up to the height of 4 feet; but will not pile to 5 feet on that width of base. The store may thus be formed of any length; but it is more desirable to make two or three stores on adjoining ridges, than a very long one on the same ridge, as its farthest end may be too far off to use a wheel-barrow to remove the stored turnips. Straw drawn out lengthwise is put from 4 to 6 inches thick above the turnips for thatch, and kept down by means of straw ropes arranged lozenge-shaped, and fastened to pegs driven in a slanting direction in the ground, along the base of the straw, as may be distinctly seen in the figure. Or a spading of earth, taken from the furrow, may be placed upon the ends of the ropes to keep them down. The straw is not intended to keep out either rain or air-for both are requisite to preserve the turnips fresh-but to protect them from frost, which causes rottenness, and from drought, which shrivels turnips. То avoid frost, the end, and not the side, of the store should be presented to the N., from whence frost may be expected most to come. If the ground is so flat, and the open furrows so nearly on a level with the ridges, as that a fall of rain might overflow the bottom of the store, a furrowslice, in that case, should be taken out of the open furrows by the plough, a gawcut made with the spade, and the earth used to keep down the ropes. 825. When the turnips are to be used from the store in hard frost, the straw on the S. end is removed, as seen in fig. 37, and a cart, or the cattle-man's capacious light wheel-barrow, backed to it; and, after the requisite quantity for the day has been removed, it is replaced over the turnips. 826. Some people evince a desire to place a turnip-store in the stack-yard, on account, perhaps, of protection from frost by the stacks, but a stack-yard has not sufficient room in the beginning of winter for the turning of carts. I have seen turnips stored up between two stacks in the early part of the season, only as a temporary expedient until straw was thrashed out. 827. There are other forms of store which will preserve turnips fresh and good for a considerable time. I have seen turnips heaped about 3 feet in height, quite flat on the top, upon the ground, and covered with loose straw, and though rain passed through them readily, they kept very well. 828. A plan has been tried to pull them from the field in which they have grown, and set them upright with their tops on in another field, in a furrow made with the plough, and then to cover the bulbs with the next furrow-slice. 829. Another is, to pull the turnips, as in the former case, and carry them to a bare or lea field, and set them upright beside one another, as close as they can stand, with their tops and roots on. 830. No doubt, both these plans will keep turnips fresh enough, and an area of 1 acre will thus contain the growth of 4 or 5 acres of the field; but turnips cannot be so secure from frost in those positions as in a store; and after the trouble of lifting and carrying them has been incurred, it is much easier to take them to a store at once, where they would always be at hand, than take them first to, and bring them again from, another field; and even if they were so set in a field adjoining the steading, they would occupy a much larger space than any store. 831. Objectionable as these plans are, compared to triangular or flat-topped stores, they are better than storing turnips in houses, where they engender heat and sprout on the top, and never fail to become rotten at the bottom of the bin. Piling them against a high wall, and thatching them like a to-fall, preserves them very little better than in an outhouse. 832. Turnips put into pits dug in the ground, and covered with earth, have failed to be preserved. 833. A plan has been recommended to drive stakes 2 feet high into the ground, and wattle them together with brushwood, making an enclosure of three sides, in the interior of which the turnips are packed, and piled up to a point and thatched, like the store in fig. 37; and the turnips are represented as keeping fresh in such a structure until June; and one advantage attending the plan is said to be, that "where room is rather limited in the rickyard, one pile of this description will contain 3 times as much as one of those placed on the ground of a triangular shape; and the saving of thatch is also considerable." But, as it appears to me, the providing of stakes and the trouble of wattling to form an enclosure, will far more than counterbalance any advantage of space or saving of straw for thatch, compared with the simple mode I have described in fig. 37; but no necessity exists for having a turnipstore in a rick-yard. 834. In pulling mangold-wurtzel, care should be taken to do as little injury to the roots as possible. Cleansing with the knife should on no account be permitted; and rather leave some of the leaf on than injure the crown of the root in any way. The drier the weather is the better for storing the crop, though the roots will not be injured in the store by a little earth adhering to them in wet weather. The roots are best prepared for the store by twisting off the top with the hand, as a mode of preventing every risk of injuring the root. Mangold-wurtzel not being able to withstand frost, the crop must be entirely cleared from the field before its appearance; and the best way of pulling them is in the order indicated in fig 32, at a, where two drills are pulled by one worker, and the adjoining two drills by another; and the trimmed roots placed in heaps in the hollow intermediate to the four drills, the leaves being also thrown into heaps between the roots. "The leaves, thus treated, when intended to be fed either by sheep folded on land, or carted off and thrown on pastures for cattle or sheep, are always clean and fit food for stock, which they are not when thrown over the land and trampled on. Besides this, the beet which has been pulled, and not carted during the day, should always be covered the last thing before leaving for the night, and the leaves, being laid conveniently in heaps, are used for that purpose. Mangold-wurtzel standing on the ground, and protected by the broad leaves, will stand a frost (if not very severe) without injury, but à very slight frost will damage those roots which are pulled; therefore it is a wise precaution to cover up the roots that are left at night." If the leaves are not desired to be used as food, they may be scattered over the ground. 