in the way recommended for clover seeds. In about six weeks it is ready either for feeding off by sheep or for ploughing down as a preparative for wheat or barley. White mustard is not fastidious in regard to soil When grown for a seed crop it is treated in the way about to be de scribed for the other variety. For this purpose either kind requires a fertile soil, as it is an exhausting crop. The seed is sown in April, is once hoed in May, and requires no further culture. As soon as the pods have assumed a brown colour the crop is reaped and laid down in handfuls, which lie until dry enough for thrashing or stacking. In removing it from the ground it must be handled with great care, and carried to the thrashing-floor or stack on cloths, to avoid the loss of seed. The price depends much on its being saved in dry weather, as the quality suffers much from wet. The yield varies from 20 to 30 bushels per acre, and the price from 10s. to 20s. per bushel. It is chiefly grown on rich alluvial soils in the south-eastern counties of England. This great evil attends its growth, that the seeds which are unavoidably shed in harvesting the crop remain in the soil, and stock it permanently with what proves a pestilent weed amongst future crops. Market Gardening.- In Essex and Kent no inconsider able extent of land is annually occupied in growing the seeds of the staple crops of our kitchen and flower gardens. Wholesale seedsmen contract with farmers to grow these seeds for them at a stipulated price. The growth of fruits and of culinary vegetables is in various parts of Great Britain an important department of farming for the scale on which it is conducted allies it quite as much to agriculture as to horticulture. In the counties contiguous to London thousands of acres are occupied in growing vegetables and in producing fruit. Very large numbers of persons find employment in these market gardens. The system of cultivation pursued in them is admirable. The soil is trenched two spits deep for nearly every crop ; it is heavily manured and kept scrupulously clean by incessant hoeing. Whenever s. crop is removed, some other suited to the season is instantly put in its place, and not an inch of ground is suffered to be unproductive. A young farmer, bent on knowing his business thoroughly, could not occupy a few months to better purpose than by placing himself under one of these clever market gardeners. Kent has long been peculiarly celebrated for its orchards. The best of them are on the borders of the greensand for mation, or ragstone as it is provincially called. Apples, pears, plums, cherries, and nuts are produced in immense quantities. The filbert plantations alone are said to occupy 5000 acres. An abundant and cheap supply of fruit and vegetables for the inhabitants of our towns is undoubtedly an important object, and is likely to occupy increased attention wherever a suitable soil and exposure, with facility of carriage by railway, are combined. In Cornwall and in the Channel Islands the cultivation of brocoli and early potatoes is an important and growing industry. CHAPTER XV. LIVE STOCK IIORSES. The breeding and rearing of domesticated animals has ever been a favourite pursuit in Great Britain, and has been carried to greater perfection than any other department of rural affairs. In no other country of similar extent can so many distinct breeds of each class of these animals be found most of them excellent of their kind, and admirably adapted to the particular use for which they are designed. Observing the usual order, we notice first Horses. /Section 1. Breeds. Here we shall confine our attention to those breeds which are cultivated expressly for the labours of the farm ; for although the breeding of saddle-horses is chiefly carried on by farmers, and forms in some districts an important part of their business, it docs not seem advisable to treat of it here. It is a department of husbandry requiring such a combination of fitness in the soil, climate, and enclosures of the farm, of access to first-class stallions, and of taste and judgment on the part of the farmer, that few indeed of the many who try it are really successful. The morale too of the society into which the breeding of this class of horses almost necessarily brings a man is so unwhole some, that none can mingle in it freely without experienc ing to their cost that &quot; evil communications corrupt good manners.&quot; We have noted it as a fact of peculiar signifi cance, in this connection, that of the few men who really make money by this business, scarcely one desires to see it prosecuted by his sons. The immense size and portly presence of the English black horse entitle him to priority of notice. This breed is widely diffused throughout England, though found chiefly in the midland counties. It is in the fens and rich pas tures of these counties that the celebrated dray horses of London are bred and reared. These horses are too slow and heavy for ordinary farm-work, and would not be bred but for the high prices obtained for them from the great London brewers, who pride themselves on the great size, majestic bearing, and fine condition of their team horses. The breeders of these horses employ brood mares and young