SEEDS AND SOWING. 169 



Magdeburg, hand labor is preferred, as the fields are 

 divided, and the average pay of a workman is less than 

 in France. 



Sowing hvadcast has now been generally abandoned 

 in consideration of the seed reqnired, the impossibility of 

 accomplishing it with regularity, and the difficulty and 

 expense of thinning out, which in all cases must be 

 done — the remaining roots requiring to be at equal 

 distances or in rows. There is one case where this 

 system cannot be abandoned, and. that is when future 

 transplanting is to be considered. Years ago Mathieu, 

 Dombasle, Gasparin, and others advocated, the latter 

 method of growing the beet, thus giving a longer 

 period in the soil than by any other. We are convinced 

 that the idea is a good one. Generally the first sow- 

 ing takes place on a spot well protected from the cold. 

 "When the young roots have attained a size about equal 

 to one's finger, this operation commences. It is ad- 

 visable to choose a cloudy and damp day. If, on the 

 contrary, it is dry, it is well to water the soil with a 

 weak solution of urine. Several days may elapse be- 

 tween the two periods : extracting from the ground 

 and transplanting, providing the young roots be placed 

 in a vertical position, ends upwards, in vats filled with 

 earth. If the seeds have been sown in lines the middle 

 line of roots is pulled up and the remaining thinned out, 

 leaving between each beet the required distance. When 

 the soil is ready to receive these a hole is dug with a 

 stick, and in this the root is placed and the sides are 



12 



