TURNIP. 103 



" Culture of Turnips. Until the beginning of the eigh- 

 teenth century, this valuable root was cultivated only in gar- 

 dens, or other small spots, for culinary purposes ; but Lord 

 Townsend, who attended King George the First in one of 

 his excursions to Germany, in the quality of Secretary of 

 State, observing the Turnip cultivated in open and extensive 

 fields, as fodder for cattle, and spreading fertility over lands 

 naturally barren, on his return to England brought over some 

 of the seed, and strongly recommended the practice which 

 he had witnessed, to the adoption of his own tenants, who 

 occupied a soil similar to that of Hanover. The experiment 

 succeeded ; the cultivation of Field Turnips gradually spread 

 over the whole county of Norfolk, and has made its way into 

 every other district of England. Some of the finest grain 

 crops in the world are now growing upon land, which be- 

 fore the introduction of the Turnip husbandry, produced a 

 very scanty supply of grass for a few lean and half-starved 

 rabbits." 



Mr. Colquhoun, in his * Statistical Researches,'' estimated 

 the value of the Turnip crop annually growing in the United 

 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, at fourteen million 

 pounds sterling, (equal to upward of SIXTY MILLIONS OF DOL- 

 LARS.) But when we farther recollect, that it enables the 

 agriculturist to reclaim and cultivate land, which, without its 

 aid, would remain in a hopeless state of natural barrenness ; 

 that it leaves the land clean and in fine condition, and also 

 insures a good crop of Barley, and a kind plant of Clover ; 

 and that this Clover is found a most excellent pieparative 

 for Wheat, it will appear that the subsequent advantages 

 derived from a crop of Turnips must infinitely exceed its 

 estimated value as fodder for cattle. 



The preceding remarks show the kind of land that may 

 be made capable of producing not only Turnips, but other 

 things of equal value. It must, however, be granted, that 

 some soils naturally suit particular kinds of vegetables better 

 than others, and that, in general, exotic plants will succeed 



