EARLY HISTORY OF TURNIPS. 267 



vigorous growth, so as to carry the young plant as quickly 

 as possible out of the reach of its enemy. This, we con- 

 sider, is accomplished by securing a fine tilth for the seed- 

 bed, and by depositing at the same time with the seed a 

 certain quantity of readily available manure, either in a 

 solid or a liquid form. This is our advanced practice, and 

 now only to be met with in practice on our best culti- 

 vated farms; and yet the practice was known to and 

 commonly adopted by the Roman farmers 2000 years ago. 



The great weakness of Roman agriculture was the super- 

 stition attached to every operation. While turnip-sowing 

 the husbandmen were accustomed to pray that the crop 

 might prosper and increase both for themselves and their 

 neighbours; and we find, consequently, that no restric- 

 tions were placed against the practice, too common in 

 some districts in our own times, of persons pulling them 

 while growing in the fields. In the cultivation of the 

 turnip, and in its general use on the farm, especially as a 

 feeding substance for the cattle during the winter, the 

 ancient farmers were quite as well versed as the modern ; 

 and indeed that improved system turnip husbandry 

 which so contributed to the progress and material welfare 

 of the country at the close of the last and commencement 

 of the present century, appears, in the time of Columella, 

 to have been commonly practised in the Roman provinces 

 in Italy and Gaul. 



In our own country we have reason to believe turnips 

 were cultivated in the gardens of the religious establish- 

 ments from the earliest periods of our history. They 

 are mentioned by several of our early authors by 

 Googe, 1 in 1586; by Gerarde, 2 in 1597; by Parkinson, 

 in 1629; but, as no allusion is made to their field culture, 

 and as different names are applied in describing them, 



1 Whole Art of Husbandne, by Barnaby Googe. A.D. 1586. 



2 The Herball, or General Historic of Planter, by John Gerarde. A.D. 1597. 



