ROOT CULTURE. 303 



Beets and mangolds sometimes yield very large crops, from 

 thirty to forty tons per acre, but with me the produce has 

 been irregular without satisfactory reasons. In all root crops 

 the variety of the seed has much to do with the result. It 

 should also be fresh and well matured. Lane's Improv- 

 ed Sugar Beet promises to be a success. For feeding swine 

 and milch cows beets and mangolds are highly esteemed, and 

 those few cases when the returns have been unsatisfactorv in 

 milk I refer to their second growth, changing the substance 

 of the root. Examinations made for sugar making show that 

 their quality varies much with the soil, season and ferti- 

 lizers. 



Rutabagas give longer time for preparing the soil and a 

 shorter period of culture, delight in fresh manure, and the 

 average yield is as great or greater than that of mangolds. 

 All animals do not eat them as readily as the two preceding, 

 but may be taught. Swine will even eat white turnips if 

 forced to it by starvation, but this is not a profitable use of 

 this root. It will depend upon the soil, the season, the quali- 

 ty of the manure and the uses of the crop, which kind of root 

 mav be most desirable to raise. If the soil and manure clear- 

 ly indicate some one kind I should plant only that kind, but 

 otherwise would raise carrots, beets and rutabagas, as the sea- 

 son unfavorable to one might be most favorable to another. 

 Again, the labor of culture will be better distributed through 

 the season and the period of harvesting be more protracted 

 so that the tops can be fed to better advantage. 



I have purposely omitted any reference to analysis as show- 

 ing the particular composition of the various root crops. They 

 contain about 80 per cent, of water with variable proportions 

 of nutritious matter. The variety of each root, the soil, the 

 season, the age of the plant or time of harvesting, and the 

 fertilizers used, so largely influence their quality that an anal- 

 ysis of one sample or even of several could hardly be relied 

 upon to represent the value of any one of the root crops. 

 Feeding is the great test, and good judgment must here be 

 exercised. Fed in connection with hay, straw or grain they 

 always give great satisfaction. When used as the principal 



