288 ox THE ECONOMICAL USE OF TURNIPS 



Init on most of them comparatively little substantial progress 

 has been made during the last quarter of a century. Quite 

 recently, it is true, the spirited and energetic promoters and 

 managers of the Aberdeenshire experimental stations, and others, 

 have been conducting investigations with the view of deter- 

 mining the cheapest kinds of artificial manures which may be 

 used for the turnip crop with success, and also the most econo- 

 mical form in which these may be applied. Moreover, as we 

 shall have occasion to point out by-and-bye, they have drawn 

 prominent attention to the great diversity in the intrinsic feed- 

 ing qualities of roots grown in different climates, on different 

 qualities of soil, and more especially with different kinds of 

 supplemental manures. However, the main aim and hope of 

 these experimentalists are not so much to produce decidedly 

 heavier crops of turnips than have hitherto been grown, as to 

 demonstrate how this important root crop can be raised with 

 less outlay on artificial fertilisers than has generally been 

 incurred. 



But it appears to us that nothing like the same consideration 

 has been given on the northern side of the Border to the very 

 important question, how the turnip crop may be most economi- 

 cally and profitably consumed when once it has been success- 

 fully raised. The very plentifulness of these roots in Scotland 

 has contributed to this state of matters. Such bulky crops have 

 been grown that in ordinary seasons there has generally been a 

 full supply for both cattle and sheep on most farms where turnip 

 husbandry is practised, while in exceptional years difficulty has 

 sometimes been experienced in getting the crop consumed in 

 time to allow the succeeding cereal crop to be sown, and before 

 the bulbs lost much of their nutritious qualities. 



Value of the Turnij:) Crop. 



Before proceeding to discuss the question whether the turnip 

 crop has hitherto been generally put to the most economical and 

 profitable use in Scotland, it may serve to show the immense 

 practical importance of the subject, and be otherwise useful in 

 connection with the object of our paper, if we remind the reader 

 of the great value, from every point of view, of this root crop. 

 There are not a few extensive counties in N'orth Britain, the 

 success of whose agriculture directly, as well as indirectly, 

 depends more on turnips than on any other industrial crop. 

 This remark applies more particularly to the north-eastern, 

 south-eastern, and south-western shires. The only considerable 

 exceptions to this are the counties of Perth and Fife, in each of 

 which a wide area is annually devoted to the growth of this 

 bulb. In the triangular-shaped district lying north-east of a 



