Daily Republican., 1884-12-01
"A c. r ICUL TU r A L

kOOTS For WINTER FEEDING OF COWS
Whoever has had experience in
heavy feeding OF cows for milk or bnt-
ter In the spring or winter season, or
Of fattening cattle for slaupt r, need
not be told how much the succulent
'ots OF the carrot, parssiips, beet, or
turnip assists digestion amt ass imila
ton Of hay and grain 70 Ids: hut to SUI h
a. have not Riven much attention to
tho subject, we win say here that fully
one third more Of the grain field will
be digested, and consequently essgrain
is M eded 10 give tie same results, when
fed portion of the various fodder roots
mostly tor this purpose. 1t is well
known fact that heavy feeding on meals
clogs the animals stomach and causes
surfeit but II roots be judiciously fed
along with meals this is PIE vented
and the animal Is more certain to re-
tain an appetite.
The reason for this is on account of
the peculiar acid contained in vegeta.
Bile roots, that assists digestion by
maintaining tonicity of the stomach
and increased action Of the function OF
digestion and assimi lation of ell foods.
We In the United States are far behind
the English dairyman in this regard,
and the reason seems to be the easy
production of Indian corn in America,
But corn has its very serious objection
AS forcer of animals. either to fatton
or to make butter when given alone, OF
with only hay and corn fodder. The
special acid ID wanting to tone up the
stomach, and render the meals diges
tible, and lifted for assimilation with
the blood.
This all becomes very plain where We
come to understand that q variety oil
foods fed at the same time or alter.
nately, will furnish material to meet
other material, and form combinations
therew it'll, which would be impossible
without the meeting In the animal
stomach. Yet none of these facts can
be established outside of the animal
stomach, nor by any other means than
by careful and repeated experiment
therein.
If we should judge by the butter pro
duction of Indian corn by the large
amount of oils 1t contains, as compar ed
with the shipstuff, We should prefer the
corn. Yet shipstuff fed to dairy cows
will make more butter and of better
quality than corn, and will make more
wei ). hi in hogs than corn In any given
time, If the one or the other be fed ex.
clusiveiy.
Just how much advocacy Of the cul /.
tivation of roots ~ food for stock 1t
would require to insure any marked
attention, we cannot say, but we know
that when habits are formed In agricul-
tural management they are the hardest
to change Of any known fashion, and
nothing but force Of circumstances IL
equal to It. There Is one thing that
prevents the raising Of root crops "a
food for stock, and that 10 the labor OF
raising and storing and feeling, o.
c ompared to the ease with which corn
Ia rai,esi and fed, and this leads to an
excessive use of corn In the fatteninQ
OF animals, for want Of mixture OF
root feed at the same time, that would
save one.half the grain and produce
better results. The idea that one acre
we'll farmed IL better than tw hall
far med has not been ac;ed out as fnlly
~ it will have 10 be in the near future.
We agree that corn is stronger food
than carrots, bushel for bushrl, but an
acre in carrots will produce three hun
drsd bushels where corn will produce
one, and two hundred bushels ofcarrots
| IL worth more for food than one hundred
bushels of corn fed either to cattle or
horses, while mixture of the two IL
worth more than either shove for food
There is one other advantage In root
crops-they feed on the deeper soils
or sub soils and bring up from beneath
riches that corn would not reach as
we'll, A carrot root will penetrate the
soil to the depth of sixteen inches with
| Its Harmonious and hbrous rootlets, and
extend laterally more than foot each
side and every way around IN search OF
the richness OF decay ing earthly matters,
while stock of corn will extend its II
brous roots twice as far latterally and
not near no deep into the snb.soil. We
have dwelt on carrots more specially
because they and the parsnips are the
best for dairy cows, and instead of In
Turing they improve the quality OF the
butter, while beets, turnips and ruta