308 



NKW ENGLAND FARMER, 



April II, 1832. 



MANGi:i. Wl'KTZEL AND SUGAR BEET. 

 Soil and preparation. — Tlie soil for these roots 

 should he a loam, inclining to clay, in good tilth, 

 well niunuretl, and made tine to a good depth. 

 John" Hare Pqwel, Esq. corresponding secretary to 

 the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society, in giving 

 an account of his mode of cultivating this crop, 

 says, " JMy soil was not naturally strong ; it has 

 heen gradually so much • deepened as to enable 

 Wood's plough, No. 2, drawn by four oxen, to 

 plough fourteen inches deep. Fresh barn-yard 

 manure was equally spread upon the surface, and 

 ploughed under in the early part of April, in quan- 

 tities not larger than are generally used for potato 

 crops in this country. Early in May, the land 

 was twice stirred with Beatsou's scarifier, harrow- 

 ed, rolled ; after stirred, harrowed and rolled again 

 in the opposite direction." The soil on which 

 Messrs Tristram Little and Henry Little, of New- 

 bury, Mass. raised their premium crop in 1824, is 

 a clay loam. In 1823, about three fourths of the 

 same was sowed with onions, and manured with 

 about eight cords of compost manure to the acre. 

 The other quarter was sowed with wheat without 

 manure. In the fall of 1823, there were about 

 ten cords of compost manure drawn on the lot, 

 and put in a heap. JIosi of said compost was 

 drawn from tlie salt mashes, when ditching the 

 same ; the other part was from the barn-yard. In 

 the month of April, 1824, the heap was thrown 

 over and well mixed, 



Plantitig. — Col. Powel says, " The holes for the 

 seeds were made by a wheel, containing p('gs in 

 its circumference, which penetrated the ground 

 about an inch, leaving intervals of four inches ; 

 the rows were made two feet asunder ; two ca|)- 

 sules were dropped in each hole ; the wheel of a 

 common barrow was passed over them, thus com- 

 pressing the earth, and leaving a slight rut for the 

 retention of moisture." 



Messrs Tristram and Henry Little ol)Scrve, that, 

 "Between the 8th and 11th of May, the land was 

 ploughed and sowed in the following manner : — 

 Aflin- one deep plougliing, the ground was furrow- 

 ed two and a half feet apart, and the manure put 

 into the forrows, and covered with a double mould- 

 board plough ; a roller was then passed on the 

 top of the ridge, and the seed dibbled in with the 

 finger over the manure, about six or eight inches 

 apart." The quantity of seed, according to Eng- 

 lish writers, is four pounds to an acre. Mr David 

 Little, in obtaining a premium crop, sowed four 

 pounds, but observed that he thought half that 

 quantity would have been sufficient. 



Jlfter-cvlture.- — In raising Col. Powel's crop, 

 " A small cultivator, which I have contrived for 

 the purpose, was drawn between the rows soon 

 after the seed appeared ; a three inch triangular 

 hoe removed the alternate plants, leaving the oth- 

 ers at distances varying from eight to twelve in- 

 ches asunder. The cultivator was twice used 

 before the 20tli of July. The heavy rains of Au- 

 gust made another hoeing necessary, and surcharg- 

 ed the ground so much with moisture, that all 

 roots increased much less in that month, than du- 

 ring the same time in the two last years." The 

 Messrs Little, " in the course of the season, thin- 

 ned their plants, and left them from six to twelve 

 inches apart in the rows. They were once hoed, 

 and ploughed three times between the rows." — 

 IMr Powel, in raising a previous crop, had placed 

 the rows thirty inches apart, and left the plants six 

 inches apart in the rows. He says, " I this year 



desired smaller roots, which might grow so close- 

 ly, as, by their leaves, to protect the soil as niudi 

 as possible from the rays of the run. My cultiva- 

 tor by its peculiar form, enabled ine to cut oft" the 

 weeds when the plant was so young, that, if I had 

 applied the plough, their crowns must have been 

 covered in many instances, by earth occasionally 

 falhng from its land side. The failure which at- 

 tends the cultivation of most root crops in drills, 

 proceeds from the neglect of weeds in their early 

 stages. Four or five days of delay, frequently 

 make the difference of fifteen days in the labor of 

 making clean an acre of ground. The weeds 

 which a boy with a sharp shingle could remove 

 at the coinmeucenient of one week, may, before 

 the end of the next, require the application of an 

 implement drawn by a horse. 



" I ascribe my success, in great measure, to the 

 use of WooiVs extraordinary plovgh, which enters 

 the soil more deeply and ])ulverises it more per- 

 fectly, than any other I have ever seen, with equal 

 force, in any country ; to the use of cultivators, 

 which complete the production of fine tilth ; to the 

 destruction of the wpeds on their first ajipearauce ; 

 leaving the smallest space u])on which a horse 

 can walk, between the rows ; and, above all, to 

 planting the seeds of a proper kiiid upon a ^urjace 

 which is kept perfectly flat.'" 



