BOOTS, TUBERS, AND MISCELLANEOUS FORAGES 243 



exhibitions and for dairy cows crowded to maximum production on 

 official tests. At the Michigan Station Shaw 3 and Norton found that 

 when roots were added to a well-balanced ration containing good corn 

 silage the yield of butter fat by dairy cows was increased 5.8 per ct. 

 Yet this increase was not sufficient to offset the greater cost of the ration 

 containing the roots. (639) 



In this country the daily allowance of roots per 1,000 Ibs. live weight 

 is usually 25 to 50 Ibs. or less. Thruout Great Britain fattening cattle 

 and sheep are often fed 100 Ibs., or even more, per 1,000 Ibs. live weight 

 daily with satisfactory results, and sheep are sometimes fattened on 

 concentrates and roots alone. This practice can not be generally recom- 

 mended, for better results are secured when some dry roughage is fed. 

 Roots are usually chopped or sliced before feeding, and the cut roots 

 are often put into the feed box and meal sprinkled over them. In 

 feeding cattle in Canada and England, roots are quite commonly pulped 

 and spread in layers several inches thick, alternating with other layers 

 of cut or chaffed hay or straw. After being shoveled over, the mass is 

 allowed to stand several hours before feeding, to moisten and soften 

 the chaffed straw or hay. In this manner great quantities of straw may 

 be successfully utilized. (784, 786, 865) For winter feeding in the 

 northern states roots must be stored in well-ventilated pits or cellars, 

 but in mild climates they may remain in the field until fed. In Great 

 Britain sheep are often grazed on root crops, saving the labor of 

 harvesting. 



366. Roots vs. corn silage. The most extensive of several trials in 

 which the yields of roots and silage corn have been compared are 

 summarized in the following table : 



Yield of fresh and dry matter per acre of roots and fodder corn 



*Woll, Book on Silage. fPenn. Rpt. 1898. JOntario Dept. Agr., Bui. 228. 



On the average, the corn crop contained 92 per ct. more dry matter 

 than mangels, 68 per ct. more than sugar beets, and 77 per ct. more than 

 rutabagas. At the Ohio Station 4 Thome found that to grow and harvest 

 an acre of beets yielding 15.75 tons and containing 3,000 Ibs. of dry 

 matter cost more than an acre of corn yielding 57 bushels of grain and 

 containing 6,000 Ibs., or twice as much, dry matter. In trials covering 



*Mich. Bui. 240. 4 Ohio Ept. 1893. 



