242 EXPERIMENTS IK FEEDING SHEEP. 



clover chaff, were again weighed at the end of one month, 

 and found to have gained 12^- pounds each. 



"No. 16. Ten lambs penned upon drum-head cabbage, 

 with cut clover chaff, and weighed as above; they gamed 

 10 pounds each. 



"No. 17. Ten lambs placed upon grass and fed upon cut 

 Swedes and cabbage, of equal quantities, with clover chaff, 

 gained 9f Ibs. each. 



"No. 18. Ten lambs placed upon grass and fed upon cut 

 white turnips and cabbage, of equal quantities, with clover 

 chaff, gained 11 Ibs. each. 



" Having frequently given my lambs carrots during the 

 winter and spring months, and to no apparent advantage, 

 when compared with other roots, I determined to test their 

 qualities after the expiration of the above experiments, and the 

 No. 16 lot were supplied with what Swedes they would eat, 

 and the No. 17 lot with carrots. 



"No. 19. Ten lambs, fed upon cut Swedes and clover- 

 chaff, having been weighed at the end of the other experi- 

 ment, were again weighed on the 9th of December. They 

 were found to have gamed during the month 10 Ibs. each, 

 and consumed 22 Ibs. of turnips per day. 



"No. 20. Ten lambs fed upon cut carrots and clover- 

 chaff, were weighed as above on the 9th of December, and 

 were found to have gained 9 Ibs. each, and consumed 22^ 

 Ibs. of carrots per day. 



''Thus proving that the carrot can not be given to sheep 

 with equal profit, when compared with the Swede turnip, the 

 carrot being more expensive and hazardous in its cultivation, 

 and producing rather less animal food from a given weight 

 at this season of the year." 



I shall place a further list of English experiments in 

 winter feeds in the appendix of this volume. * 



Turnips are not adapted either to the soil or circumstances 

 of all parts of our country where sheep are kept. I have been 

 informed by many of the farmers in those regions of Vermont 

 where the best sheep are raised, that this crop does not flourish 

 on their farms, f And it would be folly to bring turnips into 

 competition with Indian corn, as a habitual winter feed, in 

 our Western States, where the latter crop can be raised for 



* See APPENDIX C. 



t I raised this question once in the presence of a number of the leading sheep 

 breeders of Addison county the first sheep breeding county in the State and 

 they without an exception concurred in the opinion stated in the text. 



