Norwich bulletin., 1917-10-05
THE VALUE OF ROOTS AND ENslLAGE

Cwritten Specially for The Bulletin.)
 A New York state dairyman re- cently wrote to his dairy paper for information as 10 the vaiuv of roots for feeG,Hs ;H wsred 6,ws hs hiu e13 i1 about the usaal formula. NO <uccule1is food better;' pound for pound, dry matter In roots superior to dry matter in en- sil.se:" roots not as ssxstal. rich in n.csE dry sary to feed fifty pounds Of roots to get as much Is from thirty pounds of ensilage; flor practical purposes equal value in mangeis. carrots and ruta bagas;" objection Is that it costs more to produce them than corn sil- a9e;" etc. etc.
 All the abovs is trite and common place. We have ell read 1t Or heard it many times It is tho usual form in which the matter Is invariably dis cussed in farm manuals anu farm Ia DOTS. But, in :h:s case tho expert winds up his paragraph with what seems to me wildly enlightening admission. namely. that Is to say, as foIlows:-
 1"Tt is quite g common practice for persons who desire to make an Cfh- cial record to use roots, as they are very zppetizirg and have splendid effect upon the cow's digestion"
 Do you krow, ! find that short re-
 mark good deal more infcrmatory and a great deal more suggestive than anything else happen to have read from expert dairynren abou. the everlasting dispute between roots aud silage:
 In the laboratory tes.-tube silage pans out almost tw:cs as valuable. pound for pouni, as roots.
 : In the cows internal works the 1e- suit seems to be somewhat different, since shrewd dairyman who want to make records feed roots.
 Really, you see, the question is not strictly limited to tho comparative value and costs O. silage and roots, but to the larger and wider dispute between the comparative importance of anaytscal theory and of actual
 It is the old. old question whether the farmer should depend for his methods upon deductions from labor atory tests. or upon the practical re- gults of direct experience.
 You all know,-those of you who have done me the honor to read these rambling talks in the oas-,-that ! the laboratory. of the tcst-tube and the ntnus paper and the other para phernalia-
 Great Scott. is the ave-ags farmer greater success? Is he so nearly om- niscient that he can't use wider knowledge? Does he, individually and personally, know more apout farm .tng than anybody and eve 'ybody else In the world?
 If not, then he ought to be not only willing but eager to get information from any and every quarter of ,he of course; also from the records of his father and the traditions of his grandfather; from observation of his neighbors: from little tricks and de- vices of his new hired man; even from the stoop- shouldered and be-specta- cied professor in college. Everything 'ehou1d be grfst that comes to his mill. At least he should be willing to get a what its source. t This idea that, because one profes- sor- in an agricultural college has writ ten foolish article or given a bit of impractical advice, therefore all the work and all the advice of all professors should thenceforward be condemned, off-hand, evidences de- commendable nor excusable. N
 Can any good thing come out of Naxareth?" queried one stiff f-necked old bisot, centuries ago.
 Perhaps nothing good ever had, up to that time. Yet at that very mo ment the widening circles of the great est. good which ever came to humanity were beginning to rise and roll out ward from that same despised Nag areth.
 In the old days when we used to thrash out our oats and rye with fails on the barn floor, we t'banke1 up'. against the side-wan after each ivRc a HrxvkT Al -I, <.L, chan and weed-seeds and dirt and grain. Later it had to be put through the fanning-m4ll to separate the de- sired grain from the worthless chaf. and thrash his oats because, after thrashine, he knew he would have to winnow them.
 Every farm is, or should be, a big threshing- floor on which to threeh out the grain of new ideas and better methods and increased yields. Every farmers head Is or should be a win moving machine in which to sift and sort out the grain of real ideas from the chaff of impractical or ill-judged ones. The farmer who won't take help and instruction and suggestion, no matter from what source it domes, is a fool when. God knows, he needs all the chances he can earn. beg or borrow! It makes small difference in the end 1 what source they originate in. Bet ter test and discard nine chunks of | gravel than lose the one nugget of | pure gold which may hide under the oirt incrustation of the teeth l
 What difference does it make to You whether the suggestion comes from | John Snooks, hired man, or Erastus | Professor of astronomical l agrostology in some col1ege,-so long as you can use 1t and make a dollar with 1t?
 But,-
 There's no use talking or preaching to the contrary, mere theory isn't