No. 10. 



Sugar Beet for Spring Feeding. 



309 



best way to use it as a top dressing to the 

 grass lands in spring and autumn, suffering 

 it to be grown in by the crop, that it thus 

 might yieid its benefits by being gradually 

 decomposed in light and heat; furnishing, in 

 the state of water impregnated with the fruc- 

 tifying principle, the pabulum of plants — the 

 only mode, it is contended, in which it can 

 be taken into circulation by the plants. 



These, and about a thousand other con- 

 siderations, press upon the notice of the prac- 

 tical man, and demand his examination and 

 serious regard, filling every instant of his 

 time with matter for deep reflection, and call- 

 ing for the most careful investigation. And 

 yet, farming has been considered merely a 

 resource for the unfortunate ; an employment 

 which might be taken up by those whose na- 

 tural abilities are not equal to the pursuits 

 of trade or the learned professions ! No won- 

 der, then, that farmers are deemed to be the 

 least enlightened class of society ; and, as if 

 to make the matter worse, they are the only 

 class of men who themselves advocate openly 

 the non-necessity — nay, worse than that — the 

 inexpediency of reading and study in their 

 operations — strange and unaccountable as the 

 fact appears. V. 



April 18, 1841. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Sugar Beet for Spring Feeding. 



Sir, — I have for a long time been halting 

 between two opinions, as to the value of the 

 suo'ar beet as winter food for stock, and really 

 have been puzzled with the conflicting testi- 

 mony of parties, for and against. A visit to 

 a friend in an adjoining state, which I have 

 been induced to take at the suggestion of 

 your correspondent at p. 205 of the Cabinet 

 for January, and whom I can bear out in the 

 remark, that such a mode of expending a 

 small sum is the cheapest and best way in 

 which a man can study the science of agri- 

 culture, has, however, brought me short about, 

 a strong advocate for its cultivation, and I 

 will tell you why. 



Before I left home, I was wondering with- 

 in myself, how my poor stock were to subsist 

 another month without a supply of fresh pro- 

 vender : my hay-barn and corn-crib began to 

 show signs of atrophy, the ribs of the latter 

 rattling in the wind like a dried skeleton; 

 with scarcely a blade of ffrass to be seen in 

 the pastures, into which however, I had been 

 compelled to turn the poor creatures, in the 

 hope that they might be able to pick up a 

 little to help out; knowing all the while, that 

 what they could extract from the roots of the 

 sod must be at the expense of the coming 

 crop of hay. In this state of mind and feel- 



ing, I reached my friend's house, and was 

 infinitely surprised to find him feeding all his 

 cattle and sheep, and indeed I "might add 

 hogs, which also came in for a share, to the 

 full head, as he termed it, with sugar beet, 

 which he had reserved for this particular sea- 

 son, as a link between the winter and sum- 

 mer crops, the value for which purpose, to 

 use his own words, was "quite above all 

 price." Said he — " While many are debat- 

 ing about the quality of the beet, and are not 

 able to determine whether its cultivation be 

 the greatest good or the most considerable of 

 evils, I have gone quietly on, sowing regu- 

 larly the quantity necessary for my winter 

 consumption, being careful to preserve a full 

 supply for the whole month of April, without 

 regard to the stories that are told about its 

 diffeient and very dissimilar properties; and 

 now you see me with plenty of food for every 

 living thing about me for a month to come, 

 obtained at a most trifling cost of production ; 

 for, frftm about an acre of land, I harvested a 

 mountain of green food, to mix with my hay 

 and sfraw, which have now become dry and 

 hard from keeping : and by these means I am 

 able tp keep all my stock from the meadows 

 and p^ture until May — a perfectly incalcu- 

 lable Advantage ; for thus I am not only feed- 

 ing tliem this year, but adding astonishingly 

 to mymeans for the next winter, as I almost 

 fancy hat by so doing I am able to mow dou- 

 ble tip quantity of hay that I used to do. 

 And lis is not all; for the large quantity 

 and ecellent quality of the manure which I 

 therely^ obtain, is of far more value to me 

 than ill the labour and expense of cultivating 

 the b(;ts, twice told. You see that my stock 

 are ii good condition, contented and happy, 

 confir;d to their winter quarters, and not 

 perm ted to roam abroad, to tlie destruction 

 of thi fences, the loss of their dung, and the 

 absoli.e annihilation of the future crops of 

 hay; id if these are not advantages sufficient 

 to imice us to go forward with the cultiva- 

 tion the beet, I should be glad to be told 

 what lore we have a right to expect? Let 

 other argue what is the value of such a crop 

 for witer-food, and especially for spring use, 

 while I am too happy to be able to create a 

 sumtiir amongst my stock during the most 

 dreai winter, and preserve my spring crop 

 of gr;s, by the very trifling devotion of about 

 a sinle acre of land to their cultivation. I 

 repej, my extra manure pays me for all my 

 extra expense ; and my peace of mind is 

 abovi all price." I thought of my poor starv- 

 ing aimals at home, and shortened my visit, 

 that might return and be prepared to prac- 

 tise 1 e doctrine which my friend had been 

 preac ing. 



John Lacey. 

 Schi Ikill County, April 1, 1841. 



