EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 243 



inermis, so successful in the west, finds no place on the farm of the 

 practical dairyman iu this state. Orchard grass has shown consider- 

 able value. A certain field was sown in 1895 and still maintains a 

 fairly good sod although it has not been reseeded since. The crop has 

 dwindled, as might be expected. The main difficulties with making 

 the grass valuable come from the facts that it cannot be sown alone 

 because it will not make a continuous sod but rather a series of hum- 

 mocks and again it must be cut as soon as the heads are well formed 

 or the hay is excessively woody. On the other hand the orchard grass 

 has shown itself aii excellent factor in a pasture as it revives quickly 

 when eaten off and is exceedingly early in the spring to make a start. 

 The seed weighs but fourteen pounds to the bushel. 



ROOTS. 



Mangolds, Carrots, Sugar leets and RutaMgas. Where silage is 

 not used the dairman sliould provide succulence for the winter ration 

 in the shape of some kind of roots. The three which suggest them- 

 selves as probably yielding the most value for the labor and money 

 expended in growing them are mangold, sugar beets and carrots. Tur- 

 nips and rutabagas may be used in the dairy but always with extreme 

 caution, because of their liability to impart an unpleasant taint to the 

 milk and to the products made from it. It is true undoubtedly that 

 I'utabagas can be fed to dairy cows in such a way as to avoid this 

 taint in the milk. They must be fed after milking. Precautions as to 

 manner and amount have to be taken and sometimes these precautions 

 are apt to be neglected. The result is a sample of butter injured and 

 perhaps a customer permanently offended. The reasonable use of other 

 roots is attended with no such danger, and for this reason they are 

 recommended. The area devoted to them need not be large, but roots 

 add a needed variety to a winter ration, whether a silo is used or not. 

 They repay their cost in the increased healthfulness of the cow as 

 well as in the butter produced. 



A comparison Avas made of the cost of growing and of the yields of 

 ox-heart carrots, yellow tankard mangolds, long red mangolds and 

 rutabagas. The yield per acre were as follows: 



Yield per Dry matter 



acre. per acre. 



Carrots 28,836 3,321.90 



Long red mangolds 25,616 3,381.30 



Tankard mangolds 21,744 2,111 . 30 



Rutabagas 31,028 3,741.98 



Sugar beets 28,320 5,346.80 



The largest yields, both in gross weight and dry matter are given by 

 the rutabagas, the long red mangolds following next. The average yield 

 per acre of four acres of sugar beets grown on land adjoining the root 

 field was, as given in the table, over fourteen tons per acre containing 

 5,346.80 lbs. of dry matter. 



