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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
May  7,  1903. 
The  Value  of  Roots  in  Sheep  Feeding. 
Most  of  us  are  preparing  land  for  the  root  crops.  Man¬ 
golds  have  been  sown,  and  we  are  looking  forward  to  the 
time  when  we  shall  be  able  to  commence  drilling  Swedes, 
and  we  often  hear  it  said  that  we  are  going  through  a  great 
deal  of  anxiety  and  taking  trouble  and  spending  money  to 
produce  ciops  which  might  readily  be  dispensed  with.  One 
of  the  panaceas  which  is  offered  by  theorists  to  suffering 
farmers  is  the  advice  to  put  down  expense  by  giving  up 
roots,  and  they  tell  us  to  use  cut  straw,  hay,  crushed 
Gorse,  treacle,  and  dry  purchased  foods  in  their  stead. 
Now,  we  think  that  it  is  very  unfair  to  a  root  crop  to 
charge  to  it  the  whole  cost  of  its  production,  starting  with 
the  earliest  stages  of  preparation  of  the  land ;  for  there 
is  a  great  area  of  land  in  this  country  which  can  only  be 
kept  clear  of  weeds  and  twitch  by  the  aid  of  a  nine-months 
fallowing,  and  if  Turnips  or  similar  crops  were  not  grown, 
the  only  alternative  would  be  summer  fallowing,  which 
would  be  nearly  as  expensive  without  anything  in  the  way 
of  food  to  put  to  the  credit  side  of  the  account.  It  is  this 
system  of  overcharging  the  root  crops  with  expenses  which 
is  largely  responsible  for  the  idea  that  is  spreading,  that 
they  are  too  extravagant  for  modern  farming  if  it  is  to  be 
economically  conducted.  We  would  suggest  that  the  cost 
of  a  summer  fallow  should  be  deducted  from  the  full  cost  of 
a  Turnip  fallow,  and  the  balance  charged  to  the  debit  of 
the  latter,  instead  of  charging  the  full  cost,  as  is  generally 
done. 
These  remarks  have  been  prompted  by  the  study  of  a 
report  of  one  of  the  Woburn  experiments,  an  experiment 
on  the  economy  of  roots  in  sheep  feeding,  which,  although 
it  resulted  favourably  to  the  roots,  would  have  been  much 
more  so  if  a  reasonable  charge  had' been  made  for  them.  If 
we  could  always  make  7s.  per  ton  of  our  Swedes,  and  10s. 
of  our  Mangolds  by  consuming  them  on  the  land  and  have 
the  residuals  thrown  in,  we  need  not  be  afraid  of  losing 
money  by  growing  them.  This  experiment  was  conducted 
to  compare  the  results  of  feeding  sheep.  I.,  with  a  full 
supply  of  roots;  II.,  with  a  partial  supply  of  roots;  III., 
with  roots  and  Gorse  ;  IV.,  with  Clover  hay,  straw  chaff, 
and  treacle.  To  each  separate  ration  of  these  various  foods 
was  added  an  allowance  of  linseed  cake,  which  was  much 
the  most  liberal  to  the  sheep  consuming  no  roots.  The 
several  amounts  of  cake  consumed  during  three  months  by 
each  pen  of  ten  sheep  were  in  money  value;  Pen  I., 
£2  4s.  9d.  ;  pen  II.,  £2  17s.  ;  pen  III.,  £2  10s.  lOd.  ;  pen  IV., 
£3  2s.  8d.  The  first  three  pens  were  allowed  a  small 
quantity  of  Clover  hay,  and  the  value  of  this  food  at  £4 
per  ton  was  for  pen  I.,  11s.  lid.  ;  pen  II.,  19s.  6d.  ;  pen  III., 
11s.  ;  pen  IV.,  £4.  The  roots  used  were,  for  the  first  month, 
Swedes  ;  for  the  remainder  of  the  time  Kohl-rabi,  except 
for  the  last  few  days,  when  Mangolds  were  substituted. 
