SWEDES. 167 



far as nutritive properties are concerned, they are sufficient. 

 Too little regard is paid by purely scientific authorities to the 

 great variation of quality in turnips according to the ground 

 upon which they are grown. To them a turnip is a root 

 containing 92 per cent, of water, and this is enough to con- 

 demn it. Turnips grown on land of good quality are superior 

 to those grown on weak, poor soils, as is evidenced by the 

 quicker progress made by sheep placed on good land. White 

 turnips, although actually inferior to swedes as a food, accord- 

 ing to analysis, are superior to them up to January ist, or 

 even later. They are less trying to the digestion, and their 

 consumption forms an excellent introduction to the harder 

 winter feeding which begins with the new year. Store sheep 

 will thrive well upon turnips if they have access to oat straw 

 or a little long hay or hay chaff. Ewes should be allowed a 

 more liberal supply of dry food, so as to induce them to 

 eat more sparingly of the succulent turnip. Fatting sheep 

 must have hay and cake or corn, and it will be found that the 

 diminution in the amount of turnips eaten will be at the rate 

 of 12 Ibs. of turnips for each i Ib. of cake supplied. 



When turnips are being fed off the ground it is a good plan 

 to pull them up with a pecker, and allow them to lie on the 

 ground a day or two before they are folded over. This dries 

 them a little, and renders them slightly pined and soft, and 

 thereby heartier and less watery. 



SWEDES 



contain somewhat less moisture than turnips, and consider- 

 ably more sugar. They are a stronger food, better adapted 

 for fatting sheep than for ewes either before or after lambing. 

 They should be reserved for the later periods of winter feeding 

 from January to May, after which they rapidly lose in quality. 

 Swedes, because they are harder than white turnips, and 

 because they are used when tegs are losing their central 

 teeth, should be cut into troughs by means of a Gardiner's 

 turnip cutter. 



