76 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 25, 1978, 
the soil become too dry before the fruit is full grown, and then again making 
ae very wet, thereby inducing such a strong flow of sap as causes the fruit 
crack, 
GREENHOUSE ASPECT (7. K.).—Presuming that the south end of the 
greenhouse will be glazed from about 3 feet from the ground to the roof, we 
should not hesitate to erect the house in the position you propose—i.e., 
facing the east. An accidental transposition of words occurred in the 
answer you have quoted. 
MILDEW ON GRAPES (F. H.).—Do not remove the sulphur till the Grapes 
are ripe. It is only then that you can be assured that all danger from 
mage is past. You must sprinkle the sulphur on the leayes as well as the 
_ WHITE GLOXINIA (J. G.).—The flower is good and worthy of a name, yet 
is not equal to such varieties as Avalanche, Boule de Neige, and Mont Blanc. 
GRAPES SCALDED (Clare Subscriber).—Your Vines, judging by the leaf 
sent, are extremely healthy. The “disease” we think is the scald. <A little 
fire heat at night and a rather dry atmosphere, together with ventilation 
early in the morning, is the only mode that we can suggest for arresting 
theinjury. There are varieties of Black Hamburgh slightly differing from 
each other. Both your Grapes are Black Hamburghs. Your letter shall 
have our further attention. 
VINES INJURED BY SULPHUR (Lewjless)—Encourage your Vines to 
make a second growth by syringing them and providing a warm moist 
atmosphere. The growth made, if the autumn prove favourable, may still 
have time to becorae matured. Your Orange trees require fresh soil, rich 
turfy loam, and to be placed in heat, and syringed freely to encourage 
growth. Keep the foliage clean and free from insects. 
NAMES OF PLANTS (Zyro)—The Begonias are all florists’ varieties. 
(Begonia).—Specimens must be sent to our office, and not more than six at 
a time. (Ramatho).—Galega orientalis. (G. B.).—Deutzia scabra. (A. G.). 
—Specimens insufficient ; 6, Achillea Millefolium. (A. H. Sh.) —Orchids too 
much shrivelled; 2, Brassayola sp. (J. S...M.)—Galega officinalis. (Z. 
Wrightson).—Epipactis palustris. (Peat)—The fronds are not in fruit. 
(G. W. J.)—We cannot determine Ceanothusfromascrap. (I. df.)—Clethra 
sp. (£. H.).—1, Pentstemon sp.; 2, Monarda didyma; 3, Thalictrum sp. ; 
4, Melittis melissophyllum. (C. South)—3 and 4, Lastrea Filix-mas. Send 
the others again in fruit. (Miss Barron).—Philadelphus sp.? (G@. N. V.).— 
—Erythrea Centaurium. (A. Z.).—1, Begonia Dregei; 2, B. Ingrami. 
(B. EL. Wake).—Mathiola incana. (4. F. Pemberton).—Epipactis latifolia, a 
fine specimen. 
THE HOME FARM: 
POULTRY, PIGEON, AND BEE CHRONICLE. 
CULTIVATION OF TURNIPS. 
THE cultivation for common turnips is somewhat different 
from the preparation of land for Swedish turnips, because the 
use of artificial manures is now general, and it is seldom a long 
fallow is required except upon strong lands very much out of 
Condition and foul with couch grass, &c. It sometimes happens, 
however, that strong heavy soils are sown with early turnips 
to be fed off with sheep during the months of August and Sep- 
tember, in which case the land should be treated precisely in the 
Same way as directed and recommended in our late article on 
the cultivation for Swedish turnips, taking care if possible in all 
cases to till the land in the previous autumn on the surface, and 
then to plough it up deep or make it into stetches, in order that 
it may lie high and dry during the winter months. It is only 
by this means that the full effects of spring tillage can be ob- 
tained, especially in seasons like the past, when the whole of the 
month of May was unfavourable for the tillage of strong land in 
Consequence of the succession of heavy rains. After autumn 
tillage the land will seldom require much spring working, and 
ploughing should be avoided, especially as it is of great import- 
ance to retain the weather-beaten surface. To have the full 
advantage of this we prefer to scarify only, and then to drill 
with manure in the usual way about the 20th of May. The tur- 
nips will then be sufficiently forward to be fed off on the land 
before the setting-in of the autumn rains, which is so desirable 
in obtaining a good seed time for the wheat crop which is to 
follow. As the far greater portion of the turnips grown on light 
and friable soils are now taken as a second crop after rye, tri- 
folium, vyetches, and sometimes after trefoil and Italian rye grass 
cut for hay, it becomes a question almost entirely of the state of 
the land as regards cleanliness in the autumn before sowing the 
fodder crops, as there is no time to clean the land successfully 
after the crops are cut up or fed off without so much delay as to 
