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in it, seven inches asunder, to make three holes, about an 

 inch deep ; one seed put in each hole (two, if the seed does 

 not appear very good) ; the top of the ridge being made 

 fine with a small rake, the plant which is at first very feeble, 

 is thus enabled soon to get its head above ground. All 

 under-ground grubs will, from its sweetness, attack it from 

 the time the seed vegetates, till the plant becomes the size 

 of a radish ; and many plants are frequently eaten oft', just 

 at. the top of the ground, when they have become as thick 

 as a carrot. I never before failed in my mangel wurzel 

 crop as I have failed this year. That part of it sown about 

 the middle of April will be a fair crop, but the rest sown in 

 May only came up after the rain on the 22d June, and then 

 a great part of it was eaten off in the ground by a grub, or 

 sort of worm, which is found coiled up, but when 

 straightened out is of this length and thickness 

 By letting the plants that have not been eaten stand at half 

 the usual distance, and filling up the failing ridges with 

 transplanted mangel, and turnip seed, 1 do not despair of 

 having a fair crop of useful green food. It is the usual 

 custom to manure at the time of sowing ; nnd so it is likely 

 to continue, because the land is not till then in proper 

 order to have the manure applied to it ; but mangel wurzel 

 will do the best when the manure is incorporated with the 

 soil ; the ridges then can be better formed, the mould does 

 not so run down from them ; besides which they then lie 

 on a loosened subsoil, instead of one trodden hard by the 

 horses. The best crop I ever had was after a carted-offcrop 

 of Swedish turnips, without any other manure than was 

 given to the turnips. I, and all others who saw the crop, 

 thought it as fine a one as could possibly have been seen ; 

 still, however, it did not come near the reported weight of 

 some crops, being only fifty tons per acre. The marble 

 kind will produce the greatest weight, but I cultivate the 

 blood-red, which is more like beet ; it has a less proportion 

 of water in it, and therefore must possess more fattening 

 qualities. The yellow, from an experiment made for me by 

 the celebrated Andrew Knight, Esq. is the most nutritious 

 of all. Mr. Knight found it to possess five and twenty per 

 cent, more saccharine and nutritious matter in it than the 

 marble kind. Any person putting a bit of it in his mouth 



