REPORT ON TURNIPS FOR SEED. 101 



REPORT ON TURNIPS FOR SEED. 



By John Morrison, Coney Park Nursery, Stirling. 



[Premium — Ten Sovereigns.'] 



We are well aware of the great value of the turnip, both for 

 feeding stock and dairy purposes. To preserve a true variety of 

 it is at all times desirable : a good-shaped, firmly knit, juicy 

 bulb, is the desideratum, and not to tax the land by producing 

 a superabundance of leaves. 



We shall endeavour to show how the former can be kept up to 

 their present state of perfection, and the latter avoided. We 

 classify them under four heads : — 



I. The Swedish Turnip (Brassica campestris rutabaga). — This 

 variety is of great value to farmers and others. It is rich in feed- 

 ing qualities, hardier than any other known turnip, and much 

 prized for spring use. It generally produces a heavy crop when 

 raised on a suitable soil, which should be a strong friable loam, 

 well drained, and freely manured with well-made farmyard 

 gatherings. Its general cultivation is so well-known and prac- 

 tised in Scotland that I need say no more on this point. 



We find from history that the turnip has been long in high 

 favour, but whether grown to the same perfection in early times 

 as at present is doubtful. However, we are told that they were 

 esteemed good both for "man and beast" — a recommendation which 

 would seem to indicate that they were of a fair size and quality ; 

 and there can be no doubt that cultivation has done much to 

 improve the turnip in both. There is no other agricultural product 

 more apt to run wild than the turnip. Indeed, the whole family 

 of Brassicas, to which belong the cabbage, greens, &c, &c, are 

 prone to intermix and sport to a greater or less degree ; hence 

 there is danger in allowing more than one variety to grow near 

 each other for seed. At all events, we are on the safe side in 

 guarding against it as much as possible. We must also be care- 

 ful of sudden checks, as these have a tendency to promote pre- 

 mature flowering. There are numerous instances where turnips, 

 when young, have received a check by frost, which caused them 

 to run to flower instead of bulbing. There may also be cases 

 where the rootlets, by exposure or otherwise, may not be able to 

 keep pace with the growth ; and there may be instances of the 

 opposite. In the former there will be a tendency to produce 

 leaves, &c, and in the latter they will more readily run to flower. 

 These extremes, however, can in a great measure be controlled by 

 careful cultivation. 



Let the beginner be particularly cautious in his selection, situa- 

 tion, &c. We shall suppose that a farmer wishes to grow as 

 much turnip seed of a certain sort as will serve him for a year 



