CHAP. II.] RUTA BAGA CULTURE, 167 



every one has the same means at his command, 

 no one need be afraid of drought. It is a bright 

 plough-share that is always wanted much more 

 than the showers. With this culture there is 

 no fear of a crop; and though it amount to 

 only five hundred bushels on an acre, what 

 crop is half so valuable. 



126. The bulk of crop, however, in the broad 

 cast, or random, method, may be materially 

 affected by drought; for in that case, the plough 

 cannot come to supply the place of showers. 

 The ground there will be dry, and keep dry in 

 a dry time ; as in the case of the supposed half 

 rod of undug ground in the garden. The weeds, 

 too, will come and help, by their roots, to suck 

 the moisture out of the ground. As to the hand- 

 hoeings, they may keep down weeds to be sure, 

 and they raise a trifling portion of exhalation ; 

 but, it is trifling indeed. Dry weather, if of 

 long continuation, makes the leaves become of 

 a bluish colour; and, when this is once the case, 

 all the rain and all the fine weather in the world 

 will never make the crop a good one; because 

 the plough cannot move amidst this scene of 

 endless irregularity. This is one of the chief 

 reasons why the ridge method is best. 



Uses of, and Mode of applying, the Crop. 



127. It is harder to say what uses this root 

 may not be put to, than what uses it may 



