introduced. It is stated to be an uncommonly productive crop, usually
yielding returns from 30 to 50 per cent. greater than those obtained
from other varieties of the turnip. The composition of the Greystone
turnip appears to be inferior, so that probably it is not, after all,
a more economical plant than the ordinary kinds of turnips.

DR. ANDERSON'S ANALYSIS OF THE GREYSTONE TURNIP.

No. 1. No. 2.
Grown on Clay. Grown on Sand.

Water 93.84 94.12
Oil 0.26 0.34
Soluble albuminous matters 0.35 0.56
Insoluble ditto 0.20 0.18
Soluble respiratory matters 2.99 2.32
Insoluble ditto (chiefly fibre) 1.73 1.85
Ash 0.63 0.63
------ ------
100.00 100.00

It was at one time the fashion--not yet become quite obsolete--to regard
the proportion of nitrogen in the turnip as the measure of the nutritive
value of the bulb; but the fallacy of this opinion has been shown by
several late investigators, and more particularly by the results of
one of the numerous series of feeding experiments conducted by Mr.
Lawes. Many bulbs exceedingly rich in nitrogen are very deficient
in nutritive power--partly from a deficiency in the other elements of
nutrition--partly because most of their nitrogen is in so low a degree
of elaboration as to be incapable of assimilation by animals. The value
of a food-substance does not merely depend upon the amount and the
relative proportion of its constituents, but also, and to a very great
extent, upon their easy assimilability. There is but little doubt that
the nutritive matters contained in the Swedish turnip when the bulb is
fresh are very crude. By storing, certain chemical changes take place
in the bulb, which render it more nutritious and palatable. A large
proportion of the non-nitrogenous matters exist in the fresh root as
pectin; but this substance, if the bulb be preserved for a couple of
months, becomes in great part converted into sugar, which is one of the
most palatable and fattening ingredients of cattle-food. By storing,