H 



1 If i: M . i:l( ULTVRAL GAZETTE 







ON UK ilOWTH OI M.\ «'-D WL'UZIIL. 



Wat* Mangold W rwi wan fint rodu into 



farm v*tiou, iu £**** rt«*»nw •*"*» to 



k*vr been thai while tt» rooto contained a large <iuan- 



y of MCCuUnt and ntttrisira matter, nttta * f«>r all 

 kioda of stock, it* k»ve« were no lean rain; r 



feeding ptirpoae* to that Ml growth wan a ca h 



ihe itippoaed grounds of a capability for iinwl- 

 only producing; vo crop*. Ex{*'rienct bow- 



tver, long finer caught us that though i vlangoM 



yielding a large 



opon 



hen 



properly cultivated, yet that, : y endeavouring to obtain 

 too much, w.: in reality get It**, and this is i firmed 

 by direct experiment Hence the author of " Practical 

 Agriculture, fifty years §>nce, made the following re- 

 dark- - 



•It i* probable that, upon the whole, the root has 

 r been ! id to be equal in quality, as a cattle 

 food, or to afford die quantity of p - that was 



eapp<*ed on its first introduction Now thin becomes 



perfectly inteBkible when, as we learn from the 

 • Annalao Agriculture" for the same p-riod :— 



44 The plants seem to have afl'ori I a large produce 

 of leaven when gathered every two or three lays, from 

 July till lat« ill Se p te mb er, yet the whole produce in 

 leases and roots is not equal to that of the lar^e Cab- 

 bage " eeh is the experience of .50 years since, and 

 fft sJket a topei of half a s ail tU f f VS find Mangold 

 WnrssI e*ten*m-ly cultivated, a t its root is • rnon- 

 strare. I alike by practical exper <*e and scientific in- 

 Yestigntton to afford a highly valuable !>ecauece? lently 

 natruious crop The reason, therefore, of this die- 

 crepancy of tion, and its resulting (acmes of growth 

 in modem times, mu*t be sought for in the fact of an 

 improvement in management he most Important change 

 t>*ing that of non-uiutilatiosi. We now SBTC I f for the 

 leavrs, and, as will Ut> ah i in the sequel, wo then re 

 obtain not mly a larger quantir f the roof, but this 

 Is improved in its nutril capabilities. That th* root 

 b »red in iti growth by : -prtviag the plants of their 



leaves will be at once gathered from tbo following 



experiment*, which were instituted on purpose to obtain 



evidence on thu very point. 



In Ma tt ihe past year were sown five ports of 



Mang M Wursel ; two rows of each were rid d 



a dnvated in exactly the earn* manner as those in 



the farm, and the ground for the whole prepared alike. 

 When, howev- r, the roots had attained the size of about 

 1} inches in Jbnictrr, a single l v of each sort was 

 otoeely stripped of all the outward leaves by carefully 

 cutting them away with a sharp knife so as not to pro- 

 duce injury by tearing, a process which was from time 

 to time repeated as often as the outer leaves had a. in 

 attained to a size to be need as a feeding matter The 

 result of this treatment was as under, weighed in 

 November, \h t. 



S»«l I VfMriiroitl Wur*cl. 



(.rave* mtact. t Leav. . .-it. 



1. Rr.l *.lobe 

 t. Yellow 't'obe 

 3. Ui*gR«*i 



4 !*>n*f VI Jew 

 Long White 



~ >Ul for the tv* sort^ 



• 



• • • 



**• 



• 



■ 



■ 



i 



■ 



• •• 



• - • 











Sim 

 40 



49 

 355 



8SJ 



2.1.5 



I 





Here it ay hv noticed that the resi ing 

 of the unc hen compared with the cut plants, \ n an 

 average of five sorts, is within a fraction of t i to on* , 

 or nearly double, and it will be seen that while the 

 Yellow he and the Long Red when un injur have 

 produced the largest crops yet that tin suffered propor- 

 tionally more from mutilation ; in each case It ss than 

 half the amount of root resulting from the injur !, when 

 compared with the uninjured. These experiments, 

 therefore, while they show the effects as iar as the 

 roots are concerned of destroying the leaves, fully 

 justify the favour in which the Long Red and Yellow 

 Globe Mangold are hell, at the same time making it 

 appear that those kinds which yield the largest return 

 if rightly cultivated, are just the ones that suffer most 

 from an opposite method. Having now shown a 

 diminution of the crop to result from injury to the 

 leaves, I goon to furnish evidence to prove that even 

 this smaller amount is at the same time deteriorated in 



Sultry. \ , m this head it would be ft icient to notice 

 lat the pra cal farmer was dissatisfied with the culti. 

 ration of the Mangold Wursel while the vicious system 

 prevailed, (he reasons for which, however, have been 

 amply proved by experiment and chemical investigation. 

