356 



On increasing our Supplies of Animal Food. 



produce ; a crop of 24 tons per acre once in four or six years 

 would be a clear gain of animal food to the amount of 90 or 

 60 lbs. respectively per acre annually over those districts which 

 admit of the change. 



We have thus to recount, as the conclusions to which the second 

 section of our subject has led, that the substitution of green- 

 cropping for naked fallows would be cheaply productive of meat. 



That the rotations in use on arable land vary as much as from 

 \ of a cwt. to more than 1 cwt. per acre in their produce of meat, 

 and that much therefore may be added to the national supplies by 

 the selection of a good succession of crops. 



That the conversion of inferior grass land to arable culture, 

 while it would add largely to the supply of human food in the 

 shape of grain, would also to a small extent probably increase 

 the supply of meat. And among the details of this branch of 

 the subject — not to speak of the effect of mere variety in any one 

 kind of crop — we have seen that the produce of meat depends 

 considerably on a right choice of the plants to be cultivated for 

 food. Thus I advise the trial of the field cabbage and the 

 white carrot — the latter from several years' experience — and on 

 all low-lying lands in south and central England, I confidently 

 recommend the substitution to a large extent of the globe man- 

 gold wurzel for the Swedish turnip. On the farm here we can 

 grow 30 tons of the former per acre more easily than 20 tons of 

 the latter ; and our crop of Belgian carrots is generally heavier 

 than our crop of Swedish turnip. 



III. We have now to suppose the case of a thoroughly pro- 

 ductive farm, and to consider the most economical method of 

 converting its produce into meat. And I must remark in the 

 outset, that the skill required to produce the crop and that re- 

 quired for its profitable consumption are two very different things. 

 It is for the former that the Scottish farmer is generally held to 

 be distinguished ; both are essential to a fully profitable result. 



Many questions arise under this head of our inquiry. Thus, 

 we may ask — what sort of animal will most economically convert 

 food, the ox, the sheep, or the hog ? and what breed of each, the 

 Shorthorn, Hereford, Devon, or other breed of the first — the 

 Southdown, Leicester, or longwoolled breeds of the second — the 

 Berkshire, Yorkshire, or Essex breed of the third? At what 

 age, too, is any of these breeds most productive of meat ? Again, 

 how should the food be given to these animals — cooked or raw — 

 wholly succulent or mixed with dry food — green crop exclusively, 

 or oilcake and farinaceous food as well? Lastly, how are the 

 animals to be treated during the consumption of their food ; are 

 they to be sheltered or unsheltered ; and if the former, should 

 they be kept in yards, or stalls, or boxes ? 