visk the turnip crop. In many seasons if it is attempted to 
plough the land several times, with the consequent harrowings 
and rollings, the precious moisture required to vegetate the tur- 
nip seed is often lost, and with it the prospect of a full crop of 
roots. It is therefore desirable to select those fields which are 
the cleanest for sowing with any of the fodder crops, and it 
is best, especially with land intended for trifolium, to have the 
bunches or lumps of couch or onion grass forked out by hand, 
as this will take less time and be done at far less cost than 
ploughing, and without delaying the seed time. Whether the 
land is intended for trifolium or other fodder crops it isa good 
plan to fork out the grass, because when ever so little quantity 
of couch grass is ploughed-in it will increase, especially where the 
land is in. good heart and condition, to a great extent during the 
early spring months, and probably delay the seed time, and some- 
times destroy the prospect of a turnip crop—in fact it may be 
accepted as. a rule in agriculture that the first cost of removing 
couch from the land will be the least, cost what it may. After 
the removal of a green crop the tillage should commence imme- 
diately, every day being of the utmost consequence, either by 
very shallow scarifying or rafter-ploughing, harrowing, rolling, 
&c., to remove any weeds or haulm of green crops which may be 
left, because the burying of these substances is inimical to the 
growth of roots by making the land too light and hollow, and in 
their decay fermentation takes place, a blue mould is formed con- 
taining injurious acids extremely detrimental to the successful 
culture of turnips, and is often the proximate cause of club root, 
or “ finger-and-toe” as it is called, upon land where it is deficient 
in chalk and lime. Although we are strongly opposed to the 
burning of couch or weeds, preferring to rot them as a dressing 
for pasture land, yet we find that substances of some kind are 
required to mix with artificial manures, whether of superphos- 
phate, guano, or others ; and we recommend, especially upon sandy 
or loamy soils, a mixture of screened chalk made perfectly fine and 
prepared in the winter months or early spring, in order that it 
may be quite dry and run freely with the manure from the drill. 
In districts far removed from chalk it is a good plan where town 
dung and refuse ashes are available to have these screened for 
use, as they not only serve to mix with the manure in order to its 
better distribution, but we have seen that it acts to some extent 
like chalk, and greatly encourages the growth of turnips in the 
early stages of growth. 
In selecting a drill for the home farm we recommend a one-horse 
drill, which will drill two rows at once at 2 feet apart, or three 
rows at 18 inches apart. After using this kind of drill for nearly 
thirty years we have found its advantage, especially upon hilly 
land, not only because it is light of draught, but it may be worked 
by one horse as fast as the land is ploughed without dividing the: 
labour of other horses. Now this to our mind is a matter of prime: 
importance in turnip cultivation, particularly after green crops, 
because it very often happens that in waiting for the large heavy 
drill the land gets too wet or too dry, according to the weather, 
and the season is never so surely obtained as drilling day by day 
as fast as the land is ready, and nothing contributes practically to: 
the attainment of this object so well as the use of the one-horse 
drill, For some years the water drill had some advocates, but it 
seems now to have gone out of use. The difficulty of obtaining 
and carting water in the hill districts appears to have entailed too 
much labour, and alsoloss of time. In the use of artificial manures 
for turnips, if the green crops have been fed off by sheep, 3 cwt- 
per acre of bone superphosphate with ashes or other matters will 
proye sufficient to produce a full crop of turnips, particularly if 
the sheep received cake or corn with the green food ; but in case 
the fodder crop has been used for feeding horses, cattle, &., at the 
farmstead, as is often the case on a well-conducted home farm, 
then more manure should be applied with the drill, and 3 cwt. of 
superphosphate with 14 cwt. of Peruvian guano is not too much, 
and will generally produce a full crop. ; : 
The kind of seed is a matter of importance, particularly if the 
crop is intended to remain in the ground during the winter 
months, and if we look at the seedsmen’s list of sorts a novice 
may be entirely bewildered in making his selection, and it will 
certainly depend upon the period and purpose for which the roots. 
are required for use. The Scotch Yellow being a hybrid variety 
