The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1878-02-07
TOPICS FOR FARMERS.

Beets.-Joseph Harrison writes in the
Ohio Cultivator: The genuine sugar
beet, ton for ton, is usually more nu-
tritious than mangel-wurzel. But as
food for stock, SO far as my experience
goes, think the mangel-wurzel is much
more profitable than the sugar beet. 1t
yields more per acre and keeps better,
and, at any rate in the spring of the
year, my sheep and lambs prefer the
mangels to the sugar beets. This l at
tribute to the fact that the sugar beets at
that season are soft and withered, while
the mangels are firm, crisp and fresh
But of course much depends on how
the mangels or beets have been bred. A
variety of mangel-wurzels can be grown
and selected year after year for quality
rather than size, and on the other hand
variety of sugar beets can be grown
and selected year after year for size
rather than quality. And if the "im-
provement" has been carried far enough
in both cases, the mangel may be more
nutritious than the sugar beet, and the
sugar beet yield larger crop per acre.
than the mangel. In point of fact, how
ever, when the improvement has been
carried far enough the improved sugar
beet is sugar beet only in name. 1t is
essentially mangel-wurzel.
When beets are bred and raised ex-
clusively for sugar, the aim of the
grower is to get the largest amount of
sugar in a ton of beets. But when
raised for stock, the aim of the grower
is to get the largest amount of nutritious
food per ton and the greatest number of
tons per acre. A pound of starch is as
nutritious as a pound of sugar, and,
other things equal, / suppose we can
raise a given amount of nourishment
much more cheaply in mangels than in
sugar beets-unless, as I said before, the
sugar beets are sugar beets only in name.
If they are essentially mangels, they
may produce just as large a yield per
acre as mangels and contain as much
nutriment. On the whole, however, l
think it is much better to raise mangels.
/ would advise farmer to grow his
own mangel seed. Select the soundest,
frmest and best shaped roots, and set
them out in the spring in rows three
and half feet apart and eighteen
inches in the rows. You will then have
seed that you know to be good.
l do not mean merely seed that will
grow. Some of the poorest and smallest
French seed will germinate better than
the largest and best bred American seed.
In fact, as a rule, the poorer the seed
the more certain it is to germinate.
What seed-growers calls stock-seed" is
often quite inferior looking and does no
germinate as vigorously or produce as
strong plants as ordinary seed. and the
reason is not difficult to perceive. The
wild beet has tendency to produce
seed-to propagate its species. We cul-
tivate beets, not for seed but for bulbs,
and the more we improve the plants
the more we increase the tendency to
produce bulbs-the more we weaken the
tendency to produce seed. And the re-
verse of this is equally true. Beets that
form strong, thick roots, small bulbs and
long thick necks and large leaves will
produce much more seed than a smooth,
handsome. well-shaped beet that has
small, delicate roots and small leaves,
with little or no neck. And the same
principle holds good in the case of
mangel-wurzels, turnips, cabbages, on
ions, lettuce, carrots, parsnips, potatoes
and all similar plants grown not for seed,
but for bulbs, tubers, "heads," etc. A
variety or "breed" that is good fol-
bulbs is bad for seed; and one that pro-
duces a large amount of seed is pretty
certain to produce an inferior bulb.