RUtA BAG A CULTURE 



to every farmer. The object is, not merely to get roots, but to 

 get them of a large size : for, as I shall show, there is an amazing 

 difference in this. And, large roots are not to be gotten without 

 care, which, by the by, costs nothing. Besides, the care bestowed 

 in obtaining this crop, removes all the million of cares and vexa 

 tions of the Spring months, when bleatings everlasting din the 

 farmer almost out of his senses, and make him ready to knock the 

 brains out of the clamourous flock, when he ought to feel pleasure 

 in the filling of their bellies. 



93. Having now done with the different modes of cropping 

 the ground with Ruta Baga, I will, as I proposed in paragraph 49, 

 speak about the preparation of the land generally : and in doing 

 this, I shall suppose the land to have borne a good crop of wheat 

 the preceding year, and, of course, to be in good heart, as we call 

 it in England. 



94. I would plough this ground in the fall into ridges four feet 

 asunder. The ploughing should be very deep, and the ridges well 

 laid up. In this situation it would, by the successive frosts and 

 thaws, be shaken and broken fine as powder by March or April. 

 In April, it should be turned back ; always ploughing deep, A 

 crop of weeds would be well set upon it by the first of June, when 

 they should be smothered by another turning back. Then, about 

 the third week in June, I would carry in my manure, and fling it 

 along on the trenches or furrows. After this I would follow the 

 turning back for the sowing, as is directed in paragraph 50. Now, 

 here are four ploughings. And what is the cost of these ploughings ? 

 My man, a black man, a native of this Island, ploughs, with his 

 pair of oxen and rio driver, an acre and a half a day, and his oxen 

 keep their flesh extremely well upon the refuse of the Ruta Baga 

 which I send to market. What is the cost then ? And, what a 

 fine state the grass is thus brought into ! A very different thing 

 indeed is it to plough hard ground, from what it is to plough 

 ground in this fine, broken state. Besides, every previous 

 ploughing, especially deep ploughing, is equal to a seventh part 

 of an ordinary coat of manure. 



95. In the broad-cast method I would give the same number of 

 previous ploughings, and at the same seasons of the year. I 

 would spread the manure over the ground just before I ploughed 

 it for sowing. Then, when I ploughed for the sowing, I would 

 if I had only one pair of oxen, plough about half an acre, harrow 

 the ground, sow it immediately, and roll it with a light roller, 

 which a little horse might draw, in order to press the earth about 

 the seeds, and cover them too. There need be no harrowing after 

 sowing. We never do it in England. The roller does all very 

 completely, and the sowing upon the fresh earth will, under any 

 sun, furnish the moisture sufficient. I once sowed, on ridges, 

 with a BENNETT S drill, and neither harrowed nor rolled nor used 

 any means at all of covering the seeds ; and yet I had plenty of 

 plants and a very fine crop of turnips. I sowed a piece of white 



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