406 Cultivation of Mangold-wurtzel or Beet. 



effectual second hoeing. When, towards the end of June, the 

 leaves are too large to admit the horse~hoe, I generally give a 

 third hoeing at 3^. per acre, which leaves the field sufficiently 

 clean. If tliere are any material vacancies in the rows I fill them 

 up late in May with turnips, which are sufficiently forward to 

 be got up early in October at the same time as the beet. Let 

 notliing induce the grower to strip the leaves from the plant 

 before taking up the root ; a series of careful experiments has 

 convinced me that by so doing we borrow food at a most usurious 

 interest. As soon as may be after October the 4th, I get the 

 beet up, cutting off the leaves, but leaving the neck so that it 

 may put out young leaves. If the neck is entirely cut off the 

 root is apt to decay. The strong roots are cut off and the dirt 

 removed without cutting the outer skin much. A pit is prepared 

 by removing the soil 18 inches deep and 9 feet wide ; the roots 

 are piled about 6 feet high in the centre, and covered down with 

 stubble and mould about 10 inches thick, leaving apertures every 

 20 feet at the top of the pit for the escape of the heat, which, to 

 a slight degree, is always generated in the pits. These apertures 

 should be covered with mould when the severe frosts set in. 

 The only insect whose attacks upon the young plant are to be 

 dreaded is the slug. It feeds upon the seed-leaves at an early 

 age, and, if permitted to go on unmolested, will make serious 

 inroads, but it is easily detected by the appearance of the plant, 

 one seed-leaf being frequently taken and the other left. The 

 slug is at once destroyed and the crop benefited by sowing at 

 early dawn, after a still dewy night, a mixture of 1 cwt. of 

 guano and 2 cwt. of salt to the acre. 



As to the kind of beet to be sown, my experience leads to the 

 conclusion, that, upon very good land in a fine warm summer, a 

 larger crop may be obtained from the long red than from the 

 orange globe, but the latter is the hardier plant ; in cold springs 

 it germinates more freely, and I have now adopted it exclusively 

 for my main crop. 



My experience of the value of this root has been so long and 

 so uniform that I have no hesitation in calling upon my brother 

 farmers, who are similarly situated as to their climate and their 

 soil, to participate in its advantages. 



Ruddington Grange, near Nottingham. 



