On the Kohl-Rabi. 
525 
account for it on the supposition that no attempt has hitherto 
been systematically made to introduce it to the notice of the 
farmer, and that the results of experiments have been confined 
to occasional paragraphs in agricultural journals and local news- 
papers. 
Mr. Towers says : * — 
" In 1837, our turnips were so mangled and honeycombed by a grey cater- 
pillar that they became worthless, and many persons substituted Kohl, but 
relinquished it too speedily, returning to their playing at turnips. The Kohl 
of this year I have found to resist the utmost drought of our most arid summer ; 
and about September, when the wheat lands received the first scanty showers, 
the stubbles were twice or three times ploughed, manured, and thoroughly har- 
rowed. Upon ground so prepared, the late crop of seedling Kohl was set by 
dibble, but the plants nearer to each other in the rows. So dry was the season, 
that before ten acres of one noble field could be planted six weeks had elapsed ; 
yet all are now flourishing, and will come in for spring food. The most de- 
lightful and benign rains of October scarcely excited the miserable turnips, yet 
every plant of the Kohl felt their influence, and is progressing to perfection. 
This fine vegetable, therefore, being proof against aridity, moisture, or frost, 
and defying insect ravage, is earnestly recommended as a substitute in those 
localities where the weak and miffy turnip is ever a subject of doubt and per- 
plexity." 
And again : f — 
" I have seen in the present year on a 60-acre farm one first main plantation 
for early bulbs ; a second of larger extent after Early Shaw potatoes ; a third 
after the first corn-crop ; and as there are thousands of seedlings yet in the seed- 
beds, I think it likely that another plot of several acres ^vill be occupied by 
plants intended for spring food, if not for the production of seed. I close this 
communication by an extract from a note received on the .3rd September from 
a first-rate grower, on the subject of the i.creable yield : — ' As the weight of 
bulbs from an acre was never taken, it caimot be exactly given ; but baving 
grown bulbs weighing 16 lbs. and 17 lbs. each, although they are set out thinner 
than swedes, they are more certain. They retain their leaves all -winter, and 
I consider I can grow as much weight per acre, weighed in January, as of 
swedes ; and certainly I give the preference to Kohl-Eabi as to comparative 
nourishment. Unfortunately, it has seldom justice done to it : the seed is sown 
too late, and the planting made so likewise. It is a most valuable root.' As 
to mildew or disease, I never saw or heard of either ; and I can distinctly add 
that 1 observed the plants to thrive better in the dry summers of 1847 and 
1849 than during the intermediate wet one of 1848." 
Mr, Henry Stephens says : % — 
" As Kohl-Eabi holds the same position as a crop as the turnip, its culture 
is very similar ; but while turnips affect the lighter soils, Kohl-Rabi thrives on 
the stronger, so it may he raised where tid-nips cannot be. . . . Specimens 
of Kohl-Eabi have been raised in Scotland weighing from 5 to ~i lbs. ; in Ireland 
individual bulbs have attained the weight of 14 lbs., and in England they com- 
monly reach from 8 to 10 lbs. . . . The advantages which Kohl-Eabi is said 
to possess over Swedish turnips by those who have cultivated it in England and 
* From a Scotch newspaper ; name and date not known. 
t ' Journal of the R. A. S. E.,' vol. xi. p. 49C. 
j 'Book of the Farm,' 2nd ed., vol. ii., pp. 87, 88. 
