632 RADICACEOVS ESCULENTS. 



up in the manner of potatoes. Hence a large portion of the kitchen- 

 garden is devoted to this crop. A well-grown turnip has a large, 

 smooth, symmetrical bulb, a small neck, and a small root or tail, with 

 few fibres, except near its lower extremity. In the rotation the 

 turnip follows the potato, the leguminous family, or any crop not 

 cruciferous. 



Varieties. Early White Dutch, Red Top, American Stone, Early 

 Snowball, Early Stone, and American Strap Leaf, are among the best 

 and sweetest varieties. The Yellow Stone, Yellow Malta, Yellow 

 Altringham, are good summer sorts; while for winter use no better 

 can be sown than the Black Stone, Orange Jelly, and Jersey Navet. 

 These should be sown on light dry soil in August or early in Septem- 

 ber to draw from the open ground throughout the winter. 



Culture. The turnip should be sown in drills from a foot to fifteen 

 inches apart, and thinned to six inches between the plants. The seed 

 comes up in ten days or a fortnight, according to the season. The soil 

 should be in good heart, and well pulverized. A sowing should be 

 made once in March, and twice in April, for the earliest crops ; and 

 afterwards at intervals of a fortnight, till the end of August, for a 

 winter crop or for plants to stand through the winter to shoot up and 

 supply greens in February, March, and April. The main crops of 

 turnips should be sown in the latter end of June. All sorts should 

 be sown in drills, as admitting of stirring the soil among the plants 

 with less labour. The earliest and latest crops should be of the early 

 Dutch, as coming into use sooner in autumn, and sending up sprouts 

 soonest in spring. The routine culture consists in weeding, thinning, 

 stirring the soil, and supplying water abundantly in very dry weather, 

 to prevent the roots from becoming tough and stringy ; taking great 

 care, when stirring the soil, not to earth up the roots, which, on strong 

 soils, might prevent their swelling. 



In gathering the root the entire plant is necessarily pulled up, and 

 the tops and tails taken at once to the rubbish-heap. Choose the 

 largest, and take them from the most crowded parts of the rows, to 

 make more room for the growth of those which remain. In gathering 

 the tops in spring, the tenderest leaves only are taken, whether from 

 the crowns of plants that have not yet run, or from the flower-stems. 

 Some also gather the points of the stems, which, however, are much 

 less delicate than the leaves, but excellent to salt beef. The leaves 

 and tops are good from all the varieties ; but sweetest from the 

 Swedish turnip, which is seldom grown in gardens, 



Preserving Turnips through the Winter. In ordinary winters neither 

 the yellow nor the Swedish turnip require to be covered ; but as when 

 left exposed they will begin to vegetate, in February a portion of the 

 crop should be taken up, topped (but not tailed, which would favour 

 the escape of sap), and preserved in sand or straw in the root-cellar, 

 or in a ridge like potatoes ; and like them so thickly thatched as to 

 exclude both heat and rain, and maintain a degree of coolness that 

 will prevent vegetation. Or the rows as they stand on the ground may 

 have the leaves cut off and covered with soil, so as to form them into 



