146 RUTA BAG A CULTURE. [PART I. 



the fall is not the time to sow, as my big and 

 white parsnips, now selling in New York 

 market, may clearly show; seeing that they 

 were sown in June ! And yet, people are flock 

 ing to the Western Countries in search of rick 

 land, while thousands of acres of such land as 

 1 occupy are lying waste in Long Island, within 

 three hours drive of the all-consuming and in 

 cessantly increasing city of New York ! 



97. I have now spoken of the preparation of 

 the land for the reception of seeds. As to the 

 preparation in the case of transplantation, it 

 might be just the same as for the sowing on 

 ridges. But here might, in this case, be one 

 more previous ploughing, always taking care to 

 plough in dry weather, which is an observation 

 1 ought to have made before. 



98. But, why should not the plants, in this 

 case, succeed some other good crop, as men 

 tioned before ? 1 sowed some early peas (brought 

 from England) on the 2nd of June. I harvested 

 them, quite ripe and hard, on the 31st of July ; 

 and I had very fine Ruta Baga, some weighing 

 six pounds each, after the peas. How little is 

 known of the powers of this soil and climate! 

 My potatoes were of the kidney sort, which, as 

 every one knows, is not an early sort. They 

 were planted on the 2nd of June ; and they 

 were succeeded by a most abundant crop of 

 Ruta Baga. And, the manure for the peas and 



