AND H O 11 T I C U L T IT R A L II E G I S T E R . 



^ 



t<Ur.I.tSHRD BY JOSEPH BRECK * CO., NO. 



NOUTH M.\RKKT STllKICT, (Aoricolturau Wahhou.i.)— .ALLK.N PUTiNAM, KIJITOR. 



DOSTON, WKDNKSDAY KVKNINd, M.VKCll :tO, 1842. 



(VO. .10. 



N, E. FARMER. 



From Ihe Journnl of ito English Agricullural Socielf. 



N THE CULTIVATION OF MANGOLD 

 WUIiZKI.. 



BT TVM. MILKS, M. P. 



To Th.Pusfi), tU-i., M. P.— Dear Pusey — Not- 

 listaniiing llic favorable result of Lord Spencer'ti 

 >cnmeul wii.'i m:inj;i>M-w\irzel, tlie consideralimi 



naturally 9uggi\<l itself to the mind of the far- 

 r, previously to hU adopting the cultivation of 

 J root, whether, although the mangold-wurzel 

 y bring on his cattle faster and better than tho 

 ;de turnip, it is not more dillicult of culture, 

 -e lender in its habits, and less productive in 

 k per acre than the Swedish turnip ; and I think 

 rcfore, it may not be unoprfitahle to Iny before 

 readers of the Journal first, the chemical anal- 

 I of the highest and lowest order of turnip and 

 nangold-wurzcl, as given by Sir II. Dary, and 

 he sugar beet and orange globe mangold-wur- 



as lately obtained on the same plan by the 



i:brated Bri.stol chemist, Mr Ilerapath ; and 

 ^ to point out the system adopted by myself in 

 West of England in the cultivation of man- 

 J.nurzel, which has been attended with complete 

 cess. 



r. — Qiuin/i(^ of J^t'atritive Matter in 1000 par<». 

 'Mucitase Saccharine) Glutftn I 



^ecii*. or 



I Starcli 



'dl!ih lurnip, 9 



itx lurnip, 7 

 igold-wurzel, 13 



igB globe, 2.'.3 



arbeel, 1*3 



matter or 

 I Sugar. 

 51 

 34 

 119 

 106} 

 126} 



.ilbumtn I 

 2 



11-5 less than 

 1 1-4 1 



X Quantity nf Salulile or .Vutritive Matter tn each root, 



as iihvuin liu the abovt Analysis : 



Swedish turnip, (•4 



White lurnip, 42 



Mangold-wurzel, 136 



Orange gl"be, 135^ 



Sugar beet, 146} 



ij this table, it is apparenl that equal quantities 

 iwede turnip and orange-glnbe mangold-wurzel, 

 uin very different proportions of nutritive niat- 

 the latter more than doubling the former in 

 ntity ; and should the mangold-wurzel be of 

 iHy easy culture with the Swedish turnip, it 

 09 almost unaccountable that it should not yet 

 come into more general cultivation. I have 

 n the com.iion red sort for six, the sugar beet 

 four, and tho orange-globe for three years ; 

 le kinds have regularly come into course with 

 I s<vedes upon light land ; the product has al- 

 a been equal — in most cases far heavier The 

 de turnip has enemies innumerable : I have 

 sr obscr»ed the mangold-wurzel attacked either 

 fly, slug, or wireworm. Equally a cleans- 

 crop with the sivede, it stores belter, and lasts 

 i for a longer period. In the summer of this 

 I was using sugar beet with stall-fed cattle, 

 h cut perfectly good and crisp in August. 



The niodo of culture I adopt i:p to depoDitiiig the 

 seed in the ground, is the same as that ndoptiid in 

 Northumberland for ridging the swede. (Ircat 

 care, however, must bo taken that the seed of the 

 mangold-wurzel is not burled too deep, or it will 

 not vegetate. Dibbling, as you never can ensure 

 an equal depth, does not answer ; nor does the 

 seed drill well, if properly prepared by steeping, 

 which I should recommend, for ot least twentyfoiir 

 hours before planting. To ensure, therolore, a 

 proper depth, I have been in the habit of using an 

 iron wheel, round the outer circumference of winch, 

 18 inches apart, iron points project, broad at the 

 base and tapering towards the point, about i 1-2 

 inches long; this is wheeled upon the top of the 

 ridge, the man walking in the furrow, and thus 

 holes are formed which can never run into the ex- 

 CC3.S of too great depth, and into which the secils 

 are deposited by women and boys following the 

 wheel, and generally covering the seed by draw- 

 ing the foot as they advance at right angles wiih 

 the ridgs over the holes; the roller follows, and 

 thus llie sowing terminates. One man wiili the 

 wheel will keep six persons well employed in de- 

 positing the seed after him. This system was ro- 

 cominended me by my friend Mr Webb Hall, and 

 since I have adopted it, my crop has never failed. 

