to 0.94, that of the yellow turnip. This differential fact indicates the comparative values of those turnips, and also the time for storing the swede. As Sir Humphry experimented on Swedish turnips grown in the neighbourhood of London, where they are confessedly inferior to those in the northern counties, his results as to their nutritive properties may be considered below the true mark, especially as the cases given by Professor Johnston show the proportion of nutriment as 744 in the 1000. 850. Picked specimens have exhibited a girth of from 25 to 28 inches, varying in weight from 7 lb. to 94 lb., but the weight varies in a different proportion to the bulk, as one of 25 inches gave 94 lb., whilst another of 26 inches only weighed 7 lb. It is no uncommon thing to see swedes from 8 lb. to 10 lb. A crop of 16 or 20 tons may be obtained by ordinary culture, but in the neighbourhood of large towns, such as Edinburgh, 28 or 34 tons are obtained on the imperial acre. I have heard of 50 or 60 tons boasted of, but suspect that the calculations had been made from limited and selected spots; nevertheless, a large and equal crop will sometimes be obtained, under favourable circumstances, such as I remember seeing of 50 acres within the policy of Wedderburn, Berwickshire, in 1815, when farmed by Mr Joseph Tod, Whitelaw, on walking over which I could not detect a single turnip of less apparent size than a man's head. The crop was not weighed, and was let to be consumed by cattle and sheep, the wethers to pay 6d. a-head per week, and it realised £21 per imperial acre! Taking a man's head at 7 inches in diameter, and the specific gravity of a Swedish turnip at 1.035, the weight of each turnip should be 6 lb. 11 oz., and allowing 19,360 turnips per acre, at 12 inches apart in the drill, and 27 inches between the drills, the crop should weigh 58 tons 1 cwt. Take the calculation in another form, and see the result of £21 at 6d. a-head per week, which implies the support of 32 sheep to the acre; and take Mr Curwen's estimate of a sheep eating 24 lb. a-day, for 180 days, or 26 weeks,† the crop should have weighed 61 tons 12 cwt. This must be the correct weight, so the above estimated one by sight comes very near the truth. The quantity of turnips eaten by sheep is, however, variously stated. Sir John Sinclair gives a consumption of 21 acres of 44 tons each, by 300 sheep in 180 days, or nearly 38 lb. a-day for each sheep.‡ If we take the usual allowance of 16 young sheep to an ordinary acre of 30 tons, which is 23 lb. a-day to each, or ten old sheep, which is 37 lb. to each, both respectively are near the results given by Mr Curwen and Sir John Sinclair, the difference between them being exactly that consumed by old and young sheep. Whether we take 24 lb or 38 lb. as the daily consumption of turnips by sheep, there is no doubt whatever of the £21 per acre having been received for their keep; but the exact consumption of food by live-stock is unknown, although a subject worthy of experimental investigation. 851. The proportion the top bears in weight to the root is little in the Swedish turnip, as evinced in the experiments of Mr Isaac Everett, South Creake, Norfolk, on a crop of 17 tons 9 cwt., grown at 18 inches apart, and 27 inches between the drills, gave 3 tons 3 cwt. of tops, on the 15th December, after which they were not worth weighing; and, what is remarkable, the tops are lighter in a crop raised on drills than on the flat surface; that is, whilst 28 tons 8 cwt. of topped and tailed turnips afforded only 5 tons 10 cwt. of tops from drilled land, a crop of 28 tons 16 cwt. from the flat surface yielded 6 tons 16 cwt. of tops.§ 852. The yellow turnip will continue fresh in the store until late in spring, but the swede has a superiority in this respect to all others. The most remarkable instance I remember of the swede keeping in the store, in a fresh state, was in Berwickshire, on the farm of Whitsome Hill, when in the possession of Mr George Brown, where a field of 25 acres was pulled, rooted, and topped, and stored in the manner already described, in fine dry * Johnston's Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry, 2d edition, p. 928. Sinclair's Account of the Husbandry of Scotland, vol. ii. Appendix, p. 47. One weather in November, to have the field sown with wheat. The store was opened in February, and the cattle continued on them until the middle of June, when they were sold fat, the turnips being then only a little sprouted, and somewhat shrivelled, but exceedingly sweet to the taste. property possessed by the Swedish turnip stamps a great value upon it for feeding stock, the larger it grows the greater quantity of nutritive matter it contains. According to Sinclair, 1728 grains of large-sized Swedes contained 110 grains of nutritive matter, whereas small-sized ones only yielded 99 grains,* affording a sufficient stimulus to the farmer to raise this valuable root to the largest size attainable. Professor Johnston remarks, that the above analyses of the common carrot and parsnip are very imperfect, and require to be repeated. 