112 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



in warm water thirty-six hours ; this will hasten their germina- 

 tion, and they will come forward before the w T eeds, which is of 

 the utmost importance ; it is well to sow cabbage-seed for trans- 

 planting, if the mangold-seed fails to come up in any portion 

 of the field. Any seed-sower may be used, that is adapted 

 to the purpose ; our practice is to run the machine in straight 

 rows twenty-two inches apart, the longer the rows the better 

 for their more economical cultivation. Straight rows are 

 desirable to prevent the destruction of the tender plants 

 when the horse-hoe is used in their cultivation. When the 

 plants are up, our practice is to use, between the rows, a small 

 hand-cultivator, for the purpose of stirring the surface of the 

 ground and checking the growth of weeds which will usually 

 be starting into growth at this time. And here we would 

 say, that the best time to hoe all root-crops is before the 

 weeds have come forward. When the plants have attained 

 the fourth leaf, the horse-hoe may be used in their cultivation ; 

 and it should be used at intervals of a few days, as frequent 

 stirring the soil stimulates the growth of the crop. W'hen the 

 plants have six leaves they should be properly thinned, and 

 it is of the utmost importance to thin them at just the right 

 time, to prevent any check of growth. The plants should be 

 left from eight to twelve inches apart in the rows, using the 

 hand-hoe, when thinning the plants, to destroy the weeds that 

 are between the plants. If thinning is delayed until the plants 

 are large, the plants left growing lop over, and some days 

 elapse before they assume an upright position, which time 

 neither the plant nor the grower can afford to lose. 



The horse-hoe may be used until the leaf of the plant covers 

 the ground, usually by the 10th of July, and the work is over 

 until the harvest. 



Preliminary to the harvest, it is our practice in the month 

 of October to strip the leaves from the mangolds and use them 

 for feed for cows ; they are very succulent, and stimulate the 

 flow of milk at this season, when otherwise there is usually a 

 falling off. As they have to be topped but once, the immense 

 amount of food these leaves furnish, free from dirt, will be at 

 once apparent to the practical farmer. There is no apparent 

 diminution in the size of the mangolds that have been deprived 

 of their leaves ; the harvesting is greatly facilitated ; being free 



