“Why so,” asked the Deacon, “I thought that black, bottom land was best for mangels.”
“Not so, Deacon,” said I, “we can, it is true, grow large crops of mangels on well-drained and well-manured swampy or bottom land, but the best soil for mangels, especially in regard to quality, is a good, stiff, well-worked, and well-manured loam.”
“And yet,” said the Deacon, “you had a better crop last year on the lower and blacker portions of the field than on the heavy, clayey land.”
In one sense, this is true. We had dry weather in the spring, and the mangel seed on the dry, clayey land did not come up as well as on the cooler and moister bottom-land. We had more plants to the acre, but the roots on the clayey land, when they once got fair hold of the soil and the manure, grew larger and better than on the lighter and moister land. The great point is to get this heavy land into a fine, mellow condition.
But to Mr. Lawes’ experiments. They are remarkably interesting and instructive. But it is not necessary to go into all the details. Suffice it to say that the experiments seem to prove, very conclusively, that beets require a liberal supply of available nitrogen. Thus, without manure, the yield of beets was about 7½ tons of bulbs per acre.
With 550 lbs. nitrate of soda per acre, the yield was a little over 22 tons per acre. With 14 tons of farmyard-manure, 18 tons per acre. With 14 tons of farmyard manure and 550 lbs. nitrate of soda, over 27½ tons per acre.
Superphosphate of lime, sulphates of potash, soda, and magnesia, and common salt, alone, or with other manures, had comparatively little effect.
Practically, when we want to grow a good crop of beets or mangels, these experiments prove that what we need is the richest kind of barnyard-manure.
If our manure is not rich, then we should use, in addition to the manure, a dressing of nitrate of soda—say 400 or 500 lbs. per acre.
If the land is in pretty good condition, and we have no barnyard-manure, we may look for a fair crop from a dressing of nitrate of soda alone.