AGRICULTURAL TEXT-BOOK. 



207 



be rendered as beneficial to tbe soil here as elsewhere. Not only will 

 the improvement of our stock depend on the introduction of green or 

 root-feeding during winter, but also the retaining the good qualities of 

 the animals we import, must necessarily do so. They have been ren- 

 deied what they are are by such feeding, and without it they must 

 inevitably deteriorate. 



In $444, it is stated that largo bulbs &quot;contain less nutritive matter 

 than small ones.&quot; This subject has just been examined with great care 

 and accuracy by Messrs. Sullivan and Gages, Chemists to the Museum of 

 Irish Industry ; and as some very important practical facts are now for 

 the first time brought to light, we add them here : &quot; On the continent 

 where beet-roots are grown for the purpose of manufacturing sugar, it 

 was long since remarked, that large sized roots yielded less sugar than 

 moderate sized ones, between one and three pounds in weight. With a 

 few exceptions it is now found, that as a general rule, small roots con 

 tain a larger per-centage of solid matter than larger roots. Thus 100 

 tons of the small roots of sugar beet would be equal to 167.43 tons of 

 the large; 100 tons of small Mangel-wurzels contain as much solid mat 

 ter as 142.18 tons of large ; 100 tons of small Swedish turnips would 

 be equal to 118.37 tons of the large, in specimens of all these roots actu 

 ally examined. 



The following table contains a summary of the mean results of tht 

 examinations of 450 roots. 



This table shows some unexpected results. Thus the sugar-beet con 

 tains the largest amount of solid matter of any of the root crops noir 

 cultivated ; and red and white carrots, though usually sold at a much 

 higher price per ton, are very little superior to ordinary Swedes, and 

 much inferior to the varieties of beet. Of course, it is not pretended 

 that the value of roots can be determined by the per-centag of solid 

 matter alone, as its composition must be taken into account. But in 

 the same variety of plant, it will give an approximation to the truth 

 indeed practically speaking a very close one; in different species, ordif- 



