| COMPOSITION OF HEART AND INNER LEAVES. | |||
| In natural state. | Dry. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 89·42 | ||
| Oil | ·08 | ·75 | |
| * Soluble protein compounds | 1·19 | 11·24 | |
| Sugar, digestible fibres, &c. | 7·01 | 66·25 | |
| Soluble mineral matter | ·73 | 6·89 | |
| † Insoluble protein compounds | ·31 | 2·93 | |
| Woody fibre | 1·14 | 10·77 | |
| Insoluble mineral matter | ·12 | 1·17 | |
| ——— | ——— | ||
| 100·00 | 100·00 | ||
| * Containing nitrogen | ·19 | 1·79 | |
| † Containing nitrogen | ·05 | ·47 | |
If I were asked what plant I considered the most valuable for forage, I certainly should pronounce an opinion in favor of cabbage. This crop yields a much greater return than that afforded by the Swedish turnip, and it is richer in nutritive matter. Cabbages are greedily eaten by sheep and cattle, and the butter of cows fed upon them is quite free from the disagreeable flavor which it so often possesses when the food of the animal is chiefly composed of turnips. If the cabbage admitted of storing, no more valuable crop could be cultivated as food for stock.
Mr. John M'Laren, of Inchture, Scotland, gives in the "Transactions of the Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland for 1857," a report on the feeding value of cabbage, which is highly favorable to that plant:—
On the 1st December, 1855 (says the reporter), two lots of Leicester wethers, bred on the farm, and previously fed alike, each lot containing ten sheep, were selected for the trial by competent judges, and weighed. Both lots were put into a field of well-sheltered old lea, having a division between them. All the food was cut and given them in troughs, three times a day. They had also a constant supply of hay in racks.
At the end of the trial, on the 1st of March, 1856, the sheep were all re-weighed, sent to the Edinburgh market, and sold same day, but in their separate lots. As I had no opportunity of getting the dead weights, I requested Mr. Swan, the salesman, to give his opinion on their respective qualities. This was to the effect that no difference existed in their market value, but that the sheep fed on turnips would turn out the best quality of mutton, with most profit for the butcher. Both lots were sold at the same price, viz., 52s. 6d. During the three months of trial, we found that each lot consumed about the same weight of food—viz., 8 tons 13 cwt. 47 lb. of cabbage, being at the rate of 211⁄3 lbs. per day for each sheep, and 8 tons 10 cwt. 7 lb. Swedes, being at the rate of 209⁄10 lb. per day.
It will be seen, by referring to the table (see next page), that in this trial the Swede has proved of higher value for feeding purposes than the cabbage, making 11 st. 4 lb. of gain in weight, whilst the cabbage made 10 st. 9 lb. At the same time, 3 cwt. 40 lb. less food were consumed; and taking the mutton gained at 6d. per lb., the Swedes consumed become worth 9s. 3¼d. per ton, while the gain on the cabbage, at the same rate, makes them worth 8s. 7d. per ton. But from the great additional weight of the one crop grown over the other, the balance, at the prices, c., mentioned, is in favor of the cabbage by £1 15s. 11¾d. per acre.
These results certainly speak strongly in favor of the cabbage; but the weight of the acreable crop of cabbages stated in the table appears to be unusually great. So heavy a crop is rarely obtained.
Furze (Gorse, or Whins).—Notwithstanding the natural historical knowledge of Goldsmith, his poetical description of the furze is far from accurate. This plant, instead of being "unprofitably gay," deserves to rank amongst the most valuable vegetables cultivated for the use of the domestic animals. It grows and flourishes under conditions which most injuriously affect almost every other kind of fodder and green crop. Prolonged drought in spring and early summer not unfrequently renders the hay crop a scanty one; while autumn and winter frosts change the nutriment of the mangels and turnips into decaying and unwholesome matter. Under such circumstances as these, the maintenance of cattle in good condition is very expensive, unless in places where a supply of furze is available. This plant is rather improved than otherwise by exposure to a temperature which would speedily destroy a mangel or a turnip; and, although it thrives best when abundantly supplied with rain, it can survive an exceedingly prolonged drought without sustaining much injury.
| TABLE Showing the Difference of Weight grown on an Acre of Cabbage and an Acre of Swedes, and the Value of each for Feeding. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. Of Sheep In Each Lot. | Kinds of Food. | Weight of Ten Sheep, 1st Dec., 1855. | Weight of Ten Sheep, 1st Mar., 1856. | Gain. | Value of Gain taking Mutton at 6d. per lb. | Total Weight of Food consumed in Three Months by each lot. | Value of Food consumed per Ton. | Total Weight per Acre of each Crop. | Value of each Crop per Acre. | Extra Cost on each Crop per Acre. | Free Value of each Crop per Acre. | Balance in favor of Cabbage per Acre. | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| st. | lb. | st. | lb. | st. | lb. | £ | s. | d. | tons. | cwt. | lb. | s. | d. | tons. | cwt. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | ||
| 10 | Cabbage | 90 | 10 | 101 | 5 | 10 | 9 | 3 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 13 | 47 | 8 | 7 | 42 | 14 | 18 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 7 | 1 | 15 | 11¾ |
| 10 | Swedes | 89 | 3 | 100 | 7 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 19 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 3¼ | 26 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 7¼ | 0 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 19 | 7¼ | |||