CRUCIFER&. LXXXIII. BRASSICA. 



243 



able time for sowing Turnips for autumn use ; the first of these 

 will be fit for the kitchen in September, and will improve in 

 growth from Michaelmas to Christmas, and should a moderate 

 winter follow, they will continue in perfection until the following 

 spring. Care must be taken to sow immediately after the 

 ground is prepared. The sixth and last crops of the season 

 should be sown at the beginning and towards the latter end of 

 August, taking advantage of moist weather. The kinds best for 

 this sowing are all the yellow Turnips, viz. Dutch, Aberdeen, 

 and Maltese ; however in families, where the colour of these 

 may be objected to, the common round white may be substi- 

 tuted ; but is not so hardy, nor so good a root for keeping." 



Seed estimate. For a seed-bed four feet and a half by twenty- 

 four feet, sown broad-cast, the plants to remain and be trimmed 

 to seven inches distance from each other, half an ounce. 



Process of sowing. Let the ground be well broken by well 

 digging, and neatly levelled to receive the seed. Procure bright 

 well dried seed ; the seed may be then put into the ground 

 either alone or mixed with sand. 



Precautions against the fly. " It appears from a trial of Mr. 

 Knight, at the suggestion of Sir Humphrey Davy, that lime 

 slaked with urine, and mixed with a treble quantity of soot, if 

 sprinkled in with the seed at the time of sowing, will protect the 

 seeds and germs from the ravages of the fly, but this antidote 

 cannot be applied unless the sowing be in drills. A simpler re- 

 medy, which has been found by Mr. Mean to be perfectly suc- 

 cessful, is to steep the seed in sulphur-water, putting an ounce 

 of sulphur to a pint of water, which will be sufficient for soaking 

 three pounds of seed." Abercrombie. Arch. Gorrie, a gardener 

 of merit, tried several methods without effect. At last he 

 tried dusting the rows when the plants were in the seed-leaf, with 

 quick-lime. He says, " a bushel of quick-lime is sufficient to 

 dust over an acre of drilled Turnips ; and a boy may soon be 

 taught to lay it on almost as fast as he could walk along the 

 drills. If the seed-leaves are powdered in the least degree, it 

 is sufficient ; but should rain wash the lime off before the Tur- 

 nips are in the secondary leaves, it may be necessary to repeat 

 the operation if the fly begin to make its appearance." Cal. hort. 

 mem. vol. 1. 



Mixing equal parts of old seed with new, and then dividing 

 the mixture, and steeping one half of it twenty-four hours in 

 water, has often been tried with effect and especially by farmers. 

 By this means, four different times of vegetation are procured, 

 and consequently four different chances of escaping the fly. 

 Radish-seed, is also frequently mixed with that of the Turnip, 

 and the fly preferring the former, the latter is allowed to escape. 

 Loud. ency. gard. One of the easiest methods, Mr. Neill observes, 

 " is to sow thick, and thus ensure a sufficiency both for the fly and 

 the crop." " But the most effectual preventive on a large scale 

 is found in sowing late, where that can be done ; the fly in its 

 beetle state having fed on other herbage disappears before the 

 Turnip comes into leaf." Loud. I. c. " In the heat of summer it is 

 of great importance to wait for rain, if the ground be too exten- 

 sive to be properly watered ; for the fermentation, caused by 

 copious rain, and heat, gives an extraordinary quick vegetation 

 to the seed, which in a few days will be in the rough leaf and out 

 of all danger from the fly. This insect is weakened or killed 

 by drenching showers, and does no injury to the Turnip when 

 much rain falls. When a crop is destroyed by the fly, the ne- 

 cessary reparation is immediately to dig, or stir the ground, and 

 make another sowing, watering soon and occasionally afterwards, 

 unless rain falls." Loud. I. c. 



Subsequent culture. " As soon as the plants have leaves about 

 an inch broad, hoe and thin them to six or eight square inches 

 distance, cutting up weeds. As the Turnips increase in the 

 root, a part may be drawn by progressive thinnings, so as 



to leave those designed to reach a full size ultimately ten or 

 twelve square inches. Water garden crops sometimes in hot 

 dry weather." 



Taking in the crop and preserving it by housing. In succes- 

 sive crops begin to draw as directed above in a thinning order, 

 that such others as are coming forward may have room to enlarge 

 in succession, by which means a regular supply will be procured 

 till March or April of the second season ; specific sorts being 

 sufficiently hardy to continue good through ordinary winters. 

 But of the winter crops for the table, draw a portion occasion- 

 ally in November, December, or whenever there is an appearance 

 of the frost setting in severe. Cut the tops off close and house 

 the roots in some lower shed or cellar, laid in sand ready for use 

 while the ground is frozen. " Instead of cutting the top and 

 roots close off, some prefer leaving about an inch of the top, 

 and the whole of the root ; and, when the bulbs are kept in a 

 sufficiently cool store, this seems preferable, as more likely to 

 retain the sap." Abercrombie. 



Turnip-tops. These are to be gathered from the earlier spring- 

 produced leaves, either from the crown or flower-stalk. They 

 are equally good from any of the varieties, and less acrid from 

 those of the Swedish Turnip. Sometimes very late sowings are 

 made in September and October, which never bulb, but which 

 are preserved entirely for their produce as greens in spring. 

 London, I. c. 



Field Turnips. Where a family can be supplied from the 

 field, the roots will always be found of a better flavour, and the 

 same remark applies to all the culinary kinds of Brassica, Cauli- 

 flower and Brocoli excepted. 



Varieties commonly cultivated in the fields. These may be 

 arranged as whites and yellows. 



1 White Turnips. By far the best and most generally cultivated, 

 is the globe, but there are also the green-topped and purple- 

 topped, which though they do not produce so large a crop as. 

 the globe or oval, stand the winter better, and the red-topped, it 

 is said, will keep till February. The pudding or tankard Turnip, 

 has a white bulb which rises from eight to twelve inches high, 

 standing almost wholly above the ground. It is less prolific 

 than any of the others, and more liable to be injured by frost. 



2 Yellow Turnips. There is the yellow field Turnip, which is 

 more hardy than the globe, and answers well for succeeding that 

 variety in spring, as well as the Swedish Turnip, which may be 

 preserved for consumption in June. See B. Campestris Rutabtiga. 

 The Siberian Turnip has a bulb and a branching top, but both 

 of inferior quality. It is said to be a hybrid between the White 

 Swedish Turnip and field Cabbage, or between the Rape and the 

 Cabbage. The sorts are limited by the best farmers to the 

 white globe, yellow, and Swedish, according as early, middling, 

 or late supplies are wanted. 



Choice of seed. Farmers must rely on the integrity of the 

 seed-dealer, as it is impossible to discover by the grains whether 

 the sorts are true. Turnip seed requires to be frequently changed, 

 and the best is generally procured from Norfolk and Northum- 

 berland. Those who wish to have Turnips in perfection should 

 procure fresh seed from Norfolk every year, for after two 

 years it degenerates. New seed is preferable to old, as it vege- 

 tates several days sooner, and more vigorously, and it is well 

 known that the healthy and vigorous plants escape the fly, while 

 the stunted or sickly seldom or never escape it. Hence it would 

 seem that plants raised from fresh or new seed are more secure 

 from the fly than those raised from old seeds. 



Soil, should always be of a light description, as they can 

 never be advantageously cultivated on wet tenacious soils, but 

 are grown on all comparatively dry soils under all the variations 

 of our climate, but even in clayey soils they are frequently cul- 

 tivated, though on a smaller scale, to be eaten by cattle, for the 

 li 2 



