260 VETEEINAKY HYGIENE 



provide his animals with the needful fresh vegetable 

 material until the spring with its young grass arrives. 

 These roots are derived from different Natural Orders, and 

 experience has confirmed their value for all classes of cattle 

 and sheep. 



Chemically all ' roots ' are very much alike. They 

 contain a quantity of water, a variable quantity of nitrogen 

 of which only about half is albuminous, the other portion 

 being amides. They contain a nitrogen free substance 

 known as pectin which is capable of conversion into sugar, 

 but no starch, excepting a little found in parsnips and 

 carrots. Of sugar there is a variable quantity, which in 

 the beet, a root closely allied to the mangel, reaches its 

 fullest degree. 



The pectin is very digestible, it is said 98 per cent, is 

 digested by sheep, and pectin in the system may be con- 

 sidered as equivalent to starch or sugar. 



Looked at in this light, ' roots ' are regarded from a 

 feeding point of view as practically consisting of water and 

 carbo-hydrates, and it is these two points which have to be 

 borne in mind in using them as food substances. Excessive 

 amounts of roots with a diet poor in nitrogen exercise a 

 depressing effect on digestion, just as if so much starch had 

 been given ; further, excessive amounts cause the diet to 

 be waterj'. All attempts to bring up animals such as 

 store cattle and sheep on roots and little else during the 

 winter fail ; it is by no means economical feeding, for the 

 animals lose ground, and to get the needful amount of 

 nourishment require to consume an immense amount of 

 this poor watery diet. From this cause cattle have been 

 known to consume as much as 220 lbs. of turnips daily, 

 resulting in habitual diarrhoea. 



Boots are most valuable, but only as an adjunct to the 

 diet ; they cannot replace good feeding, and it is the height 

 of folly to give them in excess. 



The roots generally employed are swedes, mangels, and 

 turnips, the latter is principally used in Scotland, the 

 former in England. 



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