3-i6 N. H. STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



in good hcaltli. Iloraes are very fond of carrots; and 

 some of our. best farmers raise tliem chiefly for their use. 

 They consider them better and cheaper than hay alone, or 

 than hay and grass. 



Various estimates have been made by practical men, of 

 the comparative value of hay and carrots. Let us look at 

 two or three of them: Suppose that for fattening purposes 

 75 lbs. of cstrrots arc equivalent to 18 lbs. of good English 

 hay. Then if twenty-live tons of carrots are grown on an 

 acre that will yield two and one-half tons of hay (Includ- 

 ing in the two and a half tons, the whole grass crop,) an 

 acre of carrots is worth more than twice as much as an 

 acre of hay. Thus, as 75 : 18 : : 5000 : 1200 lbs. of hay, six 

 tons. An acre should yield six tons of hay to equal in 

 value the growth of carrots. Now admit the value of the 

 land to be the same, aud ascertain the comparative cost of 

 cultivation in the two cases, and you have one element in 

 settling the question of expediency. 



From experiments made very carefully, it has been esti- 

 mated that three pounds of carrots will afford as much 

 nourishment as one pound of hay. If this is true, carrots 

 arc more valuable than represented above. Thus, suppose 

 a moderate growth of carrots on an acre, say 700 bushels, 

 these would be equal to six tons of hay. Again, we may 

 suppose that an animal will cat of roots, one-liftli of its 

 own weight in a day, or one-fiftieth of its weight in hay. 

 Suppose an acre to yield in weight twelve times as much 

 of roots as of hay, or thirty tons of roots to two and a 

 half tons of hay. Suppose the animal weighs 800 lbs.— 

 Then l-5th equals IGO lbs. of roots daily; and 150 equals 

 16 lbs. of hay daily. The roots would be consumed in 375 

 days, the hay in 312 days. This, however, shows but a 

 part of the superior value of the roots. Tiic mere fact 

 that they will support life longer, says nothing of their fat- 

 tening or medicinal or preventive qualities, whenever in 

 combination with dry food they reach their highest value. 



