No. 4.] FIELD CROPS. 329 



changes take place in the root which render them less lax- 

 ative and richer in available nutrients. 



Swedes. 



Concerning this crop T shall be very brief, both because 

 it is comparatively unimportant with us, and because in 

 many respects it is subject to the same conditions which 

 affect the mangels. 



The Swede is an improved form of a species found wild 

 in various parts of Europe and Siberia, but most abundantly 

 in the northern portions. It has been cultivated much longer 

 than the beet; according to De Candolle, for more than 

 four thousand years, or at least some varieties of turnips 

 have been cultivated that length of time. The Swede was 

 not, however, extensively cultivated as a field crop among 

 the English until about 1730. It is now, in a sense, the 

 foundation of English stock farming, being after grass the 

 principal stock food of the country. Swedes and English 

 turnips combined, in 1.S94, occupied 1,424,000 acres of 

 land in England, the only crops more largely grown being 

 grass, wheat, barley and oats. With us it has been and is 

 in large measure affected by the conditions discussed in con- 

 nection with mangels, and the results have in general been 

 similar. The Swede, however, occupies the land a con- 

 siderably shorter time than mangels, and, growing much 

 more rapidly, the cost is less. 



On the other hand, though highly relished and exceed- 

 ingly wholesome, the turnip cannot be as freely used as food 

 for cows as the mangel, as it imparts its peculiar flavor to 

 dairy products, unless used in only moderate quantities and 

 fed just after milking. 



Soil and Manures. 



The turnip may be cultivated upon a considerable variety 

 of soils, but does best on those not too heavy. On the 

 heavy soils the roots are likely, to be branched excessively, 

 and are of inferior appearance and quality. The crop is a 

 rank feeder and an exhaustive one to the soil. I should 

 generally use both manure and fertilizers in growing it. 