 In a report of "experiments made by Dr. Wolff, 

 Professor of Chemistry in the Hoyal Agricultural College 

 of Hohenheim, in Wurtembei::," published » t Leipsie 

 daring the {receding year, we learn that t sorts of 

 Mangold Wurzel were grown, namely, the Globe and 

 LjHtg Red varieties, from which the leaves were taken 

 off for feeding purposes in September and again in 

 October, and the result of twice Stripping the plants 

 or their leaves waa a diminution in produce amount- 

 tng to one-fifth ; it i 9 therefore no wonder that four 

 or five times stripping off the leaves should diminish 

 the produce of root one-half, as in my own experiment 



A . lh * % the gathering of the leaves every two or 



three davs from July « m u u te in -ptember, should 



ied tins useful plant to be slightingly spoken of 

 50 years since. ° » / r 



ih^",Ll my " Wn . '*l» rlm ™l a *«• of Dr. Wolff B ho.. 

 that the uny.unt of root taffen m »rty when the leaves 

 »« removed, hut this » not all; for chemic* Vnlh Z » of 

 the root »b«etho leave, were int.. when "^l I 



looted from the " Complete Farmer," 1807 



still 1 

 three 



have 



w 



will, u.tto* iu "inch me K»vee w e t»k»a oil, make- it 

 e it that not only i» there a diminution m quantity, 

 ut a d. .ration iti quality of the latter -facte 

 • hich will be explained by the followin- table of the 

 compoe.t on of two varietiee of Mangold Wurzel in two 

 ode of crowth in the fresh state 



< > - 





Woody fibre 



Anh ... 



Sugar 



. Ac. 



Protein Compoun 

 Water 





«•• 



• •• 



«•• 



variety 



Leaves Leaves 



% Long variety. 



Leaves 





taken uff] intact. Itakenoff 





• - • 



• . > 



- 



1.010 



5.076 



05 



.9: 57 



89.4'. >l 





0.843 

 1.060 

 6.183 



1 



1.019 

 89.815 



000 



,936 

 0.943 

 4."-9t 

 3.201 

 0.77J 

 89.554 



Leaves 

 intact. 



1.004 

 1.125 

 5.36 



4.024 

 1.000 



87.482 



100.000 



No*v, in this table we cannot help remarking upon 

 the great increase in those important feeding elements, 

 sugar, and protein or nitrogeou9 substances, matters, it 

 may be presumed, which would be still farther lessened 

 by a greater denudation of such important plant-organs 



ss the leaves. 



However, in estimating the good or injury which 



finally results from the plan of growth commented upon, 

 it may be a matter for consideration as to whether the 

 leaves in their value counterbalance the injury to the 

 roots, as it is quite evident we cannot get the leaves into 

 the bargain of a good crop of roots ; and here 1 would 

 remark, that I think the value of the leaves as a feeding 

 Stuff has been much over-rated, and this is confirmed 

 by Dr. WolfTs experiments, who also adds that the 

 leaves are very apt to produce diarrhoea in cattle. The 

 following table from this author gives the result of ex- 

 periments to test the qualities of milk as obtained from 

 cowa fed with aftermath, as compared with feeding 

 from Mangold leaves. 



Composition of milk in these cows : 



A. frincipal Food Aftermath. 



1. 2. 



Dry substance 12.47- 12.4 



Water 87.53 87.51 



Butter In Milk 8.13 ;U9 



B. Prindp Fowl Mangold Lea <. 



1 >ry snbitance 11.80 lu.OS 



Water 88.70 87.4 J 



Butter in Milk J.60 2.88 



These results show a large decrease of an important 



constituent of milk, namely butter, from which we may 

 conclude that the plan of using Mangold Wurzel leaves 

 is by no means satisfactory in dairies, where it has 

 been specially recommended. 



Mere, then, to sum up our conclusions upon what we 

 may term the economics of Mangold Wurzel growing, 

 and leaving out all reference to the physiology of the 

 question, the case will stand as follows : — 1st. The leaves 

 of Mai II Wurzel cannot be systematically taken from 

 the grow: ut; plant without lessening the quantity of roots 

 in proportion to the closeness with which the operation 

 is performed. 2<L The decreased quantity of roots does 

 not yield so large a percentage of nutritive matter as 

 are contained in those that are uninjured ; and 3d. This 

 injury to the roots is by no means counterbalanced in 

 quantity cr quality by any value that we might attach 

 to the leaves. 



3. 

 1 1 .:- 



88.6 

 153 



11.04 



88.96 



2/2 





n 



TITHE COMMUTATION AVERAGES. 

 As your readers may feel anxious to know the result 

 of the ru averages for the seven years to Christmas 

 last, published iu the Lvndwi Gazette of 5th inst., viz. : 



Wheat 65. Ojtf. per imperial bushel. 



