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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75965 ***
+
+
+Transcriber’s Note:
+
+Words and phrases in italics are surrounded by _underscores_; those
+in bold are surrounded by =equal signs=. Misspelled words were
+corrected. One full-page advertisement was moved from the front to
+the end of the book.
+
+
+                               CARROTS,
+
+                           Mangold Wurtzels
+
+                                 AND
+
+                             SUGAR BEETS.
+
+                    HOW TO RAISE THEM, HOW TO KEEP
+                      THEM AND HOW TO FEED THEM.
+
+                       BY JAMES J. H. GREGORY,
+          AUTHOR OF “ONION RAISING,” “CABBAGE RAISING,” ETC.
+
+              LINOTYPED AND PRINTED BY J. J. ARAKELYAN,
+                     295 CONGRESS STREET, BOSTON.
+
+
+
+
+      Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1900, by
+                         JAMES J. H. GREGORY.
+    At the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
+
+
+
+
+                              CONTENTS.
+
+
+          The Argument for the Raising of roots            3
+          THE CARROT                                       5
+          The Location and Soil                            5
+          The Manure and its Application                   7
+          Preparing the Bed                               12
+          When to Plant                                   13
+          The Seed and the Planting of it                 15
+          Quantity to the Acre                            16
+          Varieties, and What Kinds to Grow               17
+            Early Very Short Scarlet                      19
+            Early Short Scarlet Horn                      19
+            Short Horn                                    19
+            Danvers Carrot                                21
+            Guerande Carrot                               21
+            Long Orange, or Long Surry                    21
+            Large White Belgian                           22
+          The Cultivation, and the Implements needed      23
+          Gathering and Storing the Crop                  26
+          Raising Carrots with Onions                     29
+          Marketing and Feeding                           30
+          THE MANGOLD WURTZELS                            32
+          Varieties                                       34
+            The Long Varieties                            35
+            The Round Varieties                           35
+            The Ovoid Varieties                           35
+            What Kinds to Grow                            35
+          The Soil and its Preparation                    38
+          The Manure and its Application                  39
+          Salt as an Auxiliary Manure                     48
+          Planting the Seed and Tending the Crop          49
+          Gathering and Storing the Crop                  52
+          Feeding the Crop                                56
+          The Cost of the Crop                            61
+
+
+
+
+                              CARROTS.
+
+
+In nutritious value roots compare with hay in about the average
+proportion of one to three. If now we consider that thirty-four tons
+of Swedes nearly forty tons of Carrots and seventy-four tons of
+Mangold roots have been raised in Massachusetts, to the acre, and
+that to each of these crops should be added at least 15 per cent. for
+the fodder value of the yield of leaves, which were not included in
+these estimates, we have a demonstration of how immensely more is the
+nourishment that can be obtained from an acre of roots than from an
+acre in hay. Such an immense increase in the nourishing products of
+the farm, if fed on the premises as it should be, unless the farmer
+is so located that he can buy manure cheaper than he can make it,
+means a great increase in the manure products, and consequently a
+great increase in the crops,--so that it has been wisely said, root
+culture lies at the basis of good husbandry.
+
+Carrots and Mangolds are subject to but few diseases. In discussing
+the nutritious value, chemists differ somewhat, according as they
+measure this by the nitrogen they contain, their per cent. of dry
+matter or sugar, but they agree in ranking them much superior to the
+early varieties of turnip and somewhat superior to the Ruta Baga
+or Swede class, particularly when fed to full grown cattle. Prof.
+Johnson ranks Carrots with Cabbage when fed to oxen, for nourishment.
+Experiments appear to have proved that when equal measures of each
+are fed, Mangolds will give a greater increase of milk than potatoes,
+by about a third. For some reason not fully understood (perhaps the
+depth they penetrate the soil has something to do with it) Onions
+will do better after Carrots than after any other crop, the yield
+being larger, the bulb handsomer, while the crop will bottom down
+earlier and better. Unlike Turnips or Swedes, with high manuring the
+crop can be profitably grown for years on the same piece of land.
+Swine prefer Mangolds to any root except the parsnip, and both in
+this country and in England store hogs, weighing from 125 lbs. and
+upwards have been carried through the winter in fine condition, when
+fed wholly on raw Sugar Beets or Mangolds. Chemists rank Carrots,
+when compared with oats, with reference to their fat and flesh
+forming qualities, as 1 to 5.
+
+Not only have roots a value in themselves as food, but they have
+a special office, taking to a large degree the place of grass and
+preventing the constipation that dry feed sometimes causes. While
+practice proves that they should not be relied upon to entirely
+supersede hay or grain, still they increase the value of either of
+these to a large degree; and for slow working stock they may be fed
+with profit in place of from a third to half the grain usually given.
+Carrots add not only to the richness of the color, but also to the
+quality of the milk, while the flavor of the butter made from such
+milk is improved. Carrots fed in moderate quantities to horses give
+additional gloss to their hairy coats, and have not only a medicinal
+value when given to such as have been over-grained, but aid them in
+digesting grain, as may be seen in the dung of horses fed on oats
+with Carrots, and that of those fed on oats without Carrots. When
+cooked they are sometimes fed to poultry, and either cooked or raw
+to swine. In the family economy they have their place, particularly
+when young and fresh, while in Europe they enter largely into the
+composition of the well-known vegetable soups of the French.
+
+
+
+
+                             THE CARROT.
+
+
+“The Carrot,” (_Daucus Carota_) says Burr in his “Field and Garden
+Vegetables of America,” a book worthy a place in every farmer’s
+library,--“in its cultivated state is a half-hardy biennial. It is
+indigenous to some parts of Great Britain, generally growing in
+chalky or sandy soil, and to some extent has become naturalized in
+this country; being found in gravelly pastures and mowing fields, and
+occasionally by roadsides, in loose places, where the surface has
+been disturbed or removed. In its native state the root is small,
+slender and fibrous or woody, of no value, and even of questionable
+properties as an article of food.”
+
+The average result of several analyses of the Carrot as given by Dr.
+Voelcker, is as follows:--
+
+    Water,                   87.0
+    Albuminous Compounds,      .7
+    Fat,                       .2
+    Pectine,                  1.2
+    Cellular Fiber,           3.5
+    Sugar,                    6.5
+    Ash,                       .9
+
+
+                        THE LOCATION AND SOIL.
+
+It is important in selecting a location for the Carrot bed that the
+land should be nearly level, as otherwise the seed will be liable to
+wash out after heavy showers, and the plants while young be either
+washed out or covered with soil and killed. The land should be, as
+far as possible, clear of all stones. The presence of large rocks “in
+place,” as the geologists say, would interfere with the continuity of
+the rows, while the loose stones are not only always in the way while
+raking and planting the bed, but are also in the way of the slide or
+wheel hoes which are apt to knock them against the young plants to
+their injury. The strongest objections to a stony soil, for Carrots,
+are that it interferes with the growth of the roots and greatly
+increases the labor of digging them. It is important that the piece
+of ground selected for a crop that will require so much manure and
+labor should have every advantage possible in its favor; it should
+not only be level and comparatively free from stones, but if possible
+should have been previously under high cultivation, that it may come
+to Carrots when in high condition.
+
+The best soil, particularly for the Long Orange variety, is a loam
+mellow to the depth of two feet or more. On such soil the Carrot
+will perfect itself, growing straight and altogether beautiful to
+look upon, as they stretch from side to side of the bushel boxes. On
+some market gardens near critical markets, farmers find it for their
+interest to ascertain by actual experiment on what part of their
+grounds the root will grow longest and straightest, and when such
+plot is found make it a permanent bed. If the soil does not naturally
+grow a long Carrot and they are desired, the end may be attained by
+trenching deep and adding sand. The difference in the shape of the
+Long Orange, when grown on a deep mellow loam, and on a heavy soil
+with a compact sub-soil, is so remarkable that it would be almost
+impossible to make an inexperienced person believe each lot was from
+the same seed,--those grown on the heavy soil, resting on a compact
+sub-soil, oftentimes so closely resembling the Intermediate varieties
+as not to be distinguished from them. Though the course is not on the
+whole to be advised, yet Carrots can be raised on freshly turned sod.
+Such land will be very free from weeds, and by making good use of the
+wheel harrow, and applying manure in a very fine state, should the
+season be a moist one, fair crops may be raised. Reclaimed meadows
+in a good state of cultivation, which are well-drained to the depth
+of thirty inches, will oftentimes grow crops, large in bulk, but the
+individual roots are oftentimes inclined to “sprangle,” and unless
+such meadows have been well drained, and liberally covered with sand
+or gravelly loam, they are apt to be spongy and inferior. When grown
+on land inclining to clay, they are apt to be small and woody in
+structure; still, such land, if made friable by good underdraining
+and the application of sand, may be made fair Carrot ground.
+
+
+                   THE MANURE AND ITS APPLICATION.