 The after culture to the storing is similar to 

 that of the swede; great care, however, should be 

 token in never permitfipg two plants to grow in 

 the same spot, which will be the case frequency, 

 should only one capsule even be deposited in each 

 hole, as every capsule contains many seeds. 

 Should the tops remain uncut, the plant will stand 

 a considerable degree of frost ; it should, however, 

 be stored early in Nwember; the best and cheap- 

 est method is to build it up against some high wall 

 contiguous to your beast sheds, not more thoii 7 or 

 8 feet deep, carried up square to a certain height, 

 and then tapering in a roof to the top ot the wall ; 

 protect the sides with thatched hurdles, leaving an 

 interval between the roots and the hurdles, which 

 fill up with dry stubble, cover the roof with about 

 a foot of the same, and then thatch it, so as to con- 

 duct all moisture well over the hurdles placed as a 

 protection to the sides. In pulling -the plants, care 

 should be taken th^t as little injury be inflicted 

 upon them as possible. Cleansing with a knife 

 should on no account be permitted, and it is safer 

 to leave some of the leaf on, than by cutting it too 

 close to impair the crown of the root. 'I'he dryer 

 the season is for storing, the better, although I 

 have never found the roots decayed in the heap by 

 the earth, which in wet weather has been brought 

 from the field, adhering to them. As to the pro- 

 ductiveness of the different sorts, in one year I 

 have grown a larger quantity of sugar beet per 

 acre, in another of mangold-wurzel; both these, 

 however, I consider exhaust the land to a greater 

 degree than the sn ede ; but i have formed a very 

 high opinion of the orange-globe, though not so 

 large a producer generally as the other two sorts: 

 it appears always to throw at least two thirds of 

 its weight above ground, neither is its tap-root 

 larger nor its fibrous roots greater than those of 



the swede turnip. Care chould bo tukun in giving 

 cuttle every species of this root, as if taken in ex- 

 cess, it is apt to scour; indeed, from the avidity 

 with which cattle eat the sugar beet, and from its 

 viscuous properties when quite fresh from the 

 ground, it should be stored so as to uoine into con- 

 sumption the last of the roots. 



In feeding store cattle, I should commence ivilli 

 swede turnip, proceed with the orange globe, then 

 with mangold-wurzel, and finish off with the su- 

 gar b;-el ; thus not only frequer.lly varying the 

 food, but using them in the order corresponding 

 exactly with tho nutritive matter contained in each 

 description of plant. I have found indeed equally 

 with Lord Spencer, that it will not do to return 

 from any sort of mangold-wurzel lo t ^cdc turiiipi', 

 as evon beasts in the straw yard have for 'i or 3 

 days refused such a change. I may add that the 

 earlier in April your mangold-wurzel is sown the 

 better; the deeper tho tilth the greater probability 

 of a heavy crop; but that although both the man- 

 gold-wurzel ami sugar beet require a deeper and 

 stronger land than the swede turnip, yet that the 

 orange globe will flourish wherever the latter will 

 succeed. 



These are the details of the system I adopt as 

 regards this root, and I shall ho glad if I should 

 prevail upon those who have not yet tried the cul- 

 ture of it to grow a small quantity, assured as I 

 am. that for cer'ainty of crop and feeding pri'pcr- 

 ties, the mangold-wurzel will not deceive expecta- 

 tion. Vours, truly, 



Kin^ttceslon, Aou. 1, 1841. W. MitEs. 



The foregoing article contains directions in re- 

 gard to the time of planting and manner of storing 

 the mangcUwurtyi. that are (veil, doubtless, for 

 England, bitt. are r.ot suited to this country. Or, 

 if the manner of j.'oring would answer here, the 

 time of sowing; should be nearly two months later. 



We last year raised a few of the yellow globe 

 mangel-wurtzel : — they did well and looked very 



rich ; but we took no particular account of them 



Ed. N. E. F. 



GYPSUM. 



Josiali IJordwell, of South Hadley, Mass., has 

 four acres of pasture ground, anj applies to it an- 

 nually one thousand pounds of gypsum. The same 

 application, and at the same rati rate, has been 

 iiiiide :i.> years in succession. i):i this lot he pas- 

 tures annually one large yoke of oxen, one horse, 

 two cows, an<l some years three cows. Prior to 

 the use of plaster, Mr B. says it required at least 

 six acres of this land to afford as much feed as he 

 has obtained from one acre, by using plaster. 



He has also a piece of mowing ground which 

 contains four acres. Two crops of hay are taken 

 from it regularly. On this ground he uses plaster 

 of Paris freely, and applies a top-dressing of iim- 

 nure. His annual product of iiay is fully sixteen 

 tons Genesee Far. 



A Mr Jones, of West Barnstable, hos a sheep 4 

 years old, which has borne him ten lambs. 



