AS FOOD FOR CATTLE AND SHEEP. 335 



Some of our readers may be disposed to ask, what is tlie com- 

 parative cost in manual and other labour in carrying out the 

 two systems on these two plots respectively ? The labour in the 

 one case consists in cutting and putting into the troughs the 

 25 tons of turnips, and that in the other lies in cutting as many 

 turnips as are used — that is 12 tons 10 cwts. — and cutting and 

 givinfr to the stock the straw consumed. Kow the outlay in 

 cutting the fodder depends on the facilities which exist on the 

 farm for accomplishing it. But on every holding there is either 

 water, horse, or steam power attached to the thrashing-mill. The 

 straw-cutter can easily be connected therewith, so that the cost of 

 cutting the straw should not in any instance be reckoned at a 

 high sum. Moreover, it should be borne in mind, as an offset 

 to the straw cutting in the one case, that double the quantity of 

 turnips have to be cut in the other. Thus whatever time a man is 

 employed in cutting roots on the one plot, he is set free one-half 

 of that time on the other, and tliat- time would- at the least be 

 quite sufficient to cut all the straw used. Besides, cut straw is 

 an article which remains fresh for a long time, and consequently 

 the cutting of it can be overtaken on wet days or at other times 

 when there is no pressure of other work. We conclude then 

 that, as regards labour, the system we advocate is not more 

 expensive than the one now commonly followed. 



The further question will probably be asked, What of the com- 

 parative feeding properties possessed by the two diets ? There 

 is this in common in the two systems, that each sheep gets 10 

 lbs. of turnips daily, and the difference between them lies in the 

 fact that in the one case it gets 10 lbs. additioual swedes, and in 

 the other case in lieu thereof 1 lb. of cut straw. The question is 

 thus narrowed to one as to the comparative feeding qualities of 

 10 lbs. of turnips and 1 lb. of straw. The analysis of the former 

 would be in a small degree superior to that of the latter. But 

 let it be borne in mind, what has been sliown in the early part 

 of this paper, that not a little of the heat-producing and other 

 qualities of the turnips are destroyed, or virtually so, by the 

 superlluous quantity of water, at a low temperature, which the 

 sheep have to swallow when living on bulbs alone. Besides, 

 straw and hay are possessed in a considerable degree of those 

 heat-producing properties which ought to belong to a large pro- 

 portion of the food given to animals spending their time in the 

 open air at a time of the year when, owing to the low tempera- 

 ture of the surrounding atmosphere, and the fre([uently soaked 

 state of their own coats and the miry condition of their beds, an 

 extra heavy waste is going on in the body. However, after all, 

 chemical analysis in such a question must not by itself determine 

 the matter, for, unless accomp;^nieil by the invaluable light of ex- 

 perience, it would not be a reliable guiile. Well, many farmers 



