352 On Dairy- Farming. 



tion to a fair coat of farm-manure. Where the land is perfectly 

 sound, I prefer planting on the flat, the crop is less liable to 

 suffer from drought. 



Six shifts of 16 acres each, distributed as follows, will meet 

 these requirements : — 



Acres. 



(1.) 16 Wheat. 



■ (2\ \ ^ Cabbage. 



'^ ■' ( 10 Turnips, swedes and mangold. 



(3.) 10 Oats or wbcat, Avith seeds. 



(A\S ^ Italian ryegrass, mown or fed. 



^ '^ ( 8 lied clover, &c., twice mown. 



(5.) 16 Oats. 



(n\S ^ ^^^^ ^"*^ vetches, for green fodder in July and August. 



^ '^ \ 8 IJaj^e and vetches, for gi-oen fodder in August and September. 



The cows are allowed to go dry soon after Christmas, a rest 

 from milking of two or three months being indispensable. They 

 will then be fed principally on straw, with roots. Should the 

 supply of roots be scanty, the deficiency may be supplied by the 

 use of brewers' grains, cake, or corn, in addition if required. 

 I do not recommend cooked food for store cattle, it is unnatural, 

 and weakens the digestive powers, so that the stock do not thrive 

 so well afterwards when turned out to grass. Where the supply 

 of good straw and roots is abundant, the extra expense entailed 

 in the chopping straw for dairy-stock is not always repaid. 

 If besides whole roots twice a day, plenty of straw be given them 

 in the racks, they will pick out the best of the straw, and the 

 stumps will be available for litter. In exceptional seasons, like 

 that of 1864, and when the utmost economy had to be exercised 

 in the use of fodder, the benefit of chopping was undoubted. 



The extra expense entailed by milking dairy-cattle must not 

 be overlooked. Five or six effective milkers will be required for 

 fifty cows ; and it is important that all should milk quickly and 

 thoroughly well, otherwise the cows become dry much sooner, 

 and great loss is occasioned. The master's superintendence is 

 necessary to see that this is properly carried out. This expense 

 cannot be put at less than 30?., or bl, for each effective milker. 

 It is an operation that must be performed with regularity, and 

 every other farm-work must give place to it. The milking- 

 machines yet brought out, however ingenious, have at present, 

 I regret to say, entirely failed to achieve the desirable result of 

 lessening the labour of this process. When an equable tempera- 

 ture of from 60'' to 70"^ is required in the Dairy and Store-room, 

 this can best be maintained by the use of warm-water pipes 

 placed round the walls, communicating with a boiler at the back 

 of the kitchen fire. Where this cannot be conveniently arranged, 

 a separate boiler may be set up for the purpose of heating the 



