Whitfield Farm 



347 



as well as the cleaning and sacking it. The system 

 pursued on the farm was that which alone can ans^\■er 

 in the present times — viz. , to grow tlie greatest pos- 

 sible quantity of gi-een crops and root crops, by 

 which a large stock of cattle and sheep may be sup- 

 ported, and thus add to the increase of the ^\•heat crop 

 also. The roots gi-own on the farm consisted of man- 

 gold wurtzel, white carrots, and s\^-edish turnips, the 

 average per acre being 30 tons. Except in the first 

 year, very little artificial manure had been used, and 

 none afterwards, except that made on the premises. 

 Large tanks were made to receive all the liquid 

 manure from the different yards and bullock houses, 

 which, by forcing pumps, was thrown over the com- 

 post heaps, standing outside the yards — 80 acres of 

 roots, 40 of clover, and 120 of wheat, growing on the 

 farm when I visited it. The trimming of the carrots 

 produced an immense quantity of green food during 

 the summer months, upon which, and the clover cut in 

 a green state, the cattle and stock subsisted. Hay 

 was neither made nor used. The horses used were of 

 a superior description, and their drivers Scotchmen with 

 Scotch ploughs. The allowance of food to each horse 

 ^•as about a peck of oats, •\\'hich was bruised with a 

 little clean wheat straw at night. The working hours 

 were from seven in the morning until twelve, when 

 the horses were brought into the stable, fed and rested 

 for two hours, and then worked again until five or six 

 in the evening, as their services might be required ; 

 this was of course only during the sirring, summer, 

 and autumn months, when the days were long. The 

 horses thus treated were in first-rate condition, and 

 full of hard flesh. The system thus pursued on Lord 

 Ducie's farm proves that for slow work carrots and 

 corn are sufficient to keep horses in good working 

 condition, which they certamly were Avhen I saw them. 

 I think the prejudices which some men entertain 

 against carrots being given to race-horses unfounded ; 

 but that they may be given with advantage, both as 

 regards the wind and health of the horse, three times 

 a week. With draught horses, certainly, a great saving 

 of hay may be effected by their use. Nor does there 

 exist any necessity for hay being given at all to horses 

 required solely for this purpose. When used by being 

 cut into chaff, the consumption may be reduced to one- 

 half the usual quantity, mixing it with two parts of 



wheat sti-aw cut also into chaff. The straw of oats, 

 when cut early and well har\-ested, is also a good sub- 

 stitute for hay, but I am no advocate for barley straw 

 being given to horses in work, although it may do 

 very well for cattle. By the example set upon Lord 

 Ducie's farm it has been proved that horses can be 

 kept in first-rate workmg order, and that both cattle 

 and sheep can be made fat for the butcher without 

 tasting hay. It may be asked, why dispense with 

 hay ? The answer is, that an aci^e of land which will 

 produce two tons of hay will produce twenty or thirty 

 tons mangold wurtzel, caiTots, or turnips — the usual 

 allo\\-ance of hay to a horse being a hundredweight 

 per week, and this with the waste (where hay is used 

 as a fair calculation) you set off the value of the root 

 crop against the hay crop. The former may be put 

 down at^i per ton, the latterat;^3; you have therefore 

 three times the money value in the roots, after deducting 

 the expenses of cultivation, not to mention the extra 

 quantity of manure which Avill be returned to the land. 

 The value of wheat-straw may be put doM'n at about 

 25s. the ton, and oats at 2s. 6d. per bushel. Two 

 tons of hay would keep two horses twenty weeks, at a 

 cost of ;^6, or at the weekly rate of 6s. ; on the other 

 side, allowing 2 bushels of com to each horse, the 

 cost would be los. for the two ; carrots, 3s. per week, 

 or 3 cwt. By feeding on com and carrots, the ex- 

 pense of keeping two horses for twenty weeks would 

 be ^13, in which 3 tons of carrots would be con- 

 sumed, you have then left from 17 to 20 tons of car- 

 rots to meet the extra expense of com feeding, which 

 would keep two other horses for the same period. It 

 may be seen, therefore, by this plan of growing roots 

 instead of hay, that twice the number of horses maybe 

 kept in far better condition than upon hay alone ; the 

 value of the manure to be returned to the land will 

 also be proportionably greater. I have here given a 

 fair allowance of com, more, perhaps, than falls to the 

 lot of farm horses generally. But I have heard it 

 stated that horses have been kept upon carrots and 

 wheat-straw, and even limited upon such food. This 

 may be a fact for anything I can say to the contraiy ; 

 but I am quite satisfied that horses used for draught 

 purposes Avill do better upon carrots, wheat, straw, 

 chaff, and a moderate quantity of com, even half the 

 allowance I have made, than u}ion haj-. — S. K. 



TIPTREE HALL FARM. 



IN the early part of last month a deputation from 

 the Midland Farmers' Club visited Tiptree Hall 

 Farm, by invitation from Mr Mechi. 



From the character of the soil of the county, and the 

 general healthy appearance of the wheat crops of the 

 district, it was expected that the Tiptree wheat would 



l^resent a very creditable appearance, but none of the 

 members of the deputation were, -sie believe, ]5repared 

 to see so much good wheat for the whole giowth as 

 Mr Mechi shewed them. The total quantity of land 

 in wheat is 72 acres, the farm comprising only 170 

 acres, of -which 1 3 are in pasture. 



