The Red Cloud chief., 1884-06-06
Roots.

Those farmers who never grow = crop
( OF roots have missed valuable expert
ence. !. good stock o. roots in the Gel
lar ~ the outset of winter very much
Simuliiies the business Of feeding. Ii
matters very little what kinds OF roots
are grown; every animal upon the farm
is contcnted and happy with n of
them. And certainly the farmer who
once experiences their value will rare
ly after be without a stock of them. But
As one can not enjoy perfect happiness
without a preparatory term OF discipline
and culture, so the r~oot-grower. before
he achieves full success. has some trib-
ulatiOn to pass through. 1t is not so
easy TO grow roots as 10 grow corn at
tn" first start of the crop-becauSe OF
the tenderness of the young plants and
the frail hold upon the soil. Rough
culture will kill them before it will hurt
the weeds: while corn. being strongly
and deeply rooted. can be hoed, and
even narrowed. while it is small. with
out in Jury. 1t is necessary. therefore,
tina; the land should be clean and rich
for roots; clean. that the crop may not
be smothered by weeds or disturbed by
their removal. and rich, that the plants
may be quickly pushed ahead of their
early weak condition.
The roots chiefly grown are turnips.
rutabagas. mangels and sugar beets. A
u, at deal is said and written about
growing carrots and par3nips by per-
sons who never grew one, but practi-
callv these are garden crops rather than
field crops tor the farm. They are thu
: most difficult of all roots to grow and
the most laborious to harvest. because
of their length and slenderness and the
readiness with which they are broken.
Nor are they any nutritious than
other roots. Notwithstanding the oft-re.
peated statements 10 the CONTRARY. OF
all the roots sugar-beets contain the
largest quantity of nutritious substance,
r~utabagas next, then mangels. parsnips
and carrots. and turnips last of all.
Sugar beets and mangels are the most
easily grown, becaUse they are not sub
lect 10 the attacks of the tiea-beetle,
wIich often ruins the young turnipS be-
fore they are hey nd their first leaves.
and the most easily harvested. because
they grow mostly out of the ground.
The soil for roots should be we'll pre-
pared. Fall manuring and plOwIng are
required for the best results. and the
manure should be decomposed. and
thorough pulverization of the soil is in
~dispensabie. Early planting is required.
and the first week in Nav is a good sea-
son 10 get the seed in. We have grown
excellent mangels and sugar beets from
June planting. but Is the roots are ten
der and are injured by early frosts. il is
well 10 have the crop dug aud ont Of
the way before there is danger OF freez-
ing. n 10 III no more risk than can
be helped. This seeding is advisable,
Is the seed is often far from as good As
il might be. and an even stand is deSira-
bic. Ia have the rOws well filled up. II
is not worth while to try 10 transplant
roots into vacan spaces: it is a great
dea. of labor. and generally the work is
thrown away. because the transplanted
roots make but a weak growth. 1t is
far cheaper TO use two pounds more Of
seed to the acre than TO have many
aca spaces in the rows, As the cost
of the seed is one dollar, while the loss
in the crop may easily moun to several
onS through imperfect seed. Six
pounds of beet or mangel seed to the
acre, with rows thirty inches apart: two
pounds of %rutabagaS or turnips. and five
pounds of carrots or parSnips are sufTi-
cient The seed should be covered at
least n inch. aud the ground over the
seed should be rolled. A small seed
drill is generally | sed for sowing the
seeds, and it covers them at the same
time. BY the help of the drill four
acres Can be sown in one day by a man
or boy. The DIR II leaves the seed sOwn
in rows that are marked nv the roller,
so hat the spaces can be worked with
out delay BY the horseshoe. which is
necessary TO be doue soon to prevent
tie growth of weeds. A week af CT
planting is long enough 10 deer this
first cult Walton. When the plants ap-
pear in the rows they are to be
hoed out to ten inches apart Alter
this the whole work consists in
keeping the crop clear of weeds up to
the time when the growth of the leaves
shades the ground sufficiently. In thin
ming on. the rows the work IS done
very conveniently BY running 4 hand
cultivator across the rows. by which the
ten-inch spaces are cut out very much
more quickly than by the hoe.-N. y.
Times.