Improvement of the Plants of the Farm. 
97 
The same principles apply in the breeding of plants and 
animals. Cross-breeding is a method of introducing new cha- 
racters, and selection of modifications is a method of moulding 
according to taste or fancy. The more the former practice is 
resorted to, the greater the diversities among the offspring, and 
therefore the greater the need for selection. As an example 
among roots I may mention the Golden Tankard mangold, 
a superior variety, which cattle will fight over when it is put 
in the trough with other kinds. It is yellow in flesh with 
yellow leaf-stalks, and it requires constant selection on account 
of its mixed breed, being a cross between a yellow and a red 
mangold, and inclined to reproduce the characteristics of the 
original parents — the red marks of one, or the yellow skin 
and white flesh of the other. 
It is possible that some of my informants may be a little too 
partial to particular varieties, nevertheless a few extracts from 
their obliging communications will show that improvements 
have been attempted and accomplished, unless a great number 
of the most practical authorities are deceived. An experienced 
informant, J\Ir. John Fryer, of Chatteris, says of mangolds in 
the fens — 
" Mangolds are also largely grown. By far the most valuable as regards 
quality of root, amount of saccharine, &c., is the ' Golden Tankard,' first 
introduced by Messrs. Sutton and Sons. Any kiud of cattle, horses, or pigs 
will pick these out to eat first amongst any other sort. I have known them 
to retain their sweetness up to August, when other kinds were acrid or taste- 
less, and pitliy or dry. The yield per acre is not quite so great as the long 
• Mammoth Red,' or perhaps the ' Yellow Intermediate,' but I have grown 
60 to 60 tons per acre, which I should prefer for use to 60 or 70 tons of any 
other kind." 
Other seedsmen possess other sorts as good perhaps. One 
correspondent recommends the above-named sort of mangold 
for sheep, and another sort, the Mammoth Long Red, for cows. 
There may be some force in such a distinction, but the main 
point must be that a mangold should store well. 
" Thirty-five years ago," says a successful selector, " I assisted 
in the improvement of a globe mangold for Mr. Brandreth Gibbs, 
of Half Moon Street, Piccadilly ;" and this sort, he says, had 
a skin as tender as an apple, and a single tap-root so free from 
the clinging fangs of coarse mangold, that the crop was easily 
lifted, in fact you could walk down bet ween the rows and turn 
the roots out of the ground by giving them a kick right and 
left. More than twenty years ago the same grower was engaged 
in the improvement of mangolds for one of our most active firms. 
He has also devoted much attention to the carrjt, which has 
been a valuable crop in his district since the introduction of a 
sort which has sold well in the London market, and which vields 
VOL. XX. — S. S. H 
