106 RESULTS WITH MANGELS 



MANGEL WURZEL 



This variety of beetroot is grown for cattle feeding and not 

 for the manufacture of sugar; the object to be borne in mind in 

 its cultivation is thus the production of a large amount of food 

 per acre, and the percentage of sugar in the root becomes a 

 matter of secondary importance. 



In the soils and climates suitable to it, mangel is a crop of 

 extremely vigorous growth, and when well supplied with food 

 is capable of yielding an enormous produce. The quantity of 

 ash constituents required to produce a large crop of mangel is 

 very great ; a crop of 22 tons will probably contain in root and 

 leaf 300 Ibs. of potash. The mangel crop is a good feeder, and 

 is much better able than most crops to obtain a supply of 

 phosphates and potash from the soil. When grown on a soil 

 fairly supplied with cinereal plant food, the bulk of the crop 

 depends mainly on the supply of available nitrogen, and con- 

 centrated manures such as sulphate of ammonia, and nitrate of 

 soda, produce a striking effect. There is probably no crop that 

 responds more abundantly to applications of purely nitrogenous 

 manure than mangel wurzel. 



i. Experiments at Rothamsted. The field experi- 

 ments with mangel wurzel began in 1876, following those 

 with sugar-beet, and were carried out with the same manures, 

 and on the same land. The plots in the mangel field had indeed 

 received the same manuring for many years previous to the 

 commencement of the mangel experiments, and the accumula- 

 tion or exhaustion of various elements of plant food had thus 

 already made considerable progress upon the various plots. 

 We shall confine our attention to the results which illus- 

 trate the effect of ammonia salts. 



The whole of the manures for the mangel plots are applied 

 to the land and harrowed in before the final ploughing which 

 forms the ridge on which the seed is dibbled. The farmyard 

 manure is applied immediately before the final bouting, and thus 

 occupies at last the centre of the ridge which carries the crop. 

 Superphosphate is used at the rate of 3^ cwts. per acre. The 

 alkali salts are composed of 500 Ibs. sulphate of potash, 200 Ibs. 



