rRACTS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, &c. ]65 



SECTION XXV. 



Feeding Sheep with Potatoes, and Soiling Cattle recommended. 



1 HAVE selected two extracts for insertion in the present montli's 

 Register, upon subjects, which I think are deserving the atten- 

 tion of every landholder. 



The first, " On Feeding Sheep with Potatoes, '' * shews that 

 potatoes were particularly serviceable to ewes and lambs " at a 

 trying season ;" that bullocks and sheep, although they had 

 plenty of good hay within reach, preferred the potatoes : which 

 were given to the cattle raw, unwashed, and whole. These are 

 valuable facts; since they prove decisively that the extension of 

 the potatoe culture is an excellent means of guarding against 

 losses in cattle and sheep " in trying seasons;" (as seasons of 

 drought undoubtedly are) against which it has not been the prac- 

 tice here, as in England, to make any provision. 



The paper on feeding sheep further teaches, that five bushels 

 of potatoes, given every morning to 100 sheep, and afterwards 

 turning them out to pasture (instead of fresh straw twice a day) 

 might be sufficient to keep them in good condition ; but as 

 English sheep fire much larger than those of this island, even 

 half the above quantity might be a vast benefit : and in this case 

 two bushels and a half would suflice for a hundred sheep ; being 

 a daily allowance of about a pound and a half to each. At this 

 rate, supposing an acre to yield, from the two crops annually, 

 400 bushels : these are equivalent to 16,000 daily rations ; or 

 sufficient for more than 40 sheep throughout the year. 



* Young's Annals pf Agriculture. 