+
+All root crops delight in most liberal manuring and the highest of
+cultivation. Carrots are no exception to this rule. With every crop,
+other conditions being equal, _it is the last half of the manure
+gives the profits_; and the more costly the cultivation required the
+more important it is that this golden fact be borne in mind. Though
+chemical analysis shows difference in the composition of all roots,
+and that there is therefore an office for special manures, yet their
+general composition is so nearly alike, and animal manures, most
+of which contain in greater or less proportion, all the elements
+required, are so difficult to handle in just the proportions that
+would be required from the chemical standpoint, particularly when we
+consider that soils on which root crops are grown are usually rich
+in manures, varying in their chemical constituents, left over from
+former crops;--for this reason I treat of manure by the cord and with
+reference to its comparative strength, bulk for bulk, rather than of
+its chemical elements.
+
+Eight cords of good stable manure; nine cords of a compost made of
+one part night soil to two parts muck or loam; eight cords of muscle
+mud; six or eight cords of rotten kelp--either of these applied to
+an acre of land in good condition by previous high cultivation would
+be sufficient for a good crop of Carrots. Other manures might be
+mentioned, but these will serve as a pretty good measure of value
+for any kind accessible to farmers in general. To produce a very
+large crop, such as one would like to be able to point to when
+premium crops are called for, add from one-quarter to one-half to
+the above quantities. The condition of the manure is a matter of
+importance; the stable manure should be good; not half bedding, not
+burnt, neither too coarse nor too new; the night soil should have
+been well mixed with the soil in the compost heap, and have been
+pitched over twice with sufficient intervals between to allow it to
+develop some heat. The muscle mud should be rich in dead muscles. In
+all farming, it is important that the manures applied should be in a
+fine condition mechanically, and particularly is this true of root
+crops. For the roots of all plants can take up only such parts of the
+manures as are dissolved in water, and the firmer the manure is the
+more readily can water penetrate it.
+
+_A man who is unfortunately short of manures can materially increase
+the capacity of what he has by working it over until it is very fine._
+
+When short of a supply of animal manure, where the soil is already
+in good condition, a good fertilizer can be used with success. Apply
+fifteen hundred pounds to the acre. The famous fertilizer formulas of
+Prof. Stockbridge have generally done so well I should be willing to
+try them on an acre of Carrots, were I short of other manures.
+
+There is another matter concerning our manures which requires
+attention; if they are too fresh or crude they will be apt, if
+applied to our long growing varieties, to drive the growth too
+much into the top of the Carrot, to the loss of the root, giving
+us tops to our knees with roots about the size of a hoe handle. It
+is important therefore, when used liberally, that they should be
+somewhat decomposed--that the mixtures should be _composts_, as
+far as the time will allow, and not mere mixtures. To the shorter
+varieties the crude manure may be applied with a degree of safety.
+Here let me note a fact that I think is of general application in
+farming, viz.:--that a style of manuring that will drive tall growing
+varieties of vegetables nearly all to tops or vine, with dwarf
+varieties of the same kind will work admirably. The Pea is a very
+good illustration; to get a good crop of a dwarf variety, manure
+liberally, but the same quantity applied to the taller sorts would
+drive them excessively into vine at the expense of the crop.
+
+Don’t make your compost heap on the ground where the crop is to
+grow, for the result will be no crop where the heap stands. For the
+same reason it is bad policy to cart out any strong manure to stand
+on the land in heaps, no matter how small, over winter. There will
+be nothing lost by spreading the manure over the surface before the
+ground is frozen. In getting it into the soil, _keep it as near the
+surface as possible_ without its interfering with the planting of the
+seed, bearing in mind the nitrogen, that element in manures, about
+the loss of which by evaporation there is much uncalled for anxiety,
+tends to work down into the soil. If the manure is coarse it may be
+applied to the surface in the Fall and be deeply ploughed in, and in
+the Spring again brought to the surface by ploughing equally deep,
+having meanwhile received the benefits of frost and moisture.
+
+In applying fertilizers keep them near the surface, scattering them
+broadcast and raking or harrowing in. It is better not to apply
+these all at once. Apply about two-thirds at the time of sowing, the
+remainder when the crop is about one-third grown--following it with
+the slide hoe, which will tend to work it in just under the surface.
+In applying all fertilizers in the Spring time, it is well to do
+so early in the day, as winds are apt to rise as the day advances,
+which seriously interfere with the economical application and even
+distribution. Fertilizers tend to hasten the maturity of the crops
+to which they are applied. There is one condition that has a very
+important bearing on the cost of Carrots and all roots, viz.:--that
+both the ground and manure should be as free from all weed seed as
+possible. For this reason ground recently from the sod, the third
+year, provided it has been kept under a high state of cultivation,
+and such manures which from their very nature must be comparatively
+free from the seed of weeds, such as fish composts, night soil, or
+barn manure a year old, are to be preferred.
+
+Dr. Voelcker gives the result of 10 analyses of the ashes of the
+root and 2 of the ashes of the leaves of the Carrot, and from these
+deduces the following as the number of pounds of mineral matter taken
+from an acre of land, by 10 tons of roots and 4 tons of tops.
+
+         Potash,      Soda,      Lime,      Phosphoric Acid,
+         116 lbs.    86 lbs.    101 lbs.        31 lbs.
+
+                   Sulphuric Acid,      Chlorine,
+                      34 lbs.            31 lbs.
+
+To those who desire to experiment with mineral manures this table
+will be interesting as showing the kinds and proportion of each
+needed. The potash is found in unleached ashes, from two to five
+pounds to the bushel; or in the German Potash salts; the soda and
+chlorine in common salt, (chloride of sodium); lime in the common
+lime of the mason, the Phosphoric acid in the phosphates offered in
+the markets, and the Sulphuric acid in that directly or in common
+finely ground plaster known by chemists as Sulphate of Lime.
+
+I shall have occasion to present some very valuable suggestions of
+the learned Professor, under the head of “The Manure” in my article
+on Mangolds, to which they more especially apply.
+
+The greatest single item in the cost of any crop is the manure, but
+this is an exceedingly varying element. Farmers near cities, and
+particularly if they also reside near the sea-coast, as an off-set
+for the greater cost of farming-land and expenses of living, have
+the advantages of a city market and special facilities for collecting
+manures, at a cost to them, much below the standard value of stable
+manure. Night soil to almost an unlimited extent can be obtained for
+the cost of collecting it, while the waste material of the fisheries,
+Kelp, Rock Weed, Muscle Mud, Glue Waste, Sugar House Waste, and
+the products of the distilleries, these and other rich fertilizers
+can be procured at so low a figure, in proportion to their value,
+that root crops can be raised considerably cheaper than in farming
+districts not so favored. Many a man can be found in these favored
+districts who thinks he is making a good business at farming, yet
+could he but sell the manure he gathers so cheaply, at its market
+value, barn manure being the standard, he would make money by doing
+so and folding his arms the rest of the year. The fact is he is
+really losing money at farming; but through his crops he is selling
+what cost him but a trifle--at a price, indeed, below its real value,
+but still so far in advance of cost as to leave a profit. Such a man
+does wisely in the course he pursues though he makes a mistake in the
+debtor and creditor side of the account, for it is most decidedly
+wiser to be at work than idle, though the result makes no difference
+in the dollars in a man’s pocket.
+
+
+                          PREPARING THE BED.
+
+The great object here should be to get the soil thoroughly fine that
+the small, thread-like fibers, and the roots themselves, may waste
+the least possible vital power in permeating the earth in search of
+food, or in pushing downwards. The vitality wasted in this way is
+just so much taken from growth, and may make the sole difference
+between a good crop and a poor one. If it is necessary that the
+first ploughing should be a very deep one, better apply the manure
+(as previously stated, the finer mechanical condition this is in the
+better) afterwards. Should the manure be to any degree coarse after
+spreading, run the brush or wheel harrow over it, one or both. This
+will also break up the clods and fine up the soil and incorporate the
+manure with it. If still at all lumpy, follow with a plank drag. Next
+plow shallow a few furrows, and have men, with wooden-toothed hand
+rakes, rake at right angles, pulling all coarse stones and lumps of
+earth and manure into the last furrow made. In brief, proceed to make
+as fine a seed bed as for onions.
+
+If any one, depending on the apparent fineness of the surface,
+concludes to dispense with the final raking and let the work of the
+brush harrow answer, he will be apt to repent it before the season
+closes; should he try it let him be sure to double the quantity of
+seed planted in that portion of the land so treated. When the land is
+loamy and free from stones an implement known as the “Meeker Harrow,”
+will be found to be a great time-saver in preparing the seed bed; by
+actual test on my own farm, I find that it will do the work of more
+than a dozen hands with rakes. If the bed has its first ploughing
+early in the season, much of the weed seed will germinate before
+planting time, then an occasional use of the cultivator will destroy
+many of the pests.
+
+
+                            WHEN TO PLANT.
+
+Some of our best farmers advocate planting about the middle of May,
+others equally successful in root culture claim that the middle of
+June is the best time. There are arguments for both early and late
+planting. In New England we usually have the weather sufficiently
+moist towards the close of May to insure the germination of the seed
+and protect the plants when they break ground, from “sun-scald.”
+Those planted as late as the middle of June are more liable to be so
+affected by the dry weather usual at that period as not to vegetate
+as well; and should the heat be very great just after they push
+through the ground, sometimes in a single day nearly the entire crop
+will disappear by “sun-scald.” But on the other hand, by planting
+late we about get rid of one weeding, assuming that the ground is
+stirred by the cultivator occasionally, up to the time of planting.
