THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



173 



Lot 2.— Four Cattle upon Pulped Swedes mixed 



AviTii Cut Straw, AiNd givkn fresh. 

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

 Cwt. lb. Cwt. lb. Cwt. lb. 



1 9 2 11 14 .... 2 12 



2 9 15 10 77 .... 1 62 



3 9 28 10 84 .... 1 56 



4 8 84 10 .... 1 28 



36 17 



42 63 



6 46 



Comparative Results. 



Lot 1. Lot 2. 



Sliced swedes. Pulp, swedes, 

 £ a, d. £ a. d. 



Comparative relative value of 

 increase at 6d. per lb 20 2 6 17 19 



Ts. cwt. qr. Ts. cwt. qr. 



Weight of turnips consumed in 

 SSdays 25 1 2 23 13 1 



£ s. d. £ s, d. 



Value of oilcake consumed in 4 

 weeks 10 10 



£ s. d. 



1 11 6 



2 16 



15 17 6 



Tons cwt. 

 Estra turnips consumed by lot 



upon sliced food 1 8 . . 



£ p. d. 



Value of extra turnips 14 0.. 



Cost of slicing, &c., 4d. per 



head per week 16 0.. 



Cost of pulping 6d., and cutting 



straw Id. per head per week . — 

 Total for extra food and labour . 2 0... 

 Return on each lot of turnips 



consumed, taking increase at 



6d. per lb. per week 18 2 6 ... 



Payment on turnips per ton, 



taking value of increase at 6d. 



per lb. per week 14 6 13 6 



" From the above it would appear that putting the cost of 

 pulping against the saving of turnip, in my case I got one 

 shilling per ton less for the pulped turnips than for those given 

 in the ordinary way. It is to be hoped now, when our roots 

 are so far from plentiful, other experiments may shortly be 

 made upon this subject, as it would be raah to rest satisfied 

 with even one or two trials. We all know that in a lot of 

 beasts, even one animal, from being a dull feeder, would eflfect 

 a great difference in a trial of this sort, and in future ones it 

 may be desirable to increase the quantity of cut straw, and to 

 add, perhaps, a little linseed gruel to damp the mixture. 



" I may mention that a friend of mine in the south of Eng- 

 land, who had a good crop of swedes last year, preferred giving 

 them all to his sheep, and feed his oxen entirely on mangold, 

 cake, and barley meal ; and, as he observed, he had every 

 reason to be satisGed with the result. I have some idea that 

 he was correct ; at least I have always found a better return 

 from sheep than from cattle. Should this be so in general, 

 perhaps the diminution of our turnip crop this season may, 

 like the loss of the potato in Ireland in '46, lead to a profit in 

 the end, by turning our attention to a more profitable method 

 of feeding our cattle than that we have hitherto adopted. 



" In England the pulping system has progressed beyond all 

 measure, although we are still without any comparative trials; 

 yet, if we credit the vendors of these machines, something 

 even superior to Thorley's cattle food is being spurned from our 

 feet." 



Mr. SniRREF said that the remarks of Mr. Sadler well de- 

 served attention ; there is little doubt the deficiency of our 

 turnip crop can in a great measure be supplied by the use of 

 steamed food. Chopped straw and chaff are great auxiliaries 

 when properly prepared. It is a very serious thing indeed, 

 when our agricultural Club is compelled to consider what are 

 the best auxiliaries to supply the deficiency of our turnip crop. 

 We naturally first turn our minds to trace out the cause of the 

 failure. To him it seemed to be caused partly by the mild- 

 ness of the winter, and partly by the dryness of the summer, 

 and yet this cannot be the entire cause of the failure of the 

 crop. Some varieties of turnips entirely failed : others 

 again have some chance of still being r tolerable cropi 



He had noticed that all the hybrid turnips have suffered 

 most from the ravages of the caterpillar and grub. In a field 

 of his own, the contrast between swedes and green-top yellow 

 is most marked. They were sown the same day, and with the 

 same manure. The swedes look healthy, and have a good 

 chance of being a tolerable crop. The hybrid turnips are most 

 thoroughly diseased, and never can be a third cf a crop. 

