SECRETARY'S REPORT. 47 



35s. per ton, I obtain h lb. of oil, besides 32 lbs. of starch, or (the 

 starch reduced as oil) 18i lbs. for Is. 2ld., available for the production 

 of fat, or for respiration. I know no other material from which I can 

 derive, by purchase, an equal amount of this element of food at so low a 

 price.' Mr. Horsfall can aflfbrd to give 35s. for a ton of wheat-straw, or 

 40s. for a ton of bean-straw, to use as food, with a good profit ; but if he 

 purchased it merely for the purpose of manure, it would not be worth to 

 him more than 9s. 7d. per ton. 



" For several years I steamed nearly all the straw for my animals, 

 horses included, and was enabled to keep a very large number. Owing 

 to a change of bailiff and alterations in my buildings, rendered necessary 

 by my increased family, I partially reverted for a couple of years to the 

 old system of straw for bedding ; I soon found that I could not keep half 

 as much stock, and the whole affair was far less satisfactory. The same 

 remark applies to green food as straw; any cost of preparing and cutting 

 up is far more than compensated by the advantageous conversion of the 

 food by the animals which consume it. A very successful farmer of my 

 acquaintance, who keeps more than 1,500 sheep, puts down his horse- 

 power in the field, and cuts up all his green cx'ops into about ^ inch 

 length, mixing a little meal with it. I understood him to say that a man 

 and boy, with the horse, will cut up enough for 300 sheep daily. In 

 wet weather, or when the food is too succulent, he mixed a little straw 

 with it." 



But that the same benefit does not accrue to articles of food 

 of a higher quality, or such as come nearer to the natural food 

 of cattle, the following interesting experiment, reported in the 

 Transactions of the Highland Agricultural Society, will prove. 



Six heifers and four steers, the former two and the latter 

 four years old, were selected on the 20th of February, 1833, 

 and fed upon steamed and raw food, weighed, and an accurate 

 account kept of their cost, expenses, and condition. For the 

 purposes of the experiment they were divided into two lots — 

 the heifers three in, each lot, and the steers two. 



" The heifers were allowed as many purple-topped Swedish turnips, 

 topped, rooted, properly cleaned and cut into pieces, so that they could 

 get them into their mouths, as they could consume, with 3 lbs. of bruised 

 beans, and 20 lbs. of potatoes each beast per day, in addition to the 

 turnips, with 7 lbs. of straw each. 



" The steers were allowed as many of the same sort of turnips as they 

 could eat, with 4^ lbs. of bruised beans, and 30 lbs. of potatoes each 

 beast per day, with 7 lbs. of straw each. That is to say, the food of the 



