RUfA BAGA CULTURE 



its parts, and then it will soon vegetate. It is for this reason, 

 that barley and oat fields should be rolled, if the weather be dry ; 

 and, indeed, that all seeds should be pressed down, if the state 

 of the earth will admit of it. 



54. This mode of sowing is neither tedious nor expensive. 

 Two men sowed the whole of my seven acres in the three days, 

 which, when we consider the value of the crop, and the saving in 

 the after-culture, is really not worth mentioning. I do not think, 

 that any sowing by drill is so good, or, in the end, so cheap as this. 

 Drills miss very often in the sowings of such small seeds. How 

 ever, the thing may be done by hand in a less precise manner. 

 One man would have sown the seven acres in a day, by just 

 scattering the seeds along on the top of the ridge, where they 

 might have been buried with the rake, and pressed down by a 

 spade or shovel or some other flat instrument. A slight roller 

 to take two ridges at once, the horse walking in the gutter between, 

 is what I used to make use of when I sowed on ridges ; and, who 

 can want such a roller in America, as long as he has an axe and an 

 auger in his house ? Indeed, this whole matter is such a trifle, 

 when compared with the importance of the object, that it is not 

 to be believed, that any man will think it worth the smallest 

 notice as counted amongst the means of obtaining that object. 



55. Broad cast solving will, however, probably, be, in most 

 cases, preferred ; and, this mode of sowing is pretty well under 

 stood from general experience. What is required here, is, that 

 the ground be well ploughed, finely harrowed, and the seeds 

 thinly and evenly sown over it, to the amount of about two pounds 

 of seed to an acre ! but, then, if the weather be dry, the seed 

 should, by all means be rolled down. When I have spoken of the 

 after- culture, I shall compare the two methods of sowing, the 

 ridge and the broad-cast, in order that the reader may be the better 

 able to say, which of the two is entitled to the preference. 



After-culture. 



56. In relating what I did in this respect, I shall take it for 

 granted, that the reader will understand me as describing what I 

 think ought to be done. 



57. When my ridges were laid up, and my seed was sown, my 

 neighbours thought, that there was an end of the process ; for, 

 they all said, that, if the seed ever came up, being upon those high 

 ridges, the plants never cculd live under the scorching of the sun. 

 I knew that this was an erroneous notion ; but I had not much 

 confidence in the powers of the soil, it being so evidently poor, 

 and my supply of manure so scanty. 



58. The plants, however, made their appearance with great 

 regularity ; no fly came to annoy them. The moment they were 



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