The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1900-09-29
FARMER AND PLANTER
ROOT CROPS ON THE FARM.
Tarnips and Rutabagau should be
GreWn mueh More EHtenniVo1g
than They Are.


part Of September, the truckers 1an
Ely gardeners aud dairymen CT the
south win plant their crops Of turniPs
and r~utabages, two vegetables which
are largely used throughout the south,
and yet which should be grown much
more extensively than they are. 1t is
q crop which usually finds a ready sale
Sn the towns and cities, 60 that the
niarket gardeners find it profitable to
plant the crop on a considerable scale,
in places where they can obtain a lo-
cal market.
For this crop, IS for all others, pure
and reliable seed should be obtained
from honest seedsnleu. Every year we
find in the catalogues OF unreliable
dealers, exaggerated representations,
prices for some so-called new and u
periOr sort. Such claims should be re-
garded with suspicion as the much
preised variety usually proves to be
some old sort under a new name, or,
worse still, a degenerate and utterly
worthless variety.
For table use and market, the Pur-
pie Top Strap Leaf and the White Flat
Dutch are among the best Of the fat
varieties. OF the globe-shaped kinds,
the Purple Top Globe, Pomeranian
White Globe, Golden Ball and Snow
hall are all excellent sorts. The White
Egg, a pure white, egg-shaPed turnip
is ono Of the finest for table use, being
very sweet tender and free from any
strong flavor or bitter teste. New
land is considered best for turnip Gull
tuFe, but frst-class crops can be raised
on old land if it is properly prepared.
The practice Of cow-penning land
which is to be used for turpips is very
common in the south, and is an excel
lent mean of fertilization, and the
treading and firming of the sandy soil
il also an advantage. This crop is a
comparatively light user of nitrogen,
and in fact on land which is rich in
nitrogen, this element may well be
omitted from the fertilizer, as too
much Of it will make the crop woody,
and unfit for use, and also tends to
produce tops, instead of roots. A good
fertilizer formula is as follows:
Nitrogen .......s..........3 per cent
Potash s.....sss.ss...,s..s8 per cent.
Available phOsphoric acid. g per cent.
Using this formula, from 400 to 800
PHunds per acre, drilled in, will be zuf-
iicient. SOggy land should not be used
for a turnip crop; and low muck land,
ms a rule, win not produce turnip fit
for table use, though satisfactory
enough to grow a crop fer stock feed.
TurIip seed is sown at a time in the
south when the summer heat is most
trying on seed termination, and when
the hot sunshine is apt to follow close
upon the heavy beating showers of the
rainy season, and when insect life is
4 Ost plentiful and active. On account
of these causes, the planter often fails
to stcure a good stand, and the failure
is frequently laid to the fault Of the
seed, when more often than not, the
trouble is due to some ere of the
causes mentioned above. The "tuTnip
hea, a tiny insect, hUrdly large enough
to be geen, frequently destroys an en-
tire planting of tuEnips before the
plants have appeared above ground,
anu no trace is left to show what
caused the failure of the seed 10 show
up above ground. This is one of the
most common causes Of failure in OBJ
tanning a stand of plants from sum
mel sowings. Again, the young plants
are frequently destroyed before they
have shown above ground by being
ecalded, the result Of hot sunshine on
the earth after a shower. Again, a hot,
dry spell, following the termination of
the seed is very apt to bake the start
ing plants, and so prevent q stand. The
writer of this article has shown four
BOwings to be made from a pound of
turnip seed without obtaining a stand,
and at the end of the fourth planting
the planter was positive that the seed
was utterly worthless. He made a fifth
sowing, however, and got a perfect
stand, Illus showing that the seed
were all right, and that his four fail
Ures had been due to some unknown
cause. probably one or more of those
already mentioned. Considering the
season at which this crop is sown in
the south, and the usual climatic con-
ditions which prevail at the time of
sowing, the planter must not think it
strange if he does not obtain a perfect
stand in every instance.
Sow the seed in drills 90 to "a
inthes apart, covering the seed FROM
One-half to n inch deep, and frming
the soil. When the plants are well up,
they should be thinned out from five
to ten inches apart, according to va
Tiety. Cultivate often enough to keep
the ground in good mellow condition
and free from weeds. tt often happens
that more turrips are raised than can
be marketed to advantage when the
crop is sold. BY storing properly, they
can be kept for a considerable time
ard used as wanted, or held until the
price has advanced. In the central
south, a common method of storing is
to pile them in the field, after pulling
them, being very careful not TO break
or cut off the roots, CT to bruise or cut
tie turnip. Cover the piles with dirt,
from IS inches to two feet deep, to pre-
vent the turnips from freezing. When
piling them in this way, about an inch
of top should be left on each one. They
will stand through the winter in this