214 



Sugar Beet. — ^ Fcrmerfor me Bays. 



Vol. ij. 



thin them out in May. I soaked some seed, 

 and sowed again in the vacancies, but this 

 sowing never came to above iialt' the size of 

 those sowed in April. I should have men- 

 tioned before that I soaked the seed of the 

 first sowings several days before they were 

 put into the land. The first sowing grew 

 pretty large. I have a few saved for seed, 

 one of which measures 18 inches in length, 

 20 inches in circumference, and is 2 inches 

 in diameter, at the point of the root, though 

 it is now shrunk considerably. A few years 

 ago, I raised a few of the common Mangel 

 Wurtzel and sowed them about the middle 

 of April. The largest of those was 2 feet 

 long, and 1 foot at least in circumference. A 

 few of that sowing missed, but I do not attri- 

 bute it to early sowing; perhaps badness of 

 seed might be the cause. A slight frost did 

 not affect them; therefore I recommend that 

 tJiey should be sown not later tlian the middle 

 of April, and, in an early spring, I think the 

 first of April quite late enough. In my ope- 

 rations, I partly followed Cobbett's directions 

 for raising beets, which I will copy from his 

 English and American treatises on gardening: 

 "Beets should be sown in the fall; but, if 

 not, as soon as the ground is free from frost, 

 and is dry in the spring. The ground should 

 be rich, but not from fresh dung, which causes 

 Bide shoots to strike out in search of it, and 

 thereby makes the root forked, instead of 

 straight; and, as in the case of carrots, a 

 forked root is never considered to be a good 

 one. The ground should be deeply and well 

 broken, and all the clods ought to be broken 

 into fine earth, because the clods turn the 

 point of the root aside, and make it short, or 

 forked. The ground being well and deeply 

 brokisn, drills should be nicely made about 

 two feet apart, and the seed laid along the 

 drill at the depth of about an inch and a half, 

 and at about a couple of inches from each 

 other, it having been previously soaked about 

 four days in soft water, if sown in spring. 

 The earth that came out of the drill should 

 be put back upon the seed, and pressed down 

 upon it with the head of the rake. When the 

 plants come up they should be thinned to about 

 9 inches apart in the row ; the ground should 

 be nicely flat-hoed and kept clean during the 

 summer. In October the roots should be taken 

 up, the leaves cut off within a quarter of an 

 ijich of the crown, the roots put to dry in the 

 sun for a week or more, and then put away 

 in some dry place, or packed in sand, like 

 carrots, for winter use. Beets may be trans- 

 planted, and will, in that way, get to a very 

 good size, but they are apt to be forked. Ashes 

 of wood, or compost mould, is the best kind of 

 manure for them. If not wanted till spring, 

 they may be preserved thus: — After drying a 

 few days in the sun, lay a little straw on the 



ground on a fine dry day, place ten bushels 

 of them, (picking out all the cut and bruised 

 ones,) in a conical heap upon the straw: put 

 a little more straw smoothly over the heap, 

 then cover the whole with six or eight 

 inches of earth, and place a green turf at 

 the top to prevent the earth being washed 

 by rain before the frost sets in. The whole 

 heap will freeze during the winter; but 

 the frost will not injure them, nor will it 

 injure carrots, preserved in the same way. 

 If you have more than ten bushels, make 

 another, or more heaps, for fear of heating, 

 before the frost comes. When that comes, 

 all is safe till spring; and it is the spring, that 

 season of scarcity, for which we ought to 

 provide." 



The above is a compilation from both Cob- 

 bett's Treatises, as I found each of them 

 rather defective in some particulars. 

 I am, respectfully, &.C., 



C. W. H. 



Near Grrmanlown Jan. 30, 1838. 



For the Farnieis' Cabiru-t, 



A FARMER FOR ME BOYS ! 



Soug for tlie Har~rest Home* 



By A. McMakin. 

 A Farmer's the man for me, boys ! 

 A Farmer's the man for me ; 

 While the ploughshare goes, 

 Or the heifer lows. 

 True lord of the soil is he, , 

 True lord of the land is he, boys * 

 A Farmer — a Farmer for me. 

 Ere the sun shines over the lea, boys I 

 Ere the sun shines over the lea. 

 In the waiving main, 

 Of the golden grain. 

 He is happy as man can be, 

 He is happy as man can be, boys ! 

 A Farmer — a Farmer for me. 

 With no care to mar his joy, boys! 

 No care to lessen his joy, 

 The toils of the day, 

 Pass quickly away ; 

 At night he is merry and free. 

 His night is merry and free, boys! 

 A Farmer — a Farmer for me. 

 No drone of the hive is he, boys ! 

 No drone of the hive is he, 

 But with lusty flail. 

 Doth the sheaf assail, 

 And gathers from every tree, 

 And gathers from every tree, boys! 

 A Farmer— a Farmer for me. 



