312 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
I April 12, 1888. 
ROOT CROPS. 
Mangolds, Kolil Rabi, Swedes, and White Turnips are the root 
crops which are found upon most farms, and in addition to them 
Carrots and Parsnips are occasionally grown, but as the two latter 
crops are only used for horses and cows as an addition to the 
ordinary dietary they need not be taken into account for general 
purposes. Potatoes, too, are undoubtedly a profitable crop to grow 
for sale if the market be within a moderate distance of the farm, or 
where special facilities for speedy and cheap carriage exist, and on 
farms where there is a systematic process of cooking food for 
cattle or pigs Potatoes are very useful, but they should never be 
used uncooked, as our correspondents occasionally suggest. 
The serious failure of many such crops from drought last year 
will probably lead to some curtailment of the space generally 
allotted them, and to improved culture. This certainly w'ill be a 
■step in the right direction, for we hardly need contend that if it is 
worth while growing roots at all it certainly answers to afford 
them the highest possible cultivation, and an acre of really fine 
roots is much more satisfactory and profitable than half a dozen 
acres of starveling roots. Repeatedly hive we seen failures with 
Mangolds solely owing to a want of manure. To make a deep 
furrow or drill along which a very little farmyard manure is scat¬ 
tered—not enough, in fact, to cover the bottom, as we have often 
seen—to turn back the soil and sow the seed, is very poor practice 
indeed. The seedlings invariably come up puny and weak, and 
under the most favourable conditions of weather the crop is a poor 
one ; but if drought sets in it is practically a failure. Such un¬ 
satisfactory results are so clearly a foregone conclusion that it is 
matter for wonder how anyone can allow himself to make such a 
■deliberate bid for failure, and it is done repeatedly. Far better 
would it be to leave half of the land uncropped, and to cultivate 
the other half thoroughly. 
Excellent crops of Mangolds may be grown without farmyard 
manure, but we prefer using it in combination with chemical 
manure, because, as we have so frequently explained, it contains so 
much moisture that once established in it the young plants are 
practically unaffected by drought. With the rows about 2 feet 
ap^rrt thirty cartloads of muck per acre spread thickly along the 
furrows is not too much, and before turning back the soil over the 
muck apply the Norfolk dressing of 3 cwt. of common salt and 
1 cwt. nitrate of soda by scattering it upon the muck and soil. 
This dressing should suffice to produce an excellent crop of roots, 
and we hardly think the application of a second hundredweight per 
acre after the singling of the plants desirable, because the effect of 
this supplementary dressing must be speculative except in a wet 
s’immer. All things considered, we prefer our application of 
manures to be done as we have shown before the sowing, so as to 
have the soil well stored with fertility for the plant, and we 
certainly cannot suppose there is any risk of a loss of nitrogen 
before the roots are in full activity in the soil. We like to get 
this out of hand, and the singling and hoeing done as far as possible 
before haymaking begins. Sown now the plant is certain to be 
forward enough for our purpose, but land that is foul with roots 
and seeds of weeds wiU require the repeated use of both horse and 
hand hoes. Especial care must be taken to have the hand hoes 
going as soon as weeds are visible, for we have seen Charlock so 
rampant among Mangolds that it had to be pulled out by hand. 
In Swede culture we prefer the Norfolk custom of sowing 
Swedes as soon as the land can be prepared after the Mangold 
sowing is done. Some roots may be spoilt by mildew, just as some 
of the Mangolds bolt to seed from early sowing, but the per-centage 
of waste from such blemishes will be small, and there will be an 
ample amount of compensation in the superior bulk of the re¬ 
mainder of the crop. We may mention by the w.ay that the bolting 
of INIangolds to seed may arise from seed saved from such “ bolters,” 
for which reason we prefer having our seed from a reliable source, 
even if we do pay a little more for it. The sowing of Swedes as a 
successional crop in alternate breadths with White Turnips often 
answers very well, and the plan has the additional merit of a 
variety of wholesome if not very nutritious food. A crop of late- 
sown White Turnips is always useful at this season of the year for 
the lambs. We have now a flock of ewes and lambs upon a piece 
of small but very sound roots altogether preferable to large tough 
woolly roots. 
