Some prefer to plant by hand, believing that the greater certainty of getting the seed up and the greater regularity of the plants in the row is more than an off-set to the additional labor. In doing this some growers will drop the seed on the surface by the machine, and then follow and push them under to the depth requisite, with the thumb and finger; others use a strip of plank about four inches wide and three feet in length, on the under side of which are inserted wooden pins, every seven inches, the pins being one and a quarter inches in diameter and projecting two inches. The holes having been made, the seed are dropped in, and covered by the hand. Where blanks are found they may be profitably filled by transplanting the young Mangolds, care being taken to break off the tops of the larger leaves, and also to loosen the ground a little when planting them. If a time just after a shower is selected, the result will be very satisfactory. The transplanted roots when gathered in the Fall will usually be found with several small roots in place of a single tap root. All root crops require prompt and thorough attention in the matter of weeding, and to lessen this costly department of labor they should not be raised on land abounding in the seed of weeds. Mangolds will require two or three hand weedings, besides as many slidings with the scuffle or wheelhoe. If too thick they should be thinned rather early in their growth, for I have oftentimes noticed that if this is left until the roots begin to develop, those left standing are apt to be dwarfed. It is best to give two thinnings. The plants should be left from ten to twelve inches apart; the crop of eighty tons was thinned to twelve inches apart and as the roots are more apt to grow coarse and prongy, and with less sugar in them, when far apart, I am inclined to ten or twelve inches as far enough. The object aimed at should be, as Prof. Voelcker has shown, to get the weight in many roots of medium size rather than in fewer roots of large size. GATHERING AND STORING THE CROP.