EXPEEIMENTAL STATIONS — TURNIP CROP 1882. 37^ 



shows that the turnips which are most nutritious are those 

 which contain the largest proportion of albuminoid matter. 

 The proportion of albuminoid matter in turnips of the same 

 kind, and grown from the same parcel of seed, varies in an 

 extraordinary degree, and feeders are known to be of opinion 

 that turnips grown on one farm may fatten an animal, while 

 the same kind of turnips grown on another, it may be a 

 neighbouring farm, may not. The richness of the soil in 

 some measure determines the feeding value of the turnip, 

 and the richness of the soil depends among other things 

 upon the kind of manure which is applied to it. One 

 object of these experiments is to discover how the va.rious 

 substances which are used in making turnip manures affect the 

 feeding value of the crop. 



Albuminoid matter is not the only nitrogenous constituent 

 of turnips. There are also nitrates, and other nitrogenous 

 substances less complex than albumen, which are found in 

 various proportions in different turnips. In estimating the 

 feediug value of turnips, it is with the albuminoid matter 

 that we are concerned, and not with the other nitrogenous 

 materials, and we must therefore use some means of estimat- 

 ing the albuminoid nitrogen apart from the nitrogen of the 

 non-album.inoid substances. There are various good methods, 

 and it matters little which we employ, so long as we adhere to 

 the same method throughout. The method used in this case 

 was the " carbolic acid method " proposed by Church. When 

 turnip matter is allowed to steep for some time in aqueous 

 carbolic acid, the albuminoid matter coagulates and becomes 

 insoluble in water, so that all nitrogenous matter of a non- 

 albuminoid kind may be washed away from it. The nitrogen in 

 the coagulated albumen is determined by combustion with soda 

 lime. In order to obtain an estimate of the amount of non- 

 albuminoid nitrogen, a combustion was made of all the samples 

 before as well as after treatment with carbolic acid. The results 

 are given on Table XI. In the first column of the table is given 

 the total nitrogen in the turnip, and in the second the albuminoid 

 nitrogen, and the dill'erence between these two shows how much 

 non-albuminoid nitrogen there is in the turnips. This ranges 

 from less than one-tenth to nearly one-quarter of the whole 

 nitrogen, so that on an average of the whole station, while there 

 is suflicient nitrogen to account for 9 per cent, of albuminoid 

 matter, there is realy only 7h per cent, of real albuminoid 

 matter in the dry matter of the crop. 



This is a very low result, but it corroborates that obtained 

 witli the former turnip crop on runii)lierston. The seed 

 sown was of tlie same kind on both occasions, and perhaps 

 the kind of seed has something to do witli the result. 



