64 THE DAIRYMAX'S MANUAL. 



The roots mostly grown for the purpose are mangels, 

 sugar beets, carrots, and parsnips. The method of cul- 

 ture is the same for each. 



The soil for roots must be rich. A corn stubble lib- 

 erally manured in the fall, and plowed so as to cover 

 the manure in even layers intermingled with the soil, and 

 lying at an angle of fort^'-five degrees, and so remaining 

 during the winter, then cross-plowed and thoroughly 

 harrowed in the spring, is the best preparation for a crop 

 of roots. The manure becomes thoroughly incorporated 

 with the soil and decomposed, and affords excellent food 

 for the roots. The land is plowed early in May, and im- 

 mediately harrowed deeply to make it mellow and fine. 

 The seed for mangels and sugar beets, four to six pounds 

 per acre, according to its freshness and reliability, is sown 

 by a hand drill m rows twenty-seven inches apart. 

 The drill leaves a roller mark over the seed by which the 

 rows can easily be seen. As soon as the seed is sown, 

 600 pounds of salt and 300 pounds of the best superphos- 

 phate per acre are sown evenly over the surface. The 

 horse hoe is started in the spaces between the rows a 

 week after the seed is sown, the roller mariis serving 

 as guides. When the plants are up in the rows a gar- 

 den hand cultivator is run across the rows, with the cut- 

 ters set to ten inches in width. This is run back and 

 forth, leaving four-inch spaces between the cultivated , 

 rows in which the plants are left. A great deal of hand 

 hoeing is thus saved, and the hand cultivator may be used 

 as frequently as the horse hoe is, to mellow the soil be- 

 tween the plants, and to prevent weeds in these spaces. 

 The cost of the crop is reduced one-half by this method 

 of cultivation. 



When the crop covers the ground and the leaves meet 

 in the rows cultivation ceases. When fully grown the 

 roots are harvested as follows. A man with a sharp, 

 heavy hoe goes along one row and clips off at a stroke 



