Chapter C: H. Ware, Esq. Gray’s Inn, Middlesex

John Willock, Esq. Golden Square, London.

Thomas Willan, Esq. Marybone Park, Middlesex.

Mr. Charles Waistell, Holborn, Middlesex.

Mr. William Weller, Amersham, Buckinghamshire.

Mr. William Ward, Durham.

Mr. Thomas Wolton, Pirgo Park, Essex.

Mr. Joseph Watson, Shimpling, Norfolk.

Mr. William Weedon, Wilsden Green, Middlesex.

ON THE

IMPROVED BEET ROOT,

AS

WINTER FOOD FOR CATTLE.

CHAP. I.

The garden at Cheese Cross produced a fine crop of the Improved Beet Root. The roots, when about the size of a radish, were thinned out with a turnip hoe, leaving the plants nearly 15 inches apart each way. I selected 60 square yards, 6 by 10, and found the produce to be 360 roots, equal to 29,040 roots upon an acre. They weighed from 1 pound to 12 pounds each, and 10 of them, taken up indiscriminately, weighed 40 pounds. Supposing them, therefore, to average 4 pounds each, the _weight_ upon an acre would be something more than 50 tons. One hundred weight, cut into small pieces for the cattle, measured 2 bushels. The _quantity_ per acre may therefore be estimated at 2000 bushels, 2 bushels are given to each bullock daily: 196 bushels, the produce of only about a tenth part of an acre of garden ground, planted in this way, would keep a bullock 14 weeks.

In Mason’s field, on the road from Bedfords to Havering, another fine crop was obtained. The roots, when about the size of a radish, were taken out of the seed bed, and planted in rows, 3 feet asunder, and the plants were about 18 inches apart in each row. I selected 60 square yards, 6 by 10, and found the produce to be 126 roots, equal to 10,164 roots upon an acre. These roots weighed, on an average, 5 pounds each, so that the weight upon an acre would be something more than 22 tons. Each bullock eats 1 cwt. per day. The produce of 1 acre of ground, planted in this way, would keep 4 bullocks feeding for 110 days.

In another part of the same field, on the road from Bedfords to Havering, the seed was dibbled in rows, 2 feet apart, and the plants were left 12 inches apart in each row. I selected 60 square yards, 6 by 10, and found the produce to be 270 roots; equal to 21,780 roots upon an acre. These roots average a little more than 5 pounds each. The weight upon an acre would therefore be something more than 48 tons. Each bullock eats 1 cwt. per day. The produce of 1 acre of land, planted in this way, would keep 10 bullocks feeding for 97 days.

CHAP. II.

This is the third year that Mr. Heaton has cultivated the improved Beet Root with great success, in three different ways; namely, broadcast on ground under garden culture; and, in the field, by dibbling in the seed, and transplanting the roots. The result fully justifies a preference in favour of dibbling in rows 2 feet apart, as will be seen by the following short statement of the produce obtained under each mode of culture.

│ PRODUCE. Broadcast, on strong land, spade-trenched, 10 inches deep, │ 50 tons leaving the plants after hoeing nearly 15 inches apart each │per acre. way, │

Transplanted in rows 3 feet apart, and the plants about 18 │ 22 tons inches apart in each row, │per acre.

Dibbling the seed in rows 2 feet apart, and the plants left │ 48 tons 12 inches apart in each row, │per acre.

A good crop may be obtained by the broadcast method upon deep, loose soils, or upon strong soils spade-trenched, 10 or 12 inches deep; but by that mode much seed is wasted, and much extra expence incurred in labour, hoeing, and transplanting, before the plants are placed 5 inches apart each way, which is very material to insure a good crop, under that mode of culture.

CHAP. III

To those who may have been in the habit of cultivating the Swedish turnip, it may be desirable to point out the advantages which the improved Beet Root has over that turnip. Mr. Heaton had last year, in his Havering Green field, the best crop of Swedish turnips that I have ever seen, upon his farm, during twelve years’ attention to the management of it; and his intelligent agent and farmer, Mr. Henry Gibbons, assures me, that he did not see a better crop between London and Derby, from which latter place he returned in December last.

The Swedes in this field were drilled in rows 24 inches apart, and the plants were left about 9 inches apart in each row. I selected 60 square yards, 6 by 10, and found the produce to be 252 turnips, equal to 20,356 upon an acre. I weighed many of them, and found them from half a pound to 6 pounds each, averaging 2 pounds. The weight upon an acre would, therefore, be something more than 18 tons: _less_ by 30 tons than the produce of an acre of the improved Beet, dibbled in rows 2 feet apart, and the plants left 12 inches apart in each row.

The improved Beet has other material advantages over turnips. The crop is more certain, as the infant root is not injured by the fly; the ground may be cleared in time to sow wheat upon it, and the Beet attaining perfection, as it does, before the winter sets in, much labour and all the difficulty of getting and carting turnips in bad weather are saved to the farmer.

A bushel of the sliced Beet weighs 6 pounds heavier than a bushel of Swede turnip sliced. Two bushels of it per day satisfies a bullock better than 2 bushels and a half of Swedes; and it is well known, that 2 bushels and a half of Swedes are better than 3 bushels of common turnips. Sheep are fond of the improved Beet after Christmas; so are pigs, young cattle, and cows; and, with hay or straw, it will be found excellent food for young horses. For milch cows, the Beets have a decided advantage over turnips. Turnips, from their rankness, spoil the cream and butter; Beet, from its peculiar sweetness, improves both.

It is strongly recommended to the farmers near London to cultivate this root, and to the cowkeepers in London to consume it: to them it will be found of great value.

