ROOTS FOR STOCK FEEDllS^G. 153 



lars and cents, and if food less nutritions may be vobtained 

 in quantity to compensate for deficiency in quality, the 

 inferior may be preferable. Ruta bagas, judged by that 

 rule, may be most profitable. Each one must decide 

 the question for himself. Where circumstances admit 

 there need be no doubt, the greater advantage will be 

 found in possessing both, as affording variations of diet. 



Varieties of the Beet. 



Long Blood Red. — This is a valuable winter 

 table beet, and has been brought to its present state of 

 perfection by successive yearly selections. It is prefer- 

 able to the Rochester, or Radish beet, which grows above 

 the surface and is liable to be fibrous. It is held to be 

 as rich in saccharine as either the sugar or the mangels, 

 with the further highly important advantage from its 

 habit of growth, wdiich all avIio, as husbandmen study 

 our climate, can readily perceive, nameh^, of withstand- 

 ing drouth. In our climate excessive heat, accompanied 

 b}^ prolonged drouth; is a usual accompaniment of our 

 summers, and all who have cultivated either the mangels 

 or sugar beets have observed the entire suspension of 

 growth at such periods, the foliage drooping, frequently 

 falling entirely, and followed by an elongated crown or 

 a growth of woody, or, at least, fibrous matter. This 

 substance is of little, if any, value ; rejected by the 

 stock, it simply goes to make manure. On the contrary, 

 the long blood beet grows mainly beneath the surface, 

 and is, on that account, less exposed to heat, and enabled 

 to resist drouth. The writer has never failed to secure 

 a satisfactory crop, even nndor adverse circumstances, 

 ten to twelve tons can be grown to the acre — besides, the 

 Long Blood is unquestionably very rich — the percentage 

 of sucrose being as great as in the White Sugar. 



Silesian Sugar Beet — This is the old, well-known 

 form of sugar beet, long raised in this country for feed- 



