AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 187 



a. Uncouth form, Dale's hybrid Turnip. /. Globe-formed Turnip. 



b. Egg-formed Kuta Baga. g. Cheese- formed Turnip, or a "flattened 



c. Worthless Jiuta Baga, long-necked and spheroid." 



branch-rooted. h. Flat-formed Turnip. 



d. Inferior heart-shaped Turnip. i. Double concave form, as yellow Malta. 



e. Superior heart-shaped Turnip. 



Of the kinds named above, the early red- top, sometimes call- 

 ed purple-top, the Aberdeen, and the Russia, or ruta baga, 

 will meet all the ordinary demands of a family. The early 

 Dutch and stone are good varieties, and with some persons the 

 long, or tankard, recently sometimes called French, is a favor- 

 ite ; but the red-top is of the freest growth and of the best 

 quality of white turnips, and will supply the table for summer 

 use, and from early fall until New Year. The yellow globe, or 

 Aberdeen, may succeed it until late in March, after which the 

 Russia alone may be used until new vegetables come in. 



Common turnips may be sown in drills from twelve to eight- 

 N een inches apart, or broadcast upon fine, light, well-prepared 

 soil. In either case let the seed be but lightly raked in, and 

 if the weather is very dry, give water, using an ordinary rose 

 watering-pot. When sown very early or very late, water them 

 occasionally in the course of their growth with liquid manure, 

 or top-dress them with ash compost or some other stimulating 

 application ; hoe repeatedly, and thin them carefully to three 

 or four inches apart. 



With this treatment, the early kinds sometimes furnish good 

 roots before the summer heat spoils them, or succeed well for 

 winter use, though sown even as late as the beginning of Sep- 

 tember. 



In moist and misty climates turnips may be sown to advant- 

 age in early spring, but in our climate it is seldom that spring- 

 sown turnips are fit to eat. In general, they serve only for 

 flavoring summer soup. 



Russia turnip, or ruta baga, when sown in the garden and 

 intended for family use, should not be sown earlier than from 

 the first to the middle of July at New York and the North 

 generally say from two to four weeks earlier than the fall 

 sowing of the common kinds, and should always be sown in 

 drills, and carefully hastened in its growth by hoeing and top- 

 dressing. See also Turnip Bug, page 102. 



