22 CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 



THE CULTIVATION, AND THE IMPLEMENTS 

 NEEDED. 



Just as soon as the young plants can be detected break- 

 ing ground, the prudent farmer will push the slide hoe, and 

 have his boy weeders follow immediately after it on hands 

 and knees. Boys that have had a little experience, with their 

 nimble fingers can do more work than men, while their wages 

 are only about half as much. On the sea-coast we hire boys 

 who make a business of weeding, for from seventy-five cents 

 to a dollar a day. The one great danger in hiring boys, is that 

 careless ones are apt to break off the weeds instead of pull- 

 ing them up by the roots. To ascertain their comparative 

 faithfulness, it is well to quietly mark a few rows of the diff- 

 erent weeders, at their first weeding, and by the time for the 

 second weeding the difference between a good and a bad 

 boy will be very plainly visible. 



Don't accept that theory of the shiftless man, that it is 

 well to have the weeds grow pretty tall before the first weed- 

 ing, that the plants may be protected from the sun. I have 

 noticed that oftentimes those who act on this theory give 

 over their weeding, and plough up the bed before they have 

 half finished it. Promptness in the first hoeing and weed- 

 ing is exceedingly important in the management of all root 

 crops, and it is where the great mistake is apt to be made in 

 their cultivation. 



There are a few implements that are specially needed in 

 the cultiva- 

 tion of root 



crops, and of * a=u ^ Ss ^^^-/y 



these every 



wis- iarmer 



will rret the slide hoe, 



