Calendar of Farming Operations. 339 



Ncmemher. — Put cattle into straw yards and stalls. Feed them 

 well or they will fall off in spring. Thresh to supply straw. Manure 

 grass-lands in dry weather. Destroy ant-hills. Admit cattle and 

 horses only to the driest pastures. Give sheep shelter. Clear water 

 furrows on arable land. Complete operations of last month. Fell 

 all kinds of timber not adapted for barking. Cut willows for 

 baskets. Let the hedger make hampers, crates, hurdles. Put boar 

 to sows. AVean foals. Store swedes. Erect dry walls. Let hedging 

 and ditching go on. Flood water-meadows. Drain especially heavy 

 soils. Subsoil and dress land for plantations, and plant after 

 ploughing deeply. Drain young plantations. Dig and secure 

 caiTots and parsnips. Thin sheep pastures to their accustomed 

 winter stock, which ought rarely to exceed one sheep per acre. Put 

 breeding ewes on the bullock pastures. Watch for a mild morning 

 to turn the water on your catch-meadows : keen winds and frosty 

 air being hurtful to the young growth. 



December. — Finish ploiighing and subsoiling before the new 

 year. Plough lea for oats. Cart lime and marl and spread upon 

 the fields. Cart stones for roads and draining : manure to fields : 

 grain to market. Bring home the purchased feeding stuffs. This 

 month and the last are the most convenient season of the year for 

 draining. Keep ewes and grazing sheep on the pasture through this 

 month. Top dress with composts. Litter yards well. Thresh 

 for straw. Clear old fruit trees of moss and mistletoe : prune in 

 mild weather. Dig and dung. Trench and dig plantations, but 

 plant only in mild weather. The rest as November. 



Estimate of Stock and Food required for 100 Acres. 



In forming an estimate of the " stock of different descriptions " re- 

 quired per 100 acres, it is to be remembered that very much depends 

 upon accidental circumstances, the climate, nature, and quality of the 

 soil; the extent of artificial grasses grown, the condition or "heai-t" 

 of the land, &c. Good treatment of ordinary soil will enable a farmer 

 gi'adually to double the number of the animals previously fed upon 

 the same ground. Through his famous water-meadows, Mr. Pusey 

 was enabled to quadruple his sheep, while by improved cultivation 

 he doubled the comcrops of the tenant, who previously occupied 

 the farm. Twenty acres of his catch-meadows afforded keep for 

 five months, for the wondrous multitude of 400 sheep ; while on 

 another meadow of 2 acres he fed to " thriving condition" no less 

 than 73 lambs. So well did Mr. Pusey find these meadows answer, 

 that at last he dispensed altogether with laying any part of his 

 arable farm into clover or seeds. While on a farm of 104 acres, 

 Mr. Littledale of Seacombe maintains no less than 83 milch cows of 

 the large Yorkshire breed, and 15 farm-horses ; and on a farm of 

 Lord Leicester's of about 1200 arable acres, 200 pasture, Mr. 

 Hudson keeps the annual average of 2500 sheep, 150 bullocks, and 

 36 working horses; there is land of which it takes 4 acres to 