+Again, this brings the crop in full vigor in October, the month of
+all others most favorable for the growth of the root, and the Carrots
+being dug while the tops are in fair growing condition, keep better
+than when dug fully ripe. The argument for late planting holds
+especially good for the Short Horn varieties, as these require a
+shorter time to mature than the long kinds. If the crop is planted
+too early, sometimes the roots, having matured, will attempt to
+push seed shoots; when this is so they will be found woody in their
+structure, with numberless thread-like roots, while their quality and
+keeping properties are greatly injured. This crop on rich land is
+sometimes planted as late as the first week in July, and with great
+success, should the Fall prove exceptionably mild, yet, as a rule, I
+would not recommend planting later than the middle of June. If it so
+happens, from press of work, or the dry weather, the farmer has to
+plant later than this, then by all means let him confine himself to
+the earlier varieties.
+
+
+                   THE SEED AND THE PLANTING OF IT.
+
+The seed grows with a covering of small, short, stiff hairs, which
+makes them adhere together; these must be very thoroughly removed
+before the seed can be relied upon to flow freely from the machine.
+Much of foreign grown seed reaches this country not properly cleaned.
+To remove this furze, either thrash the seed with the flail very
+thoroughly, when the weather is quite cold and dry, or warm the seed
+slightly and rub it with the hand against the wires of a sieve, of
+a right degree of fineness to let the hairs fall through. Either
+winnow or sink in water, to remove all impurities. If sunk, be
+careful to dry the seed at a very moderate temperature. As Carrot
+seed vegetates somewhat slowly and the plants are quite small when
+they first appear, weeds are apt to get the start of them before
+the rows can be seen with sufficient distinctness to make it safe
+to use the slide hoe. For this reason some farmers practice soaking
+the seed in water and keeping it at a temperature that will nearly
+develop the sprout, before planting. This may be done by soaking the
+seed from 36 to 48 hours in milk warm, or rather strong manure water,
+then removing it to where the air is of about the same temperature.
+Stir, it slightly for a few days, and finally dry it sufficiently to
+drop freely from the machine by adding plaster, charcoal or dust.
+Camphor has a wonderful effect in stimulating the vitality of seed,
+and the addition of a small quantity of it to the manure water would
+doubtless be of advantage. This process should not be carried so far
+as to develop the sprout. Should the surface of the ground be very
+dry when the seed is sown, this soaking process may be fatal, for
+if the germ is once started it will not live in a dormant state;
+it must either grow or die: whereas, seed that have not been soaked
+will vegetate after rains wet the dry surface. Be sure that the seed
+planter has a good roller attached to it, and not a mere coverer,
+as this will help confine the moisture and thus materially aid in
+developing the seed.
+
+
+                    QUANTITY OF SEED TO THE ACRE.
+
+Tables vary greatly some advising as high as four pounds to the acre.
+If the design is to raise small-sized roots for early marketing,
+possibly this might not be an excess of seed, but to advise so heavy
+seeding for ordinary field crops, means that much of the seed is poor
+trash, probably old and worthless, and put in as a make-weight.
+
+Some years ago a party wrote me, offering a variety of garden seed at
+a very low figure, and stated that it was of his own raising. As it
+was a kind that I was in the habit of raising, I had the curiosity
+to write and ask how he could afford to raise it at such a price.
+He replied that it was of his own growing, but so old as to be good
+for nothing, and therefore he sold it to seedsmen at a very low
+figure, to mix with their good seed to _help make weight_! When four
+pounds of Carrot seed are advised to the acre, for a field crop,
+I think that some of this kind of seed must somehow have got into
+the mixture. With everything favoring, and the farmer by experience
+having his seed sower under perfect control, rather less than a pound
+of seed will be sufficient for an acre. The great object to aim at
+is, while having the plants thick enough, not to have much of any
+thinning to do, as it costs about as much to thin a crop as it does
+to weed it, with the drawback that the plants left in the ground are
+more or less started, and so put back by the thinning. As a general
+rule I would advise one and one-half pounds of seed to the acre,
+and this the farmer can reduce in proportion as he is favored by
+circumstances and advances in experience.
+
+Twelve inches is a sufficient distance between the rows of the two
+small, early varieties, and fifteen between the rows of all other
+sorts. With the greatest of care the seed will not come up with
+mathematical precision. Some advocate leaving a plant to about every
+inch of row; others, to thin to four inches apart. With the exception
+of the shorter variety including the Guerande, which are somewhat
+like Onions in their aptitude to grow to a good size when crowded,
+pushing out either side of the rows, as a rule I advise thinning to
+four inches, leaving them thicker near the vacant places.
+
+
+                  VARIETIES, AND WHAT KINDS TO GROW.
+
+Foreign catalogues give lists of about two dozen varieties, which
+differ in earliness, size, color, form, termination of root,
+characteristic of growing entirely under or partly above ground, and
+in the size of the core or heart. In foreign catalogues, what we call
+“Orange,” are known as “Red” Carrots. From a test of these varieties
+I have thus far found two, viz.: the Guerande and the Chantenay
+worthy of being added to the kinds already grown to a greater or less
+extent in the United States. The yellow-fleshed sorts are repudiated
+in New England by general consent; yet the Yellow Belgian, on a
+limited trial has proved with me to be an exceptionally good keeper.
+The Purple or Blood-Red is of a deep purple color, a poor cropper
+and by no means attractive to the eye. The remaining varieties may be
+classed as follows:--Early, middling early and late. The first class
+is made up of the Early Very Short Scarlet, the Early Scarlet Horn
+and Guerande. The second class of all the half-long or short-horn
+varieties, and the third, of the long varieties, such as Long Orange,
+Belgian and Altringham sorts.
+
+In addition to about one-half of these foreign varieties, cultivated
+more or less generally in this country, there are several kinds
+catalogued by seedsmen, all of which are but improved strains made
+by careful selections, through a series of years, from what was
+originally imported stock. These strains usually bear the name of
+some person. A brief discussion of the more valuable varieties
+will now be in order. Here I will lay down three general facts,
+viz.:--1st, that of the various orange colored varieties, the
+shorter growing kinds are, as a rule, the darker colored and sweeter
+flavored. 2d, that the proportion of dark, orange-colored roots in
+any crop, while it will depend largely on the care that has been used
+in the selection of seed stock for a series of years, does not turn
+wholly on this, but soil, season or manure, one or all, have some
+influence in this direction. 3d, that the fact that more or less of
+the Carrots tend to push seed shoots the first year, while with the
+long varieties it may prove that the seed has been allowed to mix
+with the wild varieties, yet the probability (marked cases excepted)
+is decidedly the other way; while with the short horn varieties
+this tendency to push seed shoots the first season, so as to make
+something of a show when an acre is glanced over, is quite a common
+characteristic with seed of the very purest strain.
+
+  [Illustration:
+    EARLY VERY      EARLY SHORT      SHORT HORN.      LONG ORANGE.
+  SHORT SCARLET.      SCARLET.]
+
+
+=Early Very Short Scarlet.= (see engraving.)
+
+=Early Short Scarlet Horn.= (see engraving). These two varieties are
+the shortest grown and are raised at times in forcing beds, for an
+early market, the former very generally so. They are of a very rich
+orange color, fine-grained, sweet, and of excellent flavor, heading
+the list for quality. Their rich color makes them valuable above all
+other kinds for coloring butter. Though quite short, yet the Early
+Short Scarlet Horn can be grown to yield a great bulk of roots, from
+the fact that from the smallness of their tops the roots can be
+grown very thick, two or three abreast all along the rows. When the
+small, handy size of this variety is considered in connection with
+the superior quality, it stands foremost as a table Carrot, and I
+therefore recommend it in preference to all others for family use.
+
+=Short Horn.= (See engraving.) This variety intermediate between the
+Early Forcing and Long Orange, with but slight variations in form, is
+shown under various names, as Intermediate, Nantes, Half Long, James’
+Improved, Stump-Rooted, etc. It is characterized by a darker color
+than the average of the Long Orange, finer grain, and a sweeter and
+richer flavor. In part from the more solid structure of the Carrot,
+and in part from its better stowage, thirty-six measured bushels of
+this variety make a ton, while of the larger varieties forty bushels
+are required. The best strain of this variety is doubtless the kind
+known as the “Danvers” Carrot.
+
+=Danvers Carrot.= In the town of Danvers, Mass., the raising
+of Carrots on an extensive scale has for years been quite a
+business--the farmers finding a large market in the neighboring
+cities of Salem, Lynn and Boston. After years of experimenting they
+settled upon a variety which originated among them (as did the
+Danvers Onion) known in their locality as the “Danvers Carrot.” It is
+in form about midway between the Long Orange and Short Horn class,
+growing very generally with a stump root. The great problem in Carrot
+growing is to get the greatest bulk with the smallest length of root,
+and this is what the Danvers’ growers have attained in their Carrot.
+Under their cultivation they raise from twenty to forty tons to the
+acre. This Carrot is of a rich, dark orange in color, very smooth and
+handsome, and from its length, is easier to dig than the Long Orange.
+It is a first-class Carrot for any soil.
+
+[Illustration: GUERANDE CARROT.]
