ESSEX SOCIETY. 55 



either iron or hard wood points, eighteen inches apart, about 

 two and a half inches long, and tapering from the base to the 

 point. This is to be wheeled along upon the top of the ridge, 

 and thus holes will be formed, will remain open, and will be 

 of uniform depth. Then follow and drop the seed by hand, 

 and it may be covered at the same time, by drawing the foot 

 at right angles with the ridge. Follow with a hand roller, row 

 by row, or a light horse roller, pressing several rows at a time. 

 The trouble consists in having two or more plants grow from 

 the same seed. Every capsule contains several seeds, and 

 thinning must be attended to while the plant is very small. 



Wurtzel may be raised upon a stifFer soil than the turnip, but 

 as it grows much out of ground, it will not bear the cold so 

 well. The tops, though not so abundant, are a rich food for 

 milch cows, and impart no taste to the milk or beef. 



In harvesting the mangel wurtzel, care should be taken not 

 to wound the roots. There is something in the old idea that 

 they will bleed if cut. The fibrous roots had better be left on, 

 and some of the top too, than wound the beet by trimming too 

 close. Care should be taken in feeding out to the cattle, as by 

 using too many, especially in the first part of winter, they are 

 apt to scour. 



It is said by a French writer, the Abbe Rosier, that the 

 leaves of the mangel wurtzel may be taken off every fifteen 

 days after about the first of July, and fed to the cattle. There 

 can be no question but milch cows would do well on them, 

 but it is subversive of all our ideas of vegetable physiology, 

 that the root should grow without the leaves. The root must 

 stop and wait for the leaf, because that alone forms the com- 

 munication with the oxygen of the atmosphere. Leaves are 

 the lungs ; and the experiment of taking them off once in fif- 

 teen days, must be a dangerous one. 



When milch cows are fed chieflij upon this root, they give 

 more milk, and a richer and thicker cream for about a fort- 

 night, after which they grow too fat, and the milk lessens. 

 Hogs do about as well on the raw beet as they will on boiled 

 potatoes. 



As to the quantity to be given, it is said that thirty-six 



