188 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Lime which has been slacked and laid 

 by for some time is of little avail ; it 

 should be brought direct every three or 

 four days from the kiln. Nor should 

 it be laid on in large quantities, more 

 especially when the leaves are wet, else it 

 forms an incrustation on them, and shuts 

 up their pores of respiration, making in 

 such cases the cure as bad as the disease. 

 We have no dread whatever of the turnip 

 flea so long as a lime-bag is at hand, and 

 provided those intrusted with the opera- 

 tion will do as they are desired. Heavy 

 rains also discomfit the insects, and, as a 

 substitute, water let fall from the rose of 

 a watering-pot held 3 or 4 feet above them 

 will produce a like effect. All blanks 

 which occur in the drills, from whatever 

 cause they may emanate, should be speed- 

 ily re-sown ; but before doing so, fork up 

 the soil in the patches, and drill and sow 

 afresh ; and to keep the crop as equal as 

 possible, steep the seed to be sown twenty- 

 four hours in tepid water to forward its 

 germination. 



Subsequent cultivation. — Keeping the 

 ground thoroughly stirred by deep hoeing 

 with the Vernon hoe, or the grubbers 

 attached to the hoeing, sowing, and drill- 

 ing machine, which will not only promote 

 growth in the plants, but prevent the 

 appearance of weeds, are the principal 

 operations required, if we except the im- 

 portant duty of thinning the crop as it 

 advances. The distances we have stated 

 above. The operation of thinning should 

 be performed by the turnip-hoe, fig. 64, 

 which for this purpose should be kept 

 clean, and as sharp as a knife. The 

 2-inch or 2i-inch hoe is the implement 

 best suited for this purpose, and a dex- 

 terous person, accustomed to such an im- 

 plement, will hoe triple the quantity 

 with it that an old woman will do with a 

 7-inch tool, as recommended and used in 

 the sister art. In very dry seasons, tur- 

 nips, in all their stages of growth, are 

 much improved by watering ; it swells 

 the bulbs out rapidly, and prevents their 

 becoming hard, dry, and stringy, as well 

 as running prematurely to seed. The 

 first thinning by hoe should take place 

 when the plants have made their first 

 rough leaves — that is, those succeeding 

 the radicle or cotyledon leaves, and at 

 this time about 1 inch in breadth, if sown 

 broadcast in beds, which the two earliest 



crops may be, and thinned to the distance 

 of 2 inches apart, and in course of a week 

 to the ultimate distance of 4 inches apart. 

 Those of later crops in rows, when of the 

 same size, should be thinned first to 3 

 inches, and in course of eight or ten days 

 to 6 inches apart in the lines. This, again, 

 depends on the size of the varieties, as well 

 as the size at which they are to be drawn 

 for use ; so that in some cases the 3-inch 

 distance may be sufficient, afterwards 

 drawing every alternate one for consump- 

 tion. In small gardens, where young tur- 

 nips are in demand, this is sufficiently ex- 

 pedient ; but otherwise it is better to give 

 the second thinning, and to depend, as 

 already said, for supply upon a small crop 

 sown on purpose. Half that distance will 

 be sufficient for the French or Teltow tur- 

 nip, as neither its roots or foliage are 

 large. 



Soil and manure. — A turnip soil is al- 

 most a synonymous term with a light 

 sandy or light loamy soil, for in such they 

 succeed better than in stronger and more 

 tenacious ground. In the former the crop 1 

 will be much earlier, more easily managed, 

 and the roots of better flavoured quality. 

 In strong soils the crop is much later, 

 more likely to shoot up to seed, particu- 

 larly early in the season, and the roots 

 are always deficient in flavour. New soils 

 produce the best turnips, but all should 

 be in an enriched state, either naturally 

 or artificially. The richest manures may 

 be applied, and, as has been shown prac- 

 tically in the case of one of the most 

 powerful (pigeons' dung), disease as well 

 as insects have been greatly kept under 

 by it. 



The turnip tribe differs from the potato in two 

 most important points. First, The quantity of 

 water they respectively contain. In the potato 

 this forms three-fourths, but in the turnip nine- 

 tenths, of the whole weight, when taken from 

 the ground ; or they consist of — 



Potato. Turnip. 

 Water, 75 91 



Dry nutritive matter, . 25 9 



100 100 



Second, In the presence of starch in the potato, 

 while the turnip contains in its stead a substance 

 called pectose, or pectic acid, which contains 

 more oxygen than starch, but serves the same 

 purpose in the nutrition of animals. " In fleshy 

 fruits, such as the plum, peach, apricot, apple, 

 pear, &c, and in the bulbs or roots of the tur- 

 nip, the carrot, the parsnip, &c, there exists no 

 starch, but in its stead pectose, or pectic acid. 



