POPULAR VARIETIES OF GARDEN VEGETABLES. 



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SWEDE TURNIPS. 



the main crop, for fall and Avinter use, sow in August, and the plants will have 

 the benefit of the autumn rains. If the weather should prove dry, the crop 

 will be light. The soil for Turnips should be rich and mellow. Sow in drills, 

 from twelve to eighteen inches apart, and half an inch deep. When the plants 

 are a few inches in height, and strong enough to resist the attacks of insects, 

 thin them out to some five or six inches apart in the drills. Two pounds of 

 seed are sufficient for an acre. Fig. 1 represents the Strap-Leaved Purple- 

 Top ; 2, Orange Jelly; 3, Yellow Malta; 5, Jersey Navet; 7, White Norfolk. 

 The Swede, or Ruta Baga Turnips are large, very solid, perhaps the most 

 solid vegetable that grows. 

 The flesh of nearly all the 

 yarieties is yellow. They do 

 not grow as rapidly as the 

 English Turnips, and should 

 be sown as early as the first 

 of June. The rows should 

 be about eighteen inches 

 apart, and the plants in the 

 rows not less than ten inches. 

 The engravings show, fig. 4, 

 Carter's Imperial Purple- 

 Top ; fig. 6, Green-Top. We 

 do not suppose that a warm, 

 dry climate will ever be con- 

 sidered favorable to Turnip culture, and yet we never saw better crops in the 

 most favored districts of England than we have seen in America. It is only 

 in exceptionally dry seasons that our crop fails, with good culture. A soil rich 

 in phosphates is necessary for a large crop, hence all bone manures are exceed- 

 ingly valuable. With proper Turnip food and a moist season success is almost 

 certain. There is only one enemy to be conquered. The little black flea, or 

 Turnip Beetle, is very destructive when the plants are in the seed-leaf ; but 

 with a fair season and a rich soil the plants are soon in the rough leaf, when 

 they are troubled no longer. Some good farmers sow twice the usual quantity 

 of seed, and in this way save plenty from the little enemy ; and this, we have 

 no doubt, IS the safest and most economical way, for it is better to feed them 

 on plants that we do not need than on those upon which the crop depends. 



SWEET A^s'D POT HERBS. 



A few fragrant, or, as they are sometimes called, Sweet or Pot Herbs, consti- 

 tute a little treasury upon which the house-keeper will find occasion to make 

 almost constant drafts, and these will be honored from early summer until 

 autumn. A good reserve can also be stored in some closet or store room for 

 winter use. As a general rule it is best to cut herbs when in flower and dry in 

 the shade, and they dry more evenly and in better shape if tied up in small 

 bunches and hung in the shade. For soups and dressing for poultry these herbs 

 are a necessity in the estimation of most persons, while as domestic medicines 

 several kinds are held in high repute. The Sage and its uses, of course, every 

 one is acquainted with. The Broad-leaved English is the best. Thyme, fig. 

 2, is of universal cultivation, as is also Summer Savory, fig. 3. Rosemary, fig. 

 4, is a very fragrant herb, and is everywhere popular. Borage, fig. 1, is a beau- 

 tiful plant, with azure-blue flowers, pretty enough for any flower garden. It 

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