34 THE FARMER'S MANUAL. 



and havifig a porous substratum, is best for every 

 thing that vegetates, except plants that live best in 

 water, so it is best w,ith Ruta Baga. I know of no soil 

 in the United States, upon which this root may not be 

 cultivated with the greatest facility, excepting a pure, 

 sand, and a stiff clay , which are very rare in this Coun- 

 try." Mr. Cobbet here goes on to state his success- 

 ful experiments in obtaining a good crop of Ruta 

 Baga, with very little manure, (and that of an inferior 

 quality,) upon an exhausted soil. 



Manner of Sowing. 



u My Ploughman put the ground up in little ridges., 

 having two furrows on each side of the ridge, so that 

 each ridge consisted of four furrows, and the tops of 

 the ridges were about 4 feet from each other; and as 

 thet)loughiBg was performed to a great depth, there 

 was of course a very deep gutter between every two 

 ridges. 



" I took care to have the manure placed so as to be 

 under the middle of each ridge, that is to say, just be- 

 neath where my seed was to come, which was sown 

 principally in this manner : a man went along by the 

 side of each ridge, and put down 2 or 3 seeds in 

 places of 10 or 12 inches distance from each other, 

 just drawing a little earth over, and pressing it light- 

 ly upon the seed, in order to make it vegetate quick- 

 ly, before the earth became too dry. In this method, 

 four pounds of seed sowed 7 acres. Two men sow- 

 ed the whole 7 acres in two days. 



"Broad-cast sowing will however generally be pre- 

 ferred; but when I have spoken of the after culture, 

 I shall compare the two methods, that the reader may 

 decide for himself." 



dfter Culture. 

 " When the plants were fairly up, we went with a 



