THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



their full size, and consequently they only succeed well where the 

 climate is moist and cool, or where the weather in summer is not 

 very dry. Nothing, in fact, is more injurious to Turnips than dry, 

 hot weather, which causes destructive insects to become more 

 active in their ravages, while the growth of the plants is at the 

 same time, so to say, suspended by it. While it lasts, they form 

 no new leaves, and those which they already have are riddled into 

 holes and almost entirely destroyed by the Turnip-fly, to the great 

 injury of the growth of the roots. 



Early Red-top Flat Auvergne Turnip. Root very flat on 

 the top, about 2 in. deep, and often 6 or 7 in. across ; skin very 

 smooth, and a rather pale violet-red for the whole of the upper 

 portion of the root ; flesh white, rather soft and watery ; leaves tall, 



divided, broad, and numerous. This 

 is a very productive variety, and 

 succeeds best in granitic or schistose 

 soils. It is more grown for feeding 

 cattle than for table use. 



The local strains of Auvergne 

 Turnip are very numerous and 

 cannot well be divided into early 

 or late sorts ; the beautiful Lezoux 

 variety is an example of this : it 

 is quite flat below and above, about 

 three times as broad as it is thick, 

 and attains the size of a Basque 

 beret or cap, which it resembles in 

 shape. In a sense it is early, as it 

 bulbs rapidly, but, on the other hand, 

 it takes a long time to develop fully. 

 Late Auvergne Turnip. Root 

 two-thirds sunk in the ground, top- 

 shaped, but tolerably flattened, 3 or 4 in. deep, and about 6 in. 

 across ; the upper portion is of a violet-red, or rather dark bronzy 

 colour ; leaves broad and stout, more tufty in growth and darker 

 in colour than those of the Early variety. This variety is even 

 more suitable for field culture than the preceding one, being 

 seldom grown for table use outside of its native district. The 

 central plateau of France, on account of its elevated position, 

 possesses a climate very favourable to the cultivation of large- 

 sized Turnips, and there we find the two largest kinds of Turnips 

 that are grown in France, namely, the Auvergne and the Limousin 

 varieties. 



The Ayres Turnip, which is grown in the departments of Tarn 

 and Tarn-et-Garonne, appears to us to be identical with the Late 

 Auvergne Turnip. 



Late Auvergne Turnip (\ natural size). 



