136 



Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 March, 1919. 



case is no more tliau in the second. An example of what can be done 

 is to 'be seen at the farm of Mr. George B^atson, NhlU. Besides the sowing 

 of considerahle areas of wheat and oats, and attention to numerous 

 sheep, Mr. Batson finds time to hreed and fatten a considerable number 

 of pigs. Judging by his interest in the matter and his remarks ^as to 

 his returns, he is well rewarded for the time and labour expended. 



The Berkshire breed is favoured, the large York being found to 

 scald badly in the summer, and in the winter to require scrubbing befoi-e 

 being presentable to buyers. Two paddocks, upon which a good dressing 

 of fannyard manure from the stables is regularly applied, are sown to 

 dun peas and cape barley respectively. The barley provides early 

 winter grazing for the young pigs. When that is finished, and the peas 

 are ri])e, the pigs are turned in to graze them also. The peas and barley 

 are alternated each year in their respective paddocks, which are 

 ploughed as soon as possible after being cleaned up; partial fallow is 



Some'K)f Mr. C. H. Boediger's Profit-earning White Leghorns. 



therefore secured. In addition to the small paddock for forage barley, 

 a further 15 acres of barley is regularly sown for grain; this is fed off 

 with sheep until about the middle of August, and yields ranging from 

 40 to 60 bushels per acre have been obtained since the last drought. 

 The young pigs, supported at first on the succulent feed, and then 

 hardened up on the peas, are next shut up and topped off with crushed 

 barley, fed wet until the last three weeks, when it is fed dry — the water 

 then ibeing placed in another trough. The pigs fed in this way, if bred 

 on the place, weigh from 130 to 110 lbs. at six to seven months; the 

 average price received for them is about 85s. 



Another activity which Mr. Batson has slunvn to be profitable is 

 that of sowing ])eas on fallow for sheep feed. In eight years only one 

 failure has been experienced; that was at the last drought, when 40 

 bushels of dun peas were sown on 25 acres, and not a plant came up. 

 The Yorks'hire Hero variety is preferred when the price is low enoug*!!, 

 as the white colour enables the sheep to pick them off the soil easily. 



