SILAGE AND FIELD BEETS. 83 



Ibs. The total sugar beets then furnished was only 84 Ibs. per 

 week, and there followed a loss of 4 Ibs. One month afterwards 

 the increase of weight per week was 16 Ibs., but the week after- 

 wards it fell to a loss of 6 Ibs. without any possible reason.* 



The increase of weight during eight weeks' feeding was 28 

 Ibs. with 756 Ibs. sugar-beets, and it was 29 Ibs. with 600 Ibs. 

 clover silage, but only 13 Ibs. with 510 Ibs. corn silage. Dur- 

 ing this period all the sugar-beets furnished were eaten, while 

 with clover silage 89 Ibs. were refused. 



We are convinced that the sheep did not receive all the sugar- 

 beets they could eat; the very fact that they ate all furnished 

 shows this to have been the case. If the roots had been fed ad 

 libitum we are sure that the increase of weight would have been 

 far greater than that obtained in the experiment. 



The person who had charge of these experiments said that 

 sugar-beets l ' were liked by the sheep, but they cannot be said 

 to equal either of the other succulent fodders used. They are 

 apt to induce scouring if fed in quantities of over 4 Ibs. daily to 

 each animal." We consider that further experiments are neces- 

 sary in order to determine within what limits this is true. If 

 4 Ibs. is the limit per diem, why should 3 Ibs. be subsequently 

 fed? 



In the experiments to determine the influence of different 

 rations on the growth of wool, sugar-beets are not a factor in the 

 results, so they need not be considered in the present writing. 



There is as much difference between field beets and sugar Relative values of 

 beets as there is between a poor mangel and sugar beets: hence sllafle and field 



bcpts in the nro- 



any conclusions drawn from experiments in feeding field beets 

 to cattle for the production of milk are of secondary import- 

 ance as compared with the use of sugar beets; the dry matter 

 in the two cases is very different. Experiments in feeding at 

 the Ohio experiment station f were made with very large and 

 coarse beets, and the results obtained are not as conclusive as if 

 superior sugar beets had been used under the same conditions. 



* A winter ration said to give good results for rams weighing 180 Ibs. is 3.3 

 Ibs. hay, 4.4 Ibs. sugar-beets and 1.3 Ib. vetch hay. 



f Vol. II., No. 3, second series; No. 10, June, 1889. 



