PROFITABLE MANGELS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 388, 24 November 1932, Page 2

PROFITABLE MANGELS

great feed value per agre of orop. popular types.

The mangel is .particularly reliable, partly because it can withstand drought coniparatively well and partly because it is not subject, as yet, in N'ew Zealand to any serious pest or disease. ^hen suitably treated it is characterised by very beavy yields, and this leads to tbe production of feed of remarkably low cost. This is to some extent indicated by tbe f act that a mangel crop of 60 tons an acre, which is not at all exceptional, yields as much feed as would be yielded in a year by 5 to 6 acres of pasture characterised by a carrying capacity equival'ent to one cow to two acres; and it is of considerable moment that this feed is available when there is marked need for it — i.e., when the feed from grass is in short supply. Good treatment for the mangel is specially necessary. Preparatory cultivation should produce a fine firm seedbed, in the absence of which poor yields may readily result even though suitahle provision of seed and tnanure is. made. The variety of Prizewinner Yellow Globe holds pride of place in point of popularity — a place whch it deserves on the basis of field experience. .Qth'er varieties of known yalue are Red Intermedi'ate, White Sugar, and Jersey Queen. Current standard practice is to sow about 61b of seed per acre in rows 26 'to 28 inehes apart. As wet eold conditions tend to cause loss or stunting of seedlings, sowing should be delayed until warm soil conditions may be expected. Over wide areas November Sowing is generally suitahle.

As the manurial requirements of mangels are determined to a considerable extent by soil and climatic conditions, it is inadvisable to prescribe any manurial dressing as the most suitable one for general use.