FIELD EXPERIMENTS IN I914. 57 



rutabagas furnish a large amount of succulent matter that can 

 be cheaply grown and without an undue amount of hand labor. 



''black hearted'' turnips. 



A very serious drawback to turnip culture in the southeastern 

 part of Washington County is that under certain conditions 

 they are "black hearted." This renders the turnip unfit for 

 market, although apparently it does not affect its value as a 

 stock food. So serious is the situation that some commission 

 men in Boston and New York decline to handle "St. Andrews" 

 turnips at all. 



The County Demonstrator for the College of Agriculture in 

 Washington County learned of these facts in 191 3, and had 

 specimens sent to the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station 

 by Mr. Washburn of Perry. Mr. Washburn said that these 

 particular turnips were grown upon a. fertilizer composed of a 

 ton of smoked herring skins,, 400 pounds of bone black, and 300 

 pounds of muriate of potash per acre. Also that the weather 

 conditions were too dry for the best results during June, July 

 and August. He noted that the disease apparently attacked 

 the turnips as soon as they began to form and was very notice- 

 able when they became as large as eggs. He said that it did 

 not increase in storage. Farmers in that vicinity had always 

 grown the Purple Top rutabaga, they had not noticed that 

 weather conditions at time of planting had any effect on the 

 trouble, although many farmers thought it was worse in a dry 

 season. If the turnips stop growing for a time the trouble 

 almost invariably appears. Mr. Washburn thought there was a 

 relation between the kind of fertilizer used and the turnip 

 trouble. With barn manure and fish composted they would get 

 good turnips. He had used fish pomace alone and raised a light 

 crop of turnips but of excellent quality. The addition of bone 

 black and sulphate or muriate of potash increased the amount 

 of black heart. He sometimes had as high as 275 barrels per 

 acre without a bushel of good ones in the lot. 



The turnips sent to the Station were of perfect form outside, 

 the skins were bright and smooth. When cut the flesh had 

 large patches of a dull brown color. The discoloration extended 

 out nearly to the skin. The flesh of many of the turnips was 

 stringy. Careful examination by the plant pathologists showed 

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