Nnlritire Values of different Crops. 
145 
Those results show pretty uniformly the (liininishcd density which 
mijjht have been expected from exposure, especially in the man- 
gold wurzel of 1841. 
Whatever indication the above results may afford, nothing can 
be more certain than that little confidence can be reposed in 
them till they have been verified over and over again. The dis- 
turbances of soil, season, climate, and situation, will of course 
give great differences ; and should others think it worth while to 
inquire farther into the subject, considerable discrepancies of 
general result must of course be expected; but it should be ob- 
served that the mode of comparison is offered chiefly as regards 
different varieties of the same root, treated under precisely similar 
circumstances, and where these causes of disturbance take no 
effect. 
How far these crude experiments go towards substantiating 
the previous conjecture I must leave to others to judge. If it 
should appear that the specific gravity of roots is a test of their 
quality and nutritious contents, so simple a mode of ascertaining 
them would at once be applied in practice to an almost endless 
variety of useful purposes. The complicated results of different 
roots, and different varieties of the same root, as influenced by 
manure, soil, season, or climate — the times of planting, under all 
these circumstances — the mode of storing, and the best time of 
consuming them — are among the many points on which much 
light might be expected to be thrown. 
It seems probable that the specific gravity of grain might in the 
same way be made available in ascertaining its nutritive proper- 
ties. Indeed the iveight per bushel* is an approximation to the 
they were weighed, besides being slightly touched by a frost before they 
were housed. For this reason they have not been admitted into other parts 
of the calculation, and are inserted here only as showing the effect, of ex- 
posure. — W. H. H. 
* An extensive and intelligent miller and baker observed to me that he 
always found the quality and his profits to be in proportion to the weight per 
bushel of the wheat bought. To a brew er it is in practice considered of even 
more importance, and must, in estimating quality, be regarded as a useful 
appioximation to truth. But when we reflect on the extensive purchases 
made in these trades, and that very slight difference in the size or shape of 
the grains of corn makes a considerable difference in the bulk contained in 
the bushel, and interferes, in the same proportion, with the true estimate of 
quality, it is matter of surprise that some simple instrument, on the principle 
of ihe " thousand grain bottle," is not in general use. It is said that some 
millers and brewers occasionally buy by weight; but in that case allowance 
must be made for dampness of condition. This year wheat which, in con- 
se(i\ieuce of the fine season and harvest, weighed, when cut, G5 lbs. a bushel, 
in about six weeks after was found to weigh only 62. Moist weather, situ- 
ation of the rick not exposed to sun and air, or a damp granary, are well 
known to produce this effect, which therefore doubtless arises from absorbed 
moisture, and consequently increased bulk. Now in these cases the actual 
VOL. IV. L 
