TUR 



TUR 



46<) 



to degenerate, if the seed is not 

 saved with care. In England, we 

 select the fairest roots, and of the 

 best form, for seed, rejecting all 

 such as are of a whitish colour, or 

 greenish towards the neck, prefer- 

 ring such as are of a reddish cast. 

 These, when selected, should be 

 carefully preserved over the wni- 

 ter, and set in the month of March 

 or April in a rich soil, remote from 

 any roots of the turnip or cabbage 

 kind, to preserve the seed pure 

 and unmixed. Two or three roots, 

 if they do well, will yield seed 

 sufficient for an acre of land. Let 

 the seed remain in the pods until 

 the time of sowing." 



Time of sow>ng. — '' The time of 

 sowing may be from the 25th of 

 June to the 16th of July, as cir 

 cumstances may be." 



Qualitij and preparation of the 

 Land. — " As a tine, rich, loose 

 garden mould, of great depth, and 

 having a porous substratum, is best 

 for every thing that vegetates, ex- 

 cept plants that live best in water, 

 so it is best with Ruta Baga. 1 

 know of no soil in the United 

 States, upon which this root may 

 not be cultivated with the greatest 

 facility, excepting di pure sand, and 

 a stiff clay, which are very rare in 

 this country. 



Manner of sowing. — " My plough- 

 man puts the ground up in little 

 ridges, having two furrows on each 

 side of the ridge, so that each rid^e 

 consisted of four furrows, and the 

 tops of the ridges were about four 

 feet from each other ; and as the 

 ploughing was performed to a great 

 depth, there was of course a very 

 deep gutter between every two 

 ridge?. 



" I took care to have the rranure 

 placed so as to be under the ii.id- 

 dle of each ridge, that is to say, 

 just beneath where my seed was 

 to come, which was sown priiici- 

 pall) m this manner :— A man went 

 along by the side of each ridge, 

 and put down two or three seeds 

 in places ten or twelve inches dis- 

 tance from each other, just draw- 

 ing a little earth over, and pressing 

 it lightly upon the seed, in order 

 to make it vegetate quickly, before 

 the earth became toodr). lii this 

 method four pounds of seed sowed 

 seven acres. Two men sowed the 

 whole seven acres in two da>s. 



"Broadcast sowing will, how- 

 ever, generally be preferred ; but 

 when 1 have spoken of the after- 

 culture, I shall compare the two 

 methods, that the reader may de- 

 cide for himself. 



Jifter-Cidlure. " When the 



plants were fairly up, we went with 

 a small hoe, and took out all but 

 one in each ten or twelve inches, 

 and thus left them to stand single. 

 We next went with a hoe, and hoed 

 the tops of the ridges, about six 

 inches wide on each side of the 

 rows of plants, and then horse- 

 hoed between the rows, with a 

 common horse-plough, after the 

 manner of tilling Indian corn, or 

 potatoes, by first turning the earth 

 from the plants, and next towards 

 the plants at the second hoeing. 

 There is no ground lost in these 

 wide intervals, for the lateral roots 

 of the large turnip, as well as the 

 Ruta Baga, will extend six ieei 

 from the ball of the plant ; and my 

 crop of thirty three tons, or thir- 

 teen hundred and twenty bushels 



