724 



FARMERS' REGISTER— STOCK MANAGEMENT. 



thing over half an inch, was lashed fast to the 

 cord, to keep it from slipping. As the snake 

 hung, the length of the cord, ii'oni his tail, to the 

 locus to which it was lixstcned, w;is about six inch- 

 es: and a. little above the tail, there was observed 

 <a round ball, about the size of a pea. Upon in- 

 sj)ecllon, this appeared to be a green fly, around 

 which the cord liad been wound as the windlass, 

 Avlth which the snake had been hauled up; and a 

 great nundier of threads were liistened to the cord 

 above, and to the rolling side of this ball to keep it 

 from unwinding, and letting the snake down. The 

 cord, thcrelbre, nuist have been extended from the 

 focus of the web, to the shelf below, where the 

 snake was lying when first captiued; and being 

 made fast to the loop in his tail, the lly was car- 

 ried and fastened about midway, to the side of the 

 cord. And then, by rolling this fly over and over, 

 it wound the cord around it, both from above and 

 below, until the snake was raised to the proper 

 height, and then was fastened, as before mention- 

 ed. 



In this situation the suffi^ring snake hung, alive, 

 and furnished a continued least lor several large 

 spiders, until Saturday forenoon, the 16th, when 

 some persons, by playing with him, broke the web 

 above the locus, so as to let part of his body rest 

 upon the shelf below. In this situation he linger- 

 ed; the spiders taking no notice of him, until 

 Thursday last, eight days afler he was discovered; 

 when some large ants were found devouring his 

 dead body. 



A WITNESS. 



Extracts from the last No. of the British Fanner's magazine. 



SUCCESSFUJj STOCK MANAGEMENT, BY SMALL 

 FARMERS. 



Mofecs Greer, of Corlust, was entitled to the first 

 premium, for best stock, fed upon the smallest 

 quantity of land. It appeared that he had led his 

 stock oj' four cows and two calves upon the aston- 

 ishing small quantity of one acre and two roods of 

 land all summer — being about, one yood and four 

 perches for each cow, after allovv^ing lor the calves 

 and had three roods of turnips and one of rape for 

 winter. 



Moses Greer being called on to give an account 

 of his farming, said: "My lords and gentlemen, I 

 hold eight acres and three roods of land, which I 

 have now got into the highest condition, and I 

 shall in future be able to keep it so without going 

 to the expense in lime which I have heretofore 

 been at, by reason of the great f[uantity of manure 

 I make from my increased stock of cattle, consist- 

 ing of lour cows and two calves; and it will sur- 

 prise you to hear, that this stock has been fed this 

 last summer, a, id vp to the present time, on clover 

 and vetches, upon the identical samepiece of ground 

 which, when formerly in grazing, fed only one cow, 

 and that very poorly. My land is held partly at 

 23s., and part at Ss. 3d. per acre; ar.d my "rent 

 amounts to £7 14s. 6d. yearly; and I have already 

 sold butler to the amount of jCll 4s., clear of all 

 deductions, and have hatl enough of milk and but- 

 ter for myself and my family besides. The abun- 

 dance of manure has enablcjd me to set as many 

 potatoes as my neighbors, holding the same f(!ian- 

 tity of land, and I have as much crop too, besides 

 having my turnips likewise. In conclusion, I am 

 satisfied there is no way in which land can be 



made to produce so much, or in which it can be 

 bi'ought into such heart, as by the soiling system 

 and four-course rotation of crops, from which I 

 exj-ect every year to derive greater advantages; 

 as I may say, I am only just now beginning to 

 leel the benefit arising from it; my land being 

 now all perlectly clean, and not any of it whatever 

 in pasture." 



James Rolsten, being next called on, said, "I 

 am hkewise an advocate for green Reeding; 1 

 had more clover than led all the stock I had al- 

 though I hiid more than doubled it; and I waa 

 enabled to save three five-fathom cocks of hay, 

 which will leave me all my straw for manure. 

 Alter cutting my early vetches, I soAved the 

 ground ridge by ridge as I cut it, with rape, which 

 1 am now cutting a yard long and giving to my 

 cattle, so that I shall not have to begin to use my 

 turnips for some time; and it will be again fit to 

 cut in April next, when the turnips begin to fail. 

 I liave also levelled every useless ditch; and my 

 land, so far from being exhausted by the four- 

 course rotation, is every year becoming better." 



Air. Ingram said, "I am still of the same opin- 

 ion as I have formerly expressed, of the benefit to 

 be derived by green crops and house-leeding, 

 which I continue to practice. I find I can thereby 

 increase my stock and my crop also, and have 

 manure for my potatoes and turnips; besides, by 

 this means, I find my land improving under the 

 four-course rotation; and though I am paying ac- 

 cording to a late valuation, I am still able to say, 

 as I said last year, I shall be able to make my 

 rent from my dairy." 



Thomas Bruce said, "when T came into pos- 

 session of my farm in 1831, there was no more 

 than about half an acre of potato ground; and 

 this in such a dirty bad condition, that it had to be 

 dug over with a grape, in order to clean it before 

 it could be sown with grain and clover seed. The 

 rest of the land was in a miserable exhausted 

 state, not fit to produce any thing; and I was then 

 possessed of but one cow, and had no meal to 

 liied more; that year I sowed a lew turnips upon 

 what manure I had to spare, by employing lime 

 compost lor my potatoes; and the next spring, be- 

 tween compost and cow-house manure, I was 

 able to set an acre and a half of potatoes, and half 

 an acre of turnips. That year I was able to 

 house- feed, upon the clover and some vetches, 

 two cows, and had plenty for them all winter. 

 Next spring I had so much manure, that with 

 some assistance from lime compost, I was able to 

 set two acres and a rood of potatoes, and three 

 roods of turnips; and having sowed more clover, 

 I was enabled that season to keep three cows and 

 a horse, which stock I still have, with the addi- 

 tion of a calf, and have fed them this season on 

 five roods of clover, two roods of vetches, and 

 one rood of grazing, which being chiefly on a 

 rocky bottom caimot be broke up; and if an acre 

 was allowed for the keep of the horse, and twenty 

 perches lor the calf, this would leave only one rood 

 and four perches l()r the summer feeding of each 

 cow; and this, Avilh one rood of turnips for each 

 during winter, (which would allow, at 84 tons per 

 acre, near 00 lbs. a day for each lor seven months,) 

 would only make 84 perches, or little more than 

 half an English acre for the year's keep; and I 

 have a rood of rape as a stolen crop besides, so 

 that I have plenty of food for them; and my land 



