VARIETIES OF TURNIP. 345 



dium sativum, garden-cress ; Nasturtium officinale, water- 

 cress ; Raphanus sativus, garden radish ; Sinapis alba and 

 nigra ; Sisymbrium sophia, flix weed. 



Brassica rapa, the common turnip, and Brassica campestris, 

 the Swedish turnip or rutabaga, have become the care of the 

 husbandman more than of the gardener. The most esteemed 

 garden sorts are the following : 



Early Dutch. 

 Early stone. 

 Green-topped white, 

 Long white. 



Yellow Maltese. 

 Dutch yellow. 

 Aberdeen yellow. 

 Teltow. 



" Besides these, the navet of the French (Brassica napus v. 

 esculenta) is occasionally cultivated, and more frequently the 

 Swedish turnip or rutabaga (Brassica campestris v. Nopo bras- 

 sica), which is a most excellent winter sort, though it belongs 

 more properly to the farm. For early crops the white Dutch 

 is the principal variety ; the other white sorts, and the beauti- 

 ful yellow Maltese, are useful in summer and in the beginning 

 of autumn. The yellow Dutch being capable of enduring a 

 considerable degree of frost, affords the most appropriate win- 

 ter supply. The teltow, or French turnip, is remarkable for 

 being high-flavoured, and is used only for seasoning to soups 

 or stews." * 



For the varieties, and other interesting particulars of the 

 field-turnip, reference must be made to works on agriculture, f 

 It will be sufficient here to give some information respecting 

 the chemical analysis of this important vegetable. 



Owing to the large proportion of water present in the tur- 

 nip, its nutritive value, to judge by weight, does not rank high. 

 By drying in vacuo at 230 Fahrenheit, the relative proportion 

 of solid and liquid matter is estimated as follows : 



* Neill, 'The Fruit, Flower, and Kitchen Garden,' p. 224. 

 t See Stephens's 'Book of the Farm,' vol. i. p. 189 et seq. 



