THE FARMER 



the first thing to he attended to is the removal of 

 the infected beasts to some suitable place far from 

 the other cattle, where they can be watched and 

 receive medical aid, without endangering the 

 healthy animals ; and these too should be carefully 

 inspected daily. Finally, he would impress upon 

 his hearers the strong necessity for judicious feed- 

 ing, proper drainage, ventilation, and cleanliness 



S MAGAZINE. 



321 



generally, as rendering cattle impregnable, to some 

 extent, against-infectious diseases. A striliing 

 proof of this was exhibited in the well-known fact 

 that the high-bred cattle generally of England had 

 been comparatively exemj)t from pleuro-pneu- 

 monia; the obvious reason being that more atten- 

 tion was paid to their health and general comfort 

 than was paid to ordinary cattle. 



THE LONDON, OR CENTRAL FARMERS' CLUB. 



THE CULTIVATION, STORING, AND USES OF MANGEL WUKZEL. 



The usual mouthly meetiug of the Club was held on Mon- 

 day evening, March 1st, at the Club-house, Blackfriars. 



In the unavoidable absence of Mr. Owen, the Chairman for 

 the year, Mr. Henry Trethewy, of Silsoe, Beds., took the chair, 

 supported by Messrs. Owen Wallis, William Bennett, T. E. 

 Pawlett, L. A. Coussmaker, J. Tyler, James Thomas, W. 

 Gray, S. Skelton, W. Shaw (Coton), J. Wood (Sussex), J. 

 Wood (Croydon), J. Cressingham, H. Gibbons, G. S. Harri- 

 80u, Ibbott Mason, J. A. Clarke, J. Ekin, Hammon'1, W. 

 Eve, R. Peacey, W, Banwell, C. J. Brickwell, W, P. Lamb, E 

 Purser, G. Wilsher, J. A. Williams, J. Miles (Wexcorabe), 

 T. Stagg, T. Chandler, J. B. Spearing, S. W, Squier, J. 

 Odams, &c., &c. 



The subject fixed for discussion, at the instance of Mr. 

 R. Baker, of Writtle, was stated in the following terms : — 

 '' The cultivation and storing of mangel wurzel, and the 

 best modes of using it for feeding and other purposes." 

 Mr. Baker brought with him from his farm a number of speci- 

 mens of the root in question, that he referred to, several 

 times in the course of bis introduction, and which were gene- 

 rally admired for their development and freedom from preva- 

 lent defects. 



The Chairman, in opening the proceedings, remarked on 

 the importance of the cultivation of mangel wurzel, and ob- 

 served that the feeling of the committee on the subject was 

 shown by the fact that roots were set down for discussion, in 

 one form or other, no less than three times during the present 

 year. 



Mr. Baker said : Of all our root crops the most important 

 is mangold wurtzel, of which we may say, as its name im- 

 ports, that it is " the root of scarcity ;" in other words, it is 

 the root to be depended upon during a scarcity of other food, 

 and, wiih the exception of the Swedish turnip, there is un- 

 doubtedly no other description of root either so serviceable or 

 productive, whilst in many particulars it is far superior even 

 to that. In combination with the awed(>, in feeding, it fills a 

 place which that root has failed to supply, and it is especially 

 adapted for feeding late in the spring, after the turnip has lost 

 most of its nutritious qualities. It is also more certain to plant 

 well. It is less liable to injury from excess of drought or 

 moisture. It cm be stored during the autumn with less 

 injury to the land than follows the removal of a turnip 

 crop during the winter months, and under the improved 

 system of management can be applied to the feeding of 

 neat stock and sheep throughout the whole of the year. 

 Independent of these numerous advantages, it is also more 

 productive than any other description of root ; it can be grown 

 with advantage upon almost every description of soil, espe- 

 cially strong loam or clay — totally unfit for turnip cultiva- 

 tion — and during the winter, when severe frost prevails and 

 turnips become almost useless, it can be used with equal ad- 



vantage as at other seasons, provided due care is taken in 

 storing to keep it from the action of the frost, from which, 

 like the potato, it is liable to become injured, and even 

 rendered useless, ahould it happen to become entirely frozen 

 Within the last five years both the Swedish and common tur- 

 nips have deteriorated to such an extent as to have become 

 (upon soils on which they had been repeatedly grown for 

 several years in the ordinary rotation) almost useless. In 

 addition to the disease called " fingers and toes," which has of 

 late been very prevalent, another disease has appeared, in a 

 certain degree similar in its effects to that which has proved so 

 destructive to the potato, and which in the present season es- 

 pecially has rendered the turnip-crop almost worthless through- 

 out the kingdom. At the same time, however, mangold- 

 wurtzel has produced a crop unprecedented for weight and 

 quality; nor does it deteriorate like the turnip, by being 

 grown upon the same soil for many years successively, as in- 

 stances can be adduced where it has been grown on the same 

 land for many years together, without in any way becoming 

 depreciated in quality or quantity, but has rather improved 

 year by year the longer it has been grown (Hear, hear). The 

 application of guano and superphosphate of lime to the turnip- 

 crop is equally effective for mangold-wurtzel, and affords the 

 cultivators of strong clay soils an opportunity of growing it at 

 a reduction of expense previously unknown, and with an ad- 

 vantage that can scarcely be sufficiently estimated. It is, how- 

 ever, best adapted for, and is most genetally grown upon, ten- 

 der and strong loamy soils, as the difficulty which sometimes 

 arises in wet seasons of carting the roots from the field ren- 

 ders the removing them from strong tenacious clays a hazardous 

 process at all times, and in some seasons impossible to be ef- 

 fected unless by employing men to carry them to the sides or 

 the fields in baskets, which cannot be accomplished at a less 

 expense than from 203. to 253. per acre. This valuable root 

 has been grown successfully in Essex within my knowledge 

 upwards of 40 years. The long red variety was at first the 

 only one cultivated ; the globe varieties of both red and orange 

 were subsequently introduced, and at a later period the long 

 orange. Little improvement has taken place by cultivation in 

 the long red variety ; indeed, I consider that it was as good, if 

 not better, 30 years ago, than at the present period. Great 

 care, however, was then taken to select it for seed whilst 

 growing, and ultimately to change it from a heavy to a 

 light soil, as it has always a tendency to become too fine 

 and slender in the form of the root if grown successively upon 

 light soils, too thick and short upon heavy soils, and in a few 

 years, unless properly changed, it would degenerate alike in 

 the form, character, and colour of the roots, upon which the 

 quality and productiveness of the crop greatly depend. The 

 crown of the root should not rise in any material degree from 

 the base. The foot-stalks of the leaves should partake of the 



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