Cultivation of Beet. 



221 



35 perches long. As the heap is made it is thatched with straw 

 about 1 foot in thickness, and in a few days mould from the 

 trenches is dug and placed over the heap, leaving the straw 

 exposed on the top of the ridge ; to prevent heating, some place 

 faggots to serve as chimneys or ventilators; but these are not 

 required if the ridge be left open. 



The trenches h h keep the bottom of the heap dry, and are 

 filled up when the moulds are thrown off. Some farmers take 

 the precaution of throwing another coat of straw or haulm over the 

 earth ; but this is not necessary if the first layer of straw is 

 moderately thick. Mangold are best stored as dry and clean as 

 possible, and to remove the soil from the roots they are gently 

 knocked together by the persons who fill the carts ; but if laid up 

 wet and preserved from the frost there is no fear of their not 

 keeping sound through the winter. The greatest danger is in the 

 spring, when the roots will sometimes grow and heat, and rapidly 

 become rotten. To prevent this the mould should be removed 

 entirely from the heap in the spring when it is no longer re- 

 quired to keep out the frost : this will prevent heating, and the 

 roots will keep sound through the summer. Some look the heap 

 over, picking out the decayed roots (if any), and rubbing off the 

 shoots, and then cover up again, or remove to a barn or outhouse. 



There are many other modes of storing beet which answer the 

 purpose very well, but we question if there is any practice so 

 advantageous for a large quantity as that described above. To 

 cover two or three hundred tons of beet with straw only, laid on 

 sufficiently thick to keep out the frost, would require an immense 

 quantity of straw. Some of the other methods are to lay the beet 

 against a wall, and then thatch with straw ; or to stack the beet 

 within hurdles and cover with straw. The hurdles are double and 

 stuffed with straw. 



On stiff land mangold leaves are best ploughed in for manure, 

 but on land benefited by folding they are certainly best fed oft* 



