966 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK x 



advisable to make special efforts in the autumn, so that the spring 

 operations may be lightened, and rendered more easy. It is sound 

 practice to select a piece of clean stubble land, and manure it with 

 long dung. The land is ploughed during dry weather in the autumn, 

 and left untouched until spring. If a clean piece of land cannot be 

 found, that which is selected should be cleaned by horse labour, or, if 

 not very foul, it should be hand-forked to get out the patches of couch. 

 The winter frosts will make the soil friable, especially if the autumn 

 ploughing has been done in dry weather, and in the spring it can 

 readily be reduced to a tilth and sown. The seeding is similar to that 

 for swedes, except that from 5 to 7 Ib. of seed, according to the rough- 

 ness of the land, are sown per acre. The seed requires very slight 



Fig. 446. Long Red Mangel. 



covering; if deeply buried it will not germinate. On land free from 

 annual weeds, the seeding may be commenced at any time in April, 

 but on land much troubled with weeds such as knot-grass or hog-weed 

 (Polygonum aviculare), it is found inadvisable to put the seed in until 

 the beginning of May. This is the more necessary since, if cold weather 

 should follow the seeding, the mangel seed will not germinate, but the 

 weeds will, and the latter eventually smother the mangel plants, so that 

 it becomes impossible to set them out. Except for this danger, it is good 

 practice to get the mangel in as early in the season as a good tilth can 

 be prepared, after danger of severe frost has passed. 



The mangel crop does not suffer from mildew to any serious extent ; 

 in fact, it is exceedingly rarely that the plant is attacked at all, unless 

 it has received injury, in the form of bruises, or cuts with hoes. 

 Mangel should be set out when small, as the plants are very hard to 

 single when they are big, owing to a habit the roots have of inter- 

 twining. In some seasons, however, the grub of the mangel-fly is very 



