THE TUKNIP CROP. 327 



drill. This mode of culture enables growers to sell at 

 a much lower price, and seedsmen, of course, encourage 

 this system, as their profits are larger, the demand being 

 great. * * * There is male and female in the 

 vegetable as well as in the animal creation; in the for- 

 mer the pollen of the male flower is wafted over the field 

 by the wind of summer, the female flower being open to 

 receive it ; hence, impregnation is carried on, and both man 

 and beast reap the benefit of the fruit of the earth. No 

 doubt all our plants or fine flowers are merely weeds in 

 their native land. It is by cultivation we have brought 

 everything to the perfection they have come to. This is 

 like the manufacturer by art. But we have a twofold duty 

 to perform, we have also nature to study. So long as we 

 consider this, high cultivation brings the plant to the greater 

 perfection. But try it contrary to that law of nature, and 

 disease will creep in. Stop cultivation, and, provided the 

 plant be a native of our soil, she will soon get into the or- 

 iginal, a common weed. It is by cultivation that the com- 

 mon gowan of our pasture fields has been brought to be the 

 daisy of our gardens. Stop cultivation for a few years, and 

 the daisy will turn to what it was again. The art of man 

 has gone a great length. By hybridizing he has succeeded 

 in many things. He may infringe on the law of nature 

 for once, but try it again, and all his ingenuity won't do. 

 He may get a mule for once, but try that cross again ; he 

 is put a stop to. The great law of nature says, Hitherto 

 may thou go and no further. Now, such is the case with 

 our turnip. Try to cultivate roots with seed saved from 

 plants which have never .. been brought to maturity year 

 after year, and I will bet any odds he does not succeed. 

 Some say saving from fully matured bulbs is all nonsense ; 

 others, less prejudiced, begin to see it, and are now culti- 

 vating in the right way, but like the potato it may be too 

 late the seeds of disease are already engendered, and are 

 now hard to eradicate. No doubt the disease in turnip 

 termed finger- and -toe is from the larvae of some insect hav- 



