Oji the Cultivation ofRuta Bas^a, 293 



per for the table, for which the small white turnip sonn 

 in August is to be preferred. Unforainatsly, this year, 

 all the white turnips I have sown in the field have pe- 

 rished, and a small patch in the garden proved very bad 

 in quality. 



You are aware that the produce in England is enor- 

 mous. The quantities mentioned by Dr. Anderson in 

 his essays, and by others, would not have been believed, 

 here, but for the respectability of their vouchers, but no- 

 thing like them has been produced here, though we can 

 scarcely judge what can be done, until our lands are 

 brought into the same high state of cultivation, and the 

 same attention is paid to the object. My produce this 

 year has been from one hundred to one hundred and 

 sixty bushels to the acre, of fine well grown Ruta baga : 

 this year I have had one hundred of very good quality, 

 and when the poorness of the soil, the extreme drought, 

 and the produce of part of the same field in Indian corn, 

 not exceeding five bushels an acre, are considered, I 

 think it is not unreasonable to conclude, that if the ground 

 was in such order as to produce a good crop of Indian 

 corn, or other grain, it would produce several hundred 

 bushels of turnips. 



Dr, James Alease. 



