There is, however, a root, or tuber, an acre of which affords enough
nourishment to sustain two cows, with less labor than is employed in
raising an acre of potatoes—and that root is the Jerusalem Artichoke
(_Helianthus tuberosus_). We can depend upon an average yield of from
one thousand to one thousand two hundred bushels of these tubers from
an acre of land rich enough to produce fifty bushels of corn. Pound for
pound they are equal in nutritive qualities to potatoes. One cow can
therefore be subsisted a year on five hundred or six hundred bushels of
the tubers, a quantity that can be raised on half an acre of land. But
since these roots do not keep over summer, and as the cow will not thrive
on them alone, it is necessary to supplement them with dry fodder during
winter, and to subsist her on other forage during summer. With the aid
of this plant, three-quarters of an acre of land under high cultivation,
will nourish a cow during the whole year, and the soil will become rich
without any other manure than that derived from the cow. This can be done
with little expense, and with no more labor than is involved in ordinary
farm culture. It is necessary to begin operations on the farm in most
sections of the Middle States, a little earlier than the first of May.
A cow can be subsisted to the best advantage on a small patch of land,
by feeding her Jerusalem Artichokes and a little hay or other dry fodder
through the winter and part of spring, and soiling her with green rye,
clover, and green-corn fodder, the rest of the year. Three-quarters of an
acre will, under judicious treatment, yield enough of these products to
maintain a cow during the year. If the soil be not in good condition to
begin with, that quantity of land may, for a year or two, be insufficient
for the purpose, and it will then be necessary to supply the deficiency
from other sources; but by proper management the land will, in a few
years, be converted into a garden that will afford abundant nourishment
for the cow, without pasture or outside aid either in food or manure.
Suppose that a man owns a cow of medium size, or a little larger, that
he has three-quarters of an acre of land, that one-third of it, namely,
one-quarter of an acre, is in clover, that the remainder is ready for the
plow, and that it is early spring-time of the year, he should go to work
at once and manure the land liberally, for he will be well repaid for
the expense, in the superior productiveness of the soil. All the land,
excepting the clover, should be plowed, and one-sixth of the land, that
is one-eighth of an acre, should be sowed with oats, with about one-half
bushel of seed. One quart of clover seed, and one pint of timothy seed
should be sown on the oats. The oats are raised only during the first
year, rye being substituted in after years, and the timothy is added for
the purpose of increasing the hay-crop in the second year. One-third
of the land (one-quarter of an acre) should be planted in Jerusalem
Artichokes, early in the season. This root should be planted in hills,
three feet apart each way, and cultivated flat, both ways. As the land
increases in fertility in future years, the hills may be set a little
farther apart. The patch should be stirred two or three times with the
cultivator while the plants are young, and afterwards kept clear of weeds
with the hoe. The weeds require but little attention after the plant has
attained a fair growth. One tuber, or piece of tuber, of about the size
of a hen’s egg, is sufficient for a hill, the seed being covered to the
depth of two or three inches with earth.
As soon as the season is far enough advanced, one-sixth of the plot
(one-eighth of an acre) should be planted in sweet corn. One half of the
corn should be set out very early, and the rest about four weeks later,
so as to extend its growth, and consequently its availability as green
fodder, over a longer period. The furrows should be three feet apart, and
the corn planted in drills, [sixteen to twenty kernels to the foot—ED.]
Afterwards the corn should be cultivated two or three times, and kept
clear of weeds. When the corn fodder is all disposed of, the corn patch
should be plowed, and seeded with about a peck of rye, and a pint of
timothy seed, and in the following spring a quart of clover seed should
be sown upon the rye. These crops will give the land a complete rotation
every six years. The following diagram indicates the proper succession
of the crops and shows the plot of land divided into six equal parts,
containing one-eighth of an acre each:
[Illustration]
Clover occupies two parts, rye one part, and Jerusalem Artichokes two
parts every year. Clover follows rye; rye follows corn; corn follows
artichokes; and artichokes follow clover. Every year one-half of the
clover, namely, the two-year-old clover patch, is plowed, and planted in
artichokes. The latter must be planted anew, and not be allowed to grow
as a “volunteer crop,” but must be regularly cultivated, and all the
plants that come up between the hills destroyed.
The manure derived from the cow during the winter, should be spread in
spring on the land intended for corn and artichokes, and plowed down,
and that made in summer should be applied to the rye and clover patches
in fall. Ashes and a moderate quantity of lime, spread on the clover
patch early in spring, will be beneficial, and a peck of gypsum scattered
on the young and growing clover, will answer an excellent purpose as a
healthy stimulant of its growth.
[Illustration: Fig. 16.—SWISS COW “GENEVA.”]
The spring time of the first year must be tided over with hay until the
clover is large enough for soiling. Green clover is then fed to the cow
until the oats are sufficiently advanced. The oats are then used as long
as they are fit for the purpose, cutting them a second time as far as
practicable, and the residue, if any, is cured for hay before it gets too
ripe for that purpose. The same course is pursued with the rye in the
following years. The clover should be cut for hay rather early, in order
to get it in the best possible condition, and to insure a good second,
and perhaps a third crop. All the aftermath not used in soiling, should
be converted into hay. When the oats are exhausted, clover is fed until
the corn fodder is large enough for use. This is fed until the ears make
their appearance, and what is then left is cut and cured for dry fodder
during winter. After the green corn fodder is all consumed, there will be
a growth of new clover in the oats stubble the first year, and in the rye
stubble in after years, with which the cow is soiled until the artichokes
are ready to feed, and if any of the new clover is left by that time, it
is made into hay. The artichokes are fed raw; in winter, with hay and
other dry fodder, and as long as they last in spring.
In the second year soiling begins with rye, and continues afterwards
through the season the same as the first year, and a like course is
followed in succeeding years.