798 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



three or four pieces, and a little hay supplied in the intervals of those periods. And, 

 when given to milch-cows with a little hay in the winter season, the butter is found to be 

 of as fine a color and as excellent a flavor as when feeding in the best pastures. Indeed, 

 the result of experiment has shewn, that not only in neat cattle, but in the fattening of 

 hogs and poultry, the animals become fat much sooner, and are more bulky, than 

 when fed with any other root or vegetable. And that, besides, the meat is more sweet 

 and delicate. 



4959. Parsnep leaves being more bulky than those of carrots may be mown off before 

 taking up the roots, and given to cows, oxen, or horses, by whom they will be greedily 

 eaten. 



4960. The use of the parsnep in domestic economy is nearly the same as that of the 

 carrot. They are much esteemed to salt fish, and are sometimes roasted for that purpose. 

 Their produce in nutritive matter is 99 parts in 1000, of which 9 are mucilage, and 90 

 sugar. Gerarde says, that a very good bread was made from them in his time. They 

 afford as much spirit as the carrot, and make an excellent wine. 



4961. To save parsnep seedy proceed as with the carrot. The parsnep being more 

 hardy and luxuriant than the carrot, is less liable to the mildew and worms, but equally 

 so to become forked if the soil be not deep and well pulverized, and the manure minute- 

 ly divided and equally distributed. 



Sect. V. The Field- Beet. Beta, L. Pentan. Dig. L. and ChenopodecB, J. Betterave, Fr. ; 

 Mangold-iviirzel, Ger. ; and Biettola, Ital. 



4962. Thejield-beet, commonly called the mangold-wiirzel, and sometimes erroneously 

 the root of scarcity in German mangel wurzel), is supposed by Professor Thaer to be a 

 mongrel between the red and white beet. It has a much larger bulb than either, and 

 that bulb, in some varieties, grows in great part above ground. It has been a good deal 

 cultivated in Germany and Switzerland, both for its leaves and roots ; the leaves are 

 either used as spinach or given to cattle ; and the roots are either given to cattle, used in 

 distillation, or for extracting sugar. The culture of the field-beet in Britain is very 

 recent, and it may be questioned whether it has any advantages over the turnip for gene- 

 ral agricultural purposes. It admits, however, of being cultivated on ridgelets and with as 

 little manual labor as the turnip, while it will prosper on a stronger soil, and near large 

 towns it is not liable to the depredations usually committed on turnips or carrots, as the 

 root is unpalatable either raw or boiled. 



495.S. The variety preferred in Germany is one slightly tinged with red for cattle, and 

 the pale-yellow variety for the distillery and sugar manufacture. The seed must not 

 exceed a year old, and great care should be taken that the seed of the common red and 

 white beet are not mixed with it. The seed of every variety of beet is very apt to dege- 

 nerate. 



4964. Any soil w'ill suit this plant provided it be rich ; immense crops have been 

 raised on strong clays; but such soils are not easily prepared for this sort of crop, and 

 are also ill adapted for after-culture. The preparation should be exactly the same as for 

 turnips ; and the seed should be sown on the ridgelets in the same manner. Some, 

 however, dibble in the seed in order to save the expense of thinning. The season of 

 sowing is the same as for the parsnep, and should not be deferred later than the middle of 

 April. The after-culture consists in horse-hoeing, hand-hoeing, and weeding, as in the 

 culture of the turnip, and the plants are thinned out to about me same distance in the 

 rows. Blanks may be filled up by transplanting, or, as in the case of the Swedish tur- 

 nip, whole crops may be reared in this way ; but the produce is never so large. As the 

 transplanting, however, takes place in May, more time is afforded, and drier weather ob- 

 tained for cleaning the soil. The plants are set by the dibbler along the centre of the 

 ridgelets, which are previously consolidated by rolling. 



4965. The produce is, ctsteribus paribus, about the same as that of the Swedish turnip, 

 but the nutritive matter afforded by the beet is 136 parts in 1000, of which 13 are mu- 

 cilage, 119 sugar, and 4 gluten. According to Von Thaer, they afford 10 percent, of 

 nutritive matter, and are in that respect to hay as 10 to 46, and to potatoes as 20 to 46. 

 An acre would thus appear to afford more nourishment than either turnips, carrots, or 

 parsneps. 



4966. The application of the field-beet is almost entirely to the fattening of stock, and 

 feeding of milch-cows. Near London they are in repute for the latter purpose ; and, 

 according to Von Thaer, they cause a great increase of milk, as well as improve its flavor. 

 The tops are first taken off, and given by themselves, and then the roots are taken up, washed, 

 and given raw. The roots are much more easily injured by frost than the turnip, car- 

 rot, or parsnep, and are stored with diflRculty. The leaves make a very good spinach, 

 but the roots cannot be used in cooking like those of the red beet. In the distillery it is 

 nearly half as productive as the potatoe ; but, according to Von Thaer, it is not likely to 

 yield rauch profit in the manufacture of sugar. 



