210 



VEGETABLE GARDENING. 



TURNIP [Brassica Napus.) and RUTABAGA, or SWEDISH 

 TURNIP (Brassica campestris. ) 



Natives of Europe or Asia. — Biennials. — Cultivated for 

 their swollen, fleshy roots. The varieties of turnip and ruta- 

 baga vary much in form, size and color of the skin, and the 

 flesh is white or yellow, pungent or slightly acid. There is 

 more difference in the varieties of the turnip than of the ruta- 

 baga. The flower stalks are produced the second year and 



bear a large num- 



ber of yellow flow- 

 ers. The seeds 

 are smooth and 

 round like the 

 seed of the cab- 

 bage and cauli- 

 flower and in 

 similar shaped 

 pods. 



Turnip. The tur- 

 nip is essentially 

 a cool weather 

 plant and does 

 best when most of 

 its growth is made 

 during the autumn. It is grown to some extent in the spring, 

 but there is very little call for it until cool weather. 



Culture. The turnip needs to be grown very rapidly to 

 have the best quality. The best soil for it is a friable rich 

 sandy loam free from fresh manure; sod land that has been 

 recently broken up is excellent for this purpose, but on old 

 land. i. e., that which has been cultivated for several years, 

 or where there is fresh manure, the roots are often wormy. 

 When grown for early use some quick maturing kind should 

 be planted as early in the spring as the soil can be worked, 

 in rows fifteen inches apart. The seed should be sown rather 

 thickly and the seedlings thinned out two or three inches 

 apart after all danger from the flea beetle has passed. (This 

 insect is the same as that which attacks the cabbage. ) Tur- 

 nips grown for late use generally come in 'as a second crop 

 after grain, strawberries, early potatoes, cabbage or other 



Fig. 117.— White strap leaved turnips. 



