Part 4

“Land highly manured with rich dung from the fattening boxes or stables, induces luxurious and vigorous growth in root crops, and, as is well known, has a tendency to develop over-luxuriance in the tops. This is the case more particularly if the dung is derived from fattening beasts, liberally supplied with oil-cake and artificial food, rich in nitrogenous constituents. If the Autumn turns out fairly dry and warm, the roots in highly manured land continue to grow vigorously, the bulbs swell to a large dimension, and if the weather in September and October continues warm and dry, a heavy weight, and fairly ripe roots, result from the liberal use of rich dung. But should the Autumn be cold and wet, too liberal application of good, well-rotten dung is apt to maintain the luxuriant tops in a vigorous, active-growing condition, at a period of the year when the crop has to be taken up, and the result is an immature root crop, of a low feeding value. Although the bulbs may be of a good size, they turn out, when grown under such conditions, watery, deficient in sugar, and not nearly as nutritious as they would have been had a more moderate dressing of dung been put upon the land. The main cause of the immature condition and low-feeding quality of Mangolds grown with an excessive quantity of rich dung is the comparatively large amount of ammonial and nitrogenous constituents in the dung; for numerous field experiments have shown that the peculiar tendency of ammonia salts, and of readily available nitrogenous substances is to induce luxuriant leaf-development and vigorous and prolonged growth, which results frequently in a more or less immature condition of the roots. There is thus danger of over-manuring crops; and the desire to produce heavy crops of Mangolds not unfrequently leads practical men not to appreciate sufficiently this danger. It is quite true Mangolds are very greedy feeders, and no doubt some soils will swallow up almost any amount of dung; but at the same time it has to be borne in mind that all land is not alike, and that there are many naturally rich clay loams containing immense stores of plant food which requires only to be brought into play by good cultivation in order to become available to plants. I am much inclined to think that it is a mistake to manure soils of the latter description too liberally with dung, even for Mangolds, and that in many cases a more economical result, and certainly a better quality of Mangolds, although not so heavy a crop, would be given, if instead of all the enormous dressings of dung which are often applied to that crop, the lands were manured in Autumn with only half the quantity of dung, and the seed drilled in with three to four cwt. of superphosphate or dissolved bones, which manures, as we shall see presently have a tendency to produce early maturity in roots. We frequently hear of complaints that Mangolds scour, or do not keep well. Complaints of this kind are only expressions in other words for the immature condition of the roots, and in many cases the cause of this undesirable condition has to be sought in the excessive amount of ammonial or nitrogenous constituents which are applied to the Mangolds in the shape of heavy dressings of dung. The same remarks apply with equal force to the exclusive and to abundant use of sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of soda, and nitrogenous manures in general. The special effect of all ammonial and nitrogenous manures in general, as already stated, is to produce luxuriant leaf development, to induce prolonged and vigorous growth, resulting in an immature and watery condition of the bulbs.

“Large roots, generally speaking, are far less nutritious than better matured roots of a moderate size. For illustration of this fact I quote the following comparative analyses:

+-----------------------------------------------------------+ | |Water. | | | |Nitrogenous Constituents. | | | | |Sugar, Pectine, &c. | | | | | |Crude Fibre. | | | | | | | Ash. | +----------------------+-------+------+-------+------+------+ | Mangolds 9 lbs. | 91.85 | 1.34 | 2.86 | 2.54 | 1.41 | | “ 7½ lbs. | 89.48 | 1.24 | 3.95 | 4.51 | .82 | | “ 4 lbs. | 89.77 | 0.73 | 7.68 | .89 | .93 | | “ 1 to 2 lbs. | 86.90 | 0.61 | 10.51 | 1.07 | .91 | +----------------------+-------+------+-------+------+------+

“Small Mangolds approach Sugar Beets in composition, whilst large Sugar Beets are hardly better than common Mangolds, and monster beets are even less nutritious than well-matured Mangolds of fair average size. Monster roots, as is well known, are always very watery, poor in sugar, and almost useless for feeding purposes.

“Big Berkshire beets,--one weighing 16 pounds and the other 12¼ pounds,--contained only 3.89 or 4 per cent. of sugar respectively, and in round numbers as much as 91½ per cent. of water. This high percentage of water is accompanied by a larger amount of albuminous compounds and of mineral matter, than the proportions in roots, containing very much more solid feeding matter. A large amount of albuminous matter and of ash, indeed indicates immaturity and poverty in sugar, a characteristic of big, excessively manured roots.

