RAP 
When the feed begins to ripen (which may be eafily 
known by feparating from the axis and falling) you 
Ihould look it over every day, gathering it as it ri- 
pens •, for there will be a confiderable diftance in the 
feeds of the fame bed coming to maturity, at dealt a 
fortnight, and fometimes three weeks or a month. 
When you gather the feed, it Ihould not be expofed 
to the fun, but fpread to dry in a fhady place ; af- 
ter which, you muft put it up where the vermin can- 
not come to it, until the time of fowing it. 
By this method of fowing feeds every year, you will 
not only increafe your ftock of roots, but alfo raife 
new varieties, which may be greatly mended by 
changing the feeds into frefti ground ; for if a perfon 
continually fows his feed in the fame garden many 
years, they will not produce near fo fine flowers as if 
he procured his feeds at fome diftance, which is alfo 
the cafe with moft other plants. 
It will alfo be neceffary to take away all the earth 
out of the beds in which the roots were blown the 
preceding vear, and put in new, if you intend to plant 
Ranunculufes there again ; otherwife they will not 
thrive near fo well, notwithftanding you may add 
fome new compoft to the beds, and this is what all 
the curious fionfts continually obferve. 
RAPA. Tourn. Inft. R. H. 228. tab. 112. Brafiica. 
Lin. Gen. Plant. 734. Turnep; inFrench, Navet. 
The Characters are, 
The empalement of the flower is three-leaved , coloured , and 
eredi. The flower hath four plain fpreading petals , which 
are narrow at their bafe and entire. It has four oval 
honey glands , fituated between the ftamind and ftyle , and 
fix eredi awl-fhaped ftamina the two which are oppofite 
are the length of the empalement , the other four are lon- 
ger, terminated by eredt acute-pointed fummits. It hath a 
taper germen , fupporting a fhort thick ftyle, crowned by 
an enure headed fligma. The germen afterward becomes 
a long taper pod deprejfed on the fides , opening in two 
hells, which are filled with roundijh feeds. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the fecond feftion 
of Linnaeus’s fifteenth clafs, which includes thole 
plants whole flowers have two Ihort and four longer 
ftamina, and the feeds are in oblong pods ; and he joins 
this genus to the Brafiica, which, in a lyftem of botany 
may be allowable, though not in a treatife of gar- 
dening. 
The Species are, 
1. Rapa ( Rotunda ) radice caulefcente orbiculata de- 
preffa carnosa. Turnep with an orbicular , deprejfed, flefhy 
root. Rapa fativa rotunda radice Candida. C. B. P. 
89. Garden Turnep with a white root. 
2. Rapa ( Oblonga ) radice oblonga carnosa. Turnep with 
an oblong flefhy root. Rapa fativa, oblonga, feu foe- 
mina. C. B. P. 90. Turnep with an oblong root , or fe- 
male Turnep. 
3. Rapa ( Napus ) radice caulefcente fufiformi. Turnep 
with a fpindle-Jhaped root. Napus fativa, radice alba. 
C. B. P. 95. Garden Naphew with a white root , com- 
monly called French Turnep. 
The firft is the Turnep which is commonly cultivated 
in the fields, of which there are the following varie- 
ties, viz. The round, red, or purple-topped Turnep, 
the green-topped Turnep, the yellow Turnep, the 
black-rooted Turnep, and the early Dutch Turnep. 
The laft fort is commonly fawn early in the fpring, 
to fupply the markets in May and June, but is never 
cultivated for a general crop. The red-rooted Tur- 
nep was formerly more cultivated in England than at 
prefent ; for fince the large green-topped Turnep has 
been introduced, all the fkilful farmers prefer it to 
the other forts ; the root of this will grow to a large 
fize, and continue good much longer than the other 
forts. The next to this is the red or purple-topped 
Turnep, which will alfo grow large, and are ex- 
tremely good for fome time ; but the roots of this 
will become ftringy much fooner than thofe of the 
green-topped. The long- rooted Turnep, the yellow 
Turnep, and the blackilh-rooted Turnep, are now 
rarely cultivated in England, neither of them being 
fo good for the table or for fee,d as the red, and par- 
ti ciilarly the green-topped Turnep, though there are 
fome few perfons who fow them for the fake of vari- 
ety. The early Dutch Turnep is chiefly fown in the 
fpring, to fupply the table before any of the forts can 
be procured , and when they are drawn off young, 
are tolerably good ; but if they are left to grow large,- 
they are ftringy and very rank, fo are unfit for ufe. 
