1^04. On the Culture and Ufe of Ruta Baga. 423 



report, where it was ftated, that a certain diftrid in the fouth, 

 fix years before, had only eight acres of Swedifh turnip, and lafl 

 year, in the fame diitricft, there were growin^r four hundred acres. 



From my experience and ideas of the utiHty and fuperior qua- 

 lities of this phint, I fhould indeed be ferry if its culture is not 

 extended yet much beyond what it has been. At the fame tim.e, 

 I do not think it ought to encroach, in a great degree, upon the 

 growth of common turnip, which has been found, with all its 

 effeds and confequences, to increafe the food of man more than 

 any other fpecies of plant I have known or heard of. That it re- 

 quires all the ingenuity and management of which the farmer is 

 capable, and all the wifdom and forefight of the Legiflature, to 

 fecure food for the increafing population of the country, we have 

 much experience of ; owing, in a great meafure, to our variable 

 climate. It is equally obfervable, and felt by farmers, and of- 

 ten by people of all ranks, that our former valuable turnip is not 

 proof againft the changes of the weather, and the fevere frofts 

 we fornetimes have in the fpring ; and that a great deficiency 

 arifes, from the failure of turnip, of food for cattle required for 

 the ufe of the market. This is no doubt a ferious evil, which evil 

 is alfo felt by the farmer, in the want of food for cattle propofed 

 to be fatted early on grafs, and for younger cattle Vv-hich he wifhes 

 to difpofe of. Every farmer, experienced in the ufe of turnip, 

 knoM^s the efFedl: that even fmall quantities in the fpring, given to 

 cattle or flieep, have upon them, when firfl laid upon grafs. 

 They immediately commence to acquire flefli and bone. The 

 w^ant of fuch green food hardens or contracts the fibres ; and 

 thefe require a confiderable time to relax them, before growth of 

 any kind begins. 



Spring food for ftock of all kinds kept upon cultivated farms, 

 has been confidered, fince I firft remember, as the greateft want 

 that farmers had to encounter, and the want wliich there was 

 leaft profpeft of getting fupplied. No article, in my knovvdedge, 

 has appeared to aiifwer the purpofe fo well as the one under con- 

 fideration. If it does fo, there are few farmers of experience but 

 will allow that it is an invaluable acquifition to the country. 



In my ufe of Swedifii turnips, I refcrve them till the fpring, 

 generally the ift of March. I then give them in fome propor- 

 tion to all my cattle, to which other turnip had been given in 

 the winter. To fatting cattle, the largefl: proportion 5 and to 

 young cattle, in fmaller quantities. 



In fpring 1803 (my crop of potatoes having been very (liort 

 in 1802), I gave ten horfes Swedifli turnips for fupper for about 

 fix weeks. They were equally fond of them as they are of po- 



E e 3 tatoes, 