H*rley 3 7* 



Oata 2 6 



I beir to state for their information that each 100?. of 

 the Tithe Rent Charge will, for the year 1855, amount 

 to 89/. 15s. 8^/., which is a reduction of 1/. 3s. 8!tf. 

 from last year's value. The following statement from 

 my "Annual Tithe Commutation Tables" will show 

 the worth of 100/. of tithe rent charges for each year 

 since the passing of the Tithe Commutation Act. v\ 7 . ' 





tlie United Kingdom. They are called - Shropshire 

 sheep"— a name which appears to be finally settled, *, 

 it is adopted by many of the principal breeders-Jtht 

 term " Shropshire Downs " being inappropriate, aaj 

 only calculated to mislead. The latter designation 

 would indicate a small and delicate variety, while the 

 former is intended to apply to one of a larger and mora 

 robust character ; precisely what is generally required. 

 It is not our purpose to enter upon a discussion as 

 to the precise course which has been followed in pro. 

 ducing the improved Shropshire sheep, as such an 

 inquiry would now possess but little, if any, practical 

 value. The generally received opinion is no doubt the 

 correct one, namely, that the example of Ellman with 

 the South Downs has been followed by breeders ba 

 Salop, who had as a foundation the very excellent breed 

 of sheep which is known to have existed in that county 

 for many centuries, and who have taken judiciom 

 means, while preserving the fine quality for which the 

 breed was always distinguished, to obtain a larger 

 frame and increased aptitude to fatten. The question* 

 which purchasers have to consider, and which have no 

 doubt attracted their attention, are these— have the 

 breeders of this stock succeeded in obtaining purity of 

 type ? and can its present characteristics be perpetuated! 

 As tests of the estimation in which the breed is held, 

 we append the following list of sales during the past 



year. 



The annual sale of sheep bred by W. O. Foster, Esq., 



took place at Kinfare Hill Farm, near Stourbridge, on 

 the 30th of July. The following are some of the prices 

 realised : — 



SHEARLING RAMS. 

 £. s. d. 



No. 



1 

 2 

 3 



4 



6 



7 



8 



9 



16 



17 



25 



No. 1 

 2 



• ■ 4 



■ • • 



• • • 



• • • 



• • * 



* • ft 



• « t 



« * • 



- • 



#•• 



« « • 



• •• 



ft • • 



• ■ • 



• • * 



• •• 



• •• 



31 10 



27 6 



11 6 

 16 16 



9 10 



19 19 



13 13 



12 

 9 10 



18 13 



10 10 



« •• 



• • - 



• I 



- - « 



• . * 



• • • 



• . . 



• • • 



« • • 



• • • 



• * • 



Lord "Wenlock. 



Mr. Somner. 



Mr. W. M. Bill. 



Mr. Edwards. 



Mr. W. M. Bill. 



Mr. Preece, auctioneer. 



Mr. Herbert. 



Mr. Clayton. 



Mr. Williams. 



Mr. Farmer. 



Mr. Fletcher. 



sheep at 10 6 11 each. 



FIVE SHEARLING EWES. 



3 

 4 

 5 



6 



• • • 



• • • 



• - • 



. . • 



• • • 



• *• 



• •• 



• • • 



4 16 

 4 16 

 4 4 

 4 16 



3 16 



4 16 



each 























it 



St 



ft 

 It 



?> 



• •• 



• I ft 



• •• 



ft •• 



Mr. Clarke. 

 Mr. Moore. 

 Mr. Fletcher. 

 Mr. Garlick. 

 Mr. Smith. 

 Mr. Clarke. 



No. 1 

 2 

 3 

 4 

 5 

 6 



• ■ • 



• m m 



«•• 



• a • 



• * • 



■ «• 



• • • 



£136 0, or 4Z. 10s. Sd. per head. 



FIVE STOCK EWES. 



Mr. Fletcher. 

 Mr. Williams. 

 Mr. Fletcher. 

 Mr. Clarke. 



Mr. Fletcher, 



Mr. Clarke. 



• •* 



• •• 



• - - 



5 5 

 4 

 4 16 



3 12 



4 

 3 12 



each 



o » 



o „ 



• • • 



• •• 



n 



tt 



N 



r» 

 PI 



n 



w 

 f> 



w 



n 



1837 



1839 

 1840 

 1.S41 

 1842 



1H43 



1S44 



1845 



1^ 



1847 



1848 



is | 



I860 

 1851 



1* 



18F. 



1864 

 1855 



• -. 



• i • 



• •• 





4 . . 





ft • * 





• . . 





