Our ground being now ready the next step is to plant it: How much
seed shall we need and how far apart shall we have the rows? The very
best of seed is often disappointing in the matter of vegetating, and
it is therefore best to plant with a liberal hand, for it is better
to have to thin out than not have plants enough. From six to ten
pounds of seed is the quantity used, the larger quality when planted
for sugar purposes, the object in view being to get an even stand
with all the roots the same distance apart, to attain which a great
deal of thinning is necessary. As to the proper distance between
the rows, practical growers will give various replies;--18, 20, 22,
24, 30 inches. The thirty inch men are those who expect to depend
on the cultivator to do about all their weeding. That the crop does
not require so much room to yield the greatest bulk, is shown by the
experience of other cultivators, who have raised from forty to over
sixty tons to the acre, with their rows from eighteen to twenty-two
inches apart, while the greatest, crop on record, viz.:--of over
eighty tons to the acre, was raised with the rows twenty-four inches
apart.
Planting on ridges is often advised, but as far as I have observed,
those who begin this way generally change to the system of level
culture as they advance in experience. The only advantages I have
found in the system of ridge cultivation have been that the Mangolds
appear to grow with fewer roots, and are rather more easily weeded.
These advantages in practice are more than off-set by the extra labor
of making the ridges and preparing them for planting. Mangold seed
is apt to come up badly. In France, where land is cut up into small
areas and labor is cheap, one would expect to find as little waste as
possible, but while travelling there I noted in their fields that the
Mangolds were quite scattering. Mangold seed, like those of beets,
are enclosed in a porous shell which itself is usually called the
seed. By cracking these “seeds” the real seed will be found within,
at the angles, from one to four in number, and when broken, if fresh,
appear as white as flour. One reason why a portion of the seed fails
to vegetate, is, I infer, from the quantity of moisture necessary to
reach and swell the encased seed. For this reason, if planted during
dry spells, care should be taken to get them down to a good depth,
say an inch and a half deep, and then to pack the fine earth closely
over them so that it may hold the moisture. Any machine, therefore,
that is used for planting should have a good roller. To facilitate
and hasten the vegetation, some cultivators practice soaking the
seed, by pouring on water when almost at a scalding temperature, and
letting the seed remain in it from thirty-six to forty-eight hours,
being careful to keep it where the water will not fall below blood
heat, then rolling plaster or dry soil, until it is sufficiently dry
to drop readily from the machine.
Some prefer to plant by hand, believing that the greater certainty
of getting the seed up and the greater regularity of the plants in
the row is more than an off-set to the additional labor. In doing
this some growers will drop the seed on the surface by the machine,
and then follow and push them under to the depth requisite, with the
thumb and finger; others use a strip of plank about four inches wide
and three feet in length, on the under side of which are inserted
wooden pins, every seven inches, the pins being one and a quarter
inches in diameter and projecting two inches. The holes having been
made, the seed are dropped in, and covered by the hand. Where blanks
are found they may be profitably filled by transplanting the young
Mangolds, care being taken to break off the tops of the larger
leaves, and also to loosen the ground a little when planting them.
If a time just after a shower is selected, the result will be very
satisfactory. The transplanted roots when gathered in the Fall will
usually be found with several small roots in place of a single tap
root.
All root crops require prompt and thorough attention in the matter of
weeding, and to lessen this costly department of labor they should
not be raised on land abounding in the seed of weeds. Mangolds will
require two or three hand weedings, besides as many slidings with
the scuffle or wheelhoe. If too thick they should be thinned rather
early in their growth, for I have oftentimes noticed that if this is
left until the roots begin to develop, those left standing are apt
to be dwarfed. It is best to give two thinnings. The plants should
be left from ten to twelve inches apart; the crop of eighty tons was
thinned to twelve inches apart and as the roots are more apt to grow
coarse and prongy, and with less sugar in them, when far apart, I am
inclined to ten or twelve inches as far enough. The object aimed at
should be, as Prof. Voelcker has shown, to get the weight in many
roots of medium size rather than in fewer roots of large size.