PRESENT METHOD OF TURNIP CULTURE. 465 
from a miniature root, partakes of the incomplete or stunted 
growth of the plant. This, however, is not the case ; the 
bulb is larger than ever, but more prone to disease, which is 
attributable to the poisonous, acid, rotten, decomposing seed¬ 
bed adopted. 
I am not going to argue against supplying the soil with all 
the elements required for bringing the root crops to full and 
perfect development, as undoubtedly a want of one or more 
of the elements in sufficient quantity for the sustenance of 
the plants frequently exists, and to such an extent as to 
render them weak, diseased, and unprofitable; but to the 
mode in which these fertilisers are used. The first point con¬ 
tended, is that an unhealthy seed-bed is formed from the 
manures being in too concentrated and acidly soluble a form, 
and that the young plant is injured by these concentrated 
manures being in juxtaposition with the germinating seed, 
which frequently receives more of these mineral salts than it 
can appropriate, producing that efflorescence on the leaves the 
forerunner of mildew; and secondly, supposing these manures 
to contain either lead or arsenic, that the evil consequences 
are still further augmented, as it is established by chemical 
investigation that vegetables are capable of absorbing 
poisonous salts from the soil and becoming themselves 
poisonous in consequence. (Dr. Taylor ‘ On Poisons/ article, 
“Lead.”) Hence it is of paramount importance thatthe chemi¬ 
cal manure manufacturer should supply these valuable and 
indispensable fertilisers free from all poisonous contamination, 
and guarantee their purity to his customers by the strictest 
chemical investigation, or the consequences may become of the 
deadliest character, not only to farm stock, but even to man 
himself. Thirdly, the seed being sown upon decomposing 
organic matter, or matter in a state of transition, that the 
putrefactive fermentation possesses a power of producing or 
transmitting its own action to any organic substance, and 
thus imparts an aptitude in the root or bulb of the turnip 
to undergo an unnatural and spontaneous decay, even before 
it becomes fully matured, which so far weakens the plant 
as to render it incapable of standing sudden changes of 
temperature, and would, were it not for its biennial nature, 
have made it as uncertain a crop as it has long since done 
the potatoe. The wurzel has likewise been under the same 
pernicious influences as the turnip ; the longer it has been 
grown the more uncertain has the crop become. In fact, 
these crops, managed according to the present system, have 
within themselves the elements of decay to such an extent 
that an extraordinarily severe winter would rot them all. 
