TURNIP DISEASE. 75 



held in the hand and very slightly pulled, they will com- 

 pletely separate from the bulb. 



(301.) This rot at the root does not take place in very 

 young turnips ; it is requisite that they should have at- 

 tained a certain growth before that appearance is exhibited. 

 The leaf, however, does not require that age, as I have 

 seen young leaves curl, turn brown, and die at a very 

 early period of their growth, though generally they attain 

 a fair size before that occurs. 



(302.) If a turnip be examined in a state not so far ad- 

 vanced in decomposition as in the instance which I have 

 already described, it will be found to present a remarkable 

 analogy with the rotten potatoe ; and the spiral vessels 

 certainly do appear to have some influence on the malady, 

 probably from the excess of oxygen peculiar to that part 

 of the bulb favoring the decay. (Plate vn., fig. 2.) 



(303.) In the turnip, then, the disease appears at the 

 spiral vessels, and extends inwards towards the centre. 

 The part between the spiral vessels and the exterior does 

 not seem so prone to take on the malady. 



(304.) During the progress of the disease the most 

 offensive odor is exhaled from the plant. It is much worse 

 than the effluvia emanating from the diseased potatoe ; and, 

 in fact, when the turnip root is decayed, it iamore damaged 

 than the potatoe. In the turnip there is no starch to be left, 

 and it, therefore, becomes a mere mass of offensive putre- 

 faction. 



(305.) From my observations, I should infer, that if we 

 left turnips as long in the ground, comparatively with the 

 development of the plant, as we do potatoes, the disease 

 would be found to be equally extensive ; but the fact is, 

 we use turnips at an earlier period of the growth of the 



