368 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



ing, and diuretic, having an oily balsamic 

 juice, proper to correct the sharp salts of the 

 humours, and to recruit the solid parts.* 



The liquor pressed from them after boiling, 

 or a decoction, taken with sugar, at going to 

 bed, is good for a cough and hoarseness. Or 

 the syrup of turnips being extracted by 

 baking, and mixed with honey, has the same 

 beneficial effect. 



Neither the ingenuity of the agriculturist, 

 nor the attention of the husbandman, has yet 

 been able to find the means of destroying an 

 enemy to the crops of this vegetable, which 

 often ruins the hopes of the farmer and the 

 expectation of the shepherd. These ravages 

 are committed by a small insect that eats the 

 first leaves and heart of the plant; but, as 

 these flies droop after the middle of August, 

 turnips sown after that period are less liable 

 to the depredations of these voracious insects. 



If the sowing of hemp-seed in belts around 

 plantations of cabbage will protect them 

 from insects, may it not have the same effect 

 on the turnip ? Evelyn observes, that in his 

 time it was the custom about Sandwich and 

 Deal, to edge and fence the fields with flax 



# James. 



