166 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



"We doubt whether any man among us who has learned these 

 facts by experience, could be made to believe that twenty-five 

 tons of carrots on an acre of land, or twenty tons of ruta-bagas 

 are not a profitable crop ; because, as is said, nearly ninety parts 

 in one hundred are water, in a free and innutritions condition. 

 It is evident that however great may be the dilution, there are 

 floating in this liquid, and diffused throughout it, and combined 

 with it, certain chemical agents which, presented in this form, 

 are peculiarly adapted to the production of animal fibre. The 

 argument so frequently used, that root crops, particularly 

 turnips, contain a large percentage of water, and must therefore 

 be deficient in nutritive power, will apply to almost every article 

 of food known to man and animals. Every product of the soil 

 contains a certain quantity of matter, either woody fibre or water, 

 which of itself is not nutritious ; but which under proper com- 

 binations is highly useful and important. 



It should be remembered that by actual experiments in feeding, 

 300 pounds of Swedish turnips are proved to be equivalent to 

 100 pounds of English hay ; and that under this rule, an acre 

 of land which produces two tons of hay, will, by furnishing 

 eighteen tons of turnips, increase its production of food three-fold. 

 These crops are a fair average for the estimate. It is found more- 

 over that 1,728 grains in weight of Swedish turnip afford 110 

 grains of nutritive matter ; and that 3,000 grains of white clover 

 contain only 100 grains of nutritive matter. According to this 

 estimate turnips are nearly twice as nutritious as undried white 

 clover ; and it would require a crop of thirty-six tons of green 

 clover to the acre to afford the nourishment furnished by 

 eighteen tons of turnips. Clover contains by actual test five- 

 sixths of its weight in water ; and we need, therefore, only 

 twelve tons of the green clover to furnish us with the two tons 

 of dry hay which we have introduced info our calculation. 



We present these comparative estimates to show that, weight 

 by weight, the turnip crop is superior to the grass crop 'in point 

 of nourishment, taking each c^i'op in a green state ; and that the 

 loss in water is much less in the former than in the latter. 



But beyond all this, there is the practical fact, known to every 

 farmer, that the health of his animals, and their capacity to 

 digest other kinds of food, is greatly benefited by the use of roots. 

 Aside from the actual nourishment which the roots contain, 