855. He adds-"I regret to say that our present knowledge of the valuable esculent, the cabbage, is almost nothing. In my laboratory the proportion of water in the leaves of several varieties of cabbage has been found to average 92 per cent, and in the stalk 84 per cent. The dry solid matter of the leaf contains from 7 to 20 per cent of inorganic or mineral • Sinclair's Hortus Gramineus Woburnensis, p. 407. acre. vegetable, as yet known, which approaches weighs from 30 to 35 tons per imperial to this proportion. Were it possible to dry cabbage, therefore, it would form a very concentrated food." * 856. A summary of the foregoing results will be useful for reference :-The three kinds of turnips described, the purpletopped swede, the Aberdeenshire yellow bullock, and the white globe, possess all the properties for feeding stock, and remain fresh during the feeding season, which is all that can be desiderated by the farmer: therefore it seems unnecessary to cultivate any other variety where these can be procured pure of their kinds. But as 857. The white stone turnip comes quicker to maturity than the white globe; and in case the grass should fail in autumn more quickly than expected, it may be advisable to sow a few of the white stone variety for early use, and though not required, it will be found useful for sheep to begin the season with. And as 858. Laing's swede is found to resist the influence of vegetation longer in spring than the purple-topped; a few may be sown to be used in the latest part of the feeding season, and need not be stored until the end of April. 859. A white globe turnip of 7 inches in diameter affords 72 grains, whereas one of 4 inches diameter affords 80 grains of nutritive matter, the smaller being the more nutritive. 860. A large swede contains 110 grains, and a small one only 99 grains of nutritive matter, the larger swede being the more nutritive. 861. The quantity of nutritive matter in the same variety of the turnip varies -in white turnips from 8 to 13 per cent, and in the yellow turnip from 114 to 17 per cent; so that 20 tons of one crop may be as feeding as 30 tons of another, which is an important fact, and may account for the discrepancies experienced by farmers in feeding stock. 862. A good crop of swede turnips 863. A good crop of yellow turnips weighs from 30 to 32 tons per imperial acre. 864. A good crop of white globe turnips weighs from 30 to 40 tons per imperial acre. 865. A bushel of turnips weighs from 42 lbs. to 45 lbs. 866. The nutritive matter contained in an imperial acre of turnips is great. In a crop of 20 tons, or 45,000 lbs., there are 900 lbs. of thick or woody fibre, 4000 lbs. of starch, sugar, gum, 670 lbs. of gluten, 130 lbs. of fat or oil, and 300 lbs. of saline matter. Turnips, it may be observed, in the table of analysis, contain a very large proportion of water, and this enhancing the cost of transport, makes it almost necessary to have them consumed on the spot where they are grown.t 867. A young Leicester sheep may be supposed to eat 23 lbs., and an older one 38 lbs. of turnips per day, during the winter half-year, or 180 days, and a young black-faced sheep 18 lbs., and an old one 28 lbs. per day, in the same time. 868. The usual allowance to eat a crop of 30 tons of turnips in the winter halfyear, or 180 days, is 16 young and 8 old Leicester sheep, and 20 young and 10 old black-faced sheep per acre. In making this last estimate the state of the crop should be taken into consideration; a close crop of small yellow or white turnips takes longer time to consume than a bulkier crop of larger turnips; but a crop of large swedes, though thin on the ground, will take a longer time to consume than a closer crop of smaller roots. 869. An ox will eat about a ton of turnips every week. A two-year-old shorthorn ox will consume 26 tons, and a threeyear-old 30 tons of turnips in 180 days. The smaller breeds of cattle consume less. 870. Implicit reliance cannot be placed * Johnston's Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry, 2d edition, p. 911-14. + Ibid. p. 928. in any of these data, as they have not been derived from sufficiently accurate experiments, but they may enable you to make an approximation in apportioning turnips to sheep and cattle. 871. The price of turnips depends almost entirely on the demand of the locality. In the neighbourhood of towns they are always high-priced, where an ordinary crop of white will fetch £10, of yellow £12, and of swedes £16 an imperial acre. They are chiefly purchased by milkmen, or cowfeeders, as they are usually called in Scotland. In the country, about £5, 10s. for white, and £8 for Swedish turnip, to be carried off the land, are given ; and for white, when consumed on the ground by sheep, £3 to £5 an acre is considered a fair price; and on the premises by cattle £5, and from £5 to £7 per acre for swedes, with straw. A fairer plan for both the raiser and consumer of turnips is to let them by week at so much a head of stock. At the usual price of 3d. per head per week for young sheep, for the ordinary period of 26 weeks, makes a cost for keep of 6s. 6d.; and if it take 16 sheep to consume an acre, the turnips will realise about £5, 5s. per acre. For old sheep, double or 6d. per head per week is given, at a cost of 13s., which, for 8 sheep, will realise the same sum per acre. For cattle 5s. per head per week is given, with straw; and if an ox take 26 weeks to eat an acre, the turnips and straw will realise £6, 10s. In years of plenty, 2d., and of scarcity 4d. per head is given for young sheep, and for older stock double those prices. 