Mr. Colquhoun, in his "Statistical
Researches," estimated the value of the turnip crop annually grown in
this country at fourteen millions; but when we further recollect that it
enables the agriculturist to reclaim and cultivate land which, without
its aid, would remain in a hopeless state of natural barrenness; that it
leaves the land so clean and in such fine condition, as almost to insure
a good crop of barley and a kind plant of clover, and that this clover
is found a most excellent preparative for wheat, it will appear that the
subsequent advantages derived from a crop of turnips must infinitely
exceed its estimated value as fodder for cattle. If we were, therefore,
asked to point out the individual who, in modern times, has proved the
greatest benefactor to the community, we should not hesitate to fix upon
the ingenious nobleman, whom the wits and courtiers of his own day were
pleased to laugh at as "Turnip Townshend." In something less than one
hundred years, the agricultural practice which he introduced from
Hanover has spread itself throughout this country, and now yields an
annual return which, probably, exceeds the interest of our national
debt.
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