CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 145 



acre; these cases have received special attention in the after 

 culture as well as in the preparation of the ground; the drills 

 were about two feet apart. Since the general introduction of 

 the ruta-baga, the cultivation of the common turnip, as a field 

 crop for the use of cattle, has declined. But no good farmer 

 will give up entirely the culture of one for the other, as a change 

 is not only agreeable but beneficial to cattle and sheep. 



Use. We all know their value as a table vegetable. The 

 tops serve as food for cattle in autumn; and in winter they are 

 fed to cattle. They are cut by an implement with four blades 

 into as many pieces other implements are also used. They 

 are excellent for sheep, especially for ewes that have young. 

 They are very nutritious, arid excellent for fattening stock. 

 Judge BUEL says, "a bullock will thrive fast upon two bushels 

 a day, and will consume hardly any hay, and requires no 

 drink."* 



Obtaining varieties. The turnip is sometimes cultivated 

 for its seeds for sowing, and by careful selection varieties of 

 the plant may not only be multiplied, but greatly improved. 

 A manner of procuring a good variety of turnip is to select the 

 largest and best formed turnips, with the smallest tops, and 

 plant them in rows, at a considerable distance from any plants 

 of the same family. They will flower, and when the pods are 

 formed, they are to be guarded against the depredation of birds. 

 When the seeds are matured, the stems are to be cut down and 

 well dried, the seeds separated from the pods, and carefully 

 preserved for future use. 



The diseases and accidents to which this plant is subject 

 are very numerous. It is liable to a kind of blight. But its 

 most fatal enemy is the fly. No effectual remedy for either 

 has as yet been discovered. It does not suffer now, however, 

 as much as in years past and the crops have never been as 

 seriously affected in this country as in England. 



The following is a statement from Rev. HENRY COLMAN, 

 one of the first farmers of New England, and at this time Com- 

 missioner for Superintending the Agricultural Survey of the 

 State of Massachusetts, of his method of raising the ruta-baga 

 or Swedish turnip. 



Gentlemen Accompanying this yon have the certificates of a crop of ruta- 

 baga raised this year (1830) on my farm in Lynn. From these it will appear 

 that on an acre, measured by a sworn surveyor, on one side of the field, there 

 were gathered seven hundred and forty-one baskets full; and that forty baskets 

 of the above named weighed at the town scales two thousand seven hundred 

 and fifty pounds net weight. This, allowing fifty-six pounds to a bushel, the 



* The results of a most interesting experiment in the culture of the common 

 turnip, is very minutely detailed by Mr. SAMUEL W. SMITH. See Appendix B. 

 13 



