TURNIPS. 139 



be better to give it a moderate dressing of manure, say 

 eight tons per acre, and use the superphosphate in ad- 

 dition. Superphosphate cannot be applied to any crop 

 where it will do more good than to turnips. 



The Aberdeen is a hardy variety and will stand con- 

 siderable frost, but it should be gathered before the ruta- 

 bagas. In other words, you can let ruta-bagas remain 

 later in the field than you can the Yellow Aberdeens ; 

 they will not keep quite so well as the ruta-bagas, as 

 they contain more water and are more liable to get heated 



Fig. 27. Fig. 28. 



PURPLE TOP STRAP-LEAF. WHITE FLAT DUTCH. 



in the pit. It is better therefore to make the pit smaller 

 and to throw in more dry earth among the roots. 



CULTIVATION OF AUTUMN TUKNIPS. 



This class of turnips, of which the Purple Top Strap- 

 leaf is a popular variety, is usually grown with little or 

 no cultivation properly so called. In England, they are 

 often called Stubble Turnips, because they can be grown 

 after a crop of rye, wheat, or barley is harvested. 



We can do the same thing here, but our climate is so 

 much hotter and dryer, that we shall have to take con- 

 siderable pains to get land from which a grain crop has 

 just been harvested, sufficiently moist and mellow to in- 

 sure the germination of turnip seed. There are times, 



