174} TURNIP. 
almost always considered a sort of festival, at which a 
great portion of the neighbours attend, in order to ex- 
pedite the work ; and they are repaid by the good cheer 
of their brother farmer. In other places the rape is 
carried on a cloth, in a low kind of waggon, to be 
threshed out of the field. 
Oil is obtained from rape-seed by pressure. This is 
used, in large quantities, by clothiers and others. It is 
also used in medicine ; and for making the soap called 
green soap. It is likewise useful for various purposes in 
domestic life, and particularly for burning in lamps ; 
but it is apt to become rancid, though there are means 
of purifying it. After the oil has been extracted, the 
refuse is called oil-cake, and is employed for the fatten- 
ing of oxen ; and, in Norfolk, is sometimes broken to 
pieces, and strewed upon the land as manure. The roots 
of rape plants may be eaten like turnips, but they have 
a stronger taste. The stall's, or haulm, if strong, may 
be advantageously employed in the formation of the en- 
closing fences of farm-yards. They are, however, gene- 
rally burnt ; and in some parts of the country, the ashes, 
which are equal in quality to the best pot-ashes, are 
collected together and sold. 
188. The TURNIP (Brassica rapa) is a well-known edible 
root, which is cultivated to great extent in almost every part of 
England. 
To the farmer turnips are, in various particulars, a 
most valuable crop. They afford a profitable interven- 
ing crop with corn. Both the tops and roots are eaten 
by sheep. Horses and cattle may be advantageously 
fed upon the roots during winter ; but the milk of 
cows receives an unpleasant flavour from them. This 
flavour is also communicated to the butter; but it may 
be taken off by dissolving a little nitre in spring water, 
and putting a small tea-cupful of it into about eight 
gallons of milk, when warm from the cow. Turnips 
also serve as food for mankind, either boiled or roasted. 
In the years 1629, 1636, and 1683, during the pressure 
