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RAP 



When the feed begins to ripen (which may be eafily 

 known by Icparating from the axis and falling) you 

 fhould look it over every day, gathering it as it ri- 

 pens ; for there will be a confiderable diilancc in the 

 feeds of the fame bed coming to maturity, at leall a 

 fortnight, and fometimes three weeks or a month. 

 When you gather the feed, it fhould not be expofed 

 to the fun, but fpread to dry in a fliady place ; af- 

 ter which, you muft put it up where the vermin can- 

 noe come to it, until the time of fowing it. 

 By this m_nhod of fowing feeds every year, you will 

 not only increafe your ftock of roots, but alfo raife 

 ne\v variejes, which may be greatly mended by 

 changing tpc feeds into frefh ground ; for if a perfon 

 continually fows his feed in the fame garden many 

 V^-rs, they will not produce near fo fine flowers as if 

 he procured his feeds at fome diftance^ which is alfo 

 the cafe with moft other plants. 



It" will alfo be neceffary to take away all the earth 

 out of the beds in which the roots were blown the 

 preceding year, and put in new, if you intend to plant 

 Ranunculufes there again ; otherwife they will not 

 thrive near fo wtU, notwithftanding you may add 

 fome new compoft to the beds, and this is what all 

 the curious florifts continually obferve. 

 RAP A. Tourn. Inft. R.'H. 228. tab. 112. Braffica. 

 Lin. Gen. Plant. 734. Turnep ; in French, Navet. 

 The Characters are, 



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^he empakmcnt of~ the flower is three-leaved^ colour ed^ and 

 ■ €re£f, The flower hath four plain fpreading petals, which 

 are narrow at their hafe and entire. It has four oval 

 . honey glands, fitnated between the ftamina and ftyle, and 

 ;■ fix eret^ awl-flocped ftamina ; the two which are oppofite 

 are the length of the empalement, the other four are lon- 

 ger, terminated by ere^l acute-pointed fummits. It hath a 

 . taper germen, fupporting a floort thick ftyle, crowned by 

 - Gn entire headed fligma. The germen afterward becomes 

 . a long taper pod deprejfcd on the fides, opening in two 

 . . cells, which are filled with roundifh feeds. 

 :, This genus of plants is ranged in the fecond feftion 

 of Linn^eus's fifteenth clafs, which includes thofe 

 . plants whofe flowers have two fliort and four longer 

 . ftamina, and the feeds are in oblong pods ; and he joins 

 this genus to the Braflica, which, in a lyftem of botany 

 may be allowable, though not in a treatife of gar- 

 dening, r . . 

 The Species are, 

 jE. Rap A {Rotunda) radice caulefcente orbiculata de- 

 prefll carnosa. Turnep with an orbicular^ depreffed, flefljy 

 root. Rapa fativa rotunda radice Candida. C. B. P. 

 ^. 89. Garden Turnep with a white root. v.; -i 

 2. Kapa (Oblonga) radice oblonga carnosa. Turnep with 

 an oblong flefloy root, Rapa fativa, oblonga, feu foe- 

 mina. C. B. P. 90. Turnep with an oblong root^ or fe- 



^*-- -=* 





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male Turnep. 



.3. Rapa (Napus) radice caulefcente fufiformi. Turnep 

 with a fpindle-Jhaped root. Napus fativa, radice alba, 

 C. B. P. 95. 'Garden Naphew with a white root^ com- 



monly called French Turnep.- A y^ 't-^>^j:, \-. 

 The firft is the Turnep which is commonly cultivated 

 in the fields, of which there are the following varie- 

 ties, viz. The round, red, or purple-topped Turnep, 

 the green-topped Turnep, the yellow Turnep, the 

 black-rooted Turnep, and the early Dutch Turnep. 

 The lafl: fort is commonly fown early in the fpring, 

 to fupply the markets in May and June, but is never 

 cultivated for a general crop. ■ The red-footed Tur- 

 nep was formerly more cultivated in England than at 

 prefent j for fince the large green-topped Turnep has 

 been introduced, all the Ikilful farmers prefer it to 

 the other forts ; the root of this will grow to a large 

 fize, and continue good much longer than the other 

 forts. The next to this is the red or purple-topped 

 Turnep, which will alfo grow large, and are ex- 

 tremely good for fome time; but the roots of this 

 will become ftringy much fooner than thofe of the 

 green-topped. The long-rooted Turnep, the yellow 

 Turnep, and the blackifli-rooted Turnep, are now 

 rarely cultivated in England, neither of them being 

 fo good for the, table or for feed as the red, and par- 



RAP 



ticularly the grccn-topped Turnep, though there src 

 fome few perlbns wlio few them for the iake of vari- 

 ety. The early Dutch Turnep is chiefly fown in the 

 fpring, to fupply the table before any of the forts can 

 be procured j and when they are drawn off young, 

 arc tolerably good -, but if they are left to grow larg?, 

 they are fl:ringy and very rank, fo are unfit for ufe. 

