282 



Quality of Swedes. 



[AUG., 



dust baths is to keep the fowls' bodies clean and free from 

 vermin, and the best material for this purpose is dry earth. In 

 cases where vermin have already got a footing it may be 

 advisable to mix some dry lime or sulphur with the earth, but 

 earth alone is a good preventive. Ashes and road dust have 

 been recommended, but they make the feathers brittle and dry, 

 and also discolour the plumage. 



In the growth of roots it is obvious that the point at which 

 the farmer should aim is the production of bulbs with a high 

 feeding value. Quality is not, however. 



provement have been external ones, such as shape, colour, and 

 size, rather than the chemical composition, which is the best or 

 only indication of the feeding value. Attention has been drawn 

 to this subject in some experiments with mangolds conducted 

 at Cambridge University by Messrs. Wood and Berry,* in which 

 it was concluded that the method most likely to result in im- 

 provement in the feeding value of mangolds is selection for high 

 percentage of dry matter in the root. 



This point, which is one of great practical interest to farmers, 

 is also dealt with in some experiments with swedes conducted by 

 the Edinburgh and East of Scotland College of Agriculture in 

 the three years 1902- 1904. A large number of varieties were 

 grown at different centres and compared as regards (i) cropping 

 power or yield per acre, and (2) quality or quantity of food 

 material as shown by chemical analysis. The results afforded 

 ample proof that some varieties have a strong hereditary ten- 

 dency to produce large crops, but they also showed that a 

 deficiency in weight may be compensated for by an improve- 

 ment in quality ; while, on the other hand, a deficiency in 



H. DE COURCY. 



Experiments as 

 to the Quality 

 of Swedes. 



easily estimated except by analysis, and for 

 this reason the characteristics which have 

 for many years been the object of im- 



fotirnalj September, 1905, p. 353, 



