There is considerable latitude in the season of storing. In wet and clay soils, to avoid the inconveniences of winter poaching, the ground must be cleared of the turnips immediately after harvesting the potatoes ; but, in other soils, they may be allowed, with advantage, to remain on the ground some weeks later, as they continue to swell till overtaken by frost. The ordinary time is about the beginning of November. It is of considerable importance to raise them on a dry day, that as little earth as possible may adhere to their roots, and to se cure them in the store-heap as they are raised, as a slight degree of frost is then found to be highly inju rious. As the month of November is proverbial for gloom and rain, it may however, sometimes, be neces sary to raise them when the weather is wet, or when the ground is moist; and, in this case, the following prac tical hint may be of advantage. Grasp the turnips by the leaves, give them a smart turn about half round, and then pull them upright from the ground. During this operation, the bulbs revolve on the tap-root as on an axis ; the rotatory motion breaks the lateral fibres, and rubs off the adhering earth. It is obvious that this method is much preferable to the common way of raising a turnip clumsily in each hand, and of knocking their bulbs together till the adhering earth fall off.
Experience has amply demonstrated the necessity of cutting off the leaves and tap-root (provincially called topping and tailing), and ascertained the place where those operations should be performed. The section should be made close to the bulb. If the bulb itself be wounded, rottenness is then apt to ensue, and, though it should be prevented, a quantity of the juices oozes out proportioned to the extent of the wound. The root is disliked by all animals, as its acrid quality occasions an immoderate discharge of bile, with its natural con sequences, gripes and looseness. When any part of the leaves is left, turnips are liable to vegetate on receiv ing a slight degree of heat. And it is impossible, in practice, always to hit the point of excellence, and to perform the section with mathematical exactness, the operators should he careful to err on the safe side, to leave part of the leaves or root, rather than to injure the bulb, as it is wiser to run the hazard of a slight ve getation than of entire putrefaction.
I. The earliest method of storing turnips, was to secure them under roof, as it seemed but an extension of a practice, previously common, of laying in, in fresh weather, a quantity of turnips sufficient for the con sumpt of several weeks. The disadvantages of that method soon became evident. It was necessary to pile large quantities, to find house-room for the produce of an inconsiderable field ; and turnips, in that situation, spontaneously heated and putrefied. There is even danger in housing small quantities. The heat commu
nicated through a partition wall from the fire of an adjoining apartment, and the breath of cattle, if they have access to the store of turnips, are sufficient to commence and to support a vigorous vegetation. The sprouts exhaust the substance, and corrupt the juices of those turnips from which they rise ; and, pushing up between those turnips ohush are laid uppernto,t, mois ten them with their succulent stems, exclude fresh air, by filling up the interstices, and speedily reduce the whole heap to a putrid mash.
2. It is well known, that by pitting potatoes in the field, their flavour is better preserved, and their vege tation is longer prevented, than by storing them in the house. From tne re.,emblance between them and tur nips, it has been analogically concluded, that the same practice might advantageously be extended to the latter. Mr Findlater of Newlands, to whose depth of reasoning, and accuracy of observation, his writings bear ample testimony, is the only person we know, who has fairly made the experiment, and candidly declared the result. The situation which he chose was perfectly dry ; the pit was about five feet in breadth, and three in depth ; the turnips were raised into a ridge of the usual form above the mouth of the pit ; one end was filled with common and the other with Swedish turnips ; the pit was finally secured with a thick cover of straw and earth. A few weeks after Hallowday, when the turnips were stored, the middle of the ridge began to subside ; the depression continually increased, and soon became so great as to create apprehensions for the safety of the contents : the pit was opened in the beginning of Febru ary, and it was found that almost the whole of the com mon turnips were destroyed, and that about one half of the Swedish only were preserved. A Roxburghshire correspondent, in the Nineteenth Number of the Far mer's Magazine, mentions, that turnips may be preser ved in the field, as well as in the house, if three or four cart-loads only are laid together, and afterwards covered with a layer of earth, or of straw and earth. This mode of pitting has been carried to a much greater extent, and employed for the preservation of his whole crop, by Mr Aitken of Cullands, in the parish of Newlands. The depot is placed on a level with the surface of the ground; its dimensions are rather smaller than those of the com mon practice, afterwards to be described ; and their cover consists of successive layers of straw, earth, and straw. In a late conversation which we had with Mr Aitken junior on this subject, we found that this mode, though affording complete security to the turnips, pos sessed no advantage over the common practice, in pre serving their succulence, or in retarding their vegeta tion at the approach of spring.