[8] It is very important to have seeds of all kinds sown as soon as possible after the ground is ploughed and prepared to receive them, and before the moisture of the fresh-stirred earth is dissipated by the sun and drying winds; otherwise some may never vegetate, or not till after a fall of rain; and so precious time may be lost, and an uneven crop be produced. "When the plants are about the size of a radish, they are hoed with a turnip hoe, leaving the plants in the row about twelve inches apart. If any of the seeds fail, and there happen not to be an even crop, the roots where they are too thick are drawn out before the hoeing takes place, and transplanted to fill up the vacant places, and ensure a full crop; which is always certain, inasmuch as 99 plants out of 100 thrive and do well. In transplanting, care is necessary to prevent the point of the root from turning upwards." "The weeds, while the plants are young, are kept hoed; but after the head of the plant has once spread, no weed can live under its shade; and the expense of hoeing afterwards is trifling indeed." "The whole of the crop is taken up in the month of November,[9] in dry weather. The tops are cut off near the _crown_ of the plants, and the plants, when perfectly dry, are piled up in a shed, and covered with straw sufficiently thick to preserve them from the frost. They kept last year till the latter end of March, and they would have kept much longer." [9] The time of taking up the Mangel Wurtzel must be regulated by the climate. There is sometimes a frost in the latter part of October, in this county, severe enough to injure this root, exposed, as the greater part of it is above ground. Light frosts, however, will do it no harm, while the roots remain in the ground, and in a degree sheltered by their leaves. "Where a field selected for a crop of Beet [the Mangel Wurtzel] happens to be in a foul state, the seed had better be sown in a garden, and the whole field planted with the young Beet, when of the size of a radish. This will give time for cleaning the ground, and fitting it for a crop; for although the Beets are destroyers of weeds, it is not meant to recommend sowing them on foul ground, or in any way to encourage a slovenly system of farming."