General remarks. — Agriculturists have not agreed 

 whether it is most expedient to plant the seeds of 

 this root, on ridges or on a level. Col. Powel 

 condemns ](lanting on ri,dges in this country, as a 

 practice not adapted to our soil and climate, in 

 which vegetables are very lialile to suffer by 

 drought. He says, among the various practices, 

 into which we have been seduced by the plausible 

 theories of the advocates of European husbandry, 

 there is none which appears to me more absurd 

 than that which has led us to drill or dibble our 

 crops on ridges. The English farmer wisely con- 

 tends with the evils produced by too much rain ; 

 the American husbandman should as anxiously 

 guard against his most fornudable enemy, drought. 

 I am inclined to think that there is no crop culti- 

 vated in this State, Pennsylvania, which ought not 

 to be put on a flat surface." 



The climate of New England, especially its 

 northern part, is not so warm and dry as that of 

 Pennsylvania, and in that part of the United States, 

 perhaps the nature of the soil should decide the 

 question, if dry, level planting, or if moist, ridge 

 planting should be adopted." 



We have heard complaints from American farm- 

 ers, that the seed of this root is slow and imcer- 

 tain in coming up. Perhaps the seed or soil, or 

 both, may sometimes be too dry at the time of 

 sowing. A writer in the English Farmer's Jour- 

 nal says, " I have of late years steeped my seed 

 for at least fortyeight hours. I made an experi- 

 ment with twenty st)und seeds not steeped, twen- 

 ty steeped twentyfour hours, and the same number 

 steeped fortyeight hours; every seed of the latter 

 produced jjlants, which came up two or three 

 days sooner than either of the others, and. some of 

 those not steeped did not come up at all." Mr 

 Cobbet, in treating of the culture of common gar- 

 den beets, (American Gardener, par. 198,) directs 

 to soak the seed four days and nights in rain water 

 before it is sowed ; and observes, that the mangel 

 wurtzel should be cultivated in the same maimer 

 as the other kinds of beets. American writers, so 

 far as we have observed, give no directions for 

 soaking the seedsof this vegetable before planting- 



aiid it is possible that the omission of this i>art of 

 I hi' process, may cause the slowness and uncer- 

 tainly of vegetation, complained of. The capsule 

 or husk, which contains the seeds, is dry, and it 

 requires a long time for the moisture which it 

 may derive from the earth, to penetrate this integ- 

 ument, so as to cause the seed to sprout. But if 

 the soil be very moist at the lime of sowing, soak- 

 ing the seed had better be omitted. 



Use. — The following remarks are from a paper 

 comn)tuiicated to the trustees of the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural Society, by J. Lowell, Esq. late pres- 

 i<lent of said society. They are derived, princi- 

 ]ially, from a French pid)hcation, by the Abb6 

 Rosier : — 



" This root is very little afft'cted by changes of 

 weather. It is attacked by no insect ; drought 

 affects but little its vegetation. It prepares the 

 land extremely well for other crojjs. It may be 

 sown and treated precisely like the common beet, 

 except that it ought to stand eighteen inches asun- 

 der. 



" In good land, thev often weigh nine or ten 

 pnimds, and are stripped eight or nine times. In 

 a light, eandy, but well manured soil, they some- 

 times weigh fourteen and even sixteen pounds 

 each ! 



" The first crop of leaves in France is taken off" 

 in the latter end of June, or the beginning of July. 

 In this country, probably the latter period would 

 be preferable. The lower leaves, those which in- 

 diiii' towards the ground, are those which arc 

 takin away, and care nuist be taken to preserve 

 th(^ top leaves or the crown of the plants. The 

 leaves may be taken oft' every 15 days after the first 

 gathering. Oxen, cows and sheep, devour them 

 greedily, and fatten readily upon them. All do- 

 mestic poultry eat them readily, when chopped^ 

 fine and mixed with grain. Horses will eat them 

 very well, mixed with chojiped straw. Hogs also 

 fatten upon them. 



" Cov.s fed upon this root, solely, give a greater 

 quantity of milk and cream and of better quality, 

 for the first fifteen days, after which they grow 

 too fat and the milk lessens. The food of cows 

 must therefcre be varied. Oxen and sheep fatten 

 very well upon them. Cows shoidd have grass 

 in projiortion of one third to the beet leaves, or 

 every third day they should be turned to grass. 

 In this mode their milk will be excellent. The 

 trouble of gathering the leaves is less than that of 

 gathering any other green fodder. It niay be done 

 by children, while men are required to cut other 

 green food for cattle. It is the surest crop, since 

 the plant will stand the largest droughts. The 

 roots are gathered and treated like those of the 

 common beet. Tlie skin is very tender, and care 

 should be trken to handle them so as they may 

 not be wounded, as they will, in that case, not 

 keep so well. In order to preserve the seed in 

 purity, care should be taken to change the ground 

 in which the seed-beets are planted. The seed 

 can be preserved, after it is gathered, three or four 

 years, without injury. In giving these roots to 

 cattle for food, they are first washed and then cut 

 up into pieces about the size of a nut. It is al- 

 ways best to accompany them, when given to 

 horned cattle, with clover, or other hay or straw, 

 and if the hay or straw has been previously cut 

 fine, it will be preferable. If horses are fed with 

 this root, with a proportion of hay or cut straw, 

 (half of each,) they will be fat, vigorous and healthy. 

 If they are worked severely, a little oats or corn 



