320 ON THE ECONOMICAL USE OF TURNIPS 



about one-half the usual allowance of turnips and a fair allow- 

 ance of cake (from 2 lbs. to 4 lbs., according to the age of the 

 animal) seemed to do better than cattle being fed on a full 

 allowance of roots without cake. 



Mr Thomas Bone, East Sanquhar, Ayr, pulps all his turnips. 

 The mixture consists of pulped turnips, cut wheat or oat straw, 

 and occasionally a portion of hay. An allowance equal to about 

 1 lb. of light grain (wheat, barley, and oats) bruised, is also 

 added. The three-year old cattle get 28 lbs. to 30 lbs., gradually 

 increased to 35 lbs., of the above mixture three times daily, and 

 also 3 J lbs. of best oil cake, eventually increased to 4 lbs. Two- 

 year old cattle get three times daily about 25 lbs. of the mixture 

 and 2 lbs. of oil cake. All the cattle are oft'ered water once a 

 day, and many of them drink a considerable quantity. 



Mr Cunningham, Trees, Maybole, like many others, at one time 

 allowed his cattle an unlimited quantity of roots, but has been 

 led by experience to see the economy and profit of restricting 

 the quantity to a considerable extent, pulping and straw-cutting 

 being practised with satisfactory results. There is a specialty 

 in Mr Cunningham's management wdiich is deserving of study 

 and imitation. Writing to us, he says, " For a number of years 

 now, owing to a deficiency in the turnip crop, and also more for 

 the purpose of enabling me to wait and catch a good market, I 

 began the use of green-cut hay for the cattle. This I do by 

 putting the hay through the straw cutter, mixing a good allow- 

 ance of meals with the hay. This is put, along with a few 

 boiled roots, in a large cooler, and a plentiful supply of hot 

 water poured over it. At first we gave the cattle one good feed 

 of this daily, and as the season advanced two feeds. This is a 

 great saving of roots, and the animals become very fond of the 

 cooked food, and thrive well upon it." 



Apart from the recommendation which green-cut rye-grass 

 hay has for the accomplishment of the special object which Mr 

 Cunningham has in view in using it, viz., tiding over the cattle 

 until a favourable market can be met with, w^e submit that 

 farnjers generally do not estimate that class of fodder at any- 

 thing like its proper value as food for cattle and also for sheep. 

 Mr Lawes places the manurial value of a ton of clover hay 

 consumed by stock at £2, 5s. 6d. ]^ow, if the selling price of it 

 is taken at £4 per ton, or 6d. per imperial stone of 14 lbs., no 

 less than 56 per cent, of its selling value is recovered in the 

 manure. The result of experiments on feeding (summarised by 

 Messrs Johnston & Cameron in " Elements of Agricultural 

 Chemistry," p. 484), conducted by different persons and in 

 different countries, tend to show that there is as much feeding- 

 in from 8 lbs. to 10 lbs. of such hay as in from 20 lbs. to 40 lbs. 

 of oat straw, according to its quality, or say in the average 30 



