The Family Kitchen Gardener (1856)/Turnip
TURNIP.
Brassica Ràpa—Navet, Fr.—Steckrübe, Ger.
The Turnip is a vegetable common to all temperate and cold latitudes. It has been known for 250 years, and has become, in some countries, an extensive field-crop. It is not positively known of what country it is a native. Horticultural and agricultural science has brought it to its present perfection. It is accounted a salubrious root, but in weak stomachs it is apt to produce flatulency and prove difficult of digestion. It is frequently used medicinally in coughs, hoarseness, and other asthmatic disorders. The syrup of Turnip, after being extracted by baking and mixed with honey, is a family receipt for these complaints. Turnips are principally used at the table with boiled meats, or mashed, strained, and mixed with butter, cream, and other seasoning, for which purpose mid-sized Turnips are better than large ones, as the latter, being of a spongy nature, contain more water than those smaller. In the present day, during the great deficiency of the Potato crop, they form a partial substitute for that valuable root—especially in Europe, where some of the finer kinds of the Turnip have been found, by recent analysis, to give nearly as much nourishment. The young sprouts from the tops, in Spring, make excellent greens. There are only a few sorts suitable for garden culture.
Early White Dutch, or White Strap-leaved, is a very early kind, of a round, flat form; the leaves are short and narrow. This and the following variety will produce roots fit for the table in six weeks from sowing.
Early Red-top Dutch, or Strap-leaved Red-top, has every character of the former, except that the portion of the root which is fully exposed above ground is of a red or purple color. Early Yellow Dutch is a very beautifully formed variety, of the color indicated by its name. It is quite firm, sweet, round in form, and keeps well.
Of this class there are also the White and Yellow Stone, Yellow Malta, Snowball, and some others, all of which we think, in this climate, inferior to the three described.
For Spring use, the following Swede or Rutabaga Turnips should be sown:
The Purple-topped Swede is of an oval, tapering form, and requires to be sown in July; flesh very fine, and keeps till Spring.
Improved Swede.—We are highly in favor of this variety of Turnip, either for the garden or field; it has a better formed root than the common sort; the leaves do not grow so strong; the flesh is of a fine yellow, and very pleasant flavor.
The following are the relative nutritive properties of the Swede and Garden or Field Turnips:
4 oz. Swede Turnip afford 110 grs. nutritive matter.
4 oz. Dutch or Garden afford 85 grs. nutritive matter.
Culture.—The soil most genial for the Turnip is acknowledged to be a gravelly, sandy loam. Some say “poor soil, where no other vegetables will grow,” is the best: I say, good rich soil, with a dry bottom. In such sow for an early crop as soon as the frost is out of the ground, either broadcast or in drills, ten inches apart and one-fourth of an inch deep. An ounce of seed will sow a bed four feet wide and forty feet long. Rake the surface even. If dry weather, press the ground with the back of the spade or a light wooden roller. One sowing only can be made in the Spring. From the middle to the end of July is the proper time for sowing the Swede or Rutabaga. Drills are most suitable for this sort. Draw them fifteen inches apart, and thin out the plants as they grow, till they stand eight inches from each other. This variety requires very frequent use of the hoe in stirring the soil, to keep it sweet and encourage the growth requisite to mature this best and most nutritious of Turnips. In August sow the other sorts for a Fall and Winter supply. It is best to make two sowings, say about the first and towards the middle or end of the month; roll or tramp firm the ground after the seed at this period of the year—the first sowing to mature early for immediate use, the last sowing to store away for a Winter supply. In some seasons we have to sow, and sow, and sow again, either from drought or the effects of the fly, which frequently destroys it as soon as it vegetates; in dry seasons it is particularly destructive. In garden culture, a few pots of water every evening will promote the growth of the seed, and bring it speedily away from the attacks of the fly. One thing must be observed to have the ground always fresh dug before sowing. Soot, wood-ashes, and air-slacked lime are all said to be preventives, if strewn over the plants. We feel assured that its application will retard their progress, but cloudy and showery weather is more effectual. If seed of the current year and seed of one or two years old be sown on the same piece of ground separately, the old seed will frequently be cut off, while the seed of the current year will escape. Good seed will germinate in from thirty-six to forty-eight hours. When the crop is destroyed, stir or dig the ground immediately and sow again. When the plants have grown about an inch high, introduce the hoe among them, and thin out to two or three inches apart; and in a week or two more, give them another hoeing and thinning. Till they stand six inches from each other, do not draw any earth to their roots; in fact the reverse was our practice twenty years ago: they were sown on ridges, and the earth drawn down as the plants advanced in growth. The result was frequently forty tons per acre.
Taking up the Crop.—Turnips may be kept perfectly sound till Spring by being taken up about the first of November, or before severe frost sets in. Cut the leaves off to about half an inch from the bulb; collect the latter, and put them in a dry pit or cellar; cover with straw, and earth over all. Thus protected, they will be found fresh and perfect till February, after which the Swede will be fit for the table till April. Those for Spring use can be pitted out of doors in a dry situation, piling them in a conical form and covering them with three inches of straw and a foot or eighteen inches of earth, which will be ample protection. When opened in Spring, these will be found to have nearly all the flavor of being fresh from the field.
Save Seed.—In many cases this is very essential; you will then be always sure of the age and quality. Select early in Spring a few of the best formed roots, draw deep drills two feet apart and place the bulbs therein, covering them all over carefully with the earth. They will soon shoot up and branch out, ripening their seeds in July. It is preferable, however, to change the seed of this, as well as all other vegetables, every few years; and in purchasing, buy always from a responsible vender, who feels a vital interest in selling a pure and genuine article. The seed will keep three years in a dry place; if it is two years old, soak it in water twenty-four hours before sowing.