4]

[Footnote 4: For our authority on this subject, we refer to
Johnston's _Suggestion for Experiments in Practical Agriculture_, No.
111. pp. 62 and 64, of which we have been favoured with an early
copy by the author.]

This latter fact, shows the very slippery ground on which the
assertion rests, that has lately astonished the weak minds of our
Southern cattle-feeding brethren, from the mouth of one of their
talented but hasty lecturers--that the potatoe contains two or three
times the weight of nourishment which exists in the turnip. It is
true that _some_ varieties of potatoes contain three times as much
as _some_ varieties of turnip--but, on the other hand, some turnips
contain as much nourishment as an equal weight of potatoes. But no
man can tell, by bare inspection, as yet, to which class of turnips,
the more or less watery, his own may belong--whether that which is
apparently the most prolific may not in reality be the least
so--whether that mode of manuring his land which gives him the
greatest weight of raw roots may not give him the smallest weight of
real substantial food for his stock. What a wide field, therefore,
for experiment? To what useful results might they not be expected to
lead? If any of our readers wish to undertake such experiments, or to
learn how they are to be performed, we refer them to the pamphlet
mentioned in the note.

In connexion with the chapter "on the feeding of sheep," we could
have wished to advert to the advantages of shelter, in producing the
largest weight of meat from a given weight of turnips, or other
food--as illustrated by the experiments of Mr. Childers, Lord Western,
and others; but we must refer our readers to the passage itself,
(vol. ii. p. 51,) as we must also to the no less important
comparative view of the advantages of feeding cattle in close byres
and in open hammels, (vol. ii. p. 129,) and to the interesting
details regarding the use of raw and steamed food, contained in the
chapter upon the feeding of cattle, (vol. ii. p. 120 to 148.)

But our author is so cunning in the qualities of mutton--which, as
we have already seen, he can "kill so gently," performing the
operation without pain--that we think our readers will enjoy the
following passage:--

"The gigot is the handsomest and most valuable part of the carcass,
and on that account fetches the highest price. It is either a
roasting or a boiling piece. Of black-faced mutton it makes a fine
roast, and