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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



gigantic steam-plough to the housewife's applc-parer, 

 &c., &c., including the quality of work performed, with 

 every other gradation of usefulness, economy, and work- 

 manship, in very perplexing variet)'. The choice of 

 judges, then, is one of the most important in character 

 connected with the management of these influential so- 

 cieties ; neither will the breeders of stock or the manu- 

 facturers of implements be content to place their credit 

 as exhibitors under incompetent inspection. The ut- 

 most care and discrimination should be exercised in 

 making the selection. No motives of friendship or 

 favouritism should for an instant be permitted to weigh 

 in the nomination of a judge ; but competency and 

 uprightness should alone constitute the prerequisites. 



One word relative to selected judges. I have oflen 

 observed that men who are deemed eminently qualified 

 to undertake these duties, frequently shrink from the 

 task, and decline it. Now this is decidedly wrong. 

 Managers of these societies have great difficulties to 



contend with in this particular thing ; and when men 

 are so honoured, and deemed worthy of being chosen, 

 they ought to accept the office, and do their best to 

 fulfil it as a public duty. No qualms of incapacity or 

 modesty ought to interfere. You would not have been 

 invited, had you not been deemed competent ; and the 

 ordinary routine of your duties is generally laid down 

 in your enclosed prize-sheet, so that you have merely to 

 inspect and carefully examine the classes brought before 

 you, and simply to decide according to your best judg- 

 ment. There can be nothing very troublesome or 

 difficult in this, for a man who is competent to fulfil 

 his post. Why, then, do so many, who are truly suitable 

 men, obj(>ct to undertake these duties ? Depend upon 

 it, it is false modesty, or — what is worse — sheer indiffer- 

 ence, both of which ought to give way to a far more 

 noble philanthropy. In what a wretched position would 

 the world be, if every man of worth and talent refused 

 to give a portion of his time to the public weal 1 C. S. 



ON THE STOCKING AND MANAGEMENT OF PASTURE LAND. 



'/.\me for StocMng. — The time for stocking pastures 

 in the sprinjj depends in great measure on the mildness 

 of the season, the soil, climate, and other circumstances 

 which advance or retard vegetation ; for it is evident 

 that to turn stock upon bare pastures would be to the 

 detriment of both animals and land. From the middle 

 of March to the middle of April is the usual time to 

 commence stocking, but for bullocks (especially those 

 which are forward in flesh) it is necessary to wait until 

 a longer bite is obtainable ; these latter should not 

 be turned out before the end of April or beginning 

 of May. 



Descriptio7i of Stock. — The description of stock 

 must depend on the quality of the land. In the country 

 round Exeter we should find the handsome breed of 

 cattle called the North Devous, famed for the quietness 

 of their disposition. In Hereford, Salop, Radnor, and 

 Brecon the larger breed of Herefords has the pre- 

 eminence ; and in most parts of England the favourites 

 and fashionable breed, the Shorthorns, seem to have 

 monopoliziid tlie riohcst pastures. In sheop, the Lei- 

 cester, Lincoln, Cotswold, and Cheviot, the South 

 Downs, the West Country, and Dorset are fed in their 

 respective districts. As a rule in grazing, ws find the 

 richer the land the heavier may be the description of 

 stock upon it. The only exception I know is that of 

 the Cotswold sheep, which are fatted on hills from 400 

 to 500 feet above the level of the sea. On the richest 

 pa'-tures, such as those of Buckinghamshire, Lincoln- 

 shire, and Leicestershire, cattle can be fatted to more 

 advantage than sheep : the latter do best on fine, short, 

 sweet grass ; rank herbage is injurious, and on a rich 

 moist pasture they would be liable to the rot. The 

 former, on the contrary, require a good bite of grass. An 

 old and true saying is that " grass must be twenty-four 

 hours old for a sheep, twelve days for a beast." The 

 first-class pastures are those which can fat a bullock to 



the weight of 80 or 90 stone (14lbs to the stone) ; those 

 which can turn out a beast of GO stone may be styled 

 second-class ; and the third-class are more adapted for 

 sheep or bullocks of a lighter frame, as the Welsh or 

 Highland breeds. 



Mixture of Stock. — Many graziers will not allow a 

 mixture of stock in their fields ; it is nevertheless a cus- 

 tom very generally adopted. Horses and cattle graze 

 well together, because they both dislike to feed near 

 their own dung. One horse to twelve bu. locks on bul- 

 lock land, and one young steer to twelve sheep on sheep 

 land, are recommended by some as a good mixture. Too 

 many sheep should not be put with bullocks, because in 

 this case the former eat the grass so short, that as the 

 country people say, " the beasts can't lap their tongues 

 round it" to feed themselves to advantage. 



Quantitij of Stock per acre. — The quantity of stock 

 per acre depends of course on the quality of the land. 

 On the rich pastures near Banbury in Oxfordshire, one 

 ox and two sheep can be fattened. A writer in " Mor- 

 ton's CyclopseJia of Agriculture" says, " Good sheep- 

 lands will fiitten heavy long-woolled sheep, five per acre ; 

 Lincolas and large Leicesters, six per acre ; Hampshire 

 Downs, thirteen to two acres ; small Downs, seven per 

 acre ; half-bred long-wools and Downs, six per acre ; 

 half-bred Leicesters aud Downs, thirteen to two acres." 

 Mr. J. A. Clarke, in the Prizi! Essay on Lincoln- 

 shire, states that the superior grass lands near 

 Boston will fatten eight or nine sheep per acre. 

 Mr. Dyke Acland, in his Report on Somersetshire, 

 says, that on the best land in that county a bullock and 

 two sheep are fattened, and in some fields of forty acres 

 the grazier will put 30 bullocks and as many couple of 

 ewes with tlieir lambs. It is a common practice with 

 many people to allow to each of their fatting bullocks 

 four or five lbs. of oil-cake per day, which not only 

 allows of more beasts being kept on the same ground (for 



