f8 



BEET. 



and four quarts of corn meal, daily ; the other, four and a 

 half pecks of mangel wurtzel. The last, which has had 

 mangel wurtzel alone, is in the condition of good beef ; the 

 other is not more than what graziers call half fat. 



" The application of mangel wurtzel as food for sheep 

 is not the least important of its uses. Ewes yean usually at 

 the season when grass cannot be supplied. The health of 

 themselves, and the thrift of their lambs, essentially depend 

 upon succulent food being had. I am inclined to think, that 

 no small portion of the success which English breeders have 

 met, is to be ascribed to the large stores of roots, which 

 they always have at command. It cannot be denied, that 

 Indian meal will, of itself, in most cases, produce extraor- 

 dinary fatness, as well as great size ; but I have been led 

 to believe, that diseases are early engendered by this spe- 

 cies of forcing, which is always expensive, and, too often, 

 eventually destroys the animal which has been thus reared." 



A writer in the Farmer'^s Journal says, " This root is 

 now generally allowed to stand eminent for the excellence 

 of its fattening qualities. Among our field productions, 

 parsnips and carrots may justly be declared more nutritious ; 

 Swedish turnips, as holding divided empire with it ; while 

 white turnips and cabbages sink into insignificance before 

 it. The taste, both of the leaf and root, is most grateful 

 to every description of stock : bullocks, sheep and hogs 

 instinctively lay hold of them, and, when once accustomed 

 to their flavour, they reject every other sort of green food, 

 if they have the election. 



" No edible root has yet been brought into use, which 

 has an affinity to the one under consideration, with respect 

 to its imperishable properties. The white turnip is in 

 March entirely divested of its fattening power ; the Swede 

 in May becomes shrivelled, and is almost refused by cat- 

 tle ; the potato, after this time, entirely sprouts away all 

 its vigour, diminishes in bulk, and dries up ; but not so the 

 mangel wurtzel. It is not only ready for use in the au- 

 tumn, the winter, and spring, but may, if required, be 

 continued with unabated advantage, and, in the following 

 autumn, it will be found in full possession of its most 

 valuable qualities, undiminished in weight, and abounding 

 in saccharine juices." It has, however, been thought by 

 cultivators in this country, that the ruta baga is more easily 



