lr8o4» " On the Culture of Ruta J^uga. 201 



on the fubje^l. And, to take a mqre recent inilance, I am 

 of opinion that, had your Magazine been coeval with tlie in- 

 trodudion of Swedidi turnip, we fliould not, after fo long a 

 trial, have been at a lofs (as feems to be the cafe) to pro- 

 jiounce on the value of that plant. At prcfent, it feems doubt* 

 ful whether this fpecies of turnip fhall, like the common tur- 

 nip, continue to hold a permanent place amongfl: our field 

 green crops; or whether, like tlie root of fcarcity and o« 

 thers, after being talked of for fome time as a novelty, it 

 ihall difappear from our fields, and be configned to a narrow 

 fpace in our gardens. My own opinion of the plant is, liow- 

 ever, very favourable, more fo than thofe of your correfpond- 

 -ents in your lait Number (XVil.) whofe ftriillures have fet 

 me a thinking on the fuhje6i at prefent. The high utility of 

 this root, for the purpofes intended, feems to be generally, if 

 not univerfally admitted ; but the important queflion at iirue is, 

 whether it can be cultivated fuccefsfully, upon a large fcale, as 

 food for cattle. This queftlon, in the country where I live, is 

 quite undecided ; nay, for fome years paft, I have not been able 

 to afcertain, from obfervation, whether its culture be gaining 

 •or lofmg ground, or whether it is not llationcuy. When 1 talk 

 to fome of my neighbours, who approve of its culture, they 

 wonder with me that it is not g^jining ground tafler \ when I 

 fpeak to a different fet of people, 1 find tiieir opinions unfavour- 

 able, either from the reports of others, or from the trials they 

 themfelves have made. 



The late Mr Henderfon of Pilmour, one of our mod intelil- 

 gent farmers, told me he had given up the culture of baga, becaufe 

 of its propenfity to run to feed •, and the fame objection 1 have 

 heard from others. The fatt I believe to be incontrovertible, that 

 where it is fown like the common turnip, it has a much greater 

 tendency to run to feed than the other ; and fo great, as very often 

 to injure the crop effentially. In confequence of this quality, I 

 very early was advlfed to cultivate the plant, not as we do other 

 turnip, but in all refpe6ls as we do field cabbages •, and although, 

 even with this mode of culture, fliootlng is more prevalent than 

 with the common turnip, yet I have never futFered materially in 

 this way. At the fame time I cannot fubfcribe to another dodrlne 

 I have often heard held, refpe^ting this root, ^ viz. that its fliootlng 

 does not affedl. the quality or fubftance of its root. Owing to its 

 much greater hardnefs, the fublVance is not Indeed fo eafily drawn 

 off and exhaufted as from the common turnip ; but illU there mull 

 be fome diminution of the nourifiiment, even if it fliould begin to 

 fhoot after the bulb has attained its full fize : But if it flioots in 

 the latter end of fummer, or in autumn, before the bulb is filled, 

 .the crop becomes good for nothing. For a number of years I 



have 



