58 



General Notices. 



stead of appling (as we say) kindly, wasting their strength in endeavours 

 to form, not a bulb, but an unsightly and unprofitable stalk, as shown in 

 fig. 25.) : in fact, bearing more the character of a cabbage than of a turnip, 

 and very coarse and fibrous at the root. Such are what I call the old stock, 

 the sort most commonly grown about here, and the seed of which was pro- 

 duced from transplanted roots selected by a careful farmer. Now, what are 

 Mr. Fenn's ? Certainly, the handsomest turnips of the sort I ever yet saw j 

 and if I said of any sort, I do not know I should be very wide of the mark. 

 I have in the sketch {fig. 26.) endeavoured to give an idea of their general 



form ; and a comparison with fig. 25. will at once show their supe- 

 riority. 



Here is no running to stalk, nothing of the mongrel about it ; but a 

 round handsome bulb, with a roughish yellow skin like a melon, and of a 

 fine rich quality when cut into. An old labourer observed to me : — 

 " Lawk, Sir, what beauties them new tannups dew grow, sure& / — why, 

 they look more liker a melon than a tannup. They haen't got no fifers 

 [fibres] at the roots, like them t'other." And the old man was right. 



" Look at this picture and on that." 

 One is comparatively clean and free from fibres, whilst the other is like an ash 

 tree in miniature. Of the comparative weight of the two crops I should give 

 a decided preference to Mr. Fenn's; but, even were the weight equal, I should 

 certainly grow the latter on account of their superior quality. It may be 

 said that I have caricatured my likenesses ; at any rate, that I have selected 

 the handsomest of one stock and the ugliest of the other ; but it is not so : 

 from Mr. Fenn's turnips I could have chosen thousands equally handsome ; 

 from the others, thousands equally ugly. One of his plants, I must remark 

 in conclusion, at this time measures 2 ft. 4 in. round the bulb : nor has it 

 yet attained its full size. They are a sight worth seeing, and are very dif- 

 ferent from any thing of the kind I ever saw before. I give you my name, 



