Turnip

“ Of the turnip we have now many varieties—though it is only seventy or eighty years since it was first introduced into field culture—at least in those districts of the island in which its importance is most fully recognised. The history of its introduction into Scotland is thus given by Mr Stephens—
"The history of the turnip, like that of other cultivated plants, is obscure. ”

“ The turnip was well-known to the Romans, and all that can be gathered on this subject from the writings of the ancients renders it probable that it occupied nearly the same place in Roman culture as it does in British husbandry at the present day. Columella871 recommended that the growth of turnips should be abundant, because those which were not required for human food could be given with much advantage to cattle; and both he and Pliny concur in their testimony, that this produce was esteemed next to corn in utility and value. ”

“ He was the widow's comfort and her pride. And so, moved by her love for him, she wrote me about a matter, as I have said before, which lay near her heart—because it lay near her boy's. She desired me to confer with Mr. Greeley about turnips. Turnips were the dream of her child's young ambition. While other youths were frittering away in frivolous amusements the precious years of budding vigor which God had given them for useful preparation, this boy was patiently enriching his mind with information concerning turnips. The sentiment which he felt toward the turnip was akin to adoration. ”

“ While young, the flesh is tender and delicate, possessing the combined flavor of the cabbage and turnip.
They are said to keep better than any other bulb, and to be sweeter and more nutritious than the cabbage or white turnip. "In the north of France, they are extensively grown for feeding cattle,—a purpose for which they seem admirably adapted, as, from having a taste similar to the leaves of others of the species, they are found not to impart any of that peculiar, disagreeable taste to the milk, which it acquires when cows are fed on turnips." ”

“ There is an old saying that you can’t get blood out of turnips, but the New Zealanders do it by feeding them to sheep. In fact, practically every good chop I eat here is mostly turnips, and the people tell me that turnip-fed sheep produce the best mutton. In buying a sheep farm the first question asked is whether the land will raise turnips, and if so the price is much higher than it would be otherwise. Turnip fields are to be seen on every landscape, of which they often form a striking feature. The crop grows luxuriantly and forms a carpet of bright green. ”

“ Turnip
is not, as might be sometimes imagined, entirely composed of compressed deal splinters, but is a vegetable which was cultivated in India long before the Britons got it. The Scotch call turnips “neeps”; but the Scotch will do anything. Probably no member of the vegetable family is so great a favourite with the insect pests sent on earth by an all-wise Providence to prevent mankind having too much to eat. But see that you get a few turnips to cook when there is roast duck for dinner. ”

“ The turnip is grown very largely in the United States both as a vegetable and as a field crop for feeding purposes. The turnip used as a vegetable usually has a spherical bulb. It is a crop that grows late in the autumn. In the central part of the country it is usually sown as a field crop after the harvesting of some of the early crops as, for instance, early potatoes, and is ready for harvest late in the autumn, just before freezing weather begins. Grown as a vegetable, however, it is grown early as well as late. ”

“ The Turnip is not a difficult garden crop; indeed, the simplest management will produce an ample supply, and any fairly good ground will suffice for it. But whatever is worth doing is worth doing well, and a gardener may be pardoned for taking an especial pride in producing a sufficiency of handsome and tender Turnips. The great point is to insure a succession through a long season, or, say, the whole year round, for Turnips are always in request, and at certain periods of the year delicate young roots are greatly valued for the table. ”

“ Why, that it is not unusual to meet with sheep-owners who lose at least one out of every fifteen, and all owing, as may easily be proved, to this mode of management. In the first place, the turnip is a kind of food entirely foreign to the nature of the sheep, and one to which, at first, they evince great repugnance. There are many varieties of sheep incapable of feeding on turnips, owing to the form of the face, the upper-jaw projecting considerably past the lower, hindering the chisel-shaped teeth from being brought to bear upon the root. ”

“ Whole fields of turnips are often cleared, that is, the leaves of the plants are stripped off, by myriads of the turnip fly or beetle that come flying unexpectedly, one knows not whence. It was estimated that the loss through this to one county in a single season was once £100,000, and Miss Ormerod states that in 1881, when there was an invasion of the turnip fly, spreading nearly all over our country, the loss amounted to considerably more than half a million. ”

“ To the Brassica oleracea belong two plants which are used in the same manner as turnips or roots. The first is the turnip-cabbage, kohlrabi above the earth (Brassica gongylodes) , the stem of which swells out, above the earth, into a thick pulpy turnip-like tubercle, which is dressed and eaten in the same manner as turnips. It is a monstrous excrescence of the stem, which is hereditary, like the broad stem of the Italian fennel. This turnip-cabbage was certainly not known to the ancients; it occurs for the first time among the botanists of the sixteenth century. ”

“ I, too, tried hard to chew a mouthful of raw turnip and realize the life of cows and oxen, for it might be a useful habit in extremities. These things occur as the seasons revolve. These are things which travellers will do. How many 306 men have tasted a raw turnip! How few have eaten a whole one! Some bovine appetites, which find some fodder in every field. For like reasons we sometimes eat sorrel and say we love it, that we may return the hospitality of Nature by exhibiting a good appetite. ”

“ Napo-brassica, differs from the turnip proper in having the first foliage-leaves glaucous, not grass-green, in colour, and the later leaves smooth and glaucous; the root bears a distinct neck with well-marked leaf-scars, the flesh is yellow or reddish-oranges, firmer and more nutritious, and the roots keep much better during winter. The flowers are larger and buff-yellow or orange in colour and the seeds are usually larger and darker than in the turnip. ”

“ They are fond, also, both of young clover and the young green leaves of the turnip, as well as of the turnip itself. Either by instinct or experience, they have learned that, feeding thus in cultivated fields, they are doing that which will bring down upon them the displeasure of man. ”

