156 RUTA BAGA CULTURE. [PART I. 



inconveniences and injuries would be avoided 

 by harvesting in a dry day in November, if such 

 a day should, by an accident, be found in Eng 

 land ; but, why not do the work in October, 

 and sow wheat, at once, in the land ? More on 

 this after-cropping, another time. 



113. In Long Island, and throughout the 

 . United States, where the weather is so fine in 

 the fall; where every day, from the middle of 

 October to the end of November (except a rainy 

 day about once in 16 days), is as fair as the 

 fairest May-day in England, and where such a 

 thing as a water-furrow in a field was never 

 heard of; in such a soil as this, and under such 

 a climate as this, there never can arise any dif 

 ficulty in the way of the harvesting of turnips 

 in proper time. I should certainly do it in No 

 vember; for, as we have seen, a little frost does 

 riot affect the bulbs at all. I would put them 

 in when perfectly dry ; make my heaps of about 

 fifty bushels ; and, when the frosts approached, 

 I mean the hard frosts, I would cover with 

 corn-stalks, or straw, or cedar boughs, as many 

 of the heaps as I thought I should want in 

 January and February ; for, these coverings 

 would so break the frost, as to enable me to 

 open the heaps in those severe months. It is 

 useless arid inconvenient to take into barns, or 

 out-houses, a very large quantity at a time. 

 Besides, if left uncovered, the very hard frosts 



