do much towards the repression of the many enemies that beset this useful root—­the jumpers, the grubs, the weevils, and the rest of the vermin will be routed out of their snug hiding-places in the dusty soil when the watering takes place, and the death of many will follow.  But so long as the soil is fairly moist at the depth the roots are ranging, there is no need for watering, and the time it would consume may be utilised for other work.

==Lifting and Storing.==—­On the approach of winter a certain portion of the Turnip crop should be lifted and stored.  In doing this the tops must be cut off, not too close, but just leaving a slight green neck, and the roots should be rather shortened than removed; at all events, to cut the roots off close is bad practice:  when so treated the bulbs do not keep well.  Any rough storage answers for Turnips, the object being to keep them plump by excluding the atmosphere, and at the same time render them safe against frost.  The portion of the crop left in the ground may be lifted as wanted in the same way as Parsnips, but this should be done systematically, so that the ground which is cleared may be dug over and ridged up before winter.  Those that remain will be in a piece, and will give a good crop of spring greens, after which they may be made use of as manure by putting them at the bottom of a trench.

==Some of the foes== that war against the Turnip crop are alluded to at greater length later on.  Happily, the gardener has many friends that are insufficiently known to the farmer, not the least important being the starlings, song birds, and occasionally (but not often) the sparrows.  Where the cultivation is good and small birds abound, the Turnip crop is pretty safe, and the general routine of culture sketched above will certainly promote, if it does not absolutely secure, its safety.  The worst foes of the Turnip in the field are the fly and the caterpillar; but in the garden, and more especially the old garden, anbury is the most to be feared.  When this happens the cultivator may rest satisfied that the soil is in fault, and this may be owing to a bad routine of cropping.  Wherever anbury appears, whether on Cabbages or Turnips or any other cruciferous plant, there should be worked out a complete change in the order of cropping, taking care not to put any brassicaceous plants on the plots where the disease has occurred for two or three seasons, and allowing at least one whole year to pass without growing any of the cruciferous order upon them.  In the meantime, for other crops the land should be well trenched and limed, and generously tilled.  The result will be profitable crops of other kinds of vegetables and a refreshing of the soil that will enable it to carry brassicaceous plants again, with but little risk of the recurrence of anbury.  Good cultivation is the only panacea known against the plagues that assail our crops.  This does not surely secure them, for the elements are capricious and beyond our control; but where good cultivation prevails the failures are few, and even unfavourable seasons do not utterly obliterate the benefits of past labour.