540 



ROOT CROPS 



ROOT CROPS 



Mangels .... 

 Half-sugar mangels 

 Sugar-beets . . . 

 Rutabagas . . . 

 Hybrid turnips . . 

 Common turnips . 

 Kohlrabi .... 

 Cabbages .... 



Carrots 



Parsnips .... 



Maximum 



8,453 

 6,440 

 8,090 

 5,079 

 5,111 

 3,500 

 4,540 

 5,588 

 4,379 

 3,680 



The estimated yield of grain from flint corn tlie 

 same seasons at the Cornell Station was approxi- 

 mately 2,000 pounds, while the yield of dry mat- 

 ter in silage from dent corn was about 4,000 

 pounds. It is probable that the season of 1904 was 

 relatively favorable to the production of roots as 

 compared with corn, but this was not true of 1905 

 and 1906. In the latter years the average yields 

 from roots were better than in 1904, although the 

 land used was conceded by all interested to be less 

 favorable than that used in 1904. 



Roots vs. cereals. 



The present high price of cereals is a factor in 

 favor of the production of root crops. If corn- 

 meal continues to be worth $20 a ton or more in 

 the East, economy in the production of roots would 

 be indicated, while if the price should fall to $10 

 a ton, corn-meal would probably be the cheaper 

 source of concentrates. The serious handicap to 

 the raising of root crops is the fact that with 

 present cultural methods a large amount of hand 

 labor is required. The point of view that is desired 

 here to emphasize is that while roots may not be 

 economically raised as a substitute for silage or 

 other coarse fodders, it may be economical to raise 

 them, especially out of the grain regions as a 

 partial substitute for concentrates, particularly 

 the cereal grains. 



Literature. 



The following literature deals with several root 

 crops and it is most convenient to give it in one 

 place. Thomas Shaw, Forage Crops, Orange Judd 

 Company, New York (1900); L. H. Bailey, Cyclo- 

 pedia of American Horticulture, Macmillan Com- 

 pany, New York (1900); W. A. Burpee & Co., Root 

 Crops for Stock-feeding and How to Grow Them, 

 Philadelphia, Pa. (1888); Mm. Vilmorin, The Vege- 

 table Garden, Translation by Wm. Robinson, John 

 Murray, London (1885); J. J. H. Gregory, Carrots, 

 Mangold-wurtzels and Sugar-beets, Marblehead, 

 Mass. (1882); Fearing Burr, Jr., The Field and 

 Garden Vegetables of America, Crosby & Nichols, 

 Boston (1863). Exhibiting roots: Edwin Beckett, 

 Vegetables for Exhibition and Home Consumption, 

 London (1899); Dunn, The Horticultural Exhibi- 

 tor's Handbook, London (1892) ; Vegetables Grown 

 for Exhibition, New York (Geneva) Experiment 

 Station, Bulletin No. 69 (1894). History and Bot- 

 any. A. de Candolle, Origin of Cultivated Plants, 



Appleton & Co., New York (1892); B. L. Sturtevant, 

 History of Garden Vegetables, American Naturalist 

 (1887, 1888, 1890); Improvement of the Carrot, see 

 L. de Vilmorin, Transactions of the London Horticul- 

 tural Society, Ser. 2, Vol. 2, p. 348; John Percival, 

 Agricultural Botany, London (1900); L. H. Bailey, 

 Botany of Turnips, etc.. Garden and Forest, 1897, 

 pp., 321, 322 ; James Buckman, Science and Prac- 

 tice of Farm Cultivation, London (1865). The most 

 recent studies in this country are by Hunt, Eraser, 

 Gilmore and Clark in Cornell Bulletins Nos. 243 and 

 244, from which extracts are made above. 



THE KINDS OP ROOTS. 



The kinds of roots that are most profitable to 

 grow in this country for forage may now be de- 

 scribed briefly. To these might be added potatoes 

 and kohlrabi, both treated in separate articles. 

 Cabbage, kale and pumpkin [see separate articles] 

 are also practically comparable with roots as to 

 feeding value. 



Carrot. Daucus Carota, Linn. UrribelMferoe. 



The carrot is used as human food and is also 

 esteemed for all classes of stock, especially horses. 

 The leaves are also relished by stock. It belongs to 

 the same order as the parsnip, celery, parsley and 

 several other useful herbs. It is sometimes annual, 

 but generally is biennial. The edible part is made 

 up of parts of the stem and root which have become 

 thickened. A section of carrot shows two well- 

 defined layers, an outer, and an inner layer or core, 

 which frequently vary in color. The proportion 

 existing between the two layers is variable. Since 

 the outer layer is esteemed to be of higher value 

 than the core, the aim in breeding has been to 

 produce "coreless" varieties. 



The average percentage composition is, approxi- 

 mately, water, 88.6 ; ash, 1 ; protein, 1.1 ; crude 

 fiber, 1.3 ; nitrogen-free extract, 7.6 ; ether extract, 

 0.4. 



History. 



The carrot is known to have been in cultivation 

 for about two thousand years. It is mentioned by 

 Pliny, and the wild carrot was known to the Greek 

 writers 300 B. C. It has received more attention 

 in France than in any other country, and there is 

 reason to think that as early as the first century 

 it was esteemed there. Cultivated varieties were 

 recorded as growing in the gardens and fields of 

 Europe in the sixteenth century and had by that 

 time been introduced and disseminated over the 

 central and northern parts of South America. They 

 were grown in Virginia as early as 1609 and were 

 in Massachusetts twenty years later. The Indians 

 carried them westward, and in 1779 General 

 Sullivan destroyed carrots at Geneva, N. Y. 



The influence of environment is marked in this 

 plant. Vilmorin succeeded in developing commer- 

 cial varieties from the wild carrot, by sowing the 

 seed in well-prepared ground and selecting the best 

 plants for three successive generations. 



The carrot is now cultivated or found wild over 