 Luckily the results of last year convinced him that hybrid tur- 

 nips were more liable to disease, and he had only sown three 

 acres of them this year. The white globe turnips are a good 

 crop compared with the other. We have met to-day to con- 

 sider how the deficiency of the crop is best to bs supplied. 

 The beat substitute, could we obtam it cheap enough, is oil- 

 cake. It is not dear this year. We must try to purchase our 

 cattle a few pounds cheaper, to enable us to afford our outlay 

 on oilcake. The difficulty is to reconcile dealers to this ar- 

 rangement, but a deficient turnip crop must make less demand 

 for cattle, and buyers should be cautious. 



Mr, DuRiE, Standingstane, understood the subject before 

 the Club to be what to grow instead of turnips, but it seemed 

 to him to have merged into what to buy. If we are to have 

 the present emergency supplied, there is nothing in the market 

 just now as good as oilcake at its present price. With respect 

 to Mr. Sadler's last substitute, it is rather a kind of Irish re- 

 sort to substitute " pulped turnips and straw" for turnips, 

 especially after Mr. Sadler himself has shown the Club that he 

 got Is. per ton less for pulped turnips. In fact he (Mr. Durie) 

 did not approve of pulping at all, as by it the amount of 

 nourishment in the turnip may be diminished, but cannot be 

 Iflcreased, and as it supersedes the process of chewing, which 

 promotes digestion. The animal cannot fatten better on the 

 same weight of roots. But what are we to grow instead of 

 turnips, as they are getting every year more liable to disease ? 

 The great cause of the deficiency this year is the want of rain 

 which has produced mildew. It is worst in the low district 

 of this county, where there was most drought ; not quite so 

 bad in the middle district, where there is more heavy land, 

 which drought does not affect so much ; and in the higher 

 district, where they had more rain, turnips are a fair crop. 

 He thought members ought to try various mixtures of ma- 

 nures, and see if any of them will check the tendency to 

 mildew in dry weather. Last year, where he had mixed fcwt. 

 per acre of nitrate of soda, the mildew almost stopped. He 

 thought the best substitute for turnips is undoubtedly man- 

 gold. It requires more manure than turnips, but it grows 

 well on all deep soils, and once brairded it is not liable to dis- 

 ease, and drought has very little effect on it. The only thing 

 against mangold is, that it will not grow well on light turnip 

 soils. 



After remarks from various other members, it was agreed to 

 confine the resolutions of the meeting to the present emer- 

 gency, and to take another opportunity of discussing what 

 is the best substitute for the turnip crop in time to come. It 

 was then moved by Mr. Sadler, seconded byMr. Shirreff, 

 and unanimously agreed to, " That in the present emergency, 

 caused by the deficiency of the turnip crop, the Club recom- 

 mend experiments to be made in feeding cattle with mangold 

 alone, and also with the various feeding substances now in the 

 market, and that trials be made with steamed cut straw, 

 bran, linseed cake, rape cake, and barleymeal, separately or 

 mixed ; and also, although not hitherto successful in Scotland, 

 with pulped turnips, mixed with cut straw." 



THE ENGLISH FARMER.— Unfortunately, farmers 

 have, like other people, a greater sense of the faults of 

 others than of their own. They are not conscious of their 

 own want of education and of their own awkwardness in 

 .many things ; and yet they often entertain a most profound 

 contempt for. townspeople. It would be better if they 

 piqued themselves upon their real merits and posi- 

 tion rather than on their being able to do a few things 

 which, living as they do in the country, they cannot avoid 

 understanding. They really have a position and a charac- 

 ter to maintain, and be proud of. The English farmer is a 

 member of a most important class of society. Living in the 

 country, and in the enjoyment of sun, and air, and fields, 

 and trees, without the wearing routine of labour, which 

 too often blinds the peasant to all these blessings, and 