835. On removing any roots, the cart goes up between two rows of pulled roots, and thereby clears a space at once of the breadth of eight drills. In this manner the work proceeds expeditiously, and with as little injury to the land by trampling as possible. To save the land still farther, the carts should always be driven up and down the drills and not across them, whether going with a load or returning empty. The pulling and driving a good crop of 20 tons of mangold-wurtzel is stated to cost from 9d. to 1s. per ton, and a bad crop will cost considerably more. "In a wet season, the removal of a crop of beet from a retentive soil is frequently injurious, by the necessary treading in carrying the crop in extreme cases this may be entirely obviated by removing the crop by manual labour; and though the soil be not of that retentive nature, yet those who farm wet land have occasionally recourse to the carrying the crop to heaps at the side of the field, in baskets, or wheeling in barrows; and find that the cost does not greatly exceed the carrying the crop in carts. Planks to wheel upon would facilitate the operation." 836. The storing of mangold-wurtzel may be effected in various ways, but in every case the roots must be secured against frost, and a thick covering of straw will effect the purpose. One plan is to build up the roots against a wall, and line the outside of the heap with hurdles and straw, and cover it with straw one foot thick as a thatch.* Another plan is to pile the roots, like a pit of potatoes, 6 feet in width at the bottom, and 4 feet high, to the point of the triangular taper, cover them with straw, and place a stratum of earth over it, taken from each side of the heap, and leaving the crest of the triangular heap uncovered with earth, to act as a ventilator from the roots, through the straw.t 837. Carrots are also taken up before the frost appears, and stored for winter use. They are best taken out of the ground with a three-pronged fork, when sown on the flat ground, but on drills the plough, without the coulter, answers the purpose nearly as well, and executes the work much more expeditiously, though the extremities of the largest carrots are broken off. On being taken up in either way the tops are wrenched off by the hand, and may be given to the cattle, or strewn over the ground to be ploughed in. 838. Carrots not being so easily affected by frost as mangold-wurtzel, may be stored in an outhouse mixed with dry sand, or in a triangular heap, and covered with straw only, or with straw and earth. 839. "In October, the leaves of the parsnip, as they begin to decay, should be cut off and given, when dry, to the cows: it is important to see that they be dry, as, when moist from rain or dew, they are apt to inflame the udder. The leaves come in as a convenient auxiliary to grass at this period; and, if given moderately, a good armful per day to each cow will impart as much richness to the milk as the parsnip itself." + 840. The parsnip may be taken up from the flat or the drill and stored in precisely the same manner as carrots, not being much affected by frost, and will keep fresh in the store until April. Care, however, should be taken that none of the leaves remain attached to the roots. 841. Cabbages should be pulled up by the roots; for when the stem is cut over, and left in the ground, it will sprout out again, and the aftergrowth will much exhaust the soil. 842. In storing cabbages they may be shoughed into the soil, or, what is better, hung up by the stems with the head downwards, in a shed, where they will keep fresh for a long time. ON THE VARIETIES OF TURNIPS 843. There are a great many more varieties of turnips cultivated in the country than seems necessary. Mr Lawson enumerates and describes no fewer than 46 varieties cultivated in the field; namely 11 of swedes, 17 of yellow, and 18 of white, the names being derived as much from the colour of the flesh as the skin. One kind from each of these classes seems requisite to be cultivated on every farm, although the yellow is omitted in some districts, and the swede in others. Where the swede is omitted, it has never been cultivated, and where the yellow is the favourite, the swede is unknown; for where it is known, its culture is never relinquished, and its extension is nearly overspreading the yellow, and even curtailing the boundary of the white. The white varieties come earliest into use, and will always be esteemed on account of their rapid growth and early maturity, though unable to * Journal of the Agricultural Society of England, vol. ii. p. 300. + Lawson's Agriculturists' Manual, p. 237, and Supplement, p. 49. § Ibid. withstand severe frost. Being ready for use as soon as the pasture fails, they afford the earliest support to both cattle and sheep; and only such a quantity should be stored of them as will last to the end of the year. The yellows then follow, and last for about 2 months, to the end of February or thereabouts; and the same rule of storing them, for a specified time, is followed as with the whites. The swedes finish the course, and should last until the grass is able to support the young cattle, Fig. to the end of May or beginning of June, to which period they will continue fresh in store, if stored in the proper time and manner as recommended above; and the most proper time for storing them is before vegetation makes any appearance, in the end of March or beginning of April. 