A certain breadth of Kohl Rabi is of especial value for autumn 
folding of land left under half-fallow. We saw excellent crops of 
it last year where Swedes were practically a failure, and it may be 
regarded as decidedly a more certain crop than Swedes. It requires 
very much the same cultural process as Mangolds, and the same 
manure, of which it is certainly worthy. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
April has brought with it the much-desired change of weather, and 
the corn drills have been kept going daily for the past week, and the 
Bailey sowing will soon be over. All that we wanted was a few inches 
of the surface dry enough for drilling in the seed, and we ga^re orders 
that no deep stirring of the soil with duckfoot harrows, horse hoes, or 
cultivators should be done before the sowing, for every day is precious 
now, and the seed on the whole has been sown very well. Germination 
and growth will follow so quickly that we must be on the alert to get 
as forward as possible with all work on the land before the hoes are 
required for the corn. The Excelsior drills prove of especial service 
now, sowing the corn, manure and small seeds at one and the same time. 
This is certainly one of the best labour-saving appliances we have tried. 
It is light, yet very strong, and so simple in construction that we have 
really had no difficulty in getting our horsemen to understand and 
manage them at once. There are dial plates with indications by which 
the quantity of seed and manure sown is regulated to a nicety, and the 
land measurer attached to the drill shows the number of acres sown 
daily. We have long deplored the cost of drilling under the old system, 
which required three horses, two men, and a boy, but with new drill one 
man with a pair of horses can do the work expeditiously, and to our 
entire satisfaction. At first the horsemen said they should not be able 
to manage those straight rows with it upon which every drillman in 
East Anglia prides himself upon doing just a little better than anybody 
else, but we at once said the necessary degree of skill for this would 
soon be acquired, and at first we should be content if the whole of each 
field was sown. 
We are sowing Sainfoin extensively this spring, some of the seed 
being home-saved, and other seed has been purchased at 24s. per sack of 
4 bushels. Red Clover seed has fallen wonderfully in price since the 
season began, when 50s. per bushel could be had for pure bright seed, 
but it has now fallen below 30s. This seed, with Lucerne, mixed Grasses 
for temporary or permanent pasture, as well as Rye Grass, should now 
be sown without loss of time, for the soil is moist and is becoming warm, 
and in the best possible condition for the seed. To wait and have to 
encounter the possible risk through drought would certainly be wrong. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 
CAMDEN 8QUAKE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 32'40"N.; Lcng. 0° 8-0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE day. 
e 
*3 
» 
1888. 
April. 
Barome- t 
ter at 32® 
and Sea j 
Level. 1 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
Temp, of 
soil at 
1 foot. 
Siiade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass 
Inches. 
deg , deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sunday. 
1 
30.0G3 
39 7 37.4 
X.E, 
40.0 
49.4 
82.8 
0 !.0 
2.'>.4 
— 
Monday. 
2 
2!).8G7 
42 b 3H.2 
\V. 
39 8 
4S.8 
300 
78.G 
0.0.9 
Tuesday .... 
y 
20 80.1 
S7.7 ; S.*)! 
N.E. 
30 7 
4fk3 
30 6 
93.3 
25.2 
— 
Wednesday.. 
A 
20.702 
80.G 1 JU.O 
W. 
39a> 
42 0 
20 1 
74.3 
22.2 
— 
Thursday.... 
b 
30. 70 
37.0 34 7 
X.E. 
384 
4‘J.5 
20.8 
94.2 
22.8 
Friday . 
G 
30 270 
37 0 .‘52.0 
X. 
8H 4 
47J5 
27.7 
08.1 
2HA 
— 
Saturday .... 
7 
30.24ti 
38 2 1 3G.n 
N. 
38.5 
49.0 
27.0 
8).2 
20.1 
0081 
3‘.03) 
3S.'> 31.5 
30.1 
47 2 
iO.8 
88 7 
22.8 
o.io:t 
REMARKS. 
Is'.—A'Tight spring day. . ...... 
2nd—slight shower in aioruing, otherwi-e fair till n.d'', then dull and showery; col 
clear nlglir. 
3rd.—Generally bright,hut with one or two sliglit hail and snow sliowers. 
4tli.-ltrigli' early ; dull morning, with f eqnent flakes of snowfalUng; fair afternoon. 
6th. -Bright early; fair morning, wUh occasional fl.fkes of snow; bright afternoon, cold 
night. 
Gth.—Bright and clearmorning, cloudy afternoon with spots of rain. 
7th.—Fine and generally bright day ; rain in evening and night. 
3Incli Wrif'ii snnslinie, but air and nferht; a cold wccJv, the ftverj£0 
being ratiier br?lnw tiJUL drte N’.—CJ .1 Sv.vf ns. 
