ROOT CROPS. 197 



most expeditious way of raising corn, after all, is to raise roots, 

 A thousand bushels of roots, which can be raised as easily as 

 a hundred bushels of corn, will buy three or four hundred 

 bushels of corn. That is the reason I do not raise any grain. 

 I cannot afford it. I raised none this year of any kind ; but a 

 little less than a third of an acre of mangolds sold for enough 

 to buy one hundred bushels of corn ; and I had enough French 

 turnips, from live eighths of an acre, to buy two hj^ndred and 

 fifty bushels of corn. Those French turnips cost ten cents a 

 bushel, and, as I said before, that is the most economical way 

 of raising corn, that I know of." Another says : " The com- 

 parative value of the crops you can raise upon an acre of 

 ground properly prepared for mangolds, is hardly the question. 

 Nor is it the question whether fifteen hundred bushels of man- 

 golds would not be better than one hundred bushels of corn, 

 because you would not be likely to get, on such land, any thing 

 like one hundred bushels of corn. But fifteen hundred bushels 

 of mangolds are worth more to any man, for his cattle and 

 sheep, than any one hundred bushels of corn that ever grew. 

 There is no doubt about that at all. Turnips for growing 

 cattle ; they are as natural to them as oats to a growing horse. 

 A bushel of turnips for fifty sheep ; there is no better food in 

 the world. I have tried it over and over again I would 

 rather have it than a pint of corn for each sheep. You can 

 easily figure which would cost the most." 



We believe roots to be necessary to the best estate of man 

 and beast alike, and were the difficulties of raising them twice 

 as great, we should still say, to the farmer who desires the best 

 (and the most profitable because the best) mode, feed roots with 

 your hay, grain, stalks, or straw. A larger amount of manure 

 is required ; but the crop will return it or pay for it. A dry, 

 warm cellar is requisite ; every farmer should have such a 



