TURNIPS FOE HORSES. 171 



keep the muscle in so good condition, as Swedish turnips. For 

 young cattle, yearlings and two-year-olds, they are inestimable. 

 If I had a yoke of oxen that weighed 4,500 or 5,000 pounds, I 

 should give them a few turnips to make them weigh 6,000, and 

 a little grain now and then. But for young cattle they are 

 admirable. 



Question. How much do you give them ? 



Dr. LoEiNG. A little short of a peck a day. Now you do 

 not want to grain your colts ; you cannot grain them to any 

 advantage. Every man who knows anything about a horse 

 knows if you begin to feed him with oats at one year old, you 

 have lost just so much when you put him into the harness and 

 expect him to be strong and energetic. But you can feed him 

 with turnips and give him good hard muscle. I do not mean the 

 English fiat turnip. I mean the prince of all the roots, " Skir- 

 ving's King of the Swedes." The handsomest root that grows, 

 and the root that, if I were a young cow or colt, I should ask 

 my master to give me freely. 



Mr. FoOTE. Have you had any experience in feeding turnips 

 to milch cows ? 



Dr. LoRiNG. I feed turnips as soon as my mangolds are all 

 gone. I am a little considerate of my milk customers,^ and so I 

 feed mangolds as long as they last. I have not heard much 

 complaint. Now and then a customer will say, " You are feed- 

 ing turnips." You cannot feed turnips and use the milk for the 

 manufacture of butter. It is a singular fact, that the flavor 

 will appear in the butter when it will not appear in the milk. I 

 think you can feed Swedish turnips with some degree of safety, 

 if you are not going to use the milk yourself. 



Mr. Plunkett, of Pittsfield. Will Dr. Loring inform us 

 about what per cent, of nutriment the Swedish turnip has, by 

 analysis ? 



Dr. Loring. I do not remember. I have had myself a table 

 giving the comparative amounts of nutriment in given weights 

 of food, but I have not carried the figures in my mind so tliat I 

 can state them. We are told, I know, that the turnip has 

 ninety per cent, of water in its composition ; but I want gentle- 

 men to take from their tables the best piece of beef they ever 

 had there, and press it down to a solid, and then see how much 

 it will weigh. The amount of water that is found in nourishing 



