RUT A BAG A CULTURE 



no more appearance of a crop upon the ground than there was of a 

 crop on the Turnpike-road. But, on the 2nd of September, as 

 I have it in my memorandum book, the plants began to show life : 

 and, before the rain came, on the T2th, the piece began to have an 

 air of verdure, and indeed, to grow and to promise a good crop. 



75. I will speak of the bulk of this crop by and by ; but, I must 

 here mention another transplantation that I made in the latter 

 end of July, A plot of ground, occupied by one of my earliest 

 sowings, had the turnips standing in it in rows at eighteen inches 

 asunder, and at a foot asunder iri the rows. Towards the middle 

 of July I found, that one half of the rows must be taken away, 

 or that the whole would be of little value. Having pulled up the 

 plants, I intended to translate them (as they say of Bishops) from 

 the garden to the field ; but, I had no ground ready. However, 

 I did not like to throw away these plants, which had already bulbs 

 as large as hens eggs. They were carried into the cellar, where 

 they lay in a heap, till (which would soon happen in such hot 

 weather) they began to ferment. This made the most of their 

 leaves turn white. Unwilling, still, to throw them away, I next 

 laid them on the grass in the front of the house, where they got the 

 dews in the night, and they were covered with a mat during the 

 day, except two days, when they were overlooked, or, rather, 

 neglected. The heat was very great, and, at last, supposing these 

 plants dead, I did not cover them any more. There they lay 

 abandoned till the 24th of July, on which day I began planting 

 Cabbages in my field. I then thought, that I would try the hardi 

 ness of a Ruta Baga plant. I took these same abandoned plants, 

 without a morsel of green left about them ; planted them in part 

 of a row of the piece of cabbages ; and they, a hundred and six 

 in number, weighed, when they were taken up, in December, 

 nine hundred and one pounds. One of these turnips weighed 

 twelve pounds and a half. 



76. But, it ought to be observed, that this was in ground which 

 had been got up in my best manner ; that it had some of the best 

 of my manure ; and, that uncommon pains were taken by myself 

 in the putting in of the plants. This experiment shows, what a 

 hardy plant this is ; but, I must caution the reader against a 

 belief, that it is either desirable or prudent to put this quality 

 to so severe a test. There is no necessity for it, in general ; and, 

 indeed, the rule is, that the shorter time the plants are out of the 

 ground the better. 



77. But, as to the business of transplanting, there is one very 

 material observation to make. The ground ought to be AS fresh : 

 that is to say, as recently moved by the plough, as possible ; and 

 that for the reasons before stated. The way I go on is this : rny 

 land is put up into ridges, as described under the head of manner 

 of sowing. This is done before-hand, several days ; or, it may be, 

 a week 01 more. When we have our plants and hands all ready, 

 the ploughman begins, and turns in the ridges ; that is to say, 



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