296 ON THE ECONOMICAL USE OF TUENIPS 



consumes 20 lbs. of swedes the poor animal actually swallows 

 18 lbs. of water ; that is, probably about one-seventh of its live 

 weight daily of that cold liquid and only 1 lb. of nourishing- 

 food, the remaining 1 lb. being woody fibre and mineral ash, 

 etc. 



Bnt it would be very misleading if we proceeded on the 

 assumption that turnips generally contain only 90 per cent, of 

 water, for many crops show when analysed as high a percentage 

 as 92 and even 93. Farmers and feeders of live stock have 

 long been aware that white turnips and other common varieties 

 are decidedly more watery than the firmer and more compact 

 swedes. But neither class has been sufficiently alive to the 

 great diversity which is found in the composition of bulbs of 

 the same variety grown on different kinds and qualities of soil, 

 manured with difierent kinds of fertilisers, and produced under 

 different circumstances in other respects. There is probably as 

 much difference in the feeding qualities of turnips raised on 

 different soils as there is known to be between grass and cereals 

 grown on such soils. It is well known that some grass land will 

 feed cattle rapidly fat, while grass on other soils would not lay flesh 

 on the same animals though they should be grazed for a long life- 

 time upon it. Doubtless, the same holds good to a large extent 

 with turnips. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Aberdeen- 

 shire Agricultural Association in 1879, the late Mr M'Combie 

 of Tillyfour said, that " the difference in turnips grown on good, 

 from those raised on inferior land is so great, that I should never 

 think of putting feeding stock upon the turnips grown on inferior 

 land." 



Again, the kinds and quantities of manures applied have 

 unquestionably a powerful influence in determining the com- 

 position of the turnips produced. " Fast " or quickly soluble 

 manures, wdiich force forward the growth of the plant, tend, to 

 some extent, to deteriorate its quality and to lessen its feeding 

 properties. Mr Jamieson says that one result of the Aberdeen- 

 shire experiments has been to show that, while the application 

 of nitrogen to the turnips has considerably augmented the gross 

 produce per acre, yet that that increase in weight has consisted 

 principally, if not entirely, of water. He shows that a crop of 

 20 tons per acre, containing 93 per cent, of water, is only equal 

 to 11 1 tons per acre containing 88 per cent, of that liquid. Mr 

 Lawes calls in question the correctness of the inference as to the 

 influence of nitrogen in causini^ the bulbs to be so much more 

 watery. Where " doctors differ " it would be rash presumption 

 for the writer to hazard an opinion. But, fortunately for us, 

 the weight of our argument is not in the smallest degree 

 dependent on the question, as to what has principally con- 

 tributed to the unusually watery character of particular bulbs. 



