THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



135 



wheat out of the laud without returning wheat to it, he thought 

 that tlie best way waa to consume the wheat ou the land, and 

 for these reasons he had very great pleasure in seconding Mr. 

 Osborne's moticj. 



Mr. James Williams, of Northcourt, said that the rela- 

 tive price of wheat to that of other food bore chiefly on this 

 subject, which was confined to the feeding of sheep, which 

 must consume roots ; and, in order to have a healthful animal, 

 which would yield a fair return for what it consumed, they must 

 look to the effect of the food on the animal itself. Now roots 

 alone were of a purgative character, a large per centage being 

 water ; and they wanted to correct that, and the beat corn for 

 that purpose had been found to be good old beans, not so much 

 for the formation of fat, but for supplying that which was 

 wanting in feeding on roots. In looking at wheat, they natu- 

 rally inferred a tendency to scour, which was increased by the 

 cousumptiou of roots. lie (^Mr. Williams) had watched a flock 

 for some months that had been consuming half a pint of wheat 

 per day ; they thrived quickly, and came very heavy to the 

 scale, but there was a tendency to scour, and he had asked the 

 shepherd if he continued to give them wheat, and he told him 

 he was obliged to leave off' ths wheat because it scoured the 

 lambs, and for the last month he had given them clover hay 

 and turnips, upon which they made the same progress ; but he 

 (Mr. Williams) doubted whether they did so well without corn 

 as with it. They ought not, however, to Iook to the effect of 

 any kind of food independent of other food. He had seen a 

 very fine flock of 250, which made 703. each, and they con- 

 sumed 1 lb. of oilcake per day, and he had asked the party if 

 old beans would not have been cheaper, but his reply was that, 

 from his experience, oilcake was not only the safest thing to 

 consume, but was cheaper than any other description of food. 

 That was the experience of a man who farmed largely, and who 

 produced most excellent crops. They found from experience 

 that by feeding with new or old beans they lo3t sheep from 

 congestion of the brain, brought on by indigestion, and thus it 

 was a great question whether beans were equal to, or as safe 

 as, oilcake, which did not produce that effect. He (Mr. Wil- 

 liams) had lambed 550 ewes, when he fatted the lambs with 

 oilcake alone, but his experience with oilcake this year led him 

 to give it up, for it produced a good deal of fever, and they did 

 not progress so well as with split beans. One year he fed 

 his lambs with peaa, and he found they did best on old peas, 

 which were not so apt to scour, or to engender disease, as new 

 peas. Then came the question as to whether wheat was the 

 most profitable article to consume for sheep, and, as far as his 

 experience went, beana or old peas were preferable, as being 

 not only cheaper and safer, but possessing equal feeding pro- 

 perties. He could not advocate using wheat alone, for, as such, 

 he did not think it either the safest or cheapest, but it 

 might be i'.sed in company with other corn. He disagreed 

 with Mr. Osborne's plan of using wheat alone, and was of 

 opinion that & mixture of one-third wheat, one-third cake, and 

 one-third old beans, would be preferable, as the cake would 

 produce fat, beans made muscle, while wheat would give 

 Btrength to the general frame. 



The Vice-President (Mr. James Walker, of Begbroke 

 Hill Farm) said that, with respect to feeding sheep with wheat, 

 he conld not speak from experience, or adduce any facts in 

 favour of it, because he had not tried wheat, but for some years 

 past he had been an extensive consumer of oilcake, and the 

 more he used it the better he liked it. The price of beans was 



so near to that of wheat that he strongly upheld the feeding of 

 sheep with beana on roots. Mr. Williams had spoktn very 

 favourably of oilcake, but he (Mr. Walker) had found it too 

 loose for sheep in fold, and was in favour of a mixture of cake, 

 barley, and beans. Wheat was intended for human nature, 

 and was beet suited for that purpose, and before he used it 

 alone for sheep he should like to be informed, which Mr. Os- 

 borne had not done, on what number of sheep it had been tried, 

 and what number of quarters of corn had been so applied ? In 

 the absence of that information, which ought to be given 

 before any such conclusion were come to, he should move, as 

 au amendment, " That a mixture of beans, barley, and cake, 

 is preferable as food for sheep. 



Mr. G. F. CoGGiNS, of Coombe, said that this was a subject 

 which required years of practical experience to qualify a man 

 to speak upon, but as he conld not lay claim to that, he must 

 confine himself to a scientific view of it. Mr. Osborne had 

 thrown out some remarks on the relative value of certain foods 

 with respect to the amount of nutriment they contained, not- 

 withstanding which, he (Mr. Coggins) was prepared to prove 

 that wheat contained less nutriment than beans, peas, or len- 

 tils, which latter contained more than peas, and next to 

 peas stood beans. It was a well-known and ascertained 

 fact, that food which contained the largest amount of 

 nitrogen contained the largest amount of nutriment. Wheat 

 was more adapted to the human frame, but in the practice of 

 farming they must look to first principles ; the farmer had to 

 look 10 the nature of the food he has to use, and to get the best 

 amount for his root crop. He must look to his basis for nitro- 

 gen and carbon, but nitrogen was the best, though he must 

 have sufficient of both qualities. Swedes alone tended to 

 scour, because thsy contained more carbon than nitrogen. 

 Beans and peas formed the best iavestment of capital ; oilcake 

 contained a large amount of carbonaceous matter, and laid on 

 a great amount of flesh and fat. Kapecake had been recom- 

 mended by some, but it was nauseating to sheep. Wheat was 

 intended as, and was very properly designated, " the mainstay 

 of life," but it did not follow that it waa the best for feeding 

 sheep and beasts, for animals ate grass and roots, and preferred 

 them to dry food. They might train an animal to eat any 

 thing, but if they mixed wheat and beans he believed that it 

 would be found a cheaper and safer food than wheat alone for 

 sheep. The manure which was left by an animal constituted 

 the largest profit, and they did not look so much to the price 

 of mutton as they did to the value of the manure left on the 

 land, and by giving beans it formed the manure for the cereal 

 crop. It was no proof because some sheep picked out the 

 wheat that they preferred it ; and believing as he did, that a 

 mixture of beans, barley, and cake, was preferable to wheat 

 alone, he begged to second the amendment. 



Mr. Williams remarked that if they took the price of 

 beans at 44s. per quarter, they could get a ton of cake at 

 10 guineas, which would produce as much as five quarters 

 of beans, whereas they could buy old peas at SSs. per quarter, 

 which would compete with beans. At the same time they 

 could not throw overboard cake, beans, or peas. He had con- 

 sumed some hundreds of quarters of wheat, but what would 

 feed pigs would not feed sheep, because they had not to con- 

 tend against the purgative property of roots, which sheep con- 

 sumed, but which pigs did not. 



On a division, the amendment waa carried, and the original 

 motion was lost. 



