Roots Grasses. 33 



It has been asserted that turnips grown with guano are less 

 nutritious than those grown with farmyard manure, and Dr. 

 Anderson's analyses indeed appear to countenance this very pre- 

 valent opinion. However, this must be received with considerable 

 latitude, for although it is quite true that many turnips grown 

 with guano are very watery, and therefore not very nutritious, it 

 does not follow that invariably roots grown with farmyard 

 manure are more valuable. It depends entirely on the nature of 

 the soil and the quantity of guano employed, whether a watery 

 root is produced or not. As far as our present experience goes, 

 it would follow that a crop of turnips raised entirely by means 

 of a large amount of Peruvian guano is watery, and does not 

 keep well ; whereas no difference in the qualities is observed in 

 roots grown with farmyard manure and turnips raised with 

 guano, if this manure is sparingly employed and the land is in 

 good condition. Peruvian guano, moreover, for economical 

 reasons, ought not to be used in large quantities for raising a 

 crop of turnips, as it is apt to produce abundance of tops at the 

 expense of the bulbs. The cheaper Saldanha Bay guano, how- 

 ever, which contains a very large amount of phosphates, or those 

 constituents which benefit root-crops in a special manner, may 

 be used with advantage, and no fear need be entertained that 

 this description of guano will produce a watery root. 



7. GREEN FOOD (Natural Grasses). The nutritive value of 

 the various natural grasses and of green food in general was for- 

 merly determined simply by ascertaining what preparation of 

 substances, soluble and insoluble in water, green food contained. 

 The green food was considered the more nutritious, the greater 

 the proportion of substances which it yielded to water. In this 

 way Sinclair endeavoured to determine the nutritive value of most 

 natural and artificial grasses. The method employed by Sinclair, 

 however, is very defective, and yields results which are incon- 

 sistent with practical experience. Sinclair's method of analysis 

 and results thus are obsolete, and have to be rejected. The more 

 refined methods of chemical investigation with which we are at 

 present acquainted, and the increased knowledge of the process of 

 nutrition, have enabled Professor Way to supply the agriculturist 

 with a series of trustworthy analyses of most natural and artificial 

 grasses. The details of this important investigation are recorded 

 in the * Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England/ 

 1853, part i., p. 171. 



The following tables exhibit the composition of a number of 

 the most frequently occurring natural grasses in a recent state and 

 in a dried condition : 



