ROOTS FOR STOCK FEEDING. 163 



among ourselves, who has the opportunity, to test the 

 fact. In sections where frost does not interfere, a por- 

 tion of the crop may be left over winter and the hogs fed 

 upon them as they stand, the proportion of saccharine 

 matter being increased by frost, and the roots rendered 

 still more palatable. It seems practicable, by this 

 method, for breeders of swine to accomplish, in the 

 Southern States, results highly profitable, in comj^arison 

 with cost of culture. 



The writer desires, with this in view, to urge the 

 culture of parsnips in all swine-breeding sections, the 

 cost of the crop being simply the culture and manure, 

 while production can be made to reach ten tons of roots, 

 possessing nine per cent, of sugar. 



Time of Sowing Parsnips. — The seed of the 

 parsnip, though vegetating freely under favorable condi- 

 tions, not infrequently fails when sown late, when heat 

 and drouth prevail ; hence, it should precede the carrot 

 and the beet by some days ; a good guide to time of 

 sowing being the blooming of the cherry. The direc- 

 tions for the culture of the beet apply to the parsnip. 



In conclusion, the writer will observe that the cul- 

 ture of roots entails trouble and expense, and that no 

 one should attempt it unless determined to succeed. 

 Farming is, with Americans, in by far too many cases, 

 a slipshod business. The merchant, the manufacturer, 

 the master-mechanic, who should conduct his affairs 

 with careless irregularity, inditferent to cost as compared 

 with compensation, who should be found unprepared at 

 the moment of pressing demands upon him, surely could 

 not expect a successful issue to his efforts ; and why 

 should the tiller of the soil expect exemption from 

 results almost inevitable ? Farmers, as a class, are 

 laborious enough — in many cases, far too plodding-, 

 thought and reflection, united with physical exertion, 

 would accomplish more. A fruitful source of disap- 



