114 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
about half to three-fourths of an inch deep ; 
in sand or light gravel, twice this depth. 
The rows may be from two to three feet 
apart for a field crop—three feet is the best. 
This distance enables one to use the culti¬ 
vator for weeding, without danger of cutting 
or covering the plants by the dirt being 
thrown up as it passes through the rows. 
The product is not quite so great per acre 
from wide rows, but land being cheap and 
labor dear in America, we must study to fa¬ 
cilitate manual operations, at the same time 
that we have some calculation to a good 
yield. Four pounds of seed per acre is gen¬ 
erally considered enough, but it is better to 
have a dozen extra plants to thin out, than 
to be obliged to transplant one. Those 
transplanted do not thrive half as well as 
those that remain where they vegetate ; be¬ 
sides, the labor of so doing is more expens¬ 
ive than extra seed and time of thinning. 
We therefore mean in sowing to have a good 
seed dropped as near as every two or three 
inches in the drills. 
After Culture .—As soon as the weeds be¬ 
gin to appear, run the horse-hoe or cultiva¬ 
tor between the rows, and follow with the 
hand-hoe. It is very essential that the 
ground be kept clear of weeds, especially for 
the first two months, and three hoeings with 
the use of the cultivator are generally suffi¬ 
cient for the season. As the plants attain a 
height of about three inches, they should be 
thinned to a distance of about four inches, 
leaving the strongest and healthiest; then 
during the season as they grow, gradually 
thin out the remainder, leaving the roots in 
the rows at least nine or ten inches apart. 
If left too thick, they shade and choke each 
other in growth, and the product is not so 
great as when well thinned. These thin¬ 
nings are valuable to feed to stock during 
the summer, and are frequently considered 
equal to half the expense of the cultivation 
of the whole crop. 
Harvesting .—When the leaves begin to de¬ 
cay and turn yellow, is the best time to 
gather the beets, for if left longer than this 
in the ground, the roots grow hard and 
strong, and do not yield so great a per cent 
of saccharine matter. This of course will 
take place earlier or later in different clim¬ 
ates, and is undoubtedly as good a rule as 
can be given, it being adopted after a strict 
chemical analysis of the beet in its various 
stages of growth. If the soil be light, as the 
roots generally grow so much out of the 
ground, they can be pulled up by taking hold 
of the tops with the hand—but if more tena¬ 
cious, the dung-fork is the best instrument 
that we know of for digging them. Let 
part of the hands be at this operation, and 
the other part follow with large knives or 
bill-hooks ; taking up the root with one hand, 
top off the leaves with the other, and toss 
the roots into small heaps to dry through the 
day, and if left out over night and there be 
danger of frost, let them be lightly covered 
over with leaves or straw ; a hard frost in¬ 
jures the roots, and makes them more liable 
to decay. They may then be taken to a 
well-ventilated cellar, or be pitted in heaps 
of 100 to 200 bushels. The beet is rather 
apt to heat and commence sprouting if 
thrown into large heaps, or packed away in 
the cellar. If put in the latter place, any 
other roots except the turnip may be placed 
at the bottom, and the beets on top, and if 
in pits the same roots or straw in the'center. 
All the beets then have a good ventilation, 
and an opportunity of throwing off the im¬ 
pure air; and to facilitate this, after cover¬ 
ing the heaps with dirt, holes should be 
made every few feet on the top of them, and 
wisps of straw be placed in such holes. In 
this way we have experienced no loss or 
deterioration in the value of the root, but 
have preserved them till May, as fresh, 
sound, and sweet, as when first taken from 
the ground the preceding fall. In a climate 
as far as 39 degrees north, they might be 
preserved all winter in tolerable tight sheds 
and barns. 
Feeding .—Throw them on to the ground 
or floor, and take a liay-knife or spade, and 
a man will slice up a bushel a minute suffi¬ 
ciently fine to prevent cattle choking on 
them ; or they may be cut very rapidly in a 
root-cutter. The best way to cook them for 
stock is by steaming ; but they can not be 
kept so over two days in warm weather, and 
a week in cold, without undergoing a fer¬ 
mentation, and losing the saccharine matter 
so grateful to the taste and so essential to 
nutriment. Either raw or cooked, stock 
frequently prefer them to meal or corn. 
