CHAP. II.] RUTA BAGA CULTURE. 169 



them. Once a day I fling out a parcel of the 

 refuse that have been cut from the roots sent to 

 market, along with cabbage leaves and stems, 

 parsnip fibres, and the like. Here the working 

 oxen, hogs, cows, sheep, and fowls, all feed as 

 they please. All these animals are in excellent 

 condition. The cow has no other food ; the 

 working oxen a lock of hay twice a day ; the 

 ewes an ear of Indian corn each ; the pigs no 

 thing but the roots ; the fowls and ducks and 

 turkeys are never fed in any other way, though 

 they know how to feed themselves whenever 

 there is any thing good to be found above 

 ground. 



131. I am weaning some pigs, which, as every 

 one knows, is an affair of milk and meal. I 

 have neither. I give about three buckets of 

 boiled Ruta Baga to seven pigs every day, not 

 having any convenience for steaming ; two baits 

 of Indian corn in the ear. And, with this diet, 

 increasing the quantity with the growth of the 

 pigs, I expect to turn them out of the sty 

 fatter (if that be possible) than they entered it. 

 Now, if this be so, every farmer will say, that 

 this is what never was done before in America. 

 We all know how important a thing it is to 

 wean a pig well. Any body can wean them 

 without milk and meal; but, then, the pigs are 

 good for nothing. They remain three months 

 afterwards and never grow an inch ; and they 



