On increasing our Supplies of Animal Food. 



347 



Of course it is easy so to state figures as to arrive at any result 

 that may be desired ; but in the above I have gone upon what I 

 believe to be reasonable data, viz. — 



That 24 or 25 cwt. of hay is a probable produce from land of such 

 value ; 



That hay is one-fifth or more of the grass from which it is made ; 

 That the growth of aftermath is to the growth up to hay harvest as 

 1 to 3 on such land. 



We know from experience that turnips consumed without any 

 artificial food, as it is called, given with them, will not generally 

 yield more than 1 lb. of beef or mutton for every 150 lbs. of 

 green food ; and giving grass credit for a little more nourishment 

 than this., we have assumed that 140 lbs. of it will yield the same 

 meat.* On the side of arable land, again, I have stated 

 amounts of produce which from several years' experience I know 

 to be probable. 



The 52 tons of green food (supposing the straw to be all used 

 as litter) will on the above datum yield 776 lbs. of beef, and 

 this at 6d, per lb. is worth 19/. 85., an amount rather larger than 

 that which was the whole return from the grass, while here we 

 have in addition the produce of three crops of grains. Whether 

 the whole extra expense of this mode of managing the land will 

 be more than paid by this extra produce is hardly within the 

 province of this inquiry. 



We may now suppose another case — that of arable land wholly 

 devoted to meat-producing crops, and it may be supposed to yield 

 thus : — 



1st year 26 tons of mangold wwzel 

 2nd 30 cwt. of bean straw, and 



34 bushels of winter beans, harvested in time for rye to be 

 sown, which would yield 

 3rd 12 tons of green food in the following May, to be succeeded 

 by rape yielding 

 16 tons in November 

 4th 30 cwt. of barley straw, and 



48 bushels of barley 

 5th 20 tons of Swedish turnips 

 6th 30 cwt. of pease straw, and 



32 bushels of pease ; the land then to be thoroughly tilled 

 for the following mangold crop. 



* The best grazing-land in Lincolnshire we are told on first-rate authority will, 

 under the best circumstances, feed an ox and a sheep from New May-day till Old 

 Michaelmas. The former will gain 20 stone, or 280 lbs., and the latter 10 lbs. a qr., 

 or 40 lbs. in the time. The acre will thus yield 320 lbs. of meat. Its produce of 

 grass may be 16 tons — perhaps more. This is 1 lb. of meat for every cwt. of grass, 

 but we must remember that the grass of such land differs from the average in the 

 quality as well as the quantity of its produce. 



