182 RUTA BAGA CULTURE. [PART I. 



that it is neither convenient nor necessary to a 

 farm. " What !" the ladies will say, " would 

 " you have us to be shut up at home all our 

 " lives; or be dragged about by oxen?" By 

 no means ; not 1 ! I should be very sorry to be 

 thought the author of any such advice. 1 have 

 no sort of objection to the keeping of horses 

 upon a farm ; but, I do insist upon it, that all 

 the food and manual labour required by such 

 horses, ought to be considered as so much taken 

 from the clear profits of the farm. 



152. I have made sheep, and particularly 

 lambs, a part of my supposed stock ; but, I do 

 not know, that 1 should keep any beyond what 

 might be useful for my house. Hogs are the 

 most profitable stock, if you have a large quan 

 tity of the food that they will thrive on. They 

 are foul feeders; but, they will eat nothing that 

 is poor in its nature ; that is to say, they will not 

 thrive on it. They are the most able tasters in 

 all the creation ; and, that which they like best, 

 you may be quite sure has the greatest propor 

 tion of nutritious matter in it, from a white 

 turnip to a piece of beef. They will prefer meat 

 to corn, and cooked meat to raw; they will 

 leave parsnips for corn or grain ; they will leave 

 carrots for parsnips ; they will leave Ruta 

 Baga for carrots; they will leave cabbages 

 for Ruta Baga ; they will leave Mangel Wur- 



