Turnip

There are two classes of turnips popularly grown in this country the purple and the yellow. The former is more popular as an early variety than the latter, which is of finer flavor, and is the leading fall and winter kind. Both crops are essentially cold weather plants, and, therefore, cannot be expected to do best in summer. The seed is sown, therefore, in early spring, or about midsummer so that best growth can be made during cold weather.

Friable, rich, sandy loam is best for both crops. Preferably, the land should have been in sod the previous year, or at least not planted to any vegetable of the cabbage family, such as mustard, cabbage, cauliflower, etc. The rows are usually about 15 inches apart and the seed sown thickly and then thinned to 2 or 3 inches between the plants when these have grown about 6 inches high. Late turnips are usually grown after some early crop has been harvested. They follow peas, snap beans, and similar crops very well. Among the purple varieties are Early Flat, Early Milan, Redtop, Strap Leaf and White Egg. Among the later kinds, which usually take four weeks longer to mature, are Purple Top Swede and White Rock. Like other varieties, turnips should be stored for winter use in pits or root-cellars as described elsewhere.