TUR 



TUR 



cut it into small strips and divide 

 these into pieces of a square inch in 

 size, or somewhat more, for the pur- 

 pose of laying land to grass by inocu- 

 lalion. This is only a partial turfing, 

 which extends rapidly, and, in the 

 course of a very few years, converts 

 a field which was not very produc- 

 tive, as arable land, into a valuable 

 meadow, especially if it is so situated 

 as to be capable of occasional irri- 

 gation." 



TURKEY. See Poultry. 



TURMERIC. " The root of the 

 Curcuma longa. This root yields a 

 fine yellow powder, which is occa- 

 sionally used as a d\-e-stuff in medi- 

 cine ; it also forms one of the ingre- 

 dients of curry poicdcr. Paper stain- 

 ed with turmeric is often used in the 

 chemical laboratory as a test of the 

 presence of free alkalies and their 

 carbonates, by which its yellow col- 

 our is converted to brown." 



TURNER'S CERATE. It is made 

 by melting half a pound of yellow 

 wax with two pounds of lard, and, 

 when cool, working into the mixture 

 half a pound of prepared calamine. 

 It is used to excoriations, or galled 

 places, burns, and is a mild astrin- 

 gent. 



TURNIP. Brassicarapa. -'This 

 well-known plant is cultivated for its 

 bulbous roots, both in the garden and 

 the field. As a culinary root it has 

 been prized from the earliest times, 

 and many varieties have been culti- 

 vated for the table ; but it is those of 

 a larger kind, cultivated in the fields, 

 which form so important a part of 

 the most improved systems of agri- 

 culture on all light soils, that the suc- 

 cess of the farmer is, in general, pro- 

 portioned to the quantity of turnips 

 raised on his farm. They are the 

 great foundation of all the best sys- 

 tems of cropping, by supplying the 

 manure required for the subsequent 

 crop, and, at the same time, clearing 

 the land of all noxious weeds, by the 

 numerous ploughings, stirrings, and 

 hoeings wiiich they require. 



" Turnips were first raised upon 

 land which had already borne a crop 

 that was reaped early in summer, and 

 810 



on fallows which had been worked 

 and cleared early, so as to leave a 

 sufficient interval between the last 

 ploughing and the time of sowing 

 winter corn to have a tolerable crop 

 of turnips. These turnips, however, 

 which are still cultivated by the name 

 of stubble, or eddish turnips, never 

 grow so large as those which had 

 been sown earlier on land well pre- 

 pared and highly manured. 



" The regular cultivation of tur- 

 nips on a large scale was originally 

 introduced from Flanders into Nor- 

 folk two centuries ago. It was long 

 confined to one or two individuals, 

 who cultivated turnips very success- 

 fully ; but at last it spread, and was 

 greatly improved by introducing the 

 row culture, according to TuH's sys- 

 tem, which acquired the name of the 

 Northumberland mode of cultivation. 

 The usual mode of sowing turnips, 

 both in Flanders and in Norfolk, was 

 broad-cast ; and, as the labourers in 

 both countries became very expert in 

 hoeing them out at regular distances, 

 this mode was long preferred. In 

 fact, the cultivation of turnips in 

 rows is scarcely practised at all in 

 Flanders, and, notwithstanding its ev- 

 ident superiority in respect to quan- 

 tity of produce and economy of la- 

 bour, it cannot be said to be yet uni- 

 versally adopted. The Northumber- 

 land method of cultivating the crop, 

 which isparticularly adapted to moist, 

 cold, or tenacious soils, or to farms 

 where manure is scarce, and which 

 is mostly managed with but little use 

 of the hand hoe, is illustrated by the 

 following cuts : 



Fig. 1. 



" Fig. 1 shows a transverse sec- 

 tion of the ground when prepared for 

 receiving the manure, it being gath- 

 ered in one-bout ridgelets. The dung 

 carts pass lengthwise, and the dung 

 is dropped, or pulled out into the fur- 

 rows : lads follow the carts and spread 

 out the dung from the little heaps 

 along the hollow of each drill. The 

 horse with the loaded cart walks in 

 the interval of the ridges, so that a 



