TURNIP

Brassica Rapa The Turnip is not a difficult garden crop; indeed, the simplest management will produce an ample supply, and any fairly good ground will suffice for it. But whatever is worth doing is worth doing well, and a gardener may be pardoned for



taking an especial pride in producing a sufficiency of handsome and tender Turnips. The great point is to insure a succession through a long season, or, say, the whole year round, for Turnips are always in request, and at certain periods of the year delicate young roots are greatly valued for the table. The finest Turnips are grown in deep, sandy loam, kept in a high state of cultivation. Useful Turnips may be grown on any soil, but a handsome sample of the finest quality cannot be produced on heavy clay or thin limestone. In common with other fast-growing plants of the cruciferous order, Turnips must have lime in some form, and in many gardens it will occasionally be necessary to give a dressing of lime in addition to the ordinary manure. Superphosphate, bone, and old plaster or mortar from destroyed buildings, are all valuable in preparing the soil for this crop. Times of Sowing.--An early crop of small bulbs may be grown by sowing in January on a very gentle hot-bed as prescribed for early Radishes, and it may be well to add, that in an emergency white Turnip Radishes may be made to take the place of Turnips, both to flavour soups and to appear as a dish in the usual way. Fast-growing Turnips may be sown on a sheltered warm border in February and March, to be carefully watched and protected when unkind weather prevails. In April and May sowings should be made consistently with the probable wants of the household, but the May sowings should comprise two or three sorts in the event of hot dry weather spoiling some of them. The principal sowings for autumn and winter supplies are made in June and July, but seed may also be sown in August. Ground from which some crop, such as Peas, has just been cleared generally needs little preparation beyond breaking the surface with a hoe, followed by a good raking. Thin the plants early and let them stand finally at six to nine inches apart in the rows. For late crops seed is often sown broadcast, the roots being pulled as they mature. General Culture.--It is advisable to sow Turnips in drills on a fine tilth, and it is an advantage to have a sufficiency of some stimulating manure near the surface to hurry the growth of the young plant, for the danger of fly belongs to the seed-leaf stage. Generally speaking, the Turnip fly does but little harm in gardens; but where it is much feared, the seed should be sown in prepared drills to encourage a quick growth. Draw the drills twelve to fifteen inches apart, three inches deep, and about the same width, and almost fill them with rotten manure, or with a mixture of earth and guano, or wood ashes; cover this with a little fine soil to prevent injury to the seed; then sow, and lightly conceal the seed with earth as a finish. If the ground is sufficiently moist, growth will commence almost immediately, and the plant will come up strong, and very quickly put forth rough leaves. In the general management more depends on timely and judicious thinning than upon any other point. If Turnips are not well thinned, so that each plant can spread its green head unimpeded by the leaves of a neighbour, a good growth cannot be expected; and thinning by the hoe should be commenced as soon as the rough leaves appear. The operation must be repeated until the plants are at a suitable distance, and then comes the process of singling, which should be done by hand. It will be found that in many cases two or three little plants stand together looking like one. There must be only one left at each station, and that should be the shortest. The distances may vary from four to ten inches, according to the vigour of the variety and the kind of Turnips required. An easy and profitable plan is to allow a certain number of bulbs to swell to supply young Turnips, and, by drawing these, leave room for the remainder of the crop to attain its proper size for storing. The Turnip likes a light soil, but does not well endure the occasional dryness to which light soils are subject. This fact accounts for many failures of the crop in a hot dry season, for sunshine suits the Turnip, but it must have moisture or suffer deterioration in some way. If, therefore, the soil becomes dry, and there is no prospect of rain, the Turnips should have water, not simply to moisten the surface, but to go to the roots, for frequent watering is not good for the crop, as it tends to spoil the beauty of the bulbs, and promotes a rank leaf-growth which is not wanted. An occasional heavy watering in dry weather will also do much towards the repression of the many enemies that beset this useful root--the jumpers, the grubs, the weevils, and the rest of the vermin will be routed out of their snug hiding-places in the dusty soil when the watering takes place, and the death of many will follow. But so long as the soil is fairly moist at the depth the roots are ranging, there is no need for watering, and the time it would consume may be utilised for other work. Lifting and Storing.--On the approach of winter a certain portion of the Turnip crop should be lifted and stored. In doing this the tops must be cut off, not too close, but just leaving a slight green neck, and the roots should be rather shortened than removed; at all events, to cut the roots off close is bad practice: when so treated the bulbs do not keep well. Any rough storage answers for Turnips, the object being to keep them plump by excluding the atmosphere, and at the same time render them safe against frost. The portion of the crop left in the ground may be lifted as wanted in the same way as Parsnips, but this should be done systematically, so that the ground which is cleared may be dug over and ridged up before winter. Those that remain will be in a piece, and will give a good crop of spring greens, after which they may be made use of as manure by putting them at the bottom of a trench. Some of the foes that war against the Turnip crop are alluded to at greater length later on. Happily, the gardener has many friends that are insufficiently known to the farmer, not the least important being the starlings, song birds, and occasionally (but not often) the sparrows. Where the cultivation is good and small birds abound, the Turnip crop is pretty safe, and the general routine of culture sketched above will certainly promote, if it does not absolutely secure, its safety. The worst foes of the Turnip in the field are the fly and the caterpillar; but in the garden, and more especially the old garden, anbury is the most to be feared. When this happens the cultivator may rest satisfied that the soil is in fault, and this may be owing to a bad routine of cropping. Wherever anbury appears, whether on Cabbages or Turnips or any other cruciferous plant, there should be worked out a complete change in the order of cropping, taking care not to put any brassicaceous plants on the plots where the disease has occurred for two or three seasons, and allowing at least one whole year to pass without growing any of the cruciferous order upon them. In the meantime, for other crops the land should be well trenched and limed, and generously tilled. The result will be profitable crops of other kinds of vegetables and a refreshing of the soil that will enable it to carry brassicaceous plants again, with but little risk of the recurrence of anbury. Good cultivation is the only panacea known against the plagues that assail our crops. This does not surely secure them, for the elements are capricious and beyond our control; but where good cultivation prevails the failures are few, and even unfavourable seasons do not utterly obliterate the benefits of past labour. Swede.--There are several advantages in growing Swedes as one of the garden crops. They are hardy in constitution and prolong the supply of a wholesome vegetable. In districts where Turnips are unsatisfactory, Swedes prove successful, and are appreciated for their delicacy of flavour when grown from stocks which have been carefully selected for the purpose. The culture is in all respects the same as for Turnip. The date of sowing depends on the district. In the north it is safe to sow at the beginning of May, but in the midlands and southern counties of England the end of May or beginning of June is early enough.

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