The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1868-08-14
More Turnips Wanted.

friends and brothers.
More Turnips Wanted.
The high price Of ruta -bagas in our city
markets. the past spring, two dollars per
bushel at retail) shows clearly that the sup
ply is rot equal to the demand Ruta- ba-
gas can be raised for twenty cents per
bushel, and The round turnips, as stolen
crop, for less than ten cents Farmers
away from the large markets pay very l'tle
attention to ibis crop. It ought to have
place upon every farm where hogs and cat
tie are kept, without reference to city mar
kets. Ofeourse, if turnips go up to seven
ty-fye cents or more bushel, it will ordi-
narily pay better to sell them than to con
sumo them upon the farm. But if prices
are low, the farmer always has good mar
ket al home. Most of the turnips raised
in England ara turned into beef, mutton
and wool, before they are sold.
Our climate is not quite so favorable as
the English for This crop, but we have new
er found any difficulty in growing satisfao-
tory crops of all the varieties of turnips.-
They are not nearly SO nourishing as the po-
tatO, bat the yield is four or Eve times great
er. They are valuable to feed TO mich
COWS along with hay, Indian meal and oil
cake, good for iattening bullooks and swine,
aud exceedingly profitable for sheep. VIII tn
er one is making mutton or wool. or raising
lambs. We have found them valuable for
home consumption, and do not like to be
without them, even if we have plenty of
beets and carrots.
The old method, inherited from our En-
glisb ancestors, no doubt, was to yard sheep
at night for several weeks upon the piece
of ground to be sown to this crop. Just be-
tore the 25th Of July the ground was pillow
ed aud narrowed very thoroughly, and eown
with wood ashes. The tuTnip seed was
sowa broadcast and put in with a garden
rake, or brush harrow. The crop had no
cultivation, and yielded from four to eight
hundred bushels to the acre The soil usu-
ally selected was a sod Of fresh clearing
Upon now ground, the tuFnip is usually of
ine quality and the yield large. The yard
ing of sheep is good preparation of the
soil, bu! the broadcast sowing is discarded
by the best farmers No crop pays better
fer sowing in drill, for thinning, and for FREE
quent cultivation, until the leaves are in the
way Of the cultivator. The drills should
be from fourteen inches to two feet apart,
according TO The size of the variety sown,
and the object for which they are raised,
with eufIicient space left between the roots
for hoeiug. Some Of The strap -Ieafed vari-
cites make short leaves, and the Cow
horn" grows quite high out of the ground
with long tap-root. These may be set in
the thickest driIs and quite close together
in the drill.
Though the hoe is quite necessary in the
first wedding Of the crop. nearly all the cul-
tivation may be done with the harrow and
cuitivators, and The aim should be to use
horse power as much as possible. This is
essential to cheap turnips. After the leaves
cover the ground. the crop may be ''laid
| by" The ruta-bagas is much more solid
than the common white turnip, and requires
q longer time to grow and richer soil. It
is frequently sown in June. but the first
week in July is early enough, on warm,
loamy soils, especially if the crop is raised
for food The turuip is frequently grown
upon ridges, and the manure placed in the
center Of the ridge, and covered it'll the
pillow.
By the sea shore it is common practice
to use rock weed. freshly gathered. for this
crop, bonY fsh, or the refuse after the oil
is pressed out. Fish guano and super
phosphate of lime are among the best man
ures for turnips, whether applied broadcast
aud narrowed in, or directly to the ridge.
500 pounds to the acre of the superphos-
phate, or a half ton Of The guano, will be
/ good dressing. II the ruts- bagas are rails
ed for market, they ST ould not be allowed
10 grow too large. Roots from three to FIVE
inches in diameter sell much more readily
/ than those of twice the size. They are
easily kept in pits, or upon the surface of
I the ground, covered with straw and earth
The strap-lsafed Jurnips are raised at very
small cost, by sowing among corr at the
last cuI,ivating say the frst week in Au-
gust If the corn is cut up by the roots
early in September. the turoips have the
: ground the rest of1he season, and frequent
+ ~ make 400 or 500 bushels to the acre on
! good soil, LIE. Us have cheap turniPs this
! year.-Americap AqrjcuIturjst.