138 Stocking Land. 



The following memorandum of the consumption of food on the 

 14th of October will represent very nearly the average consumption 

 of meal in the year : — 



- lbs. 



' 20 fatting ewes 28 



32 ram lambs 36 



38 ewe lambs 12 



6 bullocks 60 



2 ditto 9 



5 horses 20 



165 



Milh. — The charge for milk, 1 \d. per gallon, is I am told higher 

 than the average price of new milk. I have found that in buying 

 or selling new milk in small (juantities in this village, the price has 

 been generally 'dd. a quart ; but as the greater part was used or 

 converted into butter in my own family, and the skim-milk con- 

 sumed by lambs, colts, &c,, was charged to the farm at od. a gallon, 

 the price of l\d. may perhaps be higher than the average, and so 

 represent on my balance sheet an unreasonable profit. But if so, 

 it explains itself. 



The cows have generally been bought fresh-calved, and 

 milked so long as their milk seemed to pay for their food, and 

 then fatted. We have thought that, fed upon meal, they lay 

 on more fat while milking than when fed on roots. In one 

 case I fatted a cow and some sheep on meal and water alone, but 

 without very accurately noting the comparative cost. The cow, 

 however, was considered to have done remarkably well, and the 

 beef was unusually juicy. Her allowance was 12 lbs. of food, 

 with water ad libitum. I mean to repeat this experiment, and 

 have ordered two cows just dry to be put on the same allowance ; 

 their cost would be 15rf. per day, besides attendance. My bailiff 

 thinks they require a small quantity of chaff in addition to the 

 meal, in order to assist them in raising the cud ; but not for the 

 sake of bulk, which is sufhciently supplied by water — as nutriment 

 is by the various ingredients of the meal. 



Roots. — The turnips purchased during the year have cost about 

 125, Qd. per ton, and about 150 tons have been consumed on the 

 glebe. This quantity had been thought by my bailiff necessary 

 both for the ewes, and more especially for the rams he was pre- 

 paring for sale, but I think that the same money expended in meal 

 would have gone further: I have not, however, wished to depart 

 too abruptly from the track of experience ; though it is clear that 

 the circumstances of the case are so altered by the relative cheap- 

 ness of corn and dearness of cattle that the cautious observers of 

 precedents may be more likely to mislead than the more adven- 

 turous. 



