M.— AGRICULTURE 249 



Table VIII. 



Lb. Starch equivalent in Fodder required to produce 

 1 ,000 Calories in form of : 



2-9 Milk from good cow (800 galls.) 



3-0 Pork 



4-7 Veal (6 months) 



4-7 Milk from poor cow (300 galls.) 



5-3 Mutton (ii-i 2 months) 



7-0 Eggs (140 egg hen) 



7-0 Baby beef (17 months) 



9-0 Steer beef (2^ years) 



The figures quoted probably require modification in the light of more 

 recent results and also to adapt them to altered systems of management, 

 but it will generally be accepted that from this point of view the sheep, 

 though better than the steer, compares badly with the milking cow or 

 the porker. 



It is, however, necessary to qualify this conclusion by considering not 

 merely the amount and energy value of the food consumed, but also its 

 nature and cost. In the case of the fattening bullock, for instance, the 

 food may consist largely of straw — a by-product of corn-growing, and on 

 most farms an unsaleable article. On the other hand, the pig and the fowl 

 require considerable proportions of meal and grain, which have to be 

 bought at market price either from the grain merchant or, in the case of an 

 arable farm, from the cropping section of the farm business. The sheep 

 occupies an intermediate position. It cannot utilise large quantities of 

 straw, but makes good use of such crops as grass, roots and hay. Except 

 in the case of arable flocks it receives comparatively little corn or 

 concentrated foods. 



Still, we are bound to admit that grass sheep under ordinary manage- 

 ment give only a low return of food, and to those who wish to see a large 

 rural population they are about the most objectionable form of enterprise 

 in which the farmer can engage. 



Viewing the matter from this standpoint, there is much force in the 

 argument that we should leave sheep farming to more remote, thinly 

 populated countries, and use our limited area and large population to 

 produce forms of food which give a high return per acre, require a good 

 deal of labour, and cannot easily be transported over large distances. 



On the other hand, if we take the farmer's point of view we can make 

 out a strong case for the sheep. 



(i) Even allowing for considerable extensions of forest and woodland, 

 we have large areas of hill and mountain land, which, under present 

 conditions, can only be economically utilised for the production of sheep, 

 and they carry a very large proportion of our total sheep flock. Our 

 mountain flocks can only be maintained if they have an outlet for the 

 draft ewes and store lambs which largely constitute their saleable product. 



