256 



NEW ENGLAND FARIMER. 



June 



ROOTS AJSTD GRAIN CROPS. 



f ^ ^^c\\ has been written on 

 /^M^Y{ tlie subject of root crops. 

 The question, whether 

 'I^^V'- roots are cheaper than 

 ^ corn in feeding horses and 

 other domestic animals 

 while at labor, has not, 

 perhaps, been satisfiicto- 

 rily solved, nor are we 

 aware that any experi- 

 ^^;^.. ments that can be confidently 

 - v^-^ relied on, have been instituted 

 '^ with a view of deciding the 

 point. 

 A writer in the ''Farmer and 

 Gardener,'''' an English work of high 

 authority, in speaking of "Horse 

 Feed," says : — 

 To begin, wc will premise, that each working 

 horse wiU consume three gallons of corn per day, 

 or one hundred and twenty-six Inishels seven gal- 

 lons a year; now if we take thirty bushels as the 

 average yield of an acre in corn, which is a large 

 one, it will take four acres, sixty perches of ground 

 to raise corn enough to sustain a single horse ; on 

 the other hand let us suppose that an acre m car- 

 rots will yield three hundred bushels, (and this is 

 a small average, for 700 Inishels have often been 

 produced on an acre,) and as it has been ascer- 

 tained that three pecks of this root, daily, is suffi- 

 cient to sustain a horse well at labor, as there are 

 twelve hundred pecks in three hundred bushels, 

 so will one acre sustain a horse one year and tUirty- 

 five days, making a saving of three acres and 

 ninety perches of land, and nearly the equivalent 

 of that amount of lalx)r in tillage, as all will ad- 

 mit that if the carrots be judicwusUj drilled, the 

 amount of lalx)r to be performed on their culture, 

 is very little greater than what is requisite to se- 

 cure a good yield of corn — one thinning and three 

 hoeings being all that is necessary to ensure a good 

 crop. As to the manuring, we will observe, that 

 they do not require more than ought to be given to 

 corn, as less than twenty loads should not be de- 

 voted to either. The gathering and preservation 

 is, to 1)6 sure, more tedious per acre, but when the 

 labor to be bestowed on four acres and ninety 

 perches in corn, is compared with that requisite 

 for one acre of carrots, we think the amount will 

 stand decidedly in favor of the latter. 



We may here observe that seven hundred 

 bushels per acre, is by no means to be regarded 

 as an extra— much less as the maximum yield 

 of this root. A gentleman in Norfolk County, 

 Mass., informed us that he had raised carrots 

 at the rate of 1, GOO bushels to the acre, having 

 about one-fourth of an acre accurately nu-as- 

 ured. The crop was on good land, highly 

 manured and thoroughly tendtsd. The yield 

 of com in the above estimate, which is aver- 

 aged at thirty bushels, is less than it should 

 be, unless, as we suspect, the writer being 

 English, means wlieat, for which "corn" is the 



popular designation in England. More than 

 three times that amount of Indian corn is 

 often produced, per acre, in New England. 



Mr. S. Blagge, of Dorchester, Mass., many 

 years ago, sent a communication upon the cul- 

 ture of carrots to the Massachusetts Agricul- 

 tural Repository, in which he states that he 

 spread three ox cart loads of old stable ma- 

 nure on one-eighth of an acre of land, of a rich, 

 light loam, in which potatoes had been planted 

 for two years preceding. Plowed it in the fall 

 and twice in the spring, the last time about 

 the first of May. Sowed the seeds in furrows 

 about one foot apart. In ten days the carrots 

 could be just perceived above the surface of 

 the earth, and in six more the rows were plain. 

 They were then hoed. In twenty days more 

 they were hoed and weeded. In two weeks 

 from this time they were thinned, those left 

 standing in the ground remaining about one 

 inch from each other. 



In the beginning of July they were hilled, 

 so as to cover the top of the I'oot, and left 

 until the beginning of November, when the 

 crop was collected, and measured one hundred 

 and sixty bushels, or at the rate of 1280 

 bushels per acre ! He adds : 



"As the foregoing was intended as an experi- 

 ment, I was particular in keeping an account of 

 the expenses attending it, and find that the whole 

 amount lor manure, labor, &c., was ^15.33 includ- 

 ing $1.33 which I paid for one pound of seed. 



"I am convinced that a farmer who has a con- 

 siderable stock to provide for, cannot appropriate 

 a few acres of his land to a better purpose, than 

 that of raising carrots. Their nutritious property 

 supplies the use of hand food for beeves ; and they 

 are extremely serviceable to milch cows, who re- 

 quire something better than dry fodder during our 

 tedious winters. Horses are very fond of them, 

 cut in pieces of three inches in length, washed 

 clean, and given to them in proper quantities." 



With the improved modes of culture which 

 have been introduced since Mr. Blagge wrote 

 the above, we have no doubt that carrots may 

 be raised much cheaper than they could be at 

 that time ; for less than one-half his cost, in- 

 deed. A man can perform as much in a car- 

 rot field in one day, with Harrington's Culti- 

 vator, as he could in three Avith a common hoe, 

 and do the work as well. 



—The Kennebec Union Agricultural and Horti- 

 cultural Society elected oflicers in Gardiner, INIarch 

 2. President— Win. II. Merrill, West Gardiner; 

 Vice Presidents— Ben.) . Berry, Litchfield ; N.Fos- 

 ter, Gardiner; A. D. Knight, Hallowell ; Secretary 

 — S. Smiley, Gardiner; Treasurer and Collector- 

 Cyrus Libby, Gardiner. 



