Part 3

5. In pages 107, 108, 109 and 110, are some interesting notices of the Mangel Wurtzel, or Scarcity or Beet root, by Mr. Isaac C. Jones, of Philadelphia. It appears that this gentleman was led into some experiments, after an entire city occupation of 20 years, by reading some interesting accounts of such experiments in the European books. In April, 1816, a piece of ground, not quite one fifth of an acre, was planted with the seeds, in parallel rows, of two feet three or four inches one way, by one foot the other. On gathering the crop in November, 1816, it was found that it weighed 8180 pounds, and that the weight of the leaves, pulled off from those roots, at different times through the season, was 5,595 pounds. They would have been more, but as the season of 1816 was uncommonly dry, the pulling was omitted for some weeks. This plant is very valuable for farm stock, and _most so for milch cows_. The leaves are excellent through the summer, and the cut or chopped root through the winter, when dry food is used. The Mangel Wurtzel, or Scarcity root or improved Beet, is excellent for the table, and is preferred by Mr. Jones' family to the red or garden beets, which are abundant and very fine in the Philadelphia market. The same gentleman raised in 1816, on 23 square poles (23/160ths of an acre,) 110 bushels of the long or orange Carrot root, being at the rate of nearly 800 bushels to the acre. A bushel of those Carrots (cut with an approved instrument in the form of an S) weighed 47 lbs., and a bushel of the Mangel Wurtzel, cut in like manner, weighed 55 lbs. The Carrots produced 800 bushels, and the Mangel Wurtzel, at this rate, 900 bushels to the acre, each _in the uncut state_. As he planted the Mangel Wurtzel, Mr. Jones found it easy to dress with the plough and one horse. The Carrots, when up, require the hoe and the hand altogether. It appears, that the seeds of this plant, about which the utmost care is necessary, may be had of John S. Skinner, Esq. Baltimore, and Mr. M'Mahon, Philadelphia, and of the seedsmen in New York, Hartford, Boston, &c. The Mangel Wurtzel fell into some disrepute in England, about the year 1810, but the marchioness of Salisbury revived it. It was introduced into Ireland, in 1787, by seed from Dr. Letsom, of London, but the good qualities not being known, nor the culture, it fell into disuse in Ireland also. But a machine for the planting of it was invented by Mr. Edward Linsey, and now it is extensively cultivated there and much approved. The leaves produce two or more crops in the north of Ireland in summer and autumn, and those leaves and the roots in winter are deemed excellent for milch and beef cattle, in that great butter country. Irish sowing time is April and May. Preparation the same as for turnips and potatoes: two drills to be opened two feet apart; sufficient dung to be used, according to the state and quality of the ground. Then cover the dung with the double mould board plough, at once, or the single plough at twice, by ridging them up as high as can be well done, with a man shovelling between the drills, right and left, smoothing the surface of the dung, which will leave the ridge about a space of ten or twelve inches broad. This complete method of fallowing will repay the trouble of shovelling, by raising a full proportion of earth under the roots. When the ground is thus completely prepared, two boys or girls can sow from two to three acres per day. After sowing, it should be well rolled, which completes the process.

The crop is afterwards to be treated in the same manner as turnips or potatoes, by putting to and taking off mould, &c. After the roots have been raised, the ground is in fine order for wheat or any other crop.

_Example of Cultivation._--Wolf M'Neil, Esq. Ireland, sowed one acre; from the leaves, fed 40 pigs through the seasons of last summer and fall; then gathered 84 tons of roots.--On these fed nine cows and five calves during winter, and had, on 22d April, 1815, eight tons remaining, besides 100 roots, which he transplanted for securing good seed, _an all-important object_ in this culture.

(To be continued.)

[We recommend to our readers the purchase and study of "_The Code of Agriculture_," written by Sir John Sinclair, the first president of the _public_ British Board of Agriculture. London edition, about 612 pages in one octavo volume; also, American Hartford edition, Connecticut. It is probably the first farmer's manual, or _handbook_, extant in our language, and was concocted by the labours of 26 years, and with the aid of 1000 persons.]

