866 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Paut III 



Their produce in nutritive matter is 99 parts in 1000, of which 9 are mucilage and 90 

 sugar. Gerarde says, that a very good bread was made from them in his time. They 

 afford as much spirit as the carrot, and make an excellent wine. 



5481. To save parsnep seed, proceed as with the carrot. The parsnep, being more 

 hardy and luxuriant than the carrot, is less liable to the mildew and worms, but equally 

 so to become forked if the soil be not deep and well pulverised, and the manure minutely 

 divided and equally distributed. 



Sect. V. The Field Beet. ^eta L. ; Pentdndria Bigynia L., and Chenophdece J. Bet- 

 terave Champetre, Fr, ; Mangold-wUrzel, Ger. ; Biettola, Ital. ; and Betarraga, Span. 



5482. The field-beet, commonly called the mangold-wUrzel, and sometimes erroneously 

 the root of scarcity (in German majigel ivUrzel), is supposed by Professor Thaer to be a 

 mongrel between the red and white beet. It has a much larger bulb than either, and 

 that bulb, in some varieties, grows in great part above ground. It has been a good deal 

 cultivated in Germany and Switzerland, both for its leaves and roots ; the leaves are 

 either used as spinach or given to cattle ; and the roots are either given to cattle, used in 

 distillation, or in the manufacture of sugar. The culture of the field-beet in Britain is 

 very recent, and it may be questioned whether it has any advantages over the turnip for 

 general agricultural purposes. It admits, however, of being cultivated on ridgelets and 

 with as little manual labour as the turnip, while it will prosper on a stronger soil, and 

 near large towns it is not liable to the depredations usually committed on turnips or car- 

 rots, as the root is unpalatable either raw or boiled. 



5483. The variety preferred in Germany is one slightly tinged with red for cattle, and 

 the pale yellow variety for the distillery and sugar manufacture. The seed must not 

 exceed a year old, and great care should be taken that the seed of the common red and 

 white beet are not mixed with it. The seed of every variety of beet is very apt to dege- 

 nerate. 



5484. Any soil will suit this plant provided it is rich : immense crops have been raised 

 on strong clays ; but such soils are not easily prepared for this sort of crop, and are also 

 ill adapted for after-culture. 



5485. TAe preparation should be exactly the same as for turnips; and the seed should be sown on the 

 ridgelets in the same manner. Some, however, dibble in the seed in order to save the expense of thinning. 

 The season of sowing is the same as for the parsnep, and should not be deferred later than the middle of 

 April. The afterculture consists in horse-hoeing, hand-hoeing, and weeding, as in the culture of the 

 turnip, and the plants are thinned out to about the same distance in the rows. Blanks rnay be filled up by 

 transplanting, or, as in the case of the Swedish turnip, whole crops may be reared in this way ; but the 

 produce is never so large. As the transplanting, however, takes place in May, more time is afforded, and 

 drier weather obtained for cleaning the soil. The plants are set by the dibbler along the centre of the 

 ridgelets, which are previously consolidated by rolling. 



5486. The produce is, cceteris paribus, about the same as that of the Swedish turnip ; 

 but the nutritive matter afforded by the beet is 136 parts in 1000, of which 13 are 

 mucilage, 1 1 9 sugar, and 4 gluten. According to Von Thaer, they afford ten per cent, 

 of nutritive matter, and are in that respect to hay as 10 to 46, and to potatoes as 20 to 

 46. An acre would thus appear to afford more nourishment than turnips, carrots, or 

 parsneps. 



5487. Practical men are not agreed as to the value of this root, compared with the Swedish turnip ; but 

 the majority seem to think, that as a food for milk cows, the mangold is to be preferred, more especially as 

 it gives no unpleasant taste to the milk and butter. It has this advantage over turnips, that it thrives 

 better than they do in a dry warm season, being a plant that naturally requires more light and heat than 

 the turnip. 



5488. The application of the field-beet is almost confined to the fattening of stock, and 

 feeding of milch cows. Near London they are in repute for the latter purpose ; and, 

 according to Von Thaer, they cause a great increase of milk, as well as improve its 

 flavour. The tops are first taken off, and given by themselves ; and then the roots are 

 taken up, washed, and given raw. The roots are much more easily injured by frost than 

 the turnip, carrot, or parsnep, and are stored with difficulty. The leaves make a very 

 good spinach, but the roots cannot be used in cooking like those of the red beet. 

 In the distillery it is nearly half as productive as the potato ; but, according to Von 

 Thaer, it is not likely to yield much profit in the manufacture of sugar. 



5489. The manufacture of sugar from mangold wurzel is still, however, carried on in France, and, 

 although we think it can never ultimately compete with that from the cane, it seems of late years to be 

 on the increase. We shall therefore give a short account of the process, premising that the greatest quan- 

 tity of sugar is not obtained from the greatest bulk of root, but rather from small roots produced from dry 

 calcareous soils, at the rate of from fifteen to twenty .five tons an acre. One cwt of sugar is the general 

 produce obtained by the most perfect apparatus from one ton of root. As soon as the leaves begin to turn 

 yellow, the root maybe said to have arrived at maturity ; and it is time to take up the crop, and to begin 

 the process of sugar-making, an operation which continues from October to February in the larger manu- 

 factories. Take the roots up dry, and keep them so ; the smaller the heap the better, because the least 

 fermentation will effectually prevent the formation of sugar. The difference in amount and quality of 

 sugar is always in favour of that made at the beginning of the season. The root, in keeping, undergoes 

 a chemical change, often amounting to a total l<5ss of its saccharine matter ; although its outward appear, 

 ance indicates no such change. 



5490. Process of sugar-making. The roots should first be washed, and then rasped, to reduce them to 

 a state of pulp. Of course, in large manufactories, they are provided with rasping machines ; and it is 



