310 [Assembly 



AwiaicAN Institute, ) 

 Farmer ^^ Club, July 8tk, 1851. ] 



Judge Harris Scoville in the chair. Henry Meigs Secretary. 



Tlie secretary read the following papers prepared by him for 

 the use of the club. 



Professor Mapes, who proposed the subject of the day, is ab- 

 sent, and his views of it would be especially valuable to the club. 

 The ancient world had no conception of the root crop as realized 

 in modern times. The potato was utterly unknown, and we have 

 no evidence that they ever fully understood the carrot, beet, par- 

 snip, or turnip? The carrot has only within a very short time 

 become known as equal to oats, measure for measure, for horse 

 feed. The beet has obtained an extraordinary celebrity since the 

 French revolution for its sugar. The turnip was* used to some 

 extent by the ancients, who occasionally raised some of the largest 

 dimensions ever known. It is doubtful whether we fully under- 

 stand now what are the full value of these roots. But there is 

 one aspect in wliich root crops magnify their importance in a 

 way visible to all men, and that is the enormous amount of mat- 

 ter they provide for us on one acre compared with the trifling 

 amount of food furnished by the seeils of plants. A bushel of 

 wheat, GO lbs., 30 bushels an acur — 1,800 lbs. An acre of tur- 

 nips, at twenty tons, -10.000, lbs.; carrols, at 500 bushels an acre, 

 39,000 lbs. The root salsafie, xf£rtr]-:'-r^ oyster, is not under- 

 stood. It is tlie veriest resemblance in flavor of the oyster that 

 can be imagined. What may not its use be when properly pre- 

 pared as a substitute for shell fish or flesh, as a food? That sal- 

 safie should supply the place of an oyster is not more surprising 

 than that the carrot should be equal to oats. Bread, to an Irish- 

 man, or to any other gentleman, is not always better than a fine 

 mealy potato. I find my taste so balanced between them that I 

 cannot decide on giving up either of them fur any consideration. 

 Nor is this Irish potato, now the s^ine qua ncn on exeij table, 

 whether loaded wiih fish or flesh, alone a capital article. Let 

 the sweet Carolinas, as the sweet potatoes were Ibimeily called, 

 come in for their share of praise. A preparation of flour, sugar 

 aad juice, forming a delicious and wholesv'm<' p'.Klding, and such 



