47 



^iTiips while ia t\ie ^eed leaf, are injured (in England whole 

 fields are often destroyed) by a small black fly : aod the RutA 

 Baga (like cabbages) when far advanced in growth, is sometimes 

 infested, and in dry seasons half mined, by plant-lice ; as was 

 my soiall crop in 1818, 



The Mangel Wurtzcl also possesses one peculiar advantage 

 above all other root crops, that as soon as the lops, or leaves, 

 are full grown, they may be stiipped off (leaving only the small 

 heart-leave* uninjured) and given to cattle and swine. This 

 stripping may be repeated once or twice : and it is said that tbe 

 roots thrive better for the stripping. If not stripped off, many 

 o{ the under leaves perish. — The leaves are pronounced excel- 

 lent for increasing the richness and quantity of milk in cows ; 

 and so are calculated to supply the deficiency of herbage in the 

 common pastures, which generally fail, more or less, by the be- 

 ginning of August. An acre twice stripped will yield several 

 tons of leaves. 



The Ruta Baga. This root may be cultivated in the manner 

 just described for the Mangel Wurtzel ; the ground being pre- 

 pared in the same manner. In England, they appear to he most 

 commonly grown in rows twenty-seven inches apart, with the 

 plants at a foot distance in the rows. But William Cobbett, who 

 in a small book, published in New-York, has minutely described 

 tiis own practice, both in England and America, asserts, that the 

 largest crops are attainable by growing the Ruta Baga in rowfi 

 four feet apart, with the plants about ten inches or a foot distant 

 from each other in the rows: and that in this mode of culture 

 he has raised, in England, thirty tons to the acre. 



For this mode of culture, the manure, l»eing deposited in fur- 

 rows four feet apart, is covered by four back furrows, two on 

 one side anj^ two on the other, of each line of manure ; by 

 which little ridges are formed : and if the ploughing be deep 

 (as it ought to be) there will be .a deep gutter between every 

 two ridges. — The tops of the ridges being made fine with a 

 light harrow, or with rakes, the seeds are sown with a drilling 

 machine ; or by hand, which Mr. Cobbett says he prefers to a 

 drill. Two men sowed for him seven acres in three days, us- 

 ing about four pounces of seed, in tUi? manner : a maia went 



