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The Botanist's Companion, Volume II by William Salisbury
page 45 of 397 (11%)
plants, and destroys the crop on whole fields in a few hours.

Many remedies against this evil are enumerated in our books on
husbandry. The best preventative, however, appears to be the putting
manure on the ground in a moist state and sowing the seeds with it, in
order to excite the young plant to grow rapidly; for the insect does not
hurt it when the rough leaf is once grown. I have this season seen a
fine field of Turnips, sown mixt with dung out of a cart and ploughed in
ridges. The seeds which were not too deeply buried grew and escaped the
fly; when scarcely a field in the same district escaped the ravages of
that insect. Turnips are sown either broad-cast or in drills. It takes
about four pounds of seed per acre in the first mode, and about half the
quantity in the second.

There are several varieties of turnips grown for cattle; the most
striking of which are, the White round Norfolk; the Red round ditto; the
Green round ditto; the Tankard; the Yellow. These varieties are nearly
the same in goodness and produce: the green and red are considered as
rather more hardy than the others. The tankard is long-rooted and stands
more out of the ground, and is objected to as being more liable to the
attack of early frosts. The yellow is much esteemed in Scotland, and
supposed to contain more nutriment [Footnote: The usual season for
sowing the above varieties is within a fortnight or three weeks after
Midsummer.]. The Stone and Dutch turnips are grown for culinary
purposes, and are also sometimes sown after the corn is cleared, as
being small and of early growth; these in such cases are called stubble
turnips, and often in fine autumns produce a considerable quantity of
herbage. For a further account of the culture &c. see Dickson's Modern
Husbandry, vol. ii. p. 639.

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