CHAP. iv. MANGEL. 965 



tubers can be avoided. Besides, in some of the chief potato-growing 

 districts it would be impossible to obtain hand labour enough to raise the 

 crop when the weather is suitable between the period of its maturing 

 and the time when hard frost may occur to injure it. The ordinary 

 potato plough can be made to do first-class work, especially when the 

 back sifting bars are properly placed, but there is often too much room 

 left between those directly behind in the line of the plough, and then the 

 tubers fall through with the dirt and are covered up right in the bottom 

 of the furrow, and these are never recovered like those that are easily 

 harrowed out from the new ridge thrown up by the plough. 



The crop is better carted off at. once and pitted alongside a 

 cartway or place with a hard bottom so that the carting from the pit 

 may be practicable in soft weather ; the tubers should be thickly strawed 

 over in pits from 3| to 5 feet wide, according to fancy, one spit 

 deep and ridged up nicely to a point. The straw should be yealmed 

 on and then a thick covering of earth placed over, nowhere less 

 than 6 inches in depth ; before winter a thick covering of any straw- 

 like material should be placed all over the pit to make the potatoes 

 thoroughly secure from damage by frost. 



When putting up for market it is of great importance to make a 

 good ware 1 sample ; all the small ones that have not passed the sieve 

 should be picked out, as well as all that are green-ended, diseased, 

 damaged, or bad-shaped. These will invariably spoil the market 

 to such an extent that the return for the truck load is as much 

 without them in it as it is with their additional weight, and conse- 

 quently they are simply being thrown away. 2 



MANGEL (Beta vulgaris, nat. ord. Chenopodiacse). This (figs. 446 to 

 448) is one of the most valuable of the root-crops, rivalling the swede in 

 feeding properties, and exceeding it in keeping qualities; the latter 

 render it the more useful, as the mangel takes the place of the swede 

 when that begins to lose its best feeding character. Mangel is not adapted 

 for feeding in the autumn, and though much is given to cattle in winter, 

 it is undoubtedly best to hold it over for spring and summer consumption. 

 In autumn the mangel is in an unripe condition, and the food contained 

 in it is not in a form to be readily assimilated by animals. During winter 

 the starch is gradually converted into sugar, the pi'ocess continuing for 

 some months. Mangel is fit to feed earlier when grown on light soils 

 than on heavy soils. The produce is in the best condition for feeding 

 from March to July, though it will not always keep so long. 



The preparation of the land for mangel differs from that for swedes, as 

 the seeding takes place somewhat earlier, and therefore under less favour- 

 able circumstances. This being the case, it is generally considered 



1 "Ware"' is a term used among growers, and in the London markets, to denote all saleable 

 tubers larger in size than seed potatoes. Tubers which will not pass through a riddle of If in. 

 or 2 in. mesh are usually regarded as ware; those which pass through such a sieve, but not 

 through one of 1 J in. mesh, are seconds, or seed ; and those which pass through the latter are 

 "chats." Extremely large tubers are often picked out to sell to bakers, as they injure the sale 

 of the ware. 



2 Mr Arthur W. Sutton, at various times, has written some excellent papers on the origin of 

 the cultivated potato, the production of new varieties, and its cultivation, which have appeared 

 in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society and other publications. 