“ N.B.—Proceeding in the same way, turnips may be stuffed with spinach, chicory, and even with farinaceous vegetables or rice, kept very creamy. All these garnishes are at once sightly and excellent.
2179—PURÉE DE NAVETS (Turnip Purée)
Slice the turnips and cook them in a little butter, salt, sugar, and the necessary amount of water. Rub through tammy, and thicken the resulting purée with only just the required quantity of very good mashed potatoes.
2180—TURNIP-TOPS
Young turnip-tops are very much liked in England as a luncheon vegetable. ”

“ Boil the turnips whole, and when they are tender take them out of the water and cut each turnip in half and scoop out the centre, so as to make it like a cup. Now take the outside part of the carrot, which is a brighter red than the inside part, and chop it up into small pieces. Place the leg of mutton in the centre of the dish, and pour over it either some of the water in which it is boiled or some thick caper sauce. Now fill up these cups made out of the scooped turnips cut in half with a tablespoonful of green peas and a tablespoonful of chopped-up carrot alternately. ”

“ We may advert, as an illustration, to the feeding properties of the turnip. It is usual to reckon the value of a crop of turnips by the number of tons per acre which it is found to yield when so many square yards of the produce are weighed. But this may be very fallacious in many ways. If they are white turnips, for instance, nine tons of small will contain as much nourishment as ten tons of large—or twenty-seven tons an acre of small turnips will feed as many sheep as thirty tons per acre of large turnips. ”

“ It is about the size of an ordinary turnip (a Swede) , and, when ripe, has a greenish exterior, with a tinge of lemon. The interior, again, which is of a deep orange color, presents a most cooling, refreshing, and inviting appearance. A stranger, however, must be particularly cautious not to eat of it too freely, as otherwise it produces a peculiar sickness, and great soreness of the gum and lips. For three or four months in the year it constitutes the chief food of the natives. ”

“ Turn into a hot dish and serve.
Mashed Turnips. Pare one yellow turnip or six white ones and cut in slices. Put in a large stewpan with a generous supply of boiling water. If white turnips be used, cook them for half an hour; but if the yellow kind be taken, cook for fifty or sixty minutes. Too little water and too much cooking will make any turnips’ strong-flavored, and give them a dark color. When the turnips are done, drain off all the water and mash them well. Season with salt, pepper, and butter.
Boiled Carrots. Scrape and cut into cubes enough raw carrots to make a quart. ”

“ I have sheep in turnips, and these are so frozen that they can only just eat enough to keep them alive.... I should say the farmers must now see the necessity of cultivating the turnip. I have heard many say it was not worth the expense, and now they are running and riding in all directions for keep for cattle, and in all probability will lose more than they will get by cattle for three years to come. ”

“ Fall turnips are so easily grown that they require but few words. They are valuable vegetables for utilizing space in the garden after early crops, as peas, beans, potatoes, etc., are removed. The seed of ruta-baga, or Swedish turnips, should be planted earliest—from the twentieth of June to the tenth of July in our latitude. This turnip should be sown in drills two feet apart, and the plants thinned to eight inches from one another. It is very hardy, and the roots are close-grained, solid, and equally good for the table and the family cow. ”

“ Until the beginning of the eighteenth century, this valuable root was cultivated among us only in gardens or other small spots, for culinary purposes; but Lord Townshend, attending King George the First on one of his excursions to Germany, in the quality of secretary of State, observed the turnip cultivated in open and extensive fields, as fodder for cattle, and spreading fertility over lands naturally barren ”

“ When green vegetables are scarce, many people find desirable dishes made from turnip tops, if properly and presentably cooked. The growth of these turnip tops may be forced by placing the roots in a greenhouse, hot frame, or any warm place, when the tops will soon be seen to begin to sprout, and will prove far more delicate and edible than the ordinary turnip tops grown in a garden or field from turnips. ”

“ One day, after roll-call, one of my messmates with me, sat off upon a little jaunt into the country to get some sauce of some kind or other. We soon came to a field of English turnips; but the owner was there, and we could not get any of them without paying for them in some way or other. We soon agreed with the man to pull and cut off the tops of the turnips at the halves, until we got as many as we needed. After the good man had sat us to work, and chatted with us a few minutes, he went off and left us. ”

“ Heat tomatoes, crushed celery and sugar for 15 m. Simmer onion in butter without browning, add flour, then tomato, boil up well, strain and add chopped parsley. Serve on toast or with boiled rice or with some meat dish. Very nice on toast with sliced hard boiled eggs.
Turnips
The later varieties of turnip are by far the best though some of the earlier varieties are sweet and tender. As they need to be grown quickly turnips are never good in a dry season but will be pithy and strong. Turnips require the greatest care in cooking. ”

“ I should not be afraid to bet that these turnips, thus standing in rows at nearly four feet distance, will be a crop twice as large as any in the parish of Thursley, though there is, I imagine, some of the finest turnip-land in the kingdom. It seems strange that men are not to be convinced of the advantage of the row-culture for turnips. They will insist upon believing that there is some ground lost. They will also insist upon believing that the row-culture is the most expensive. How can there be ground lost if the crop be larger? ”

“ Turnips and Parsnips to Stew White.—Parboil, cut in four, and stew them in weak broth, or milk and water (enough liquid to keep the turnips from burning) ; add salt and mace. As the liquid diminishes, put in a little good cream, and grated nutmeg. When done, mix with them a piece of butter rolled in flour.
Turnip Tops.
When they have been carefully picked, let them lie in cold water an hour. Boil in plenty of water, or they will taste bitter. If quite fresh and young, twenty minutes will be enough. Drain them on the back of a sieve. ”