ROOT CROPS. 317 



land, in a good state of preparation, and with skillful management, 

 the amount of food produced is very much greater, in proportion 

 to the labor and expense attending the cultivation, than can be 

 obtained in any other way •, and when we consider the great value 

 of roots for the winter feeding of animals, and the incidental value 

 of their tops for fall feeding, it may be safely stated, that, even 

 where the amount of help on the farm is in small proportion to its 

 area and the requirement for other work, it would really pay the 

 farmer better to concentrate his efforts and his manure upon a 

 smaller surface, and let the rest of the farm run into natural pas- 

 ture. However, I am not disposed to recommend this or any 

 other revolution in the farming of the United States ; — for, in the 

 first place, the recommendation would be disregarded •, and, in the 

 second place, it is very questionable whether revolutions in agri- 

 culture, except such as are brought about in a slow and natural way, 

 would be of any permanent value. Our farms are now suited in 

 size and in general arrangement to the ideas and to the capacities 

 of our farmers ; and, as fast as these ideas and capacities change, 

 or range themselves in accordance with higher requirements, just 

 so rapidly will the farms themselves conform to the altered condi- 

 tions. And an effort to bring about a rapid general change in favor 

 of any given new system would probably be attended with quite as 

 much disadvantage as benefit. Holding this view, I propose only 

 to state some of the results which it is possible to attain by means 

 of root culture, and to give directions for the cultivation of the 

 different crops. The extent to which, and the manner in which, 

 the growth of roots shall be adopted on any given farm, must 

 rest entirely with the judgment of the farmer himself. He will, 

 if he is a good farmer, do exactly that which promises the best 

 compensation for his capital and his labor. Successful root cul- 

 ture requires that the land be in the best possible condition. 

 Many a field will produce large crops of corn, and of other grain, 

 on which it would be folly to attempt to raise roots in any consider- 

 able quantity. The land must be rich, well and deeply cultivated, 

 thoroughly well drained, and free from stones ; and it had better 

 be exposed rather to the morning than to the afternoon sun. On 



