1922.] Notes on Feeding Stuffs for February. 103£ 



conferred on fertilisers by electricity or radium. There is no 

 evidence that either of these agents increases manurial values, 

 and farmers should not pay more for any fertiliser than is war- 

 ranted by its chemical composition. It is easy to calculate from 

 unit prices a fair value for an artificial manure, and anything 

 paid in excess of this must be regarded as a speculation which 

 may not justify itself. 



NOTES ON FEEDING STUFFS FOR 

 FEBRUARY. 



E. T. Halnan, M.A., Dip. Agric. (Cantab.). 

 Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. 



Winter Feeding of Live Stock when Roots are scarce. — 



Arising out of a previous article (November, 1921, p. 725) 

 several correspondents have written giving their practical experi- 

 ence. The two following extracts from letters received 

 illustrate two methods of overcoming the difficulty, and are 

 included here, owing to their practical interest. 



Wintering Store Cattle with little or no Roots. — (1) " On a 

 very light-land farm where I cannot grow any quantity of roots, 

 I have been accustomed to winter 40 10-cwt. store bullocks. 

 .In 1919 they were fed on 2 lb. each decorticated ground nut cake 

 and 2 lb. each linseed cake with barley straw, ad lib. ; in 1920 

 a similar lot were fed on 4 lb. linseed cake and barley straw." 



The method of feeding was as follows : — 



" The cake was fed to the bullocks at 7 a.m., and then the 

 mangers and racks filled up with barley straw and no other 

 attention given until next day. Of course a plentiful supply of 

 water was at hand. This method of wintering is cheap as 

 regards labour, and from my experience successful. 



" My experience of using treacle is not in its favour as I 

 found it scoured the bullocks when given in only small quan- 

 tities. 



" This winter on another farm I am trying to fatten 40 9-cwt. 

 to 10-cwt. bullocks on 4 lb. bean meal, 1 lb. ground nut cake, 

 and 3 lb. linseed cake." 



(2) Another correspondent writes : — 



" This year I have been confronted with the difficulty of 

 finding a method of feeding to compensate for the shortage of 

 roots, as we have only half our usual crop. I have done this by 

 substituting linseed and treacle, and I find it works out 

 admirably. 



