New York, Dec. 30, 1818. 

 DEAR SIR, 



1052. I TAKE the liberty of sending to you the following experi 

 ments upon the culture of your Ruta Baga, made by my uncle, 

 Isaac Townsend, Esq., of Orange county, in this state. The 

 seeds were procured from your stock, and the experiments, I 

 think, will tend to corroborate the sentiments which you have so 

 laudably and so successfully inculcated on the subject of this 

 interesting article of agriculture. 



1053. A piece of strong dry loam ten feet square on the N. E. 

 side of a mountain in Moreau township, Orange county, was 

 thoroughly cleared of stones, and dug up twelve inches deep, on 

 the loth of June last ; it was then covered by a mixture of ten 

 bushels of charcoal dust and twenty bushels of black swamp 

 mould, which was well harrowed in. About the gth of July it 

 was sown with your Ruta Baga in drills of twenty inches apart, 

 the turnips being ten inches distant from each other. They came 

 up badly and were weeded out on the loth of August. On the 

 1 5th of August a table-spoonful of ashes was put round every 

 turnip, which operation was repeated on the 2Oth of September. 

 The ground was kept perfectly clean through the whole season. 

 Six seeds of the common turnip were by accident dropped into 

 the patch, and received the same attention as the rest. These 

 common turnips weighed two pounds a piece. The whole yield 

 of the Ruta Baga was three bushels, each turnip weighing from 

 four to eight pounds. The roots penetrated about twelve inches 

 into the ground, although the season was remarkably dry. 



1054. A piece of rich, moist, loamy land, containing four square 

 rods, was ploughed twice in June, and the seeds of your Ruta 

 Baga sown on the 4th of July in broad cast, and kept clean through 

 the season. This patch produced twenty -five bushels of turnips, 

 each turnip weighing from four to nine pounds. This, you 

 perceive, is at the enormous rate of 1000 bushels an acre ! 



1055. It is Mr. Townsend s opinion, that on some of the soils 

 of Orange County your Ruta Baga may be made to yield 1500 

 bushels an acre. 



I remain, with much respect, 

 Your obedient servant, 



P. S. TOWNSEND. 



IVilliam Cobbett, Esq. 



Hyde Park, Long Island. 



