AS FOOD FOR CATTLE AND SHEEP. 289 



line drawn from Dundee to Xairn, no less than 40 per cent, of all 

 the acreage devoted to the production of turnips in Scotland is 

 situated. The county of Aberdeen alone contains not much short 

 of one hundred thousand acres of this crop, being almost one- 

 fifth of the total area devoted to it in Scotland. In the counties 

 of Eoxburgh and Berwick there is 11 per cent., and in Dum- 

 friesshire and Galloway 10 per cent. Thus these ten counties 

 contain upwards of 60 per cent., — that is, three-fifths of the 

 acreage under this important root crop. 



Other considerations besides its wide area show its value and 

 importance. It is very costly to raise. The labour bill alone 

 of growing an acre of such roots is a heavy one, including as it 

 does horse work in preparing the land, carting the manure, and 

 harrowing and grubbing the plants at various stages of their 

 growth. To that has to be added the expense of manual labour, 

 also at all stages. The heaviest outlay is generally incurred on 

 the manure bill, especially when the value of the farmyard 

 manure is estimated, as well as what is actually paid for supple- 

 mental fertilisers. It appears from a report made public at the 

 time we write, that the average cost of manures per acre in- 

 curred in the growth of swedes by members of the Garioch 

 (Aberdeenshire) Turnip-growing Association during the last six- 

 teen years has been £5, 5s. Of course, some of these manures 

 are unexhausted at the end of the season ; but it must also be 

 borne in mind that this residue is to some extent counterbalanced 

 by what was in the land before the seed was sown. Further, 

 there is the expense of harvesting the crop, for such of the bulbs 

 as are consumed at the farm-steading require to have their tops 

 cut off and be carted there. Besides, as we shall endeavour to 

 show, it is profitable to uplift also wdiatever of the balance is to be 

 consumed on the land by sheep ; for, apart from the injury done 

 by frost and the ravages of ground game, careful feeders are 

 finding it remunerative to cut the bulbs and give them to white 

 stock in troughs, instead of allowing them to be eaten where 

 they grew. The aggregate outlay on these processes is thus very 

 great. Another circumstance which enhances the value of the 

 turnip crop, is the fact that during the winter months the stock- 

 keeping capabilities of arable farms where mixed Imsbandrv is 

 pursued, are largely dependent upon this root crop, for in the 

 cattle and sheep-feeding districts, the number of stock fed 

 during any season is principally regulated by the measure of 

 success with which it lias been cultivated. Even the re('eij)ts of 

 the hill farmers, who do not grow a single bulb on their hold- 

 ings, are largely influenced by it ; for the ])rice which they 

 receive for lambs, aged wethers, anil cast ewes, is in no smail 

 degree dependent on the favourable prospect or otherwise of the 

 season's turnip crop in the lowlands at the time the sales are 



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