_Valuable Breed of Cattle._

The attention of farmers being again called to the bull imported by Stephen Williams, Esq. of Northborough, we have thought it might gratify them to learn the high estimation in which cattle of the same breed are held in England.--About two years since, the stock of a celebrated agriculturist of that country, consisting of cattle of this breed, was sold at public auction: One two year old cow, sold for $1,544; one four year old cow, for $1,400; one five year old cow, for $1,726; a one year old bull calf, for $1,426; one four year old bull, for $2,898. And it appears by the catalogue, with the prices affixed, that 34 cows sold for $19,324; 17 heifers for $6,006; 6 bulls for $6,267; and 4 bull calves for $3,327--making for 61 head of cattle, the enormous sum of $34,924.

[_Mass. Spy._

* * * * *

_The Vineyards._--The present crop of grapes promises a more abundant yield than that of the last season. There are about 24 acres under culture, which, at the last vintage yielded upwards of 5000 gallons of wine, besides a vast quantity of grapes used for other purposes. The situation is delightful, running parallel with the river; it is the admiration of strangers, and a grateful retreat to those who live in its vicinity. The intelligent traveller, while he rests from the fatigues of his journey, finds a source of true gratification mingled with delight, in contemplating the beauties of nature and art, which are here so happily blended--the abode of rural felicity. _Vevay, (Indiana) June 22._

A DISCOURSE, READ BEFORE THE

Essex Agricultural Society,

In Massachusetts, February 21, 1820,

_Suggesting some Improvements in the Agriculture of the County._

BY TIMOTHY PICKERING,

President of the Society.

(Concluded from page 272.)

II. _On Root Crops._

Premiums having been proposed to encourage the raising of Carrots, Rutga Baga and Mangel Wurtzel; and as these articles, cultivated extensively, are of vast importance to farmers; I can perhaps in no way better promote the views of the Society, in their vote before mentioned, than by describing the methods of cultivating those roots, which elsewhere have been practised with great success, but to which, and indeed to the roots themselves (Carrots excepted) most of our husbandmen are strangers.

The introduction of Clover, and subsequently carrying the culture of the Common Turnip extensively into the field, marked distinguished eras in the improvements of English Husbandry. At a later period, Carrots were cultivated by some farmers: and within a few years past, the Mangel Wurtzel and the Rutga Baga have become objects of general cultivation. And now these five articles constitute essential branches of the highly improved Husbandry of Great Britain.

COMMON TURNIPS. These for a long time were raised (and perhaps this practice is still very general) by sowing the seeds broad-cast, and weeding and thinning them with hoes, till the plants stood from a foot to fifteen inches apart. But the most correct practice appears to be that of drilling the seeds in rows, thinning them at the distance of ten or twelve inches in the rows, and hoeing and keeping them clear from weeds. And this weak, watery root has been the principal food of immense flocks of store sheep, during the winter; and when plentifully given, only with the addition of straw, has served to fatten cattle and sheep for the market.

CARROTS, Even these plants, so long after they vegetate extremely small, were also raised from seed sown broad-cast. But this awkward practice, I believe, has generally given way to the row-culture, whether the seeds were sown by hand, or by the instrument called a drill. In very rich land, great crops have been raised where the rows were only from twelve to fifteen inches apart. The great crop of 752 bushels, weighing eighteen tons and three quarters raised on one acre, in Salem, by Erastus Ware, in 1817, was in rows about sixteen inches apart. The seed was sown the 14th of May. But I am inclined to think a preferable mode would be, to sow the seeds in double rows about ten inches apart, with intervals of three feet between the rows, so as to admit a small plough, as well as the hoe, in their cultivation. In this case, a deep furrow being opened by the plough, the manure should be regularly thrown into it, and covered by four back furrows, so forming a ridge over the manure; and this ridge being laid level with a light harrow, or with rakes, or if the soil be in fine tilth, by a light roller, will then be ready to receive the seed. As soon as the Carrots are plainly to be seen, they should be hoed and weeded; or the weeds will soon outstrip the Carrots (which are of very slow growth at first) and render their cleansing vastly more troublesome and laborious.--They should also be thinned, to stand single, and only from three to five inches apart in the rows; or the roots will be small, and cost much more time in handling and topping (cutting or wringing off the tops) at the time of harvesting them. The entire crop, too, will doubtless be smaller than when the plants are thinned as here recommended.

