172 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 



THE BEST SUBSTITUTE FOR TURNIPS FOR FEEDING CATTLE. 



At the Monthly Meeting of the Haddington Farmers' Club, 

 Mr. Shirreff said, that having been most unexpectedly 

 called to the chair in the absence of Mr. Skirving, he hoped 

 the meeting would excuse him for being quite unprepared. 

 Mr. Skirving had sent a letter on the subject, which the Sec- 

 retary would read. The letter was read, and Mr. Skirving 

 therem stated that he could not account for the present condi- 

 tion of the turnip crop, but hoped that a considerable number 

 of facts would be elicited at the meeting, and by comparing 

 these perhaps some hints for future management might be 

 obtained. He observed that the district of the railway from 

 Dunbar to Edinburgh presented this appearance, that while 

 there is not one single field of good turnips of any variety, 

 there is a great diiFerence as to the extent of the failure, and 

 to his mind that diversity is the moat puzzling feature in the 

 case. Near Drem, the swedes, the seed of which had long 

 lain dormant in the utterly dry soil, came up at last without 

 their full natural vigour. If this condition of the plant did 

 not invite the attacks of the various grubs, it at least so re- 

 tarded their growth as to render their ravages more fatal. He 

 observed at least four different kinds of worms busily at work, 

 and that it is remarkable that the large green caterpiller is 

 always to be found in pairs. But so far as he saw, there is no 

 disease among the swedes about Drem, whilst at Tranent Sta- 

 tion they are as utterly gone as the other varieties of turnips. 

 Then, again, the whole of his white and purple-top turnips are 

 diseased, and none of them longer to be seen on the ground, 

 whilst at byres close by they are quite healthy, though very 

 small. He is convinced that it is not the kng drought which 

 is the secret cause of this disease. He has some fields sown 

 after the rain which rushed away at once, and indeed nearly 

 the whole of his turnips were moat luxuriant and vigorous at 

 the time they were singled. Tlie period of their being sown 

 made no difference. There is one field, portions of which 

 were sown at four different times ; they did well at first, all 

 became yellow at once, and drooped their leaves, and died at 

 once, but the dissolution of the younger ones was by far the 

 most rapid. The manure had nothing to do with the disease. 

 This, he thought, was clearly proved by the Club's experi- 

 ments, which he had tried, together with a portion of farm- 

 yard manure alone — all becoming hectic and diseased at one 

 time. He said that a farmer in the county from which he 

 wrote (Dumfries) insists that it is our four-crop rotation 

 which has weakened our turnips, and that the land is sickened 

 by them. This, Mr. Skirving said, is clearly not the case, for 

 why should the crop on one farm be healthy, and that on the 

 farm next he dead, both being managed in exactly the same 

 manner ? Besides, two years ago he had a very fine crop. He 

 wished to draw attention to the possibility of the disease aris- 

 ing from the atmosphere acting on some geological peculiarity 

 of the soil. He saw no reason why some peculiarity of soil 

 may not be spotted over our district as the clouds in the sky. 

 Thus, suppose a mass of it to stretch from Longniddry to 

 Portobello— where he observed more d sease than anywhere 

 else — and portions of soil with the unknown ingredient are 

 scattered all around, his suggestion is that something else pe- 

 culiar in the atmosphere combines with that in the soil, and 

 produces the disease. The difference between the tiunip dis- 

 ease and the potato disease is striking in this respect, that 

 the potato was struck down equally all over Europe, whilst 

 nothing can be more apparently capricious than the exceptional 

 and eccentric manner in which fields of turnips are struck 

 down. The only practical conclusion we can come to is, that 

 having now seen soft turnips fail more or less for two conse- 

 cutive years in the lower districts of East Lothian, we must be 

 prepared for the probability of the continuance of the disease 

 for some years to come. It is therefore most fitting that we 

 endeavour to find as many and as good substitutes as we can 

 for a root which has been more at the bottom of agricultural 

 improvement than perhaps any other single thing that could 

 be named. Our attention must be directed to crops of rape 

 sown at various periods to be eaten on the ground, to kohl 

 rabi, to cabbage, to the coarser varieties of potatoes, and above 



all to mangolds, which never proved their advantages more 

 than during this season, so peculiarly unfitted from want of 

 rain to their growth. 