The  total  cost  of  food  per  pen  was  :  No.  I.,  £5  7s.  ;  II., 
£5  13s.  ;  III.,  £5  Os.  5d.  ;  IV.,  £7  18s.  2d.  Swedes  were 
charged,  7s.  ;  Kohl-rabi,  8s.  ;  Mangolds,  10s.  per  ton. 
Attention  must  at  once  be  attracted  to  the  great  differ¬ 
ence  in  the  cost  of  these  rations,  the  non-root  ration  costing 
practically  fifty  per  cent,  more  than  the  others ;  and  it 
would  seem  that  here  is  a  proof  of  the  economy  of  root 
feeding,  for  we  are  confident  that  the  prices  charged,  viz., 
7s.,  8s.,  and  10s.,  are,  as  we  have  been  showing,  well  up  to 
the  amounts  which  should  be  put  on  them.  The  pens  which 
were  receiving  roots  all  did  well,  but  pen  No.  IV.  did  not 
present  a  thriving  appearance,  and  although  when  killed 
they  were  declared  by  the  butcher  to  be  nice  little  mutton, 
they  did  not  gain  sufficiently  in  -weight  to  pay  for  the  food 
they  consumed.  The  cost  of  food  was  higher,  and  the  sheep 
fed  much  more  slowly,  whilst  the  carcases  sold  for  less 
money  per  lb. 
Pen  I.,  which  lived  to  a  larger  extent  on  roots,  matured 
more  quickly  than  any,  and  Avas  the  first  fit  for  market, 
which  accounted  for  its  smaller  expenditure  in  cake.  Pen  II. 
was  next  best,  but  gave  a  smaller  carcase  increase  and  cost 
more,  owing  to  its  slower  arrival  at  maturity.  Gorse,  in 
Pen  III.,  showed  that  it  might  be  used  to  economise  Clover 
hay,  but  that  it  was  of  little  use  to  save  roots.  Of  the  four 
pens  the  average  gain  per  head  for  the  whole  period  of 
thirteen  to  sixteen  Aveeks  Avere  :  — 
Pen  I.,  full  supply  of  roots,  43.2lb. 
Pen  II.,  limited  roots,  40.8lb. 
Pen  III.,  limited  roots  and  Gorse,  37.6lb. 
Pen  IV.,  no  roots,  26.5lb. 
The  butcher’s  remarks  were  as  folloAvs :  — Pen  I,  (full 
supply  of  roots) :  Beautiful  sheep,  but  rather  heavy,  and 
cuf  too  much  fat ;  a  lot  of  loose  fat.  Pen  II.  (limited  roots) ; 
Very  similar  to  pen  III.,  very  nice  fleshy  sheep  ;  cut  Avell, 
nicely  fatted,  but  not  too  much  so.  Pen  III.  (Gorse  and 
roots):  Very  nice  sheep,  not  too  much  fat,  very  fleshy 
sheep,  cut  very  nicely ;  prefer  to  pen  I.,  as  not  so  much  fat. 
Pep  IV.  (no  roots):  All  “plain,”  but  nice  enough  little 
mutton. 
And  noAV  for  the  profit  and  loss  account.  The  net  money 
gains  per  head  were,  for  pen  I.,  £2  2s.  5d.  ;  pen  II., 
£l  8s.  Id.  ;  pen  III.,  15s.  lOd.  ;  whilst  pen  IV.  showed  a 
loss  of  £3  11s.  3d.  Very  striking  evidence  this  in  favour 
of  roots  over  hay  in  the  feeding  of  animals.  A  clever  yard¬ 
man  and  successful  feeder  always  said  that  he  could  dis¬ 
pense  Avith  anything  as  long  as  he  had  plenty  of  good 
SAvedes,  and  Ave  thoroughly  agree  Avith  him.  We  should 
greatly  qualify  this  opinion  in  the  case  of  Avhite-fleshed 
Turnips. 
