SUCCULENT ROOTS. 243 



same time the quantity produced is increased. 

 Calves thrive admirably, and bullocks are quickly 

 fattened on this food. Carrots are equally beneficial 

 as nourishment for sheep, and are devoured with avi- 

 dity by swine. In the short space of ten days a lean 

 hog was fattened by these roots, having consumed 

 during that period 196 pounds. Its fat proved very 

 fine, white, and firm, and did not waste in the dress- 

 ing. Horses receiving no other sustenance perform 

 their work as usual without any diminution of their 

 sleekness. The efficacy of these roots in preserving 

 and restoring the wind of horses had, it is said, been 

 partially known in Suffolk, where carrots were ad- 

 ministered as a secret specific for the complaint, long 

 previously to their being commonly applied as food 

 for horses. These roots may also with advantage be 

 given to poultry. In severe winters they have been 

 found of great utility in the preservation of deer; and 

 they have been strongly recommended as wholesome 

 and cheap nourishment for dogs. Although, perhaps, 

 the virtues and nutritive qualities of the carrot may be 

 somewhat overrated by writers who have evidently a 

 strong bias in its favour, it is more than probable that 

 carrots are a more wholesome food than either cabbages 

 or turnips, as they are so strongly antiseptic (opposed 

 to putrefaction) as to be occasionally used, on account 

 of this property, in certain surgical applications. Va- 

 rious opinions exist among agriculturists as to the rel- 

 ative advantages arising from the culture of the carrot 

 or the turnip as food for cattle. The latter root may 

 perhaps be more productive, and succeed better in a 

 variety of soils, but the positive amount of nourishment 

 it contains would seem to be much less than that of the 

 carrot. This assertion is advanced on the testimony 

 of Mr Billing, who obtained from twenty and a half 

 acres of land, varying in soil and degree of preparation, 

 five hundred and ten loads of carrots. Experience led 



