FEEDING 



221 



cessity for some succulent food during the winter 

 months, who, however, insist that some one of the root 

 crops is more satisfactory than silage, basing their 

 opinion upon the belief that a larger yield of dry diges- 

 tible matter may be produced with roots than with 

 corn, and that the roots have a materially higher feed- 

 ing value. It will not be contended that an acre of 

 roots can be grown, harvested and fed as cheaply as 

 an equal area of corn. On the contrary, the results of 

 careful experiments and the most reliable estimates 

 from experienced and successful growers indicate that 

 an acre of roots will cost under the most favorable 

 circumstances fully three times as much as an acre 

 of corn. 



From an experiment extending over three years 

 at the Pennsylvania station by Professor Waters, it 

 was found that the yield of digestible matter in man- 

 gels or sugar beets was on the average about half that 

 of corn. In other words, it required approximately 

 two acres of beets to be equivalent in this respect to 

 one acre of corn. Attention is invited to the following 

 table showing the comparative yields of corn and roots 

 at a number of the stations : 



DRY MATTER PER ACRE, ROOTS AND GREEN FODDER CORN 



a Henry's Feeds and Feeding. 