“Generally speaking, all nitrogenous manure, either should not be used at all, or only sparingly, for roots, on stiffish land, and all soils which contain a good deal of clay, are naturally cold and unfavorable to a vigorous and rapid growth. Light land, like most productive sandy soils and friable turnip loams, favors the quick and vigorous growth of roots, and is conducive to early maturity.

“Nitrate of soda has the same general effect upon root crops as nitrogenous manures, but it appears to be more energetic in its action, and, on the whole, to be a useful addition to home manures, and to increase the produce in roots more considerably than sulphate of ammonia. Its effect is specially marked upon Mangolds, and, to my knowledge, heavy crops of Mangolds have been produced upon rather light land by 1 1-2 cwt. of Nitrate of Soda, two cwt. of common salt, sown broadcast, and four cwt. of dissolved bones drilled in with the seed.

“Potash salts in some field experiments which I have tried in different parts of the country, have shown that Potash has a decidedly beneficial effect upon root crops, on poor, sandy soils; while on the majority of land, and notably upon clays or clay loams, or soils in a good agricultural condition, Salts of Potash do not increase the produce. The special effect of superphosphates, dissolved bones and similar phosphatic manures, is to produce early maturity; and hence phosphatic manures are employed in practice very largely, and with much benefit, by root growers. In free-growing, light soils, it is desirable either to use dissolved bones in addition to half dressing of farm-yard manure, as a manure for roots, or to spread broadcast 2 or 3 cwt. of salt, or 2 cwt. of guano and 1 cwt. of nitrate of soda and 2 cwt. of common salt, and to drill with the seed 3 to 4 cwt. of dissolved bones. On the heavier description of soils it is preferable to use mineral superphosphate for roots, especially if the land has been dressed in Autumn with a moderate quantity of dung.”

SALT AS AN AUXILIARY MANURE.

It will be seen by the table of analysis of roots, that the Mangold has in it a remarkably large percentage of Chlorine and Soda, the roots yielding respectively 9.9 and 18.4, while the tops give, 17.8 and 23.3. Salt being a combination of Chlorine and Soda, known to chemists as Chloride of Sodium, must therefore be a valuable auxiliary manure for Mangolds, that is, one to be used in connection with other manures. Practice proves what chemistry indicates. Prof. Voelcker tells us that “salt tends to check over-luxuriance in the tops, while it prolongs the period of active growth. In consequence of this specific action it may be employed with benefit as an auxiliary manure upon light land, in quantities not greater than five bushels to the acre.” Mr. Lewes, of New York, believes that by scattering over the surface, when the Mangolds develop the fourth leaf, four or five bushels of the refuse of the Syracuse salt works, which is about equal parts of salt and plaster, he has increased his crop ten tons to the acre. Mr. Lewes finds that salt tends to prevent a disease which sometimes attacks the leaves, known as “rust.” He states that it can be obtained at the works for about $3.50 per ton. Prof. Voelcker believes it would be injurious rather than beneficial on heavy land.

The quantity to be applied to the acre as given by practical growers, varies from four to twenty-five bushels. The effect is not always the same; one season the increase may be very striking and the next, under the same application, not be perceptible, the cause of which is not very clear, though it appears to give better results in dry seasons than in wet. The most striking effect from the application of large quantities, in my experience, has been on the borders of meadow land. A number of years ago I manured in the furrow with refuse herring bait, salt and all, just as taken from the fish barrels. The crop of Mangolds grown from this manuring was one of the largest and smoothest I ever raised. The next season the land was planted to Oats. In the Fall, while laying a heap of this oat straw in the barn, I chanced to use one as a tooth-pick. It tasted as though it had been pickled; thinking it was the result of some accident, I took another; that also was salt. This aroused my curiosity and on examination I found farther, to my great surprise, that all the straw tasted as though it had been dipped in pretty strong brine. Certainly this tremendous salting, over and above what the crop of Mangolds could use, to all appearance, had not lessened the bulk of roots. On meadow land, Mr. Ware of this town, thinks that in a dry season he doubled his crop by the application of refuse salt, at the rate of twenty-five bushels to the acre. In purchasing waste salt for this or any other agricultural crop, it is best to get the dirtiest lot possible, for this dirt is the waste of the fish on which it has been used, and consists mostly of fish scales, which for manuring purposes is decidedly the most valuable part of the fish. For this reason the waste from salted herring is probably the most valuable of all.

