Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1889-09-30
Agrifnltnral department,
Cultivation of Root Crops.

An acre devoted to carrots, pars-
nips, beets and turnips will provide
an amount of succulent food for win
ter use that not only lessons the grain
required but promotes the health and
thrift of the animals. Though low
in nutritious value, yet the enormous
crops that may be obtained more than
recompense for the deficiency that
may exist otherwise. Root crops
largely take the place of ensilage
where silos have not been construct
ed, and one acre in roots will enable
the farmer to keep more stock and
have the animals in better condition
than from any other crops that can
be grown.
The difficulty with carrots and
parsnips is the extra work required
with the crop after the seed is sown,
the slow termination destroying the
lines of the rows, as grass covers the
entire plot before the seeds begin to
shove out their young plants, the te-
dious labor of hand wedding being
required. This difficulty, however,
has been overcome by mixing the
seeds of quick terminating plants,
such as radish, with that of the car
rots or parsnips. The radish soon
comes up, the rows can be worked,
and the radish then pulled up and
marketed or fed to the pigs. I'm
proved seed drills now drill the seed
at regular places in the rows, and Of
sufficient distance to permit the hoe
to be used. Once the young plants
are up and worked the difficulty is
over, as the plants soon take posses
sion and crowd out the weeds and
grass. Another difficulty is that of
storage. The practice of heaping the
roots in mounds, to be left out dur
ing the winter, renders the task of
feeding them to stock very disagrea-
BILE, especially when the ground is
frozen. This is now overcome by
storing them in bins, in cold cellar,
and, if preferred, they may be packed
in dry earth in the bins.
Beets, carrots, parsnips and tur-
nips grow from small seeds, and from
three to five pounds will suffice for
planting an acre of ground, while the
potatoe must be grown from bulky
tubers, as much as 10 or 20 bushels
being required for an acre, according
to the mode of planting. If the cut
ting of the potato seed, the labor of
destroying the beetle and the lower
keeping qualities of the potato, COM
pared with the carrot or parsnip, be
considered, the cost of production
should be no more for the carrots
and parsnips than for the former,
while much larger yield, and of
more valuable feeding material (not
excepting the tops), may be obtained.
If such crops are to be grown, how
ever, farmers should not wait longer,
but get the seed in early. Many
crops have been failures owing to the
delay in planting, the grass being
well up before the seed was germina-
ted. The root crops should be we'll
started before warm weather, so as to
better resist the drouth and also to
allow as much time as possible for
completing growth. The soil should
be rich, fine and the crops thorough
ly Observation-Disclosures Record.
WINTER DEMONSTRATING in the
season of heat, sweat, hurry and fly
time of haying and harvesting, Hon.
L. S. Coffin of Fort Dodge, Iowa, ell
and fervently advocates
winter dairying. Following are some
of the reasons for the faith in him
More milk can be taken from a cow
in the course of a year when her calf
is dropped in the fall. Better prices
for butter can be had for a nice fresh
article in winter than in summer.
The COWS are in the best condition in
early autumn, and the milk is richer
than the watery grass of spring.
Milking is easier in cool weather than
in fly time, and the cows being less
worried give down better. The nee
essary work of the dairy can be bet
ter attended to in fall and winter
than in the heat and hurry of haying
and harvesting. With care and the
right sort of fodder and roots for the
I I.