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.