MANGEL WURZEL. 



MANGEL WURZEL. 



General Beatson, then Governor of St. Helena, 

 writing to the English Board of Agriculture, 

 and describing the extraordinary produce of 

 some plants, the leaves of which had been 

 repeatedly cut to serve as a substitute for 

 spinach, says : It certainly possesses advan- 

 tages over every other plant hitherto introduced 

 in field culture. Its produce is immense ; and 

 I have found it to grow, with considerable luxu- 

 riance, upon land where no other vegetation 

 was ever seen. It has also the singular pro- 

 perty of being unmolested by the dolphin-fly, 

 which is here extremely destructive to cab- 

 turnips, and radishes. I have very 

 often observed, where alternate plants of cab- 

 bage and mangel wurzel were growing in the 

 same rows, and touching each other, that 

 whilst the former were absolutely annihilated 

 by the destructive insect, not one was to be 

 seen on the mangel wurzel leaves." 



Lord Spencer reports the result of a trial on 

 the comparative feeding properties of mangel 

 wurzel and Swedish turnips. "Believing," 

 says his lordship, " that mangold wurzel con- 

 tained more saccharine matter than Swedish 

 turnips, and ought, consequently, to be the 

 more nourishing root of the two, I determined 

 to try, practically, whether an ox fed upon 

 I wurzel increased in weight more than 

 cm' i-'d upon Swedish turnips, in proportion 

 to the quantity of each consumed. In order to 

 have rendered my experiment perfectly accu- 

 rate, I ought to have ascertained the weight of 

 hay consumed by each beast during the pro- 

 gress of the trial ; but I did not do this, although 

 I am pretty confident that the quantity con- 

 sumed by each was nearly the same. I se- 

 lected two steers, tolerably, and at least equally, 

 \vell bred. No. 1, calved March 29th, 1923, and 

 No. ~, calved May 6th of the same year; and 

 on the 24th of December, 1825, I put No. 1 to 

 Swedish turnips, and No. 2 to mangold wurzel. 

 I ascertained their weight by measurement, and 

 both of them measured the same, viz. 4 ft. 10 

 in. in length by 6 ft. 5 in. in girth, making them 

 to weigh 668 Ibs. each. On the 23d of Janua- 

 ry, No. 1 had consumed 1624 Ibs. of Swedish 

 turnips, and measured 4 ft. 10 in. in length by 

 C ft. 7 in. in srirth, making him to weigh 703 Ibs., 

 and to have increased in weight 35 Ibs., or at 

 the rate of 48 Ibs. for every ton of Swedish 

 turnips consumed. No. 2 had consumed 1848 

 Ibs. of mangold wurzel, and measured 4 ft. 10 

 in. in length by 6 ft. 8 in. in girth, making him 

 to weigh 721 Ibs., and to have increased in 

 weight 53 Ibs., or at the rate of 65^ Ibs. for 

 every ton of mangold wurzel consumed. 



"This difference, however, might have arisen 

 from No. 2 having a greater propensity to feed 

 than No. 1. I therefore now put No. 1 to man- 

 gold wurzel, and No. 2 to Swedish turnips. 

 On the 20th of February, No. 1 had consumed 

 1884 Ibs. of mangold wurzel, and measured 4 

 ft. 1 1 in. in length by 6 ft. 8 in. in girth, making 

 him to weigh 734 Ibs., and to have increased 

 in weight this month 31 Ibs., or at the rate of 

 36| Ibs. for every ton of mangold wurzel con- 

 sumed. No. 2 had consumed 1880 Ibs. of Swe- 

 dish turnips, and measured 4 ft. 11 in. in length 

 bj 6 ft. 8 in. in girth, making him to weigh also 



734 Ibs., and to have increased in weight during 

 this month 13 Ibs., or at the rate of 15 Ibs. for 

 every ton of Swedish turnips consumed. I then 

 put both to mangold wurzel, and divided the 

 food equally between them. On the 19th of 

 March, they had each consumed 1792 Ibs. of 

 mangold wurzel ; No. 1 measured 5 ft. in 

 length by 6 ft. 10 in. in girth, making him to 

 weigh 784 Ibs., and to have increased in weight 

 50 Ibs.; No. 2 measured 5 ft. in length by 6 ft. 

 9 in. in girth, making him to weigh 765 Ibs., 

 and to have increased in weight 36 Ibs. 



" It would appear, therefore, as if the pro- 

 pensity to feed of No. 1 was greater than that 

 of No. 2 in the proportion of 50 to 31; but, 

 notwithstanding this, in the first month, when 

 No. 1 was upon Swedish turnips, and No. 2 

 upon mangold wurzel, No. 2 beat No. 1 in the 

 proportion above stated of 65^ to 48^. It ap- 

 pears as if there could be no great inaccuracy 

 in estimating the relative weight of the ani- 

 mals, as, soon after the experiment was con- 

 cluded, I sold No. I to a butcher in the country 

 for 24/. 3s., and No. 2, at Stnithfield, for 24/. 



"It will be for practical men to decide upon 

 the value of this trial ; what appears to me to 

 be the most conclusive part of it is, that No. 2, 

 who had during the first month, when he was 

 feeding upon mangold wurzel, increased in 

 girth 3 inches, in the next month, when his 

 food was changed to Swedish turnips, did not 

 increase in girth at all ; and when, in the third 

 month, he was feeding again upon mangold 

 wurzel, he again began to increase in girth; 

 because it is very well known, that, if an ani- 

 mal is changed from more to less nutritious 

 food, the probable consequence will be that his 

 growth will be stopped. The result appeared 

 to me so decisive that I have not tried the ex- 

 periment with the same accuracy since ; but I 

 did try, the following year, the feeding a cow 

 alternately on Swedish turnips and mangold 

 wurzel, and though 1 have not by me the de- 

 tails of the trial, I remember that the result 

 confirmed the experiment of the previous 

 year." 



Mr. Miles of Kingsweston, in the same vo- 

 lume of the Journal, p. 298, commenting on the 

 communication of Lord Spencer, describes so 

 fully and explicitly the best mode of culture, 

 &c. of this root, that I cannot do better than 

 adopt his paper entire. 



" Notwithstanding the favourable results of 

 Lord Spencer's experiment with mangold wur- 

 zel, the consideration will naturally suggest 

 itself to the mind of the farmer, previously to 

 his adopting the cultivation of this root, whe- 

 ther, although the mangold wurzel may bring 

 on his cattle faster and better than the Swedish 

 turnip, it is not more difficult of culture, more 

 tender in its habits, and less productive in bulk 

 per acre than the Swedish turnip; and I think, 

 therefore, it may not be unprofitable to lay be- 

 fore the readers of the journal, first, the che- 

 mical analysis of the highest or lowest order 

 of turnip and of mangold wurzel as given by 

 Sir H. Davy, and of the sugar beet and orange- 

 globe mangold wurzel as lately obtained on the 

 same plan by the celebrated Bristol chemist 

 Mr. Herepath ; and then to point out the system 



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