172 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



The Ruta-Baga. — This root may be cultivated in the man- 

 ner just described for the mangel wiirzel ; the ground being 

 prepared in the same manner. In England they appear to be 

 most commonly grown in rows twenty-seven inches apart, with 

 the plants at a foot distance in the rows. But William Cob- 

 bett, who, in a small book published in New York, has minutely 

 described his own practice, both in England and America, 

 asserts, that the largest crops are attainable by growing the 

 ruta-baga in rows four feet apart, with the plants about ten 

 inches or a foot distant from each other in the rows ; and that 

 in this mode of culture he has raised, in England, thirty tons 

 to the acre. 



For this mode of culture, the manure, being deposited in fur- 

 rows four feet apart, is covered by four back furrows, two on 

 one side and two on the other, of each line with manure ; by 

 which little ridges are formed; and if the ploughing be deep 

 (as it ought to be) there will be a deep gutter between every 

 two ridges. The tops of the ridges being made fine with a 

 light harrow, or with rakes, the seeds are sown with a drilling 

 machine ; or by hand, which Mr. Cobbett says he prefers to a 

 drill. Two men sowed for him seven acres in three days, using 

 about four pounds of seed, in this manner ; a man went along 

 by the side of each ridge, and put down two or three seeds in 

 places at about ten inches from each other, just drawing a little 

 earth over, and pressing it on the seed, in order to make it 

 vegetate quickly, before the earth became too dry. But, he 

 adds, the seven acres might have been sown by one man in a 

 day, by just scattering the seeds along on the top of the ridges, 

 when they might have been buried with a rake, and pressed 

 down with a spade or shovel, or other flat instrument. But 

 he used a light roller, to take two ridges at once, the horse 

 walking in the gutter between. 



The time of sowing the seeds must vary with the climate: 

 On Long Island, Mr. Cobbett's trials of one year lad him to 

 prefer the 26th of June ; but in our own county, I would not 

 pass the middle of that month. Indeed, I think it expedient 

 (in order to ascertain the fittest time) to commence sowing the 

 seed as soon as the ground can be prepared, after the planting 

 of Indian corn, and to continue to sow in small plots, weekly, 

 until the middle of June. As soon as the plants are fairly up. 



