93 BOARD OF AGRICULTUBE. 



leave only what could be well and profitably managed. If in addi- 

 tion to tills, some system be adopted and faithfully adhered to, 

 leaving to cliance, whim or convenience no dictation as to the opera- 

 tions of any one year, much more will be gained. Such system 

 each farmer should make a matter of careful study, as thus only can 

 he find that best suited to his own soil and ciifumstances; and it 

 should embrace a much larger proporilon of root cvlture than at 

 present jn-evails^ for thus ive inciy get more food j>er acre, at 

 less cost, and more economically maintain the fertility of our 

 soil, than i7i any other ivay. 



Root Cultuke has received so little attention at the hands of 

 the great mass of the farmers of Maine, (excepting that of the 

 potato.) that it was deemed advisable to obtain, so far as practicable, 

 the results of the experience and observation of such as had given 

 attention to the subject, and several questions of the circular were 

 directed to this end. It will be noticed that great diversity of opinion 

 is expressed in the replies which are appended, in regard to the 

 comparative value of carrots, turnips and beets, as food for stock. 

 That one loot is preferable to another as better adapted to particular 

 localities and the varieties of soil, climate, &c., is doubtless true; 

 but with regard to their comparative value as articles of food, when 

 each is well grown, it is imi^ossible that all the opinions below 

 expressed can be correct. We have great need, not only of increased 

 attention to their culture, but of accurate and reliable experiments 

 to prove their value compared with one another, and also with hay 



< 



and other forage crops. 



" Beets and carrots will require three or four times the labor per 

 acre as corn, rutab.igas twice as much. Beets and carrots will 

 yield five liundred husliels per acre, and rutabagas six hundred to 

 eight hundred bushels. For cattle and sheep, seventy -fiv^e bu.shels 

 of rutabagas, forty-five of beets, and foity bushels of carrots, are 

 equal to one ton of hay. Potatoes recpiire less labor per acre than 

 corn, and, of late, produce one liutidied to one hundred and fifty 

 bushels per acre, but carrots are worth fifty per cent, more than 

 potatoes for cattle, especially cows. 



The rutabaga is much easier cultivated than the carrot or beet, 

 and yields more, but it is not of half the value. They are w )rth 

 the most lor sheep, but are valuable for other stock, especially if 

 poor hay and stiaw are fed out to cattle. My mode of culture is, 

 to sow ill drills, two or two and a half feet apart; in the first weed- 



