224 The Feeding of Animals 



cious and less palatable, with a smaller proportion of 

 the more soluble, and therefore more valuable, com- 

 pounds. The most useful of these materials for feed- 

 ing purposes are corn stover, oat straw, and the legume 

 straws. These are better relished by farm animals than 

 wheat and barley straws, which are utilized mostly 

 for litter. 



ROOTS AND TUBERS 



Certain species of plants, more especially beets, 

 mangel -wurzels, turnips, rutabagas, carrots and pota- 

 toes, are agriculturally valuable because of the store 

 of nutrients which they deposit in subterranean branches 

 or in roots. The original purpose of this deposit is, 

 in the case of potatoes and artichokes, to nourish the 

 young plants of the next generation, or, in the case 

 of biennials like beets, to supply the materials for the 

 seed -stalk and seeds of the second year. Potatoes are 

 not grown primarily as food for cattle, but roots have 

 for many years been a standard crop for feeding pur- 

 poses, especially in the production of mutton and beef. 

 This class of crops has the advantage of furnishing 

 very palatable, succulent food, which may be kept in 

 perfect condition during the entire winter season, an 

 advantage which is not wholly measured by the actual 

 quantity of nutrients supplied by these materials. 



The disadvantages of these crops are that they are 

 somewhat expensive to grow and necessitate the han- 

 dling of large weights of water. A ton of turnips or 

 mangels may furnish even less than 200 pounds of dry 

 substance, to secure which 1,800 pounds of water must 



