The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-03-22

| UIan naQ q large surplus crop o.
potatoes last fall much of which wa:
carried over winter, expecting better
demand this spring. We have before
advocated its utilization in feeding tc
live stock. Here is the experience Of 4
successful Eastern stock owner: II have
have fed potatoes to COWS for more thar
twenty years with beneficial results
never iniuring the taste of milk OF
butter, unless they chance to get frozen
ones, or those that had been exposed to
the sun until they were green outside
and in, which of course renders them
unit for food for man or beast. Years
ago, when potatoes were cheap, fed
hundreds OF bushels to my COWS, both
before and after they came in, with
come into my yard they would remark
shed they coats before turning out
and gave a good flow of milk from
which my wife made No. butter.
Another fact; last fall, for many
weeks, fed my COWS (three head) two
bushels of potatoes per day, one in the
morning and one at night. The flow OF
milk increased while feeding them thus,
and we never had sweeter butter than
that which we made from this, so-called
potato juice, and we would have TO
churn only from seven to thirty minutes
to bring the butter.
Another fact in regard to potatoes for
food: They are good to feed to calves
and colts, even better than grain to
make them grow and thrive, and there
is nothing better than potatoes to feed
work horses, that are highly grained.
Last fall l fed my work horses an even
peck every night. F"
Those farmers who never grew crop
of roots have missed valuable expert
ence. A good stock of roots in the Gel
lar at the outset of winter very much
simplifies the business of feeding. 1t
matters very little what kind of roots
are grown; every animal upon the farm
is contented and happy with any of
them. And certainly the farmer who
once experiences their value will rarely
after be without stock of them. 1t is
not so easy TO grow roots as to grow
corn-at the first start of the crop-be-
cause of the tenderness of the young
plants and their frail hold upon the
soil. Rough culture will kill them be-
fore it will hurt the weeds: while corn,
being strongly and deeply rooted, can
be hoed, and even narrowed, while it is
small without injury. It is necessary +,
therefore, that the land should be clean
and rich for roots; clean, that the crop
may not be smothered by weeds or dis
turbed by their removal, and rich, that
the plants may be quickly pushed ahead
of their early weak condition.
The roots chiefly. grown are turnips,
rutabagas, mangels, and sugar beets. A
great deal is said and written about
growing carrots and parsnips by per-
sons who never grew one, but practi-
cally these are garden crops rather than
field. crops for the farm. Of all the
roots sugar-beets contain the largest
quantity of nutritious substance, ruta-
bagas next, then mangels, parsnips and
carrots, and turnips last of all. Sugar
beets and mangels are the most easily
grown, because they are not subject to
the attacks of the flea beetle, which
often ruins the young turnips before
they are beyond their first leaves, and
the most easily harvested, because they
are grown mostly out of the ground.
The soil for roots should be well pre-
pared. Fall manuring and blowing are
required for the best results, and the
manure should be decomposed, and
thorough pulyerization of the soil is in
dispensable. Early planting is required
and the first week in May is a good sea-
son to get the seed in. We have grown
excellent mangels and sugar beets from
June planting, but as the roots are ten.
der and are injured by early frosts, it is
well to have the crop dug and out of
the way before there is danger of freez-
ing, and to run no more risk than can
be helped. Thick seeding is advisable.
Six pounds of beet or mangel seed to the
acre, with rows thirty inches apart; two
pounds of rutabagas or turnips, and
five pounds of carrots or parsnips are
sufficient. The seed should be covered
at least one inch, ard the ground over
the seeds should be rolled. A small
seed-drill is generally used for sowing
the seeds, and it covers them at the
same time. By the help of the drill
four acres can be sown in one day by a
man or boy. The drill leaves the seed
sown in rows that are marked by the
roller, so that the spaces can be worked
without delay by the horseshoe, which
is necessary to be done soon to prevent
the growth of weeds. A week after
planting is long enough to defer this
first cultivation. When the plants ap-
pear in the rows they are to be hoed
out to ten iuches apart. After this the
whole work consists in keeping the crop
clear of weeds up to the time when the
growth of the leaves shade the ground
sufficiently.