RICE 



ROOT CROPS 



539 



Rice from Hawaii admitted free since 1876. 



Liiterature. 



Watt, Dictionary of the Economic Products of 

 India; Chemical Tables for Daily Use, Imperial 

 Agricultural College, Japan ; Farmers' Bulletin No. 

 110, United States Department of Agriculture; 

 Division of Botany, Bulletin No. 22, United States 

 Department of Agriculture ; Office of Experiment 

 Stations, Bulletin No. 113, United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture ; Bulletins Nos. 24, 50, 61, 77 

 of the Louisiana Experiment Station. The reader 

 may consult with profit the various writings on 

 tropical agriculture. 



ROOT CROPS. Pigs. 774-785. 



By S. Fraser. 



■ The growing of roots for stock - feeding has 

 never taken the place in American agriculture 

 that its merits deserve, largely because of the ease 

 and cheapness with which grain crops can be 

 raised and the amount of hand labor involved in 

 the production of roots. There is every indication 

 that the culture of these forage plants will in- 

 crease, particularly in the East. The reason why 

 the production of roots is of special interest in the 

 north Atlantic- states and in eastern Canada is 

 that these regions raise a comparatively large 

 amount of roughage and a small amount of con- 

 centrates, while the north-central states raise a 

 large amount of cereals or concentrates in propor- 

 tion to hay and forage as shown in the following 

 table. The following table shows the ratio of con- 

 centrates to roughage in the north Atlantic and 

 north-central states according to the Census of 

 1900: 



The significance of this table is further empha- 

 sized when the superior feeding value of concen- 

 trates is fully understood. For example, experi- 



ments made by Zuntz, of Germany, 

 show that when clover hay was fed to 

 horses, 41 pounds were digested out of 

 each hundred pounds of hay fed, while, 

 when oats were fed, 62 pounds were 

 digested, or 50 per cent more. It was 

 found, however, that it required the 

 energy of 24 pounds of the 41 pounds 

 of hay digested to supply energy to 

 chew and digest the hay, leaving the 

 net nutritive value at 17 pounds. On 

 the other hand, it required only 12 

 pounds of the 62 pounds of oats to 

 masticate and digest the oats, leaving 

 50 pounds of oats available for pro- 

 ducing energy or work. In other words, the oats 

 had three times the value of the clover hay for the 

 production of work in horses. The energy used up 

 in chewing and digesting food is manifested in 

 heat and helps to keep the animal warm, and is 

 therefore not entirely lost when the ration is 

 merely for maintenance. But since in any liberal 

 feeding for the production of work, the production 

 of meat, or of milk, the amount of heat thus pro- 

 duced is sufficient ■ to^eep the animal warm, the 

 figures given above may be taken as representing 

 their true food value. Rather extensive Danish 

 experiments indicate that a pound of dry matter 

 in roots is about equal to one pound of the cereal 

 grains, or to three-fouytJis.ftf ^ pound, of cottonseed- 

 meal, when fed to milch cows. Roots, like the cere- 

 als, are highly digestible, perhaps even more digest- 

 ible than the cereal grains, and herein probably 

 lies their high value. From the standpoint of the 

 results which they produce, the roots may be 

 looked on as watered concentrates. They have 

 apparently a high net available .energy. 



The yield of dry matter. 



One of the objections to roots as a food product 

 lies in their high water content. This limits the quan- 

 tity which may be fed and becomes of special impor- 

 tance where they are fed in connection with silage. 

 Because of this high water content it will not be 

 practicable to feed a sufficient amount entirely to 

 take the place of the cereals, even should this be 

 desirable for other reasons. The trend of experi- 

 mental evidence is that the feeding value of the dif- 

 erent types and varieties of root crops depends more 

 largely on the percentage of dry matter than any 

 other factor ; for example, the percentage of dry 

 matter apparently modifies their feeding value more 

 largely than the percentage of sugar. In comparing 

 these yields with the yields of corn, it must be 

 remembered that it is more difficult to handle a root 

 crop than a corn crop ; more hand labor is required 

 per acre and the land must be in good condition. 

 The thorough farmer who manures and fits his land 

 on a timely and intensive system is the one who 

 may succeed in growing root crops. 



The following table shows the minimum, average 

 and maximum number of pounds of dry matter per 

 acre which was obtained at the Cornell Experiment 

 Station in 1904, 1905 and 1906, from sowings made 

 in May : 