The French Turnep is not much cultivated in Eng- 
land, but in France and Holland they are- in great 
efteem, efpecially for foups ; their roots being fmall, 
are boiled whole in the foup, and fo ferved up to the 
table ; thele muft alfo be ufed while they are young, 
otherwife they will become rank and ftringy. 
Thefe are by fome fuppofed to be only varieties 
which have been accidentally obtained from feeds, 
therefore I have not enumerated them as diftindt fpe- 
cies ; but yet I am certain they are conftant where 
care is taken in the laving of their feeds, not to fuffer 
any mixture of plants to Hand for feeds : I have fown 
of three or four forts feveral years, and have always 
found them retain their differences •, however, it is 
not eafy to determine, if fome of thefe were not by 
culture firft obtained from the feeds of the common 
white Turnep. The yellow Turnep feems moft un- 
likely to have been an accidental variety, for I have 
never known this alter, and the roots are yellow 
within, whereas all the other have white flefti, not- 
withftanding their outfides are of very different co- 
lours. 
The long- rooted Turnep is, I think, a cliftindt fpe- 
cies, the form of the root, and its manner of growth 
being totally different from the other forts. I have 
feen thefe roots as long as thofe of fome Parfneps, and 
nearly of the fame fhape •, thefe run deep into the 
ground, fo are unfit for feeding cattle ; and unlefs 
they are ufed very young, become ftrong, fo not pro- 
per for the table, which has occaftoned their being 
rejedted of late years. 
The green-topped Turnep grows above the ground 
more than any of the other, which renders it prefer- 
able for feeding cattle, and being the fofteft and 
Iweeteft root when grown large of any of the kinds, is 
moft efteemed for the table ; but in very fevere win- 
ters, they are in greater danger of fuffering by froft, 
than thofe whofe roots lie more in the ground, efpe- 
cially if they are not covered by fnow ; for when they 
are frequently hard frozen and thawed, it caufes them 
to rot fooner than thofe whofe flefti is Ids tender and 
fweet. I have feen the roots of this fort, which were 
more than a foot diameter boiled, and were as fweet 
and tender as many of the fmalleft roots. 
Turneps delight in a light, fandy, loamy foil, which 
muft not be rich, for in a rich foil they grow rank 
and are fticky ; but if it be moift, they will thrive the 
better in fummer, efpecially in frefh land, where they 
are always fweeter than upon an old worn out, or a 
rich foil. 
The common feafon for fowing of Turneps, is any 
time from the beginning of June till the middle of 
Auguft, or a little later, though it is not advifeable to 
low them much after ; becaule, if the autumn ihould 
not prove very mild* they will not have time to ap- 
ple of a proper fize before winter ; nor will the roots 
of thofe which are fown after the end of July grow 
very large, unlefs the froft keeps off long in autumn. 
But, notwithftanding this is the general feafon in which 
the greateft part of Turneps are fown in the country, 
yet about London they are fown fuccefiivdy from 
March to Auguft, by thofe who propagate them to 
fupply the markets with their roots ; but there is a 
great hazard of lofing thofe which are fown early in 
the year, if the feafon Ihould prove dry, by the fly, 
which will devour whole fields of this plant while’ 
young j fo that where a fmall quantity for the fupply 
of a family is wanted, it will be abfolutely neceffary 
to water them in dry weather ; and where a perfon 
fows thofe feeds in April and May, it fhould always 
be upon a moift foil, otherwife they feldom come to 
good, the heat of the weather at that feafon being 
too great for them upon a dry foil • but thofe which 
11 F art' 
