520 
the tubers in the same manner as Potatoes, an 
eye being preserved in each piece. The sets 
should be planted in April, about 4 feet apart, 
in light rich soil. The stems may either be 
allowed to trail along the ground, or pea-sticks 
may be placed for their support; in dry soils 
and seasons the former method should be 
adopted; in those which are moist, the latter. 
The tubers are taken up in October or Novem- 
ber, when the leaves begin to decay, and stored 
in sand. 
Truffle (Zuber estivum) (fig. 1288).—A kind 
of Puff-ball, nearly spherical in shape, which has 
been known to attain a weight of 3 or 4 lbs., 
and measure 4 inches in diameter. The surface 
is rough, warty, and black. The flesh is grayish 
or white when young, black veined»with.white 
when old. The smell 
is powerful, but by no 
means unpleasant. It 
grows from 2 to 10 
inches under the sur- 
face of the ground, and 
the spots where it is 
to be found are dis- 
covered by means of dogs trained for the purpose. 
It is abundant in some parts of Britain, particu- 
larly in Wiltshire, Kent, and Hampshire, but 
it in any but calcareous soils, 
1288.—Truffle. 
Fig. 
never occurs 
where it grows under the shade of trees, gene- | 
rally the Oak and Beech. In warm, moist years 
it may be found throughout the year, but most 
abundantly from August to October. 
Truffles constitute a much-esteemed luxury, 
seldom indulged in by any but the rich. They 
are used in sauces, gravies, and in a great variety 
of dishes; indeed it is an axiom with first-rate 
French cooks that the Truffle improves all that 
it touches. There is, however, no doubt that 
they are injurious to health when eaten in large 
quantities. 
Turnip (Brassica Rapa).—A hardy biennial. 
native of Europe, including Britain. It has 
been cultivated for its roots from time im- 
memorial, and the leaves are also frequently 
used as Greens, or sometimes blanched as a 
substitute for Sea-Kale. 
The French Turnip, a fleshy-rooted variety of 
Brassica Napus, which is sweeter and of better | 
flavour than the Common Turnip, but inferior to 
it in size, is likewise cultivated for the same 
purposes; and the Swedish Turnip (Brassica 
campestris Rutabaga) is sometimes, on account of 
its extreme hardiness, grown in gardens in very 
THE GARDENER’S ASSISTANT. 
cold situations where other sorts are liable to 
be injured by frost. 
Soil and Manure.—The Turnip succeeds best in 
light sandy soils, and loams containing a large 
proportion of sand. Stiff retentive soils, on the 
contrary, are ill adapted for the growth of good 
crops of well-flavoured roots, and on such also 
early crops are more apt to run to seed. In light 
dry soils well-decomposing farmyard dung is one 
of the best applications that can be made, as it 
not only affords nourishment but moisture to 
start the young plants into the rough leaf. For 
heavy land, littery dung, not much decomposed, 
may be advantageously employed. Bone-dust, 
superphosphate of lime, or guano, applied either 
separately or together with farmyard manure, 
exercise a highly beneficial effect on the crop, 
especially in old garden soils containing an ex: 
cess of organic matter, forcing the plants into 
the rough leaf, and encouraging the development 
of the roots. 
Culture.—Turnips are sometimes sown broad- 
cast in gardens, and as they are not required to 
be large, this mode answers very well in light 
soils. Where the soil, however, is more tena- 
cious, it is a good plan to draw shallow drills 
with a hoe at about 15 inches apart, which may 
be watered with guano-water, and the seeds 
be sown as regularly as possible, then slighty 
covered with fine soil and rolled. 
If young Turnips are required early, some of 
the Early Milan may be sown in a warm border 
in the end of January or in February, and pro- 
| tected. A larger sowing should be made in 
| March, two more in April, and one in May. 
Two or three varieties should be employed, for 
it often happens that one sort succeeds whilst 
another fails. In northern and cold districts 
the principal autumn and winter crops should 
be sown in the last week of June, and in south- 
ern parts of the kingdom in the first fortnight’ 
of July. A small sowing may be made in the 
‘first or second week of August, and even in the 
last week of that month, for supplying young 
Turnips occasionally in winter, and for standing 
later in spring than the main crop. In most 
situations a sowing once a month, from March 
to J uly inclusive, will be sufficient, especially if, 
from experience, the most suitable varieties can 
be chosen. 
After sowing, the first attention should be 
directed to the protection of the plants from the 
ravages of the fly. In some states of the weather 
this is very difficult, and the whole sowing may 
either be destroyed, or the plants be so crippled 
that they never recover. Just before the plants 