+
+=Guerande or Ox Heart.= This variety is a great favorite with many
+who raise Carrots for stock. It is short and chunky in build, of a
+rich orange color, and of excellent quality, and the crop can be hand
+pulled.
+
+[Illustration: IMPROVED LONG ORANGE.]
+
+[Illustration: DANVERS CARROT.]
+
+=Long Orange, or Long Surry.= This is a standard variety, and in its
+various strains is doubtless more generally grown than any other
+kind. The chief objection to it is the depth to which it penetrates
+the ground, and hence the extra work of digging it; while the end
+of the root which causes the extra work is of inferior quality when
+compared with the body, differing in this respect from the shorter
+varieties, which are of the same quality throughout. The heart
+is larger in proportion than in the shorter varieties, which is
+considered an objection. The keeping properties are excellent, and in
+this respect it is superior to the earlier kinds. On light soil the
+roots grow long, straight and make a fine show in the market.
+
+=Altringham.= This is a Carrot of excellent quality for the table,
+the flesh being of a rich orange color, crisp and sweet, but as a
+cropper it is inferior to the Intermediate or Long Orange varieties,
+and hence is but little cultivated.
+
+[Illustration: LARGE WHITE BELGIAN.]
+
+=Large White Belgian.= This is the largest of all varieties and
+will yield at least a quarter more than any other sort. The roots
+grow several inches out of ground, and all can be readily pulled by
+the hand. Analysis shows that it is nearly as sweet as the Mangold
+Wurtzel, rather sweeter than the Swede Turnip, and about two thirds
+as sweet as the Sugar Beet. The two objections to it are its color
+and its keeping properties; it being rather a poor keeper, while the
+color has made it a carrot for horses rather than cows. If farmers
+have but a small quantity of manure, the White Belgian is a good
+variety for them to raise for feeding early in the winter.
+
+
+                 THE CULTIVATION, AND THE IMPLEMENTS
+                               NEEDED.
+
+Just as soon as the young plants can be detected breaking round, the
+prudent farmer will push the slide hoe, and have his boy weeders
+follow immediately after it on hands and knees. Boys that have had a
+little experience, with their nimble fingers can do more work than
+men, while their wages are only about half as much. On the sea-coast
+we hire boys who make a business of weeding, for from seventy-five
+cents to a dollar a day. The one great danger in hiring boys is that
+careless ones are apt to break off the weeds instead of pulling them
+up by the roots. To ascertain their comparative faithfulness, it is
+well to quietly mark a few rows of the different weeders, at their
+first weeding, and by the time for the second weeding the difference
+between a good and a bad one will be very plainly visible.
+
+Don’t accept that theory of the shiftless man, that it is well to
+have the weeds grow pretty tall before the first weeding, that the
+plants may be protected from the sun. I have noticed that oftentimes
+those who act on this theory give over their weeding, and plough up
+the bed before they have half finished it. Promptness in the first
+hoeing and weeding is exceedingly important in the management of all
+root crops, and it is where the greatest mistake is apt to be made in
+their cultivation.
+
+[Illustration: SLIDE HOE.]
+
+[Illustration: WHEEL HOE.]
+
+[Illustration: McGEE CULTIVATOR.]
+
+[Illustration: MICHIGAN SEED SOWER.]
+
+[Illustration: LANG’S HAND WEEDER.]
+
+There are a few implements that are specially needed in the
+cultivation of root crops, and of these, every wise farmer will get
+the very best attainable. These implements are the Seed Sower, the
+Hand Weeder, the Slide Hoe, the common Wheel Hoe, and one for weeding
+both sides of a row at the same time. Of these there are a great
+many varieties, each of which are more or less popular among a class
+of growers. The engravings illustrate such as are in use in my own
+section of country, where root culture forms a very important part
+of the agriculture of farmers. Both the slide and the wheel hoe, for
+rapid work, far surpass the common hand hoe, while they cut up the
+weeds equally clear. The double wheel hoe is used until the tops
+of the crops become so large as to be in the way, when the single
+wheel hoe or slide hoe takes its place. Fuller’s Unique Hoe having a
+single wheel is preferred, to any double wheeled implement by many
+gardeners, especially so by reason of its stiffness. Each should be
+two inches narrower than the space between the rows. A slide hoe is
+an amazing handy implement about a farm for many uses other than
+between the rows of root crops. A new class of implements have been
+introduced within a few years which, to a degree, supersede the use
+of the common wheel or slide hoe, though there is yet a valuable
+sphere for each of them; I refer to the weeders which cut each side
+of the row at the same time. I have tested every variety of these and
+have found nothing now in the market superior to the McGee Garden
+Cultivator. These hoes which take each side of the row at once cannot
+safely be made to go over the ground as fast as those designed for
+use between the rows, but working close home to the growing crop,
+they save a large portion of the cost of hard weeding. Of seed drills
+there are a dozen or more in the market, several of which I have
+used on my farms. I prefer the Michigan over all others. Among other
+advantages it can be relied upon to drop almost any variety of small
+seed, while it is a good coverer and having a roller attached, it
+packs the earth over the seed, which, as every farmer knows, tends
+to keep the moisture in and thus hastens their germination. The hand
+weeder is an excellent little implement to facilitate the laborious
+work of weeding, especially when the surface is baked and therefore
+rather hard on the fingers.
+
+
+                   GATHERING AND STORING THE CROP.
+
+One of the greatest outlays attending the raising of Carrots is
+in the gathering and topping of the crop. The common process of
+digging with a fork and throwing into piles to be afterwards topped
+is laborious and costly. Where the crop is to be consumed on the
+farm, the labor and consequent cost may be greatly lessened by first
+cutting off the tops by a sharp shovel, spade or common hoe, or a
+slide hoe which has been weighed by a piece of lead pipe, or some
+similar heavy article, slid down the handle and fastened where that
+unites with the hoe. Should a slice be taken off the tops of the
+roots it will do no harm, as Carrots differ in this respect from
+other roots, in that, when the tops are cut they are not apt to rot;
+indeed, some practice cutting off a slice of the top when topping,
+to keep them from sprouting so readily when stored. The common way
+of gathering the crop, by loosening with spades or forks and then
+pulling out by the tops, throwing into heaps or scattering over the
+ground and afterwards topping with a knife, is a long and costly job.
+An improvement on digging is to run a plough close to the row and
+then pull out as many as possible by hand and dig up the remainder.
+Still a better course particularly when the Danvers variety is grown,
+is beginning in the middle of the piece, to run a subsoil plough
+close home to the roots, when, if run sufficiently deep it will lift
+the Carrots a little out of the ground. Follow with forks or hoes and
+draw the roots inward on the ploughed portion, so far as to give room
+for the horse to walk. Let the roots remain a few hours scattered
+over the surface, when in picking up and tossing them into carts or
+baskets, any earth adhering will be jarred off.
+
+Let the crop remain out as late as it can be risked without freezing;
+and if they are in good growing condition this will be well towards
+November, in the latitude of central New England, and even into the
+first week of that month in the milder temperature of the sea-coast.
+Roots not fully matured will keep better than those fully ripe when
+dug, on the principle that the varieties of apples we call “winter”
+apples are simply those kinds that do not ripen on the tree--they are
+not winter apples, because they are Baldwins, or Greenings, for these
+same kinds in the South where the ripening season is longer, are Fall
+apples. If the Carrots have been planted too early they will ripen
+before digging, and be apt to send out roots and prove poor keepers,
+besides losing the advantage of October weather which is the Carrot
+month, doing more for the weight of the late planted crop than all
+the season besides.
+
+Rake the tops off the bed but do not waste them, for they are highly
+relished by animals, and if the Carrots are harvested when they ought
+to be, to keep well, that is, when in good growing condition, there
+will be a great weight of tops, sometimes as high as a quarter of the
+weight of roots; and this mass of green fodder, coming at a time when
+the fields are usually bare of grasses, will prove very valuable and
+acceptable food for the cows.
+
+In storing, one fact must be borne in mind; that Carrots will heat,
+sprout and rot, under circumstances in which Mangolds would keep
+sound and uninjured. I have several times lost quantities when buried
+in the ground where Mangolds and common table Beets, under precisely
+the same conditions, have kept perfectly sound. If the crop is to
+be fed at once, they may be dumped into the cellar or barn floor in
+the most expeditious way; but if to be fed into the winter, then all
+depth of the heap above two and a half feet means a proportionate
+increase of danger of heating, sprouting and rotting, and so much
+greater care to air the cellar in cool, dry weather. I need hardly
+state that cellars for keeping Carrots and all roots should be
+free from standing water, and as cool as possible without actually
+freezing. They should not be put directly on the cellar floor,
+but on a platform to admit air under them and it is an excellent
+plan to scatter a little sand among them. I find that Carrots keep
+exceedingly well if poured (not placed) in a trench 14 inches wide
+and 2½ feet deep, to be covered slightly at first and more as cold
+increases, so that they have first a little coarse litter, then a
+foot of earth, and on this about 18 inches of waste or cheap hay.
+When the roots are large they will keep sufficiently better to pay
+for the extra trouble, if they are piled “heads and points” to the
+height of two and a half feet, with a slight space for air between
+the piles. If there are not cellar conveniences for storing the
+entire crop, with a good protection of hay under and around them, a
+few tons may be stored, for early feeding, in the barn, provided it
+is not so cold as to freeze them.