Mr. E. HiSLOP, jun., Prestonpans, said he had suffered as 

 much from disease as any one in the county. He had grown 

 turnips, cabbage, and mangold. The cabbage was attacked by 

 the fly as well as the turnips, but the mangold was free. He 

 considered that mangold is suited to a dry soil, that a dry sea- 

 son is favourable to it, and that it is a good crop this season 

 because it was dry. He was satisfied that mangold is the 

 best substitute for turnips. 



Mr, Sydsekff, of Ruchlaw, thought that the discussion was 

 intended to bring out the present exigeucies, and that dealers 

 in cake should be asked to say something on the subject. He 

 found that mangold had suffered much this year, and remarked 

 that his crop was far better where it had been transplanted 

 than where it had grown where sown. 



Mr. Sadler, Ferrygate, said he had been advised to ask 

 sellers of feeding substances for their opinion, but he thought 

 we should be left to ourselves to find the best substitute. The 

 question is, what are we to feed our cattle with this season ? 

 Oilcake is cheap, and we have cow straw cutters, steamers, 

 and turnip pulpers to call to our aid. He had tried pulping, 

 and thought that it would interest the meeting to hear his 

 experience of that system, which has been so much recom- 

 mended in England for its economy of turnips in the feeding 

 of cattle, that one manufacturer alone has sold no less than 

 4,000 machines. The plan recommended is to mince or grate 

 the turnip into a pulp, which either fresh or fermented is 

 mixed and given to cattle along with cut straw. He then read 

 the following paper containing the details and result of his 

 experiments : — 



"This time two years ago I obtained one of the most approved 

 pulpers of the day on trial, and I would advise this plan of 

 getting a trial with all new and unknown machines before pur- 

 chasing. The machine in question was made to pluck the 

 roots into small pieces, without apparently pressing out any 

 of their juices, I selected eight shorthorn cattle bought at 

 Dalkeith Fair, and up to the end of the year fed them upon 

 sliced turnips and a few potatoes. Before being weighed and 

 marked for trial, they were divided as equally as possible into 

 two lots of four each, and for some weeks each lot was fed 

 upon the respective food intended for it during the trial. 



" The experiment commenced on the 22nd January, the cattle 

 being in fair thriving condition. They were then all weighed 

 smgly upon a steelyard, and notes began to be taken of the 

 food consumed — Lot No. 1 getting sliced swedes ad libitum, 

 with uncut wheat straw, and Lot No. 2 pulped swedes ad 

 libitum, mixed, and given fresh with cut wheat straw, the daily 

 quantity of the latter allowed being 7 lb. per head, or as much 

 as the pulp would amalgamate with, without reud?ring the 

 mixture over dry. For the first month the lot feeding upon 

 the pulp seemed to take the lead, but ultimately, as will be 

 shown, they did not exhibit any superiority. During the last 

 four weeks of the trial, both lots had an allowance of 4 lb. of 

 oilcake per head daily. The experiment was continued until 

 the 22nd April, when the beasts were all again weighed. The 

 lot on sliced food was found to have consumed in 88 days 25 

 tons 1 cwt. 2 qrs. of Swedish turnips, and to have increased 

 in weight 7 cwt. 31 lbs , and the lot upon pulp had consumed 

 23 tons 13 cwt. 1 qr., and had increased in weight 6 cwt. 46 lb. 

 " The following is a table showing the weight of each beast 

 9t the commencement and end of the experiment, and also the 

 improvement on each : — 



Lot No. 1.— Four Caitlb on Sliced Swedes. 

 No. Weight January 22. Weight April 22. Increase. 

 Cwt. lb. Cwt. lb. Cwt. lb, 



1 9 7 11 28 .... 2 21 



2 7 98 9 42 .... 1 66 



3 9 84 11 94 ..,, 2 10 



4 9 10 56 .... 1 56 



35 77 



42 108 



7 31 



