452 THE POTATO 



Mr. Hannah buys 3,000 head of sheep. He usually 

 puts in forty acres of rape, although he can grow 

 rape only about one year in six on account of the fin- 

 ger and toe disease. He would grow more rape than 

 Italian rye grass if it were not on account of this. 

 These 3,000 sheep are started grazing about 

 August first. They cost $8 a head. When fin- 

 ished for market they are slaughtered on the farm] 

 and the dressed carcasses sent to the Londoi 

 market. Great care is taken that all the offal 

 from the sheep, except what can be sold, goes int< 

 the fertilizer heap. Not even the blood is lost, 

 Nothing seems to go to waste on a thrifty Scotch- 

 man's farm. The slaughtered sheep give an in- 

 crease in value of about $1.75 per head. N( 

 grain or cake is fed — nothing but rape an< 

 Italian rye grass pasture. These sheep are pas- 

 tured in hurdled lots. They are slaughtered oncej 

 a week until the sheep and pasturage are all] 

 gone. 



When the grass is fed off, the forty tons of sea- 1 

 weed or twenty tons of manure are spread on the] 

 stubble and plowed under in the late fall or early} 

 winter. 



This farm has been growing potatoes with this] 

 same system for thirty consecutive years, th( 

 son succeeding his father, and Mr. Hannah] 

 sees no change in the yield. This is the most 

 favorable year and the best yield he has ever] 

 produced. He sees no reason if this farm has! 

 grown potatoes for 100 years why it should not] 

 go on forever. 



The cost of production is practically the samej 

 here as at Mr. Wallace's, Dumfries — $110 pel 

 acre. He plows about the same depth, nine inches,] 

 and has the same system of boxing and sprouting. 



