286 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



be sown about the first of August, and the roots 

 should remain in the earth as long as they can be 

 lel'l with safety, as frosts improve the quality of this 

 root materially. 



'There are many varieties of the turnip cultivated, 

 of which the early White Duich, Garden Stone, Red 

 and White Top, are grown commonly in gardens ; 

 and the Norfolk, the Globe, the English White or Hat 

 turnip, the Aberdeen, and the Swedish or Ruta-baga, 

 are for late or field-culture. The great enemy the 

 turnip has to encounter is the small bug termed the 

 turnip-fly, which devours them in the seed-leaf; and 

 there should always be a supply of lime, soot, char- 

 coal, and tobacco-dust provided, to use as soon as 

 the plants are above ground, or on the first symp- 

 toms of attack. After the rough leaf is formed, the 

 plants may be considered safe. Fine dust, it appears 

 to matter little of what kind, annoys these insects 

 much, and, if such dust is freely thrown over the 

 field until the rough leaf appears, they are rarely 

 disturbed afterward. 



The Globe, Aberdeen, and Ruta-baga are princi- 

 pally cultivated for the feeding of sheep and cattle ; 

 and perhaps in no way can a greater amount of ani- 

 mal food be obtained from a given quantitj^ of land 

 than by the growing of these roots. The introduc- 

 tion of the field-culture of the turnip marks one of 

 the most prominent eras of improvement in agricul- 

 ture ; and few things have contributed so much to 

 the high state of cultivation in England, and the 

 rapid increase of the grain-crops in that kingdom 

 within the last quarter of a century, as the turnip. 

 The value of the turnip-crop in England has been 

 estimated at from 60 to 70 millions of dollars ; and 

 a very large proportion of the beef and mutton con- 

 sumed in that country is made entirely from it. In 

 the United States the culture of these roots is com- 

 paratively recent, and though, owing to the differ- 

 ence in our climate and seasons, it is not prol>able 



