218 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



April to the middle of May ; but the last week in April is con- 

 sidered the best time. If sown too early, the liability of the 

 plants to start to seed during growth, the greatest evil attending 

 their cultivation, is increased ; if too late, the crop remains in 

 a backward state during the growing season, and never attains 

 its full perfection, especially if dry weather set in immediately 

 after sowing. 



Mr. Miles, M. P., in a paper on the " cultivation of mangold 

 wurzel," in vol. ii. of the Journal of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society of Eng-land, says : " The earlier in April your mangold 

 wurzel is sown the better ; the deeper the tilth the greater 

 probability of a heavy crop." And a recent writer in the same 

 journal (Mr. Paget, of Ruddington Grange, near Nottingham,) 

 states: " The best seed-time in this locality is, in my opinion, 

 from April 7th to April 10th. It is useless, in general to sow 

 it earlier, because the temperature is, I think, too low for the 

 germination of the seed. My experiments do not lead me to 

 believe that this comparatively early sowing produces many 

 more ' runners,' and our summers are too short to admit of 

 unnecessary delay in sowing." (Vol. siii. p. 405.) 



AVhen, however, through any cause the seed cannot be got in 

 at the proper time, by steeping it in sand or earth moistened 

 with water, or in dilute liquid manure for three or four days, 

 germination will be so far promoted that it will be equivalent to 

 having it, at least, the same time sown. Indeed, many persons 

 recommend the steeping of the seed in all cases, but it is not 

 always safe to do so, for should dry weather occur after sowing, 

 the germination thus artificially produced receives a check 

 which often proves fatal or injurious. 



The drills being opened, the manure spread and covered by 

 splitting the drills with the double mould-board plough, the 

 drills thus formed should have their tops slightly levelled by a 

 very light roller, and the seed sown either in a continuous line 

 along the crown of the drills, or deposited in tufts or bunches 

 at the distance apart which the plants are intended to be left at 

 the time of thinning. Owing to the peculiar construction of 

 the pericarp, in which the true seeds are contained, no sowing 

 machine has hitherto been generally employed. If, however, 

 an efficient machine be available, it is, by all means, to be 

 recommended ; but in the absence of such, the hand and common 



