CHAP. xi. TURNIPS AND MANGEL. 175 



nearly equal to that obtained from oil-cake ; but they are apt to cloy 

 the appetite, and should therefore be given with other food, or if alone, 

 they should not be continued for a long time together. The flesh of 

 animals fed upon parsnips is said to be of rich flavour and juicy. 



Next to the parsnip we may class the Carrot a most useful root, 

 more grateful to cattle, and better calculated to be a constant food, 

 than the turnip. It is particularly valuable for feeding horses. 



Mangel-leaves and turnip-tops are often used as food for cattle, but 

 they do not rank high as a nutritious food ; they are apt to scour the 

 animals partaking too freely of them ; they should therefore be given 

 only in moderate quantities and along with other more binding food. 



Mr. Hilly ard, an excellent authority, thus speaks of the mangel : " I 

 have often been asked which I preferred, this or Swedish turnips ; my 

 answer has invariably been, for some purposes I prefer one, and for 

 some the other. For stall-feeding until the spring, turnips are the 

 best ; but at that season the turnips having lost a portion of their 

 nutritive quality, and the mangel from keeping, having lost much of its 

 watery particles, and thus improved, I then prefer the latter." 



"Mangel should not be given to stock for some time after being taken 

 up say towards the latter end of December, or the beginning of the year 

 as, when first taken up, they possess an acrid principle which has a 

 tendency to scour the animals. This disappears after a few months' 

 keeping, and the nutritive value of the root is increased. The 

 superiority of old stored to newly-taken-up mangel must not, however, 

 be attributed solely to this, but in no small degree to the change of the 

 pecten into sugar. Dr. Voelcker mentions the fact, that his experience 

 shows that mangel are the worst description of roots that can be given 

 to sheep. ' Twa years ago I found this to be the case, when feeding 

 various lots of sheep, with a view of ascertaining practically the relative 

 value of different feeding materials. For several days the sheep refused 

 to eat the sliced mangel, and were content with the small quantity of 

 hay which was given to them at the same time ; and only after four 

 weeks they became in some degree reconciled to the taste of mangel, 

 but did not get on well upon this food. Although these sheep were 

 supplied with a fixed and limited quantity of hay, and as much sliced 

 mangel as they would eat, I found at the end of four months that they 

 had not increased a single pound, whilst my experimental sheep, fed 

 upon swedes and hay, increased, on an average, at the rate of 2|lb. per 

 week. On further inquii'y, I have learned that this observation is 

 confirmed by many practical feeders. . . . This peculiarity of mangel 

 thus shows that a feeding substance which, like this root, is justly 

 esteemed on account of its fattening properties when given to beasts, 

 may not possess any great nutritive value when given to sheep. 

 Another direct proof is here afforded of the fact that the chemical 

 composition of food does not solely determine its adaptation to a 

 particular purpose ; for, like mangel, other feeding materials may be 

 rich in nutritive substances, and valuable when given to fattening beasts, 

 whilst they may not agree at all with the constitution of sheep.' " 



Turnips supply a nutritive article of winter food, although, from their 



