372 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



their attention to sheep, aud each and all of them were in- 

 creasing their quantity year by year. Mr. Nix was one of tliem ; 

 and another farmer whom he knew had tried the wintering 

 of his ewes entirely in ya.'da^ and completed his fold with 

 fewer losses than he ever sustained before. Mr. Thomas's 

 remarks were applicable solely to clay land, aud the quality of 

 the mangolds there. That was totally different from the case 

 of black peat. He believed that Mr. Thomas's conclusion was 

 that it would be foolish to go either for beasts or sheep alone. 

 In that they all concurred. Concerning the opinion of Mr. 

 Lawes, as to the quality of the manure being equa', I should 

 demur, as it appears a logical inference, if more market value 

 ia extracted from the same amount of food consumed by sheep 

 tJtan beasts, just so much less reproductive elements are con- 

 tained in the sheep manure. In his opinion it was desirable 

 that the occupiers of clay soils should give a fair trial both to 

 bullock and sheep, and state the result next year. 



Mr. CoussMAKER(Westwood, Guildlord) said this was the 

 most practical subject that had been discussed for a long time, 

 and he thought it the duty of every member to give the result 

 of hia own expeiieuce. The Summer before lasi he had the 

 misfortune to lose about two-thirds of his cattle. He had a lot 

 of food which he did not know how to consume, and fearing 

 that the yards were infected, he durst not buy any more cattle, 

 and he came to a determination to buy sheep, and winter 

 them in the yards. His yards were well drained. He gave 

 instructions for the scattering of straw over the yard once or 

 "twice a day; and notwithstanding that that was carefully 

 done, his sheep suffered very much from foot-rot. He left 

 them in the yard till the weather became dry, aud then fat- 

 tened them off in the field ; but a great many went to the 

 market very lame. The lung disease was so prevalent in the 

 neighbourhood during the whole summer that he was afraid 

 to replenish his stock, and he hud no more now than he had 

 last year. This year he had introduced what cattle he had 

 into the yards, and as he had many tons of mangold wurzel aud 

 hay laying by, he had given orders for sheep. He was now 

 going to consume hay and mangold on the land : he was afraid 

 to do so in the yards, after what he suffered from the rot last 

 year, 



Mr. HoBBS : What becomes of the straw ? 



Mr. CoussMAKEK ; It is not manufactured as much as it 

 ought to be. 



Mr. John Thomas (Bletsoe, Beds) thought that in mat- 

 ters of that kind the fairest teat would be to buy the sheep 

 in, and sell them off at a fair market price. Mr. Ruston said he 

 valued them in at a certain amount, and sold them at a certain 

 profit. He did not dispute the correctness of the calculations ; 

 but still he repeated that the fairest test of value was the mar- 

 ket price at which the sheep were bought in and sold out. 

 The conclusion to which his experience of the feeding of bul- 

 locks aud sheep had led him was, that it was best to have a 

 portion of each description of stock. Yards were unnatural 

 places for sheep ; in his opinion it would be better to provide 

 a moderate shelter of hurdles fitted up with straw; aud 

 therefore, he would consume the roots in the field, and ob- 

 viate the expense of bringing them home. As regarded both 

 bullocks and sheep, very much depended on the judgment of 

 the farmer in buying in and selling out. When he had gone 

 to market and bought a good bullock at a moderate price, he 

 had seldom failed to make a profit. After his bullocks had 

 been fattened they always left a large quantity of manure. 

 Aa a farmer of many years' standing, he must say that he had 

 certainly found sheep pay better than bullocks, where the land 

 is adapted to that 4escription of stock, The beit courae, in 



his opinion, was to draw a portion of the roots to the yard 

 for bullocks, and leave another portion for sheep. 



Mr. HoBBS explained. In advocating the yarding of sheep 

 he had not done so ia the light in which many members ap- 

 peared to suppose. As he understood Mr. Huston, that 

 gentleman did not mean that sheep should be brought into the 

 farmery, and placed within stone walls aud sheds, but that they 

 should be brought into fold-yards aud be placed on straw ou 

 that portion of the farm where they could make manure most 

 advantageously. That was the way in which he understood him 

 to recommend the yarding of sheep. He knew that that was 

 advantageously done in many parts of England. The roots 

 were conveyed to that portion of the farm where the straw was ; 

 they were consumed there by the sheep in open yards, with 

 hurdles round them, and some corn or straw stacks in the im- 

 mediate vicinity. 



Mr. J. Thomas : They would be folds. 



Mr. HoBBS : Yes. He considered that sheep might con- 

 vert straw into manure very advantageously in yards or folds, 

 or whatever they liked to term them. It was not a matter of 

 necessity that sheep should be under cover. Whether they 

 were fed and fattened in yards or in folds, it was better that 

 they should lie out in the open, than in sheds among manure 

 in a state of fermentation. 



Mr. Ruston, in replying, said Mr. Robert Smith had inti- 

 mated that on the peaty moory soils of Cambridgeshire they 

 had not arrived at such a state of farming as to put clay oa the 

 land. For a great number of years claying was as common in 

 the Fens as travelling on the highway, and found employment 

 for a great number of surplus labourers in the winter months, 

 If Mr. Smith would come and pay him a visit, he would show 

 him how they managed the clay in the Fens ; and he would 

 show him eight horses dragging a plough through peat land, 

 dragging up some of the clay, aud forming a new soil to the 

 depth of eighteen inches. The system was extending very 

 much in the Fens, and many perdons ploughed to the depth 

 he had mentioned. He had ploughed twenty-six inches deep 

 with twelve horses. Mr. Smith further remarked that if they 

 had used clay their ryegrass would have been of better quality. 



Mr. R. Smith concluded that if the quality of the food 

 consumed were so bad, the farmers could not have clayed the 

 land. 



Mr. Ruston continued ; He was sorry to say that what 

 he grew, though sufficient in quantity, did not do much to- 

 wards fattening animals. On this point he consulted Mr, 

 Sowerby, of North Liccolushire, who was of the same opinion. 

 That gentleman could feed bullocks on 4 lbs. or 6 Iba. less 

 cake per day than he (Mr. Ruston) could. Their land, how- 

 ever highly they might farm it, would not produce food of 

 good feeding qualities. Mr, Coleman said he did not consider 

 the system adapted to heavy-land farms. The testimony of 

 Mr. Delf, of Essex, showed that practically the system 

 worked well there. He also remarked that unless others 

 took the same trouble as himself (Mr. Ruston), they would not 

 be successful, adding, in effect, that they would not drive their 

 sheep out two or three times a day. He did not say that 

 he (Mr. R.) had doue that, but he quoted Mr. Martin, who did 

 drive them out once a day last year, but who had this year, as 

 previously observed, omitted the practice, it being unnecessary. 

 Mr. Fryer also stated that one year he drove them out once a 

 day, and found it occasioned lameness, and had consequently ' 

 discontiuued the practice. Mr. Delf only drove tbem in and 

 out for the first fortnight. He (Mr. Ruston) had never driven 

 them out at all. He had littered twice a day iu showery wea- 

 ther, putting a thin dry layer over the wet one. 



Mr. J. Thomas ; What description of yard is it? 



