288 HANDY-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



" cost, than any root crop, for his own food, or for food for his cat- 

 " tie, sheep, and horses. Near cities, root crops will be culti- 

 " vated ; but far away from markets, where land is comparatively 

 " cheap, the wise farmer will only produce roots for special purposes, 

 " such as feed for ewes having lambs in early spring, or as a condi- 

 " ment for some pet animal. For special reasons, a farmer of my 

 " acquaintance has his lambs yeaned in December and January, to 

 *' the number of two or three hundred. This man raises about 

 " eight acres of roots to feed with his dry hay to the mothers of 

 " these lambs, and by the time grass Comes the next spring these 

 " lambs weigh fifty, sixty, or even more pounds each. This man 

 " can afford to do as he does, but his case is a very peculiar one. 



" The stalks of an acre of corn are generally considered by 

 " farmers in Central New York to be worth as much as an acre 

 " of hay to feed their stock in winter. The stalks should pay 

 " for the whole cost of the corn crop up to husking. The acre 

 " of grain should average not less than 2,500 pounds when dry, 

 " One pound of corn will feed a fattening sheep one day, and 

 "eight pounds will feed a fattening steer a day, the proper quan- 

 " tity of hay or other forage being given in each case. 



" The Illinois farmer is quite as likely to continue to raise great 

 " fields of Indian corn, and go on feeding it in his wasteful way, 

 " and totally neglect raising roots to feed his cattle, as the Eng- 

 ** lishnian in Canada is to follow up his traditions and feed roots 

 "during his hyperborean winters. At any rate, all exhortations 

 " to the Western corn-raisers on this point are useless, for he 

 " thinks he knows what he is about — and he does. 



" With these preliminary remarks we will discuss the question 

 " of rotation, counting Indian corn in, and root crops out. 



"our rotation. 



" Ffnt Tear. — The land having been well seeded with tim- 

 "othy grass and medium red clover, the first crop taken is hay. 



