The Abbeville Banner

CULTURE AND USE OF THE TURNIP.—

The common flat English turnip was introduced into this country with our English ancestry and has ever since been an object of cultivation. When boiled it is an agreeable vegetable for the table. Its principle value, however, is food for cattle and sheep, by which it is eaten uncooked. Its comparative nutritive properties are small, but the great bulk which can be raised on a given piece of ground and the facility and economy of cultivation, have always rendered it a favourite with such farmers as have soil and stock adapted to its profitable production and use.

A good soil for it is a fertile sand or well drained loam. Any soil adapted to Indian corn will produce good turnips. But it is only on new land or freshly turned sod that they are most successful. "An untilled virgin earth, with the rich dressing of ashes left after the recent burning of accumulated vegetable matter, and free from weeds and insects, is the surest and most productive for turnip crops. Such lands need no manure.

For a sward ground, or clover ley, there should be a heavy dressing of fresh, unfermented manure before plowing.

Cultivation.—Turnips may be sown any time from the 16th of June to the 1st of August. The first will give a greater yield; the last generally a sounder root and capable of longer preservation. The ground should be plowed and harrowed immediately before sowing, as the moisture insures rapid germination of the seed, which is of great importance to get it beyond the reach of insects as soon as possible. This may be sown broadcast at the rate of one or two pounds per acre and lightly harrowed and rolled; or it is better to be sown in drills when a less quantity of seed will suffice. A turnip drill will speedily accomplish the furrowing, sowing, covering and rolling at a single operation. The crop will be materially assisted by a top dressing of lime, ashes and plaster, at the rate of fifteen or twenty bushels of the first, half a quantity of the second, and three or four bushels of the last, per acre. When the plants show themselves and the leaves are partially expanded, the cultivator or hoe may be freely used, stirring the ground well and exterminating all weeds.