MANGOLD SOWING.

Otago Witness, Issue 3314, 19 September 1917, Page 8

MANGOLD SOWING.

Tlie present time of the year, -when the land is wet and cold and growth in the grass paddocks is all too slow, accentuates the interval between the ordinary winter feeding and such time as there is a good bite of pasture, no matter whether the farmer is interested in cows coming in or lambing ewes or hoggets, and few stock-keepers but would be glad of a reserve supply of mangolds. Their value

after two months' storage has improved as the • acrid principle has worked off, and the chance of scouring stock is practically nil. In some early districts they can be fed in the autumn with advantage; but it is not until lifted that they have obtained their; full value. Immature mangolds certainly may cause scouring, but on light soils the roots will mature quicker than on strong lands, and it is well worth considering if more could not be made in growing this crop when one considers the trouble and risk of growing swedes. Now is the time mangolds are most appreciated, and now is the time of the year to commence getting the land in order. The ploughed land which has been laid up all winter should be now thoroughly worked, and it should with small difficulty be worked up into a fine seed-bed», The land, having been turned up to the frosts, should have now mellowed sufficiently so that the fine tilth essential to this crop is obtainable. It is not the same thing to prepare the seed-bed like lightening by means of implements and end with the small, harsh, gritty soil particles one frequently sees as the result of unwise work with discs and roller, but rather favour the soft, powdery tilth, secured only by weathering and careful working. The reason why is plain- enough. The seed is smaller than the turnip seed, and is encased in a thick husk, which requires constant moisture if germination is to be satisfactory,- while the shoot is small, and requires close-lying particles of soil and yet thinly covered to assure sufficient moisture in the absence of showery weather. There is no occasion, if the land lies to the sun, to grow the mangold on the ridge; but if clean ground flatsowing' will do. If a good seed-bed has been prepared the seed might well be soaked in water for a time. In a small area, once the seed is up, if it is thought that the weed-content of the land is high and that the weeds would benefit rather than the mangolds, it may be wiser to topdress after singling, unless the manure is deposited fairly deeply out of the reach of weeds until destroyed. It is a good plan to sow with the mangold seed some other quick-growing seed, so that the rows may be indicated for early cleaning operations. This year dibbling rather than drilling should be practised, and so save the seed, while thinning later on is more quickly done, ias well as hoe work between the bunched mangolds. As to manures, while mangolds require, say, superphosphate manure in the later growing stages, and can be supplied in the usual way at seedihg-time, .it is the early stages that plants. should be hastened along. Probably no other farm crop benefits so much from liberal dressings of nitrogen. It is needed at every stage of the plant's growth, and may be applied in a variety of forms with the seed and when the plants show above ground, and use may be made of any quickly-acting nitrogenous fertiliser. Before the war potash was considered a desirable ingredient in the fertiliser for mangolds; but it is not very material after all. If. say, salt at the rate of 3cwt per acre is applied, in addition to the fertiliser, the yield will generally prove quite satisfactory. The feeding value of the crop is determined far less by the manure with which it is grown than by the size and shape of the root. Other things being eaual, a long mangold will alwavs be of higher feeding value than a Globe of the same weight. A small mangold generally contains 40 per cent, more feeding value than a mangold four times its weight, while a red or golden-fleshed mangold, other things being equal, always possesses a higher feeding value than a mangold with light flesh.