PRACTICAL PAPERS—ROOT CROPS. 
861 
* * * * come to the field culture of the beet, 
parsnip, carrot, ruta baga and turnip. It is not for a moment 
to be supposed that the cultivation of root crops are of any 
economical value as compared with the corn crop, as estimated 
according to the value produced for a given amount of labor. 
If it costs ten dollars to produce an acre of corn, yielding fif¬ 
ty bushels, it will cost eighty dollars to produce an acre of 
beets, yielding 1,000 bushels. Your corn stands you in twenty 
cents per bushel, your beets stand you in eight cents per bushel, 
therefore we can produce 400 bushels of corn for the same la¬ 
bor that we can 1,000 bushels of beets. 
Euta bagas and turnips will cost somewhat less, but are not 
so good for feeding. 
Parsnips and carrots will cost as much as your beets, and 
will not produce so much per acre, but are richer for feeding. 
Consequently, it is useless to argue with the stock farmer, 
at the present time, to prove the economical value of the roots 
as a fattening crop, when raised upon old and recently manured 
land, but place root crops in their proper place in the rotation 
and they will make a different exhibit. 
In breaking up a clover lay, trench-plow a portion of it in 
the fall ten inches deep, paring the sod as thin as possible. 
Harrow and roll in the spring, when dry, until it is perfectly 
friable, drill your beets in before corn-planting time, thirty 
inches apart, tend with a horse as much as possible, and besides 
once thinning and once hoeing, you should have but little more 
to do until they are gathered. This will reduce the cost one- 
half, and you may confidently expect from seven to nine hun¬ 
dred bushels per acre. 
Euta bagas may be sown upon sod. Trench-plow in the 
spring, say about May 20tfi to June 1st, and turnips, broad¬ 
cast, after early cut grass, or even as late as August 1st. 
Mangle wurzel beet is the sort particularly adapted to field 
culture, from its habit of growing one-half of its length out of 
the ground, and instances are on record of fifty tons having 
been produced per acre. It is eaten greedily by cattle, sheep 
and hogs, both tops and roots, and four bushels will fatten as 