• ■ ft 



• •• 



• - ■ 



• - 



• • • 





• • • 



• •• 



• •• 





• •• 



• •• 



« •• 



• a ■ 



• • ft 



• • • 



• • • 



• I • 





ft ft • 



• - - 





.. £98 13s. 9?rf. 

 .. 97 7 11 



95 7 



98 15 



102 12 



105 8 

 105 12 



104 3 



103 17 

 102 17 



• •• 



• •a 



• •■ 



• * • 



9 



n 



2 



• • ft 



• • • 



• > • 



• *• 



8f 



99 Js loj 



• ■ . 





 7i 



m . - 



• •• 



ft • • 



• •• 



• •• 



• •• 



• . • 



■ • • 



• • • 



• •• 



• • • 



••• 



102 1 



100 3 



98 16 10 



96 11 4? 



93 16 11* 



91 13 5| 



90 19 6 

 89 15 83 



19)1878 14 6J 

 General Average for 19 ye»rs ... £98 17~~tI 



IK* ■[ ™]<*h Actuary to the University life Offl 

 25, Suffolk Street, Pall Mali, 8th January, 1855. 



ce, 



— < 



THE SHROPSHIRE SHEEP 



[The following paper U aj d*>d fm m the columns of the 



Midland Countut N>r • d.] 



DrniNO the last few years much interest has been 

 excited HMM ttrieBltei* respecting a breed of 

 sheep winch had been for some time previous! v common 

 to » the county of Salop, and to some extent Tthe 

 adjoining counties of Stafford, Worcester, and War! 

 wick, and which ,s no.w become well known throughout 



£126 5 0, or U. is. 2d. per head. 



The seventh annual sale of Shropshire sheep, the 

 property of the Earl of Aylesford, was held at the farm, 

 Meriden Heath, by Messrs. Brown and Clarke, on the 

 4th of September, when 31 shear-hog, and 9 two and 

 three-shear rams, and 200 store ewes and theaves, 

 were disposed of. A two-shear ram was pur- 

 chased for Lord Willoughby at 35/.; another of the 

 same age realised \2L 10s.; and a three-shear ram, 101. 

 Of the shearling rams, the highest price was 1R 105., 

 the purchaser being Mr. Docker, of Allesley. Of the 

 ewes, four pens were purchased for the Hon. A. H. 

 Vernon, of Sudbury, at 76s., 60s , and 50s. per head. 



Mr. Preece, the auctioneer of Shrewsbury, hai 

 supplied the following information: — * At the Shropshire 

 Great Ram Fair, on the 25th July, 20 rams, bred hy 

 Thomas Juckes, Esq., averaged 167. each. All were 

 sold, the highest price being 33/. 12s, and the lowest 

 IU. lis. Twelve rams, bred by the Messrs. Crane, of 

 Shrawardine, averaged nearly 12/. each, all being sold; 

 highest price, 19/. 19s.; lowest ditto, 61. 16s. 6d. Fifty 

 j draft ewes, bred by the Messrs. Crane, realised 290/. lfo* 

 an average of 61. each, less 10s. The principal part of 

 the ewes were bought to go into Lancashire, Gloucester- 

 shire, and Warwickshire. There were at this to 

 sold by me about 30 other rams, belonging to Messrs. 

 Minton, Farmer, Haughton, Peckstock, and Claridge,at 

 prices ranging from five to fourteen guineas. 



At Mr. Masfen's sale, at Norton Caines, near 

 Walsall, 30 rams were sold, on the 1st of August, at an 

 average of 11/. 10s. each, all being disposed of. Highest 

 price, 20/. ; lowest ditto, 6/. 



Mr. Adney's (of Harley) sale took place August 7th, 

 when 27 rams were sold at an average of 1 3/. 1 Os. each; 

 and 100 draft ewes, at an average of 3/. 18s. each ; some 

 pens making 5/. 1 Os. each. At the late Shropshire Cattle 

 Show, Mr. Adney's original Shropshire ram won the 

 Champion Sweepstakes for the best ram of any age or 

 breed, beating Mr. Horron's celebrated Shropshire ram, 

 which won the prize at the Gloucester meeting of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society of England, and several 

 others of the distinct South Down, Leicester, and 

 Shropshire breeds. 



At Mr. Horton's (of Hamage) the highest-priced 

 ram was 33/. 12s., bought by Col. Pennant, of Penrhyn 

 Castle ; and the lowest price obtained was 9/. The e^el 

 (130 drafts) averaged 3/. each, the highest pen making 

 5/. 10s. each. . 



Mr. Bach offered a considerable number of Shropsb'* 6 

 sheep (the property of different breeders) for sale hy 

 auction, at Ludlow Fair, on the 19th of Aug"** 

 Yearlings were in the greatest request, and those ot 

 Messrs. James Hand. V.Ht»«wi tt™;„l. ««h R 13atf 





























