1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



183 



the cost of keep foi' a cow is calculated at $17,50 

 for the pasturiiifi; season, and at $27,50 during 

 the winter. 2. Allowing then that a cow requires 

 for fair keeping as much grass as- two acres will 

 produce, the farmer who j^rovides pasture at 25 

 cents per week, or as is the custom in several 

 places, at 85 for the season, gets wonderfully poor 

 pay for the produce of two acres. To get any- 

 thing like a proper compensation, or "to save 

 himself," he must pinch the cows, by putting on 

 more than at the rate of one cow to each two 

 acres. He ought to have $5 or more for each 

 acre. More Anon. 



VALUE AND USES OP BOOT CROPS. 



We have often in-ged the importance of roots 

 as a feed for stock, as the medium or means 

 through which to bring up our farms to a higher 

 state of fertility. After many years of observa- 

 tion of their use, together with a personal use of 

 them during the same period, we feel quite free to 

 say that their general cultivation and judicious 

 use will result in a greatly improved and profita- 

 ble husbandry throughout New England. There 

 are many reasons for this opinion which we might 

 give here, but prefer to waive them for the pres- 

 ent, in order to make room for some statements 

 in regard to recent crops obtained by another 

 hand. 



The paper from which we quote, was an essay 

 read before the Concord, Mass., Farmers' Club, by 

 Mr. John B. Moore, of that town, and without 

 any expectation of its being published on the part 

 of the writer. It was one of the essays of the 

 Club, regularly read at the meeting immediately 

 after the reading of the journal of the preced- 

 ing evening. The v.'riter had been speaking of 

 the profits of the potato crop over that of raising 

 milk, and added, 



"Then there are other roots besides potatoes, 

 which I think we should cultivate more exten- 

 sively for feeding to our stock, and as a substi- 

 tute to some extent for grain. Carrots for horses 

 and oxen are, as a portion of their feed, worth 

 certainly one-half as much as oats per bushel ; 

 and no feed keeps a horse more sleek and healthy, 

 and thej can be raised for less than tioelve cents 

 a bushel in an ordinary season. I had only \ of 

 an acre of carrots last year, and they cost me as 



follows : 



Dr. 



To plowing and harrowing 'of an acre 3 times $l,-50 



To 10 loads compost manure, charge J to crop 7,50 



To carting manure, spreading and seeding 1,50 



To interest on the land 1,50 



To hoeing and weeding 7,00 



To harvesting 3.00 



Amounting to $22,00 



Or at the rate of $88 an acre. The crop was 180 

 bushels of carrots, for which I was offered $13 

 per ton in Concord. Deduct the worth of the 

 tops, Avhich I think were M-ell worth $2, and the 

 cost of raising them would be 11 1-9 cents a bush- 



el. They were grown in the following manner : — 

 Sown about the last of May in rows 2 feet apart 

 on a flat surface ; hoed with a wheel hoe, thinned 

 and cleaned before the weeds had a chance to get 

 much of a start, and afterwards kept clear from 

 weeds throughout the season. A large item of 

 the cost of cultivating roots of all kinds, but more 

 particularly carrots, is the weeding. This expense 

 can be reduced one-half by proper management, 

 and in this way : When you prepare your land 

 for the seed, be sure and have the soil finely pul- 

 verized and smoothed with a rake or brush-har- 

 row, and without any stones or rubbish of any 

 sort being left to interfere Vv'ith the operation of 

 the wheel hoe. Let the rows be sown perfectly 

 straight, for Avith straight rows you can run the 

 wheel hoe faster, and much nearer to the plants, 

 by which you will save a great amount of finger 

 work ; then be sure to weed and thin them as 

 soon as they begin to show their second leaves, 

 as at that time it will not be more than one-half 

 as much work to weed or to thin the plants as it 

 will be if you let them go a week too long. 



Last year I had half an acre of rutabagas, grown 

 on an old piece of pasture land, broken up with 

 a sward plow, about the 20th of May, and with 

 the intention of improving the pasture ; it was 

 manured with a compost made with 40 horse-cart 

 loads of peat muck, 200 bushels leached ashes, 

 and $5 worth of ground bones, which was spread 

 evenly on the soil and worked in with a horse- 

 hoe. The seed was sown with a machine, in rows 

 thirty inches apart, on a flat surface, about the 

 25th day of June, and afterwards thinned, and 

 cleaned from weeds as soon as the plants showed 

 their rough leaves. 



The after cultivation was done by a horse and 

 cultivator passing through the rows three times ; 

 there was harvested from the half acre 350 bushels 

 of very fine and smooth ruta bagas, after the leaves 

 were trimmed from them. 



The cost of the same is estimated as follows : 



Db. 

 To 40 loads of compost manure, one-half to be charged 



to the present crop $18,00 



To plowing 1,00 



To carting i.anure, spreading and working it in 3,50 



T(> seed and seeding 50 



To interest on the land 1,50 



To weeding and thinning 2!00 



To harvesting 6.00 



Amounting to $32,50 



And at the rate of $60 an acre, deduct the worth 

 of the tops, estimated at $2,50, and the cost would 

 be 82- cents a bu.shel. 



I also raised quite a lot of sugar beets and man- 

 gel wurtzel, which cost me a fraction less than 7^ 

 cents a bushel. The beets I grow In a different 

 manner, and on a soil much more moist. They 

 are sown on ridges made by turning two furrows 

 together — tops raked down, and one row of beets 



