Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-04-08
TURNIP BEIN6 USED
As STOCK FOOD
Experiments Made During Sea
son of 1914 on Farms in Ken
nebee and Washington Coun-
ties Prove Interesting an d
Successful


orally ytei1s q larger amount q O.
geslois DRY Es-1sr z, less c1ss- than
any other plant tat Usually enters
ia.o z rotation Tbe-e are. however,
II Maine paris q The S1zta u Which
CHI dies 1o- IL vel and even Il
the co.n g-oE5ng section u the State
there are occasional! farmers tha. de-
sire 20 gyow sl1ccalsnt food that O.
MT ~-sl 70 GO 70 TIE expense II put
ting Up q slio. These people have al
Ways looked towards roosS This IS
particularly true q the eastern part
cf Washington county where man
farmers arg interested. il z small wa:-
II dairyi1g- One Of their most se-.c-s
problems Is that q providing soE1-
form Of succElsnt feed for winter use
On -any farms corl c4-no- IL grown
partly because Of the climatic a-d
partly because q soil conditions Nor
have ns1gos6s t=sa grown II that
locality with -1art,e-5 SUCCESS Both
tE--,ps and -l-A1agas, however. seem
particularly adapted 70 that s@-tico -
tie State. Large crops caa u grow
They thrive OF clay soils. They cz-
BE- planted late after me low lands
hare become fl 70 wc-a -hsy tz--
Iish hoad crop tor -ae rotation LEo2
land On which NJ other heed crop cz7
be grown Ard they i'll very inpo--
tant place n the ration u rhe da-y
animal
a cooperative sald experiment plan
nd by the Extension Department Of
rhe College = Agriculture Of lhe Uni
versity # Maine, and carried out By
Mr.. Clarence A Day on 1-e farm Of
Air. 2. ? Washburn IF Pe-ry, Is hire
reported
The fed selected was clay loan.
free from rock, and typical Of Inc bet
Ter grace clay soils in ire towns near
The St Croix River The field vas il
vided Into ten tenth-acre plots, DIFF
te-en- plots were fortified and Off
tere1t varieties were grown differ
entity as the experiment was Planned
primarily TO study 4 turnip disease
and It's relation 20 fertilizers. a-.i
varieties
The average yield PER acre for al
Of the plots and varieties was ~ bush
els or rs tons. The estimated COS, Of
labor, fertilizer, rent q Land ana seed.
was s5s.a5- Al this rate the tur1ips
cost sc cents per bushel, or about s-5J
per ton.
~ Eighmoor Farm the Imperial
Swede rutebagas were grown in ~.
10 be Used for winter food for sheep.
rr To-
Characteristic u the farm. l. was
fortified with ) cords Ct stable manure
and 50 pounds Of a IS. fertilizer per
acre. The yield was less tnat that On
the Washington county farm, being go
bushels per acre, or 1S-9 tons. Il re-
Quired 80 man hours and Is horse
hours per acre TO grow and harvest
these tu-nlps per acre.
Rutabaga turn!ps carry about u per
cent Of dry matter. Corn s.lage from
thoroughly matured field corn VIII
have nearly II per cent Of dry matter.
and silage from immature corn car
r.es about Il per cent dry matter
There have not been many digestion
experiments made with rutabagas, but
those that have been show that rate-
bagas are considerably more disestible
than silage made from the entire corn
plant Corn silage has about 20 per
cent Of its organic matter digestiple
and rutabagas have 81 per cent About
% per cent Of the protein Of corn siiage
Is digestible while 50 per cent Of the
nitrogen-free extract (rhe soluble car
bohyoratesJ Of corn silage is digested
while % per cent Of the Eitrogen-free
extract ct turnips is digested.
In the experiments carried on BIZ the
Maine Experiment Station it has been
found rs result Of seven trials that
with Maine naatured field corn there
was an average yield Of II tons per
acre. This carried 1875 pounds Of total
dry matter Of which 3075 pounds were
digestible. With the much larger i'm
mature Southern corn grown in conf
parison, as result Of seven trials.
the yields were II tons Of silage per
acre This, however. carried only 5000
pounds Of dry matter and $3.50 pounds
Of digestible dry matter. Approx
mately IL tons per acre of ruta bagas
grown at Highmoor Farm in 1914 car
ried about 1920 pounds of dry matter
OF which more than 1850 pounds were
digestible, or considerably in excess
Of the digestible dry matter produced
per acre in an average crop Of silage
corn. The 2311 tons Of rutabagas
grown at Mr.. Washburn's farm in
Perry carried two tens and a half
Of digestible dry matter or about
ton more per acre than was carried
in the mature Maine field corn as
found as the result of seven trials by
this Station.
AS stated at the beginning a ton of
digestible dry matter can probably be
grown cheaper per ton as corn than
in the form Of roots. The corn crop
can be handled more completely BY
machinery and has many other ad-
vantages. But to the man who has
late land, or to one whe needs sue.
culent food and has not a silo. or to
one in a locality where corn does not
thrive well, rutabagas furnish a large
amount Of succulent matter than can
be cheaply grown and without an un-
due amount Of hand labor.