304 ON THE ECONOxMICAL USE OF TURNIPS 



convinced us that the feed of 3 lbs. cotton cake and oat husks 

 keeps the cows in better condition than the third feed of say 

 30 lbs. turnips does. We have fewer cases of indigestion, and 

 though our experience is not of sufficiently long standing to 

 speak confidently on such a difficult point, we think the risk of 

 abortion is less." The writer goes into a calculation to show 

 that the two systems are about equal in cost ; but the one meal 

 of dry food has the advantage in practice, inasmuch as it is found 

 better both for the health and the condition of the animals. 

 Mr E. C. Cruickshank, Lethenty, Aberdeenshire, informs us, 

 that siDce he commenced the system of giving a mixture of dry 

 concentrated food as a substitute for a portion of the liberal 

 supply of turnips formerly given, he has had no case of abortion 

 during the winter months with the exception of two or three 

 exceptional cases in which other causes were clearly traceable. 

 His mixture consists of 3 J cwts. ground cotton cake, 3 J- cwts. 

 bran, 3J cwts. ground oats, and 1 cwt. ground linseed, mixed 

 wdth an ample quantity of oat husks, for a weekly supply for 

 twenty-eight cows, costing 3s. 2d. per head per w^eek, or 5Jd. 

 daily. The daily allowance of turnips ranges from 30 lbs. to 

 35 lbs. for each cow. It may be interesting and useful if we 

 quote the daily feed for each cow at Lethenty in the form of a 

 time-table : — 



6 A.M. — 1 lb. bran, oats, and ground decorticated cotton cake ; j lb. 

 groiuid linseed mixed with oat husks. 

 6.30 A.M. — "Barley straw. 



10.30 A.M. — 30 lbs. to 35 lbs. turnips, with the tops on so long as they are 

 fresh. 

 5 P.M. — A mixture similar to the morning one with straw. 



On this system of feeding the cows improve rapidly in condi- 

 tion when dry, and they maintain their condition after they are 

 calved. Moreover, wdien fed in this way, they do not fall off in 

 condition when turned out to grass in May; but the supply of 

 food is reduced a little before they go out to grass. They have 

 a supply of w^ater always before them, which is a matter the 

 importance of which cannot be over-estimated. 



The cases of abortion caused by an excessive supply of turnips 

 are decidedly more numerous with ewes in lamb than with cows 

 in calf. The main cause of this is probably to be found in the 

 fact that the latter class of stock always get an allowance of 

 straw, hay, or other dry food, and that this counteracts to a con- 

 siderable extent the deleterious influence of the w^atery bulbs ; 

 wdiereas breeding ewes, very commonly in many districts of Scot- 

 land and elsewhere, get nothing but turnips during a couple of 

 months of the year, and that, too, at the most critical stage of their 

 pregnancy, — viz., immediately before their lambing time is due. 

 As we have already explained, it is customary in the south-west 



