FARMERS' REGISTER. 



175 



germ can burst it open. I have somelimes known 

 it to fail after being soaked, owing to late sowing 

 and dry weather ; but 1 have never known it tail 

 from excess of moisture, even though soaked a 

 a number of days before sowing, and tbllowed by 

 long rains afterwards. My experience is decided- 

 ly in lavor of early sowing. [ prefer to sow 

 as early as the first of May, if possible, and had 

 rather sow a week or two earlier, than later. 



When every thing is ready for sowing, I pour 

 oft' the water from the seed, anil roll it in white 

 plaster, (slacked lime or flour will answer,) so as 

 to give it a white appearance, in order that it may 

 be more easily seen on the ground in sowing. 



1 have never found a machine or drill harrow 

 with which I could sow the seed to my liking. My 

 method is as follows : — 1 constructed a machine 

 for opening the drills, to be drawn by a horse. 

 Take a piece of scantling, about 4 feet long, and 

 3 or 4 inches thick, in which place two thills or 

 shafts for the horse, and two handles to hold by, 

 like a small horse-rake ; but instead of a number 

 of teeth, only place one peg, or tooth, about one 

 foot long, on the under side, within about a foot of 

 the right hand end of the beam, so that when 

 the horse walks in the furrow between the ridges, 

 the tooth will come on the lop of the right hand 

 ridge, by passing along which it will open a drill 

 ibr the seed. The machine can be easily guid- 

 ed, and the drills may thus be all prepared in 

 a very short time. If the patch to be planted be 

 small, of course the drills can be made by hand, 

 with a hoe or stick. They should be about two 

 inches deep, or so that the seed will be at least an 

 inch deep when covered over smoothly. I sow 

 the seeds by hand, scattering them along the drills, 

 about two inches apart. This can be done very 

 regularly and rapidly after a little practice. The 

 seed should be sown as soon as possible after the 

 drills are opened, and covered over immediately 

 after being sown. Cover with a hoe or rake, so 

 as to leave the ridges smooth, and the work is 

 completed. 



^fUr culture — hoeing, thinning, transplanting, 



Sfc. 



The seed does not vegetate very quickly, and if 

 the weather is cold, it will be several weeks after 

 sowing, before the plants are all fairly visible. In 

 most cases, two or three plants will come up from 

 one seed or capsule ; and as soon as they are all 

 plainly visible, I go over them and pull out the ex- 

 tra plants, leaving only one in a place, about two 

 inches apart. If this is not done early, and they 

 are allowed to grow together until they are of any 

 considerable size, they retard each other's growth, 

 and cannot be separated without injury. If young 

 weeds have sprung up, they should be destroyed 

 by a light hoeing at the time of the first thinning. 

 In about two weeks, or as soon as the plants be- 

 gin to accquire some strength, and weeds begin to 

 appear, I go over them again with the hoe, and 

 at this time pull out about half ol'the plants, leaving 

 tfiem four inches apart. I also go through be- 

 tween the rows with a horse and shovel-plough, 

 (a common small plough or a narrow cultivator 

 will answer,) in order to stir the earth and keep it 

 loose, as well as to assist in hoeing and killing 

 weeds. 



If any vacancies occur in the rows, they may 

 be filled by transplanting ; observing to lake the 



plants up without injuring the roots, and set them 

 straight and firmly In the ground. I have some- 

 limes transplanted large numbers, but they sel- 

 dom do as well as those which grow where sown. 

 The young plants are not very liable to be destroyed 

 by insects. Mine are never injured by the fly 

 or any insect except the black grub, or cut worm, 

 which somelimes thins ihem out for me not quite 

 to my liking, and I have to fill up the vacancies by 

 transplanting. 



As soon as the plants acquire sufficient size, we 

 begin to use them as greens for the table, thinning 

 them out of the rows as desired. They are much 

 esteemed (or this purpose by my family and hired 

 men, and during harvest we use large quantities 

 oflhem with great advantage and satislaction. The 

 roots are very good for the table when young, but 

 they become rather course as they grow old. 



Reserving a sufficient quantity for fable use, 

 the remainder of the plants should be thinned out 

 at the third lime of hoeing, to the distance often or 

 twelve inches apart. Care should be taken to 

 keep the ground free from weeds ; and if the soil 

 is heavy and inclined to become hard, it should be 

 frequently stirred by going through withahorseand 

 plough, or cultivator. This is particularly neces- 

 sary after rains, before the ground becomes dry. I 

 consider frequent hoeing and stirring the soil, with 

 liberal manuring, the great requisites of success- 

 ful beet culture. Some persons may suppose, from 

 reading these directions, that the culture of this 

 crop is laborious and difficult; but such is not the 

 case; at any rate I do not know of any crop which 

 better repays for the labor bestowed on it than 

 this. The quantity and value of the produce is 

 so great, in comparison with the amount of land 

 and labor required, that he who neglects, or only 

 half cultivates this crop, in my opinion, practices 

 very poor economy. 



Harvesting and preserving the crop. 



Slight early frosts do not injure this crop, Ihe 

 harvesting may thereliire be delerred until severe 

 frosts are expected, which is usually about the 

 middle or latter part of October. Some persons 

 recommend stripping the leaves and feeding them 

 to cows, &c. before the time of harvesting. But 

 I consider this practice dicidedly injurious, as it not 

 only stops the growtli of the roots, but exposes 

 them to injury from frost. If any are wanted for 

 feeding before they have done growing, the best 

 way is to pull them out where they stand too thick; 

 or, if their growth is completed, they may be pull- 

 ed up clean where most convenient. 



My manner of harvesting is as follows : — I pull 

 up lour or five rows and throw them together in 

 one row ; then go between with a wagon and load 

 them on to it, and draw them to the barn, where 

 the tops are cut off, and the roofs put into the cellar 

 under the barn. I consider the lops of great value 

 for feeding cows and other cattle ; and if thrown 

 into a shed or barn they will keep good for feeding 

 several weeks. Those who have no proper cel- 

 lars, may preserve the roots in pits in the field. 

 They are not as liable to injure by heating as tur- 

 nips or carrots, and if too large a quantity are not 

 put in one heap, they will be in no danger from this 

 source. The best way to bury all such roots, is to 

 make the pit long and narrow, and pile the roots 

 up pretty high. Beets are not so easily injured 

 by freezing as potatoes, and need not be covered 



