, MANGEL-WURZEL. 183 



name, have called this " root of scarcity" a great 

 misnomer certainly, as it will grow by good man- 

 agement to the amount of forty tons per acre. As 

 it begins now to be largely cultivated, it is more 

 properly allied to the farm than to the garden, but 

 as some part of the latter, both for the sake of eco- 

 nomy and the benefit arising from a change of crop, 

 is fitly allotted to the feeding of cows, this new 

 plant is well worthy of a place. It should grow 

 to the size of a sturdy leg; but if it attain only to 

 the thickness of your wrist, either your ground 

 wants trenching, or you have committed some error 

 in the cultivation; and it will be important, there- 

 fore, either to acquire the needful art, or to aban- 

 don a crop which, without proper management, will 

 prove indeed the " root of scarcity." If your soil 

 wants depth, rather choose for it a plant that grows 

 above ground: this must get down, but it will not 

 like an iron pike, force its way through rock or till. 

 It must not only have an easy road, but something 

 good beneath to invite it downwards. 



With regard to transplanting, though recom- 

 mended by respectable writers, it may be observed, 

 that in a climate where all the growing season is 

 needful, no loss in this way ought to be sustained. 

 Where a single root of this mangold may grow to 

 the weight of thirty or even fifty pounds the grower 

 cannot easily go wrong; but here, as there is a loss 

 of time by transplanting, so the loss to the crop is 

 irreparable as is the case with the Swedish tur- 

 nip, though it agrees not ill with the like operation. 



