The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1884-05-30
Roots.

Those farmers who never grow crop
of roots have missed valuable expert
ence. A good stock of roots in the eel
lar at the outset of winter very much
simplifies the business of feeding. 1t
matters very little what kinds of roots
are grown; every animal upon the farm
is contented and happy with any 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 preparatory term of discipline
and culture, so the root-grower, before
he achieves full success, has some trib-
ulatlon to pass through. 1t is not so
easy to grow roots as to grow corn at
the first start of the crop-because of
the tenderness of the young plants and
their 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
put injury. 1t is necessary, therefore,
that 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. 6aa
The roots chiefly grown are turnips,
rutabagas, mangels and sugar beets. A
great deal is said and written about
growing carrots and parsnips by per-
sons who never grew one, but practi-
eally these are garden crops rather than
held crops tor the farm They are the
most difficult of all roots to grow an
the most laborious to harvest. because
Of their length and slenderness and the
readiness with which they are broken.
Nor are they any more nutritious than
other roots, notwithstanding the oft-re-
peated statements to the contrary. OF
all the roots sugar-beets contain the
largest quantity Of nutritious substance,
rutabagas 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
ject to the attacks of the fea-beetle,r
which often Hlins the young turnips be-
fore they are beyond 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 plowlng are
required for the best results, and the
manure should be decomposed, and
thorough pulverization of the soil is in
dispensable. Early planting is required,
and the first week in May is good sea-
son to get the seed in. We have grown
excellent mangels and sugar beets from
June planting. but as the roots are ten.
der and are injured by early frosts, it is
well TO have the crop dug and out of
the way before there is danger of freez-
ing, and to run no more risk than can
be helped. This seeding is advisable,
as the seed is often far from as good as
it might be, and an even stand is desira-
BILE, to have the rows well filed up. It
is not worth while to try to transplant
roots into vacant spaces; it is a great
deal OF labor, and generally the work is
thrown away, because the transplanted
roots make but a weak growth It is
far cheaper to use two pounds more of
seed to the acre than to have many
vacant spaces in the rows, as the cost
of the seed is one dollar, while the loss
in the crop may easily amount to several
tons 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 sufsi-
Gent. The seed should be covered at
least one inch, aud the ground over the
seed should be rolled. A small seed
drill is generally used 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 drill leaves the seed sown
in rows that are marked by the roller,
so that the spaces can be worked with
out delay by the horseshoe, which is
necessary to be done soon to prevent
the growth of weeds. A week after
planting Is long enough to defer this
first cultivation. When the plants ap-
pear in the rows they are to be
hoed out to ten inches apart After
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 out the rows the work is done
very conveniently by running a hand
cultivator across the rows, by which the
ten-inch spaces are cut out very much
more quickly than by the hoe. IN, !.
Times.