268 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 5 



lot increased only 8 stones. Now, for fortv-six 

 days inimediately preceding: 2Sd November, 1831. 

 the beijtinniiig of 1 he experiment, these same six 

 cattle increased 48^ stones, or 113 it), each beast; 

 while, from a trial made for eight days, li'om 7iii 

 lill 14ih November, inclusive, they consumed 

 160.85 lb. each per day of common turnips (white 

 iriobe,) which gave only 65.47 lb. of turnips to a 

 lb. of increased live weight. But, avoidinirleniith- 

 e.ned details of other experimenis, we will assume 

 90 lb. of turnips, as being equal to the production 

 of 1 lb. ol" increased live weight, and from this da- 

 tum, endeavor to ascertain the asrency of each dif- 

 ferent kind of foot! employed in the leeding of lots 

 1st and 2d. We shall begin with lot 2d, and di- 

 vide 6 times 15,225, the quantity of turnips consum- 

 ed by this lot, by 90, and the quoi lent is 1015 lb. o( 

 live weight, as having been produced from the 

 agency of turnips. Lot 2d, also, consumed 1440 

 lb. potatoes. We say that :0 lb. of potatoes will 

 yield 1 lb. of increased live weight, the result will 

 therelbre be 1440 tlivided by 40, equal 36 lb. of live 

 %veight as havinir been produced from the agency 

 of potatoes; therefore 1015 add 36 equal 1051, 

 and the remainder, 363 lb. as having been produc- 

 ed by the agency of corn, whii-h make up 1414 

 lb. the total increase of live weight. 



Lot 1st, by the same rule, stands thus: — 

 14,563 by 6, equal 87,378, divided by 90, equal 970 



lb. of live weight, by the agency of turnips. 

 480 by 6, equal 2^80, divided by 40, efjual 72 lb. of 



live weight, bv the ajrencv of potatoes. 

 631 by 6, equal 3186, divided by 8.77, equal 363 lb. 



of live weight, by the agency of corn. 

 389 by 6, equal 2334, divided by 21.81, equal 1071b. 



of live weight, by the agency of linseed cake. 



The cost of producing a pound of increased live 

 weight by the above data is — 

 90 lb. of turnips at 4d. percwt., equal 3.2142 pence. 

 40 lb. of potatoes at Is. 6d. per cwt., equal 6.4235 



pence. 

 8.77 lb. of corn at 3s. 3d. per bushel of 60 lb., equal 



5.7 pence. 

 21.81 lb. of linseed cake at §d. per lb., equal 



16,3575 pence. 



Although we have assumed, in the above calcu- 

 lations, that 40 lb. of potatoes are equal to 90 lb. of 

 turnips in the production of live weight, we areliir 

 from believing that proportion correct in point of 

 fact. On the contrary, we should say, that 90 lb. 

 of turnips are fully equal to 70 lb. of potatoes, and 

 that the latter is perhaps the most expensive (bod 

 usually given to cattle; and certainly, so long as 

 potatoes fetch Is. 6d. percwt. in the market, cattle 

 on that fjod will soon, to use a familiar phrase, 

 "eat off their own heads." When any other food 

 than turnips is desired for feeding cattle, we would 

 recommend bruised beans, as being the most effi- 

 cient and least expensive; on this account, we 

 would prefer bruised beans alone to distillery offal. 

 As regards liii>-eed cake, or even potatoes, they are 

 not to be compared to beans. In confirmation of 

 this opinion, we may be permitted to state shortly 

 the improvement made by three cattle last season, 

 1835-6, of the same age and sort, indeed own 

 brothers, to three of the cattle in lot 1st of our ex- 

 periment. They were led on white turnips until 

 27th January, and after that date on Swedish; and, 

 as we meant then to compete for the prize mven 

 or the best beasta bred in the county, we allowed 



them from 10th December3| lb. of oats and beans, 

 and 3| lb. of hay each per day. And, in order 

 that a comparison may be made with the lot 1st of 

 our experiment, we will state the improvement in 

 live weiifht as near the same period as the dates of 

 weighing will admit. The live weight of the 

 three cattle on the25ih November, was 273stones, 

 and on the 31st March 338 stones, beinjr an in- 

 crease ol"65 stones, or 21^ stones each, in 127 days; 

 while bv our experiment, lot 1st, in 119 daysgained 

 only 18 stones each, being a dilference of 3.,' stones 

 in liivor of last season. A pair this season also 

 gained the prize as (he best beasts bred in the 

 county, against others which had been fed on as 

 much linseed cake as they C'tuld eat. Our pair of 

 two years' old were sold, i6lh May, 1836, lor £55, 

 lOs. We were at very great pains in the keeping 

 ol'our two-year old cattle this season, having cut 

 all the turnips lor them, white as well as Swedish. 

 We have alwavs been in the habit of cutting the 

 Sweiiisii turnips, but never till this season did we 

 cut the white also. In conclusion, on this part of 

 our subject, we give it as our opinion, that who- 

 ever feeds cattle on turnips alnnewiW have no rea- 

 son, on the score of profit, to regret their not hav- 

 ing employed more expensive auxiliaries to hasten 

 the fattening process. This opinion has not been 

 rashly adopted, but has been confirmed by a more 

 extended and varied experience in the feeding of 

 cattle than has fallen to the lot of most men. 



That cattle consume food something nearly in 

 proportion to their weights, we have very little 

 doubt, provided they have previously been fed in 

 the same manner, and are nearly alike in condi- 

 tion. Age, sex, and kind, have little influence in 

 this respect, as the quantity of Ibod consumed de- 

 pends much on the lenirth of time the beast has 

 been fed, and on the degree of maturity at which 

 the animal has arrived — hence the great difliculty 

 of selecting cattle fit lor experimenting upon. To 

 explain our meaning by an example, we would say 

 that two cattle of the same weight, and which had 

 been previously kept for a considerable time on si- 

 milar food, would consume about the same quanti- 

 ty. But, on the contrary, should two beasts of the 

 same weitjhts be taken, the one fat and the other 

 lean, the lean beast would eat twice or perhaps 

 thrice as many turnips as the fat one — more espe- 

 cially, if the filt one had been for some time previ- 

 ously fed on the sari;e (bod, as cattle eat gradually 

 less food until they arrive at maturity, when they 

 become stationary in their appetite. We have had 

 orreat experience in feeding stock, and have con- 

 ducted numbers of experiments on that subject 

 with all possible care, both in weighing the cattle 

 alive, and the whole food administered to (hem, 

 and in every experiment vve made, we discovered 

 something new. But we have seen enough to 

 convince us that wore the art of feeding better un- 

 derstood, a great deal more beef and mutton might 

 be produced from the same quantity of food than ia 

 generally done. 



We had on turnips, at the time we were con- 

 ducting the foregoing experiments, 5 queys of the 

 same aire and sort as the 18 stots, also 20 three- 

 year old stots, such as are bred on the Perthshire 

 braes, in one court, and 14 Fife stots in another 

 court. Five of an averaue size and weight, from 

 each of the lots of Perthshire and Fife stots, were 

 selected, and their live weights ascertained, and 

 the turnips consumed by them weighed. They 



