THE FARMER AT HOME. 



169 



have very little to sustain life, or give him strength to labor. Pota- 

 toes contain much more nutriment than turnips, but nothing in pro- 

 portion, according to bulk or cost, that is contained in many other 

 substances used as human food. The following facts will show this 

 difference. For instance, one thousand pounds of prime wheat contain 

 ( J55 pounds of human food ; one thousand pounds of barley, 940 

 pounds ; one thousand pounds of rye, 792 pounds ; one thousand 

 pounds of oats, 743 pounds ; one thousand pounds of beans, 570 

 pounds ; one thousand pounds of dry peas, 514 pounds ; one thousand 

 pounds of potatoes, 230 pounds ; one thousand pounds of carrots and 

 parsnips, 98 pounds ; one thousand pounds of cabbage, 73 pounds ; 

 and one thousand pounds of turnips, only 50 or 60 pounds. 



It may be seen from this that there is no economy in purchasing 

 many of the coarse kinds of food in common use. Potatoes, at the 

 prices they have ranged for several years, must be considered a luxury 

 rather than a cheap diet ; for their cost is nearly the same per pound 

 as wheat, and it takes more than four pounds of them to yield the 

 nourishment in one pound of wheat. Indian corn is probably the 

 cheapest food that can be had ; and it is far more economical to use 

 beans, dry peas, beets, and parsnips, than potatoes. The following 

 anecdote of a poor woman in Cincinnati shows a tact in economizing 

 food rarely seen. She had seven children to be fed, and at one time 

 she found herself wholly destitute of the means of providing for them, 

 save eight laying hens. Here was an egg a day for each one ; but a 

 pittance, all can see, wholly inadequate to fit the human frame for 

 labor, and barely to sustain life. What could be done ? She ex- 

 changed each day six of her eggs for half a peck of beans, which, with 

 a small piece of poor meat, procured with the other two eggs, was 

 regularly made into a thick soup, and this enabled her to sustain her 

 family till other means could be had. Such an example might be 

 made worth thousands of dollars to the poor. 



FOOD OF PLANTS. A plant or a tree can no more exist 

 without food than can an animal ; and it is only because the mode in 

 which they receive it is less evident to us, that we do not commonly 

 think of vegetables as equally dependant with animals, upon the 

 materials supplied to them by the elements around. We are con- 

 stantly witnessing the act of feeding in all the animals that are under 

 our notice ; but the growth and reproduction of plants seem to take 

 place with so slight an introduction of solid matter into their system, 

 that it cannot be comprehended, without further examination, how 

 they derive the means of uprearing the gigantic masses of wood and 

 foliage which many of them present to our admiring view. It is the 

 business of the farmer to ascertain what kind of food is wanted for 

 the growth of vegetation, and then to provide it. The absurdity of 

 rearing or maintaining any animal without an adequate supply of the 

 elements needed in animal substances, is too apparent to need illustra- 

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