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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



The milch cows will now begin to drop calves ; 

 feed with succulent food, with steamed roots and 

 chaff. Suckle both veal calves and for weaning ; 

 disregard the old maxim that animals must be 

 starved in order to be reared at little cost; when 

 milk is exposed, the most valuable parts — the 

 gaseous fluids — go off by evaporation ; hence the 

 superiority of suckling over hand-feeding. When 

 dairy produce is wanting, use a part of the cows for 

 that purpose, and the other lor rearing calves ; 

 allow ample food in every case. Have the calf 

 pens divided into single apartments, about four 

 feet by eight feet, opening into the cow-shed 

 from the end or from behind, if the width of the 

 shed admit. 



The sheep flocks must have fresh turnips daily 

 from the field, rooted, but not topped in the separ- 

 ate fields where the animals are lodged in different 

 flocks, as ewes, store flocks, and fattening flocks, 

 as arranged after autumn. The lambs of the last 

 year and the feeding flocks may be confined on the 



growing turnips, or be fed on a ley or stubble field. 

 A two-horse cart load will be suflScient for forty 

 fattening sheep, and to keep one hundred in store 

 condition. 



Feed farm-horses with cut chaffs of clover and 

 straw, oats and beans, and give a warm meal of 

 steamed potatoes in the twilight, after the day's 

 work is over. 



The piggery must not be neglected ; feed largely 

 and litter amply. Rear the store pigs with roots ; 

 as potatoes and beet, raw; the fattening hogs with 

 steamed roots, chopped and mixed with meals, 

 served regularly thrice a day. No stock repays 

 attention better than pigs. 



Last in common estimation, but not least in 

 general use, comes the poultry yard. Feed with 

 hght grains and steamed potatoes, mashed and 

 mixed with meals, in a shed under cover, and have 

 the lodging-house comfortably fitted up, and 

 heated, if possible. Separate apartments for each 

 kind of animals must be provided. 



AGRICULTURAL REPORTS. 



GENERAL AGRICULTTTRAL REPORT FOR 

 DECEMBER. 

 Notwithstanding tliat only moderate supplies of home- 

 grown wheat have been on sale in the whole of our leading 

 markets, and that the imports from abroad have not been 

 to say extensive, the wheat trade has continued in a most 

 inrtctive state, and prices have given way to some extent. 

 In many quarters it has become a question for serious con- 

 sideration whether we have yet reached the lowest point; 

 but we are not prepared to agree with some parties that 

 ruin is staring the agricultural body in the face, because 

 the causes which have led to the rapid decline in the value 

 of produce are exceptional, and may eventually be removed. 

 In the first place we must bear in mind that we have been 

 passing through a commercial crisis of a most severe cha- 

 racter; in the next, that the consumption of the better 

 kinds of food has, as a consequence, fallen off; in the next, 

 that the value of money has ruled unusually high ; and. 

 lastly, that the French Government have allowed the ex- 

 port of native produce free of duty. Without assuming 

 that we shall have any great increase in the use of bread 

 during the next two or three months, we may safely state 

 that the worst of the commercial panic has passed away, 

 and that, as stocks of manufactured goods are now becom- 

 ing small in nearly all the markets of the world, we shall 

 shortly have a return of that prosperity which, up to a 

 certain point, was taken as a true index of our commercial 

 greatness. Money, too, is now becoming more abundant, 

 and discount accommodation can be obtained on much 

 lower terras. There are indications of a steady upward 

 movement in the value of wheat ; but then we may have to 

 contend with large importations of flour from France, and, 

 if the supplies fall into comparatively weak hands, con- 

 tinued sales may be effected to the prejudice of the value 

 of home-manufactured qualities. The prospect of large 

 arrivals of this article alone keeps the wheat trade in a 

 state of depression, because we see no reason whatever to 

 assume that we shall receive other than limited quantities 

 from the United States during the whole of the winter, 

 and because future supplies of foreign wheat— especially 

 from the North of Europe, owing to the closing of the 

 navigation — vyill be on a very limited scale during that 

 period. Again, owin? to an unusually large number of 

 forced sales, the stocks of foreign wheat in the United 

 Kingdom are now reduced to a nan-ow compass; but, 

 against this deficiency we must place an unusually large crop 

 of English, the bulk of which is still in the hands of the 

 growers, and the imposition of a duty ol 2O9. for every 

 tW'Wty.two gallons of spirit irapcrted into France. This 



duty will of necessity check the demand for barley in this 

 country for distilling purposes, and throw the greater por- 

 tion of the foreign supply into the hands of the third-class 

 millers, who are now competing with the first-class on 

 severe terms. But even these adverse influences may be 

 counteracted by the partial failure of the potato crop, 

 which for some time past has been partly made good by 

 extensive arrivals from France and other parts of the Con- 

 tinent. Supplies from those quarters, however, cannot be 

 continued at their present rate, or about 1,500 tons weekl}', 

 and we may eventually be thrown more upon our oun re- 

 sources than appears to be generally imagined. For the 

 reasons here alluded to, we see no reason to apprehend a 

 further rapid decline in the value of wheat or other articles. 



For the time of j'ear, the weather has been remarkably 

 fine and open, and the wheats have, consequently, stood in 

 need of frost to check premature exuberance. They are 

 certainly looking well; but, unquestionably, they are more 

 forward than is desirable. Out-door operations generally 

 are in a satisfactory state in all parts of the country. 



We regret to find that the potato pits exhibit unmistaka- 

 ble signs of extensive disease. The quantity of potatoes 

 lost this year by rot is immense; hence, good and fine 

 samples are now commanding in the metropolitan markets 

 from lOOs. to I40s. per ton, and these high quotations have 

 produced an enormous importation of potatoes from the con- 

 tinent. The arrival during the month has exceeded 5 000 

 tons, chiefly of a third-rate quality, though free fr m 

 disease, and which have sold at from 55s. to 65s. per ton. 

 There is still a large supplj- in France and Belgium, but it 

 is a debatable ground whether future imports will keep up 

 to their present amount. 



Prices of both wheat and flour rule very low in France, 

 notwithstanding that flour has been shipped to some extent ; 

 and they continue to exhibit a fair margin of profit on ex- 

 ports to this country. In nearly all the other markets df 

 the world, the result of abundant supplies of produce, the 

 quotations are comparatively easy. 



The various cattle markets have been well supplied with 

 beasts in first-rate condition for Christmas consumption. 

 The trade, considering the extent of the supplies, has been 

 tolerably healthy, and prices have ruled moderately high. 

 Other kinds of stock, except piss, have sold at very full 

 quotations. As regards the rather low value of piys, we 

 may observe that their supplies have wonderfully increased 

 in this country in the course of the year, and that, conse- 

 quently, the demand for them has been more readily met. 



The wool trade has continued in a state of great depres- 

 sion. Prices of all kinds of wool have fallen to a serious 



