434 ADDENDA. NO. I. 



being allowed fewer turnips at first than afterwards, must, for a 

 month, or thereabouts, eat a good deal of straw; but when more 

 turnips are afterwards given, as they usually are, and always 

 should be, they eat very little straw. In the four months ot No- 

 vember, December, January, and February, and part of March, 

 every farmer in Scotland knows, that with a liberal allowance of 

 turnips, 150 acres, or three-fourths of his straw, may be fully 

 disposed of, by 40 straw-yard cattle, and 24? fed in the house, 

 besides the pigs kept in the straw-yard; this being at the rate of 

 2| acres of straw for each beast, which nearly agrees with what 

 is stated, (p. 411), as the result of the experience of a farmer in 

 Berwickshire. The weight of this straw, at 130 Scotch stones, 

 is 19,500 stones; the total consumption per week, for 20 weeks, 

 is 975 stones, which, divided among 64, gives 15^ stones to each, 

 or about 2 stones of 22 Ib. per day for fodder and litter. After 

 the turnip or potatoes for the horses and cows, &c. are deducted 

 from the 20 acres, there may remain 10 acres, exclusively appro- 

 priated to the straw-yards, or one-fourth ot an acre to each of 

 the 40 beasts, or 7$ tons, which for 20 weeks, is 60 stones per 

 week, or about 8 stones of 14 Ib. for each beast daily. The 

 urine from this weight of turnips, it is evident, would saturate 

 by far the greater part of 2-J stones of straw, and leave probably 

 not a fourth for eating; it being always understood that the 

 cattle have enough of straw to lie dry. Indeed, all this straw 

 would not probably be sufficient, if at least another stone a- day 

 \vas not added, by the diminished use of it in the houses by the 

 horses and cows. Upon the whole, it may be safely asserted*hat 

 not a fourth of the straw is eaten on this plan, and of that cer- 

 tainly the far greater part returns to the dunghill. 



Were no straw to be eaten, then hay must be provided for 

 all these horses and cattle, and that without any diminution of 

 turnips, which are always required as the means of converting the 

 straw into dung, and not merely for the sake of the cattle ; and 

 even a greater quantity of turnips must be given, as there is more 

 straw, from none being eaten. The horses will eat 1 stone of 

 hay daily. The cows, which are not kept merely with a view to 

 twanure, must have a greater allowance of turnips, or at least 



