Ch. XVIII.] ON TURNIPS, 245 



Turnips thus stored at Hallowtide have been found perfectly sound in 

 the following April, and it is the only certain mode of securing a supply 

 on farms situated as those to which we have alluded. They however lose 

 a portion of their nutritive juices ; and become so much less pahitable to 

 cattle than those taken fresh from the ground, that if a root in the most 

 perfect apparent state of preservation be taken from the heap, and offered 

 to a cow together with one newly drawn from the field, she will invariably 

 prefer the latter. Unless, therefore, in those northern districts where the 

 frosts set in early, and are often severe as well as lasting, most farmers 

 wlio have land sufficiently dry to allow of the turnips being carted without 

 poaching the ground, content themselves with only drawing such a cjuan- 

 tity at a time as may suffice for the consumption of their stall-fed stock for 

 two or three weeks and placing the heaps without further care under sheds. 

 They may thus remain during that time in safety ; for, if frost-bitten, they 

 may be thawed bv being left a very few hours under water ; but if kept 

 longer they will decay ; and if exposed to the heat of the cattle-sheds, they 

 will become putrid. 



There are some, however, who adopt a less troublesome and equally 

 cft'ectual mode for the preservation of turnips, which are sown in drills, 

 and meant to stand throughout the winter. They are drawn, by the 

 " grubber" described below, in the months of November and December, 

 and the bulbs are placed, with the top entire, and only a small portion of 

 the root cut off, in the centre furrow, upright, making one furrow con- 

 t;iin the jjlants which grow upon two or thi'ee ridges, and taking care that 

 the bottom of each plant shall touch the ground. The soil is then ploughed 

 up to them, covering the outer edges ; and if the weather be very severe, a 

 little straw or any species of litter is thrown over them. Those that re- 

 main unconsumed in February are then removed to the quarter where they 

 will be required for consumption, and placed close as possible to each other 

 iq)on grass land, having then the remainder of the root cut off. This plan 

 has the advantage of preserving the turnips in the best order, alike free from 

 exhaustion by growth, and from decay by too much exposure, as well as 

 preventing the attacks of wood-pigeons and crows, which commence their 

 dejiredations at the season when their usual food begins to fail. The soil 

 is also less deteriorated by this mode, than it would be by allowing tlie plant 

 to reniain in the land*. 



The {)rocess of grubbing is indeed seldom omitted even when the turnips 

 are fed off upon the ground, and is performed with a two-pronged fork of 

 this form : — 



with wliich one man will grub up in a day as much as will serve seven 

 or eight score of Southdown sheep; or, if the land is dry, the turnip 

 may be turned by tlie plough t- 



■••= Library of Useful Knowledge ; Reports of Select Farms, No. 1. p. 9. 



t Kigby's Holkham, ortl edit. p. 11. " In deep snows, too, the turnips may lie unco- 

 vered by the use of an instrument called a snow sledge, which is simply formed of two 

 or three deal boards, iVom seven to nine feet long, and ten or twelve iuches deep, set 

 upon their edges in the form of an equilateral triangle, and strongly secured together 

 at the angles, at one of which is fastened a hook or eye to hang the horses to. Being 

 thus drawn along the ground it forces the snow into a ridge, and a strip of turnips is 

 laid bare without receiving any material damage." — Malcolm's Surv. of Surrey and 

 Sussex, vol, ii, p. 415. 



