CHAP. IL] RUTA BAGA CULTURE. 115 



ground had been left raked over ; but, in the 

 paths we had an abundance, which grew to be 

 very fine, and which, when transplanted, made 

 part of a field which bore thirty three tons to 

 the acre, and which, as a whole field, was the 

 finest I ever saw in my life. 



53. I cannot help endeavouring to press this 

 fact upon the reader. Squeezing down the 

 earth makes it touch the seed in all its parts, 

 and then it will soon vegetate. It is for this 

 reason, that barley and oat fields should be 

 rolled, if the weather be dry ; and, indeed, that 

 all seeds should be pressed down, if the state 

 of the earth will admit of it. 



54. This mode of sowing is neither tedious 

 nor expensive. Two men sowed the whole of my 

 seven acres in the three days, which, when we 

 consider the value of the crop, and the saving in 

 the after-culture, is really not worth mentioning. 

 I do not think, that any sowing by drill is so 

 good, or, in the end, so cheap as this. Drills 

 miss very often in the sowings of such small 

 seeds. However, the thing may be done by 

 hand in a less precise manner. One man would 

 have sown the seven acres in a day, by just 

 scattering the seeds along on the top of. the 

 ridge, where they might have been buried with 

 the rake, and pressed down by a spade or 

 shovel or some other flat instrument. A slight 

 roller to take two ridges at once, the horse 



