ROOT CULTUiyS. 93 



ation when collected in heaps for winter. If buried 

 in pits, the roots should be raised above the surface 

 of the ground, and laid up to terminate in a ridge ; 

 so that when they are covered with straw and earth, 

 the heated or impure air of the pit will concentrate 

 at the ridge on the top, where it should be suffered 

 to pass off freely through holes made for this pur- 

 pose. 



The cost of raising the ruta-baga is less than that 

 of raising corn or any of the other roots. The av- 

 erage product may be stated at 600 bushels, and it 

 is often double this quantity. The root is an excel- 

 lent food for every species of farm-stock, and is very 

 extensively used for fattening both beef and mutton. 

 Milch cows fed with ruta-baga should have daily ac- 

 cess to salt ; and should the milk retain any flavour 

 of the turnip, it may be got rid of by turning a pint 

 of hot water into a pailful when' it is drawn from 

 the cow. Tops that are undergoing fermentation, 

 and roots decayed or unsound, should be given only 

 to hogs. 



THE TURNIP FLEA 



Is one of the greatest scourges to British hus- 

 bandry. The Farmers' Magazine contains a learn- 

 ed article upon this insect (Haltria rumorium), giving 

 us its natural history, and containing an examination 

 also of the various remedies which have been rec- 

 ommended to prevent its destructive ravages, em 

 bracing the applications of lime, sulphur, soot, urine, 

 fumigation, &c. Although these remedies, or some 

 of them, are admitted to have had partial success, 

 vet none of them, in the opinion of the writer, 

 Mathevv M. Milburn, can be depended upon with 

 any degree of certainty. He thinks Mr. Poppy's 

 plan of protecting the Swede valuable, which is to 

 drill between the rows the common turnip, which 

 the flea seems to prefer to the Swede, and when the 

 latter has acquired the rough leaf, to plough up the 



