1 68 FUNDAMENTALS OF AGRICULTURE. 



ordinarily idle. Mangels stand drought better than 

 the other root crops. 



A loose, deep, rich, well-drained soil is necessary 

 for the production of large yields. The seed bed 

 should be free from lumps as the young seedlings are 

 tender and weak and cannot well penetrate such soil. 

 It is generally advisable to plow very deeply in prepar- 

 ing the seed bed for this crop, as such practice tends to 

 encourage the root to grow under the surface and per- 

 mits of a deeper feeding area. 



Fertilizers. Most root crops are gross feeders and 

 require considerable plant food in available forms. 

 On soils deficient in organic matter, farm manure at 

 the rate of seven to ten tons per acre should be applied 

 in the fall and supplemented in the spring at planting 

 time with three hundred to five hundred pounds of a 

 fertilizer containing 8 to 10 per cent, of available phos- 

 phoric acid, 2.5 to 4.5 per cent, of nitrogen, and 4 to 6 

 per cent, of potash in the form of sulphate. The ni- 

 trogen should be supplied from nitrate of soda, and 

 some quickly available organic form as dried blood. 

 Green manures, such as some leguminous crop plowed 

 under, may be substituted for the farm manure, and in 

 such substitution the nitrogen content in the fertilizer 

 may be cut down somewhat. On rich soils, or those 

 containing plenty of organic matter, the fertilizer as 

 given above should be used at planting time. 



Seeding and Planting. From six to eight pounds of 

 seed per acre is recommended for mangels. The seed 

 should be planted in rows thirty to forty inches apart, 

 in May in the North and in September or early Octo- 

 ber in the far South. If narrower rows are used, it is 

 necessary to cultivate by hand labor, which increases 

 the expense of production. The plants should be 

 thinned to a distance of six to ten inches, depending on 

 the variety, as soon as possible. 



Cultivation. The mangel, as well as some of the 

 other root crops, germinates slowly, and for such crops 

 it is sometimes advisable to sow a small amount of 



