sr-^i^jisr 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



I'UBLiaHEU BY JOSEPH HllECK & CO., NO. 52, NORTH MARKET STREET, (Aokicultur.l Warehouse.) 



VOL. XVI. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 22, 1837. 



NO. 20. 



^^iaj£AgWlg.^^2a^3g,a 



From the Murklane (London) Express. 



SYSTEM OF CULTIVATING THE MAN- 

 GEL WUR'IZEL, 



.5s practised on the Fann of Preston Mains, in 

 East Lothian. 



BY G. KIRK, RESIDING AT PRESTON MAINS, N. E. 



From the circumstances of the Mangel wiirtzel 

 having been iimler cultivation in this country for 

 a great number of years, anil its properties so well 

 and so generally umlerstooil, it will be no news to 

 the great majority of farmers of the present day, 

 ;o be told that it is a vegetable possessed of qual- 

 ities of the greatest utility to every one, at all 

 interested in the management of live stock, but 

 Tiore especially so to the dairy farmer, as its laxa- 

 ive tendency will, in all (irnbability prevent its 

 leing extensively used in the fattening of live 

 itock ; but although a vast portion of the agricid- 

 ural community may have been made aware of 

 ts qualities, through the medium of the agricul- 

 ural and other periodic-Is of the day, which now 

 laily emanate from every city in the empire, and 

 arry to every corner of the land a knowledge of 

 he arts and usages of civilized life, and steadily 

 !isseminate that seed, the fruit of which will, at 

 ,o distant day, be reaped, in the shape of a" uni- 

 ersally civilized, intellectual Britian ; yet it may 

 •e, that a knowledge of the most proper way of 

 ultivating it, is not so generally diffused. Be it 

 ur task then (o supply this information. 



Before entering more immediately upon a des- 

 ri|)lion of its tillage, it may he proper to remark, 

 iiat the mangel wurtzel seems to thrive best, and 

 3 attain the greatest degree of perfection, on that 

 escriplion of soil generally known iu Scotland, 

 s "good turnip land;" that is, a rich, mellow 

 )am ; soils of an extremely cohesive or light des- 

 ription, are unfit for this root; but, good crops 

 ave ncvertheles.s, been raiseil on the soiJs of me- 

 ium quality, but it is in general, grown on the 

 .iperior portions of the farm. 



The soil on which this sort is intended to be 

 ultivated, should be turned over, if the season 

 Imit, towards tlie conclusion of autunm, or as 

 irly in winler as possible, in order that the soil 

 lay be subjected for as long a period as possible, 



the subduing influence of winter frost. About 

 le end of April, or beginning of May, prepara- 

 ons should be made for seed time, the seed be- 



g in general, put in about the middle of the 

 onth ; snd, here no expense should be spared, 

 id no effort unexerted, by repeated [)loughing 

 irrowing, rolling and hand-picking, to effect a 

 iroplete pulverization of the soil, and a thorough 

 adicatio-i of root weeds, as the fate of the futm-c 

 op, in a great measure, depends on the perfect 

 irforraance of these processes. 



After the soil has been completely pulverized 

 id cleaned, the drills or ridgelets are drawn off 

 ■ a double turn of the plough, or what in farm- 



apart. The manure (which is administered to 

 this, in a somewhat greater portion than to the 

 generality of green crops) is then carted in, and 

 spread by boys or women, in the intervals of the 

 drills, and covered in by reversing the ridgelets. 

 The common turni|)-sowing maidiiiio (the hind 

 roller being tied up or removed) is then sent over 

 the drills, the sjiouts of which make a slight ex- 

 cavation in their centre, which serves as a guide 

 to the planters, wlio having received a quantity of 

 seed, which is carried in an apron or bag, suspen- 

 ded before them, |>roceed as follows: being pro- 

 vided with a piece of wood ten inches in length 

 which is the distance generally kept between the 

 plants in the drills, and which is placed in the ex- 

 cavation made by the spouts of the turnip-sowing 

 machine, three of what are generally called seeds 

 are placed at both its ends in the ground by pres- 

 sing them down with the finger or thumb, but 

 de facto, what is generally called a seed, is just a 

 cluster of capsules or seed-vessels, each enveloped 

 with its particular calyx or fjower cup ; to this 

 circumstance, in a, great measure, is to be attrihu-. 

 ted the frequent failures of this crop, moisture be- 

 ing precluded from reaching the seed, on account 

 of the hardness of the calyx or capsule, and for 

 this reason, seeds should never be placed more 

 than one inch below the surface, in m-iler that 

 they may have the full benefit of the midnight 



dews, and genial showers of early snmitier. 