+
+
+                    RAISING CARROTS WITH ONIONS.
+
+I transfer from my Treatise on Onions, a paragraph relative to
+growing Carrots with onions.
+
+The plan of raising Carrots with onions is considered an improvement
+by some who have adopted it, as the yield of Carrots is thought to
+be clear gain, diminishing but little or none the yield of onions.
+Carrots are planted in two ways; one by sowing them in drills between
+every other row of onions, and the other, which is considered an
+improvement, called the Long Island plan, by planting the onions in
+hills from seven to eight inches from center to center, dropping
+a number of seed in each hill, and from the first to the twelfth
+of June, planting the Carrot seed, usually by hand, between these
+hills in two rows then skipping one, and thus on through the piece.
+The onions, as they are pulled are thrown into every third row, the
+Carrots being left to mature. By this method from two to six hundred
+bushels of Carrots are raised per acre in addition to the crop of
+onions. More manure is required for the two crops than for the onions
+alone.
+
+The machine used for sowing in drills has two boxes attached to
+the axle at equi-distance from the wheels; there are three or four
+holes in the axle that communicate with the seed in the boxes, and
+as these holes pass under the boxes they are filled with seed, and
+as they turn the seed are dropped into the earth. Screws are sunk
+into the holes, which can be sunk more or less at pleasure, and the
+quantity of seed which the holes will contain is thus graded.
+
+The machine should first be tested, and so regulated that on a barn
+floor it will drop from eleven to twelve seed from each hole. When
+so regulated, on using in the field it will drop but from seven to
+twelve, owing to the more uneven motion.
+
+
+                       MARKETING AND FEEDING.
+
+In the cities there is a large market for Carrots as feed for horses,
+it being very generally accepted that a few given daily or every
+other day, aids the digestion of grain-fed animals, adds to the
+gloss of the hair, and are of special medicinal value. The largest,
+smoothest and darkest orange colored roots sell the best in the
+market. The price varies all the way from ten to twenty dollars a ton
+of 2,000 pounds, depending in part on the value of hay. Where the
+quantity fed daily is small, a large knife or a shovel will answer to
+cut them up in pieces of suitable size; but if the quantity amounts
+to several bushels daily, then a root-cutter will be needed. There
+are two classes of these, one for sheep, and the other for large
+stock, the essential difference being that those designed to cut
+roots for sheep cut into smaller pieces. Of those designed to cut
+roots for large stock, the Whittemore machine is as good a machine
+as any, having a capacity to cut up a bushel in about half a minute.
+Among farmers there is much unnecessary fear about the danger of
+animals choking while feeding on apples, potatoes and roots. For the
+last ten years I have fed to my cows not far from three hundred tons
+of squashes, potatoes and roots, (mostly squashes) and never yet lost
+an animal or had any very serious trouble from choking. My habit is
+to feed them while quietly in their stalls, with a division board
+between the feed of each. All cases of choking that have come to my
+notice have occurred _where the animal was suddenly disturbed while
+eating_. There is a great difference of opinion as to how many roots
+can be fed to stock daily without injuring them. The proportion will
+depend somewhat on the constitutional peculiarities of individual
+cows, but when the bowels are all right the appetite of the animal is
+probably the safest guide. I have had a large and extended experience
+in feeding squashes to milch cows,--the Boston Marrow, Hubbard and
+other varieties; beginning with a half a bushel to each animal, I
+increase the quantity until the daily consumption has averaged a
+hundred pounds a day to each. Under such heavy feeding, after a while
+their appetites clog somewhat, but I am inclined to the opinion
+that beginning with a moderate feed, they would soon readily eat
+seventy-five pounds daily with a relish, for as long a period as they
+might last. When feeding Carrots or any roots, the most economical
+method is to give meadow or salt hay, with a small quantity of
+flax-seed or cotton-seed meal. The effect of the roots and these rich
+meals is to give to these inferior varieties of hay, the nutritious
+value of the best upland English.
+
+Carrots fed too liberally to horses, will make them soft, and cause
+them to sweat at the least exertion. The manure made by animals fed
+on Carrots or any other roots is of poor quality and therefore for
+the farm’s (as well as the animal’s) sake a proportion of grain, or
+its equivalent, should always be fed with them.
+
+
+
+
+                          MANGOLD WURTZELS.
+
+
+What is a Mangold Wurtzel? A number of years ago I raised a piece
+of Early Turnip Beet seed in a very isolated location; there was
+not another piece of Beet seed growing within half a mile, at
+least. A good deal of the seed wasted, as is usual when the seed is
+allowed to ripen well on the stock before cutting. From this waste
+seed thousands of young plants sprang up, many of which survived
+the winter, by the help of the protection of chickweed and snow.
+They had got so far along when ploughing time came, I left the
+piece unploughed, thinning them out that they might produce early
+beets. As the season advanced a good many of them pushed seed
+shoots and ripened a crop of seed. Some of the seed I gathered
+and the next season planted it to see what it would produce. The
+crop was “everything;” all the way from a nice, dark colored Early
+Turnip Beet, through different sizes, colors and forms, up to a
+light-fleshed Mangold Wurtzel! As the original Beets were a very
+pure Turnip Beet, and during several years of careful cultivation
+for seed purposes had shown no admixture with any other variety,
+the experiment proved either that the coarse variety of Stock Beet,
+which we call Mangold Wurtzel are but sports from our fine-grained
+table Beets, or that the Beets class are sports from Mangolds,--most
+probably the former.
+
+Mangold Wurtzels differ from table Beets in their general coarseness
+of structure, and the larger size to which they grow, the elements
+which enter into the composition of each being the same in kind.
+
+What is a Sugar Beet? The term “Sugar Beet” is an unfortunate one,
+as the word “Sugar” had already been appropriated to express the
+sweet flavor of the varieties of Beets raised for table use, while
+the word Beet is strictly a misnomer, the vegetable Sugar Beet being
+in reality a Mangold Wurtzel. A generation ago our fathers used the
+term “Sugar” as a familiar designation for any sweet variety of
+beet raised for table use, and at the present by the great majority
+of the public the term is still so used. As the new industry of
+manufacturing sugar from the beet grew on the continent of Europe,
+seedsmen were called upon to supply for commerce seed of the best
+variety for this purpose. It was necessary that this variety should
+be as free as possible from all coloring substance as this would,
+as a matter of course, give a stain to the juice, and impose on the
+manufacturer the labor of purifying it. The ones at first selected
+were the long, white Mangold Wurtzel, and these were called the
+“Sugar” Beet in commercial parlance. These white Mangolds were not
+entirely white, the portion that grew above ground being usually
+colored a light green by exposure to the sun’s rays; it became
+therefore an object for the manufacturer to still improve on them to
+the end that all the coloring should be eliminated. The intelligence
+and enterprise of the seedsmen of Europe responded to this want, and
+in the course of a few years two prominent varieties were produced,
+that have nearly completely satisfied it,--one of these was sent out
+by the estimable house of Vilmorin Andrieux & Co., of Paris, and is
+named “Vilmorin’s New Improved White,” and the other “White Imperial
+Extra,” by the distinguished German house of Ernest Benary.
+
+These improved Sugar Beets of commerce grow nearly entirely under
+ground, and when grown these beets define themselves to be the
+Mangold variety, by the coarser structure of the root, the stouter
+ribs and the greater coarseness of the leaves, which spring in larger
+masses directly from the crown, than is the case with beets for the
+table.
+
+The moral of all this for my farmer friends is, that if you want a
+beet for table use do not order “Sugar Beet” or you will be very
+likely to find a Mangold growing in your garden, a return, but not a
+recompense for the sweat and toil of the husbandman.
+
+
+                              VARIETIES.
+
+About twenty varieties are catalogued by seedsmen, many of which are
+but strains of the same kind, bearing the name of the grower, who by
+careful cultivation has endeavored to improve it. Classified by form
+they come under three classes, viz.:--the long, the round and the
+ovoid or intermediate varieties. Classified by color we have the red
+or scarlet, the pink, the yellow or orange, and the white varieties.
+
+=The Long Varieties.=--Among the more prominent of these are the
+Ox Horn, the common Long Red, Norbition Giant, Carter’s Orange
+Globe, and the Silesian varieties of Sugar Beet. The Ox Horn is a
+very crooked growing variety, as its name would imply, with a small
+diameter in proportion to its great length. Growing almost wholly out
+of ground it curves about so in the row as to be decidedly in the
+way, is apt to break when pulled and in addition to these defects,
+storing very badly, it is not in any way desirable. The Norbiton
+Giant, Long Red, Gate Post, and Tankard are improvements over the
+common Long Red in a greater uniformity in their habit of growth,
+their size, and a less liability to grow hollow at the top at the
+advanced stage of growth.
+
+[Illustration: LONG RED MANGOLD.]
+
+=The Round Varieties.=--In these are included the common Red and
+Yellow Globe, Gate Post and Tankard, with some of the underground
+varieties of the Sugar Beet.
+
+=Ovoid= are either red or yellow in color and are intermediate in
+form between the long and the round kinds.
