On the Cultivation ofRuta Baga, 289 



and plants were forced, in a great degree, to yield : I 

 found at least the first not so troublesome, and the last 

 were a long time arrested, so that they did not increase ; 

 but they stood the season admirably; few or none of them 

 died, and as soon as the cool evenings of September 

 came on, they put forth with fresh vigour, and have 

 continued to flourish ever since, with little further at- 

 tention. 



I have ever found the greatest growth of this plant from 

 the middle of October to the middle of December : that 

 moderate frosts improved it, and that though arrested, it 

 was not injured by the severest. I have usually suffered 

 them to remain in the field till Christmas, the chief disad- 

 vantage of which is, the loss of the tops, and the difficulty 

 of getting the turnips out of the ground when hard frozen. 

 Some of my neighbours have left them in the field all 

 winter, taking their chance of thaws to gather them as they 

 wanted them ; this, however, I consider as a slovenly- 

 practice, for, though the turnip is not materially injured, 

 it becomes dirty, and there is far greater waste than when 

 k is regularly collected, and housed in moderate weather. 

 This I experienced last year, when my crop was caught 

 by hard frost, so that I did not get it in till an open spell 

 occurred in January, and though it served my cattle, a 

 great deal was lost from the difficulty of getting people 

 properly to attend to the work in heavy cold fields, or to 

 the plants cut in the cold state in which they were 

 brought in. 



My decided opinion therefore is, that the crops should 

 be always taken up and housed before hard frosts, and 

 while it can be done with ease ; the tops are a great aid to 

 the decaying fall pastures; and if the crop is brought in by- 

 degrees, so that the roots may be cut off and housed, and 

 the cattle consume the tops, it is the most economical 

 mode. I prefer bringing the crop to the barn, and the 



