1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 147 



The various kinds of roots usually raised on farms for 

 feeding purposes differ essentially in regard to the amount 

 of dry vegetable matter they contain. Turnips contain from 

 seven to eight per cent. ; ordinary mangolds from eleven to 

 twelve per cent. ; improved varieties of beet roots, like 

 Lane's, from fifteen to sixteen per cent. ; good carrots from 

 fourteen to fifteen per cent. ; a good sugar lieet from eigh- 

 teen to twenty per cent, of solids ; or, in other words, one 

 ton of an improved variety of good sugar l)eets is equal to 

 from two to twa and one-half tons of ordinary turnips, as 

 far as the amount of dry vegetable matter is concerned. 



]\Iodes of cultivation and of manuring exert a decided in- 

 fluence in this direction on the composition of the roots. 

 Large roots of the same variety contain quite frequently less 

 solid matter than the smaller ones. Close cultivation in the 

 rows, in connection with the use of well-decomposed raanu- 

 rial matter as fertilizer, tends to produce good results. 



The difierence in the amount of solids, as far as each kind 

 of root is concerned, is otherwise due, in the majority of 

 cases, to a more or less perfect maturity. A liberal manur- 

 ing with potash and nitrogen, in connection with a scanty 

 supply of phosphoric acid, is frequenth^ the cause of imma- 

 tured roots at the ordinary harvest time. 



2. Field Observations with Root Crops in 1888. 

 The field used for the work was of the same character as 

 in the preceding trial. It represents a part of field " D " on 

 our records, and is 328 feet long and 70 feet wide. The 

 main field runs from east to w^est, and the rows run in all 

 cases from south to north. The soil consists of a deep, 

 sandy loam, and has l)een fertilized for several 3^ears annu- 

 ally with the same fertilizer, six hundred pounds of fine- 

 ground bones and two hundred pounds of muriate of potash 

 per acre. Some of the land has J)een used beft)re for the 

 raising of root crops. It was ploughed in the autumn, 1887, 

 and again on April 26, 1888. The fertilizer was applied 

 April 30, in the customary way, broadcast, and slightly 

 harrowed in before planting. The rows were seventy feet 

 long and three feet three inches apart. The seed was taken 

 partly from our own imported stock of previous years, and 



