Harvesting.—The roots are usually pulled by band, and the necks and tops cut off and left in the field. The roots are stored in root-cellars or pits. Since these roots can withstand more frost than mangels and are usually used earlier in the season, they are stored after mangels are harvested. The roots should be dry when harvested and pitted, and good ventilation and a low temperature should be maintained in the storage. In Great Britain common and hybrid-turnips are frequently con sumed in the field by folding sheep or young stock on them. This practice has been used to a small extent in some parts of northern United States.
Uses.
Aside from their value for cattle-feeding, there is sometimes a market for the better quality tur nips for human consumption. Late-sown and not too large rutabagas are barreled and shipped to most of the large cities in the North, but for such purposes varieties required by the different markets should be secured.
Enemies.
Clubroot or anbnry (Plasmodiophora brassiere), sometimes does considerable injury. For treatment, see Cabbage. A soft rot due to a bacterium (Bacil lus earotovorus, Jones) has been doing serious injury to the crop in some of the northern states. It is most serious when a crop has reached maturity. Late sowing or speedy consumption of the crop seems to be the only means of combating it. A brown bacterial rot (Pseudomonas eampestris) fre quently ravages the crop when the cruciferous plants are grown too closely together in the rota tion.
The flea-beetle (Phyllotreta vittata), mentioned under cabbage, frequently destroys the young plants and necessitates resowing of the crop.
Early sowing and plenty of seed, a good rotation, having the soil in the best of tilth, liming, manuring and timeliness in doing the work, will generally put the plants in such a condition that they will safely withstand most of the diseases and insect attacks.
Root Cellars and Storage Houses. Figs. 786-789.
Well-constructed pits are more desirable for the storage of both fruits and vegetables than house cellars. All offense from decaying vegetables is thus removed from the dwelling, and as a rule a lower and more satisfactory temperature for the storage of such products can be maintained in root cellars than in house cellars. The trifling expense involved in the construction of a satisfactory root cellar and the value of beets, turnips and carrots as stock-food, should command much greater attention for the root cellar from stockmen and dairymen than has been given it in this country.
In view of the character of the products to be stored in a root cellar, cheapness of construction is essential. The less expensive the construction,
that at the same time will be convenient, and have a reasonable degree of permanence, the more desirable. Convenience to the feeding place is important because of the bulk and weight of the product to be handled. Barn cellars are as a rule, therefore, when practicable, most conve nient though not always least expensive. If roots are to be used extensively in the feeding of dairy herds, and if it is possible to use the bank base ment so as to fill the cellar by dumping the roots from the floor above or through an area-way from the outside, a very considerable saving in labor can be made.
Construction.
In the construction of the root cellar, whether it he a part of the basement of the barn or an inde pendent structure, arrangements must be made to provide good ventilation by admitting cold air from without, and by means of flues to carry off dampness and warm air from within. The side walls as well as the floor should be dry, and while it is more desirable that they consist of earth or masonry than of lumber, they should he frost-proof.
These requirements can be attained in several ways, among which may be mentioned the bank-pit or cave construction. This requires the making of an excavation into the side of a hill in a well-drained place. Such excavations should not be too wide to be spanned by a safe arch or covered by poles, or simply with rafters and a ridge pole. When the cellar is wider, it is necessary to use posts and pil lars to support the roof, which is undesirable. The length of the cellar will be determined by the quantity of products to be stored or by the nature of the location in which it is to be constructed. A pit eight feet wide and thirty feet long will hold 700 bushels of roots.
Materials.—Now that concrete is so extensively used in all building work, both above and below ground, it is thought that a permanent root cellar, whether an adjunct to the barn itself or an inde pendent structure, can be constructed more eco nomically with this material than with stone or brick. Simple forms for the side walls can be made from rough lumber, and the roof can be built either over rafters set for a flat roof or over a low seg ment giving an arched roof. The side walls need not be more than six or seven inches thick, and if the span of the roof is not over eight feet and the layer of earth over the concrete is not more than twelve inches, an 8-inch wall over the arch will be sufficient.