CHAP. II.] RUTA BAGA CULTURE. 10? 



singular, that a field, sown one day, wholly 

 escapes, while a field, sown the next day, is 

 wholly destroyed. Nay, a part of the same 

 field, sown in the morning, will sometimes 

 escape, while the part, sown in the afternoon, 

 will be destroyed ; and, sometimes the afternoon 

 sowing is the part that is spared. To find a 

 remedy for this evil has posed all the heads of 

 all the naturalists and chemists of England. 

 As an evil, the smut in wheat ; the wire-worm ; 

 the grubs above-ground and under-ground ; the 

 caterpillars, green and black ; the slug, red, 

 black, and grey: though each a great tormentor, 

 are nothing. Against all these there is some 

 remedy, though expensive and plaguing ; or, at 

 any rate, their ravages are comparatively slow, 

 and their causes are known. But, the Turnip Fly 

 is the English farmer's evil genius. To discover 

 a remedy for, or the cause of, this plague, has 

 been object of enquiries, experiments, analyses, 

 innumerable. Premium upon premium offered, 

 has only produced pretended remedies, which 

 have led to disappointment and mortification ; 

 and, I have no hesitation to say, that, if any 

 man could find out a real remedy, and could 

 communicate the means of cure, while he kept 

 the nature of the means a secret, he would be 

 much richer than he who should discover the 

 longitude ; for about fifty thousand farmers 



