AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 41 



THE PRODUCTION OF FOOD MATERIAL BY VARIOUS 

 FODDER AND ROOT CROPS. 



The list of cattle foods which many successful daymen soem 

 to regard as necessary for winter production of milk includes some 

 green material. This material is furnished either from the silo 

 or by some one of the various root crops, undoubtedly more 

 largely from the former than from the latter at the present time. 

 Ensilage is made almost wholly, at least in this State, from the 

 corn plant, and in regard to the most desirable variety of corn for 

 this purpose there seems to exist quite a difference of opinion. 

 The roots most generally grown for winter feeding are mangolds, 

 sugar beets, rutabagas and English field turnips. The inquiry of 

 the farmer is, which of these crops is the most profitable ? ' 'Shall I 

 produce the large varieties of Dent corn, such as the Virginia 

 White Horse Tooth, or shall I depend upon the varieties of Flint 

 corn and Sweet corn which make much smaller growth, but which 

 come more nearly to maturity in this climate ? Or is it better to 

 adhere to the former practice and produce sufficient roots of some 

 kind to furnish the needed change of food?" In attempting to 

 study this question, in order to give the farmer helpful informa 

 tion, we must first decide what is the proper standard for judging 

 the profitableness of a crop. Two factors must be considered, 

 (1) the amount of food material produced and (2) its cost. With 

 the latter factor the Experiment Station does not propose to deal 

 in this connection. In regard to the former factor, we must ask, 

 How shall we judge with regard to the production of food material ? 

 It is very evident that we cannot take as our standard the total 

 weight of the crop, for the reason that there is so large variation 

 of the amount of water in the various crops which have been men- 

 tioned. This water is worth no more than that which the animal 

 takes from the trough. But shall we use the total dry matter 

 as a measure of profitable production, excluding the question 

 of cost? This would certainly be more accurate than to judge 

 from the total weight of the crop, but it is evident that there 

 would still be an inaccuracy from the fact that the dry mat- 

 ter of the various fodder plants varies greatly in digestibility. 

 We must conclude then that the proper standard by means of 

 which to compare the production of food material bv various croos 



