The Virginia enterprise., 1898-11-11
Turnips Make Go{,d Mutton.

Inc English farmers, says writer in
Country Gentleman, feed their sheep as
do no other nation in the world.
It may be special possibility of the cli-
mate, where the evcrweeping clouds keep
the land moist, so that the feed is al
ways succulent, and which favors the
growth to perfection of the turnips and
the beets, while the grass is proverbially
sweet and always green.
IT is strange thing that we on this
sloe OF the OCEAN at least some of the
scientific part Of ns-will insist that the
food has nothing to do with the quality
or flavor of the flesh, or other products of
any other animal; at least this is peremp-
torlly alleged in regard to butter of COWS,
ana this is similar product in any ami
NAL to the fat in flesh, and is derived di-
rectly from, and is favored by the food.
AS the turnipy flavor and odor of the
English mutton come from the feed
and the milk and butter are also favored
by this ro0t-it must be admitted that the
sEcculence Of the English mutton chop is
due to the special feeding of the sheep.
But whatever may be the cause of this
excellence of the English mutton, it is
something for us to study and make a
practical part of our sheep keeping, if we
| would secure the best results from our
success of English agriculture.
The British farmer is apt to call the
sheep "the rent payer;' and as the rent is
far larger matter to him than the whole
interest on the value of an average Amer
lean farm, this is saying much of the wool
| bearer, and the sweet, tender. juicy NUT
ton sheep. In England the root crop is
the cleaning crop for the land, and by it's
feeding it is the main enricher of the SOIL
a horn niS ar 1f fhr RI
| several times as much for commercial fer
tilizers as the British farmer does. He Is
far more interested in his compost heaps
than we are, and the sheep is special
| manure maker and spreader for him.
Thus it is that the turnips are eaten off
| the land by sheep which leave their liberal
| return on the land, evenly spread, in ex-
! change for their food. And it is to these
turnlps that the mutton owes its excellent
qualities, as is so truly and emphatically
| insisted ON by the writer above referred
| to.
In our agriculture the root crop natural
| ly follows the corn. This is an adyantag &c
the British farmer does not enjoy, viz,
| to have two cleaning crops following each
other Now if we were to make practice
of feeding sheep, for which there is the
widest kind 1,1 Of opening, not only for our
ton-and his would IS greatly stimulated
if we were to eat this luscious and of all
meats the most nutritious. as we'll as sat
isfactory to the appetite-but also for ex-
port. we might largely increase the profit
| of Our FARMS
| The South is especially interested in this
matter. for the southern climate is equally
| fitted for the culture of roots as is that of
England, and there is abundant land ly-
ing idle that calls in the loudest manner
| for thp owners tO make il DrO(luctiyp tO
enrich it and help to serve the good pur-
pose for which the great Creator made it,
and for which He conferred it upon man
kind viz, to subdue it and to replenish it
and make it fruitful; for there the roots
grown on the land may be eaten directly
from it, in the English way, with no ex-
pense of harvesting the crop And the
sleeps golden foot, and the sweet tender
ness of its meat made of this succulent
food, will inure to the pleasure and profit
! Of ourselves dnd the eager purchasers OF
this product abroad.