56o 



Bulletin 317 



spring plowing is likely to make the roots less smooth and has been known 

 to decrease the yield. Applications of lime have proved beneficial when 

 the soil is rather deficient in lime. Commercial fertilizers, applied broad- 

 cast and harrowed in before seeding, are likely to produce paying yields 

 if the proportions of available nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash in them 

 are adapted to the needs of the soil on which the crop is grown. If the 

 fertilizer can be mixed at home, a mixture of 150 pounds nitrate of soda, 

 300 pounds acid phosphate, and 50 pounds muriate of potash, appHed to 



Fig. 154. — The first cultivation should be with wheel hoes, working both sides of 



the row 



one acre while fitting the seed bed, should produce good results on most 

 soils. On muck or peaty soils, more potash and less nitrogen would be 

 better adapted. On very sandy soils a larger amount of potash should 

 be used. 



Available nitrogen is very important to the young mangel plants. 

 Should parts of a field appear to be backward in growth after the plants 

 are thinned, top-dressings of nitrate of soda at the rate of 100 pounds or 

 more an acre may be broadcasted once every ten days on such places, 

 when the leaves are dry, until the mangel foliage shows a nornial vigorous 

 growth. 



Planting. — Mangels may be planted fairly early in spring. The sur- 

 face of the mangel field should be smooth, as free from trash as possible, 



