THE farmer’s manual. 
5b 
the time of sowing your turnips ; provided also, that 
you soak your seed in train oil, (a sure preventative 
against the fly,) and mix it with plaster, so as to ren- 
der your casts free: provided also, that you sow but 
half a pound of clean seed to the acre. 
Since writing the above, I have seen a treatise writ- 
ten by Wm. Cohbet upon the culture, uses, &c. of the 
Rula Baga, published in Nexv-York, in the year 1818. 
As Mr. Cobbet has taken the lead in America, in 
the culture of this most valuable root, and as his mode 
of culture, together with his remarks on its uses, ex- 
ceed any that I have seen; 1 shall give a general 
summary of his treatise by way of extracts from its 
most essential parts. 
Description of the Plant. 
“ The leaf of every other sort of turnip is of a yel- 
loioish green ; but the leaf of the Rula Baga is of a 
bliteish green, like the green of peas when of their 
full size, or like the green of a young and thrifty 
Yorkshire Cabbage; hence it is called the Cabbage- 
Turnip. The characteristics that most decidedly dis- 
tinguish this root are these : the outside of the bulb 
of the Ruta Baga is of a greenish hue, mixed to- 
wards the top with a colour bordering upon the red ; 
and the inside, if they are true and pure, is of a deep 
yellotu, nearly the colour of gold.” 
Mode of saving and preserving the Seed. 
“ The Ruta Baga is apt to degenerate, if the seed is 
not saved with care. In England, we select the fair- 
est roots, and of the best form, for seed, rejecting all 
such as are of a whitish colour, or greenish towards 
the neck, preferring such as are of a reddish cast. 
These, when selected, should be carefully preserved 
over the winter, and set in the montli of March or 
April in a rich soil, remote from any roots of the Tur- 
