16 



three tons only would be obtained. Experience has proved, that 

 the roots do not get to a larger &ize in rows three feet apart, than 

 they do in rows two feet apart. It may therefore fairly be pre- 

 sumed, that they would not be larger, in rows twenty-seven 

 inches apart ; and if not larger, the weight of the crop, per acre, 

 must be less, because the plants decrease in number as the rows 

 increase in space." 



To the preceding account of cultivating the Mangel Wurtzelj 

 i will subjoin a few ^ 



REMARKS. 



In this mode it is intended that every two feet of ground 

 should bear one plant: and as an acre contains 43,560 square 

 feet, there will be half of that number of plants on an acre, and 

 the roots must weigh nearly five pounds each, on an average, 

 to yield forty-eight tons. The land must indeed be strong to 

 produce so heavy a crop. If our lands, enriched and prepared 

 in the best manner conveniently in our power, can be made to 

 yield half as much, we shall have reason to be satisfied : espe- 

 cially as ihe Mangel Wurtzel, quantity for quantity, contains 

 more than twice as much nutritive matter as the Ruta Baga, and 

 even fifty per cent, more than Carrots ; according to the experi- 

 ments (by analysis) of a celebrated English Chymist, Sir Hum- 

 phry Davy, which he stated to the British Board of Agriculture, 

 These experiments were made with the red and white beets ; 

 but it is presumed that the Mangel Wurtzel produces as much 

 nutriment as any other beet. 



Instead o£six it may be advisable to apply at least twelve, cubic 

 yards (that is six such cartloads as were before mentioned) of 

 manure to an acre ; and to distribute the same in deep furrows 

 four feet apart. This would give four square feet of ground to 

 each plant, the plants being at a foot distance one from another 

 in the rows : and the rows, four feet apart, would admit the use 

 of the common horse-plough in their cultivation. 



Carrots and the Mangel Wurtzel possess one eminent advan- 

 tage : that they are not, to my knowledge, annoyed by insects at 

 any period of their growth. Whereas the RiUa Baga and other 



