rURNIP. 
103 
“ Cudure of Turnips . — Until the beginning of the eigh- 
teenth eentur y, this valuable root was cultivated only in gar- 
dens, or other small spots, for culinary purposes ; but Lord 
Townsend, who attended King George the First in one of 
his excursions to Germany, in the quality of Secretary of 
State, observing the Turnip cultivated in open and extensive 
fields, as fodder for cattle, and spreading fertility over lands 
naturally barren, on his return to England brought over some 
of the seed, and strongly recommended the practice which 
he had witnessed, to the adoption of his own tenants, who 
occupied a soil similar to that of Hanover. The experiment 
succeeded ; the cultivation of Field Turnips gradually spread 
over the whole county of Norfolk, and has made its way into 
every other district of England. Some of the finest grain 
crops in the world are now growing upon land, which be- 
fore the introduction of the Turnip husbandry, produced a 
very scanty supply of grass for a few lean and half-starved 
rabbits.” 
Mr. Colquhoun, in his ‘Statistical Researches ,’ estimated 
the value of the Turnip crop annually growing in the United 
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, at fourteen million 
pounds sterling, (equal to upward of sixty millions of dol- 
lars.) But when we farther recollect, that it enables the 
agriculturist to reclaim and cultivate land, which, without its 
aid, would remain in a hopeless state of natural barrenness ; 
that it leaves the land clean and in fine condition, and also 
insures a good crop of Barley, and a kind plant of Clover ; 
and that this Clover is found a most excellent pieparative 
for Wheat, it will appear that the subsequent advantages 
derived from a crop of Turnips must infinitely exceed its 
estimated value as fodder for cattle. 
The preceding remarks show the kind of land that may 
be made capable of producing not only Turnips, but other 
things of equal value. It must, however, be granted, that 
some soils naturally suit particular kinds of vegetables better 
than others, and that, in general, exotic p ants will succeed 
