282 OF CROPS USUALLY CULTIVATED. 



grower, when sold on the ground, but the person who buys 

 them ought to have a profit of from 1 s. to 2s. per ton, to 

 indemnify him for his outlay on the stock fed, and his risk, 

 labour, &c. In regard to the question, whether it is most 

 profitable to feed sheep or cattle with them, that must de- 

 pend upon soil, situation, markets, &c. Sheep are gene- 

 rally preferred on dry soils, and in good situations, but 

 cattle in the colder and higher climates.* 



4. The mode of consuming turnips, by feeding cattle 

 and sheep, is well known ; but there is one mode of giving 

 them to sheep, adopted by Mr Hunter of Tynefield, in 

 East Lothian, which seems to merit particular attention. 



He states, that he has been in use, for several years 

 past, to convert part of his straw into manure in winter, by 

 folding sheep, and giving them turnip on the top of the 

 straw. In 1808, he had 300 sheep, mostly black-faced 

 wedders, three years old, from the Highlands, at L.20 per 

 score, fed on turnip in the following manner : A fold, 

 containing an English acre, was made in the corner of a 

 field on a southern exposure, sheltered from the north and 

 west by a strong thorn-hedge: the whole fold was then 

 covered with straw a foot thick. The sheep were turned 

 in, and turnips carted and laid on half of the fold upon the 

 straw, and a daily supply was continued on the same half 

 till the straw under them was a little wet : the turnip was 

 then laid on the other hal covering that part where the 

 turnip had been first laid with fresh straw, and he conti- 

 nued to change, from side to side, once in two or three 



* Mr Curwen states, that an acre of turnips- will feed sixteen sheep 

 for six months, or a hundred and eighty days, allowing 28 1b. to each 

 sheep per day, and 4 lb. for waste of tops, &c. This gives some little 

 more than 41 tons per acre. Mr Logan lets his turnips at 6d. per week, 

 and made L.9 of them per acre. This gives S8 tons. 



