ROOTS, TUBERS, AND OTHER SUCCULENT FEEDS 137 



The red or yellow varieties impart a rich color to the milk, owing to 

 the coloring matter (carotin) which they contain, and produce a 

 yellow cream and butter, making unnecessary the use of artificial 

 coloring in butter-malting. Stock carrots will yield 10 to 20 tons per 

 acre, according to the character of the soil, the season, etc., and still 

 more under favorable conditions. They contain, on the average, 

 about 12 per cent of dry matter, of which, the greater portion is 

 sugar (sucrose and glucose). They maybe used to replace a portion 

 of the oats in the ration of horses that are hard worked, feeding 

 about six to eight pounds per head daily. 



Potatoes (Solatium tuberosum) are used extensively for stock 

 feeding by European farmers, but only to a small extent in this 

 country. The growing of this crop for the purpose of furnishing 

 feed for farm animals cannot be recommended, on account of the 

 relatively low yields obtained (average, 200 bushels at 60 pounds, 

 or six tons) and the expense of production; but on most farms a 

 supply of cull potatoes is available, and in potato-growing districts 

 large amounts of such potatoes may be profitably used for feeding 

 farm animals. 



Potatoes are primarily a fattening feed and are used especially 

 for feeding swine. They may also, be fed to advantage to other 

 classes of stock, — horses, wethers, and milch cows, as a partial 

 substitute for grain. They are generally cooked for swine, and are 

 fed sliced, mixed with grain feed, to other classes of farm animals. 



Potatoes contain about 20 per cent of dry matter, of which over 

 80 per cent is composed of carbohydrates, largely starch. Like all 

 roots and tubers, they are low in fat ; the high starch content places 

 them among our foremost starchy feeds and renders them especially 

 valuable for fattening purposes. Danish feeding experiments have 

 shown that four pounds of boiled potatoes are equal to a pound of 

 mixed grain for feeding swine, and that for dairy cows it takes 

 six pounds of raw potatoes to equal a pound of mixed grain (1 feed, 

 unit; see p. 79). 



Unripe potatoes contain a poisonous nitrogenous compound 

 called solanin, which also accumulates in considerable quantities in 

 the sprouts; in feeding old sprouted potatoes the sprouts must, 

 therefore, be carefully removed to prevent accidents. 



During' recent years machinery for drying potatoes has been 

 greatly perfected in Germany, and dried potatoes in the form of 

 flakes or chips are now a regular article of commerce in Europe. 

 It takes, on the average, about 3.8 tons of raw potatoes to make 

 a ton of dried potato flakes. These are pronounced " much cheaper 



