CHAP. 11.] RUTA BAGA CULTURE. 105 



kept in the pod to the very time of sowing, will 

 vegetate more quickly and more vigorously 

 than seed which has been some time threshed 

 out. But, turnip seed will do very well, if 

 threshed out as soon as ripe, and kept in a dry 

 place, and not too much exposed to the air. 

 A bag, hung up in a dry room, is the depository 

 that I use. But, before being threshed oat, the 

 seed should be quite ripe, and, if cut off, or 

 pulled up, which latter is the best way, before 

 the pods are quite dead, the whole should be 

 suffered to lie in the sun till the pods are per 

 fectly dead, in order that the seed may imbibe 

 its full nourishment, and corne to complete per 

 fection ; otherwise the seed will wither, much 

 of it will not grow at all, and that which does 

 grow will produce plants inferior to those pro 

 ceeding from well-ripened seed. 



Time of Sowing. 



37. Our time of sowing in England is from 

 the first to the twentieth of June, though some 

 persons sow in May, which is still better. 

 This was one of the matters of the most deep 

 interest with me, when I came to Hyde Park. 

 I could not begin before the month of June; for 

 I had no ground ready. But, then, I began 

 with great care, on the second of June, sowing, 

 in small plots, once every week, till the 30th of 

 July. In every case the seed took well and the 



