11 



iTiildews. Of this I am fully satisfied, as well from numeroafc 

 statements of facts which I have seen in books of husbandr)', as 

 from the circumstances under which remarkable mildews have 

 otherwise been noticed. One of our countrymen, who wrote 

 a short essay on the subject prior to the American Revo- 

 lution, has given the only solution of the causes of mildews that 

 has ever appeared satisfactory to me : perhaps at some future 

 lime I may find leisure to show the correspondence of facts 

 with his principles.* 



IL ON ROOT CROPS. 



Premiums having been proposed to encourage the raising of 

 Carrots, Ruta Baga and Mangel Wurtzel ; and as these articles, 

 cultivated extensively, are of vast importance to farmers ; I can 

 perhaps in no way better promote the views of the Society, in 

 their vote before mentioned, than by describing the methods of 

 cultivating those roots, which elsewhere have been practised 

 with great success, but to which, and indeed to the roots them- 

 selves (carrots excepted) most of our husbandmen are stran- 

 gers. 



The introduction of Clover, and subsequently carrying the 

 culture of the Common Turnip extensively into the field, mar- 

 ked distinguished eras in the improvements of English Husband- 

 ry. At a later period. Carrots were cultivated by some farmers ; 

 and within a few years past, the Mangel Wurtzel and the Ruta 

 Baga have become objects of general cultivation. And now 

 these five articles constitute essential branches o[ the highly 

 improved Husbandry of Great Britain. 



Common Turnips. These for a long time were raised (and 

 perhaps this practice is still very general) by sowing the seeds 

 broad-cast, and weeding and thinning them with hoes, till the 

 plants stood at from a foot to fifteen inches apart. But the 

 most correct practice appears to be that of drilHng the seeds in 

 rows, thinning them to the distance of ten or twelve inches in 

 the rows, and hoeing and keeping them clear from weeds. 



*This essay, subscribed "A New-England-Man," is published in the 

 second volume of the Mrmoirs of the Philadelphia Society q( Ag:riciil1ure. 



