CHAP. VI.
It will not be supposed, by any intelligent farmer, that where the quantity of the Improved Beet Root given daily to a bullock is stated, it is meant that it should be given without dry food. It may, however, be necessary to say, that the same dry food must be given with the Beet as is usually given with turnips. Mr. Heaton last year gave oat straw only, and the bullocks did well upon that food, and were sold to profit. No doubt theywould have been ready for the butcher sooner, had good hay been given to them: but this fact may be relied upon, that fresh bullocks, fed upon the Beet Root and oat straw, will, in 3 months time, get fat enough for the butcher.
It may also be necessary to observe, that not a word, here stated, is intended to apply to such light turnip soils as will bear the trampling of sheep, without injury to the land. Mr. Heaton has none such upon his farm, and I have not sufficient knowledge of the management of turnip land, of that description, to say, whether prudence would warrant any trial of the BeetRoot upon a large scale, on such soil, to be eaten on the land.
Where a field, selected for a crop of Beet, 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 the sowing them on foul ground, or in any way to encourage a slovenly system of farming.
Although manure has been used inthe cultivation of this root, it is not absolutely necessary; and, if not in a rotten state, it does mischief. Good crops have been obtained at Bedfordswithout manure, and without injury to the succeeding crops of corn. Beet is fed from a depth considerably below the reach of the plough, as generally used; so that it does not draw the surface soil in which corn is fed.
The method of cultivating the Beet Root here recommended, is the same as that which is used in the cultivation of turnips, in Northumberland and other parts of the north, with this exception, that the rows there are 27 inches apart.There may be reasons in the north for still preferring that space, but in Essex the effect of it, in the cultivation of 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 3 feet apart, than they do in rows 2 feet apart. It may, therefore, fairly be presumed, that they would not be larger in rows 27 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.
The advantages that would arisefrom the cultivation of these roots, upon a small part of every strong-land-farm throughout the kingdom, must be obvious. Calculations might be given that would astonish and almost exceed the belief of most readers. Such calculations, however, in general, are but little attended to, and it is thought better to omit them, hoping that enough has been said upon the subject, to fix the attention of every person interested in the cultivation of land.
[Fleuron]