322 HANDY-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



While the rutabaga contains a not very large quantity of phos- 

 phoric acid, it is more specifically benefited than is almost any 

 other plant by the use of bone-dust, superphosphate of lime, or 

 any other fertilizer in which phosphoric acid is the leading ingre- 

 dient ; and, singularly, while it does contain a very large amount 

 of nitrogen, its growth is often rather injured than benefited by 

 the excessive use of ammoniacal manures. For this reason it 

 will always be found prudent to mix the stable manure used so 

 thoroughly with the soil that its more active stimulating effect 

 may be modified by its combination with earth ; and, in all cases 

 to use bone-dust or superphosphate of lime, and not Peruvian 

 guano, which, although it contains a good deal of phosphoric 

 acid, is a highly stimulating ammoniacal manure. It is a very 

 general belief, which has been borne out in my own experience 

 and which I believe to be well founded, that, both in the case of 

 cabbages and of rutabagas, the manure of swine is injurious from 

 its tendency, real or supposed, to increase the formation of 

 "clump roots," or what in turnips is known as " fingers and toes." 

 As a special fertilizer for rutabagas, nothing that I have ever 

 tried has been so effective as a liberal application of New Jersey 

 green-sand marl ; and I have always imagined that I obtained 

 very beneficial results from the even sowing of air-slacked lime, 

 applied by means of a broadcast sower, immediately before plant- 

 ing the seeds or setting out the plants. Peter Henderson asserts, 

 that lime is a sure agent in preventing the clump-foot disease ; 

 whether this is the case or not, the effect of a light application of 

 lime is, in many ways, so beneficial that its use is strongly to be 

 recommended, wherever it can be obtained. 



It is the almost universal custom in England, where roots are 

 very largely grown, to raise turnips, and mangels as well, on raised 

 ridges or back-furrows ; and the facts that in this way we 

 increase the depth of soil directly under the plant, and that horse 

 cultivation during the early stages of growth is easier, are argu- 

 ments in favor of the custom. Generally, however, flat cultiva- 

 tion for all crops, being the most natural, is considered the most 

 advisable ; and the question whether to ridge or not to ridge 