PLANTING THE SEED AND TENDING THE CROP.

Our ground being now ready the next step is to plant it: How much seed shall we need and how far apart shall we have the rows? The very best of seed is often disappointing in the matter of vegetating, and it is therefore best to plant with a liberal hand, for it is better to have to thin out than not have plants enough. From six to ten pounds of seed is the quantity used, the larger quality when planted for sugar purposes, the object in view being to get an even stand with all the roots the same distance apart, to attain which a great deal of thinning is necessary. As to the proper distance between the rows, practical growers will give various replies;--18, 20, 22, 24, 30 inches. The thirty inch men are those who expect to depend on the cultivator to do about all their weeding. That the crop does not require so much room to yield the greatest bulk, is shown by the experience of other cultivators, who have raised from forty to over sixty tons to the acre, with their rows from eighteen to twenty-two inches apart, while the greatest, crop on record, viz.:--of over eighty tons to the acre, was raised with the rows twenty-four inches apart.

Planting on ridges is often advised, but as far as I have observed, those who begin this way generally change to the system of level culture as they advance in experience. The only advantages I have found in the system of ridge cultivation have been that the Mangolds appear to grow with fewer roots, and are rather more easily weeded. These advantages in practice are more than off-set by the extra labor of making the ridges and preparing them for planting. Mangold seed is apt to come up badly. In France, where land is cut up into small areas and labor is cheap, one would expect to find as little waste as possible, but while travelling there I noted in their fields that the Mangolds were quite scattering. Mangold seed, like those of beets, are enclosed in a porous shell which itself is usually called the seed. By cracking these “seeds” the real seed will be found within, at the angles, from one to four in number, and when broken, if fresh, appear as white as flour. One reason why a portion of the seed fails to vegetate, is, I infer, from the quantity of moisture necessary to reach and swell the encased seed. For this reason, if planted during dry spells, care should be taken to get them down to a good depth, say an inch and a half deep, and then to pack the fine earth closely over them so that it may hold the moisture. Any machine, therefore, that is used for planting should have a good roller. To facilitate and hasten the vegetation, some cultivators practice soaking the seed, by pouring on water when almost at a scalding temperature, and letting the seed remain in it from thirty-six to forty-eight hours, being careful to keep it where the water will not fall below blood heat, then rolling plaster or dry soil, until it is sufficiently dry to drop readily from the machine.

Some prefer to plant by hand, believing that the greater certainty of getting the seed up and the greater regularity of the plants in the row is more than an off-set to the additional labor. In doing this some growers will drop the seed on the surface by the machine, and then follow and push them under to the depth requisite, with the thumb and finger; others use a strip of plank about four inches wide and three feet in length, on the under side of which are inserted wooden pins, every seven inches, the pins being one and a quarter inches in diameter and projecting two inches. The holes having been made, the seed are dropped in, and covered by the hand. Where blanks are found they may be profitably filled by transplanting the young Mangolds, care being taken to break off the tops of the larger leaves, and also to loosen the ground a little when planting them. If a time just after a shower is selected, the result will be very satisfactory. The transplanted roots when gathered in the Fall will usually be found with several small roots in place of a single tap root.

All root crops require prompt and thorough attention in the matter of weeding, and to lessen this costly department of labor they should not be raised on land abounding in the seed of weeds. Mangolds will require two or three hand weedings, besides as many slidings with the scuffle or wheelhoe. If too thick they should be thinned rather early in their growth, for I have oftentimes noticed that if this is left until the roots begin to develop, those left standing are apt to be dwarfed. It is best to give two thinnings. The plants should be left from ten to twelve inches apart; the crop of eighty tons was thinned to twelve inches apart and as the roots are more apt to grow coarse and prongy, and with less sugar in them, when far apart, I am inclined to ten or twelve inches as far enough. The object aimed at should be, as Prof. Voelcker has shown, to get the weight in many roots of medium size rather than in fewer roots of large size.

GATHERING AND STORING THE CROP.

