THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



53c 



heard of it from Arthur Young, commenting, in his 

 "Annals" of 1787, upon tlio novelty. The Abbe do 

 Commorel's pamphlet, recommending the root, had 

 made a considerable noise in France, and he asked a 

 high price for the new seed. As potatoes were at first 

 grown for their apples, so the mangold was to yield six 

 or eight crops of leaves for feeding stock during the 

 summer, and the roots (attaining a weight of 5 lb. each) 

 then used for fattening in the winter; and yoiimj 

 plants were all transplaiited like cabbages. But 

 Young affirmed that no satisfactory experiment on the 

 application of the roots in cattle feeding had then been 

 made in France. 



Dr. Lettsom introduced the '^ root of scarcity" into 

 this country, and various experiments were made with 

 it. In 1787, a Berkshire farmer grew half an acre, 

 plucking leaves by hand daily from the end of June to 

 the middle of September. Another gentleman grew 

 them beside turnips, and found the latter best, both for 

 luxuriance of leaf and bulk of root. He boiled some 

 of the leaves for his table, finding them ''no way in- 

 ferior to spinach ; but coming in at a time when peas, 

 beans, cabbages, potatoes, tui'nips, carrots, &c., supe- 

 rior to them, are so abundant, they are of little value, 

 unless the roots will abide the open air through the 

 winter, and give leaves in early spring." The roots 

 not being palatable for his own eating, he con- 

 cluded that the new root was of little value; and 

 for cattle he considered mown clover or tares ten- 

 fold better than the mangold leaves ; while the roots 

 could not compete with potatoes, turnips, or carrots. 

 In 1 788, a Norfolk agriculturist took up a root weigh- 

 ing 21 lbs., which Young said was much the largest 

 root he had heard of being raised either in France or 

 England ; and the grower records that " it had not 

 been transplanted ; the transplanted ones weighed only 

 10 or 12 lb." The next year, a garden plot of man- 

 golds, in Somersetshire, yielded at the rate of 50 tons 

 of roots and 23 tons of leaf per acre. Sir Mordaunt 

 Martin persevered with the new root in Norfolk, and 

 in ten years' time we find him using the roots for pig- 

 feeding, when saved over a winter and up to the next 

 harvest. It was in 1799 that the discovery of " sugar 

 from beetroot" was originated in Prussia — a manufac- 

 ture now so extensively practised on the Continent. 



But in Parkinson's " Experienced Farmer," pub- 

 lished in 1798, this root is not even mentioned. Neither 

 is there any allusion to it in Lawrence's " Modern 

 Land Steward," of 1806. Young's "Farmer's Ca- 

 lendar" (8th edition, of 1809) has the following — 

 " Mangel wurzel is dibbed in this month (March), 

 along the tops of ridges two or three feet wide, and 

 which have been previously manured and reversed to 

 cover the dung. It is very little cultivated at present; 

 but Sir Mordaunt Martin, of Norfolk, adhering to the 

 cultivation, and finding the root very advantageous for 

 his cows, it is right to name it in a work of this na- 

 ture." Very slight notice this, in a volume which de- 



votes space to descriptions and management of woad, 

 weld, madder, liquorice, lavender, chamomile, Siberian 

 melilot, Coronilla varia. Astragalus glycyphyllus, and 

 Bumas orientale. Modern cyclopaedias attach afar dif- 

 ferent value to the indispensable beet. However, wo find 

 that Loudon had not advanced further in his acquaint- 

 ance with it than is indicated in the following, from his 

 Encyclopaedia, 3rd edition, 1835 — " The cultui'cof the 

 field beet in Britain is very recent, and it may be ques- 

 tioned whether it has any advantage over the turnip 

 for general agricultural purposes. The produce is, 

 cceteris paribus, the same as that of the Swedish tur- 

 nip. The application of the field beet is almost con- 

 fined to the fattening of stock and feeding of milch 

 cows. Near London they are in repute for the latter 

 purpose. The roots are very liable to injury by frost, 

 and are stored with difficulty. No plant is less liable 

 to disease." 



We flatter ourselves that we know better than to 

 confine our mangolds to the fattening cattle and milch 

 cows. Our breeding ewes almost live upon them dur- 

 ing the lambing season ; our young sheep will have a 

 share ; the farm horses will crump them up with great 

 relish ; and next summer the pigs will munch the well- 

 keeping residue before the harvest "shack" is ready. 



A COUNTRY HOME. 



Oh ! give me a home in the country wide. 

 And a seat by the farmer's wood fireside. 



Where the fire burns br'ght. 



On a frosty night, 

 Where the jest, the song, and the laugh are free, 

 Oh ! the farmer's home is the home for me. 



Oh ! give me a home in the country wide. 

 When the earth comes out as a blushing bride, 



With her buds and flowers. 



In the bright spring hours, 

 Her hridftl song ringing from fresh-leaved trees, 

 And melody floats on the perfumed breeze^ 



In summer a seat in a shady nook. 

 And close by the side of a purling brook, 



Where the violet grows. 



Or the pale swamp rose, 

 Fainting, sick 'neath the sun's scorching beam, 

 Dips her pale petals in the cooling stream. 



Oh ! give me a home in the country wide. 

 In the golden days of a farmer's pride, 



When his barns are filleJ, 



From the fields he's tilled. 

 And he feels that his yearly task is done. 

 And smiling at Winter, he beckons him on. 



TO MEASURE GRAIN IN BINS.— Multiply the 

 length and width together, and that product by the height 

 in cubic inches, and divide by 2,150, and you have the 

 number of bushels. 



