ROOT CROPS. 199 



luxuriant Holds of Mr. "Webster. His reply was, " Grow tur- 

 nips." This laconic answer neither edified nor satisfied the 

 querist. He wanted to know what wonderful virtue there 

 could be in a turnip which was to work such remarkable 

 changes on his farm, only knowing the vegetable to be a very 

 good accompaniment to a leg of boiled mutton, or a tolerable 

 addition to a broth. He asked, therefore, naturally enough, 

 what growing turnips had to do with making his farm more por- 

 ductive. Mr. Webster replied, that he had not then time to go 

 into the matter, as it would embrace the whole science of farm- 

 ing. He could only say this : To grow turnips, the land must 

 be well ploughed, highly manured, and kept free from weeds. 

 It was a crop which, in a proper rotation, prepared the land in 

 the best manner for those which follow it; more than this, it 

 would do well on his light loams, although perhaps better 

 adapted for a heavier soil. Its yield was large and bulky ; and 

 to dispose of it to the best advantage, it ought to be fed off 

 the farm to the cattle during the winter. To do this he would 

 be forced to increase his stock ; and in this way he would aug- 

 ment his barn-yard manure, which in its turn would add to the 

 fertility of his soil. He would have better cattle, better and 

 more pigs ; and if he kept a few sheep, as every farmer should 

 do, his lambs would come earlier to market, and would be in 

 good condition and command high prices, instead of being sold 

 for their pelts. 



This recommendation to grow turnips must not exclude, nor 

 was it intended to do so, the cultivation of other roots. Beets 

 and carrots, for some lands, are more profitable than turnips, 

 besides being better food for milch cows. Every farmer can 

 soon learn by experience which root thrives best on his land ; 

 and having learned this, he will be blind to his own interest if 

 he does not cultivate it. In England and Scotland the turnip 

 takes precedence of all other roots ; and, from being originally 

 cultivated as the best fallow crop before wheat, rather than 

 from its intrinsic value, it is now the most important one 

 grown.* A leading English agriculturist has said, I believe 



* In Haddingtonshire, Scotland, in 18.50, one-sixth of the entire arable land was 

 in turnips, exceeding the number of acres in "wheat, which is the money crop, by 

 nearly one thousand acres. 



