Chap. II.] RuTA Baga cllture. 71 



ting a little old. They do not like to be taught any 

 thing. They say, and they think, that what their fathers 

 did was best. To tell ihem, that it was your affair, and 

 not theirs, is nothing. To tell them, that the loss, if 

 any, Avill fall upon you, and not upon them, has very 

 little v.eight. They argue, that, they being the real 

 doers, ought to be the best judges of the mode of doing. 

 And, indeed, in most cases, they are, and go about this 

 work with wonderful skill and judgment. But, then, it 

 is so difficult to induce them cordially to do any thing 

 new, or any old thing in a iiew icay ; and the abler they 

 are as workmen, the more uutractable they are, and the 

 more difficult to be persuaded that any one kiiows any 

 thing, relating to farming affairs, better than they do. 

 It was this difficulty that made me resort to the employ- 

 ment of young women in the most important part of my 

 farming, the providing of immense quantities of cattle- 

 food. But I do not find this difficulty here, Avhere no 

 workmen are obstinate, and where, too, all one's neigh- 

 bours rejoice at one's success, which is by no means the 

 case amongst the farmers in England. 



87. Having now gi\en instructions relative to the 

 business of transplanting of the Rata Baga, let us see, 

 whether it be not preferable to either the ridge-sowing 

 method, or the broad-cast method. 



88. In the first place, when the seed is sown on the 

 ground \vhere the plants are to come to perfection, the 

 ground, as we have seen in paragraph 40 and para- 

 graph 47, must be prepared early in June, at the 

 latest; but, in the transplanihig method, this work may 

 be put off, if need be, till early in August, as we have 

 seen in paragraphs 74 and 75. However, the best time 

 for transplanting is about the 26th of July, and this 

 gives a month for preparation of land, more than is 

 allowed in the sowing methods. This, of itself, is a 

 great matter ; but, there are others of far greater im- 

 portance. 



89. This transplanted crop may follow another crop 

 on the same land. Early cabbages will loave and be 

 away ; early peas will be ripe and off; nay, even wheat, 

 and all grain, except buck-wheat, may be succeeded 

 by Ruta Baga transplanted. I had crops to succeed 



