STORING ROOTS. 67 



This covering of earth and straw is sufficient to keep out any cold 

 that is not much below zero. In colder or warmer sections judgment 

 must be used to increase or lessen the covering. In providing 

 against an excessive cold, the covering of straw is to be increased, and 

 not the earth, as the straw is really the non-conductor. Vents or 

 chimneys, made by a three-inch drain-pipe, or anything of similar 

 size, are placed every six or seven feet along the top of the pit, resting 

 on the roots, so that the moisture and heat may escape. In extreme 

 cold weather these vents or chimneys should be closed up, as the cold 

 might be severe enough to get down to the roots. Pits so constructed 

 rarely fail to preserve roots perfectly until late in spring, and are in 

 every respect preferable to root cellars ; for, no matter how cold the 

 weather may be, they are easily got at ; the ends once opened, the 

 soil forms a frozen arch over the pit. Hundreds of tons of mangels, 

 etc., may be put in a long pit of this kind. 



There are two or three points that you make, Mr. Henderson, that I 

 think might be improved upon. When you state that in the 

 absence of stable manure, bone dust, superphosphate or guano 

 should be applied at the rate of three to five hundred pounds 

 per acre, I would say that in my practice I have found in recent 

 years that 1,000 pounds of any of these fertlizers is not too much. 

 Again, when you speak of digging the mangels up I think you advise 

 unnecessary labor, as mangels can be pulled up without trouble, our 

 practice being as follows: One man takes two rows. Having a sharp 

 knife in the right hand, he catches hold of the top of the root with 

 the other and pulls it up from the ground, cuts the top off and lets the 

 root drop into the furrow at his right hand, the top being dropped to the 

 left. By this means two men have taken up forty cart loads per day, each 

 cart holding thirty-two bushels of sixty pounds per bushel. With 

 reference to your system of preserving in winter, I can give you no 

 better evidence of its practical value than by showing you to-day 

 (llth of July) sound roots that were placed in my root pits last fall, 

 grown somewhat, to be sure, but still in good condition to feed to 

 hogs. 



Q. In this article nothing has been said about thinning the plants 

 of mangels, turnips or carrots. Will you please state, Mr. Crozier, 

 what is your method of thinning the crop in the drills ? 



A. I use a ten-inch draw hoe. The man standing partly sideways, 

 shoves his hoe from him, and then drawing it back cuts out the 

 width required, thus leaving the plants in small bunches ten inches 

 apart. It is an operation that is done very rapidly. Two men by 

 this method can thin or single out an acre per day. In a few days 

 the plants left will again straighten up. We leave the thinnings 



