TURNIP. 



TURNIP. 



lime per acre, scattered over the plants early 

 in the morning, when the slugs are active, is a 

 certain method of destroying them. Perhaps 

 the very best preservative from ail the above 

 diseases may be stated to be liberal manuring, 

 adapted to the soil ; thorough clearing of the 

 land from weeds ; and, in short, pursuing the 

 steps above detailed for securing a full crop. 

 The vigour of the plants in such cases, and 

 their rapid vegetation, often enable them to 

 overcome many serious attacks. 



Storing. There are different modes of per- 

 forming this useful practice. The common 

 way is to take up the turnips, choosing dry 

 weather, cutting off the leaves and taproots 

 (provincially called topping and tailing), which 

 operation should be performed with as much 

 exactness as possible, so as not to wound the 

 bulb, as this would cause the turnip to rot ; nor 

 yet to leave much of the leaves, as this would 

 make the turnip vegetate on receiving a slight 

 degree of heat ; after this the turnips are 

 placed in a well-aired situation, adjoining to 

 the feeding byre, in a narrow tapering ridge, 

 similar to potato pits, and this is covered with 

 straw and secured with ropes. The situation 

 chosen for the store should be as dry as pos- 

 sible. The heaps must not be covered with 

 earth, like potatoes ; for this would cause the 

 turnips to heat and completely destroy them. 



But as this practice of storing is only adapt- 

 ed for the Swedish and yellow varieties, the 

 white globe variety possessing too much water 

 to be preserved for any length of time, another 

 method is often practised by what is called 

 placing. The tap-roots being taken off, the 

 bulbs, with the leaves, are placed close together 

 in the position they grew, upon some dry place 

 near to where they are to be consumed. In 

 this way they will keep longer than if they had 

 been left in the field, as they are not so apt to 

 run to seed. 



But even the placing system has its objec- 

 tions ; for if a tract of dry weather set in, the 

 turnips, from being merely on the surface, be- 

 come soft and shrivelled, and not so palatable 

 to the cattle, and will even continue so for a 

 considerable time, although the weather should 

 be rainy, until the fibres begin to take hold of the 

 soil ; and another objection is, that if the turnips 

 are not placed near the steading, the destruction 

 from game, hares, wood-pigeons, &c. is very 

 great, particularly if the turnip -be Swedish. 



In order, therefore, to remedy these objec- 

 tions, another method has been adopted, which 

 has been found to answer every purpose in- 

 tended. The turnips are brought from the 

 field, without either "topping or tailing," to a 

 piece of dry ground near the straw-yard ; then 

 a man with one horse in a plough makes a 

 straight furrow ; the turnips are then placed in 

 the furrow quite close together, till the whole 

 is filled from end to end ; then the man with 

 the plough moves round to where he com- 

 menced, drawing another furrow just as close 

 to the turnips as to enable him to cover them, 

 and so on alternately, the men making the fur- 

 row and covering the turnips, while the women 

 and girls lay in the turnips. By this method 

 the turnips keep as fresh, preserving all their 

 natural juice and are as well relished by the 



cattle as though they were taken from the field ; 

 thus' allowing the land to be sown with wheat. 



The report of the Harleston Farmers' Club 

 for 1839, affirms that the best method of pre- 

 serving roots during the winter, is by clamping 

 them, both as regards protection from frost and 

 maintaining their quality ; and that the follow- 

 ing is a very effectual method of making the 

 clamps : Select a convenient and dry situa- 

 tion, and pack the roots carefully, with their 

 crowns outside, in a row about 6 feet wide at 

 the bottom, and terminating in a narrow ridge 

 at the top ; then dig a trench, commencing im- 

 mediately at the edge of the roots, 2 feet wide 

 and 1 deep, turning the mould from the heap ; 

 thatch the latter carefully with straw, com- 

 mencing in the trench, so that all the rain* may 

 drain off the heap into it. The clamp may be 

 left two or three weeks in this state, that the 

 evaporation from the roots may escape ; the 

 mould already taken out of the trench is then 

 to be laid on the straw, commencing at the bot- 

 tom of the thatch, and covering the heap 12 

 inches thick throughout, finishing with a sharp 

 edge. Half the trench originally made will, 

 of course, by this plan be filled up with straw 

 and mould; the other half will remain as a 

 channel for the water falling off the heap ; and, 

 as sufficient mould will not have been raised 

 from the original excavation, it will be advis- 

 able, in procuring more, to make the channel 

 left round the heap a few inches deeper, as 

 well as wider. If the roots are stored late in 

 the season, and the probability of frost setting 

 in renders it necessary to cover the heap with 

 mould as soon as it is made, it would be better 

 to leave the top uncovered for a week or ten 

 days longer, that the heat may escape. There 

 is no objection to the roots being wet and dirty 

 when they are clamped : the tops should be cut 

 off, but not too close to the crown ; the roots 

 and fibres should be left on. 



In England, the turnip crops cultivated with 

 so much care and at so much cost, yield a 

 most abundant supply of vegetable matter, 

 most of which, owing to the comparatively 

 mild winters, is left on and in the ground to be 

 eaten off by sheep. This adds great fertility 

 to the soil and prepares it for producing those 

 astonishingly luxuriant crops of wheat of 40, 

 50 and 60 bushels to the acre. The profits of 

 the turnip crop, either direct or indirect, must 

 be very great, to authorize a tenant on land 

 loaded with taxes, to go to an expense of nearly 

 $50 per acre in putting in his root crop, as 

 may be seen in the article APPRAISEMENT, 

 where the details of expenditures in putting in 

 only 17 acres of Swedish turnips are estimated 

 at 117 15s. sterling, equal to nearly $900, of 

 federal money, a sum actually paid for the 

 crop in the ground by an incoming tenant. 

 The root crops of Britain which form the basis 

 of her agricultural prosperity, can only be par- 

 tially carried on in the United States, owing to 

 the severity of the winter, by which every thing 

 on or near the surface of the ground is bound 

 in early and enduring frost. But then, where 

 cold thus opposes a barrier, a high summer 

 heat opens a new resource, and where nature 

 obstructs the way in one direction, she opens 

 others to agricultural thrift. One of these is 

 4 X 1069 



