ROOT CROPS BEETS. 335 



mode of securing them, is to put them in pits, into which but 

 a small quantity of air is admitted. When left in the ground, 

 they are much better in the spring than when exposed to the 

 air in cellars. Daubeny states, that they may be preserved 

 perfectly, by freezing them up solid in the fall, and thawing 

 them in the spring and rapidly drying them. 



The following is an estimate of the value of this crop in 

 Massachusetts. Ploughing §4,00 per acre ; manuring in hill 

 $15,00 ; seed, 20 bushels, worth $5,00 ; two hoeings, $4,00, 

 and digging, $10,00 ; amounting in all to $38,00. The aver- 

 age produce is 200 bushels to the acre, worth at least $50,00. 

 This would give a net profit of $12,00 per acre. In some 

 places, the value of the crop is more than double this sum ; in 

 others, less than half of it. But $12,00 per acre may be re- 

 garded as an average profit on every acre of potatoes culti- 

 vated in the State. 



Beets. There are several varieties of this root ; four vari- 

 ties, at least, are cultivated to some extent in this country. 



1. Mangel Wurtzel. This is the largest, and most pro- 

 ductive of the family. 



Fig. 20- 



The soil required for this crop, is a deep, moist, clayey 

 loam. The tillage, as in all cases with root crops, should be 

 deep ; and the sub-soil plough used, to render the earth per- 

 meable by the roots, to the depth of 12 or 16 inches. The 

 seeds may be sown with a drill-barrow, (Fig. 20), and covered 

 with a hoe in rows about 2 feet apart, or they may be dropped 