THE MANGEL WURTZEL. This plant yields a much more abundant crop than the Carrot; and at the same time contains, in the same quantity or weight of roots, a great deal more nourishment; whence it is natural to suppose that it requires a richer soil than Carrots. I have not made sufficient trials to enable me to express a decided opinion on the best mode of cultivating the Mangel Wurtzel; and will therefore lay before you the successful practice, on strong land, in the county of Essex, in England, as it is stated, from a recent English publication, by the Philadelphia Society of Agriculture.[4]

[4] Memoirs of the Society, Vol. III. Appendix.

The Mangel Wurtzel is sometimes called the Great, or Improved Beet, and Root of Scarcity; but now, more generally, Mangel Wurtzel, its German name. The following is the account of its culture at Bedford, in Essex.

"It may be proper, in the first place, to state what is meant by _strong land_. The surface soil is loamy, and from four to twelve inches deep, upon a bed of strong clay mixed with gravel. It is too heavy, and generally too wet, in the winter, even for sheep to eat a crop of turnips on the ground; and although good turnips are raised upon it, it is always necessary to draw them for the sheep, stall-fed cattle, or cattle in the yards."

"In the middle, or latter end of the month of April, the furrows are set out with the plough, two feet apart, and double ploughed; that is, the plough returns on the [same] furrow to the point whence it set out, forming a ridge between each two furrows."

"Double ploughing with a common plough is preferable to single ploughing with a double mould board plough, because it affords a greater depth of loose earth than the double mould board plough would produce."

"In these furrows, the manure, which should be in a rotten state, is deposited, after the rate of six cubic yards to an acre."[5]

[5] Six cubic yards contain 162 cubic feet, or three cart loads for a pair of oxen. A cart body, 7 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 2 feet high, _in the clear_, contains 56 cubic feet; and three times 56 are 168.--I doubt the necessity of manure being "in a rotten state," seeing it is to be so deeply buried, for this or any other root crop intended for the food of domestic animals; especially for Mangel Wurtzel, which to obtain a full crop, should be sown very early, as soon as the ground is dry enough to be ploughed. The powerful fermentation of fresh dung might impart to the soil a salutary warmth in the cool spring season--At least it may be worth while to try it.

"The ridges are then split by the plough, going and returning the same way as before mentioned; leaving the manure immediately under the middle of the new ridges. A light roller is then passed along the ridges,[6] in the middle of which the seed is dibbled, so that the plants may receive all the benefit which can be derived from the manure."[7]

[6] These narrow ridges, as formed by the plough, are sharp; by passing a light roller over them, they are flattened to a breadth of 8 or 9 inches. The light roller, drawn by a horse, that walks in the furrow between them, flattens two ridges at a time. Thus rolled, the manure will be covered 8 or 9 inches deep.

[7] A dibble is a simple tool, which may be of different sizes and forms, according to the uses it is intended to serve. If for setting (in transplanting) cabbages or other like plants, it may be a round stick about an inch and a quarter in diameter, shaved down at one end (in a slope of 8 or 10 inches long) to a blunt point. An old spade or shovel handle is well adapted to the purpose. If much used, the slope may be advantageously covered smoothly with iron. But for putting in _seeds_, the dibble may be in the form of the letter T. To make one, take a piece of wood about 3 feet 4 inches long, and about an inch and a quarter square. In one of the sides bore holes in a line, and insert teeth at the proposed distance of the plants in the row: if for Mangel Wurtzel, at 10, 11 or 12 inches apart; and let the teeth be as long (projecting from the head place) as the proposed depth at which the seeds are to be sown. On the opposite side of the head-piece, bore a hole in the middle, large enough to receive a handle of convenient length. On the top of the handle fix a cross-piece 5 or 6 inches long, to be grasped by the hand in using the tool.--With it, as many holes for seeds will be made, at every movement, as there are teeth in the head. The handle may require bracing, in like manner as a rake handle and its head is braced by means of bows.

