Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-12-18
CULTURE OF ROOT CROPS.

The readers Of the Ploughman know very
well that we have always advocated the
general cultivation Of roots as q field crop
for tho feeding Of stock. Those who took
our advice last spring have now large sup
ply Of vegetables to feed out to dairy and
other stock, and it must be a source Of great
satisfaction. We do not believe any one will
have occasion to regret the time and labor
that has been devoted to the culture Of mal.
Colds or Swedes or even English or fiat tur-
nips. This is not the season of the year to
remedy any neglect in this direction, but it
is worth while to consider whether it cannot
be remelied in the future.
To show how very important the root crop
is considered in those parts Of Europe where
the dairy is an object Of attention, let US al
lude to the winter management Of cows in
Flanders, quite equal to Holland in the mi
mute economy of its system Of agriculture.
In travelling through Flanders you never
see COWS at pasture as you do in many other
countries. You see no fences, either along
the highways or along the divisions Of land.
The whole of the land is arabic aud nearly
the whole of it is actually under cultivation.
A traveller who has been through that coun-
try many times and in every direction from
one end of it to the other, does not recol!ect
having seen rod Of fencing in any part Of
it, but they keep great many cattle aud
cows of very high dairy quality, so high
that the Flemish COW is considered the best
dairy COW Of France.
The number of cows, indeed, in Flanders,
is matter Of surprise to all not acquain ted
with the mode in which the feed is pre-.
pared. A COW for every three acres Of land
is common proportion and in very small
holdings the proportion is even greater than
that. Now in Flanders every farm devotes
a fifth, at the least, Of its whole area to tur-
nips as a second crop after harvest. These
turnips are of quick growing sort sown
from July, after colza and winter barley are
gathered, to August, after rye. In Septem-
Der and October they get to be Of good size
when they are stored in cellars for winter
use.
Many potatoes are raised also and all not
required by the family are consumed by the
cattle. Carrots, also, are sown in spring,
: sometimes alone, but often with barley, fax
T and COLA, and these complete the store oi
{ provisions for the COWS. These roots are
chopped up together in a tub, when some
bean meal, rye meal, or buckwheat meal, is
added. Boiling water is then poured over
the mixture and allowed to stand and cool
Whenever they can get wood, which is sur
prisingly scarce in that country, the whole
is boiled together. This mixture is called
braSsin, and two pailsful are given warn
morning and evening to each COW, and thi:
is her food all winter with the addition simp'
! ly Of little wheat or barley straw. Hay ii
very rarely given at all except in a very few
districts, and never in the Unlimited quantity
in which we feed it out. With the excep
tion Of one or two districts no hay is made
to speak of, and very little indeed in any
part of the country, and this is reserved fol
hard worked horses
In this manner Of feeding, farm of ten
or twelve acres, Of light arabic land, all un
3 der cultivation, will keep, and maintain il
E good condition, four or five COWS which con
! stitute, in fact, the chief object of attention
, The butter is sold every week and pays tn,
outstanding bills of the farm while the but
. termllk feeds the family and the pigs.
. Less than a century ago the root crop wa
a as little cultivated in Great Britain as it i
here at the present time. The farming Ian,
was as run down and as exhausted as ou
own average lands at the present time. Tn,
introduction of turnip and other root culture
then led to complete revolution, the lane
improved in consequence OF the great in
crease of live stock to augment the manur
heap, and in fact the culture of roots wa
the salvation of English agriculture. Th
. time will come when our own soils will b
renovated in the same way.-Massachusett
4. Ploughman.