Chap II. RUTA BAGA CULTURE. 87 



eighteen inches apart ; and, if the ground be at all 

 foul, he is obliged to go in again in about a month 

 afterwards, to hoe the ground again. This is all 

 that is done ; and a very poor all it is, as the crops, 

 ©n the very best ground, compared with the ridged 

 crops, invariably show. 



Transplanting. 



.^ 65. This is a third mode of cultivating the Ruta 

 " Baga ; and, in certain cases, far preferable to ei- 

 ther of the two others. My large crops at Botlej 

 were from roots transplanted. I resorted to this 

 mode in order to insure a crop in spite of the Fly ; 

 but, I am of opinion, that it is, in all cases, the best 

 mode, provided hands can be obtained in sufficient 

 number, just for a few days, or weeks, as the quan- 

 tity may be, when the land and the plants are 

 ready. 



^^. Much light is thrown on matters of this 

 sort by describing what one has done one's-self re- 

 lating to them. This is -practice at once; or, at 

 least, it comes much nearer to it than any instruc- 

 tions possibly can. 



67. It Was accident that led me to the practice. 

 In the summer, of 1812, I had a piece of Ruta Ba- 

 ga in the middle of a held, or, rather, the piece 

 occupied a part of the held, having a crop of car- 

 rots on the one side and a crop of mangle wurtzle 

 on the other side. On the 20th of July the Tur- 

 nips, or rather those of them which had escaped 

 the Fly, began to grow pretty well. They had 

 been sown in drills ; and I was anxious to hll up 

 the spaces, which had been occasioned by the ra- 

 vages of the Fly. I, therefore, took the supernu- 

 merary plants, which I found in the unattacjced 