+
+=What Kinds to Grow.=--In this country the Long Red are the most
+popular, particularly the Norbiton Giant variety. While travelling
+in England, Ireland and France, for inquiry and observation, I found
+that the round and ovoid varieties were more generally cultivated
+than the long sorts. In my experience the ovoid varieties incline to
+grow smoother than the long kinds and hence are likely to bring up
+less earth with them, which on heavy soil is a matter of some moment.
+I think of the two kinds the yellow, under the same circumstances,
+makes the larger root. The long varieties pile better in the cellar,
+while the round or ovoids cut up rather more readily, appear less
+inclined to rot at the top, and are firmer fleshed. The globe and
+ovoid varieties appear to be best adapted to hard and shallow soils,
+and of these the Yellow Globe and Ovoid are especially valuable, as
+they are better keepers than most sorts and remain sound, without
+sprouting, until late into the spring, and with special care may be
+kept even into the summer season.
+
+[Illustration: OVOID MANGOLD.]
+
+The long Silesian varieties of Sugar Beet vary from each other only
+in the color of the part exposed above ground,--being green, grey
+or red. The kind introduced to the American public a few years
+ago, under the name of Lane’s Improved American Sugar Beet, is a
+strain of Long White Mangold. The improved varieties of Germany and
+France yield about double the percentage of sugar that is found in
+the common Mangold, in some crops the proportion being as high as
+sixteen per cent. This would make the Sugar Beets of double the
+value of Mangolds for stock, but unfortunately, the roots under like
+conditions of cultivation, average but half the weight of Mangolds.
+
+[Illustration: GLOBE MANGOLD.]
+
+The average percentage of sugar found in analysis of beets grown in
+this country is exceptionably high. Having land free from alkalies,
+of unbounded fertility, readily accessible, and attainable at almost
+nominal cost, it is a serious question why we do not follow the
+example of other countries and raise our own sugar rather than import
+it. Our inducement is the home market that the sugar factory would
+afford for unlimited areas of beets, while the refuse pulp would
+enable farmers to increase greatly the number of their neat stock,
+to the advantage of the manure pile and enlargement of their area
+of tillage. The great draw back is the price of labor in our own
+prosperous country.
+
+
+THE SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION.
+
+In the matter of soil, Mangold Wurtzels will accept a greater
+latitude than any other root; thriving on every variety, all the
+way from light loam to muck, and from that to as strong a clay as
+is sufficiently friable for tillage. Muck (properly drained) and a
+strong loam are best suited to develop pounds of crop. Though the
+crop grown in the lighter soil is not so great it is much sweeter
+than when grown on heavy soil and when extraordinary quantities
+of manure have been applied, some of the heaviest crops on record
+have been grown on light loam. The great crop of Mr. Fearing of
+Hingham, of over sixty tons to the acre, was raised on a sandy loam.
+Some years ago I took a purchaser into the field where two lots of
+Mangolds were growing; he selected at once the large roots on the low
+land. I asked him to taste a slice of those on the upland, when he at
+once changed his preference. As a rule it will be found that those
+grown on warm upland soil are decidedly the sweeter and this fact has
+an important bearing on the feeding value of the crop.
+
+If the soil is in good heart for a foot in depth, plough it to that
+depth before putting on the manure. After putting on the manure, if
+coarse, it will be well to cut it up with Randall’s wheel-harrow
+before ploughing under. After cross ploughing the manure four or five
+inches beneath the surface the aim should be to make a good seed bed
+by getting the surface level and the soil light and fine. On most
+soils this can be accomplished by a liberal use of the wheel-harrow
+followed by a fine-toothed smoothing harrow and that by a plank
+drag. An old barn door will sometimes answer for this, but as it is
+an excellent implement on the farm it will be well to have one. It
+should be about three feet wide and six long, with one side about ten
+inches high, meeting the bottom at an angle of forty-five degrees;
+the planks had better overlap slightly, as they will the better
+break the lumps of earth. The team is to be hitched to the turned up
+side, and the driver is to stand on the drag, driving it sideways
+over the land. The effect of such a drag in breaking up lumps and
+generally pulverizing the soil, will be found to be much superior to
+that of any roller. Should the soil be of such a character or in such
+a condition that the harrow and drag process will not make a good
+seed bed, there remains no resource other than to prepare it as for
+onions, either raking over the entire surface, or running over it
+three or more times with the Meeker Harrow.
+
+[Illustration: MEEKER HARROW.]
+
+
+THE MANURE AND ITS APPLICATION.
+
+The kind and quantities of food needed to grow any vegetables is
+found by an analysis of that vegetable. Having thus learned the
+kind and quantity needed for any crop, the next step of the wise
+farmer will be to ascertain what manures contain the necessary
+constituents and which of these contain them in the cheapest form. A
+little knowledge of Chemistry, in its application to manures, is of
+incalculable value to the husbandman and no amount of experience and
+traditionary knowledge can serve as a substitute for it. I believe
+that it is in this direction that the great advance in agriculture
+will be made, and were there no other argument for Agricultural
+colleges the fact that they are prepared to give thorough instruction
+in this one department would be a sufficient reason for their
+existence, and for their liberal patronage by their several states.
+Prof. Voelcker, an excellent authority in everything that pertains
+to chemistry, in its application to agriculture, gives the following
+table as the average composition of the ash of the principal root
+crops.
+
++---------------------------------------------------------------------+
+|              AVERAGE COMPOSITION OF THE ASH OF ROOTS.               |
++---------------------------------------------------------------------+
+|             |Number of Analyses.                                    |
+|             |    |Potash.                                           |
+|             |    |     |Soda.                                       |
+|             |    |     |     |Lime.                                 |
+|             |    |     |     |     |Magnesia.                       |
+|             |    |     |     |     |    |Oxide of Iron.             |
+|             |    |     |     |     |    |    |Phosphoric Acid.      |
+|             |    |     |     |     |    |    |     |Sulphuric Acid. |
+|             |    |     |     |     |    |    |     |     |Silica.   |
+|             |    |     |     |     |    |    |     |     |    |Chlorine.
++-------------+----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+-----+-----+----+-----+
+| TURNIPS.    | 38 | 49.8|  7.8| 11.7| 2.6| 0.9| 10.3| 11.8| 1.2|  5.0|
+| SWEDES.     |  7 | 38.9| 14.0| 12.8| 4.2| 0.8| 10.4| 13.7| 1.9|  4.2|
+| MANGOLDS.   | 12 | 46.6| 18.4|  5.9| 4.8| 0.8|  8.3|  3.7| 4.0|  9.9|
+| SUGAR BEET. | 40 | 48.0| 10.4|  6.4| 9.5| 1.0| 14.4|  4.7| 3.8|  2.3|
+| CARROTS.    | 10 | 37.0| 20.7| 10.9| 5.2| 1.0| 11.2|  6.9| 2.0|  4.9|
+| PARSNIPS.   |  4 | 46.7|  2.7| 15.7| 6.0| 1.3| 15.8|  5.6| 2.4|  4.0|
++-------------+----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+-----+-----+----+-----+
+|                               LEAF ASH.                             |
++-------------+----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+-----+-----+----+-----+
+| TURNIPS.    | 37 | 27.6|  5.1| 33.2| 2.6| 2.0|  7.3| 13.1| 3.5|  7.7|
+| SWEDES.     |  3 | 21.9| 12.3| 30.2| 3.2| 2.0|  6.4| 10.6| 4.8| 11.0|
+| MANGOLDS.   |  4 | 25.5| 23.3| 10.4| 9.7| 1.2|  5.4|  7.2| 3.3| 17.8|
+| SUGAR BEET. |  7 | 21.9| 16.6| 19.5|18.1| 1.3|  7.3|  7.9| 3.1|  5.7|
+| CARROTS.    |  7 | 17.6| 18.2| 32.1| 3.9| 3.0|  3.8|  8.2| 5.2|  8.9|
++-------------+----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+-----+-----+----+-----+
+
+This table shows us that the Mangolds require the mineral ingredients
+of manure in the following order, when arranged with reference to
+their importance:--Potash, Soda, Chlorine, Lime, Phosphoric Acid,
+Magnesia, Sulphuric Acid, Silica. In addition to these minerals
+other substances enter into the composition of Mangolds, the most
+important of which is Nitrogen. Barn-yard manure contains about
+all the elements needed by vegetation, but not always in the right
+proportion, therefore, when applying it, it is always profitable to
+know the proportions of the minerals which enter into crops that the
+deficiency may be supplied from other sources. It is perhaps hardly
+necessary to say that unleached wood ashes and the German Potash
+Salts, Sulphate and Muriate, are the cheapest sources for Potash at
+present known, while Soda and Chlorine are obtained from Muriate
+of Potash or from the waste salt of the fisheries. Of this I shall
+have more to say presently when treating of salt as an auxiliary
+fertilizer. Lime is obtained from the common Carbonate of Lime of the
+mason, either water or air slacked, and this usually contains more
+or less of Magnesia, or from wood ashes which is largely one-third
+lime. The great source of Phosphoric Acid is the bones of animals
+or corprolites, by which is meant the fossilized bones and dung
+of extinct animals; Sulphuric Acid is most cheaply obtained from
+Plaster, which is Sulphate of Lime.
