C6 RuTA Baga culture, [Part I, 



neath where my seed was to come. I had but a very 

 small quantity of seed as well as of raamire. This seed 

 I had, however, brought from home, where it was raised 

 by a neighbour, on whom I could rely, and I had no 

 faith in any other. So that 1 was compelled to bestow 

 it on the ridges mth a very parsimonious hand ; not 

 having, I believe, more than four pounds to sow on the 

 seven acres. It was sown principally in this manner ; 

 a man went along by the side of each ridge, and put 

 down two or three seeds in places at about ten inches 

 from each other, just drawing a little earth over, and 

 pressing it on the seed, in order to make it vegetate 

 quickly before the earth became too dry. This is al- 

 ways a good thing to be done, and especially in dry 

 weather, and under a hot sun. Seeds are \ery small 

 things ; and though, Avhen we see them covered over 

 with earth, we conclude that the earth must touch them 

 closely, we should remember, that a very small cavity 

 is sufficient to keep them untouched nearly all round, 

 in which case, under a hot sun, and near the surface, 

 they are sure to perish, or, at least, to lie long, and 

 until rain come, before they start. 



52. J remember a remarkable instance of this in sav- 

 ing some turnips to transplant at Botley. The whole of 

 a piece of ground was sown broad-cast. My gardener 

 had been told to sow in beds, that we might go in to 

 Aveed the plants ; and, having forgotten this till after 

 sowng, he clapped down his line, and divided the plot 

 into beds by treading/ very hard a little path at the dis- 

 tance of every four feet. The Aveather was very dry 

 and the Avind very keen. It continued so for three 

 weeks ; and, at the end of that time, we had scarcely 

 a turnip in the beds, where the ground had been left 

 raked over ; but, in the paths we had an abundance, 

 which grew to be very fine, and which, when trans- 

 planted, made part of a field which bore thirty-three 

 tons to the acre, and which, as a tvhole Jield, was the 

 finest I ever saw in ray life. 



53. I cannot help endeavouring to press this fact 

 upon the reader. Squeezing down the earth makes it 

 touch the seed in all its parts, and then it will soon vege- 

 tate. It is for this reason, that barley and oat fields 



