TRACTS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, &c. 55 



in Table I. — it is a proof there can be no material errors in the 

 calculations. 



When the roots were taken iip, on the 17th of January last, 

 very few of them were in a decayed state; some had rotted in 

 the centre: but, in general, they were sound and good; not- 

 withstanding they had remained above two years in the soil ; that 

 is, from the period of sowing the seed. The four largest roots 

 weighed as follows : 



No. ] __---- 28 pounds. 



2 ------11 ditto. 



3 ------19 ditto. 



4 ------ 20 ditto. 



Having thus detailed these experiments, I shall now pi-oceed 



to offer a few remarks, which will shew the important benefits 

 that might soon be derived from a general, and extensive culture 

 of this excellent vegetable. 



It certainly possesses advantages over every other plant hitherto 

 introduced in field culture. — Its produce is immense, and I have 

 found it to grow, with considerable luxuriance, upon land where 

 no other vegetation was ever seen.* It has also the singular 



* This was determined by an experiment I made soon after my arrival here. I selected 

 a barren ridge, between two deep ravines, on the north-west side of High Knoll. From 

 its situation and declining surface, no moisture could be retained. On tlie 27th August 

 1808 it was trenched, and on the following day sown with sixteen different sorts of seed, 

 so that it had not the advantage of the meliorating effects that might have been derived 

 from exposure to tiie air and atmosphere. For a long time there was no appearance of vege- 

 tation ; at lengtJj, in the beginning of April, 1809, seven months after sowing, and when 

 it had been soaked by tlie rains, I observed the drill of mangel wurzel one connected line 

 of fine thriving plants : the fifteen rows of other seeds, excepting a few of the rape, iiad not 

 vegetated. This is a positive proof that mangel wurzel would grow in almost any soil or 

 situation. The seeds which were sown at the same time as the mangel wurzel, were 

 coffee, cotton, wheat, barley, oats, peas, buck wheat, spring tares, lucerne, burnet, sanfoin, 

 silla, chicory, rape, and sunflower — Not a plant of any of these, except the rape, which 

 soon after died, ever appeared. 



