H5* TURNIP. 



taining a considerable proportion of coal, wood, peat, or 

 soaper's ashes. Ground that has been well manured for 

 preceding crops, and also ground fresh broken up, will suit 

 well for Turnips. 



Previous to sowing Turnip seed, the gardener should 

 procure a suitable quantity of lime, soot, or tobacco dust, so 

 as to be prepared for the attacks of insects. It should be 

 recollected that Turnip seed will sometimes sprout within 

 forty-eight hours after it is sown, and that very frequently 

 whole crops are devoured before a plant is seen above 

 ground. A peck of either of these ingredients, mixed with 

 about an equal quantity of ashes, or even dry road dust, 

 sown morning and evening for the first week after sowing 

 the seed, would secure an acre of ground, provided it be so 

 contrived that the wind carry it over the whole piece of 

 land, and as it often changes, this may be effected by cross- 

 ing the land in a different direction every time according as 

 the wind may serve. 



As some very erroneous ideas have been extensively cir- 

 culated in respectable periodicals, respecting the cultivation 

 of this valuable root, I would earnestly recommend that 

 particular attention be paid to the time of sowing the seed, 

 for if the first crop be not sown soon enough* to be gathered 

 early in July, they are seldom fit for the table, being hot, 

 stringy, and wormy ; and if the crop intended for Autumn 

 and Winter use be sown long before August, unless it be a 

 very favourable season^ if even they escape the attacks of 

 insects and reptiles, they often get so defective, that they 

 seldom keep the >Vinter. 



To have Turnips in perfection, they should be hoed in 

 about a month after they are sown,, or by the time the plants 

 spread a circle of about four inches, and again, in about a 

 month from the first hoeing, leaving them from six to nine 

 inches apart, they will yield the cultivator more profit this 

 way, than when left to nature, as. is too frequently done. 



It is generally admitted that one pound of Turnip seed is 

 amply sufficient for an acre of ground, yet some will use 

 considerably more, because of the difficulty of distributing so 

 small a quantity of seed regularly broadcast. This, difficulty 



