_Roots for raising Seed._ Of the Mangel Wurtzel I would select large and fair roots of a red colour, whose bodies have grown most above ground, and with a moderate, if not the smallest, quantity of leaves; for although _these_ are valuable for stripping, the _roots_ are much more valuable; and I am inclined to think those with small tops are least liable to rot. Of Carrots, large and fair roots of the deepest yellow colour, and with the smallest tops in proportion to the size of the roots, are to be preferred. With regard to the Ruta Baga, Mr. Cobbett says, it is apt to _degenerate_, if the seed be not saved with care. "We in England (said he) examine well to find out those that run least into _neck_ and _green_. We reject all such as approach at all towards a _whitish_ colour, or which are even of a _greenish_ colour _towards the neck_, which _there_ ought to be a little of a _reddish cast_." Varieties of plants of the _same kind_ (the different sorts of cabbages, for instance, or of Indian corn) if growing near together and bearing seed, will impart to one another their respective peculiarities, and injuriously, whenever it is desired to preserve their distinct qualities unmixed, and to prevent an inferiour engendering with one of a superiour quality; the impregnating dust of the flowers of plants falling on the flowers of other plants of the same kind, producing effects similar to the crossing of animals of the same kind but of different breeds. In a word, the _sexual_ system exists in plants as well as among animals; only in plants the male and female are generally united in the same plant; as in Indian corn, the male impregnating dust (the farina) is in the tassel or flower, at the top: the ear is the female, and from every cell of the future grain proceeds a thread, which together constitute what is called the silk, on which the farina falling causes the cells to fill, and become, when ripe, kernels of corn. In most fruits, as the apple and pear, the male and female are in the same flower. But in hemp, some of the plants are exclusively male, and others exclusively female. The Ruta Baga, therefore, when set out for bearing seed, should be placed at a distance from every other seed plant of the Turnip or Cabbage kind. So likewise the Mangel Wurtzel intended to bear seed, should not be set near any other seed beet plants. It may not be amiss to add, that for the same reasons, pumpkins, squashes, melons, cucumbers, in all their varieties, in order to preserve them in purity, should be planted at some distance from each other. Pumpkins, as food for domestic animals, seem closely connected with the roots before-mentioned. Every farmer knows their value for milk cows, for fattening cattle, and for swine. Their consumption conveniently precedes that of the Mangel Wurtzel.