142 RUTA BAGA CULTURE. [PART I. 



the farmer almost out of his senses, and make 

 him ready to knock the brains out of the cla 

 morous flock, when he ought to feel pleasure 

 in the filling of their bellies. 



93. Having now done with the different modes 

 of cropping the ground with Ruta Baga, I will, 

 as I proposed in paragraph 49, speak about 



* the preparation of the land generally ; and in 

 doing this, I shall suppose the land to have 

 borne a good crop of wheat the preceding year, 

 and, of course, to be in good heart, as we call 

 it in England. 



94. I would plough this ground in the fall 

 into ridges four feet asunder. The ploughing 

 should be very deep, and the ridges well laid 

 up. In this situation it would, by the suc 

 cessive frosts and thaws, be shaken and broken 

 fine as powder by March or April. In April, 

 it should be turned back ; always ploughing 

 deep. A crop of weeds would be well set upon 

 it by the first of June, when they should be 

 smothered by another turning back. Then, 

 about the third week in June, I would carry in 

 my manure, and fling it along on the trenches 

 or furrows. After this I would follow the turn 

 ing back for the sowing, as is directed in para 

 graph 50. Now, here are/owr ploughings. And 

 what is the cost of these ploughings ? My man, 

 a biack man, a native of this Island, ploughs 



js pair of oxen and no driver an acre and 



