134 GARDENING FOR YOUNG AND OLD. 



are singled our for the first time, all that you have to do 

 is, to keep the cultivator frequently running between the 

 rows. As soon as any weeds appear among the turnips, 

 that can not be reached by the cultivator, go over the 

 piece again with the hoe, and cut out all the weeds, and 

 at the same time single out any plants that may have 

 been left double, and this is all that will be necessary un- 

 til the crop is ready to harvest. 



GATHERING THE CHOP. 



Euta-bagas, or Winter Turnips, will stand quite a 

 sharp frost without injury, especially if at the time the 

 frost occurs, the roots are surmounted by an abundance 

 of green vigorous leaves. As long, therefore, as the 

 leaves of the turnips keep green, there is no particular 

 necessity for pulling up the crop; as the great difficulty 

 in keeping turnips in large piles or pits, during the win- 

 ter, is their tendency to heat the colder the weather, 

 provided the roots are not actually frozen when the crop 

 is gathered, the better will the roots keep. If the crop 

 is in by Thanksgiving Day, it will be early enough three 

 seasons out of four. My own plan is, to pit the roots in 

 the field as we do potatoes and mangels. We plow out a 

 wide, deep, dead-furrow. We mark out the spot where 

 the pit is to be, of any desired length, and then measure 

 off six or eight feet on each side, and start the plow, 

 plowing up and down on both sides, until the center, or 

 dead-furrow is reached; then commence on the outside 

 again, and plow up and down as before. This will make 

 a still deeper and wider dead-furrow; then commence on 

 the outside again, and plow up and down again as before, 

 plowing deeper as you approach the center. These three 

 plowings will give a mass of deep, mellow earth, which 

 will afterwards be very convenient for covering the pit. 



