18-4 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



will crowd each other, and work themselves into position, and 

 come out all right. It won't do, if you have two or three in 

 one place, to thin them out to one plant — you will get them too 

 thin on the average. You want to get the average right. 



Mr. Smith. Do you thin onions at all ? 



Mr. Ware. We sow them so that they will average ahout 

 right — about an inch. Onions have a faculty of riding each 

 other. I have seen a row of onions that made quite a pile ; of 

 course the centre onions would not be within four inches of the 

 ground. 



Mr. Perkins. What distance apart do you put your rows of 

 mangolds ? 



Mr. Ware. Twenty-two inches apart, and cultivate between 

 them with those truckle-hoes. I suppose it might be advisable 

 to have them far enough apart to go between with a horse-hoe 

 — three feet or a little more. In that case the roots would grow 

 somewhat larger. I am not certain but the crop would be as 

 good, but my practice has been to sow them twenty-two inches 

 apart, and work between them with the truckle-hoe, and thin 

 the plants at the second weeding. If you thin too soon, these 

 cut-worms are very apt to come up and take the ones you have 

 left ; but wait until they have got so strong that the cut-worm 

 will not trouble them, and then leave them about eight inches 

 apart. 



Mr. Perkins. What variety of mangold do you cultivate ? 



Mr. Ware. The orange globe mangold, and the red also. I 

 thought at one time that I should give the preference to the 

 orange globe, and I think it will make a better root and keep 

 better, but I am inclined to doubt whether the red will not make 

 a larger growth. The orange is a little more solid root, makes 

 a good growth, and keeps rather better. Therefore I am 

 inclined to favor that. 



Mr. Thompson, of Nantucket. I desire to say a word or two 

 in regard to these fertilizers. I began to raise roots this season, 

 and I wished to test the value of different manures and these 

 specific fertilizers. I took a piece of land that had not been 

 manured for some five or six years, — rather sandy land, with 

 clay underlying. I divided that into sections of eight paces 

 across the piece, and ploughed it, without any manure. Then 

 I took sheep manure and spread it on half of one of these 



