ROOT CROPS. 215 



of boiling and mashing with meal betaken into account; yet 

 they admit that they are valuable as an alterative. Loudon, 

 good authority in England, does not think they are as profit- 

 able a crop for stock as ruta-bagas, carrots, or turnips ; but 

 opinions differ widely on this point. Low,"^' Professor of Agri- 

 culture at Edinburgh, says, that " when boiled, they afford food 

 in a high degree nourishing and salubrious." They may bo 

 given to dairy cows, or to any kind of cattle, for the purpose 

 of fattening ; but it is observed that boiled food is not generally 

 attended with the same benefit to ruminating as to other ani- 

 mals. To hogs it is given with the best effect. Even Loudon 

 used to feed horses on potatoes, boiled and mixed with cut hay 

 and straw, and judged that for this purpose, one acre of pota- 

 toes went as far as four acres of hay. Li Scotland, this kind 

 of food is given to horses, even when on the hardest work, and 

 is found both wholesome and economical. 



In this stage of our experience, it is impossible to affirm 

 any thing positively, as to the comparative value of potatoes as 

 food for cattle. It is worth while for farmers to repeat and 

 continue their experiments, keeping accurate accounts of the 

 expense and the results. 



3. Planting. — What ought we to plant ? Large potatoes 

 or small ? The whole or a part ? Or without reference to 

 these distinctions ? The reason is not evident, or, to say the 

 least, has not been confirmed by sufficient experiment, why we 

 should depart from the analogy of other things, which we must 

 do, if we select for seed the smallest and poorest potatoes. 

 We purchase, at high prices, the ripest and soundest corn, 

 wheat and oats. We carefully save that stem of a cabbage 

 which ripens first. In raising domestic animals, we choose for 

 parents, the noblest specimens of their respective species. 

 Deterioration follows a neglect of this rule. But of late years, 

 some farmers have chosen small potatoes for seed, and justify 

 their choice by its results. It is possible that a large crop may 

 be grown from such seed. But has the experiment been tried 

 on a scale sufficiently large to justify us in laying down a 

 general rule ? One of the most intelligent farmers in this 



* Elements of Practical Agriculture, p. 425. 



