THE FARMER'S MANUAL. 35 



small hoe, and took out all but one in each 10 or 12 

 inches, and thus left them to stand single. We next 

 went with a hoe, and hoed the tops of the ridges, about 

 6 inches wide on each side of the rows of plants, 

 and then horse-hoed between the rows with a common 

 horse-plough, after the manner of tilling Indian-corn, 

 or potatoes ; by first turning the earth from the plants, 

 and next towards the plants, at the second hoeing. 

 There is no ground lost in these wide intervals, for 

 the lateral roots of the large turnip, as well as the 

 Iluta Baga, will extend 6 feet from the bulb of the 

 plant ; and my crop of thirty-three tons, or thirteen 

 hundred and twenty bushels to the acre, taking the 

 whole field together, had the same intervals ; and less 

 than this, as was practised by my neighbours, always 

 diminished the crop. Wide as my intervals were, the 

 leaves of some of the plants would nearly meet across 

 the rows, and I have had them frequently meet in Eng- 

 land. 



" Now I think no farmer can discover in this process 

 any thing more difficult, or more troublesome, and ex- 

 pensive, than in the process absolutely necessary to 

 the obtaining a good crop of Indian-corn ; and yet 

 I will venture to say, that in any land capable of 

 bearing fifty bushels of Indian-corn upon an acre, 

 more than one thousand bushels of Ruta Baga may, 

 in the above described process, be obtained. 



" In the broad-cast method, the after culture must 

 of course be confined to hoeing, or as Tull calls it, 

 scratching. 



" In England, the hoer goes in when the plants are 

 about 4 inches high, and hoes all the ground over, 

 setting out the plants at the distance of about 18 

 inches ; and if the ground becomes foul, he is obliged 

 to go in again in about a month afterwards, and hoe 

 the ground again. This is all that is done, and a 

 very poor all it is, as the crops on the very best 

 grounds invariably show, when compared with the 

 ridge crops." 



