52 



The Early Bassano is considered the best for early marketing, or for 

 the table : to be followed by the .Egyptian and Long Blood, in their 

 proper courses. The latter is preferable for wintei- use, because it 

 keeps better and produces more in quantity. But for stock feeding, 

 either mangolds or sugar beets are now preferred to all others. Per- 

 sonally I consider the sugar beet superior to the mangold, for while 

 we get less in quantity it is much better in quality. It is sweeter 

 and contains more nutrition. ''Lane's American Improved Imperial" 

 is largely raised in the Connecticut Valley, and is generally regarded 

 as the best. The average weight is about six pounds, though it some- 

 times attains an enormous size. The originator of this variety has 

 grown specimens that weiuhed twenty pounds each. 



It has been currently reported in years gone by, that butter made 

 from cows fed on roots, was never so firm and solid as that made 

 from cows fed on corn meal. That is an error, however. The but- 

 ter will be of just as good consistency, though perhaps not quite so 

 much in quantity. I have here a sample of butter made from milk 

 of n cow fed entirely on corn-talks and sugar beets, and it is as firm 

 and substantial iu texture as could be desired. Of course it may 

 lack some of the qualities which are claimed for the gilt-edged butter, 

 but it will bear examiuatinn, and fully disproves the error I have al- 

 luded to. 



Beet seed for stock feeding should be sown about the middle of May. 

 Plow in half of your manure. Put the rest in furrows two and a 

 half feet apart, and covei- it with a tobacco ridger. Then sow the 

 seed at the rate of four pounds an acre. Thin the plants when the 

 root is as large as your finger, leaving them eight or ten inches apart 

 in the rows. Keep the weeds down, and run the cultivator often 

 between the rows. If you should get short for green fodder for 

 your cows in October, pull off the tops of the beets and feed them. 

 The beets will do just as well, and sometimes seem to keep better in 

 winter if this is done, for the crown of the beet will get somewhat 

 healed over before it is put into the cellar, and it does not rot so soon. 

 Cows that are iu milk during the winter, eating one peck of I'oots a 

 day, will eat no less hay, but will look better, although it is a small 

 quantity to feed. When I have plenty of roots I feed from half a 

 bushel to a bushel a day, and always with good results. 



There are a great variety of vegetables from which the farmer 

 should select a few at least, for his own family use. It is economical. 



