General Notet;. 75 



GENERAL NOTES. 



"Special" Manures. 



A sim])le demonstration conveying- a useful lesson to the farmer lias 

 just been carried out at tlie new Harper-Adams Agricultural College, 

 Shropshire, England. Seven cwt. of an ordinary compound manure (a 

 "special turnip munure," sold at £6 15s. per ton) was applied to an 

 acre of roots ; to a second acre, the same quantity of plant food was 

 given in the form of a mixture of supherphosphate and sulphate of 

 ammonia, followed by a top-dressing of nitrate of soda. The cost of 

 ■the special manure was 47s. per acre, of the other 27s. 9d. The result, 

 as was anticipated, was an almost equal yield of roots, and a saving on 

 using the home mixed manure of Is. per acre. This demonstration 

 wants repeating in every country, for there are two classes who have 

 not yet learned to assess " special " manures at their real value — 

 manure manufacturers and farmers. — Nature. 



Sugar Beet and Beet Pulp for Dairy Cows 



Colorado is one of the States in America in which the beet sugar 

 industry is making considerable strides, and, as a consequence, the 

 profitable utilisation of the enormous quantity of low. grade but 

 succulent fodder in the form of beet pulp is a question among farmers 

 there of great importance. The State Experiment Station has been 

 endeavoring to arrive at a satisfactory estimation of the value of beet 

 pulp and sugar beets when fed to cattle along with grain and hay. 

 The large amount of water present in the l)ulp renders it an article 

 quite unfit for feeding alone to stock, in fact, it would be almost 

 impossible for a cow to eat enough pulp, if given no other food, to 

 sustain herself in proper health. About fifty pound of beet pulp or 

 twenty-five pounds of beet is about the maximum that can be fed 

 with profit to cows in conjunction with hay and grain. 



The function of roots in feeding to stock is to pi-event mal-nutrition 

 and ensure good genera] health rather than the su])ply of food. The 

 food nutrients can be supplied in concentrated form, but before the 

 animal can make use of them the digestive organs must be filled up 

 and distended, and i\\e food must be readily permeable by the diges- 

 tive fiuids. The great value of beet and beet pulp consists in the fact 

 ttiat they contain a large amount of plant juices, which dilute, soften 

 and separate the particles of dry grass hay and grain, so that the 

 nutritive qualities of the whole feed may be more easily and thoroughly 

 digested. 



