FISH AS CATTLE FOOD.

Otago Witness, Issue 1911, 6 July 1888, Page 8

FISH AS CATTLE FOOD.

In tho " Transactions," too, Dr Aitken, chemist to the society, refers to some experiments in feeding cows on " herring meal." He had observed tbifc the farmers living near the great cod-fish-ing stations on the coast of Norway have long been in the habit of feeding their cattle on the dried heads of the fish, from which they make soup, pouring it over chafe for the cattle to eat. Dr Aitken asked Mr Speir, of Newton, near Glasgow, to try some herring meal on his cows, and it was found to be very rich in albumen and oiL Mr Speir gave this fi?h food with maize meal to his cows, and found it increased the «n,^,i. p. ? | m P ro . v ed the condition of the animals! But as" it* costs about as much as lineecd cake, there appears to be nothing to recommend its general use — and a good job too, us such unnatural feeding is something like an outrage on vegetarian b.Rsts. One can easily imagine that fish meal would often be decomposing before it was all consumed, and in such a case it could not fail to taint the milk and butter.

(sulphate of ammonia 2001b, or nitrate of sods 2751b per acre) increased it by seven bushels per acre on an average. To put the case in another way, the average increase over the yield on the unmanured land obtained when the quantities of nitrogenous manures abosp named were ap* plied was at the rate of 7£ Dushels perowtof sulphate of ammonia and six bushels per cwt of the cheaper nitrate of soda. In relation to cost, the two results were about equal. Such an increase is not commonly obtained in farm practice, because land ia rarely, if ever, kept so clean — free from weeds— on an ordinary farm as it is at Woburn. In the ease of barley the effect of the nitrogenous manures is even greater than in that of wheat, for where 2001b sulphate of ammonia had been applied year after year the increase in barley was at the rate of lO_ bashels for each cwt sold, and it was .at the rate of nine bushels per cwt of nitrate of soda. Increased quantities of manure made the crop greater, but in diminishing proportion.