No. 144.] 561 



districts, for the sake of the nourishment it affords, while in the 

 western states it should be raised in less quantities, (as other ar- 

 ticles of feed are cheaper,) as a sauce for stock. The late Judge 

 Buel, supposed that turnips might be produced for five cents a 

 bushel, yet costing twice that, I have found them to pay very 

 well fed to cows during winter, at the rate of half a bushel a day. 

 When corn can be raised for ten cents, and oats for six or seven, 

 of course these crops challenge the time that would otherwise be 

 spent on roots. 



The richer the land on which these crops are put, at the less 

 expense will they be produced. This is true certainly up to a 

 crop of 1,200 bushels to the acre, and probably much further ; 

 and it is very doubtful whether a crop of less than eight hundred 

 bushels to the acre will pay for feeding purposes. I say for feed- 

 ing purposes because the retail, or even the wholesale prices of 

 these crops, in cities and villages, is not to be taken into the ac- 

 count. The question to the farmer is, what do these crops cost 

 in labor and use of land, and what corresponding increase do they 

 gain in the amount of stock I can keep and annually sell ? Al- 

 lowing any other consideration of value to come in only embar- 

 rasses us and vitiates our conclusions. 



Were these crops now raised to the amount that they will be 

 yet for stock, there would not be a market for a hundredth part 

 of them for any culinary purpose. 



But there is but a small part of the land in this country that 

 is in a condition to raise roots profitably. There are muck de- 

 posits along the banks of rivers ; there are deltas at the mouths 

 of creeks, and there are swamps that may be drained. One of 

 the largest root crops in this State, was raised last season by Col, 

 Wheeler of Deposit, in the muck of a drained swamp. Such land 

 also possesses the advantage of being free from weeds. 



We might amuse ourselves by estimating the amount of stock 

 that the country would keep if every acre of land should raise a 

 thousand bushels of these roots. There is but one objection to 

 this diversion, and that is that it would be of no manner of use. 

 An acre planted to roots must derive strength for the time being 



[Assembly No. 144.] J 2 



