MISCELLANEA. 
THE EFFECT OF CUTTING, MASHING, COOKING, AND OTHER- 
WISE PREPARING ROOTS AS FOOD FOR ANIMALS. 
There can be no question as to the advantages and economy 
of cutting roots for both sheep and cattle. These animals 
are furnished with only one row of incisor or cutting teeth; 
and however admirably these teeth are adapted for nipping 
off the grass, they are by no means so well constituted for di- 
viding large roots, and indeed this cannot be done without a 
considerable expenditure of muscular power, which is equi- 
valent to the expenditure of so much food. 
Besides this, when turnips are fed off in the field without 
being cut, a considerable portion of the root is soiled and 
wasted, and particularly the rootlets and lower parts. The 
effect of leaving these fragments is injurious to the land, and 
tends to produce club-root in the future turnip crop. When 
the turnips are cut up by a proper machine, such as Gardner’s 
turnip- cutter, the whole is consumed, no part is wasted, and 
the turnips are eaten by the animal with very little expendi- 
ture of labour, as the fragments are at once submitted to the 
molar teeth, which besides being much more powerful are 
placed nearer the centre of motion than the nippers, and thus 
can be more easily exercised. It is of course of much greater 
importance to cut swedes than white turnips for sheep, in 
consequence of their much greater solidity. Another advan- 
tage in cutting turnips for fatting sheep is that more time is 
afforded for eating oil-cake, or other concentrated food, as 
well as for rumination. Many persons prefer Gardner’s 
turnip-cutter, for cattle as well as sheep, as being less liable 
to produce choking than when the slices are broad and flat. 
With regard, however, to mashing and cooking roots, we 
believe that for either oxen or sheep there is no advantage 
whatever, the labour and fuel is entirely lost. Trials that 
have been made are altogether unfavorable. Mr. Walker, of 
Haddington, N.B., found five oxen and heifers on steamed 
turnips, &c., to cost bl. 19 <s* more during the period of the 
experiment, than the same number on food uncooked. It is 
indeed agreeable to the constitution, and capacious stomachs, 
and powerful digestive organs, of these animals, that roots 
should be consumed in a raw state. 
There is only one animal, that is the pig, for which cook- 