844. Of all the 18 varieties of white turnips, I should say that the white globe (Brassica rapa, depressa, alba, of De Candolle) a, fig. 38, is the best for early 38. THE WHITE GLOBE TURNIP. THE PURPLE TOP SWEDISH THE ABERDEENSHIRE YELLOW maturity, sweetness, juiciness, size of root, * BULLOCK TURNIP. 845. I suspect that our crops of whiteglobe turnip ordinarily consist of middlesized bulbs, or they contain many blanks, as the following statement will show. Taking the distance between the turnips at 9 inches-being that at which white turnips are usually thinned out-and the usual distance between the drills at 27 inches, an area of 243 square inches of ground is allowed for each turnip. Hence there should be 25,813 turnips per imperial acre; and taking 20 tons per acre as a fair crop, each turnip should only weigh 1 lb. 5 oz.! Now, a size of 6 inches in diameter overhead may be assumed; and having the specific gravity at 0.840, each turnip should weigh 6 lb., and the crop 69 tons 2 cwt., instead of 30 tons per acre. The inevitable conclusion is, either that blanks occur to the enormous extent of only 9445 turnips instead of 25,813; or the average distance between the turnips must be 20 inches instead of 9. When actual results fall so very far short of expectation, the inquiry is, Whether the great deficiency is occasioned by the death of plants after the singling process has been completed? or the average size and weight of each turnip are much less than we imagine; or the distance left by the singling is greater than we desire ?-or from all these causes Davy's Agricultural Chemistry, p. 135, edition of 1839. + Sinclair's Hortus Gramineus Woburnensis, p. 406-407, edition of 1824. combined? From whichever cause, singly 846. Weights and sizes of white turnips have been ascertained with sufficient accuracy. The white globes exhibited at the show of the Highland and Agricultural Society at Inverness in October 1839, gave a girth varying from 28 to 34 inches, and a weight varying still more-from 8 lb. to 15 lb. each root; and 3 roots of the same girth of 30 inches, varied in weight respectively 8 lb., 92 lb., and 14 lb. After such a statement, our surprise at results may be moderated, it being evident that crops of the same bulk weigh differently; and turnips from the same field exhibit different fattening properties; and different localities produce turnips of different bulk. Whence arise so various results? The above weights are not the utmost to which this turnip attains, examples occurring from 18 lb. to 23 lb.;t and I have pulled one from amongst swedes, weighing 29 lbs., including the top. And yet from 30 to 40 tons per imperial acre are regarded a good crop of this kind of turnip. firm and heavy in the hand, with a smooth fine skin, the flesh crisp, but not so juicy, nor the rind so thin as the globe. 848. Selected specimens exhibit a circumference of from 27 to 30 inches, with a weight varying from 6 lb. to 84 lb., but specimens may be found weighing from 9 lb. to 11 lb. with the same diameter, showing a difference of 2 lb. in weight. Yellow turnips seldom yield so heavy a crop as either the globe or swede, 30 tons the imperial acre being a good crop; but their nutritive property is greater than white turnips. In the northern parts of the kingdom, where light soils predominate, they are grown in preference to the swede; but, from my own experience in raising the swede on the driest gravelly soil, I believe if it receives the sort of culture it requires, it would exceed the yellow in weight and nutrition in every soil. 849. Of the 18 varieties of the swedish turnip described by Mr Lawson, the Purple-top (Brassica campestris, napo-brassica, rutabaga, of De Candolle,) has long obtained the preference; and certainly if weight of crop, nutritious property, and durability of substance are valuable properties in a turnip, none can exceed this. It is of an oblong form, b, fig. 38, having the colour under ground and of the flesh a deep yellow orange, and the part above the ground a dusky purple. The leaves are about 1 foot long, standing nearly upright, of a bluish green colour, and growing out of a firm conical crown, which forms the neck of the bulb. The skin is somewhat rough, the rind thicker than either the white or yellow turnip, and the flesh very crisp. This turnip feels heavy and hard in the hand. According to Dr Keith, the specific gravity of the orange swede is 1.035, and of the white 1.022, and Sir Humphry Davy estimates its nutritive property at 64 in 1000 parts, of which 9 are starch, 51 sugar, 2 gluten, and 2 extract. Dr Keith found the Swedish turnip heaviest in April, at the shooting out of the new leaves, and after its flower stem was fairly shot in June, the specific gravity of the root decreased * Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, x. p. 456. +Lawson's Agriculturists' Manual, p. 253-254. The Norwich Mercury of July 1841, makes mention of a turnip,-a white one, we presume, exhibited at Fakenham market, and sent from Van Diemen's Land in strong brine, which weighed 84 lb., having a girth of 5 feet 2 inches. It is said to have weighed 92 lb., when pulled. 847. Of the yellow turnip, Mr Lawson has described 17 varieties, of which perhaps the greatest favourite is the greentop Aberdeen Yellow Bullock (Brassica rapa, depressa, flavescens, of De Candolle.) This is a good turnip, of the form of an oblate spheroid, c, fig. 38; the colour of the skin below the ground, as well as of the flesh, being a deep yellow orange, and that of the top bright green. The leaves are about 1 foot long, dark green, rather soft, spreading over the bulb, and collected into a small girth at the top of the turnip; the tap-root is small. Its specific gravity, as determined by Dr Keith, is 0.940; and its nutritive property, according to Sinclair, is 44 in 1000 parts, of which 4 are of mucilage, 373 of sugar, and 1 of bitter extract or saline matters. This root feels |