144 



Bulletin 244. 



Fig. 54. — White Vienna kohlrabi. Well ivorlh 

 trial on good soil. Six-inch squares. 



mangel type. Although exact 

 evidence is lacking, it would 

 seem that at this time the man- 

 gel had not been in cultivation 

 more than 50 years, and prob- 

 ably less. It is not mentioned 

 by Miller in The Gardner's 

 Dictionary of 1752. It is evi- 

 dent that the mangel reached 

 America about the time it 

 reached England. Samuel 

 Deane, 1790, and John Spur- 

 rier, 1792, were enthusiastic 

 about the new plant ; they 

 grew roots weighing seven lb. 

 each and secured a yield of 

 I4^'2 tons per acre. In 1789 

 James Adam gave details in 

 regard to the crop, and in 

 1805, R. W. Dickson gave a 

 very good account of the 

 methods of culture. Several experiments were conducted by individuals, 

 but the crop was not generally grown. 



In 1797, Archard of Berlin announced the discovery that the sugar 

 of beets and mangels could be extracted, it having been shown by Mary- 

 grafif (or Maregraff) of Austria in 1747 that they contained crystallizable 

 sugar. The latter had stated that the root of the white beet was the 

 richest in sugar. The first sugar-beet factory was erected in Silesia tn 

 1805. Later, with the closing of the French ports to sugar from the 

 West Indies and the offer of bounties on home-made sugar, the develop- 

 ment of the culture of mangels for sugar-making was stimulated. But 

 the industry suft'ered many .vicissitudes before it became established. It 

 was soon found that mangels containing red coloring matter were han- 

 dled with more loss than white-fleshed ones, because in the removal of 

 the coloring matter, some sugar had to be sacrificed. Hence, white or 

 yellowish-white mangels were developed and from this time on the term 

 " white " when applied to mangels meant a very different plant from the 

 white beet of the garden. The name " white beet " continued to be used 

 for many years as a synonym for Chard. Vilmorin used mangels from 

 time to time in crossing and developing sugar-beets. 



The mangel was tried in ])arts of England, with many failures. It 

 had to compete with the turnip ; with the rutabaga, also a recent introduc- 