Raw, we think them as nutritious as any 
root whatever, and as far as our experience 
extends, three bushels of beets with neat 
stock, is equal to one of Indian meal. Hogs 
demand less bulk to fill themselves than cat¬ 
tle, and perhaps their value to them would 
not be in as great a proportion. All kinds of 
stock are fond of them, but care must be 
used in feeding (the same as with other 
roots) to pregnant animals a month or two 
before the time of parturition. Poultry are 
very fond of the sugar beet, especially geese, 
ducks, and turkeys. 
Product .—Four hundred bushels is a fair 
yield in field culture, but six or eight hun¬ 
dred per acre is about as common. We 
have grown at the rate of 1,300 bushels to 
the acre on a hard clay soil, and our average 
field product is usually 600 bushels. We 
have heard of 3,000 bushels being produced 
to the acre on rich loams. The roots will 
frequently weigh from 17 to 20 pounds each, 
and 10 pounds is not unfrequent; now ad¬ 
mitting this last weight to each root, and 
that seven rows stood in the width of a rod, 
which would make them about two feet 
apart in the rows, and allow 60 pounds to the 
bushel, we should have the enormous pro¬ 
duct of 3,080 bushels to the acre; but roots 
so large are coarse, stringy, and not unfre- 
quently hollow, and have much less saccha¬ 
rine matter in proportion to their bulk, than 
smaller ones. Those of about 5 pounds 
weight are far superior; and these standing 
one foot apart in rows, and the rows about 
three feet apart, will give the large yield of 
1,100 bushels per acre, which is quite as 
great a product as it is desirable to strive 
for, and upon the whole, perhaps the most 
profitable. 
Raising the Seed .—There is as much in 
choosing proper roots for this purpose, as in 
selecting animals to breed from, and the 
same general rule holds good in both cases 
—a medium size and fine true form. Roots 
weighing four to six pounds, and of four to 
six inches in diameter at the top, and nine 
to thirteen inches long, and smmoothly and 
evenly tapering to a point, without strag¬ 
gling branches, and of a creamy white color 
and smooth grain, are the most desirable. 
“ Like produces like,” and with such selec¬ 
tions followed up, the crop will soon run 
evenly of the same shape and size as the 
roots from which was grown the seed. 
Plant out the seed-roots about the first of 
May, three feet apart; and as the stalks 
grow, set small stakes round them in a cir¬ 
cle, and tie a cord from stake to stake for 
their support. When the seed shells easily, 
(which, if planted in May, will be in Septem¬ 
ber,) is the proper time to gather it. It 
ought to be spread out a few days on the 
floor of some high, dry room, or on boards 
in the sun till well dried ; it may then be 
packed away in boxes or barrels, or be put 
up in bags. We have generally found this 
essential to a proper preservation of all seeds. 
If not well dried before packing, they are 
apt to heat and mold, and lose their germin¬ 
ating powers. Two or three dozen roots 
will grow seed enough for acres, and at one- 
tenth the cost usually asked for it at the 
seed-stores. When grown at home, one 
knows what he gets, and as it comes to him 
abundantly and cheap, he can, without 
grudging, give to his neighbors, and thereby 
greatly promote the cultivation of this most 
valuable of roots. 
DURHAM CATTLE VS. ALL OTHER KINDS. 
We commend the following letter to the 
perusal of all who are seeking improvement 
in cattle breeding. We do not think Mr. 
Creasor speaks as highly of the Devons, 
however, as they deserve. On the light soils 
of our country they are greatly to be pre¬ 
ferred to the Short Horns. We believe the 
day is rapidly approaching when Short Horns 
and Devons pure, and their crosses on the 
native stock, will alone be of any considera¬ 
tion in our country. They are the two best 
breeds for general purposes unquestionably, 
and they are destined to become more and 
more popular and generally sought after 
from year to year. The coarse Short Horns 
Mr. C. speaks of, are the common grades of 
Yorkshire. They have little true Short 
Horn blood in them; they are mainly the 
coarse, unimproved, original stock of that 
country. 
To the Editor of the Mark-Lane Express : 
The Short Horn or Durham cattle are not 
only spreading over every county in England, 
but Ireland ; and the Long Horns will soon 
become extinct both in England and Ireland. 
There are many first-rate Durhams to be 
found in Scotland, and many fine Short 
Horns have crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and 
will soon spread all over the globe. They 
are a large size at early maturity. In Eng¬ 
land, the cows and heifers are worth more 
than any other kind for the milkman in the 
metropolis and other great towns. It is rare 
that you see a Hereford, Devon, or Long 