Unlike other roots, the keeping qualities of Mangolds are destroyed by a temperature low enough to but little more than freeze the surface of the ground. In the late Fall when the growth is about completed, these much exposed roots have but few leaves to protect them and hence, where freezing weather is feared, the provident farmer will always give them the benefit of the doubt. If he is so unfortunate as to have his crop injured, let him at once get the most he can out of them, in the way of food, for though the injury at first may appear to be but trivial, the part frozen will become first corky and afterwards turn black, and ultimately rot. If but slightly frozen the frost may be taken out by at once covering the roots temporarily with earth, but such roots must be fed early or they will rot. Where the globe or ovoid varieties are grown, on land where they pull hard they may be lifted by running a subsoil plough with care. In pulling these, or any roots that are to be topped on the field, don’t do, as is usually done, either scatter them on the surface, without any system, or throw them into heaps, as in either way the cost of removing the tops is increased. If thrown in piles the tops become more or less intermingled, and the small amount of extra labor thereby caused in topping each individual root becomes great in the aggregate, when thousands are handled. Still it oftentimes happens that the weather takes a sudden, unexpected turn, threatening too low a temperature for the safety of the crop; under such circumstances the question is how to get it out of danger in the most expeditious way possible. The quickest way is to pull and throw into heaps, _roots in, tops out_, by which arrangement, should there be considerable of a freeze up, the tops would shield the roots. To protect them still more effectually earth may be shovelled over the heaps, so as barely to cover them, and when protected in this way they may be allowed to remain quite awhile awaiting the leisure of the farmer. Here let me say that this plan of protection will not answer for all crops, as I have learnt with Cabbages, to my sorrow, for when covered up this way, but for a few days, when taken out they will be found to be almost cooked by the great heat which they have developed.

In gathering all roots the great object is to have as few handlings as possible, hence, if the tops are not twisted off as the Mangolds are pulled, they should be laid in rows, tops in and roots out, four or more rows being put in one. It will be best to have two hands work together, and so make two of these rows, leaving a small passage-way between them, the roots being on the inside. Now let the topper follow with a large and sharp knife, and lop off the leaves to his right and left as he goes, being careful to so top the roots that each individual leaf will fall separately, which means that he is not to cut the top of the root itself, for unlike Carrots, Mangolds so cut are apt to decay when stored. For economical work the knife should be a large and somewhat heavy one, the blade eight or nine inches in length. A small grit stone for the use of the hands engaged in topping any kind of roots is always a good investment; is saves running to the barn for an occasional touch on the grindstone.

If the roots are to be marketed they will need to be left to have the earth on them dry, that it may fall off when loading, but if for use on the farm it will be rather of an advantage, as it will help keep them from wilting. The portion of the crop to be fed before Spring should be stored as near to the place of feeding as possible. The great object should be to keep them sufficiently covered and cool to prevent wilting. As all the beet family are good keepers, there need be but a small per cent. of loss. Store them in a cool, rather moist cellar, provided it has no standing water. The heap may be three or four feet in depth, and should be covered with earth that is rather moist than otherwise, to prevent evaporation. The long varieties may be piled cordwood fashion. Those to be fed after Spring opens can be kept in a pit, dug in gravelly soil, on a hill-side, or where there is no danger from standing water; the pit may be three or four feet in depth, and be filled to the surface. In covering there are two methods: one, to throw the earth directly on the roots, and the other to first cover them with cornstalks, or some dry, coarse litter before throwing on the earth. In practice I find that when the litter is used the roots in immediate contract with it are apt to mould, more or less, and be affected with a dry rot, though it is an excellent plan to throw over coarse litter up to severe freezing weather. Which ever course is pursued it is best not to throw on more at first than is sufficient to barely cover them, and to add the remainder, making a covering of about two feet in depth in all; to which is to be added a foot of coarse hay as the weather becomes cold. The process of thatching with straw and so piling that there shall be a roof-like slant to the heap, with furnace-like ventilators opening from it at intervals, I have never found necessary in actual practice, the elevation of the earth above the bed being a sufficient water shed, while the cold nature of the root prevents heating. Rats are the great enemies of root pits. I have had galleries cut by these vermin through a bed of roots, utterly destroying them for seed purposes. The best way of killing them in my experience, has been to drop a little arsenic on buttered bread and put it conveniently near their holes, but so far hidden that no neighbor’s dog would be likely to suffer by it.

FEEDING THE CROP.