The garden at Cheese Cross produced a fine crop of the Improved Beet Root. The roots, when about the size of a radish, were thinned out with a turnip hoe, leaving the plants nearly 15 inches apart each way. I selected 60 square yards, 6 by 10, and found the produce to be 360 roots, equal to 29,040 roots upon an acre. They weighed from 1 pound to 12 pounds each, and 10 of them, taken up indiscriminately, weighed 40 pounds. Supposing them, therefore, to average 4 pounds each, the weight upon an acre would be something more than 50 tons. One hundred weight, cut into small pieces for the cattle, measured 2 bushels. The quantity per acre may therefore be estimated at 2000 bushels, 2 bushels are given to each bullock daily: 196 bushels, the produce of only about a tenth part of an acre of garden ground, planted in this way, would keep a bullock 14 weeks.
In Mason’s field, on the road from Bedfords to Havering, another fine crop was obtained. The roots, when about the size of a radish, were taken out of the seed bed, and planted in rows, 3 feet asunder, and the plants were about 18 inches apart in each row. I selected 60 square yards, 6 by 10, and found the produce to be 126 roots, equal to 10,164 roots upon an acre. These roots weighed, on an average, 5 pounds each, so that the weight upon an acre would be something more than 22 tons. Each bullock eats 1 cwt. per day. The produce of 1 acre of ground, planted in this way, would keep 4 bullocks feeding for 110 days.
In another part of the same field, on the road from Bedfords to Havering, the seed was dibbled in rows, 2 feet apart, and the plants were left 12 inches apart in each row. I selected 60 square yards, 6 by 10, and found the produce to be 270 roots; equal to 21,780 roots upon an acre. These roots average a little more than 5 pounds each. The weight upon an acre would therefore be something more than 48 tons. Each bullock eats 1 cwt. per day. The produce of 1 acre of land, planted in this way, would keep 10 bullocks feeding for 97 days.
CHAP. II.
This is the third year that Mr. Heaton has cultivated the improved Beet Root with great success, in three different ways; namely, broadcast on ground under garden culture; and, in the field, by dibbling in the seed, and transplanting the roots. The result fully justifies a preference in favour of dibbling in rows 2 feet apart, as will be seen by the following short statement of the produce obtained under each mode of culture.
| PRODUCE. | |
|---|---|
| Broadcast, on strong land, spade-trenched, 10 inches deep, leaving the plants after hoeing nearly 15 inches apart each way, | 50 tons per acre. |
| Transplanted in rows 3 feet apart, and the plants about 18 inches apart in each row, | 22 tons per acre. |
| Dibbling the seed in rows 2 feet apart, and the plants left 12 inches apart in each row, | 48 tons per acre. |
A good crop may be obtained by the broadcast method upon deep, loose soils, or upon strong soils spade-trenched, 10 or 12 inches deep; but by that mode much seed is wasted, and much extra expence incurred in labour, hoeing, and transplanting, before the plants are placed 5 inches apart each way, which is very material to insure a good crop, under that mode of culture.
CHAP. III
To those who may have been in the habit of cultivating the Swedish turnip, it may be desirable to point out the advantages which the improved Beet Root has over that turnip. Mr. Heaton had last year, in his Havering Green field, the best crop of Swedish turnips that I have ever seen, upon his farm, during twelve years’ attention to the management of it; and his intelligent agent and farmer, Mr. Henry Gibbons, assures me, that he did not see a better crop between London and Derby, from which latter place he returned in December last.
The Swedes in this field were drilled in rows 24 inches apart, and the plants were left about 9 inches apart in each row. I selected 60 square yards, 6 by 10, and found the produce to be 252 turnips, equal to 20,356 upon an acre. I weighed many of them, and found them from half a pound to 6 pounds each, averaging 2 pounds. The weight upon an acre would, therefore, be something more than 18 tons: less by 30 tons than the produce of an acre of the improved Beet, dibbled in rows 2 feet apart, and the plants left 12 inches apart in each row.