252 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
I March 20, 1890. 
MANGOLDS. 
For its full development this crop requires a season of about 
five months ; but excellent crops may be produced in four months, 
and this valuable root is worthy of a trial in every locality where 
-that period of genial weather may be relied upon. Very useful 
roots are to be had in the shorter period, but there is no doubt 
that in a favourable climate autumnal showers impart much addi¬ 
tional weight to the roots, and the best crops of Mangold are 
obtained where the sowing is possible early in April, and the roots 
are not clamped till the middle of October. We were able to 
manage this at our home farm last year, and we certainly never 
had a better crop. 
In very fertile soil Mangolds answer well if sown upon the 
flat ; but we have a decided preference for sowing upon the ridge, 
because of the greater certainty of a crop. With the roots estab¬ 
lished in moist rich farmyard manure growth goes on steadily 
through vicissitudes of weather which, to say the least, do much 
harm to the crops on the flat. The Mangold is a gross feeder, and 
'it is useless to attempt its cultivation without plenty of manure, or 
rather in soil that is deficient in fertility. A reliable authority 
has shown that the chief manorial elements withdrawn from the 
soil by a full crop per acre is of nitrogen 147 lbs., potash 300 lbs., 
and phosphoric acid 52 lbs. Well, but farmers are not chemists, 
and we will not ask them to enter upon difiicult calculations as to 
the precise quantity of each of these essential elements of fertility 
which they must place in the soil before sowing the Mangold seed, 
but rather to consider the condition of the seed bed, and endeavour 
to form a sufficiently clear idea of its manorial requirements. If 
it had a full dressing of chemical manures for a corn crop last 
year, and has had annual dressings of manure previously, then 
from fifteen to twenty cartloads of dung in the furrows will suffice 
without any addition of chemical manures ; but if the soil is so 
exhausted of fertility as to contain very little residue from former 
applications, then both dung and chemicals are indispensable. We 
repeat the formula of chemical manures per acre which we gave 
on page 100—f-cwt. muriate of potash, 1;|^ cwt. nitrate of soda, 
■2 cwt. steamed bone flour, 1 cwt. common salt, and 1 cwt. mineral 
superphosphate. 
The process of cultivation is as follows :—Make the furrows 
30 inches apart with the double-breasted plough, place the dung 
evenly in the furrows, cover it by splitting the ridges with the 
same plough, press down the ridges slightly with a light roller, drill 
the seed (7 lbs. per acre) with the chemical manure mixture, 
follow with the light roller to press the soil well upon the seed. 
In mixing the manure for drilling the nitrate of soil must be well 
broken up with the back of a shovel, and the entire mixture passed 
through a sieve to prevent any stoppage of the drill. A sharp 
look out must be also kept in sowing, to see that seed and manure 
are sown in a regular uniform manner. Negligence in this matter is 
bound to appear eventually, every stoppage of a coulter leaving 
a blank space in the rows, which is subsequently in evidence 
throughout the season. Weeds and Mangolds spring up together, 
and the hoes must be at work soon after the plant is fully visible 
along the rows. A rather light quick-stepping horse and a light 
patent expansion horse hoe are best for this work between the 
rows, and hand-hoeing of the rows and plant-singling should all be 
paid for by the acre, the minimum outlay for hand work being Gs., 
any increase in the cost being caused by the foulness of land, for 
there must be persistent hoeing till the weeds are got under. More 
than once we have tried to withdraw the hoes during the hay¬ 
making, but this cannot be done if the land is fonl, and it is much 
better to keep the hoes steadily at work, for if they are once with¬ 
drawn haymaking is so engrossing that it is difficult to arrange to 
spare any of the men from it till it is ended. 
Repeatedly have we seen it advised to withhold nitrate of 
soda from the sowing, and apply it subsequently as a top-dressing 
after the plants are up and growing freely. This is a mistake, 
because the action of soda so used is very speculative, and in a 
drought it would do no good ; but drilled with the other manure 
and the seed, it enters the soil sufficiently for its moisture to act 
upon it as a solvent, and there is no possibility of any serious loss 
of nitrogen then. 
