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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



for two months, ploughed it up to a fair depth, and left it 

 until the spring. April was in his opinion the best time for 

 sowing. He set two ploughs to ridge it up, and dibbled 

 the seed in, employing four men for that purpose. Each 

 man carried a little hag of seed hanging from his neck, and 

 dropped in the seed as he went along. He made a compost 

 of turf ashes, malt dust, and pigeon manure, with three 

 hundred of superphosphate of lime per acre. This he 

 mixed up and left to lie a little while before he required 

 to use it, and carried it to the land in carts, and afterwards 

 along the ridges in wheelbarrows, putting a handful of the 

 compost over the seed, that being the covering it had. 

 He should also state that upon depositing the seed, he 

 applied a light roller. Since he had tried this system 

 his crop had never failed, but was always a very good one, 

 although it had failed under every other system. With regard 

 to the transplanting of mangel wurzel, they all knew that if 

 they did not get a full plant it might be desirable to trans- 

 plant. His own practice was to get a strong force of men and 

 boys, and on the first wet day send them out to transplant his 

 mangold ; but let it be observed that if the operation was per- 

 formed iu the same manner as they treated the cabbage, they 

 would get no plant. He put in the little fibres straight, and 

 pressed them down lightly with the soil ; for the lighter they 

 were pressed the better. During the present year, he had been 

 particularly successful. He had transplanted more than at any 

 former period, aud finer crops he had never grown. The disco- 

 very of this fact he had made quite by accident, and he was sure 

 it was worthy the consideration of the farmer. With respect to 

 horse-hoeing, they all knew the advantage of keeping the land 

 well and thoroughly cleaned (Hear, hear). When he took up 

 the roots for storing he set two men with common bean hooka 

 to cut the tops off, and he did not think that out of 10 acres 

 of mangold wurtzel last year he had a single decayed root. 

 This at all events showed that cutting off the tops was not in- 

 jurious. Then, as to storinsr, he set four men to fill the' carts. 

 Boys were employed to drive the carts away, and it took 

 two men to put the roots in heaps. He thatched as rapidly 

 as the heaps were formed, leaving plenty of ventilation. 

 With reference to the value of the root, he thought it was 

 becoming more important every year. Certamly its feed- 

 ing qualities were unsurpassed by those of any other. He 

 once showed in Baker-street a Hereford ox, the only root he 

 had being mangold wurtzel, being the winner of the first 

 prize in class 2. Some remarks had been made about the 

 difficulty of growing mangold wurtzel on stiff soils. He 

 himself on one occasion tried the cultivation of it on as 

 stiff a soil as any in England ; and he should pity any man 

 who was obliged to produce mangold upon that sort of soil. 

 The system which he adopted was to cultivate in the autumn, 

 manure, ridge up, and then leave it. By adopting that plail 

 very good crops might be grown on such soils, and it was prac- 

 tised very extensively with great success on the cold clay 

 lands of Huntingdonshire. 



Mr. W. Bennett: Do you prefer large plants for trans- 

 planting? 



Mr. Gray : Not very large. 



Mr. Bennett : As large as a cabbage plant ? 



Mr. Gray : No. 



Mr. Thomas wished to say one word with regard to feeding 

 ewes off mangold wurtzel. For more than 25 years he had in- 

 variably done it, and during the last month previous to yeaning, 

 had always found it to be most beneficial. After trying the 

 system for many years, he made a memorandum of the result 



of his practice to this effect — that there was no kind of food 

 so suitable for ewes during the last four or five weeks before 

 parturition as mangold wurtzel (Hear, hear). He could as- 

 sure every gentleman who grew mangold wurtzel, and pos- 

 sessed a flock of ewes heavy with lamb, that he had never 

 found the least injurious results from the practice, but, on the 

 contrary, very great advantage in the production of fat and 

 milk at the same time. 



Mr. Gray said that on one occasion, when he was not so 

 well acquainted with its feeding properties as he was now, he 

 had a considerable quantity of mangold down in the month of 

 July, and felt some difficulty in deciding how he should dis- 

 pose of it. At last he fetched in ten bullocks from the field, 

 and gave thetn the mangold, with a proportionate quantity of 

 hay, and the result was that he had never seen beasts do better 

 (Hear, hear). 



Mr. CousSMAKER (Westwood, Farnham) said, as regarded 

 the cultivation of mangold wurtzel, he concurred in the opinion 

 of Mr. Gray, that it was desirable to plough deep once in the 

 autumn, and then leave it. Winter produced a tilth which no 

 power on earth could produce in the spring. The more they 

 stirred the soil in the spring, the more they let the drought 

 into if. If it were left alone, the soil retained a certain 

 amount of moisture, and the seed vegetated quicker. With 

 regard to the stacking of the crop, he agreed with what fell 

 from Mr. Baker. He had used this root a good deal for 

 fattening beasts, and as food for milch cows. He had found 

 the orange globes produce the best kind of milk. He had 

 likewise found mangold wurtzel a most valuable food for store 

 pigs ; and, though he had never used it himself for that 

 purpose, he had heard that it was not at all a bad kind of food 

 for horses when mixed with a certain proportion of hay and 

 corn. The long orange was, he believed, a very superior root. 

 Some years ago, a gentleman took a farm near his own for the 

 express purpose of making beet-root sugar ; and the sort of 

 root which he chose for that purpose was the long orange. 

 As it appeared that there was an Act of Parliament under 

 which he might be compelled to pay duty on his sugar, he 

 dropped the scheme; but he was of opinion that he might 

 otherwise have cultivated the long orange with great advan- 

 tage for the manufacture of sugar. 



Mr, J. A. Williams (Baydon, Uungeiford), said, occupy- 

 ing as he did some of that stiff land which had been spoken 

 of, he had not yet been able to cultivate mangel wurzel to 

 advantage ; but he thought the cause was, that he had not 

 adopted the right method. He was more than ever convinced 

 of the utility of that Club, for he was satisfied, from the argu- 

 ments of Mr. Grey and Mr. Coussmaker, that to be successful 

 on very strong clays the cultivation must take place in the 

 autumn. lie happened to have a good description of down 

 land, and having been told by practical men that such laud 

 would grow mangel wurzel, he should be glad if any one 

 present could tell him from experience whether or not such 

 was the case. Mr. Baker had spoken of the practicability of 

 distilling from mangel wurzel. He (Mr. Williams) thought 

 that with the prospect of having wheat at 403. a quarter that 

 was a matter which was well worthy of consideration ; but 

 Mr. Baker had raised an obstacle which, if it really existed, 

 would prevent such a desirable object from being attained, viz., 

 that the landlords would not permit, and the tenants would 

 not like, the cartage of a large bulk of roots off the farm, as it 

 would be too much to draw the bulbs away, and the residue 

 back again for feeding purposes. Now he was pleased to tell 

 them that that obstacle was removed. They had all seen or 

 heard of the invention of Boydell'a steam-horse, manufactured 



