284- OF CROPS USUALLY CULTIVATED. 



observes, that where the soil is thin and dry, it is impossi- 

 ble to raise a good crop of Swedes under any management. 

 He therefore begins to entertain an idea of substituting 

 potatoes in their room.* 



5. It is well known, that when milch cows are fed on 

 turnips, the butter has an unpleasant taste : but this may 

 be remedied in various ways. 1. By carefully picking out 

 all the putrid turnips and leaves, and giving the cows no- 

 thing but clean bulbs or balls: the turnip taste is by this 

 means hardly discernible. 2. By giving the cows, Swedes, 

 or ruta baga, which is better for them, gives the butter a 

 superior colour, and less taste of the vegetable ; and, 3. By 

 putting one ounce of saltpetre into a teapot, and pouring 

 upon it an English pint of boiling water : when melted and 

 cold, pour what may be necessary among the milk when 

 warm from the cow, in proportion to the quantity of tur- 

 nips the cow has eaten. The quantity necessary can be 

 easily ascertained, by tasting the milk after it is mixed with 

 the saltpetre. The milk, the cream, and the butter, are 

 thus rendered perfectly sweet. Others recommend putting 

 about one ounce of saltpetre into an English gallon of 

 cream, before churning. 



Mr Blair of Montague, near Perth, on the first appear- 

 ance of severe frost, has been accustomed, for thirty years 



* Mr Kerr observes, that potatoes arc now very extensively applied 

 to the use of cattle and horses in Lanarkshire. If this is ultimately 

 found to answer, and the practice become universal, it will secure the 

 country against the possibility of famine, in the very worst of years. It 

 will become a source of tangible human food, usually applied to animals, 

 who may be supplied from other sources calculated for their subsistence. 

 In a year of dearth, the high price of potatoes will naturally induce the 

 farmers to stint their cattle, for the supply of the people, and to reple- 

 nish their own pockets. 



