WINTER MANAGEMENT. 237 



conclude the subject : — " With respect to the most advanta- 

 geous food to be given, there is some difference of opinion, 

 some preferring oil-cake, some beans or peas, and others 

 oatmeal or barley-meal. It must, of course, depend, in some 

 measure, on the nature of the farm, as it must, to a certain 

 extent, be preferable to use th6 product of the farm. Sheep 

 certainly prefer beans to oats ; and where the former are 

 grown they can be unidonbtedly used to advantage. They 

 abound in that principle in which turnips are most deficient, 

 and thus are adapted to counteract, in a measure, the too 

 weakening effect of the turnips ; and the latter, abounding 

 more in the elements of fat, prevent the beans from harden- 

 ing the flesh too much, which they are otherwise apt to do. 

 Oats and barley are more fattening than beans, both contain 

 less albumen ; and oil-cake nourishes but little, but possess- 

 es the principle of fat in a concentrated form. Perhaps the 

 best plan would be to begin with beans, gradually mixing 

 oil-cake, and finishing with that and turnips alone ; or it 

 may be prudent to mix other grain with the beans ; or, if 

 more convenient, substitute peas. Mr. Childers states that 

 sheep fed with the addition of half a pint of barley per sheep 

 per day, half a pound of linseed-cake, with hay, and a con- 

 stant supply of salt, become ready for the butcher in ten 

 weeks, and gain of flesh and tallow 33 lbs. to 40 lbs. per 

 , head (one sheep gained 55 lbs. in twelve weeks) ; aad that, 

 with artificial food, 30 tons of turnips will f^d'eo sheep ; - 

 while, on the usual plan of feeding on turnips alone, out of' 

 doors, the average of the country is that 20 tons of turnips 

 will feed, in sixteen weeks, 10 sheep, with, a gain of only 

 20 lbs. of flesh and tallow." 



Although the ruta-baga turnip is the essential food for fat- 

 tening sheep in Great Britain, yet in localities in the United 

 States unadapted for its culture, the American breeders 

 have ample substitutes in potatoes, Indian corn, as well as 

 all other grains usually appropriated to this purpose abroad. 

 By reference to the tables of comparative nutritiousnesa of 

 the different kinds of food, and by weighing a few of the 

 sheep when put up for fattening, a ready calculation will be 

 made of the quantity required for feeding daily, which is 

 highly necessary to know, in order to prevent waste, Profit 

 being the ultimate object in keeping sheep of any kind, small 

 things must be kept steadily in view. Handfuls make 

 bushels, and ounces make pounds. 



