Miscellaneous Feeding Stuffs. 193 



of 8.2 tons per acre. Artichokes may be harvested in the same man- 

 ner as potatoes, or hogs may be turned in the field to root out the 

 tubers. At the Oregon Station 1 6 pigs confined to one-eighth of an 

 acre of artichokes gained 244 Ibs., consuming 756 Ibs. of ground 

 wheat and oats in addition to the tubers. Allowing 500 Ibs. of grain 

 for 100 Ibs. of gain, we find that an acre of artichokes was worth 

 3700 Ibs. of mixed wheat and oats. The pigs made but little gain on 

 artichokes alone. No individual or community seems to continuously 

 grow and make use of the artichoke a significant fact. (444, 876) 



275. Use and value of roots. Roots may be regarded as watered 

 concentrates high in available energy for the dry matter they con- 

 tain. The extensive feeding trials of the Danes show that for the 

 dairy cow a pound of dry matter in roots has the same feeding 

 value as a pound of corn, wheat, barley, or oats. 



Roots of some kind are helpful with all domestic animals, their 

 effect 'being tonic as well as nutritive. Breeders and feeders of ex- 

 hibition animals find them invaluable. They are usually chopped or 

 sliced before feeding, and should not be fed alone, but always with 

 some dry forage, since they carry much water. The daily allowance 

 of roots may vary from 25 to 50 Ibs. per thousand Ibs. of animal, 

 according to the dry concentrates and roughage fed. It is usual to 

 put the cut roots into the feed box and sprinkle meal 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. (567, 768) 



276. Root crops costly. Despite the advice of agricultural 

 writers during these many years urging the use of roots in the 

 United States, and the example of English and Canadian feeders, 

 who rely so largely on this crop, roots are no more generally grown 

 in this country than they were 50 years ago. The reason is thus 

 stated by Storer: 2 "The well nigh universal cultivation of Indian 

 corn in this country has, practically speaking, done away with the 

 need of growing roots as cattle food. . . . Occasionally a few roots 

 are grown among us, here and there, to be fed out as a relish to 

 animals; but now that the method of preserving corn fodder in silos 

 has become generally understood, it seems improbable that roots can 



1 Bui. 54. ' Agriculture, Vol. Ill, p. 315. 



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