360 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



tious kinds known. The Improved American is largely grown in this country both for table 

 and stock-feeding purposes, and is of fine quality and keeps well until summer. The Sweet 

 German and Long White French are both sweet -flavored and fine-grained and valuable for 

 table purposes ; they are quite similar in all respects, the latter being a variety of the former. 

 In good soil and under favorable circumstances, the Sweet German will grow very smooth 

 and regular in form, but under unfavorable conditions it often grows very uneven ; they both 

 require earlier sowing than other varieties of turnips. 



Cultivation. Turnips can be grown on almost any kind of soil, from sand down to 

 heavy clay and muck, but the common English turnip does best on a light sandy, or gravelly 

 loam, well-manured with superphosphates, bone-dust, or guano, and ashes applied at the time 

 of sowing the seed. Ruta-bagas thrive best on a heavy soil made very rich. Land that has 

 been newly cleared and burnt over, and old pasture ground plowed two or three times during 

 the summer, and enriched with superphosphates, bone-dust, or guano and ashes, as above 

 recommended, will produce the smoothest and sweetest turnips. &quot;When farm manure is 

 applied, it must be thoroughly decomposed, and made very fine, besides being well-mixed 

 with the soil. Fresh stable manure should never be used for turnips, as it injures the quality 

 of the crop for table use, giving them a strong, unpleasant flavor; besides, they are more lia 

 ble to be eaten by worms when farm manure is used than when commercial fertilizers are 

 applied; neither will the bulbs grow as regular in form, or as smooth. 



Land for turnips should be plowed to a moderate depth in the spring, about the time 

 of plowing for corn, and kept free from weeds by an occasional harrowing. Just before sow 

 ing the seed, it should be plowed again and thoroughly harrowed, that the soil may be well- 

 pulverized and moist, to induce an early germination of the seed, and rapid growth. 



The fertilizers used should be applied broadcast, and well-mixed with the harrow. A 

 rapid growth is of importance in order to get the plants beyond the danger of injury by 

 insects as soon as possible. The sowing may be broadcast or in drills, though the largest 

 crops are obtained by the latter method, which admits of after-culture, and which is a great 

 benefit to the crop, while the former does not. 



From one and a half to two pounds of seed will be required per acre for broadcast sow 

 ing, and from one to one and a half sowed in drills. This is a larger quantity than would 

 be required providing all the seeds should germinate, and the plants thrive; but as some will 

 not, and many plants will be destroyed by the turnip-fly, or other insects, it is safe to sow 

 liberally. One-half inch is a sufficient covering for the seed. 



It is best to put in the seed just before a rain, as this will afford a better escape from 

 the fly, and induce a quick germination and growth. 



For the fall and principal crop of the English or common turnip, the sowing at the 

 North may be from the middle of July to the last of August; at the South, it may be delayed 

 until later, according to the latitude. If in drills, the rows should be from sixteen to eigh 

 teen inches apart. When the plants are well started, or when the rough leaf is fairly devel 

 oped, they should be thinned out to about six or eight inches apart. This may be done with 

 a small hoe the first time, cutting out rows so as to leave small tufts of four or five plants at 

 regular intervals. After the plants rally from this operation, the surplus ones may be 

 removed, leaving the strongest and most vigorous plant of each tuft for growth. This may 

 be done by hand, but it involves considerable labor in a stooping posture, which, to say the 

 least, is very uncomfortable. This labor can, with little practice, be very easily performed 

 with a hand-hoe; it is accomplished by an alternate thrusting and drawing motion of the hoe, 

 a little practice of which will enable the operator to perform so successfully that double plants 

 or vacant spaces will be very rare in the rows. The single plants should be from eight to ten 

 inches apart after the last thinning process. 



The weeds should be kept down with a cultivator or horse-hoe, and the soil stirred in 



