22 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Janu ry 1,1891, 
PRIZE ROOT CROPS. 
This is certainly a suitable subject for our first article in the 
Kew Year, pointing as it does to that desire to excel which should 
enter into plans now being made for another twelve months’ span 
of time. That roots are an expensive crop is true enough, but we 
can assure our correspondent “ H. R. W.” that his desire to win a 
prize or two regardless of cost need not involve an unprofitable 
outlays, and before entering upon cultural details it may be well 
to see something of the cost of growing an acre of Mangolds. 
A recent computation has shown the entire cost involved for 
tillage, seed, manure, and every process of cultivation, inclusive of 
the final clearance and clamping of the crop, as well as rent, rates, 
and taxes, of an ordinary crop is about £8. IE to this we add 
another £4 for the additional manure required for the production 
of a crop suitable for a prize competition, we have a total of £12 
as the maximum cost of the crop per acre. As tending to show 
■what may be done by the use of good seed in conjunction with 
'high culture we quote from a report of Messrs. Webb’s recent 
root competition. “ Crops of G3 tons per acre, grown by Mr. J. 
Harvey, Darlaston Grange, Stone ; 58 tons 10 cwt., by Mr. J. W. 
iPocock, Twigworth Farm, Gloucester ; 54 tons 8 cwt, by Mr. R. 
Smith, High Bank, Spalding ; and 36 tons 1 cwt., by Mr. T. Almack, 
■North Milford Grange, Tadcaster,” whioh shows an average of 
53 tons per acre, ev?n with Mr. Almack’s comparatively small crop, 
small be it remembered by comparison with those grown in a more 
southern climate, but undoubtedly large for Yorkshire. 
Of Swedes grown for the same competition, the first prize crops 
in different localities were 41 tons 17 cwt. per acre, by Mr. 
•J. Harvey of Stone ; 33 tons 10 cwt., by Mr. W. H. Evans, Radyr 
Court, Cardiff ; 37 tons 4 cwt., by Mr. A. Callwood of Northfield, 
Birmingham ; 44 tons 2 cwt., by Mr. J. Trickett, The Moss, 
Sandiway, or an average of about 40 tons per acre, the average of 
more northern districts being about 33 tons per acre. 
Under ordinary circumstances land coming in due rotation for 
roots is low in fertility, and more or less foul with such weed pests 
as Couch Grass, Charlock, Coltsfoot, Thistles, and Docks ; its culti¬ 
vation for the crop is termed a half fallow, and a crop suitable for 
a prize competition can hardly be expected from such land. We 
mention this by way of precaution as a thing to avoid. After the 
irecent exceptionally fine autumn there ought to De plenty of clean 
land on every farm, we would choose some of this that is fairly 
^rich in fertility, and preferably that -which is now in ridges for the 
winter. This, however, is not imperative, and it may be best to 
assume that “ H. R. W.” has a field that was cleared and ploughed 
in autumn, and so left in readiness for spring cultivation. As 
soon as the soil is dry enough next March, it should be stirred 
with a duck-foot harrow, or light cultivator, across the furrow.^', 
and then thrown into ridges 26 inches apart with a double-breasted 
plough, and the furrows half filled with rich farmyard manure. 
Then sow broadcast over the ridges and farmyard manure a mixture 
of chemical manure, consisting per acre of 1 cwt. muriate of 
i.potash, 2 cwt. nitrate of soda, 2 cwt. steamed bone flour, 1 cwt. 
superphosphate, and 4 cwt. common salt. Let the double-breasted 
.plough follow at once to split the ridges so as to turn back the 
'Soil over the manure, and then the new ridges so formed will be 
ready for the seed. Arrange the work so as to have the manure 
of both sorts on the land by the last week in March, not sooner, 
and then sow the Mangold seed early in April. To be quite safe 
•use‘8 lbs. of seed per acre, pressing the tops of the lidges before 
and after the seed drill with a light Barley roller, and drilling in 
the seed along the top of each ridge light over the farmyard 
manure, in view of having the roots of the young Mangold 
plants established in it as quickly as possible, in order that there 
may be no check to the growth from drought, a matter of vital 
importance, having much influence upon the final result. 
Annual weeds are certain to spring up more or less thickly with 
the Mangold plant, and the horse hoe must be at work between the 
rows quickly after they appear, and again from time to time till the 
spreading leaves of the Mangold crop render it impossible to use 
horses among them. Hand hoeing must be done close to and 
among the rows for keeping down weeds and chopping out plants 
before the singling is done by hand. Pay no heed to any rule about 
the number of times to hoe, but see that weeds are kept under 
altogether, so that the legitimate crop may have full benefit from 
the manure. The tillage, manure, early sowing, careful singling, 
and persistent hoeing are each and all indispensable to ensure a 
full crop of at least forty tons. The plants should be 18 inches 
apart in the rows. 
