AN ENCYCLOPADIA 
OF HORTICULTURE. 111 
Turnip—continued. 
hoed and loose on the surface. Damp, dull weather is most 
favourable for Turnip cultivation; but as the crop is of 
much importance throughout the season, all that can 
be done during the summer to counteract the evil in- 
fluences of drought should receive full attention. If two 
or three varieties are sown at the same time, sometimes 
one will thrive if another fails. Turnips succeed best 
in rich, rather light, loamy soils; ground which is stiff 
and retentive is not well adapted, as the roots do not 
attain a good flavour, and in the summer are more apt to 
run to seed; light, gravelly soils are also unsuitable. 
Animal Pests. The animal foes of this valuable plant 
are both numerous and varied. A large proportion 
of them attack the roots. Ants are said to carry off 
the seed, and to endanger the crop at times; and 
sparrows and other seed-eating birds assist in such 
depredations. The germinating plants, so soon as they 
appear above the soil, are too often wholly destroyed 
by the Turnip Flea or Fly (which see), and by small 
Weevils, such as Otiorhynchus (which see), and Ceu- 
thorhynchus contractus, which is nearly related to the 
Turnip-gall Weevil (see Turnip Galls) and Turnip- 
seed Weevil (which see). The best treatment for the 
destruction of these insects is mentioned under the 
above headings. 
When the plants are somewhat larger, the leaves are 
often so eaten by numerous larve, that merely the larger 
veins remain, or, at least, large holes are gnawed in the 
leaves and other green parts, to the injury of the plants, 
and the consequent diminution of the root-crop. The 
larve (see Cabbage Caterpillars) of the White Butter- 
»~ ‘Hes (Pieris~Brassicw, P. Napi, and P. Rape) feed on 
the leaves of Turnips, as they do also on Cabbages; and 
they are assisted in this by the larve of various Night- 
moths, e.g., of Mamestra (which see), and of Plusia 
gamma (which see) and others noted under the headings 
Potherb Moths and Surface Caterpillars. The 
larve of a small Moth, Plutella cruciferarum (which 
see), are very numerous in some localities, living under 
webs on the lower surfaces of, and eating holes in, the 
leaves. 
Still more dangerous than the Butterflies and Moths is 
Athalia spinarum, the Turnip Sawfly (which see), 
the larve of which at times devastate entire fields: An 
allied species (A. ancilla) also proves destructive 
occasionally, though to a less extent. 
Various Beetles assist in destroying the leaves of 
Turnips, chief among them being the Turnip Flea 
(which see); though Curtis accuses Phaedon Betule 
(which see) and Otiorhynchus of aiding in the harm done. 
Besides the holes, eaten through them, the leaves are 
often marked with white, wavy tracks, or mines, burrowed 
between the surface-membranes. These mines are the 
work of larve of small Flies (Drosophila and Phytomyza), 
and of the Turnip Flea (which see). The flowers inclosing 
the young ovaries are favourite resorts of numerous 
Beetles, some of which gnaw the various organs, 
devouring the ovaries, or rendering them unfertile. 
The flowers and flower-stalks, and, to a less extent, 
the leaves, are sometimes injured by more than one 
kind of plant-louse (see Aphides). The seeds are 
devoured in the seed-vessels, while soft, by larve 
of certain small Midges belonging to the group of 
Gall-midges (Cecidomyide), but these scarcely alter the 
The larve of the Turnip-seed 
form of the „fruit. 
Weevil (which see) also devour the seeds in the fruit. 
From their concealed mode of life, little, if anything, can 
be done against those insects that'feed on the seeds. But 
while the green parts, the flowers, and the eeds, are i 
liable to serions injury from animals, and th us 
suffer indirectly, the latter parts suffer from direct attacks 
even more seriously thah do the other o: 
bivorous quadrupeds. eat them; and 
v 
i i rabbits are 
« 
All her- © 
Turnip—continued. 
peculiarly hurtful where Turnips are grown in an insuffi- 
ciently inclosed area. Rooks also greatly injure Turnips, 
by scooping out holes in them to obtain food during 
snowy weather. In localities near the sea-coast, a similar 
habit is frequently indulged in by sea-gulls. Among the 
most effectual protections against birds are threads 
stretched in zigzags near the soil, and decked with rags, 
or other fluttering objects, suitable to act as scarecrows. 
Some account of the more destructive parasites of 
Turnip roots is given, along with the most successful 
remedies against each, under the headings Slugs, 
Snails, Surface Caterpillars, Turnip Galls, Tur- 
nip Moths, and Wireworms; and it would occupy 
unnecessary space to repeat what is contained in those 
articles. When the roots have begun to decay, the change 
is hastened by numbers of Millipedes (which see) and 
insects (chiefly larvee of small Beetles and Midges) that 
feed in them, and soon reduce them to the condition of 
putrescent masses. 
In Germany, it has been observed that Turnips and 
other Crucifers are liable to have the smaller side-roots 
more or less injured by the production of small, round galls 
on them, the work of a minute worm (Heterodera Schachtii), 
of which an account is given, and appropriate remedies 
are discussed, under Nematoid Worms. 
Fungi. Turnips are liable to serious injury from the 
attacks of several species of Fungi, most of which have 
been already discussed in this work under headings 
quoted below. Almost all of them also infest Cabbages 
and cruciferous weeds—a circumstance that must be kept 
in mind in the means employed for preventing or curing 
diseases caused by them in Turnips. Of those that have 
proved peculiarly injurious in Great Britain, the more 
hurtful are the following : 
Plasmodiophora Brassice (which see), producing 
“Qlubroot,” or “ Finger-and-Toe,” in the roots, of which 
they cause the early death and decay, so that the crop 
is largely, if not entirely, destroyed in severe attacks. 
The leaves are frequently “ mildewed.’’ One form of 
“ Mildew” is caused by the growth of the superficial 
mycelium of Oidium Balsamii (see Oidium), which is 
itself a young stage of an Erisyphe of some kind, of 
which the perfect condition is uncertain. The thread- 
like cells of the Fungus spread in a thin, whitish coat over 
the whole of both surfaces of the leaf, from which they 
draw their nourishment, without, however, traversing its 
tissues; and they injure it both by the i they _ 
absorb from it, and by hindering free interchange of gases 
and fluid between the cells of its interior and the air. The 
leaves wither and dry up, and the plants are insufficiently 
nourished, with evil effects to the roots. For a remedy, 
see Oidium. E5 ; 
Peronospora parasitica gives rise to another form of 
“Mildew” on the leaves. This shows itself in whitish — 
patches, which consist of erect stalks, much branched 
above, and bearing on the tips of the branches the 
nearly globose conidia or reproductive cells. The myce- 
lium of the Fungus burrows among the inner cells of 
the leaf, and only the stalks just spoken of are seen 
on the surface, passing out through the stomata. The 
sexual reproduction of the Fungus is also provided for by 
the mycelium in the leaves, as described under Perono- 
.. The upper surface of the leaves is mildewed by 
this Fungus far less frequently than the lower ; but the — 
| presence of the parasite is shown by yellowish-green or 
yellow patches on the surface. P. parasitica frequently 
; grows in the flower-stalks and in the flowers, which, 
under its influence, become much distorted and swollen, 
and fail to produce seeds. All parts in which it grows 
are liable to premature death and rapid putrefactive decay 
in moist air. For treatment, see > 
White Rust is very often associated with P. para- 
sitica, growing on the same spots of the plant, and 
