ROOT CULTURE. 165 



not adequate — and they may be constructed under barns 

 with advantage — these roots may all be securely preserved 

 in pits, in dry situations, due precaution being had to cov- 

 ering and ventilation. We do save potatoes, and we can 

 save other roots in the same way. It is the novelty of 

 the labor, rather than the amount of it, and a want of 

 practical knowledge in their culture and preservation, 

 which intimidate and deter very many. It has been 

 demonstrated, in repeated experiments made in our coun- 

 try, that labor is more profitably bestowed upon root 

 crops, if judiciously apphed, and the profits of the land are 

 greater, than in most of the other crops that we cultivate. 

 Assuming the average product of hay at a ton and a half 

 to two tons per acre, and of beets and ruta baga at 600 

 bushels — and allowing a bushel and a half of the latter 

 (90 lbs.) to be equivalent, for farm-stock, to 20 lbs. of 

 hay, an acre of the roots will go as far in the economy of 

 feeding, as nearly three acres of meadow, to say nothing 

 of the tops, which are excellent food, and which will, at 

 least in a great part, compensate for the extra expense of 

 culture. These roots, besides, may be used as a substi- 

 tute for grain, to working horses and oxen, and for pigs. 

 The three acres of grass are found to give less than 9,000 

 lbs. to the dung-yard, while the one acre of ruta baga, or 

 beets, gives 36,000 lbs., or four times as much as the 

 three acres of grass land. 



Five things are essential in the culture of root crops : 

 first, a dry soil ; second, a rich soil ; third, a deep soil ; 

 fourth, a well-pulverized soil ; and, fifth, good after-culture. 

 The crop will be abundant in proportion as these several 

 requisites are regarded, and deficient in proportion as they 

 are neglected. 



By a dry soil, we mean a soil that is not wet. Moisture 

 is beneficial to all crops, and is indeed indispensable to 

 their growth ; but water is detrimental to all root crops, 

 though it repose upon the subsoil, or appear but occa- 

 sionally upon the surface. Hence, when roots are 

 to be grown upon soils that are tenacious or flat, or 

 upon those which repose upon an impervious subsoil, the 

 land should either be previously under-drained, or should 



