Turnips. 
BY JOHN M STAHL. 
Except in a few favored localities, grow¬ 
ing spring turnips as a field crop is not 
profitable. Tlie maggot ruins the crop. 
Nor is there usually any urgent need of tur¬ 
nips for stock food during the summer; for 
there is an abundance of green food in the 
pastures, or if the pastures fail, sowed corn 
or other crops will make a more convenient 
substitute than turnips. But in winter 
there is need of roots, and a need which 
they only can supply. It would be to their 
great advantage if ou farmers more thor¬ 
oughly understood this need and supplied 
it. Dn . indigestible food is fed all winter, 
leading to waste of food and disease of 
animals, when a few roots would obviate 
both. No root can be more easily supplied 
than the turnip. Farmers could not pro¬ 
duce a more profitable crop: and lam of 
the opini >n that in many cases market 
gardeners would realize a better price for 
their turnip crop by selling it direct to 
farmers. than by disposing of it through 
the usual channels; for farmers generally 
ovoi estimate the trouble and expense of 
growing turnips. 
Fall turnips can be sown after early pota¬ 
toes. sweet corn, or some other similar crop, 
and thus two crops be taken from ground 
in one season. I always sow turnips on 
the ground from which I have harvested 
early potatoes. As I plow the potatoes out, 
all that is necessary to put the ground in 
condition for the turnips, is to go over it two 
or three times with the harrow. It will be 
necessary to plow, or at least harrow sev¬ 
eral times, the ground from which sweet 
corn has been removed. A disk harrow- 
will put the ground in fine condition. 
Many prefer to sow just before a rain; but 
I always get better results by sowing just 
after a rain, and would recommend this 
time rather than previous to a shower. The 
evening is a better time than the morning, 
turnips may be sown broadcast, but it is the 
better plan to put them in drills,—drills 
twelve to fifteen inches apart where the cul¬ 
tivation is by hand, or two feet apart where 
the wheel 1 >oe is used. As soon as the plants 
are large enough to pull out, thin to a plant 
every six or eight inches. When the seed 
is drilled one pound to the acre is sufficient. 
For the winter crop sow the Yellow Aber¬ 
deen, or the strap-leaved kinds. They may 
be sown from the first of July to the last of 
August. The White Cowliorn, a long, thin 
variety, very sweet and tender and unex¬ 
celled for cows, may be sown in September 
along the fortieth parallel or even further 
north. This, and other varieties, may be 
sown after barley, oats, rye or wheat, and 
will yet mature a crop. 
The weight of turnips that may be grow r n 
upon an acre is surprising. Where the land 
is fertile and adapted to the crop—a light, 
friable loam—and a moderate amount of 
cultivation is given, a yield of thirty-five 
tons to the acre is not large. For feednig to 
stock they are worth, on an average, $3.50 
per ton. It is plain that this can be made 
a very profitable crop for the stockman, and 
also for the market gardener. As the tur¬ 
nip is composed largely of starch, cooking is 
very necessary in order to realize its full 
feeding value, and for stock there is no bet¬ 
ter ration 1 han a slop made of boiled turnips, 
corn meal and wheat bran. 
The pit method is the only one practicable 
for storing turnips in many cases, and is, 
perhaps, as good as any. A plot of ground 
which drains well naturally is selected; or if 
this is not to be had, the highest ground ob¬ 
tainable is thoroughly drained by artificial 
means. Here the pit is dug—three or four 
feet deep, six feet wide, and as long as is 
needed. The roots are then evenly packed 
across the pit, in sections about four feet 
wide, until they reach the level of the sur¬ 
face. In the case of turnips this work is 
done just before the ground is likely to 
freeze, as they do not require temporary 
pitting. They are loosened, pulled up, and 
the tops cut away about an inch from the 
bulb. Between the sections spoken of there 
is left a space about six inches wide, which 
is filled with soil as the roots are laid in. 
This puts the roots in sections, making a se¬ 
ries of small pits, each holding from eight 
to twelve barrels of roots, one of which can 
be taken out without disturbing the next, 
which is separated from it by six inches of 
soil. This is covered over with straw and 
earth sufficient 1 o prevent the freezing of the 
