EDINBURGH MAGAZINE, OR, LITERARY MISCELLANY, FOR SEPTEMBER 1798; With a View of PEASE BRIDGE, in Berwickshire. THE EDINBURGH MAGAZINE, OR LITERARY MISCELLANY, FOR SEPTEMBER 1798. SIR, CONC TO THE EDITOR OF THE EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. ONCEIVING it a duty incumING bent on every person, who thinks that he knows any thing which would benefit the public, were it communicated, I have fent you the following obfervations refpecting the cultivation of the Ruta Baga, or Swedish turnip, which is not generally known, the publication of which will oblige yours, &c. G. W. Barnton, 3 September, 1798. Thefe objections fuggefted the idea of fowing them in every respect as is commonly done with the field turnip, only a few days earlier; the refult for years has uniformly demonftrated the utility of this method. We always fow them about the first of June, on drills 27 inches apart, and allow them ultimately 10 inches afunder in the drills. We have often feen crops that might be faid to be entirely loft, upon fields admirably adapted to the growth of turnip, for no other reafon than too thin fowing. This ap pears to be not only a great, but also a general error. It has been often faid, that one pound of feed is fuffi cient to fow an acre; but after repeated trials, and the fairest experiments, I have uniformly found, that three times this quantity is little enough. There cannot be a doubt, that if all the feeds contained in one pound were to grow, there would be great abundance; but they are liable to fail from fo many causes, that fo fmall a quantity can never be de pended on; befides, the value per lib. is fuch a trifle, that feems abfurd in the highest degree, to be sparing of it, when it can be the mean of securing fuch a valuable crop. X 2 Ruta Baga is a moft valuable vegetable, notwithstanding all that has been faid and written to the contrary. Hitherto the failure of this crop may be ascribed to the mode in which it has been attempted to be cultivated; having been, for the moft part, fown on a fmall plot of ground, and afterwards tranfplanted like cabbages. The abfurdity of this method is extremely obvious, as the time of removing the plants fails to be about the latter end of June, when there is commonly a fevere drought; they are long in taking root, and from the check they receive they feldom recover throughout the whole fummer. This is befides an expenfive mode of proceed ing, and it is frequently altogether impracticable from scarcity of hands. It |