+
+Some hold great benefit is derived by the crop of the following year,
+from ploughing under the leaves as soon as the roots are topped; the
+value of this is just what the analyses of our table shows. The large
+crops reported as raised in this country, have been raised on soil
+ranging from light to a friable clay loam and have received all the
+way from eight to fifteen cords of barn-yard manure to the acre. In
+some instances this has been all ploughed in; in others half spread
+broadcast and ploughed in and the other half put in the furrows. When
+coarse and unfermented I would advise a deep ploughing of it under,
+in the Fall as with Carrots; other waste substances can be used as
+substitutes for barn-yard manure, care being taken either that such
+waste substances are specially rich in Potash, Soda and Chlorine, or
+that these substances be added. The equivalents given are roughly
+estimated under the article treating of the manure for Carrots
+and will be sufficient for practical purposes; I therefore make
+no further allusions to these cheap wastes as sources for manure,
+further than to mention that sea manures are specially rich in potash
+and soda.
+
+Of all roots Mangolds are the rankest feeders, removing more plant
+food from the soil than any other root crop. The crop of Mr. Albert
+Fearing, of Hingham, Mass., was sixty tons of roots, and if the tops
+were in the usual proportion, of about one-third, they weighed twenty
+tons more, giving the enormous yield of eighty-tons of green food
+from one acre of ground. The crop raised on Deer Island, in Boston
+harbor, was about seventy tons to the acre; with a like proportion
+of tops the total yield must have been over a hundred tons. In the
+sewage farms of England eighty tons of roots have been raised on an
+acre of ground. Fearing applied fifteen cords of manure to his acre
+of ground; of the quantity applied to the Deer Island crop I regret I
+have not the data at hand.
+
+If the mere bulk alone was to be aimed at in the crop, the problem
+would be a very simple one, but there are three points to be
+considered: first, how to get a crop that shall be great in bulk
+and at the same time give us the second desirable point, viz.:
+_ripeness_, and thus insure the third desirable point, viz.: _the
+highest percentage of sugar it is possible for the roots to acquire_.
+
+This matter of the value of Mangolds, for feeding purposes, being in
+about the same proportion as the sugar present, though appertaining
+to that part of this Treatise which treats of “Feeding to Stock,”
+yet has so direct a bearing on the manuring of the crops that I will
+take it up at this place. The recent researches of that distinguished
+chemist, Prof. Voelcker of England, than whom there is no better
+authority, has thrown much light on the question of manure in its
+application to this crop. The Professor takes the position that the
+nutritious value of roots is in proportion to the amount of dry
+matter in them, and that the percentage of sugar present coincides
+with that of dry matter, the proportion of sugar rising or falling
+with the percentage of dry matter in the roots. That the feeding
+value does not depend on the proportion of nitrogen they contain, is
+proved theoretically, by the fact that the percentage is very much
+higher in the early stages of growth, before the crop is matured,
+than it is later in the season, while in the experiments of Mr. Lawes
+in feeding sheep, the lot containing the most nitrogen in the way of
+nutrition gave the poorest results.
+
+Assuming with Prof. Voelcker that bulk should not be sought at a
+disproportionate sacrifice of sugar in the crop, and that certain
+soils and certain manures and certain methods of cultivation are
+more favorable than others to the development of this desirable
+proportion. I present extracts from his valuable article on “Root
+Crops as affected by Soil and Manures.”
+
+“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.
+
+Besides arguments which are of weight for cultivation of all kind
+of roots, there are special ones for the raising of Mangolds. The
+vast bulk of yield exceeds that of any annual crop as high as eighty
+tons of roots having been raised to the acre on the sewerage farms
+of England and when to this is added the weight of leaves that such
+a crop would carry, it will be safe to say that a hundred tons have
+been given to the acre. Taken as a whole the Mangold has less enemies
+and is less apt to fail than any other root. Compared with the Turnip
+family, it has several marked advantages, being more reliable in dry
+seasons and less liable to disease; and in flesh-forming heat-giving
+and fat-producing elements it surpasses it. While the Turnip family
+cannot be raised repeatedly on the same land, indeed on most soil
+can be raised only intervals of three or four years, Mangolds can
+be raised many years in succession, as Mr. Mechi, the distinguished
+English agriculturist, has proved by raising sixty tons per annum
+on the same tract of land of six acres area, for six successive
+years. They will keep longer in good condition than any other root,
+under favorable circumstances even as late as July. Experiments in
+feeding steers made with care, proved that while a ton of Mangolds
+increased their weight sixty-five pounds, a ton of Swede increased
+their weight but forty-eight pounds, equal quantities of hay having
+been fed in each experiment. Other experiments have established about
+the same proportionate value between these two roots, though the
+general result was not as favorable. Mangolds, like fruit, undergo a
+ripening change after they are gathered, and until this is effected
+they are not in the best condition for feeding. The ripening process
+for the most part consists in a change of starch into sugar, and
+makes the Mangolds both more healthful and more nutritious food.
+Before this change is effected they are apt to scour stock if fed
+to any degree liberally. The time when this chemical change takes
+place will depend on the degree of ripeness of the crop when stored;
+and this, as has been clearly shown, is affected by both the soil
+on which they grew and the manure with which they were fed; other
+conditions equal, those grown on upland ripen earlier than those on
+lowland, while rank manures tend to prolong the period of growth and
+crops so grown come into condition for feeding later in the season.
+In England, a common practice is to begin feeding the Mangolds at
+Christmas, while in this country the middle of January is considered
+early enough. Experiments carefully made have proved that when fed to
+fattening animals they should follow and not precede Turnips. It is
+a good rule in feeding this as with other roots or tubers, to begin
+with a small quantity and gradually increase the amount up to the
+limit which the appetite of the cow, her general health and the tale
+of the milk pail indicate. Every farmer who feeds a dairy needs a
+root cutter. There are several of these in the market, some designed
+for sheep only, which cut the roots into small pieces, others for
+neat cattle, while some manufactured by our Canada neighbors can be
+arranged to cut for either class of stock. As good a one as I know of
+for stock purposes, cheapness, durability and effectiveness combined,
+is one sometimes known as the Ames machine of which I present an
+engraving. This machine is capable of cutting about two bushels a
+minute. Experiments in England have shown that 59 pounds of cooked
+Mangolds are equal to 70 of uncooked. Leaves of Mangolds should be
+fed with care as they are more apt to scour than those of any other
+root. The reason of this is that they contain comparatively a large
+quantity of a poisonous acid known by chemists as “oxalic” acid, the
+same that is developed in Rhubarb leaves, when slightly wilted, and
+which sometimes causes death when such leaves are eaten as “greens.”
+
+[Illustration: AMES CUTTER.]
+
+The practice sometimes followed in Europe, of feeding the leaves of
+the growing crop, where labor is very cheap, is thought to pay, as
+the leaves are gathered just as they begin to drop from their upright
+position and when their usefulness as nourishers of the root have
+ended. But with labor as cheap as may be, there is no economy in
+this, for, aside from the deleterious effects to animals, when fed
+too liberally, by actual experiment it has been found that the wear
+and tear to the crop, incidental to the plucking of these leaves by
+an average farm hand, injures it more than the value of the leaves
+after they are gathered.
+
+Were it not for the enormous bulk that an acre will produce in
+roots when compared with its yield in hay or grain, there would
+be a serious argument against the growing of them to any extent
+beyond what might be needed for medicinal purposes, in the fact that
+the manure made from them is of so low a value; and the practical
+weight of this argument would grow in proportion as farmers acquire
+a knowledge of the most important department of farming. To most
+farmers a cord or load of manure of cow or horse, is a cord or load
+of equal value; now this is far, very far from being the fact, as
+will be seen by the following table which I take from the _Scientific
+Farmer_, compiled by the celebrated Mr. Lewes, who, by his careful
+experiments, has laid the agricultural world under lasting
+obligation. In this table a ton of English hay is taken as the
+standard and were all the manure saved, both solid and liquid, from a
+ton of each of these varieties of food, the ingredients at the market
+value of the Ammonia, Potash and Phosphoric Acid would be worth as
+follows:--
+
+    Hay,                               $10.00
+    Clover Hay,                         15.00
+    Oat Straw,                           4.50
+    Wheat Straw,                         4.16
+    Barley Straw,                        3.50
+    Decorticated Cotton Seed Cake,      43.33
+    Linseed Cake,                       30.66
+    Malt Dust,                          28.33
+    Malt,                               10.50
+    Oats,                               11.50
+    Wheat,                              11.00
+    Indian Corn,                        10.50
+    Barley,                              9.83
+    Potatoes,                            2.33
+    Mangolds,                            1.66
+    Swedes,                              1.41
+    Turnips, (common,)                   1.33
+    Carrots,                             1.33
+
+This table is very suggestive in many ways:--by it we see that
+there are varieties of food, the manure from which is worth more
+than the cost of the food itself. In its application to the feeding
+of Mangolds, it at a glance suggests the wisdom of feeding at the
+same time a portion of something richer and more concentrated. By
+so doing the quality of the manure is vastly improved and the crops
+will not be slow to discover it. There is still another reason for
+feeding these rich foods while using roots; it enables the farmer to
+feed with profit his straw or inferior varieties of hay. Says Prof.
