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Cultivation of Beet. 



ments. The land is therefore common-ploughed to a sufficient 

 depth in seasonable weather, and harrowed and rolled immediately 

 after the plough, so as to give a fine surface before the land has 

 time to harden into clods : this is repeated till a sufficient depth 

 of mould is secured for ridging. Farm-yard manure is mosdy 

 applied for mangold, though a dressing of part dung and part 

 artificial manure, such as guano, drilled in with the seed, is, 

 frequently used, and is perhaps better than dung alone, though 

 for mangold it is better to depend on farm-yard dung alone, than 

 it is on artificial manure. Unprepared manure is very frequently 

 used, though there is some difhculty in covering it in ; it is, 

 therefore, advisable that the dung should have some slight pre- 

 paration. With this intention, it is removed from the yards 

 during winter, and laid on a bottom of heavy soil in the Meld 

 intended for beet, the carts being drawn across the heap to con- 

 solidate it, and by that means prevent loss from excessive fer- 

 mentation : a short time before applying the manure to the land, 

 it is well mixed by turning ; so that at the time of carting it is so 

 far advanced in decomposition, as to force the young plants into 

 a rapid growth. The time for sowing is April and the beginning 

 of May ; the time varying, of course, with thfi state of the weather 

 and land. In commencing ridging and manuring, the following 

 is the plan of operations — the great object being to cover the 

 manure before it becomes wasted by evaporation, and to drill the 

 seed before the land gets dry on the surface : — Three acres are 

 ridged, manured, the manure covered in, the ridge rolled, and the 

 seed drilled in, and then rolled again. To effect this, one man 

 is employed drawing out the ridges at 27 inches, with a double 

 mould-board plough drawn by a pair of horses; and another man 

 with a similar plough splitting the ridges to cover the manure. 

 About 14 two- horse loads of dung are applied per acre; and to 

 manure 3 acres, it will require 3 carts and 5 horses, the manure 

 heap being conveniently placed in the field — viz. 1 cart filling at 

 hill, 1 cart going and returning to the hill, and 1 unloading; 3 

 men filling manure, 2 boys driving, 2 men throwing off the manure 

 from the cart, and 4 or 5 women or boys spreading the dung in 

 the ridges. The manure is spread by the 2 men, one standing 

 on each side of the cart over 5 ridges, or rather 5 furrows, the 

 horses being kept at a slow walking pace, by a boy who rides the 

 shaft-horse. As soon as spread from the cart, the boys and wo- 

 men divide and shake the manure with forks evenly at the 

 bottom of the furrows, and the plough follows closely upon them 

 to cover in the dung before the gaseous parts fly off altogether, 

 and the liquid becomes wasted by evaporation. After the ridges 

 have lain exposed to the air a short time, they are rolled with a 

 light roller, and the seed drilled, from 4 to 5 lbs., according to its 



