SECRETARY'S REPORT. 63 



Dividing the number of pounds of each of these crops on an 

 acre, according to estimates above, by the number of pounds 

 representing the practical value of each for food, and we have 

 as results, figures which will express the comparative yield of 

 each acre, according to the crop occupying it. For instance : — 



Hay, per acre, • . . . 4,000 lbs. 



Swedisli turnips, per acre, . . 36,000 lbs. 



Mangold wurzel, " • . 40,000 lbs. 



Carrots, " . . 60,000 lbs. 



Corn, « . . 4,550 lbs. 



100= 40 

 300= 120 

 400 = 100 

 250 = 200 

 52= 871 



According to this table, an acre will yield three times as much 

 food in turnips as in hay ; two and one-half times as much food 

 in mangolds, as in. hay ; five times as much in carrots as in hay ; 

 and about two and one-fifth times as much in corn as in hay. 



Now in order to arrive at the cost of feeding the above 

 articles to cattle, and at the comparative value of each as an 

 article of food, we must be able to ascertain the prices which 

 they bear in different localities, the advantages of the market, 

 the cost of labor, and the kind and value of the cattle which 

 are fed. "We have furnished the figures, for the benefit of those 

 who desire to ascertain, if possible, the most economical and 

 useful crops for cattle husbandry. There is no doubt that, 

 valuable as hay is, as an article of food, and universal as is its 

 use here, there are crops which form an useful ally to it, in the 

 business of carrying cattle through the winter. The question 

 is, which of these crops is the best for such a purpose — the most 

 economical and profitable ? There are sections of the State 

 where the corn crop will not ripen, and where the cultivation 

 of roots would do much toward enabling the farmer to support 

 all tlie cattle in winter, which his pastures will bear in summer, 

 a state of things which does not now exist. In some regions 

 the hay crop is large, hay is cheap, and labor scarce. The 

 farmer there must judge for himself, how far it will pay to devote 

 himself to any other than the hay crop. Circumstances vary as 

 localities vary, and it is they alone Avhich can guide the intelli- 

 gent farmer in the management of his land for his cattle, and 

 can enable him to judge of the cost of feeding them, as well as 

 to decide upon the breed best adapted to his purposes. 



