HOME GROWN DAIRY FEEDS. 27 



in the barn where nothing is hable to disturb them, without 

 cutting, with no danger of choking. 



Mangels are particularly desirable as a dairy feed as they have 

 a high content of food nutrients and a narrow nutritive ratio, 

 which is practically the same as pasture grass. They are very 

 palatable and may be fed in large quantities, with the effect of 

 narrowing the ration when much corn is fed, or in winter when 

 the grasses and millets form a large proportion of the roughage. 

 They can be raised cheaply and in large quantities on small 

 areas, and as a crop to aid in making a farm largely productive 

 in dairy feeds, they should be cultivated extensively. Ruta- 

 bagas, for young cattle, fill a large place on many farms where 

 but Mitle heavy concentrates are fed. They narrow the ration 

 when fed with ordinary farm roughage, add relish to the dry 

 feeds, increase growth and promote health. 



There are other succulent feeds, like squashes, pumpkins, etc., 

 which may be used to good advantage in the fall, to bridge over 

 from the flush feeding of one crop to another. They may form 

 a part of the continual round of home produced foods and 

 should not be overlooked. 



EXPERIMENTAL CROPS. 



While I have no faith in the wisdom of running after strange 

 gods, and trjnng to exploit those crops whose value is yet to be 

 worked out, I do believe that in the matter of experimental dairy 

 crops, there is a field for large research. W'hile we already 

 have a great variety, and may produce each one of them in 

 abundance, I would not sit down content, with folded hands, 

 but while making the most of what we have, would have an eye 

 for those which, by careful selection of seed and by thorough 

 cultivation, may become adapted to our climate and our condi- 

 tions. 



Alfalfa is one of these experimental crops, and I expect to 

 see the day when a start shall be made in its profitable produc- 

 tion in Maine ; a start from which shall spread a general culti- 

 vation upon our lighter soils, through which a vast addition 

 may be made to our home grown dairy feeds. . 



Cow-pea hay, with practically the same nutrients and nutritive 

 ratio as alfalfa hay, may in some systems of rotation and on 