It now occurs to me, that perhaps the light roller used in levelling the tops of the ridges may be set with teeth, and thus perform the additional office of making holes for the seed; and with vastly greater expedition than by dibbling. A light roller, long enough to flatten two ridges at once, of 13 inches in diameter, and furnished with two sets of four teeth each to pass along the middle of two adjoining ridges--and the four teeth of each set being inserted at equal distances in a circle of the roller,--the holes for the seed would be made at the desired distance of near one foot from each other. The teeth should be so shaped as to leave the holes made by them fairly open. For this purpose they may be an inch and a half wide and three quarters of an inch thick, where their shoulders are fayed to the roller, and taper thence to a rounded thick edge at their extremities. The same teeth, if not too long, may serve to regulate and expedite the sowing of the Ruta Baga seed.

"The seed is deposited about an inch deep, whilst the moisture is fresh in the earth,[8] and covered by drawing a garden rake along the rows. After this, the light roller is again passed along the ridges, [to press the earth upon the seeds] and the work is finished."

[8] It is very important to have seeds of all kinds sown as soon as possible after the ground is ploughed and prepared to receive them, and before the moisture of the fresh-stirred earth is dissipated by the sun and drying winds; otherwise some may never vegetate, or not till after a fall of rain; and so precious time may be lost, and an uneven crop be produced.

"When the plants are about the size of a radish, they are hoed with a turnip hoe, leaving the plants in the row about twelve inches apart. If any of the seeds fail, and there happen not to be an even crop, the roots where they are too thick are drawn out before the hoeing takes place, and transplanted to fill up the vacant places, and ensure a full crop; which is always certain, inasmuch as 99 plants out of 100 thrive and do well. In transplanting, care is necessary to prevent the point of the root from turning upwards."

"The weeds, while the plants are young, are kept hoed; but after the head of the plant has once spread, no weed can live under its shade; and the expense of hoeing afterwards is trifling indeed."

"The whole of the crop is taken up in the month of November,[9] in dry weather. The tops are cut off near the _crown_ of the plants, and the plants, when perfectly dry, are piled up in a shed, and covered with straw sufficiently thick to preserve them from the frost. They kept last year till the latter end of March, and they would have kept much longer."

[9] The time of taking up the Mangel Wurtzel must be regulated by the climate. There is sometimes a frost in the latter part of October, in this county, severe enough to injure this root, exposed, as the greater part of it is above ground. Light frosts, however, will do it no harm, while the roots remain in the ground, and in a degree sheltered by their leaves.

"Where a field selected for a crop of Beet [the Mangel Wurtzel] happens to be in a foul state, the seed had better be sown in a garden, and the whole field planted with the young Beet, when of the size of a radish. This will give time for cleaning the ground, and fitting it for a crop; for although the Beets are destroyers of weeds, it is not meant to recommend sowing them on foul ground, or in any way to encourage a slovenly system of farming."

"The method of cultivating the Beet root, here recommended, is the same as that used in the cultivation of turnips, in Northumberland, and other parts of the North of England with this exception, that the rows there are 27 inches apart.--There may be reasons in the North for still preserving that space; but in Essex the effect of it, in the cultivation of the Beet root, would be, that instead of 48 tons per acre, 43 tons only would be obtained. Experience has proved, that the roots do not get to a larger size in rows three feet apart, than they do in rows two feet apart. It may therefore fairly be presumed, that they would not be larger, in rows twenty-seven inches apart; and if not larger, the weight of the crop, per acre, must be less, because the plants decrease in number as the rows increase in space."

To the preceding account of cultivating the Mangel Wurtzel, I will subjoin a few

REMARKS.