The culture for Swedes is precisely similar to that for Mangolds, 
only the sowing should be a fortnight later, and the chemical 
manure mixture should consist of 1 cwt. muriate of potash, 14 cwt. 
nitrate of soda, 2j cwt. steamed bone flour, and 2^ cwt. mineral 
superphosphate, with plenty of rich farmyard manure. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Frost and snow have brought work on the land into a very narrow 
compass, carting and draining being about the sum total of what can be 
done now. The value of a well arranged lambing yard will certainly be 
felt this season, but an ordinary fold can be made very snug indeed by 
means of an unlimited supply of straw and hurdles. See that the shepherd 
has also ample supplies of pea and oat straw, chaff, crushed oats, bran, and 
mangold delivered to him at the fold, and avoid taking him away from 
the flock at all now to procure such things. If he is to care for his 
charge in the right way he must have such assistance. See also that no 
lambs run any risk from exposure to cold cutting winds. Shelter and 
nourishing food must be had if we would save the lambs and rear them 
in lusty condition. Better be without a flock at all than to neglect it 
in any way, and we certainly consider it negligence to leave pregnant 
ewes to pick up a scanty subsistence on pasture, and to fall off so much 
in condition as to seriously affect the health of the lambs. 
Where cream of more than ordinary richness is cared for some 
addition may now be made to the cows’ food with material advantage. 
A change of food is always desirable, and a mixed dietary invariably 
answers best. We shall now begin to use Mangolds sliced or minced 
for the cows, and the mixed food consists of bran, crushed oats, decorti¬ 
cated cotton cake, and Smith’s palm nut meal in equal parts, 3 lbs. 
of the mixture being given twice daily at milking time. The bulk of 
the cows’ food continues to be the bast meadow hay throughout winter, 
and to those of our readers who have hitherto been content to give only 
a very moderate quantity of hay, and have not kept in the cows off the 
pasture, we say, try the effect of the mixed food, with a full allowance 
of hay, and thorough shelter in the form of a clean littered shed or 
hovel. Note carefully the result, and we are very confident you will 
have reason to feel pleasure in having followed our advice. It is easy 
enough to have rich milk at midsummer, but it is not so easy to have it 
in midwinter, but it is quite possible, and, too, the extra outlay for food 
is well repaid by the superior milk yield which so quickly follows the 
regular use of it. Remember, also, that thorough shelter is, in its way, 
actually nourishing to the cows, as it prevents that exhaustion arising 
from exposure which has to be made good by food. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 82^ 40" N.; Long. 0° 8^ 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 AM. 
IN THE DAT. 
S-: 
Hygreme- 
C3 . 
Shade Tem- 
Radiation 
a 
1890. 
o ^ 
ter. 
r la 
q = j 
perature. 
Temperature. 
03 
December. 
a ^ 
B o**- 
0,) ^ pH 
In 
On 
M £ 63 
Dry. 
Wet. 
5o 
H 
Max. 
Min. 
snu. 
Rrass 
Inches. 
deg 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sunday.21 
SO.300 
33.2 
32.4 
F.N.E. 
31.1 
36.2 
21.4 
41.2 
23.4» 
— 
Monday.22 
30.358 
27.2 
16.6 
>i.E. 
34.0 
28.6 
14.9 
29.1 
5.6 
— 
Tuesday .... 23 
30.051 
28.4 
28.3 
S E. 
33.9 
31,9 
15.7 
31.9 
0.5 
_ 
Wednesday.. 24 
3 .o3o 
2r.9 
28.8 
E. 
33.9 
31.0 
2.1.0 
36.0 
27.8 
_ 
Thursday.... 25 
30.355 
20.0 
25.1 
S W. 
31.0 
31.2 
21.6 
31.7 
14.9 
Friday .26 
3 .847 
30.3 
3i>.2 
SE. 
33.8 
B6.2 
23.2 
39.8 
14.3 
Saturday .... 27 
30.3.3 
31.6 
30.6 
N.E. 
33.9 
31.4 
29.4 
£8.2 
26.0 
0.'2l 
30.SOI 
28.0 
27.6 
33.9 
32.9 
22.3 
35.4 
16.8 
0.021 
o ....jverea oy iresu ouuw. 
REMARKS. 
Slst.—Overcast momin? and thaw; fair afternoon ; cold clear night. 
2tnd.—Severe frost; fog all day, rather dense In the evening. 
23rd.—Gloomy throughout, with fog at times. 24’.h.—Overcast, hut free from fog. 
25th.—Vine, with an hour’s sunshine at miduay. 2Srh —Overcast all day. 
27th.—Fine early ; occasional sprinkles of suow in morning, and a slight fall m afternoon 
and evening. 
Another exeeptionally cold week, the most remarkable feature of the frost being its 
duration, for on Christmas Day, 18 >0 and ,Ianua-y 4th. 18 >7, ths ten perature fell to 6 7", 
while the lowest recorded this month it Q. J, SViiONS. 
