136 KITCHEN-GARDENING. 



TURNIPS. NAVET. Brassica rapa. 



The turnip is a wholesome and useful plant for both man 

 and beast, and eminently worthy of cultivation. 



" Until the beginning of the eighteenth century, this valua- 

 ble root was cultivated only in gardens, 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 this root 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 gradu- 

 ally 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 upwards of SIXTY MILLIONS OF 

 DOLLARS). But when we further recollect, that it enables the 

 agriculturists 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, or of Clover ; and that 

 this Clover is found a most excellent preparative 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 



