444 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October. 
Raising our own Seeds of Root Crops. 
The question, whether a farmer shall raise his 
own seeds for his root crops, may be answered yes, 
or no, according to circumstances. If he can pro¬ 
cure his seeds from those who make a business of 
raising them, and who have a reputation for the 
excellent quality of their seeds, he can not afford 
to grow them himself. If, on the other hand, he 
must depend upon seeds of the origin of which he 
knows nothing, such as are often found at country 
stores, or if he has a 
“strain” or particular 
variety which exactly 
suits him, and is 
doubtful if he can get 
just such seeds again, 
he had better raise 
them himself. If he 
has concluded to raise 
his own seeds, his 
work should begin 
this fall, at the time 
of harvesting his root 
crop. It makes no dif¬ 
ference whether the 
crop is Mangels, Ruta¬ 
bagas, Parsnips, or 
other roots, the same 
rule applies to all. 
The selection of roots 
to be used for seed- 
producing, should be 
carefully made when 
the crop is dug. It 
must be berne in 
Fig. 1. —rough-skinned mind, that all of our 
BBET - root crops are mon¬ 
sters, so to speak, produced by cultivation, from 
very inferior wild plants, and if they are at all 
neglected, they will revert to their original state. 
The various forms our roots assume are often 
widely different from their natural one, and in 
raising seed, we must select those specimens 
having the qualities we desire to perpetuate. 
We may best illustrate our meaning by a few 
engravings of different forms of beets. The beet 
is found wild 
upon the shores 
of Western Eu¬ 
rope, Asia, and 
Northern Africa. 
By long cultiva¬ 
tion and selec¬ 
tion, a great num¬ 
ber of varieties 
have been pro¬ 
duced ; these dif¬ 
fer greatly in the 
size and shape of 
the root, and in 
the class of “Sug¬ 
ar-beets, ” their 
quantity of sugar 
has been, within 
a few years, more 
than doubled. 
The“Rough-skin- 
ned,” or “ Bark¬ 
skinned ” beet, 
better known in 
English gardens 
than in ours, is 
one of the oldest 
of cultivated va¬ 
rieties, and prob¬ 
ably more like the 
wild beet than 
any others. This 
(figure 1) has a 
root of medium 
size, rapidly tap¬ 
ering down wards, 
Fig. 2.— COMMON MANGEL. and With itS t0 P 
near the surface 
of the soil. In the varieties known as mangels, or 
mangold wurtzels, the root is greatly increased in 
size and grows largely out of the ground, but still 
preserving its elongated form. Figure 2 gives the 
most common form of the mangel, of which, as of 
others, there are red and yellow colors. As a 
spherical form will cover the greatest amount of 
contents, cultivators have worked in the direction 
of producing mangels as nearly globular as possi¬ 
ble. The “ Ovoid Mangel” (figure 3) is a marked 
step towards a perfect shape, which is reached in 
the “ Globe Mangel,” (figure 4). To show what 
selection in particular direction will do, we give 
the “Cow-horn Mangel” (figure 5), in which length, 
only, has been regarded. These variations in beets 
and mangels, occur, more or less strikingly with 
turnips and other roots. The greater the departure 
from the normal form, the greater the care needed 
to keep a variety true to its kind. The farmer who 
would raise his own seeds of beets, turnips, onions, 
etc., must begin by selecting those roots or bulbs 
for seed-bearing which most nearly approach his 
ideal of the kind he would grow, and preserve 
them separate from the general stock until they 
can be planted in early spring, though onions for 
seed may be set out in the fall. This care in selec¬ 
tion, applies to every plant in farm and garden. It 
will pay the farmer to go through his field and se¬ 
lect the best heads of wheat,, or heaviest panicles 
of oats, and raise his seed grain from the produce 
Fig. 3.— OVOID MANGEL. 
of these, which should be sown especially for the 
purpose. Selection of seed corn will in a few 
years show a marked improvement in the crop. 
In ' the garden, 
a similar course 
with tomatoes, 
melons, and all 
othersfrom which 
he cares to save 
seeds, will give 
an ample return 
in superior pro¬ 
ducts. The adage 
—“ like produces 
like” is, within 
certain limits, as 
true of plants as 
of animals. Care¬ 
ful selection is 
the secret of suc¬ 
cess with both. 
In raising seeds, 
whether from 
roots or seedling 
plants, careful 
“ roguing ” is 
necessary. Go 
over the bed or patch, and pull up every plant 
that does not come up to the standard ; also those 
which are later and less productive than the rest. 
\tv 
4 -=$• 
Freezing Meat without Ice. 
We are in receipt from Sidney, of an account of 
an interesting method employed in Australia for 
Fig. 5.—COW-HORN MANGEL. 
Fig. 4. —GLOBE MANGEL. 
freezing meat for export. The principle upon which 
this process depends is familiar to those who have 
given any attention to physics. It may be popu¬ 
larly described thus : When air is compressed, its 
capacity for heat is diminished, and it gives off 
a large share of the caloric it held, the containing 
iron cylinder becoming very hot. With a pressure 
of fifty pounds to the square inch, the tem¬ 
perature is raised to about three hundred 
degrees Fahr. This cylinder, and its con¬ 
tained compressed air, is cooled off by means of 
water, to the temperature of the surrounding air. If 
the compressed air be suddenly liberated, it must 
regain the heat it lost upon compression, and takes 
it from any substances with which it may come in 
contact. The apparatus consists of a steam engine 
and pumps to coudense air into strong cylinders, 
with an arrangement to cool the air as it is com¬ 
pressed. This compressed air is liberated in a 
tight chamber in which the meat is stored, and 
in taking to itself the heat it lost when com¬ 
pressed, cools, and gradually freezes the meat. By 
means of the apparatus, the air of the chamber, in 
this case the hold of a hulk, has its temperature 
reduced to forty degrees below zero. The meat 
hung there in due time becomes frozen as hard as 
stone. The carcasses of sheep are’ completely 
frozen in thirty - six 
hours, but quarters of 
beef require five or six 
days to become thor¬ 
oughly solidified. Meat 
is frozen in the same 
manner at inland points, 
brought to the port in 
) i 1 
cars with their double sides filled with saw-dust, and 
transferred to the hulk. The steamer for Europe 
is provided with a similar refrigerating apparatus ; 
when ready to sail, the meat hulk is towed along 
side and the frozen meat rapidly transferred to the 
cool storage room, and kept in the same condition 
during the voyage. In London there is a store¬ 
room, cooled by a similar apparatus, ready to re- 
cieve the meat from the steamer. By this arrange¬ 
ment the meat after it is frozen in Australia, does 
not once thaw, until it is ready to be delivered to 
consumers in England. The whole cost, including 
the first freezing, inland transportation, storage 
and ocean freight, is said to be three pence per 
pound before it reaches London. One company 
has contracted to take sixteen cargoes of five 
thousand sheep each. This is a matter which our 
western cattle shippers may profitably investigate. 
The method is important for shipping meat to 
Europe, and for supplying Eastern markets, and 
may supplant the transportation of live animals. 