Since the above was written, the Author has been favoured with the following information, from a Friend, who left his crop in the ground till spring.

“My Beet in the Old Yard has stood the late severe frost better than any common turnips, and perhaps equally well with the Swedes, very few indeed being injured. Some of them were covered with snow, but others were exposed. They were rather small, having been planted so late as June.” I. K.

“Feb. 23, 1814.”

CHAP. IV.

For the information and guidance of those occupiers of land, who may be desirous of cultivating the improved Beet Root upon strong land, the next Chapter will contain a particular account of the method used in cultivating that root upon strong land at Bedfords. The method there stated, is that which has been found, on three years’ trial, to be least expensive in the beginning, and most profitable in the end.—The cultivation of this root is earnestly recommended to the attention of all persons farming strong lands with a view to profit. It should never be forgotten, that 48 tons, the produce of only a single acre, of this root, will make 10 bullocks fat enough for the butcher; and that 6 acres, of equal produce, will fatten 60 bullocks; that the profit on each bullock will be considerable; and that when the business of feeding is over, the yard will be full of rich dung: neither should it be forgotten, that the tenant who sells his straw, cannot partake of any of these advantages.

In proof of this assertion, the following facts are submitted for consideration:

Mr. Heaton bought two lean Welch bullocks, at Harlow Bush Fair, on the 9th of September. They cost together £34. They were pastured on the Rowens till the 20th of November following, when they were tied up, and fed with Beet Root and oat straw till the 9th of February following, when they were sold together, in Romford market, for the sum of £50; yielding in twenty-two weeks, a profit of £16, which is equal to 7s. 3d. per week, for each bullock.

These two bullocks were tied up twelve weeks each, in which time they ate eight tons 2 cwt. of Beet Root, the produce of only one-sixth part of an acre of land, cultivated according to the method recommended in the following chapter.

CHAP. V.
THE METHOD USED IN THE CULTIVATION OF THE IMPROVED BEET ROOT UPON STRONG
LAND AT BEDFORDS.

It may be proper, in the first place, to state what is meant by strong land. The surface soil is loamy, and from 4 to 12 inches deep, upon a bed of strong clay mixed with gravel. It is too heavy, and generally too wet, in the winter, even for sheep to eat a crop of turnips on the ground; and although good turnips are grown upon it, it is always necessary to draw them for the sheep, stall-fed cattle, or for cattle in the yards. The ground is prepared to receive the seed, and cleaned in the same way as it would have been for Swedish turnips. As that part of the business is so well known to all farmers, it is not necessary to enter into detail upon it.

In the middle, or latter end of the month of April, the furrows are set out with the plough, 2 feet apart, and double ploughed; that is, the plough returns on the furrow to the point whence it set out, forming a ridge between each furrow.

Double ploughing with a common plough is preferred to single ploughing with a double mould board plough, because it affords a greater depth of loose earth than the double mould board plough would produce.

In these furrows, the manure, which should be in a rotten state, is deposited, after the rate of six cubic yards to an acre.

The ridges are then split by the plough going and returning the same way as before mentioned, leaving the manure immediately under the middle of the new ridges, A light roller is then passed along the ridges, in the middle of which the seed is dibbled, so that the plants may receive all the benefit which can be derived from the manure.

The seed is deposited about an inch deep whilst the moisture is fresh in the earth, and covered by drawing a garden rake along the rows.

After this, the light roller is again passed along the ridges, and the work is finished.

When the plants are about the size of a radish, they are hoed with a turnip hoe, leaving the plants in the rows about 12 inches apart. If any of the seeds fail, and there happen not to be an even crop, the roots, where they are too thick, are drawn out before the hoeing takes place, and transplanted, to fill up the vacant places, and insure a full crop, which is always certain, inasmuch as 99 plants out of 100, thrive and do well. In transplanting, care is necessary to prevent the point of the root from turning upwards.

The weeds, whilst the plants are young, are kept hoed, but after the head of the plant has once spread, no weed can live underneath its shade, and the expence of hoeing afterwards is very trifling indeed.

The whole of the crop is taken up in the month of November, in dry weather. The tops are cut off _near_ the _crown_ of the plants, and the plants, when perfectly dry, are piled up in a shed, and covered with straw sufficiently thick to preserve them from the frost. They kept last year till the latter end of March, and they would have kept much longer.

The seed may be had of Cochran, seedsman, in Duke Street, Grosvenor Square; of Messrs. Gibbs and Co. Half Moon Street, Piccadilly; and of Mr. Mason, Fleet Street. From 3 to 4 pounds of the seed will be sufficient for an acre of ground, prepared and dibbled according to the method here stated. The price last year was 7s. per pound, but it may probably be less hereafter, as the growers of the root, so long as that high price continues, will of course save their own seed, and thereby lessen the demand from the seedsman.

THE METHOD BEFORE DESCRIBED ELUCIDATED.

Form of the ridges before manuring.

a a a a
/ / / / / / / / / / / / b b b

The tops of the ridges about 2 inches broad, _a._ _a._ _a._

Intervals of 24 inches from one _a_ to another.

Depths about 12 inches from _a_ to _b_.

Furrows where the manure is deposited, _b._ _b._ _b._

Form of the ridges after splitting and rolling.

A A A A
--- --- --- ---
/ / / / / / / / ^ ^ ^ ^
B B B B

Tops A. A. A. 9 inches broad, in the middle of which the seed is
deposited.

Situation of the manure B. B. B.

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 they would 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 Beet Root 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 in the 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 Bedfords _without 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 arise from 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.

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