THE 



SOUTHERN 



PLANTER. 



201 



TURNIP CULTURE. 



Mr. F. G. Ruffin, 1 



Dear Sir : — In the December number of your 

 Planter, you called attention to a specimen of 

 King William turnips received from me, with a 

 request that I should tell the public how I raised 

 them, on what kind of land, &c. At the same 

 time you inquired of me whether I was not sat- 

 isfied that turnips, in King William, were a bet- 

 ter crop than law suits ; inasmuch as you had 

 heard through a friend that a few years ago, 

 there was only one new suit brought to a term 

 of the Circuit Court. You put a tough question 

 to a young lawyer, and I will answer it indi- 

 rectly by stating that it gives me great pleasure 

 to render a more favorable report of my county. 

 Litigation is increasing : and I hope old King 

 William will soon occupy the position she ought — 

 that of an enterprising and trading commu- 

 nity. This is quite a digression from the sub- 

 ject of turnips, but I hope you will pardon me 

 for giving you a little news. 



About the 25th of July, 1855, I drilled an 

 acre of land in Rutobaga turnips, and a fourth 

 of an acre in white turnips. The land, of a 

 medium texture, was ploughed eight or ten 

 inches deep in the latter part of June, and 

 thoroughly harrowed previous to drilling the 

 seed. Most persons do not plough up the land 

 for turnips until they are ready to sow or 

 drill. I think it far preferable to plough the 

 land a month or two previous, as it is all impor- 

 tant that it should be reduced to a perfect state 

 of pulverization. If harrowing will not prepare 

 the ground nicely, it should be reploughed. 

 This will depend on the kind of soil and the 

 season. I prefer a medium soil for turnips. If 

 the land is sandy, the turnips will suffer from a 

 drought. On the contrary, if the land is stiff, 

 the turnips will not grow very large. 



My Rutobaga seed were put in drills 3 feet 

 wide, and 12 inches distant in the drill. 



One third of the land was covered with cow- 

 pen manure, and guanoed in the drill at the 

 time of drilling the seed. One third was guan- 

 oed in the drill (on land not cow-penned), and 

 had a second application of guano previous to 

 throwing dirt to the turnips with a single 

 plough. 



The remaining third of an acre had only one 

 application of guano, and that in the drill. 

 Qusere as to the product of each. The product 

 of the first mentioned third of an acre was a 

 little greater than that of the second ; and the 

 product of the second was more than double 

 that of the third. The portion of land drilled 

 in white turnips Avas heavily manured by cow- 

 pens, and had an application of guano in the 

 drill. The product was the greatest I have ever 

 seen from the same quantity of land : the lar- 

 gest size weighing from 10 to 13 pounds. I 

 did not measure to ascertain the quantity of tur- 

 nips I raised, but the supply seems to be almost 

 inexhaustible. My fattening hogs last fall were 

 fed on them once a day for six weeks, and I 



would occasionally feed my out hogs on them. 

 My milch cows and sheep have been feeding on 

 them during the past winter up to the present 

 time; and I still have " a few more left." 

 Preservation through winter and spring. 



The first frosty morning in autumn have the 

 tops of your turnips taken off an inch or more 

 above the roots with small sticks. This is bet- 

 ter than cutting off the tops, as they are brittle 

 when frozen, and you will be thus rid of a very 

 tedious operation. A neat farmer would advo- 

 C£fte cutting off the tops, but " dispatch" is my 

 motto. Have your roots taken up with care so 

 as not to bruise them ; then place them in con- 

 ical piles or mounds containing 30 bushels each. 

 Around these mounds place straw or some other 

 coarse material, five or six inches thick. Over 

 it place dirt, taken from the base of the mound, 

 so as to form a covering 10 or 12 inches thick, 

 thereby preventing water from coming in con- 

 tact with the roots. In the top of the mound it 

 would be well to insert a wisp of straw, to allow 

 the impure air to escape, by removing it in wet 

 weather ; although nry turnips have kept well 

 without this precaution. When wanted for use, 

 remove the contents of the whole mound opened, 

 to some convenient place where they will be 

 sheltered from the inclement weather: If you 

 leave turnips in the mound, after it is opened 

 they will soon rot. 



Farmers vary as much as to the most economi- 

 cal mode of feeding away their Rutobagas, as they 

 do about the most judicious way in which guano * 

 should be used. My way is certainly attended 

 with less trouble, as I feed to my stock the raw 

 turnip chopped fine, unless when the weather 

 was so cold as to freeze them, which was the 

 case during most of the past winter. Of course 

 it would answer a better purpose to mix the Ru- 

 tobaga with corn meal, &c. , and then boil ; but 

 I look on so many bushels of corn as so much 

 money, which is a scarcer article with me than 

 turnips were. 



Farmers who differ with me will say that it is 

 a waste to feed the raw turnip to cattle, unmixed 

 with other nutritive food ; but I ask why the 

 necessity for consuming so much corn, while 

 these milch cows, are affording enough milk and 

 butter for a large family, subsisting on the nu- 

 tritive matter of the raw turnip. 



I regret to see that turnip culture is so much 

 neglected in this section of Virginia. A farm- 

 er's ambition is satisfied if he has a small piece 

 of cow-penned land to seed a few turnips in. 

 The preparation of the ground is a matter of 

 little moment. All he wants is to be able to 

 boast that he has got a turnip patch ! He gives 

 a small spot a slight scratching with a plough, 

 sows the seed broadcast to expedite the work, 

 and then leaves them to shift for themselves. 

 There are a few farmers who regard the turnip 

 culture of more value, but they are " like angel's 

 visits few and far between." 



Richard Hawes. 

 King Wm. Co. April, 1856. 



