Ti!K FARMKR'S MAGAZINE. 



JlKMiina OF Council. — On the motim of Mr. 

 Hudson, of Castleacre, seconded by Mr. Wren Hoskyns, 

 Lord Leigh was unanimously elected one of the 

 Members of the Council, in the place of Sir A. K. 

 Macdonald, Bart. 



Californi AN Wheat. — Sir Edward Kerrison, Bart., 

 M.P., offered to undertake the trial of the white Cali- 

 fornian Wheat placed at the disposal of the Council by 

 Mr. Kitto, who stated that he had himself grown of that 

 Wheat " a hundred bushels to the acre." 



The Council then adjourned (for a fortnight) to 

 Wednesday, March 16. 



Weekly Council, March 16.— Present : The Hon. 

 W. G. Cavendish, M.P., in the chair; Mr. Alcock, 

 M.P., Mr. Camps, Mr. Devas, Rev. L. Vernon Har- 

 court, Mr. Majendie, Mr. Simpson, Mr. Wilson (of 

 Stowlangtoft), and Mr. Maitland Wilson. Com. 

 munications were read from Mr. Thomas Crisp, Baron 

 Nathusius, and the Count de Gourcy, on the advantages 

 of cultivating the Lupines, especially the yellow- 

 flowered variety, on the blowing sands respectively 

 of Suffolk, Prussia, and the North of France, as food 

 for sheep. 



The Council referred these communications to the 

 consideration of the Journal Committee. 



Adjourned to March 23. 



Weekly Council, March 23. — Present, Colonel 

 Challoner, Trustee, in the Chair; the Hon. W. G. 

 Cavendish, M.P., Mr. Raymond Barker, Mr. Hodgson 

 Barrow, M.P., Mr. Berners, Mr. Brandreth Gibbs, the 

 Rev. L. Vernon Harcourt, and Mr. Majendie. Com- 

 munications were read : — 1. From Mr. Rutherford, de- 

 tailing his experiments in the cultivation o{ Potatoes by 

 spreading sea sand over them on light and heavy land, 

 with and without manure. 2. From Mr. Paston, giving 

 the result of his trials in growing Barley on light soil 

 with a sandy gravelly subsoil, ploughed at G and sub- 

 soiled to 13 inches deep in each respective case, the yield 

 in straw and grain being greater in the land not sub- 

 soiled. 3. From Mr. Birnie, suggestions for the collec- 

 tion of results in turnip cultivation and its failures. 

 4. From Mr. Charles Chapman, of Folkestone, details 

 connected with Bray's Traction Engine. 



Adjourned to March 30. 



FOOD FOR FATTENING CATTLE AND 

 SHEEP. 



gm^ — We are now living over the midiile of the nineteenth 

 century, and in the wonderful country for agriculture, nay, 

 and in the gigantic Bge of discovery, and yet we know not the 

 proportionate strength of wheat, barley, bean?, peas, oats, 

 tares, &c., in the feeding of cattle and sheep, &c. Not know- 

 ing the power of each, we know not which is the cheapest to 

 feed with. If asked, Is a pound of barley per day for a sheep 

 equal in strength to a pound of wheat? or, What is the dif- 

 ference? la a pound of beans equal to a pound of the best 

 oilcake ? In what proportion is a pound of tares to a pound 

 of peas or oats ? &c. 



lu my opinion a great deal is yet to be one by mixing 



c/iri, fi'i- , >-wh as mixing wheat with burky. Of course mix 

 ihat which li opening with that wliich is binding, and the food 

 which is too hot mix with that which is colder; and that 

 which is too strong mix vvitli that which is weaker. But do 

 not mix good food slrong enough with that which is 

 wc&k and worthless, merely mixed to sell and not to fatten. 

 Get such adulterated food analysed. Common senec dictates 

 to the British farmer far and wide, and boldly says feed your 

 cattle, sheep, and swine with the corn you grow upon your 

 farm. You grow the strongest of food to feed with, but you 

 know not how to mix or apply it. By using what you grow 

 you save the carriage of bought food and the carriage of your 

 own corn out. The more of your home-grown corn you con- 

 vert into meat the more corn per acre you will grow, and the 

 less artificial manure you will require. The beat artificial 

 manures have done wonders, whilst some of them have proved 

 worthless. It is wiadom to have all proved by chemistry. 

 The oil adage says, " There are none so blind as those who 

 will not ate." There is the Murk Lane Express and the Far- 

 mer's Magazine to enlighten them, and to guard them against 

 adulterations and impositions in agriculture. But it is as it 

 was and always will be. 



He who is above being taught or told, 



There are no hopes in him whether young or old. 



Samuel Arnsby. 

 Millfield, Peterborouijk, March 23, 1859. 



GREAT CATTLE SALE AT BLENCOW. 



On Tuesday, Match 8, the sale of the entire herd of short- 

 horned cattle belonging to John Ewan Troutbeck, Esq., took 

 place at Bleucow, aboui seven miles from Penrith. The 

 weather was fine, though cold ; the attendance very large ; we 

 heard the numbers present estimated at from fifteen hundred 

 to two thousand, and among them buyers from all parts of the 

 kiugdom, and some from a greater distance still. Mr. S:rafford 

 officiated as auctioueer. The scene of action was a field im- 

 mediately adjoining Mr. Troutbeck's house. The catalogue 

 enumerated 35 lots of cows and heifers, and 7 bulls. Prefixed 

 was a notice that Mr. Troutbeck laid the foundation of his 

 herd forty years ago by the purchase of the Strawberry tribe 

 from Mr. Curweu, of Workington Hall, by whom the sort 

 was obtained from Geueral Simpson's herd, which were directly 

 descended from that of Mr. Colling of Ketton. Nell Gwynne, 

 first on the list, was bought of Mr. Wood, of Kimblesworth, 

 in 1820, and came from the dam of his far-'amed bull St. 

 Albans (1412), which cow he purchased at Sir H. V. Tempest's 

 sale at Wynyard in 1813; she was from his famous Princess, 

 bred by Mr. R. Colling, of Barmpton. They have since been 

 regular breeders, and highly fortunate, excellent milkers, 

 and not forced for the present sale. The whole were bred on 

 one farm, except the Duke of Cambridge (12747), to which 

 bull the cows and heifers are principally in calf. There were 

 in all 14 of the Strawberry and 27 of the Gwynne tribes. 

 The cattle were brought to the auctioneer in splendid condi- 

 tioii, and did as much credit to Mr. Troutbeck as the ample col- 

 lation laid out in a barn fitted up for the occasion did to the 

 lady of the mansion and her subordinates. The competition 

 was brisk, and the sale rapid, realising a sum total, it will be 

 seen, of considerably better than two thousand guineas ; and 

 the following were some of the best prices fetched : 



Sukey Gwynne, red, c»lved in 1849 ; got by St. Thomas 

 (10777), dam Sal Gwyuue, by Prime Minister (2456).— 74 



^"polty Gwyuue, red roan, calved in 1850 ; got by Sir Harry 



