MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 303 



There is a good deal being said regarding mustard seeding itself 

 and becoming a pest on the farm, but the author's .opinion is that 

 such ideas are groundless, since he has proven by experiment that 

 it would do nothing of the kind in this country, since the least 

 touch of frost seems to destroy the plant itself and likewise the 

 germ of its seed. The domestic mustard and wild mustard are 

 very different plants so far as reproducing themselves to the dis- 

 advantage of the farmer is concerned. 



KOHL RABBI. 



This is a root that might be grown to great advantage by 

 American sheepmen. It is extensively grown in some parts of 

 England and it is especially suited for the dry hot seasons experi- 

 enced in some sections of this country. The writer has grown it 

 in Indiana and found it to do very well there. It is a deep-fleshed 

 root of the cabbage family or perhaps a hybrid between the ruta- 

 baga and cabbage. It is not unlike the rutabaga, or Swede, but in- 

 stead of the leaves growing in a tuft as in the case of the Swede 

 they are scattered all over the top part of the bulb. Kohl Eabbi 

 originated in Hungary, where it is- used for table purposes as 

 well as a food for stock. 



THE TURNIP. 



Where succulent rations are not provided for the flock in 

 winter, stretches and other forms of indigestion are generally 

 more or less prevalent. To avoid such troubles and to raise heavy- 

 boned sheep roots and such like succulent foods should be pro- 

 vided. As someone has aptly remarked : "Koots carry summer 

 succulence into winter quarters." They make the dry rations more 

 appetizing and nutritious. Given in proper quantities they are 

 both a tonic and food. Roots play a most important part in Brit- 

 ish sheep husbandry and could be used to greater advantage than 

 they are in this country. The primest of English mutton is from 

 sheep that get little by way of roughage other than that afforded 

 by the turnip, to which they have unlimited access when hurdled 

 or penned in the field in which the turnip is still growing during 

 the fattening period. Feeding wethers for market and feeding a 

 flock of breeding ewes is an entirely different proposition and 

 such treatment as the former receives would prove highly dis- 

 astrous to the latter. One of the chief causes of abortion in the 

 flocks of Great Britain has been traced to the excessive use of the 

 turnip and the common saying of the English shepherd, "a full 

 turnip crop, a slow lamb crop," has more truth than many 

 think. Turnips in a frozen state should not be fed to sheep, espe- 

 cially in-lamb ewes, as they will surely cause trouble, but if 



