324 ON THE ECONOMICAL USE OF TURNIPS 



cut straw, as it comes from tlie macliine. The cost of the pulping 

 he finds to be 9d. per day, or 5s. 3d. per week, on labour alone — 

 equivalent to the value of IJ cwt. of turnips at 6d. per cwt. 

 Mr Todd's (Mouswald Grange) pulper is driven by a single 

 horse by means of a gearing erected for the purpose. For each 

 meal of pulp for about the same number of beasts (dairy cow^s 

 and young cattle) that are at Tinwald Shaws the expense in 

 labour is about 4d. — including a value put upon the time of the 

 horse. Messrs A. & J. M. Hannah, Girvan Mains, drive their 

 pulper by a 6-horse powder horizontal engine and a Cornish 

 boiler at a pressure of 35 lbs. The raising of the steam and the 

 pulping can be done at a cost of Sd. per day, dross being the 

 fuel. The machine will regularly pulp seven cartloads of 

 turnips — equal to 4 tons — in fifteen minutes. These calculations 

 do not include the cost of straw cutting-. But not onlv can the 

 ordinary grain chaff be utilised to much better purpose wdiere 

 pulping is practised than where it is not, but any straw needed 

 to supplement the chaff can be cut on wet days, or \idien the 

 steam is raised, as it can be stored without suffering deteriora- 

 tion from being kept. 



This part of our paper may be appropriately closed by 

 quoting the testimony of Mr Coleman, Eiccall Hall, York, who 

 has done much by pen and example to recommend the system 

 of economising roots by the means of pulping them. Writing 

 to us, that distinguished authority says — " My own experience 

 through a considerable period is that the pulping of roots and 

 their judicious mixture with dry food increases their efficiency 

 to the extent of from one-third to one-fourth ; in other words, 

 80 lbs. of pulped roots will produce an equal effect to 120 lbs. of 

 sliced roots. On our home farm we grow 40 to 45 acres of roots 

 — mangolds, swedes, and wliite turnips. The crop seldom ex- 

 ceeds, and often does not reach, 20 tons of mangolds, and 15 

 tons of swedes and common turnips per acre. We winter one 

 hundred head of cattle of different ages and five hundred sheep. 

 Without the economy of pulping it would be impossible to do 

 this on so small a quantity of roots. As regards the condition 

 of the animals, our cattle, which are sold by auction, are popular 

 with the butchers, making the best prices in tlie market. This 

 proves that the animals die well. We never use an extreme 

 quantity of artificial food. The meal is distributed over the 

 mass of chaff and pulp, and the cake — cotton principally — given 

 by itself." 



Turniijs as sole Food for Sliee2x 



The practice, at one time universal, of feeding sheep on 

 nothing but turnips during the winter months is still very 

 common in many districts of Scotland. It is very rare indeed 