When placed in the ground, as already described 

 the piece of wood is pushed forward, until the 

 end next the jilanter is immediately above the 

 seeds last planted, and a similai- number of seeds 

 are put in at the further end, and so on till the 

 process of planting is comi)leted, after which the 

 land should receive a slight rolling to level and 

 consolidate drills. After the plants have been 

 about four weeks above ground, they should he 

 singled out with the Iiand, in which case the 

 strongest plants shoidd be left in the soil, and the 

 weaker ones removed, and blanks (should any ap- 

 pear) may be made up with the extra plants; and 

 during the season the intervals between the drills 

 and plants should be carefully kept free from 

 weeds, by repeated horse and hand-hoeings till 

 the leaves of the |)lants begin to approximate in 

 the drills, and to form a leafy canopy over the 

 intervening space, after which they will of them- 

 selves, by intercepting the light, effectually ex- 

 clude all rival vegetation ; and, before leavin" 

 this part of our subject, we beg to impress the 

 farmer with a sense of the necessity of his per- 

 forming these hoeings, whenever weeds appear 

 as the condition of the crop of mangel wurtzel 

 and the wheat one by which it is in general fol- 

 lowed, in a great measure de|iend on their fre- 

 quent and effectual execution ; for every farmer 

 must know, that by frequent stirrings of the soil 

 and by extirpating weeds, the growth of plants is 

 promoted in a great degree, for by keeping the 

 soil around the plants in a loose state, we increase 

 as it were, the sphere of action of their roots and 



quantity, and by extirpating the natural occu|)unts 

 of the earth, we give the cultivated crop the ben- 

 efit of that nourishment, which would fail to sup- 

 port the spontaneous products of the soil; in con- 

 sonance with this theory, we invariable find, that 

 crops growing on a soil which is kept free from 

 weeds, and well wrought, are always superior to 

 those which may be placed in opposite circum- 

 stances. Jiut to return from this digression. 



When arrived at maturity, which in ordinary 

 seasons, will be about the end of October, the 

 leaves should be cut of^ as close to the body of 

 the root as possible, without touching the body of 

 the root itself, as if the part from which the leaves 

 shoot out be entirely removed, ami the root laid 



bare, a night's frost will entirely ruin the crop ; 



making an incision into the body of the root 

 therefore, should be stmliousiy guarded against! 

 But, previously to removing the leaves altogether 

 the lower ones for a considerahle time previous to 

 removing the crop from the ground, may be 

 wrenched off with the liand, and given to cows 

 in the house ; and here, a great benefit is derived 

 from the mangel wurtzel coming in at that period 

 when the cWllness of evening usually renders it 

 necessary tc house milch cows for the night, for 

 which (and tlio same description applies to the 

 roots,) they form a superior s|)ecies cf food, as 

 they increase the milk, without imparting to it 

 that acid taste whicli turnips do, and when at last 

 it becomes necessary to remove tlie leaves of the 

 whole crop, with a view of having the roots stored, 

 they may be carted home, and deposited iu any 

 convenient spot out of doors, and in this state, 

 unprotected from storms, they will keep without 

 sustaining any material injury, for weeks, nay 

 months, and are devoured to the last by milch 

 cows, even when almost putrid, with the greatest 

 avidity. We think it right to warn the firmer 

 against beginning too early to remove the leaves 

 as we have invariably found that the roots never 

 increase in size after the hulk of their leaves are 

 removed. 

 We 



g phraseology is styled a " bout," to 27 inches thereby enable them to obtain their food in greater equally as we 



come now to the consideration of a very 

 important portion of our subject, and that is the 

 manner of pi-eserving the roots throughout the 

 winter, and for thispmpose the longitudinal form 

 of the mangel wurtzel, aflords considerable facili- 

 ties. The system of storing, uniformly practised 

 by us, is much the same as that pursued by gar- 

 deners in the storage of carrots. We form them 

 them into lai-ge heap.', about six feet wide at bot- 

 tom, gradually tapering as they ascend, till u 

 width of from two to three feet is attained at top, 

 and a height of five, and thelieaj:s of course made 

 of any convenient length. 



After the heap is finished, it is thatched with 

 straw, to aboirt six inches in thickness, and roped 

 down, which is found sufficient to prevent injury 

 from the! severest frost, and to preset ve the roots 

 fresh and juicy, till an advanced period of the 

 summer season. Wu h xve likewise stored them 

 n houses, and have found this systenr to answer 



as the first ; but when stored 



