322 ON THE ECOXOMICAL USE OF TURNIPS 



may be, the temperature of the body is reduced to some extent, 

 and has to be restored to its normal condition by an expenditure 

 of food. The difference in the atmosphere of t^'o byres where 

 cattle are having pulped and sliced roots respectively should 

 convince the doubter as to which is the wdiolesomer and the 

 more conducive to the general good health of the animals. 

 Cattle having sliced roots are frequently scoured, and their dung- 

 is at all times off'ensive ; whereas, beasts eating pulp and chaff 

 properly prepared lick out the mangers, and are sweet. 



One of the greatest recommendations in favour of a mixture of 

 pulped roots and cut straw has yet to be stated, and as it is one 

 to which sufficieDt prominence has not, in our estimation, been 

 hitherto given in the discussion of its merits, we beg the reader 

 to reflect carefully upon its advantages. "When the mixture is 

 allowed to lie for say twenty-four hours until it has fermented, 

 it is practically a cooked food ; and has most of the advantages 

 of a cooked diet with none of its disadvantasfes. It is the 



o 



moistening and virtual steaming of the straw in this process to 

 which we attach importance, and which gives it its chief value. 

 This is of minor moment where the fodder is fine in the stem 

 and otherwise good iu quality. But much straw and not a little 

 hay is coarse, fibrous, and often indifferently-harvested, so that, 

 in addition to its being so uninviting to the cattle that they do 

 not eat it readily in a long form, it is also very difficult to digest. 

 Hence, any simple treatment of it which is inexpensive in 

 labour and other outlay, and tends to bring such fodder into a 

 form decidedly more easy of digestion, ought to be valued and 

 practised. Kow, we maintain, that this is just what is done 

 daring the process of fermentation in a heap of mixed pulp and 

 straw. The soaking and steaming softens the fibre of the straw, 

 prepares it for the stomach, and makes it easier of digestion. If 

 there is any good in cooking food for stock by steaming it, the 

 very same good must be done to it by the process we have 

 described. Moreover, it has not the drawbacks attending food 

 cooked in the ordinary way. Such diet has a tendency to make 

 animals fed upon it more tender and more susceptible of cold 

 than others fed on raw produce. Hence, when turned out in 

 early summer to the pasture fields, they are apt to feel in an 

 extra degree any unfavourable influence, such as cold east 

 winds, to which they may be exposed. Now, in a fermented 

 pulp and chaffed straw mixture, while the fibre and other coarse 

 matter in the straw is practically cooked, the food does not 

 make the cattle or sheep fed upon it tender and readily injured 

 by outside influences of a trying character. They are as hardy 

 and able to bear exposure as ever. This latter consideration is 

 one which makes pulping of great value in the case of young 

 store cattle which have again to remain out night and day in 