In this mode it is intended that every two feet of ground should bear one plant: and as an acre contains 43,560 square feet, there will be half of that number of plants on an acre, and the roots must weigh nearly five pounds each, on an average, to yield forty-eight tons. The land must indeed be strong to produce so heavy a crop. If our lands, enriched and prepared in the best manner conveniently in our power, can be made to yield half as much, we shall have reason to be satisfied: especially as the Mangel Wurtzel, quantity for quantity, contains more than twice as much nutritive matter as the Ruta Baga, and even 50 per cent. more than Carrots; according to the experiments (by analysis) of a celebrated English Chymist, Sir Humphrey Davy, which he stated to the British Board of Agriculture. These experiments were made with the red and white Beets; but it is presumed that the Mangel Wurtzel produces as much nutriment as any other Beet.

Instead of 6 it may be advisable to apply at least 12 cubit yards (that is 6 such cart loads as were before-mentioned) of manure to an acre; and to distribute the same in deep furrows 4 feet apart. This would give four square feet of ground to each plant, the plants being at a foot distance one from another in the rows, four feet apart, would admit the use of the common horse plough in their cultivation.

Carrots and the Mangel Wurtzel possess one eminent advantage; that they are not, to my knowledge, annoyed by insects at any period of their growth. Whereas the Ruta Baga and other turnips, while in the seed leaf, are injured (in England whole fields are often destroyed) by a small black fly: and the Ruta Baga (like cabbages) when far advanced in growth, is sometimes infested, and in dry seasons half ruined, by plant lice; as was my small crop in 1818.

The Mangel Wurtzel also possesses one peculiar advantage above all other root crops, that as soon as the tops or leaves, are full grown, they may be stripped off (leaving only the small heart-leaves uninjured) and given to cattle and swine.--This stripping may be repeated once or twice; and it is said that the roots thrive better for the stripping. If not stripped off many of the under leaves perish. The leaves are pronounced excellent for increasing the richness and quantity of milk in cows; and so are calculated to supply the deficiency of herbage in the common pastures, which generally fail, more or less, by the beginning of August. An acre twice stripped will yield several tons of leaves.

THE RUTA BAGA. This root may be cultivated in the manner just described for the Mangel Wurtzel; the ground being prepared in the same manner. In England, they appear to be most commonly grown in rows 27 inches apart, with the plants at a foot distance in the rows. But William Cobbett, who in a small book, published in New York, has minutely described his own practice, both in England and America, asserts, that the largest crops are attainable by growing the Ruta Baga in rows four feet apart, with the plants about 10 inches or a foot distant from each other in the rows: and in this mode of culture, he has raised, in England, 30 tons to the acre.

For this mode of culture, the manure, being deposited in furrows 4 feet apart, is covered by 4 back furrows, 2 on one side and 2 on the other, of each line of manure; by which little ridges are formed: and if the ploughing be deep (as it ought to be) there will be a deep gutter between every two ridges.--The tops of the ridges being made fine with a light harrow, or with rakes, the seeds are sown with a drilling machine; or by hand, which Mr. Cobbett says he prefers to a drill. Two men sowed for him 7 acres in 3 days, using about 4 pounds of seed, in this manner; a man went along by the side of each ridge, and put down 2 or 3 seeds in places at about 10 inches from each other, just drawing a little earth over, and _pressing it on the seed_, in order to make it vegetate quickly, before the earth became too dry. But, he adds, the 7 acres might have been sown by one man in a day, by just scattering the seeds along on the top of the ridge, where they might have been buried with a rake, and pressed down with a spade or shovel, or other flat instrument. But he used a light roller, to take two ridges at once, the horse walking in the gutter between.

The time of sowing the seeds must vary with the climate. On Long Island, (state of New York) Mr. Cobbett's trials of one year led him to prefer the 26th of June; but in our own county, I would not pass the middle of that month. Indeed I think it expedient (in order to ascertain the fittest time) to commence sowing the seed as soon as the ground can be prepared after the planting of Indian corn, and to continue to sow, in small plots, weekly, until the middle of June.