114 RESULTS WITH MANGELS 



4. Practical Remarks. The cultivation of mangel in 

 the United Kingdom is limited to certain soils and climates. It 

 is very a valuable crop on the deep loams of the midland and 

 eastern parts of England, but is little grown in the western or 

 northern parts of the Kingdom, where swedes are found to be 

 better suited to the climate. Being planted earlier than other 

 root crops, and having deeper roots, the mangel crop is 

 especially fitted to resist drought. 



Mangel usually receives a heavy dressing of dung, which 

 is often supplemented by artificial manure. It may not un- 

 frequently be desired to grow mangel without dung ; this can 

 be easily and effectively done by using as manure a mixture of 

 sulphate of ammonia, or nitrate of soda, with kainite and super- 

 phosphate. The Rothamsted experiments show that, on an 

 average of a great many years, 4 cwts. of sulphate of ammonia, 

 with alkali salts and superphosphate, will give a crop quite 

 similar in quantity and composition to that produced by 14 

 tons of dung. On a farm, the ammoniacal manure would give 

 a better result than this quantity of dung ; indeed, in the Bath 

 and West of England experiments 3 cwts. of sulphate of am- 

 monia produced the same effect on the mangel crop as 20 loads 

 of dung. We have to recollect that at Rothamsted the dung 

 is used to great advantage, the dunged plot having received 

 the same dressing of dung every year for a great many years ; 

 the crop produced on it is thus to a considerable extent due to 

 the residues of the previous manuring. 



To grow mangels without dung, we might apply 4 cwts. of 

 sulphate of ammonia, 3 cwts. of superphosphate, and 5 cwts. 

 of kainite. If the land was poor in potash, it might be necessary 

 to replace i cwt. of the kainite with some concentrated potash 

 salt ; if, on the other hand, it was rich in potash, the kainite 

 might be reduced in quantity. This manuring should give an 

 average increase of 10-12 tons of roots. 



When farmyard manure is employed, but in insufficient 

 quantity to yield a full crop, we have further to consider the 

 nature of the additional manure. Ten tons of farmyard man- 

 ure will supply from 100-150 Ibs. of potash, only a part of 

 which can be assimilated by a crop in the first season. As an 



