The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-11-16
snocnIent Food for Winter.

As general as is the cultivation of the
u.eet potato in the south, it very rarely
81 ,annens that the crop is so superintendent
s., hat any part of it can be economically
God for the purpose of feeding stock 1t
r. happened occasionally now and then
In the mast twenty-five years, when for
l. short period after the first severe frost,
,rioes have fallen so low as to warrant
#tbA use of a part of the crop for stock
rood AS a general thing, however, this
#snlendid escalent is worth too much for
human food to justify feeding much of the
8,ron to stock even to milk cattle. AT 20
8cents per bushel, price that the the
4patota rarely falls to oftener than once
In ten years. it cannot be regarded as an
Economical food for stock, for everything
c1se being equal we can generally buy a
#1ittle more nutrment for that money (25
81 cents) than is contained in bushel of
#notatoes There are two other articles
#tbat should furnish sueculent food for
&Uinter cheaper than potatoes at % cents
q per bushel, viz, turnips and artichokeS.
81 considering the relative yield, cost OF pro-
duction. etc, of these three crops, cheap
or succulent food can be obtained from
8 furnips and artichokes than from sweet
a potatoes. A certain quantity of succulent
food is so essential to stock for certain
Il PURPOSES and under certain conditions one
4rannot stop to calculate its intrinsic value
every time and what may be costly and
cxtravagant food viewed from one stand
point, from another may be fairly econom-
ical
For instance, in the dairy, or even
where a single COW is kept, one would
md it profitable to use sweet potatoes at
. cents per bushel rather than deny the
COWS that essential succulent food. A
maximum flow of milk cannot be kept up
without such food. So if one has neither
turnips nor artichokes, nor green grass,
or clover, and has the potatoes, they
should be used without hesitation.
But the dairyman should be "fOrehand-
ed enough to supply succulent food
cheaper than sweet potatoes at % cents
per bushel. 1t is rarely the case that po-
tatoes cannot be sold for 50 cents per
bushel, even in October and November,
and at this price it is rather costly food
10 any other than "siX-gallon cow"
Soil that will make 100 bushels of pota-
toes per acre will make 500 to 600 bushels
Of turnips, or 300 bushels of artichokes,
and both of these crops are easier to pro-
duce than sweet potatoes. Artichokes
are more tedious to gather than potatoes;
still, when they are grown ON good land
and 500 to 800 bushels made, as can be, it
does not take many minutes to bar-off and
fork out ten bushels of the tubers. The
crop does not mature until the stalks are
thoroughly dead, which usually is about
Nov. l. The tubers win lie in the ground
without injury fully three months, some
times longer, Bushel for bushel potatoes
are worth much more than turnips, but
are not superior to artichokes for feeding
to mich cows to keep up the flow of milk.
AS a rule this succulent food can be
more cheapy furnished by bur clover or
crimson clover or even rye or barley, but
such an autumn as this, Il one had trust
ed 10 either clover or grain it would not
have been possible to provide any winter
green food with them. The weather was
So dry from August to November, it was
impossible to sow. But dry as it was, the
March-planted artichokes turned out a
very fair average crop, where the soil
was good. 1t shows that the dairyman
should not rely on just one plant to pro-
duce a crop for winter use. He should
plant more or less of each and thus as
sure a sufficiency of this necessary winter
green food.