*4 THE FARMERS MANUAL* 



should not be suffered to feed on watered meadows. 

 Water flowing over grass-grounds after the first of 

 May, is sure to give your sheep the rot, whatever be 

 the soil. 



Mr. Bakewell is remarkably attentive to the point 

 of wintering his cattle. All his horned cattle are 

 tied up in open, or other sheds, all winter, and fed 

 according to their kind, on straw, turnips, or hay. 

 The lean beasts have straw alone. Young cattle, 

 which require to be kept in a thriving state, and fat- 

 tening ones, are fed with turnips ; and in the spring, 

 when the turnips are gone, hay is their only substi- 

 tute ; by these means, he is able to keep a large 

 Uock. His farm, in all, consists of 440 acres; 110 

 of which, are arable, and the rest is grass ; and he 

 xeeps 60 horses, 400 large sheep, 150 horned cattle, 

 and has generally 15 acres of wheat, and 25 of spring 

 grain. 



It deserves particular notice, that Mr. Bakewell 

 pays a yearly rent for this farm ; and when he came 

 into possession, the farm was so low, from bad ma- 

 nagement, as to render it very difficult to rent it at 

 any price. 



The first attention of Mr. Bakewell, upon en- 

 tering this farm, was turned to the improvement of 

 his stock ; this- he effected in a gradual manner, by 

 procuring the best breeds for their general propaga- 

 tion, until he raised the reputation of his farm, and of 

 his stock, to a rank of the first eminence in England. 



The method of littering horses and cattle, as is of- 

 ten practised both in England and America, not only 

 renders the animals so much more warm and com- 

 fortable, as to lessen the expense of food, but great- 

 ly increases- the quantity of manure, by preparing 

 10 or 15 loads of long dung to each creature, in a 

 winter, so stabled and littered, either with coarse hay. 

 straw, &c. and thereby furnishes the means of saving 

 he whole (or nearly) expense of wintering, in the 

 next year's tillage. Now if we take into considcra- 



