THE TURNIP. 



2D3 



this, of which there is some doubt, its nature lins 

 hecn greatly changed by the labours of man. In 

 the first year the turnip produces the largo radicle 

 leaves, and the well known root. In the second 

 year a stem shoots up crowned with numerous 

 four-petalled flowers in the form of a cross, con- 

 taining six stamens. The seeds are contained in 

 an elongated pod. 



The turnip, if it was not familiar to the Greeks, 

 was well known to the Romans, and all that can 

 be gathered on this subject from the writings of 

 the ancients renders it probalile that it occupied 

 nearly the same place in Roman culture as it 

 does in British husbandry in the present day. 

 Columella recommended that the growth of 

 turnips should be abundant, because those which 

 were not required for human food could be given 

 with much advantage to cattle; and both Pliny 

 and he concur in their testimony, that this pro- 

 duce was esteemed next to corn in utility and 

 value. The best grew in the country of the Sa- 

 bines, and were worth at Rome a sestertius or two- 

 pence each. 



It is averred that the Roman method of culti- 

 vation must have been superior to that of the 

 modems, since Pliny relates that some single 

 roots weighed as much as forty pounds, a weight 

 far surpassing any which has l)een obtained by 

 the most skilful modern agriculturists. Indeed, 

 the large size of the Roman turnip is supposed 

 by some authors to furnish a collateral proof of 

 the colder temperature of Italy in ancient than 

 in modem times. Speculations, however, raised 

 upon what might perhaps have been an exagger- 

 ,ated statement of the Roman naturalist, must 

 be purely hypothetical. It is certainly found 

 by experience that a warm climate is not so fa- 

 vourable to the growth of the turnip as cold 

 moist regions. Though receiving equally careful 

 culture, it does not attain to the same size in the 

 south as in the north of England and in Scot- 

 land, while it thrives best in the west of the latter 

 country, and in those parts of Ireland where the 

 climate is the most humid. Though the colder 

 ]iarts of the temperate regions are found most 

 favourable for this cultivation, the countries of 

 still higher latitudes are not congenial to the 

 growth of the turnip. Those arctic climes where 

 the summer, though brief, is dry and warm, ai-e 

 decidedly adverse to its successful cultivation. 



It is very probable that the garden culture of 

 the turnip was introduced by the Romans into 

 this country, and that, like some of the fruit- 

 trees which they had transplanted here, though 

 neglected, it was never altogether lost; and, if 

 appearing to be so for a time, was restored by 

 the monks, those constant guardians and foster- 

 ers of horticulture. 



There is no doubt that this root was in culti- 

 vation in the sixteenth century. Whether re- 

 vived by native industry, or introduced at that 



period by the Flemings, is a question differently 

 answered by different writers; nor does the in- 

 quiry possess much interest. Turnips were par- 

 tially grown for many years in this country, 

 before they came into extensive notice. Horti- 

 cultural pursuits were at that time so little un- 

 derstood and practised here, that even the most 

 successful issue which attended the cultivation 

 of the turnip in Norfolk, a county peculiarly 

 adapted to its growth, failed for a long time to 

 be followed by its more extended adoption; and 

 a considerable period elapsed before it travelled 

 out of Norfolk into Suffolk, and thence into Es- 

 sex. 



Towards the latter end of the sixteenth cen- 

 tury it is mentioned by more than one writer. 

 Cogan, in his Haven of Health, published in 

 1.597, says, that "although many men love to 

 eat turnips, yet do swine abhor them." Gerarde, 

 who published in the same yeai', and who had 

 rather more rational views on the subject of 

 plants, leads us to conclude that more than one 

 variety was cultivated in the environs of London 

 at that time. "The small turnip," says he, 

 "grown by a village near London, called Hack- 

 ney, in a sandie ground, and brought to the 

 crosse in Cheapside by the women of that vil- 

 lage to be solde, are the best that I ever tasted." 

 Gerarde is silent concerning the field culture of 

 turnips; neither is this mentioned by Parkinson, 

 who wrote in 1629. It is not until the close of 

 the seventeenth century that we can find any 

 account of this root being thus cultivated in any 

 part of the country. 



The turnip, in some of its varieties, is of very 

 universal culture throughout Europe. In Sweden 

 it is a very favourite vegetable. We also learn 

 from the interesting journal of Linnseus, that 

 even so far north as Lapmark the colonists sow 

 annually a considerable quantity of turnip seed, 

 which frequently succeeds very well, and pro- 

 duces a plentiful crop. The native Laplanders 

 are so fond of this root that they are often in- 

 duced to part with a whole cheese in exchange 

 for one single turnip, "than which nothing," 

 our author adds, "can be more foolish." 



In Russia, turnips are used as fruit and eaten 

 with avidity by all classes. In the houses of 

 the nobility, the raw turnip cut in slices is handed 

 about on a silver salver, with brandy, as a pro- 

 vocative to the more substantial meal. "The 

 first nobleman of the empire," says Dr Clark, 

 " when dismissed by his sovereign from atten- 

 dance upon his person, may be found throughout 

 the day with his neck bare, his beard lengthened, 

 his body -wrapped in a sheep's skin, eating raw 

 turnips, and drinking quass." 



It is said that the roots of the turnip cultivated 

 in the plains of Germany seldom exceed half a 

 pound in weight; and that in France and coun- 

 ties still farther to the south, they are yet mors 



