132 BUIST J S FAMILY KITCHEN CtA tDENER. 



said to be preventives, if strewn over the plants. We feel 

 assured that its application will retard their progress, but 

 cloudy and showery weather is more effectual. If seed of the 

 current year and seed of one or two years old be sown on the 

 same piece of ground separately, the old seed will frequently 

 be cut off, while the seed of the current year will escape. 

 Good seed will germinate in from thirty-six to forty-eight 

 hours. When the crop is destroyed, stir or dig the ground 

 immediately and sow again. When the plants have grown 

 about an inch high, introduce the hoe among them, and thin 

 out to two or three inches apart ; and in a week or two more, 

 give them another hoeing and thinning. Till they stand six 

 inches from each other, do not draw any earth to their roots : 

 in fact the reverse was our practice twenty years ago : they 

 were sown on ridges, and the earth drawn down as the plants 

 advanced m growth. The result was frequently forty tons 

 per acre. 



Taking up the Crop. — Turnips may be kept perfectly sound 

 till Spring by being taken up about the first of November, or 

 before severe frost sets in. Cut the leaves off to about half an 

 inch from the bulb ; collect the latter, and put them in a dry 

 pit or cellar ; cover with straw, and earth over all. Thus 

 protected, they will be found fresh and perfect till February, 

 after which the Swede will be fit for the table till April. 

 Those for Spring use can be pitted out of doors in a dry situa 

 tion, piling them in a conical form and covering them with 

 three inches of straw and a foot or eighteen inches of earth, 

 which will be ample protection. When opened in Spring, these 

 will be found to have nearly all the flavor of being fresh from 

 the field. 



Save Seed. — In many cases this is very essential ; you will 

 then be always sure of the age and quality. Select early in 

 Spring a few of the best formed roots, draw deep drills two 