+Stockhardt, “The full benefit to animals derivable from feeding roots
+is secured only when the proper proportion of substances rich in
+nitrogen are fed with them; accordingly, about two pounds of oil-cake
+should be fed with each hundred pounds of beet root, or other foods
+may be substituted in the same proportion as they are rich in
+nitrogen.”
+
+Recent researches have determined a fact of great value to
+agriculture: that to get the most profitable results from food the
+Albuminoid and Carbohydrate elements should bear a certain proportion
+to each other, and that while a decrease in either of them from this
+proper proportion means insufficient food, and a consequent loss
+of flesh, fat or milk, an excess of either means money wasted. The
+proportion for cows that are dry and oxen when not at work is about
+one of Albuminoids to eight of Carbohydrates; for oxen at work and
+cows in milk, one of Albuminoids to from four to six of Carbohydrates.
+
+The following table taken from Prof. Johnson’s excellent work, “How
+Crops Grow,” gives the proportion of the Albuminoids, Carbohydrates
+and other elements in roots and tubers.
+
+  +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                            |Water.                        |
+  |                            |    |Organic Matter.          |
+  |                            |    |    |Ash.                |
+  |                            |    |    |   |Albuminoids.    |
+  |                            |    |    |   |   |Carbohydrates.
+  |                            |    |    |   |   |    |Crude Fibre.
+  |                            |    |    |   |   |    |   |Fat, &c.
+  +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+  |     ROOTS AND TUBERS.                                     |
+  +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+  |POTATO.                     |95.0|24.1|0.9|2.0|21.0|1.1|0.3|
+  |JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE.        |80.0|18.9|1.1|2.0|15.6|1.3|0.5|
+  |KOHL-RABI.                  |83.0|10.8|1.2|2.3| 7.3|1.2|0.2|
+  |FIELD BEETS (3 lbs. weight).|88.0|11.1|0.9|1.1| 9.1|0.9|0.1|
+  |SUGAR BEETS (1 to 2 lbs.).  |81.5|17.7|0.8|1.0|15.4|1.3|0.1|
+  |RUTA BAGAS (about 3 lbs.).  |87.0|12.0|1.0|1.6| 9.3|1.1|0.1|
+  |CARROT (about ½ lb.).       |85.0|14.0|1.0|1.5|10.8|1.7|0.2|
+  |GIANT CARROT (1 to 2 lbs.). |87.0|12.2|0.8|1.2| 9.8|1.2|0.2|
+  |TURNIPS.                    |92.0| 7.2|0.8|1.1| 5.1|1.0|0.1|
+  |PARSNIP.                    |88.3|11.0|0.7|1.6| 8.4|1.0|0.2|
+  |PUMPKIN.                    |94.5| 4.5|1.0|1.3| 2.8|1.0|0.1|
+  +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+To give the tables necessary to develop this interesting subject to
+its full capacity, would be altogether beyond the scope of my little
+treatise. I will refer my readers to the appendix of that excellent
+work by Prof. Johnson, “How Crops Grow.”
+
+
+                        THE COST OF THE CROP.
+
+An average crop of Mangolds may be set down at 22 tons. To grow this
+crop would cost the farmer who depends on barn manure mainly, about
+as follows:--
+
+                               DEBTOR.
+
+  Ploughing twice, harrowing and dragging,                    $9.00
+  Seed, 10 lbs.,                                               3.50
+  Planting,                                                    1.00
+  Sliding, weeding and thinning crop,                         16.00
+  Gathering, topping and storing,                             12.00
+  Manure, and handling of 7 cords,                            38.00
+  Refuse salt, 16 bushels, at $1.25 per hogshead,              2.50
+  Interest, taxes and wear and tear of implements and teams,  15.00
+                                                             ------
+                              Total cost,                    $97.00
+
+                              CREDITOR.
+
+  By crop of 22 tons roots, at $8.50 per ton,               $187.00
+   “ tops,--4 tons, at $5.00,                                 20.00
+   “ value of manure left in soil,                            14.00
+                                                            -------
+                                                            $221.00
+                              Balance,                      $123.00
+
+In the above estimate I have assumed most of the labor to be by boys,
+who at hand weeding, if they are reliable, can get over the ground
+faster than men. I have made no allowance for the cost of cutting
+up the roots when feeding, as this does not belong under this head.
+Should the land be old the item of weeding would have to be increased
+one-half. The salt I have priced at its cost along the sea-coast. I
+have estimated the value of the crop at the average value of several
+years past, while the manure charge is higher than it should be where
+farmers have access to the fertilizing wastes of great cities.
+
+Now, if instead of being contented with a crop of 22 tons to the
+acre, the farmer strives for double that quantity, he will get it by
+additional expense in but two directions, viz.: his manure bill and
+the cost of gathering and storing. If we now double the cost of each
+of the latter, and credit the results with double the crop, which
+every practical farmer who has had experience in root culture will
+allow is but reasonable, we shall have the following results:--
+
+    Extra cost of crop of 44 tons over one of 22:
+      Manure,--7 cords,                           $38.00
+      Gathering, topping and storing,              12.00
+                                                  ------
+                                                  $50.00
+
+    Now adding-the credit side we shall have for
+      Extra 22 tons roots,                       $187.00
+      Six tons tops,                               30.00
+      Value of manure left in ground,              14.00
+                                                 -------
+                                                 $231.00
+                    Deduct extra cost,             50.00
+                                                 -------
+                    Profits cleared,             $181.00
+
+In other words, by investing $68.00 for six months, we clear
+$163.00, which, as any farmer boy can figure, is at the rate of
+about five hundred per cent. a year. Mr. Fearing of Hingham, with
+the same amount of manure raised over sixty tons to the acre, and
+the instances are numerous where over forty tons have been the crop
+when even a less quantity has been used. Can any farmer who has
+accumulated a small surplus of money do better than invest it in
+manure? There is altogether too much money, for the prosperity of
+their farming, invested by farmers in Savings Banks. These banks
+pay from four per cent. on money, but here is an instance where an
+investment made in manure pays over four hundred per cent. Merchants
+don’t do so foolish a thing as to put their earnings into Savings
+Banks. No; they invest in their business and so keep it and its money
+making capacity under their own control; when will farmers be as
+wise and become their own bankers? Let me remark that the farmer who
+is so wise as to attempt to get the most from his land will do well
+to follow Prof. Voelcker’s advice and drill in four or five hundred
+weight of dissolved bone to the acre, in place of the same value in
+stable manure.
+
+In the above estimates of the value of Mangolds we have assumed that
+the farmer sold his crop. Now it is true of this as of every other
+crop that the farmer can use on his premises, that it is of more
+value to him than the general market price indicates.
+
+Under this head an intelligent farmer of large experience writes:--
+
+“From experiments made in feeding beets, their value has been made
+to range from 13 to 20 cents per bushel, with hay at twenty dollars
+per ton. An exact estimate of the practical value of beets for
+cattle food, is a difficult matter, as it is now, and ever will be,
+hid from mortal ken. The improved condition of the cow (when fed
+to cows during the winter), her increased usefulness during the
+entire season, her lessened liability to sickness and disease which
+high feeding with any one of the different kinds of grain induces,
+her lengthened lease of life, her evident satisfaction and perfect
+contentment, which is so plainly manifested while eating her daily
+ration of roots, are each and every one legitimate items to be taken
+into the account in estimating the practical, the actual value of
+beets as food for dairy stock.
+
+“After carefully looking at the subject in all its bearings, so far
+as my experience has given me opportunity to do so, I have come to
+the conclusion that beets for cattle food are well worth fully as
+many cents per bushel as good hay is worth dollars per ton, without
+taking into consideration the increase of the manure; and that the
+average cost, when stored in the cellar or put into pits, with every
+item of expense included, need not exceed eight cents per bushel.”
+
+I will close my little treatise by remarking that while I cannot
+expect to have exhausted so prolific a subject, yet I hope and trust
+that it may prove of value as a guide and a stimulus to some of my
+many friends in the great community of farmers.
+
+
+
+
+                              CABBAGES:
+
+                          HOW TO RAISE THEM.
+
+                      Price, 30 Cents, by Mail.
+
+
+                              SQUASHES:
+
+                          HOW TO GROW THEM.
+
+                      Price, 30 Cents, by Mail.
+
+           Each of these treatises is amply illustrated and
+           gives full particulars on every point, including
+                   keeping and marketing the crops.
+
+
+
+
+                            ONION RAISING.
+
+                         WHAT KINDS TO RAISE
+
+                                 AND
+
+                        The Way to Raise Them.
+
+This work, issued by me in 1865, has been recommended by some of the
+best authorities in the country and has gone through sixteen editions.
+
+
+                       PRICE BY MAIL, 30 CENTS.
+
+                         JAMES J. H. GREGORY,
+                             MARBLEHEAD.
+
+
+
+
+                        OUR LARGE ILLUSTRATED
+
+                              CATALOGUE
+
+                                  OF
+
+                     VEGETABLE and FLOWER SEEDS,
+
+                     SENT FREE TO ALL APPLICANTS.
+
+
+                      James J. H. Gregory & Son,
+
+                          MARBLEHEAD, MASS.
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75965 ***