THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



75 



therefore, that where the laud waa good for anything, 

 kohl rabi should be substituted for the swede. He 

 believed that it exhausted the soil something more than 

 turnips did ; but in such a year as the last it was of 

 great advantage to him ; for where he had grown turnips 

 and fed them off with sheep the barley was all down 

 and good for very little ; but where the kohl rabi grew, 

 it was stiffer in the straw, of much better quality, and 

 worth £2 to £3 an acre more than any other barley that 

 he had. The certainty of the croj), and a gnod return, 

 were therefore compensatory for any little exhaustion of 

 the soil. 



Mr. J. Bradshaw (Knowle, Guildford) thought the 

 comparative failure of mangel wurzel this year, instead 

 of being a loss to the farmers, would ultimately be a 

 great benefit, because it would teach Ihem how to use 

 that root, and make them better acquainted with its 

 real value. It was a most interesting question what 

 was the best period for the use of mangel wurzel? 

 This year many persons had used it two months ago, 

 and they were still using it. He was himself using half 

 mangold and half swedes for bullocks, and never per- 

 haps had his bullocks thriven so well before. It had 

 been stated in effect that if mangold was given to cattle 

 injudicioubly they got into a scouring state. His bul- 

 locks exhibited no sign of scouring, and the best proof 

 that there was no scouring was the laying on of fat. He 

 believed that if mangel wurzel were properly used, it 

 would in every stage prove an advantageous crop. Mr. 

 Nesbit had mads some remarks on the enlargement 

 of roots by stimulating manures. He quite agreed with 

 that gentleman that very stimulating manures were apt 

 to increase the crop beyond the desirable point ; but the 

 question was how far they ought to go. The other day 

 he gave his man instructions to employ seven cart-loads 

 of well-manufactured manure, instead of ten, for wheat. 

 Ifthe season were favourable, ten would yield a fair 

 remuneration, but if not seven was amply sufficient, 

 as he learnt good by experience in the last year. 

 They all knew that straw was a great carbon-producing 

 substance. An ox must have introduced into his system 

 a large amount of this substance, which was ejected 

 from his stomach ; and straw in filling the stomach 

 conveyed a valuable substance and discharged a useful 

 function. He found from experience that he could get 

 into a bullock of about 100 stone, of 81b, each, 121bs. of 

 straw chaff, either oat or barley straw, and 91bs. of hay, 

 that was 211bs. per day (he was very correct in weigh- 

 ing), and with that he gave G81bs. of roots. Now this 

 was not theory, but practice. (Hear, hear) . His bul- 

 locks would not receive an ounce of oilcake till January. 

 On the first of January he would begin by giving them 

 31bs. of cake, which would be continued daily during 

 that month ; in the next month the quantity would be 

 4lbs., and in the next 5lbs. ; and he had no doubt that 

 he would have very good beasts at the end of March. 

 There were other matters, however, which required to 

 be attended to. His animals were warm, they had good 

 layers, they had plenty of ventilation, they were kept 

 clean, and they were upon boards. The placing of ani- 

 mals on boards was not, he would remark, an invention 

 of Mr, Mechi. Gentlemen who had travelled through 

 Bavaria and other parts of the Continent must have 

 discovered that it was no new thing to place animals on 

 boards. All the points which he had just mentioned 

 should be carefully attended to, as that would tend to 

 the cheaper and speedier fattening of the animal. 



Mr. Walton (Alton) said no one coxild have a higher 

 opinion of mangold wurzel than he had for all descrip- 

 tions of stock, having grown it for upwards of thirty 

 years with great advantage. Living in a dry country, 

 where there was great difficulty in growing swedes and 

 turnips, he had sometimes been obliged to resort to 

 mangold wurzel, previous to the lambing of hia ewes, 



in January, and occasionally in December, also directly 

 after the ewes had lambed ; but he was of opinion that 

 the special merit of mangold wurzel was, that it was 

 available for late feeding, as it would keep longer than 

 any other root. 



Mr. Joseph Payne (Felmersham, Bedford) said 

 he had always found mangold wurzel a very valuable 

 crop. He never consumed it till after January ; and 

 growing enough generally to last till the spring, he 

 found it better for his ewes and lambs than anything 

 else. He never found it of much use in the fattening of 

 cattle. He had tried it several times, but he found that 

 if he gave them much they did not do well. As re- 

 guarded straw, he believed the best use it could be put 

 to was for beasts to lie upon. He thought it would pay 

 better for litter, and make much more manure that way, 

 than any other ; if cut into chaff' it would make less 

 manure, and beast would get a worse article in the shape 

 of food. 



Mr. Wells wished to observe that, although he 

 had been a considerable grower of mangold wurzel, 

 he had not given any of it to sheep. As regarded 

 cattle, it should bo borne in mind that mangold 

 wurzel contained an immense amount of water, and 

 must therefore be used with care. He had suffered 

 very much through giving his young stock mangold 

 v^urzel at the commencement of the season ; in fact some 

 of thein had been paralyzed. He attached a great deal 

 more value to straw than the gentleman who had just 

 spoken. He fed from sixty to eighty bullocks every 

 winter, and they never got any hay, except on the day 

 preceding that on which they were sent to market. In 

 addition to their roots and oilcake, they had a good 

 forkful! of straw laid before them every night, which 

 they picked over, when fresh thrashed, with great 

 relish; in the morning the lefuse went for bedding, 

 and a fresh supply was given: and he thought his 

 stock generally made as good an appearance as that of 

 his neighbours. He could not, therefore, subscribe to 

 the opinion that straw was of no value. He had tried 

 the pulping of roots by hand on a small scale, which, 

 when mixed with chaff or cut straw, so convinced 

 him of the importance of pulping, that he was now 

 making arrangements for pulping by steam-power. 

 As regarded the growth of mangold wurzel, he felt 

 certain that its chief use was as an auxiliary to other 

 food, and that farmers would prove mistaken if they 

 relied on it as a substitute. It should be remembered 

 that mangold wurzel was a very exhausting crop. 



The Chairman thought it desirable that Mr. Wells 

 should state in what part of the kingdom he farmed. 

 (Hear, hear.) 



Mr. Wells said he farmed on the warped lands of 

 Yorkshire, and also on the wolds of that county. 



The Chairman said they were all aware that straw 

 was of much greater value in the north of England than 

 in the south. 



Mr. Stokes said the question of the relative values of 

 mangel wurzel and turnips was settled many years ago. 

 The late Lord Spencer, while President of the Smithfield 

 Club selected two oxen (he thought it was in the month 

 of October), fed them alternately on mangel wurzel and 

 turnips each for a month, and weighed them at the end 

 of the month. The mangel wurzel and the turnips being 

 given in the same proportions, the result was that the 

 former yielded rather more weight than the latter. 



The Chairman said before the discussion closed he 

 wished to make one or two remarks. Mr. Nesbit ob- 

 served that warmth was of very great influence in the 

 fattening of stock. Now that opinion he was enabled 

 to corroborate from his own experience. Having been 

 a practical farmer for a considerable period, and been 

 engaged in the fattening of bullocks year after year, he 

 was satisfied that the keeping animals warm was a great 



