304 GAUD EKING FOE PROFIT. 



TURNIP. (Brassica campestris.) 



The cultivation of the Turnip as an early crop for 

 market purposes, sold bunched in the green state, is in 

 all respects the same as detailed for Early Beets. The 

 profits of the crop are also similar. The Turnip, how- 

 ever, for early crops, is rather more particular about soil 

 than the Beet, and can bast be produced early on light 

 sandy or gravelly soils, highly enriched with manure. 



For late crops, sowings may be made, for Euta Bagas, 

 from May to September, in the different sections of the 

 country ; here, the finest roots are obtained by sowing 

 about first week in June. For white and yellow varie- 

 ties, as they como quicker to maturity, sowing should be 

 delayed four or five weeks later. Here, we sow from the 

 middle of July to the middle of August. 



Turnips, whether for early or late crops, should always 

 be sown in drills, about fourteen or eighteen inches apart. 

 In large quantities, they are sown by the machine, when 

 one pound of seed will be enough for an acre. In the 

 Northern States it is necessary to take them up on the 

 approach of severe weather, when they are best pre- 

 served during winter by being pitted, as recommended 

 for other roots. The late crops of Turnips are by no 

 means so profitable as the early, rarely realizing to the 

 grower more than $75 per acre ; but like most other late 

 crops of the garden or farm, they can be grown with less 

 manure, are less perishable if not immediately sold, and 

 are consequently grown by the farmer on his less valuable 

 but more extensive grounds. Again let me reiterate the 

 necessity for firming the soil around the seeds of the 

 Turnip crop, sown in the dry, hot weather in August. 

 Thousands of acres fail to germinate from no other 

 cause, while in England in 1885 fully, one-half of the 

 crop seemed to me was lost, solely from lack of this pre- 



