TURNIPS. 127 



vacant spot, from the middle of July to the first of Sep- 

 tember, and we trust to chance for a crop. One year in five 

 we get a good crop; one year in three we get a fair crop, 

 on perhaps one-fourth of the land, while on three-fourths 

 of the field the turnips are not worth gathering. I do 

 not say that ifc does not pay to sow turnips in this way; 

 very little labor is required, the land would otherwise lie 

 idle, and one pound of seed is amply sufficient to sow an 

 acre; in fact, if you can distribute it evenly, half a pound 

 is enough. It is quite a knack to sow turnip seed broad- 

 cast; all the seed required is what you can hold between 

 your thumb and the first two fingers; scatter the seed 

 over a width of about ten feet, then take two steps for- 

 ward and throw another similar pinch; throw it boldly, 

 and keep your hand all the time on a level with your 

 shoulder; most people let their hand fall as low as the 

 hip, but the other is far the better way; it insures a 

 much more even distribution of the seed. But I do not 

 want my young friends to be sowing turnips broadcast. 

 As a rule, what is worth doing at all is worth doing well. 

 And now that we have the best of implements to prepare 

 the land, good drills to sow the seed, and good hoes 

 to thin out the plants, I am very confident that, taking 

 one year with another, it is far more profitable to drill in 

 turnip seed, and cultivate between the rows with a horse- 

 hoe than it is to sow broadcast. It is not merely that 

 you get two or three, or four times as many bushels of 

 turnips per acre, but you are almost certain of a crop, 

 even in the most unfavorable season. When a good crop 

 is obtained from sowing broadcast, and leaving the plants 

 to take care of themselves, the market will be glutted 

 with turnips, and the price will be low; but in an ordi- 

 nary season, when you will not get more than half a crop 

 from the broadcast sowing, on half the land, turnips 

 will command a good price, and the farmer or gardener 

 who has a good crop, gets ample compensation for his 



