TRACTS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, &c. 5T 



cattle, sheep. Logs, &c. — The leaves are also an excellent substi- 

 tute for spinage. 



It is very probable that a more abundant produce from mangel 

 wurzel than appears in my experiments, might at all times be 

 secured, if the lands were manured, and carefully prepared for 

 its reception, and the proper seasons of sowing and planting at- 

 tended to. In a piece of strong land, at Plantation-house, newly 

 broken up, without being manured, some of the plants from seeds 

 sown on tlie 3d of January, were set out on the 6th of February, 

 1809.— On the 11th of October following, I sent on board His 

 Majesty's ship Li)n, fifty of those plants, which were the finest I 

 had ever seen. The following were the weights and circumfe- 

 rences of the five largest : 



Weight of the whole plant. 

 lb. oz. 



No. 1 41 3 

 1 

 6 

 



14 



At Long Wood, Colonel Broughton has lately taken up some 



very fine specimens from land that was not manured : they were 



of six months growth from the seed — the leaves had been cut 



twice. Many of the roots weighed from six to ten pounds each : 



but admitting even the lowest of these rates, and allowing one 



pound of leaves at each cutting, the produce would be eight 



pounds from each plant ; which, at 20,000 plants to an acre, 



would be 160,000 pounds, or about 70 tons per acre, of nutritious 



food for cattle, in the short period of five or six months from the 



time of sowing the seed. Can any thing place the importance of 



the culture of mangel wurzel in a more obvious point of view 



than this deduction ? 



I 



