OBJECTIONS TO RAISING ROOTS. 155 



and in order to do that I wanted to make manure. I knew I 

 must keep stock, and the only way to increase the capacity of 

 the farm for raising stock was to increase the crop of roots. I 

 went into it to some extent. I began with ruta-bagas, and suc- 

 ceeded very well for two or three years ; but finally the crop, 

 from some unaccountable cause, took to rotting, and failed. t 

 They began to rot more or less before I gathered them, and con- 

 tinued to rot after they were gathered, so that I became discour- 

 aged in regard to that crop. I did not know how to manage it, 

 and do not know. I do not know whether the rot was merely a 

 temporary evil or not. Then I determined to try other kinds, 

 and took carrots and beets. I succeeded very well with carrots 

 for two or three years ; but then came a year in which I had 

 prepared my ground with the usual care, and my crops came 

 up, but they did not grow ; and when I came to gather them in 

 the fall, the carrots were little things, not bigger than my finger. 

 That discouraged me, and I suppose it would any farmer, 

 because there is a good deal of expense attending the prepara- 

 tion of the ground and the cultivation of the crop, and if there 

 is a failure in the end it is discouraging. 



Another objection is the character of the labor required. We 

 all know that there is a great deal of labor and expense involved 

 in cultivating a crop of roots as it ought to be cultivated ; and 

 I do not know how it is, but farmers generally have a distaste 

 for getting down so near the ground as is necessary to bring 

 forward and cultivate a good crop of roots, unless they are very 

 sure it is going to pay them an extraordinary profit. 



Another objection urged is the want of value in the crop. 

 Some farmers will tell you that the roots are most all water ; 

 that they don't amount to much after you have raised them ; 

 that there is so large a percentage of water that you had better 

 raise Indian corn or something more solid. But I have noticed 

 one thing in regard to that — they do not make that objection 

 about potatoes, because we want potatoes for our own use, and 

 will have them if they cost a dollar or a dollar and a half a 

 bushel. We think they are necessary to our health and com- 

 fort ; but we do not reflect, it seems to me, as we ought, that 

 tljey must be just as necessary to the health and comfort and 

 the economical feeding of our stock as to ourselves. 



