326 ox THE ECOXOMICAL USE OF TURNIPS 



sheep, 7i lbs. of stomach and 3^ lbs. of intestines. In conse- 

 quence of this difference in the proportion of intestines and 

 stomachs, cattle can consume a coarser and more bulky food 

 than sheep. Thus the latter should not get so large a pro- 

 portion of straw or hay as the former, but this is the chief if not 

 the only difference in their respective diets suggested by an 

 examination of their physical structure. They are both grami- 

 nivorous animals, and thrive equally well upon the same 

 pasture during the summer months. When living upon grass 

 in the open fields, their outward circumstances are precisely 

 the same, and any difference in these circumstances during the 

 winter months rather suggests the desirability of giving sheep a 

 fair allowance of dry heat-producing food. Cattle at this time 

 are generally sheltered in warm comfortable byres or courts, 

 and in consequence they suffer little from the coldness of the 

 temperature and the general inclemency of the weather. The 

 outward circumstances of sheep, on the other hand — especially 

 when they are folded upon turnips — are of a very different 

 character. In our wet climate their coats are frequently soaked 

 with moisture and their beds are often miry and uncomfortable 

 to the last degree. AVhen the temperature of their bodies is 

 thus kept low by such external influences, is it wise and 

 prudent to reduce it still further by filling their stomachs with 

 a plentiful supply of nothing but v/atery bulbs so cold as to be 

 little, if at all, above the freezing point ? Nothing but long 

 habit could blind a man to the desirability of giving sheep a 

 considerable allowance of fodder, or other dry food, along wdth 

 roots which contain 90 per cent, of water. In fact, sheep 

 require less moisture in their food than cattle. In proof of this 

 assertion we appeal to a fact which must have come under the 

 observation of many of our readers, as it has frequently come 

 under our own. In such a damp climate as that wdiich prevails 

 in the west of Scotland, the herbage is in ordinary weather so 

 moist that feeding sheep, living upon grass alone, get as much 

 moisture in their natural food as they require. Ew^es, suckling 

 lambs, and eild sheep getting dry concentrated food, such as 

 oats or Indian corn, almost always drink water, but unless when 

 the pasture is dried up during a drought, other sheep, getting 

 nothing but grass, do not drink at the brook however frequently 

 they may cross its channel in the course of the day. Cattle, on 

 the other hand, grazing in the same field at the same time do 

 quench their thirst at the passing stream. Does not this 

 imdoubted fact show that sheep can do with less moisture in 

 their food than cattle ? And do not all these considerations 

 prove that there is as much reason to give to the former class of 

 stock as to the latter dry heat-producing fodder, or similar food, 

 as part of their diet ? 