Do not forget that our object is the dual one of obtaining a 
full crop of roots for winter food, and a thorough cleansing of 
weeds from the land. This is really a sensible sort of fallow, by 
means of which we get rid of weeds without any thought of such 
folly as resting the soil. On the contrary, it is stored with sufficient 
fertility for the demands of the Mangolds, and there is an ample 
residue left for the corn crop which follows next season, to this 
there is some slight addition from the Mangold leaves that are 
ploughed in immediately after the crop is cleared off. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
As the Turnip folds are finished the ploughs follow closely and the 
corn sowing is done at'once. Where the land is at all heavy and a fine 
seed bed for Barley is doubtful. Black Tartarian Oats are now used as 
a more suitable, more certain, and more profitable crop. We recently 
heard it laid down that sheep-folding was a good preparation of land 
for Oats. Why, of course, said one, and we were only too glad to find Oats 
were taking a legitimate place among other crops, and that really good 
land was being used for them. Land intended for Mangold that was 
not ridged in the autumn has had the duck-foot harrow over it two or 
three times to break the cap and render it friable for the seed. A few 
hours’ exposure to wind and sun then brought it into capital condition 
for the ploughs to follow. The dung carts are busy on every favourable 
opportunity carting dung from the yards to the furrows, and the work 
is so forward that we now feel tolerably assured of being able to get in 
the seed early next month. 
The area of laud usually devoted to roots will be much reduced on 
the heavy land farm this year, and forage plants are being sown instead 
for silage. Our special aim in this work is a heavy crop ready for 
clearance between haymaking and harvest. Calculations may be made 
with tolerable certainty, as silage requires no harvesting. All we have 
to do is to get as heavy a crop as we can, to mow, stack and press it 
right off when it is fully grown. Simple enough, is it not ? AVe may 
add that it is equally sure, and we may give expression to a feeling of 
certainty that tenant farmers of such land will eventually discontinue 
cultivating expensive root crops and turn altogether to silage for their 
chief supply of winter food. The usual mixture of Oats and Tares with 
the addition of a bushel of Italian Rye Grass makes splendid silage if 
sown now and stacked in July. We have recently had pleasing evidence 
that our advice about silage has been turned to good account, and we 
would urge all who can spare a few acres of land to give it a trial. The 
whole thing is a certainty, and it forms a wholesome, nourishing addi¬ 
tion to the dietary of both sheep and cattle at a nominal cost in com¬ 
parison with that of hay and roots. 
Erratum. —In the Home Farm article last week, page 232, the 
following mistake occurs : —In Mr. Sanders Spencer’s dietary for pigs 
“ Broad Bran ” has been printed “ Broad Beans.” 
MSTEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 61° 8S'40’'N.; Long. 0° 8'0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
1890. 
Hygrome- 
a . 
Shade Tem- 
Radiation 
d 
ter. 
zi d 
perature. 
Temperature. 
a 
In 
On 
03 <a 
Dry. 
Wet. 
So 
H 
Max. 
Min. 
Bun. 
grass 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sunday..... 
29.833 
39 4 
34.8 
w. 
39.2 
44.3 
84.1 
86 3 
28.1 
0.168 
Monday. 
30,202 
40.9 
40.2 
s.w. 
87.9 
51.4 
30.4 
59.9 
^.8 
0.098 
Tneaday ... 
. 11 
50.251 
50.8 
47.5 
8.W. 
39.9 
56.9 
404 
86.8 
39.7 
— 
Wednesday. 
. 12 
80.8«7 
45.4 
44.3 
S.W. 
41.1 
58.0 
39.3 
96.9 
33.9 
— 
Thursday... 
. 13 
30.0.52 
44.8 
41.3 
S.W. 
41.6 
43.1 
40.9 
519 
34.2 
Friday . 
29.845 
44.2 
41.2 
K 
413 
56 2 
39.1 
84.7 
33.3 
Saturday ... 
J5 
39.638 
47.8 
46.4 
s. 
41.8 
54.5 
43.7 
91.3 
35.1 
30.027 
44.8 
42.2 
40.4 
52.8 
38.1 
: 80.1 
32.7 
0.266 
REMARKS. 
9lh.—Generally fine and bright with one or two ehowera of anow or hall. 
10th,—Very wet till 10.30 A M , then dull and driezly; fair evening. 
11th.—Generally cloudy in morning; bright afternoon and evening. 
12 th.—A lovely spring day; mild and almost cloudless. 
13th.—Overcast thronghont. 
14th.—Slight fog till 10 A.M., then bright. 
15th.—Cloudy early; bright and fine after 11 A.iT, 
A week of flue spring weather. Temperature 8® above that of the preceding week and 
nearly 5® above the average.—Q. J. SYMONS. 
