206 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



and they will produce fermentation and heat quicker than, 

 perhaps, any other vegetable ; but if they are not put in too 

 large piles, there is no trouble. I am careful, after harvesting 

 my vegetables, to open the windows, on cold nights, and cool 

 off the cellar as much as possible, not letting the roots freeze. 



I came near forgetting the mangold-wurzel crop, which is 

 an important one, and I will touch upon that, as, at the pres- 

 ent time, I consider it a very valuable crop for farmers to 

 raise. In the first place, we can get a very large product 

 from an acre. There is no difficulty in getting fifty tons to 

 the acre. There was a gentleman here this forenoon who has 

 raised seventy-three tons to the acre, upon sea-kelp alone. 

 But he had an advantage, that, perhaps, no other man will 

 ever have, except in that particular location. He used sea- 

 manure, kelp and such like, in abundance, — he had all he 

 wanted, and the result was that enormous growth of seventy- 

 three tons. I have grown, myself, and I feel very sure of 

 growing, under favorable circumstances, fifty tons to the acre. 

 There is no difficulty in that, but it requires good land, good 

 manure, and pleuty of it. I laid out for a crop of sixty tons 

 to the acre this year, but did not get more than forty-five, 

 owing to the very severe drought. Here is a specimen of 

 the Norbiton red giant mangold-wurzel. I have already said 

 that it is necessary to have plenty of manure to grow this 

 vegetable. Perhaps it is unnecessary for me to say anything 

 about sea-manure, because, I presume, hardly any of you 

 have an opportunity to get it. But salt is good for this crop. 

 Green cow-manure is good for this crop. Any strong, nitrog- 

 enous manure is valuable for this crop, as it is a gross feeder. 

 My method of cultivation is in rows, twenty-two inches apart. 

 I sow with the brush seed-sower. Four or five pounds of seed 

 are required to the acre. It is a good plan to have seed 

 enough. You may not all have observed, that the beet-seed, 

 as we see it, is not the seed itself, but simply the hull, which 

 contains two or three seeds ; so that what appears to be one 

 beet-seed is, really, two or three. Therefore, the crop must, 

 of necessity, require thinning. They should not be thinned 

 the first weeding, because sometimes the cut-worm will destroy 

 a good many, and it is well to wait until the second weeding, 

 when the plants have attained a little size. If the season is 



