On the Cultivation ofRuta Baga, 285 



good seed, and that the failure of the crop is frequently 

 to be attributed to the want of it; I determined when what 

 1 had was exhausted, to raise it for rn3^self. Accordingly, 

 in the Autumn of 1819, I planted out in my garden up- 

 wards of fifty turnips, the best of that year's growth, in 

 rows about two feet apart, with the same distance between 

 the plants ; and in the following March I set out an equal 

 number of roots (which had been kept in the house) in 

 the same way ; both these settings came to full maturity, 

 and produced good seed, though the Autumn plants 

 ripened one month earlier than those of the Spring, viz. 

 the one by the last of June, and the other not till the last 

 of July. The x^utumn sowing was also more productive, 

 and I think better seed than the other, though both were 

 good, and having found no material difference between 

 them in the succeeding crop, I mixed them together, and 

 have used them so eversince, viz. in 1820, 1821, and now 

 in 1822, when their produce will sufficiently attest 

 their quality. 



Knowing that every thing depends on having the 

 ground well prepared, I have invariably ploughed and 

 harrowed it in the preceding Autumn, at least once, and 

 in some instances twice, rolling it each time. Here I 

 must remark, that the soil upon which I have operated, 

 was a gravelly loam, totally exhausted by cultivation, so 

 much so, that in some instances where I have planted In- 

 dian corn upon it, it hardly produced five bushels to the 

 acre ; the turnips therefore were in most instances the in- 

 troductory crop, in the course of amelioration; and derived 

 no advantage from any preceding one, but the preparation 

 of the soil, where they succeeded Indian corn of the pre- 

 ceding year, which I have found an excellent prepa- 

 rativec 



Whatever was the preparation in the Autumn, I plough- 

 ed the ground again in the Spring, early, and again, pre- 