The  report  sums  up  briefly : 
1.  That  feeding  sheep  on  a  limited  supply  of  roots  will 
not  fatten  them  as  Avell,  or  as  quickly,  as  giving  them  a 
more  liberal  supply. 
2.  That  feeding  sheep  on  the  land  AA*ithout  any  roots, 
and  making  up  the  deficiency  by  giving  extra  hay  with 
treacle  and  Avater,  aaTII  result  in  considerable  financial  loss. 
3.  That  feeding  Avith  Gorse  in  partial  replacement  of 
hay  Avill  gh^e  good  mutton,  but  no  economical  advantage 
over  hay.  It  Avas  found  that  Gorse  must  be  given  freshly 
cut  and  bruised. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
We  liave  had  three  days’  rain,  and  it  has  been  mast.  Avelcome. 
It  has  fallen  very  steadily,  and  although  the  quantity  has  not 
been  large,  none  has  been  lost,  and  the  land,  Avhich  a  AA'eek  ago 
Avas  like  brick  heads,  AA'ill  noAv  harroAv  doAvn  to  a  beautiful  mould. 
The  latest  Barley  Avill,  therefore,  be  .sown  under  good  conditions, 
and  may  readily  OA’ertake  some  Avhich  was  put  in  three  weeks  ago. 
An  examination  of  some  such  Barleys  reveals  some  grains 
sprouted,  and  the  shoots  above  ground,  Avhilst  others  are  dormant 
as  they  Avere  sown.  These  must  produce  very  uneven  samples, 
and  Avill  be  difficult  to  harvest. 
The  ridge  harroAAS  are  at  Avork  on  the  Potatoes,  and  are 
making  a  splendid  job.  The  rain  AA^as  just  sufficient  to  thoroughly 
soften  the  rough  clods,  and  they  break  doAvn  beautifully. 
Mangold  land,  Avhich  Avas  recently  too  rough,  may  noAv  be  soAvn, 
and  no  time  should  be  lost.  As  aao  have  advised  before,  fowl 
or  pigeon  manure  is  very  good  for  Mangolds,  and  either  2cAA't 
of  kainit  or  4cAvt  of  broad  or  agricultural  salt  per  acre.  This 
latter  is  especially  necessary  on  the  lighter  and  thinner  soils. 
Clover  must  be  .soavii  at  once,  if  they  are  not  already  in.  If 
the  Barley  AAas  rolled  Avith  the  Cambridge  roll  directly  after  it 
Avas  drilled,  the  seeds  may  be  soAvn  broadcast  or  drilled,  and  very 
little  harroAving  Avill  be  needed.  In  some  cases  a  flat  roll  Avould 
coA'er  them  sufficiently.  With  Barley  or  Oats  yet  to  be  soAAm, 
put  in  the  seeds  at  the  same  time.  A  plant  should  be  a  matter 
of  certainty  after  this  rain. 
Farmers  about  here  have  been  so  busy  clipping  and  market¬ 
ing  sheep  that  they  have  glutted  the  markets,  and  prices  are 
down  7s.  per  head,  some  people  say.  No  doubt  the  frost  is 
chiefly  responsible  for  this,  and  the  change  to  milder  thing.s  Avill 
cause  a  reA'iA'al ;  certainly  there  is  plenty  of  Clover  plant  if  Ave 
liaA^e  Aveather  to  make  it  groAV.  That  keeping  is  still  plentiful 
is  shoAvn  by  the  poor  prices  at  Avhich  grass  pastures  and  meadows 
are  being  let. 
Lambs  have  passed  through  the  cold  Aveather  Avell,  but  cattle 
liaA’e  suffered  Avhere  grass  has  been  the  only  food.  There  is  good 
luck  generally  Avith  foaling  mares,  but  Ave  hear  noAv  of  several 
having  cast  their  foals  prematurely  a  month  or  tAvo  ago.  Eggs 
are  cheap,  and  Ave  are  preseiwing  them  in  AA'aterglass,  tins  of  Avhich 
can  noAv  be  bought  at  6)d.  each. 