872. There are two hybrids of turnips worth mentioning, as they were produced by art-the Dale hybrid, by Mr Dale, Liberton, near Edinburgh, and the Lawtown hybrid, by Mr Wright of Lawtown, near Coupar-Angus. It is probable that most of the varieties in use are natural hybrids. Dale's hybrid is a cross betwixt the green-topped swede and the globe; but whether the white or greentopped globe I do not know. It possesses more of the appearance and properties of the yellow turnip than of either of its progenitors; and has the advantage of arriv ing sooner at maturity, and may therefore be sown later than the ordinary yellow turnip. 873. The Lawtown hybrid is a cross between the green-topped swede and the green-topped globe, the result of which is a heart-shaped, white-fleshed, green-topped turnip, considerably heavier and hardier than the globe, with its leaves set on like those of the swede. The obvious results of these two crosses are a yellow turnip, Dale's, which arrives sooner at maturity than the older varieties; and a white globe, the Lawtown, which is more hardy than any other variety of white. 874. The crop afforded by these hybrids, in an experiment made in 1835, by Mr John Gow, Fettercairn, Kincardineshire, was, by the Dale, 28 inches in girth, 23 tons, and by the Lawton, 32 inches in girth, 27 tons the imperial acre.* 875. Although storing is the proper method of securing turnips for use during a storm of rain or snow, when the turnipfield should not be entered by a cart, yet, as a storm may overtake you, you should be provided with food for the cattle. Rain, snow, and frost, exhibit prognostics of their approach; and when any of them indicates a determined result, send all the fieldworkers and ploughmen to the turnip-field, and pull the turnips in the manner described above, fig. 32, removing only the tails, and throw the turnips with their tops into heaps of from 3 to 6 cart-loads each, according to the bulk of the crop, taking care to finish each heap, by placing the tops of the uppermost turnips all around the outside, to protect the bulbs from the frost, should it come suddenly unaccompanied with snow. To such heaps rain or snow will do no harm, and they serve to point out where they are, should snow cover the ground thickly. As the turnips gathered in frost or snow should be immediately consumed and not stored, they may be thrown from the heaps into the cart with a fork or graip, and the tops removed at the steading, where the process may be done in the severest weather, when women could not stand out in the field to do it. * Lawson's Agriculturist's Manual, pp. 241, 245, and 257. 876. I give a in fig. 39 to show you weight of the crop at specified weights of what I conceive to be an ill-formed turnip, as also one, b, which stands so much out of the ground represented by the dotted line as to be liable to injury from frost. The turnip a is ill-formed, inasmuch as the upper part of it around the top is hollow, where rain, snow, or rime may lodge, and find their way into the heart, and corrupt it, as is actually found to take place. All white turnips, when allowed to remain on the ground after they have attained maturity, become soft and spongy, of inferior quality in the heart, and susceptible of rapid putrefaction, which frequently overtakes them in sudden changes from frost to thaw, and reduces them to a saponaceous pulp. This fact affords a good motive to store white turnips after they come to maturity, which state is indicated by the leaves losing their colour and becoming flaccid. There green are some sorts of white turnips always spongy in the heart, and among these I would class the tankard-shaped, represented by b, fig. 39; as also a flat-shaped red-topped white, and a small flat white turnip, both cultivated by small farmers, because, being small, they require little manure to bring them to maturity, and this class of tenants spread the manure on the land as thin as possible to make it go the farther. I need scarcely tell you that economy is only to be found in the cultivation of the best varieties of turnip. 877. I think it useful to give you a tabular view of the number of turnips there should be on an imperial acre, at given distances between the drills, and between the plants in the drills, and of the 878. On comparing a common crop of 20 tons of swedes with these data, and keeping in view the distance of 12 inches between the plants, the inevitable conclusion is, that the average weight of turnips must be less than 3 lb., or the distance between them greater than 12 inches. In |