Convention—Boot crops for the farm. 23y 
ing roots; my hogs have learned perfectly well which cows 
are eating the meal, and attend them diligently when they are 
turned out, while they are indifferent to the acquaintance of the 
others. From this it would seem that with hogs the proof of more 
things than pudding lies in the eating, and I am satisfied that there 
is more waste in feeding the grain than the roots. 
In reference to the comparative cost of raising roots and corn, I 
think the following to be a reasonably correct statement of it: 
The plowing I would call the same; the after fitting for the roots 
I would place at double of that for corn. The labor of planting is 
the same; the cost of seed for the roots is from two to three dollars 
per acre; the labor of cultivation is about the same, with the excep¬ 
tion of the first thinning of the roots. I have hired this done by 
the row, at a cost of 17.00 per acre for carrots, and $5.00 for beets. 
The harvesting is done before husking is ready. Two men in the 
field will keep a team constantly hauling at the rate of two hun¬ 
dred bushels per day. The plowing of the carrot patch has to be 
done in any case, and need not be charged to the roots. While 
harvesting, the finest roots are to be thrown aside and preserved 
for seed. It is surprising how few perfectly typical roots will be 
found. I aim in all cases to raise my own seed, though the impor¬ 
tance of this has but just fully dawned upon me. I have sown an- 
ually from the same package of beet seed for six years, and the last 
grew as well as the first. This long vitality will enable a person to 
raise enough in a single season to last for several years, and he 
need run no risk of mixing by raising different varieties in the same 
season. Carrot seed is not reputed to be reliable beyond the sec¬ 
ond year, and parsnip seed should always be fresh, I have sown 
turnip seed for eight years with equally good results. 
When a man has a plenty of land adapted to corn, and has but 
poor conveniences for handling roots, it is doubtless better for him 
to raise corn for general feeding purposes, limiting his roots to the 
amount necessary for the health and relish of his stock. Corn, if 
successfully cribbed, will keep for years, while roots are perishable, 
and need to be protected from frost. It is necessary to make spec¬ 
ial provision for storing them; this is the greatest hindrance to 
their general cultivation. I have, during the past season, built me 
a cave of stone work, capable of storing five thousand bushels. In 
addition to this I have a cellar, in connection with my hog pens. 
