"The method of cultivating the Beet root, here recommended, is the same as that used in the cultivation of turnips, in Northumberland, and other parts of the North of England with this exception, that the rows there are 27 inches apart.—There may be reasons in the North for still preserving that space; but in Essex the effect of it, in the cultivation of the Beet root, would be, that instead of 48 tons per acre, 43 tons only would be obtained. Experience has proved, that the roots do not get to a larger size in rows three feet apart, than they do in rows two feet apart. It may therefore fairly be presumed, that they would not be larger, in rows twenty-seven inches apart; and if not larger, the weight of the crop, per acre, must be less, because the plants decrease in number as the rows increase in space."
To the preceding account of cultivating the Mangel Wurtzel, I will subjoin a few
REMARKS.
In this mode it is intended that every two feet of ground should bear one plant: and as an acre contains 43,560 square feet, there will be half of that number of plants on an acre, and the roots must weigh nearly five pounds each, on an average, to yield forty-eight tons. The land must indeed be strong to produce so heavy a crop. If our lands, enriched and prepared in the best manner conveniently in our power, can be made to yield half as much, we shall have reason to be satisfied: especially as the Mangel Wurtzel, quantity for quantity, contains more than twice as much nutritive matter as the Ruta Baga, and even 50 per cent. more than Carrots; according to the experiments (by analysis) of a celebrated English Chymist, Sir Humphrey Davy, which he stated to the British Board of Agriculture. These experiments were made with the red and white Beets; but it is presumed that the Mangel Wurtzel produces as much nutriment as any other Beet.
Instead of 6 it may be advisable to apply at least 12 cubit yards (that is 6 such cart loads as were before-mentioned) of manure to an acre; and to distribute the same in deep furrows 4 feet apart. This would give four square feet of ground to each plant, the plants being at a foot distance one from another in the rows, four feet apart, would admit the use of the common horse plough in their cultivation.
Carrots and the Mangel Wurtzel possess one eminent advantage; that they are not, to my knowledge, annoyed by insects at any period of their growth. Whereas the Ruta Baga and other turnips, while in the seed leaf, are injured (in England whole fields are often destroyed) by a small black fly: and the Ruta Baga (like cabbages) when far advanced in growth, is sometimes infested, and in dry seasons half ruined, by plant lice; as was my small crop in 1818.
The Mangel Wurtzel also possesses one peculiar advantage above all other root crops, that as soon as the tops or leaves, are full grown, they may be stripped off (leaving only the small heart-leaves uninjured) and given to cattle and swine.—This stripping may be repeated once or twice; and it is said that the roots thrive better for the stripping. If not stripped off many of the under leaves perish. The leaves are pronounced excellent for increasing the richness and quantity of milk in cows; and so are calculated to supply the deficiency of herbage in the common pastures, which generally fail, more or less, by the beginning of August. An acre twice stripped will yield several tons of leaves.
The Ruta Baga. This root may be cultivated in the manner just described for the Mangel Wurtzel; the ground being prepared in the same manner. In England, they appear to be most commonly grown in rows 27 inches apart, with the plants at a foot distance in the rows. But William Cobbett, who in a small book, published in New York, has minutely described his own practice, both in England and America, asserts, that the largest crops are attainable by growing the Ruta Baga in rows four feet apart, with the plants about 10 inches or a foot distant from each other in the rows: and in this mode of culture, he has raised, in England, 30 tons to the acre.
For this mode of culture, the manure, being deposited in furrows 4 feet apart, is covered by 4 back furrows, 2 on one side and 2 on the other, of each line of manure; by which little ridges are formed: and if the ploughing be deep (as it ought to be) there will be a deep gutter between every two ridges.—The tops of the ridges being made fine with a light harrow, or with rakes, the seeds are sown with a drilling machine; or by hand, which Mr. Cobbett says he prefers to a drill. Two men sowed for him 7 acres in 3 days, using about 4 pounds of seed, in this manner; a man went along by the side of each ridge, and put down 2 or 3 seeds in places at about 10 inches from each other, just drawing a little earth over, and pressing it on the seed, in order to make it vegetate quickly, before the earth became too dry. But, he adds, the 7 acres might have been sown by one man in a day, by just scattering the seeds along on the top of the ridge, where they might have been buried with a rake, and pressed down with a spade or shovel, or other flat instrument. But he used a light roller, to take two ridges at once, the horse walking in the gutter between.
The time of sowing the seeds must vary with the climate. On Long Island, (state of New York) Mr. Cobbett's trials of one year led him to prefer the 26th of June; but in our own county, I would not pass the middle of that month. Indeed I think it expedient (in order to ascertain the fittest time) to commence sowing the seed as soon as the ground can be prepared after the planting of Indian corn, and to continue to sow, in small plots, weekly, until the middle of June.