458 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



making 11 st. J; lbs. of gain in weight, whilst the 

 cabbage made 10 st. 9 lbs.; at the same time 

 3 cwt. 40 lbs. less food was consumed ; and taking 

 the mutton gained at Gd. per lb., the swedes con- 

 sumed become worth 9s. S-Jrd. ])er ton ; while the 

 gain on the cabbage, at the same rate, makes them 

 worth 8s. 7d. per ton. But from the great addi- 

 tional weight of the one crop grown over the other, 

 the balance at the prices, &c., mentioned, is in 

 favour ofthecabbage by £1 l6s. Od. per acre. 



The weight of the 1 sheep 

 on 1st. Dec, 185.5, was 



Weight on the 1st March, 

 1856 



The gain was therefore . . 



The value of the gain at 6d, 



6 



Value of each crop per acre 18 6 6 

 Extra cost on each crop 



per acre 4 10 11 



Free value of each crop 



per acre 13 15 7 



Balance in favour of 



cabbage per acre .... 1 16 



Fed on 

 Swede. 

 St. lb. 



89 3 



100 7 



11 4 



£ s. d. 



3 9 



12 G 7 



7 



11 19 7 



On the management and feeding of breeding 

 stock, much valuable practical matter is contained 

 in the lately published prize essay of Mr. Edward 

 Bowly, of Siddington {Jour. Roy. Affri. Soc, 

 vol. xix., p. 145). He observes, when speaking 

 of the use of artificial food : " I never give any 

 artificial food to animals after they have completed 

 their growth, and not often after eighteen months 

 old, up to which age I consider it is profitable to 

 the breeders, whether of shorthorns or any other 

 breed, to give a moderate quantity of oilcake, 

 thereby increasing the size of the animal and the 

 value of the manure. My cows have grass alone 

 during the summer, late in the autumn a little hay 

 at night and in the morning, and hay and roots 

 when in milk in the winter, the dry cattle having 

 pulped roots and straw-chaff during that season. 

 This comparatively new mode of feeding cattle is 

 one of the greatest improvements of the present 

 day : formerly, when cattle were fed on roots and 

 straw, they ate too many of the former and not 

 sufficient of the latter; by tlius mixing the two we 

 induce them to eat the proper proportions of each, 

 and they do much better with little more than 

 half the old quantity of roots. I have several dry 

 cows now in excellent condition, being fed on 

 45 lbs. of pulped swedes and a bushel and a half 

 of etraw-chaff each daily, with no other food what- 

 ever. My calves of last year, now eleven to thir- 

 teen months old, are in a very thriving condition 

 with 28 lbs. of pulped swedes, one bushel of straw- 



chaff, with 2 lbs. of oilcake each daily. I have the 

 chaff and roots mixed only a short time before they 

 arc given to the animals ; if allowed to remain in a 

 heap two or three days the mass will heat, and 

 some i)ersons maintain that it is best to give it to 

 the cattle in this warm state. I have found no ad- 

 vantage in it myself, and I consider it therefore 

 best avoided, as it may sometimes tend to acidity 

 not favourable to the health of the stock. I have 

 never tried the system of steaming and giving the 

 food warm to the cattle ; but a friend of mine, Mr. 

 Anthony Bubb, of Witcombe Court, near Glou- 

 cester, has made several experiments in feeding 

 cattle and pigs with steamed and unsteamed food, 

 and has found no advantage from the former, ex- 

 cept that when hay and straw-chaff are used alone 

 it is rendered more palatable, particularly if the 

 hay is of inferior quality. I consider straw objec- 

 tionable food, unless accompanied by roots or a 

 small quantity of oilcake ; it often causes obstruc- 

 tion in the second stomach, which is one of the 

 most dangerous maladies we have to contend with 

 in cows." 



The comparative qualities of cake, hay, &c., for 

 sheep, have been reported in the last number of the 

 Transactions of the Highland Society. Mr. B. 

 Bird tells us, in his prize essay, that his experi- 

 ments were made upon lots of five each ; that the 

 sheep were wethers, lambed in April, 1857 ; and as 

 to breed, that they were got by Leicester tups out 

 of half-bred ewes (a cross between the Leicester 

 and the Cheviot). 



The following table gives the weights of the five 

 lots, when they were put into their pens on the 

 15th of December, 1857, and on the 22nd of Fe- 

 bruary and the 15th of April, 1858 : — 



1. Fed on turnips and "I 



linseed-cake . . J 



2. Turnips and rape- 1 



cake J 



3. Turnips and hay .... 



4. Turnips and corn . . 



April 15. 

 St. lbs. 



45 8 



39 7 



43 13 

 48 2 



The general conclusions to which Mr. Bird 



arrives is, that when feeding whole flocks, and 

 when given in moderate quantities, such as the 

 sheep will readily consume, the preference must be 

 given first to linseed cake, secondly to bay, and 

 thirdly to corn. But if given in larger quantities, 

 provided it possesses a good mixture of clovers 

 through it, is uninjured by wet in the making, and 

 given to them chopped, that then the preference 

 must be assigned to bay first, corn second, and 

 linseed-cake third. As to rape-cape, he is of opinion 

 that although feeding with it in this experiment 

 was a decided failure, yet other breeds of sheep 



