COMMITTEE ON ROOT CULTURE. 135 



view of accurately ascertaining the comparative value 

 of each kind of root and other food, and the economy 

 of each mode of feeding it. The experiments have 

 been numerous. They liave been made on from ten 

 to thirty head of cattle at a time ; and they have been 

 continued from three to six months. The animals 

 were weighed or measured at the time of starting the 

 experiment, at the close of it, and generally at inter- 

 mediate periods, particularly when the food was varied : 

 and the quantity of roots and other food given was 

 accurately noted, so that the result has indicated the 

 relative vahie of each kind of food in the fattening 

 process, and the best mode of feeding it. The com- 

 mittee proceed to state, in a summary way, the results 

 of some of these experiments. 



1. The relative Value of different Roots, 

 Mr. Howden, with a view to the experiment, set 

 apart the product of two acres of mangold-wurtzel, 

 amounting to fifty tons, five acres of Swedish turnips, 

 being one hundred and forty tons, and two acres of 

 potatoes, weighing twenty-nine tons, four cwt. The 

 experiment was made with twenty-one head of cattle, 

 which received, in addition to the roots, a few dis- 

 tiller's grains, and a little straw. The following table 

 shows the roots appropriated to each lot, and the 

 monthly increase of animals in the girth. The ab- 

 stract is made from the prize essays of the society, 

 which cannot now be referred to ; but the impression 

 is, that in all the experiments which we quote, the 

 roots fed to each lot was precisely the same in weight. 

 Lot No. 1. was fed from the product of one acre of 

 potatoes, ofte acre of mangold-wurtzel, and one acre of 

 Swedish turnips ; No. 2 from one acre of potatoes, and 

 two acres of Swedish turnips; and No. 3 from one 

 acre of mangold-wurtzel, and two acres of Swedish 

 turnips. 



