334 ox THE ECOXOMICAL USE OF TUKNIPS 



on each plot one hundred half-bred lambs of equal quality, 

 the one lot being fed on turnips alone, and the other on turnips 

 and cut straw. At the rate of 20 lbs. daily for each sheep, the 

 gross weekly consumption by the former will be 6 tons 5 cwt., so 

 that the 25 tons will keep them for twenty-eight days, that is four 

 weeks. At the rate of 6d. per head weekly, the cost for the one 

 hundred will be £2, 10s. per week, or £10 for the month. 



Let each of the second lot be fed upon 10 lbs. of turnips and 

 1 lb. of cut straw daily. In this case the weekly consumpt of 

 swedes ^vill be only 70 lbs. by each sheep, the gross quantity 

 consumed by the one hundred sheep in a week being 3 tons 2J 

 cwt., the cost of which, at the rate charged in the other in- 

 stance, is £1, 5s. Thus the outlay on turnips on this second 

 lot for the four weeks is £5, and one-half of the 25 tons are 

 unconsumed. The gross quantity of straw given in the month 

 is 1 ton 5 cwt., which at 2d. per stone, or £1, 6s. 8d. per ton, 

 would cost £1, 13s. 4d. 



i^ow the first lot — fed on turnips alone — costs £10 for the 

 month, whereas the second, kept on the mixed diet, costs £6, 

 13s. 4d., being £5 for turnips and £1, 13s. 4d. for straw, during 

 the same period. There is thus a saving of £3, 6s. 8d. on the 

 second lot as compared with the first. The economy thus secured 

 is equivalent to one-third or 33 per cent, of the outlay where 

 turnips are the sole food. In other words, each sheep in the one 

 plot costs 6d. per week, whereas in the other the weekly outlay 

 on each amounts to only 4d. This difference would provide — 

 reckoning oats at 2s. 8d. per bushel of 40 lbs. — 2J lbs. of that 

 cereal for each sheep per week, which is at the rate of more than 

 one-third of a lb. daily. 



The illustrative cases may be stated in a slightly altered form. 

 Let the first plot remain as before, with one hundred sheep upon 

 it, getting nothing but turnips, costing £10 for the month, during 

 which 25 tons are consumed. On the second plot let one hundred 

 and fifty sheep of a similar class be folded, each being fed upon 

 10 lbs. of turnips and 1 lb. cut straw. At the end of the month 

 three-fourths of the 25 tons will be consumed, leaving one-fourth, 

 viz., 6 tons 5 cwt. unused, which at the rate charged for the others 

 would be worth £2, 10s. The one hundred and fifty sheep will 

 use 1 ton 17 cwt. 2 qrs. of straw in the four weeks, worth £2, 10s., 

 exactly the money value of the unused turnips. Thus in this 

 experiment one hundred and fifty sheep are kept on the mixed 

 diet at precisely the same cost as is incurred on the one hundred 

 which are fed upon turnips alone. The gain is Lwo-fold, consisting 

 in the direct profit of having fifty additional sheep fed, and also 

 in the indirect gain of the greater benefit manurially of having at 

 the rate of three sheep fed on the one plot for every two on the 

 other. 



