470 



T U K 



TUK 



to the acre, taking the whole field 

 together, had the same intervals ; 

 and less than this, as was practised 

 by nr^y neighbours, always dimin- 

 ished the crop. Wide as the in- 

 vals were, the leaves of sonrie of 

 the plants would nearly nneet across 

 the rows, and 1 have had them fre- 

 quently meet in England. 



" In the broad cast method, the 

 after culture must of course bn con- 

 fined to hoeing, orasTuil calls it, 

 scratching. 



" In England, the hoer gcos in 

 when the plants are about tour in- 

 ches high, and hoes all ihe ground 

 over, setting out the plants at the 

 distance of about eighteen inches ; 

 and if the ground becomes foul, he 

 is obliged, in about a month after- 

 wards to hoe the ground over 

 again. This is all that is done, and 

 a very poor all it is, as the crops on 

 the very best lands invariably show, 

 when compared with the ridge- 

 crops." 



Transplanting. — "This is a 

 third mode of cultivating the Ruta 

 Baga, and in certain cases far pre- 

 ferable to either of the others. My 

 large crops at Botley, (England.) 

 were from roots transplanted. 



'" I prepared one field of five 

 acres, and another of twelve, with 

 ridges, m the manner described for 

 sowing, and on the 7th of June in 

 the. first field, and on the 20th of 

 July in the 2nd, 1 set my plants, as 

 in sowing, twelve inches asunder. 

 I ascertained to an exactn€;ss, that 

 there were thirty three tons to the 

 acre, throughout the whole seven 



four feet asunder on the ridges, 

 there are ten thousand eight hun- 

 dred and thirty turnips, on each 

 acre of ground and therefore, for 

 an acre of ground to produce thir- 

 ty-three tons, each turuip must 

 weigh nearly seven pounds. 



" From a large fi-!d I afterwards 

 set on the 13th of July, 1 weighed 

 one waggon load, which averaged 

 eleven pounds each, and several 

 weighed fourteen pounds, which 

 would probably give fifty tons to 

 the acre. 



" The plants will succeed best 

 when set in fresh earth, or earth re- 

 cent it/ proved hy the plough. 



" VVlien we have our plants, 

 and hands all ready, the plough- 

 man begins, and turns in the ridg- 

 es, (which have been prepared as 

 before staled •,) that is, he turns the 

 ground bade againj so that the top 

 of tlie new ploughed ridge stands 

 over the place where the deep 

 furrow was before he began. As 

 soon as he has finished the first 

 ridge the planters begin to set, 

 while he is ploughing the second, 

 and so on through the field. This 

 process is not very tedious, for in 

 18 16, 1 had fifty-two acres of Ruta 

 Baga planted in this way, and a 

 crop of more than fifty thousand 

 bushels. A smart lad will set half 

 an acre per day, with a girl or boy, 

 to drop the plants, and 1 had a man 

 who would set often an acre a day. 

 Care must be taken not to bury 

 the heart of the plant. I observed 

 how necessary it was to fix the 

 plant firmly in the ground ; and as 



teen acres, and after this, I have i the planter is strictly charged to do 

 never used any other method. I this, he is apt to pay little atten- 



" In my usual order, the rows | tion to the means by which the ob- 



