EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



289 



thoroughly subsoiled in April. The cost of preparing the ground, mark- 

 ing, planting, cultivating, thinning and hoeing, was practically the same 

 per acre for all the roots. The work per acre may be tabulated as fol- 

 lows: 



Labor per acre in grmoing roots. 



Plowing and subsoiling. 



Harrowing 



Marking 



Planting 



Cultivating 



ThiDning and hoeing 



Harvesting 



Man and 

 team. 

 Hours. 



12 



3.75 

 .8 



15 



"T25 



32.80 



Man. 

 Hours. 



3.25 



75.90 

 130.75 



209.90 



The hand labor in harvesting was performed by boys at eight cents an 

 hour. The 79.15 hours spent in hoeing and thinning was done by men at 

 twelve and a half cents an hour. The team work is reckoned at twenty- 

 five cents an hour for man and team. At these prices the cost of labor 

 for growing and harvesting an acre of roots was $28.55. The labor of 

 harvesting an acre of mangolds was appreciably less than for an acre of 

 sugar beets or carrots. The cost of labor per ton of carrots was slightly 

 less than $2.00 per ton, of rutabagas $1.84 and of mangolds $2.51. The 

 season was unfavorable to the growth of mangolds, on account of the 

 long and severe drouth, but the other root crops were subjected to exactly 

 the same conditions. 



On page 98 the yields per acre of dry matter by sorghum and silage 

 corn on the same field the previous season were 7,700.39 for the sorghum 

 and 8,655.85 for the silage corn. 



It has been demonstrated by many experiments in several experiment 

 stations, that sugar beets are one of the best of root crops to feed to live 

 stock, either dairy cows or fattening animals. Cows are very fond of 

 them, and their great richness in sugar and other completely digestible 

 carbohydrates make them a very valuable stock food. Owing to the fact 

 that they grow deep in the earth it is more costly to harvest them than 

 other roots, but this is compensated by their greater richness in sugar. 



Effect of Roots and Potatoes on the Digestibility of Rations. — As 

 shown by the rations reported on page 90, roots have formed no 

 inconspicuous part of the ration, even when ensilage is fed. It is inter- 

 esting to note whether the addition of roots to a ration affects the digesti- 

 bility of the ration, and in the second place, what effect such addition 

 has upon the quality df the butter. Upon the first point a digestion 

 experiment was conducted at the station by Prof. C. D. Thompson of the 

 Oregon Agricultural College, in the spring of 1896, wiiile he was doing 

 post graduate work. The essential facts of this experiment carried out 

 by Mr. Thompson, under the supervision of the director and chemical 

 department of the station, are reported below. 

 37 



