AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 832, 8 November 1867, Page 14

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL.

CULTIVATION OF THE FIELD BEET. The cultivated beet, from whicli our mangold is derived, "was well-known to the Greeks and Romans, though 'by neither does it appear to have been grown, except for culinary purposes. There is no evidence of the plant having been cultivated for its roots until a comparatively recent period. Thaer and others are of opinion that the mangold has originated from a cross between the red and the white varieties of the garden beet, the •offspring possessing a greater power of ■development and a more vigorous and hardy habit than either of its parents, "while it is now admitted to be a distinct species. Being the produce, however, of a Southern climate, it still preserves i somewhat of its natural delicacy, as both the young plant and the matured root are susceptible of ready injury from even a slight degree of frost. There are several varieties of the mangold wuvzel fitted for cultivation in the field : the long red, the long yellow, and the globe orange. Where the chief reliance of winter food is placed on beet in preference to turnip, all the varieties ought to be cultivated, since the globe orange thrives best on light soil, and the long yellow is in a better state for use iv the early part of winter than the long red. The circumstance of beet not being a safe root to give to cattle, until "it has been some time out of the ground, it should be remembered.

A white variety, called the white sugar beet, has long been cultivated in France for the su'j:ar which it yields. Many mills are at work in country for the manufacture of this sugar. It was the policy of Buonaparte to encourage the culture of this root, in order to render the French people indepandent of sugar from the British Colonies. The scheme succeeded in France ; but the climate of Britain is unsuited to this delicate root. The 45th degree of latitude is said to be the southern limit of the successful growth of white beet in reference to the extraction of augar.

Like most of oui other farm plants, the extreme classes of soil are those least suited to it. The medium classes of soils are those in which the mangold delights. The Globe varieties are tho3e best suited for the strong clay loams or for shallow Boils ; the Long varieties, fcr soils of medium strength, or of greater depth. The first perfecting their bulk chiefly above the surface, are more readily lifted at harvest from the stronger soils than the Long Red. Bern:; a green crop, the mangold is subjected to precisely the same culture as the turnip up to the point of ploughing the dung in the drills. Mr Henry Stephens recommends the following methods of sowing, in lack of a machine. A light roller flattened and made even the tops of two drills at once, when the soil had become dry after the ploughing of the dung. A field- worker followed and made a light rut along the top of the drill with the corner of a hand-hoe ; another worker dropped the seed along the rut, dry sand being mixed wi v h it, to allow the more easy separation from each other ; and a third worker followed and levelled the earth which had been raised up in making the rut, over the seed with the back of an iron rake. A roller follows the sowing.

Trailing the Sheep-Doo. — The goodtempered, sensible shepherd knows how to control the high-couraged or to bring out the nervous dog. The training his youug " fellow -servant" is a pleasure to him, and he gradually gets his dog to the highest possible pitch of teaming. From aiv eminence he will gradually teach his dog to attend the wave forward or backward of his hand, and to copy the old dog, or broken dog, which he never sells until the young one has been made handy. He will teach him in the simplest thing 3 first — such as to bring in one or two Btragglcrs, and then l^ave them alone ; to " Liy down," and " keep off," while he sets the fold ; to keep up the flock like another shepherd, as he walks before the flock along the road to a change of pasture, with his dog behind ; then he will divide his flock, and placing the dog in the middle, and going himself behind, he will show the animal how to keep and drive together the flocks of different owners, if required, without mixing them. He will teach him to bark ("speak to 'em," he calls it) at a signal, and by degrees he will get him to sweep round a large flock, perhaps of thousands, a mile away, and, having collected them, to bring them as steadily and patiently, and with all the importance of the lawful owner, to his ma?ter, and save him so many weary steps, pretending to bite the stragglers, but never renlly using his teeth. By degrees he will become perfect in his -work, and in the lambing season Trill show extraordinary gentleness to the

lambs. Indeed, it is asserted that some dogs have been seen to -push the weakones in the direction of the fold, and, to steady them wlien they tottered with the'r heads. If he is a dog of - marked intelligence, he may even be trusted to lie all day upon an eminence and to watch the movements of thousands of sheep grazing below him, for he will keep all in their proper district ; and when he hears his master's shrill whittle, he will "go round" and drive them home.