348 



On increasing our Supplies of Animal Food. 



Here we have 26 tons of mangold wurzel 

 12 „ rye 

 16 „ rape ' 

 20 „ turnips 



Or in all 74 tons of green food. 

 And 30 cwt. of bean straw 

 30 „ barley 

 30 pease 



Or in all 4£ tons of straw. 

 And 34 bushels of beans 

 48 barley 

 32 „ pease 



Or in all about 3 tons of grain. 



The average produce per acre of the different crops is put 

 higher now than before, as every farmer will admit that under 

 such circumstances (all the produce being converted into manure) 

 it ought. Now if an ox consume 1 cwt. of turnips daily, in the 

 above case he will need to eat 5 lbs. of grain and use 8 lbs. of 

 litter daily, in order that all may be finished together. The straw 

 will be little enough, but oxen fattening to 7 cwt. will fare well 

 on the food : they will pay at least 5s. a week upon it, i. e. 5s. for 

 every 7 cwt. of roots and 35 lbs. of grain ; and the stock of food 

 would at these rates keep 4 oxen for 50 weeks, yielding a money 

 return of about 50/. from the sale of the meat produced. Ac- 

 cording to this, about 81. 10s. per acre is the highest produce of 

 meat from land of the quality named ; and whether that, taking 

 the large labour of the crops into account, is a profitable produce 

 does not appear. 



But we may suppose a third method of cultivation in which 

 the produce, summer and winter, is fed upon the land by sheep, 

 and the following amount of the several crops may be expected : — 



1st year 20 tons of early turnips, followed by rye yielding next May 

 2nd 12 tons of green food, followed by rape yielding in November 



16 tons of rape 

 3rd 26 tons of mangold wurzel, followed by vetches 

 4th 16 tons of vetches, consumed in time to sow Italian rye-grass 

 5th 8 tons of rye-grass, followed by 



20 tons of Swedish turnips 

 6th 20 tons of Belgian carrots. 



Here we have a gross produce of 138 tons of green food in six 

 years, which at 1 lb. from every 150 would yield 2060 lbs. of 

 meat, or 517. 10s. worth per acre in six years; rather more than 

 in the former case. 



The two latter cases are not likely to be generally adopted 

 until long experience shall have determined their profitableness : 



