74 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



spring, when swedes became leathery, they would be 

 enabled rightly to appreciate maugel wurzel. Mangel 

 wurzel was, in fact, a root which clay-land farmers 

 could hardly appreciate too highly. It was, no doubt, 

 abused very much, owing to ignorance of the proper use 

 of it. It was often used too early ; but after other roots 

 had lost their nutritive qualities, mangel wurzel dis- 

 played its full value. 



Mr. Stokes (^Kingstoa, Kegworth) said he rose to 

 corroborate Mr. Nesbit's opinion with regard to the 

 virtue of straw. In his own experience, he had found 

 it a good corrective when given with other substances ; 

 but those who imagined that they could fatten their 

 cattle by giving them straw, would find themselves very 

 much mistaken in the end. There was one question 

 which he would have asked Mr. Nesbit if he had not 

 left the room, namely, at what period he would recom- 

 mend them to apply salt to wheat and other plants. 

 His own custom had been to apply it in March or April, 

 and he had found it answer remarkably well ; but still he 

 would be glad to know whether or not that is the best 

 period for the application of salt. In feeding his animals, 

 he used mangel wurzel fi'om tie beginning of October till 

 January, and they did very well upon it. The grand and 

 great point was, he thought, to avoid giving more than 

 was necessary to keep the animal's body in a proper state 

 (Hear, hear). Observing that precaution, they would, 

 he believed, find their beasts thrive on mangel-wurzel, 

 and grow faster than they would do on any other de- 

 scription of vegetable food. 



Mr. G. DoBiTo (Lidgate, Newmarket) said as they 

 had been deprived so early of the presence of Mr. Nes- 

 bit, and as mangel-wurzel was so great a boon to the 

 occupier of heavy land, it would be very advantageous 

 if gentlemen who had been in the habit of using it 

 largely for some years would inform them at what 

 periods and in what proportions they had generally used 

 it. It appeared to him that it might be advantageously 

 used in moderation at any time (Hear, hear). 



Mr. C. Howard (Biddenham, Bedford) said he had 

 risen at the request of one or two gentlemen, who knew 

 that he had been in the habit of using mangel-wurzel 

 early. He had u?ed it as early as August for the sheep 

 which he had annually exhibited at the cattle-show, and 

 there was no other root which they ate with so much- 

 avidity as mangel-wurzel. He had also been in the 

 habit of using it as soon as he got it ofi" the land, that 

 is, early in October, continuing to use it throughout the 

 winter. There was one great advantage in mangel- 

 wurzel, which all who grew it were well acquainted with, 

 namely, that they could obtain double the weight that 

 the swede turnip would yield. He had that year drawn 

 off half his mangel-wurzel to feed lambs and ewes in 

 other parts of his farm, and he did not liesitate to say 

 that the weight now was equal to that of the same acre- 

 age of swede turnips. As regarded straw, he thought 

 all the most practical farmers would bear Mr. Nesbit 

 out in saying that it was very little use to put straw 

 alone into the stomachs of animals ; they all knew 

 from experience that, if animals ate only straw, their 

 manure was of very little value. He thought the pulp- 

 ing system was of great importance in relation to the 

 use of straw. He had himself recently adopted it on a 

 small farm he occupied in Bedford, and had found consi- 

 derable advantage accruing from it. Growing as he did 

 very little hay on this farm, he had adopted pulping for 

 the corn-chaff which was produced on it, and with this 

 food only slightly flavoured with clover-chaff the ani- 

 mals looked exceedingly thriving. 



Mr. Coleman (steward to the Duke of Bedford) had 

 been in the habit of using mangold all the year round, 

 and certainly there was no root which the animals would 

 eat so readily, whilst there was nothing which tended so 

 much to increase their weight. Upon one farm which he 



was then managing he had a flock of 600 sheep, which 

 had been eating mangold for the last two months, and he 

 believed it was impossible for any sheep to do better. 

 Next week they were to be sold for Christmas meat, and 

 he should have an opportunity of ascertaining whether 

 the butchers considered them as good as if they had been 

 fed upon swedes or other roots. The farm to which he 

 referred produced little or no hay ; and having a 

 great many roots to consume in the yards, he was com- 

 pelled to use straw. The result was that he kept one- 

 third more cattle by that system than by giving them the 

 turnip, cake, or other feeding substance by itself. Whe- 

 ther the system might answer where hay was grown, and 

 a large quantity of fodder produced, he had yet to learn ; 

 but upon the light lands of Norfolk, where he had been 

 accustomed to reside, and where hay was a more valuable 

 article than in the midland counties, straw was not only 

 useful, but almost an absolute necessaiy (Hear, hear). 

 It must be left to farmers themselves to discover what 

 was the right quantity of straw to use. Too much straw 

 tended to injure young animals to a great degree, unless 

 it was given with mangold. He was satisfied that man- 

 golds must come into more extensive use than ever it 

 had done yet ; and it must be grown, not only on heavy, 

 but also on light lands. Year after year they found 

 swedes more diflScult to grow, and the reason of that 

 difficulty was not made clear. Swedes, indeed, were 

 subject to so many diseases that they were not a certain 

 crop, even in the best swede-growing districts of the 

 country. The chief obstacle to the growth of mangold 

 was, perhaps, the immense amount of labour entailed 

 by the necessity of storing in a busy season of the year. 

 But they had now the steam-engine on the land ; and he 

 looked forward to its being applied not only to plough- 

 ing and cultivating, but to assist in drawing oft' the 

 crops of mangold wurtzel (Hear, hear, and a laugh). 



Mr. C. Howard, in explanation, wished to be un- 

 derstood as not advocating the entire use of straw. 



Mr. W. Bennett (Cambridge) said there was no doubt 

 hat swede turnips had, of late years, become an exceed- 

 ingly precarious crop, both in the growth and the keeping. 

 He had endeavoured to reduce them upon his farm as far 

 as practicable ; and now only one -fourth of his root-crop 

 consisted of swedes, although formerly they were three- 

 fourths. In fact, the swede was the least profitable root 

 they could grow in many counties, and especially in the 

 county of Cambridge ; and was not to be depended upon 

 with any confidence, however highly cultivated or fa- 

 vourable the circumstances. It ran up with a great 

 neck, became diseased, rotted, and got worthless. 

 What, then, should be a substitute ? for it was an impor- 

 tant matter for consideration. He himself had resorted 

 largely to kohl rabi, and with a good deal of success. 

 For five years he had been growing it, increasingly ; and 

 his opinion was that it was the most profitable crop 

 upon the land, with the exception, perhaps, of mangel 

 wurzel. It was excellent for transplantation after a 

 green crop, such as tares or rye; the land should 

 be well cleaned, and the manure put on in the 

 autumn. In fact, he had planted not less than eleven 

 acres of kohl rabi in the present year alone. He 

 transplanted it as late as the third or fourth week of 

 July, and it was as beautiful a crop as he could wish to- 

 see. His practice was to drill it partly on the regular 

 summer fallows, just before drilling swede turnips, and 

 the plants were in a capital state when tares, &c., were 

 gone. There was not much certainty about a crop of 

 turnips after tares. Once in five or six years they might 

 succeed pretty well ; but generally speaking they did 

 not, whereas kohl rabi succeeded without a doubt. Being 

 a hardy plant, it was difficult to kill, and for ewes and 

 lambs it was as fine food as they could have in March 

 and April. His hoggets were now doing well on that 

 grown on the fallows. He would strongly recommend, 



