THE CARROT. 161 



ter the woody stems of ilie plant die and dry up, they are then use- 

 ful as combustible matter , but a better use of them perhaps is to 

 make them enter in certain proportions into the litter of the hog- 

 stye ; the pith there absorbs a large quantity of the liquid manure. 

 Schwertz estimates the mean quantity of dry leaves and stems at 3 

 tons, 1 cwt. 1 qr. and 15 lbs. per acre. The following quantities 

 of tubers have actually been gathered in Alsace. 



Tons. Cwts. Qrs. lbs. 



Sandy soils 4 3 3 6 



Soils of the best quality 10 8 3 13 



At Bechelbronn (mean) 10 16 8 



Bechelbronn crops of 1839-40 15 16 1 16 



The Carrot, {Daucus carota.) This root is frequently cultivated, 

 particularly by intercalation ; it is frequently grown along with the 

 poppy, where the seed is raised for the sake of its oil, occasionally also 

 being sown with white crops in the spring, it comes to maturity after 

 them in the autumn ; it is a plant that is much liked by animals, but 

 which by no means possesses the very high value as an article of food 

 which is generally ascribed to it by husbandmen. The carrot requires 

 a deep, somewhat loose and homogeneous soil, fresh manure, and 

 much care in the cultivation. Schwertz, taking the mean of three 

 years, estimates the produce per acre at 13 tons, 18 cwt. 1 qr. and 

 2 lbs. of roots, and about one-third the same quantity of green leaves, 

 which are valuable as fodder and as elements of manure. In a field 

 at Bechelbronn where this vegetable had been intercalated with the 

 madia sativa, we obtained upwards of 5^- tons of roots in addition to 

 our principal crop of oleaginous seed. The carrot contains a large 

 quantity of water in its constitution — 87.6 per cent., according \o 

 some of my experiments. 



The juice of the carrot contains sugar, albumen, a crystallizable 

 coloring principle, called carrotine, a volatile oil, fatty matters, pectic 

 acid, pectine, starch, malic acid and alkaline, and earthy phosphates. 



The parsnip, {Pastinaca sativa.) This plant is not very exten- 

 sively cultivated, yet it has the advantage of standing the winter in 

 the open field. It has been recommended as very useful in fattening 

 cattle. In its composition it must assimilate with the carrot and 

 beet. Drappier obtained as much as 12 per cent, of cane-sugar 

 from the parsnip.* 



BARKS. 



Cinchona barks. The barks of cinchona, which are employed 

 with so much success in medicine, are the produce of different species 

 of a family of trees which grows in the mountains of South Ameri- 

 ca; the active principle of all the varieties of bark resides in the 

 vegetable alkalies, quinine, cinchonine, and cinchovatine. 



The medicinal properties of bark were made known to Europeans 

 in 1638, on the occasion of an obstinate fever from which the Coun- 

 tess of Chincon, vice-queen of Peru, suffered at Lima in that year. 

 A corregidore of Loxa, who had been cured by the Indians while 



* Rerzclius, Chcmistn", vol. ii. d. 199. 



