2 8 CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 



MARKETING AND FEEDING. 



In the cities there is a large market for carrots as feed 

 for horses, it being very generally accepted that a few given 

 daily or every other day, aids the digestion of grain-fed ani- 

 mals, adds to the gloss of the hair, and are of special medic- 

 inal value. The largest, smoothest and darkest orange col- 

 ored roots sell the best in the market. The price varies all 

 the way from ten to twenty dollars a ton of 2000 pounds, de- 

 pending in part on the value of hay. Where the quantity fed 

 daily is small a large knife or a shovel will answer to cut them 

 up in pieces of suitable size ; but if the quantity amounts to 

 several bushels daily, then a root-cutter will be needed. 

 There are two classes of these, one for sheep, and the other 

 for large stock, the essential difference being that those de- 

 signed to cut roots for sheep cut into smaller pieces. Of 

 those designed to cut roots for large stock, the Whittemore 

 machine is as good a machine as any, having a capacity to 

 cut up a bushel in about half a minute. Among farmers 

 there is much unnecessary fear about the danger of animals 

 choking while feeding on apples, potatoes and roots. For 

 the last ten years I have fed to my cows not far from three 

 hundred tons of squashes, potatoes and roots, ( mostly 

 squashes) and never yet lost an animal or had any very seri- 

 ous trouble from choking. My habit is to feed them while 

 quietly in their stalls, with a division board between the feed 

 of each. All cases of choking that have come to my notice 

 have occurred where '/he animal was suddenly disturbea 

 while eating. There is a great difference of opinion as to 

 how many roots can be fed to stock daily without injuring 

 them. The proportion will depend somewhat on the consti- 

 tutional peculiarities of individual cows, but when the bowels 

 are all right the appetite of the animal is probably the safest 

 guide. I have had a large and extended experience in feed- 



