86 BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
productions, is subject to considerable variations: as far as my experi- 
ence goes, it is much larger than in mangolds, approaching more nearly 
to the character of white turnips.” 
It will be noticed that the analyses of Moser and of Veelcker 
show an amount of albuminoids nearly half as large as the amount of 
the carbohydrates, which is a rather better proportion than has been 
found in peas. The mere mention of this fact is enough to condemn 
the indications of the analyses; since, no matter how high the estima- 
tion in which pumpkins are held by farmers, it is manifest that they 
are not to be classed with peas as a foddering material. 
The large proportion of nitrogen contained in the inside or offal 
portion of the pumpkin is not at all surprising in view of the well- 
known tendency of compounds of this element to accumulate in the 
seeds of plants. ‘The large percentage of oil also in the seeds was to 
have been expected in view of their well-known oily character. Oil 
of pumpkin-seed has in fact often been prepared in this country, upon 
the manufacturing scale, by subjecting the seeds to pressure in the cold, 
much in the same way that oil is expressed from rape-seed, flax-seed, 
and walnuts. Compare “ New England Farmer,” 1825, 3. 42; 1828, 
7. 163, and 1841, 20.141. It is a palatable salad-oil, according to 
Langethal and other German authorities. 
The presence of such large amounts of oil and of albuminous 
matters would naturally go to show that pumpkin seeds must be a 
highly nutritious kind of food; and it may well be true that they are 
valuable for some kinds of animals when administered carefully and 
in moderate quantity. But it has often been urged that the seeds of 
pumpkins are apt to do harm to animals that have eaten them, Thus, 
for example, one writer in the “ New England Farmer” (1827, 5. 294. 
Compare 1832, Ul. 150.) urges that the seeds should be taken out 
from pumpkins that are to be fed to hogs, since they prove injurious to 
these animals. Another writer (“ New England Farmer,” 1860, 12. 
159) maintains that pumpkin seeds are poisonous to many fowls, and 
cause death. Mr. Russell, in his work on North America and its Climate 
(Edinburgh, 1857, p. 49), reports the impression he received from our 
farmers that pumpkin seeds have an injurious action on the kidneys 
when cattle are fed long upon them. 
Although the idea that pumpkin seeds are generally injurious to * 
animals has sometimes been denied, there can be little question that it 