 The French 'l\irncp is not much cultivated in Eng- 

 land, but in France and Holland they are in (^rcac 

 eftcem, efpecially for foups ; their rcors being fmall, 

 are boiled whole in the foup, and fo fcrved up to the 

 table ; thefe muft alfo be ufed while they are youno-, 

 otherwife they will become rank and ftringy. 

 Thefe are by fome fuppofcd to be only varieties 

 which have been accidentally obtained from feeds, 

 therefore I have not enumerated them as diftindlfpc- 

 cies ; but yet I am certain they are confl:ant where 

 care is taken in the faving of their feeds, not to fuffcr 

 any mixture of plants to ftand for feeds : I have fown 

 of three or four forts feveral years, and have always 

 found them retain their differences ; however, it is 

 not eafy to determine, if fome of thefe were not by 

 culture firft obtained from the feeds of the common 

 white Turnep. The yellow Turnep feems moft un- 

 likely to have been an accidental variety, fori have' 

 never known this alter, and the roots are yellow 

 within, whereas all the other have white flefli', not- 

 withftanding their outfides are of very difl^erent co- 

 lours. ■ 



The long-rooted Turnep is, I think, a diftlnft fpe- 

 cies, the form of the root, and its manner of growth 

 being totally different from the other forts. I have 

 feen thefe roots as long as thofe of fome Parfneps, and 

 nearly of the fame Ihape ; thefe run deep into the 

 ground, fo are unfit for feeding cattle ; and unlefs 

 they are ufed very young, become ftrong, fo not pro- 

 per for the table, which has occafioned their beinor 

 rejefted of late years, \ ' , , . 

 The green-topped Turnep grows above the ground 

 more than any of the other, which renders it prefer- 

 able for feeding cattle, and being the foftefl- and 

 . fweeteft root when grown large of any of the kinds, is 

 moft efteemed for the table ; but in very fevere win- 

 ters, they are in greater danger of fuffering by froft, 

 than thofe whofe roots lie more in the around, eioe- 

 cially if they are not covered by fnow ; for when they 

 are frequently hard frozen and thawed, it caufes them 

 to rot fooner than thofe whofe flefh is lefs tender and 

 fweet. I have feen the roots of this fort, which were 

 more than a foot diameter boiled, and were as fweet 



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:: and tender as many of the fmalleft ropts. T' 



■ Turneps delight in a light, fandy,- loamy foil, which 



muft not be rich, for in a rich foil they grow rank 



\ andarefticky ;'but if it be'moift, they will thrive thd 



;■;, better in fummer, efpecially in fref^ land, where they 



are always fweeter than upon an old worn out, or a 



rich foil. ■\ 



The common feafon for fowing of Turneps, is any 

 time from the beginning of June till the middle of 

 Auguft, or a little later, though it is not advifeable to 

 fow them much after ; becaufe, if the autumn (hould 

 not prove very mild, they will not have time to' ap- 

 pie of a proper fize before winter ; nor will the roots 

 of thofe which are fown after the end of July grow 

 very large, unlefs the froft keeps off long in autumn. 

 But, notwithftanding this is the general feafon in which , 

 the greateft part of Turneps are fown in the country, 

 . yet about London they are fown fucccfTively from 

 March to Auguft, by thofe who propagate them to 

 fupply the markets with their roots; but there is a 

 great hazard of lofing thofe which are fown early in 

 the year, if the feafon fhould prove dry, by the fly, 

 which will devour whole fields of this plant while 

 young -, fo that where a fmall quantity for the fupply 

 of a family is wanted^ it will be abfolutely neceflTary 

 to water them in dry weather ; and where a perfon 

 fows thofe feeds in April and May, it fliould always 

 be upon a moift foil, otherwife they feldom come to 

 good, the heat of the weather at that feafon being 

 too great for them upon a dry foil \ but thofe which 



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