264 PRINCIPLES OF GARDENING. [CH. VIII. 



nature brought to matmitv, becoming putrid, and 

 smelling very offensively. On the last day of 

 August, when the bulbs of the turnips were about 

 the size of walnuts in the husk, the amburies were 

 as big as a goose's egg. These were irregular and 

 uncouth in their form, with inferior excrescences, 

 resembling the races of ginger, hanging to them. On 

 cutting them, their general appearance is that of a 

 hard turnip ; but on examining them through a mag- 

 nifier, there are veins or string-like vessels, dispersed 

 amongst the pulp. The smell and taste somewhat 

 resemble those of turnips, but without their mildness, 

 having an austere and somewhat disagreeable flavour 

 resembling that of an old stringy turnip. The tops of 

 those much affected turn yellow, and flag with the heat 

 of the sun, so that, in the day-time, they are obviously 

 distinguishable from those that are healthy. These 

 distortions manifest themselves veiy early in the 

 turnip s growth, even before the rough leaf is much 

 developed. Observation seems to have ascertained, 

 that if the bulbs have attained the size of a wal- 

 nut unaffected, they do not subsequently become 

 diseased. 



Mr. Spencer has already shewn, from established 

 facts, that the ambury does not arise from any im- 

 perfection of the seed sown ; for experience demon- 

 strates, that, in the same field and crop, the attax^ks 

 are very partial ; and crops in two adjoining fields, 



