1019] 



ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 



667 



"These rations Indicate thai while steers being f>'<\ singe win wit a little 

 dry roughage If placed befere them, tho amount is anal] if the « 1 1 .■ i pr« ■ is palat- 

 able, and becomes an almost negligible factor during the latter pari of Che 

 feeding period. The steers which ate some roughage did not eat s<> nracb 

 silage. . . . The use of d small amount of dry roughage Fed with good Borghum 

 silage railed to cause the steers t<> make larger gains; In fact, it bad just the 

 opposite effect The steers receiving silage alone consumed a larger amount 

 dally and made larger daily gains." 



in 1015 16, ti fourth i<>t of steers was fed a ration of cottonseed cake, co w pe s 

 hay, ",u straw, and eorn stover, but it did not prove satisfactory. The animals 



were not well finished and brought B low price on the market. 



The "optimum age'' for fattening off Irish bullocks, .1. Wii.no-. {Dept. 

 Agr. and '/'< oh. Instr. Ireland -lour., 18 (1918), No. /. pp. -i-G. fig. /).— The author 

 has computed the prewar costs of producing a pound of beef on steers carried 

 for different periods, and finds for winter fattening a fairly marked minimum 

 cosl at the age of 24 months. In the case of grass-fattened steers there is not 

 much change between id and 30 months but after that a marked rise. 



Heather and moor burning for grouse and sheep, K. WALLACE. {Edinburgh: 

 Oliver and Boyd, 1917, pp. VIU+88, pi*. 16, figs. 3).— The thesis developed in 

 this small volume is that a system of moorland management designed to produce 

 the best grazing conditions for sheep by burning a portion of the heather each 

 season results likewise in the host set of living conditions for grouse. The 

 matter concerns a century-old controversy, for an act of Parliament in the reign 

 of George III put a series of abritary restrictions upon heather burning in the 

 Interest of grouse preservation. 



Grazing peanuts with hogs v. marketing a crop of peanuts, G. S. Temple- 

 ton {Alabama Col. Sta. Bui. 206 {1918), pp. 145-I0O).— It is stated that the 

 acreage of peanuts In Alabama has greatly increased in recent years, but that 

 shortage of labor often makes harvesting difficult and occasionally rainy 

 weather renders the crop unfit for market. The 2 years' experiment reported 

 in this bulletin was conducted to see whether grazing with hogs would be a 

 profitable method of harvesting and marketing a field of peanuts. 



All acre field was used the first year and every third row harvested to 

 secure a measure of the yield. Hogs were then turned in. In the second year 

 the crop was harvested on a half-acre block in a LS acre field and the remaining 

 acre grazed. Seven high-grade Duroc-.letsey and Berkshire pigs were used each 

 \ear. How profitable grazing was found to be is indicated in the following 

 tabulation : 



Comparison of grazing peanuts with hogs and marketing the nop. 



Averaging both years it is found that only 2.03 lbs. of peanuts plus the forage 

 secured from the vines and weeds were required to produce a pound of pork. 



As to carrying capacity it was found that the first year an acre yielding 39.5 

 bu. furnished grazing for the seven pigs for 57 days. In the second year, an 

 acre yielding 30.2 bu. was consumed in 37 days. 



