ROOTS FOR STOCK FEEDING. 141 



examination as to the class of vegetables which can be 

 produced in greatest abundance, at least cost, with least 

 exertion in the shortest space of time, and with least 

 liability to failure of the crop under unfavorable atmos- 

 pheric conditions, and also as of primary importance, 

 with capability for preservation during winter months 

 with slight danger of decay. 



In Great Britain the culture of roots, round tur- 

 nip, ruta baga and mangold has assumed gigantic im- 

 portance, and it was estimated by writers on political 

 economy, years ago, when the turnip product was much 

 below the present, that its annual value was much more 

 than the equivalent of the sum represented by the interest 

 on the National debt, no inconsiderable amount, as 

 everybody knows. Until the culture of roots, as they 

 are termed, was extended and enlarged, in England, 

 animal food was a luxury seldom within the reach of the 

 operative classes, with whom vegetables and farinaceous 

 compounds, not always of the best quality, were the 

 main sources of sustenance. Now English fattened 

 meats, even of American origin, are, in some shape, 

 within reach of all, the factory operative, the mechanic, 

 the tradesman and the landholder alike participating; 

 and this change has grown out of, not so much national 

 prosperity or increased wages, though both are indirectly 

 affected, but the greater breadth of land in root culture. 



American corn, with us the great meat producer, 

 which has played so important a part in the development 

 of our country, enabling the hardy emigrant from the 

 older settlements to wrest the wilderness from the sav- 

 age, and overcome the forest, is not grown in Great 

 Britain or any portion of the north of Europe, there 

 being known only as an import from our country. In 

 this particular, Americans have an advantage impossible 

 to estimate ; but, great as it is, it should not lessen our 

 exertion to produce succulent food, which augments the 

 value of the farinaceous. 



