Convention—BOOT Crops for the farm. 237 
On rich ground and with good culture, I think that the giant 
mangels will yield the greatest amount of feed to the acre, but un¬ 
der less favorable circumstances and treatment, the crop will be 
meager, and not equal to the sugar beets. They are not so well 
provided with foraging rootlets as the latter. They stand so far 
out of the ground that, while it is a great help in harvesting them, 
it exposes them to all untimely freezing in a greater degree than 
any other root. If they are sensibly frozen, it will greatly increase 
their tendency to rot. I should plant of them not more than the 
quarter of my crop. 
The white Belgian carrot has given me the best satisfaction of 
any root which I have raised. It does not burrow so deeply as the 
long orange, but yet is not easily injured by early freezing. It has 
some tendency to run up to seed, but not enough to sensibly injure 
the yield. The long orange was fully up to it a year ago, but in the 
past season has fallen decidedly behind it. 
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The American sugar beet was my best crop the past season, and 
I propose giving it an important place in the future. It is harder 
to dig than the mangels, because of its burrowing habits, but this 
guards it against untimely freezing. I have several times tried 
the globe mangels, but they do not seem capable of so great yields 
as the other roots. The only drawback in the culture of parsnips 
is the difficulty in harvesting them. They cling so tenaciously to 
the ground that it is difficult to pull them, even with a deep furrow 
plowed by their side. They will yield about two-thirds as many 
bushels to the acre as carrots, are easy to keep, are relished by 
stock, and I purpose increasing the area which I give to them. 
In harvesting the mangels, we top them as they stand in the row; 
the wagon is then driven along by the side, and they are thrown in 
without difficulty. They are dropped from the wagon through a 
hole in the granary floor, where they lie until taken up for feed. 
The sugar and other beets are topped in the same way, but a per¬ 
son digging them will want a spade to strike down by their side to 
start them, when with a slight blow against the spade handle, to 
jar off adhering dirt, they are thrown into the wagon. 
In harvesting the carrots, we take out a row in the middle of the 
patch, and then by back-furrowing, throw away the dirt from the 
succeeding rows. The plow is set to run narrow and deep, and we 
plow three furrows to the row. We aim to run as closely to the 
