204 



t^ A R M E R S ' REGISTER 



work to mow one acre and a quarter of this crop, 

 which produces one toti and a half per acre ol' 

 hay, of the most excellent description for (odder 

 for sheep and horses. 



The latter grass is fed off with lambs in August 

 and September, and generally keeps three himbs 

 for two months. The I'crop of the sixth or last 

 year is always pastured with sheep, being very 

 seldom worth mowing. 



When part ol" this crop is allowed to stand, to 

 afford the seed required in the Ibllowing spring, it 

 is always carried and stacked, either early in t!ie 

 morning, before breakfast, or late in the evening, 

 the seed being easily shed, if it is turned or mowed, 

 when the sun is strong upon if. Twenty bushels 

 an acre is reckoned a good crop. 



English, or meadow hay. — The meadow or 

 natural grass is the last that is mown ;' and the hay- 

 making machine is put to work in the field to ted 

 or shake out every day's work, the day after it is 

 cut down. This it does in the most perfect man- 

 ner, and the whole of the tedding is done with it 

 till the grass begins to get dry, when, as from the 

 violence of its operation it would shake out the 

 seed, its assistance is dispensed with. In wet 

 weather it is very useful in shaking out the hay 

 that has got stained or has clung together from 

 the rain. 



When the hay-making machine has done its 

 work, the hay is hatched or rollered up, as it is 

 called ; that is, two people with rakes, and work- 

 ing in contrary directions, rake up the hay into 

 continued rows from one end of the field to an- 

 other. When the field is all hatched or rollered, 

 people with forks make up the hatches into cocks 

 of such a size as the dryness of the hay will admit 

 of. This is done the last thing in the evening; 

 and next morning these cocks are again shaken 

 out, (three or four of the rows of cocks together,) 

 but much thicker than belbre, and turned over two 

 or three times during the day with picks or prongs. 

 In the evening the hay is rolled together, and then 

 put into larger cocks; after which, if the weather 

 is fine, it will be ready to carry, [t is carried in 

 wagons to the rick-yard, and built into square 

 ricks. 



It is a great advantage to hay to get a little head 

 in the rick. If in making it all the natural sap is 

 dried out of it, it is neither of so good quality as 

 that which has been heated by part of the natural 

 sap being permitted to remain, nor does it get so 

 close together, and keep so well. 



The natural heat, t)eing a slight fermentation, 

 improves the flavor of tlie hay, and producing, 

 probably, a portion of saccharine matter, thereby 

 adds very much to its value. Much heat, how- 

 ever, injures the hay, and sometimes sets it on 

 fire. The whole of the meadow hay on this farm 

 is consumed by the dairy cows. Salt has never 

 been tried amongst hay on this (arm. 



Stock sheep. — A (lock of about (bur hundred 

 and forty breeding ewes is kept upon this farm. 

 They are of the mixed Cotswold and Leicester 

 breed. The ewes will feed to about twenty-lour 

 pounds per quarter ; but none of the sheep are 

 fattened on the farm. About lour hundred are sold 

 yeaily. About two hundred of the oldest and 

 worst of the ewes, and a like quantity of wethers ; 

 and they are sold in autumn — in September or 

 October, according to the stale of the market. 

 The loss from death is about five per cent., or one 



in a score, in the whole flock. In the year 1825^ 

 the loss in lambs was only six in (bur hundred and 

 (brty-eight, including all the casualties ofthe year. 

 This was the l)est year for sheep on this farm ever 

 known. Eiit in 1828 the loss was very great, 

 amounting to eighiy-tvvo Irimbs in four hundred 

 and forty-iwo, besides old ewes, &c. This was 

 the worst year for sheep ever known on this (Lirm. 

 They were carried off by what is here called the 

 white scour, which begHn with a stopf)age and 

 ended in excessive laxaiiveness. 



The sheep not being disposed of till autumn, 

 upwards of eight hundred are shorn every year. 

 The fleeces may a%'erage about five pounds and 

 a half each. The wool is long and fit for combiner. 



The folding of sheep is generally adopted on the 

 whole of the Cotswold hills. The greater the 

 number of sheep kept on the arable land the 

 greater is the produce in corn. Upon the best 

 cultivated farms in this district about one sheep 

 is kept to an acre of land. Upon this ftirin there 

 are upwards of twelve liundred kept upon about 

 one thousand acres. 



The shepherd's house on this farm is placed 

 between the arable and pasture lands; and the 

 garden attached to it, which is large, is enclosed 

 with high stone walls. This garden is converted 

 into a lambing-fold in the spring. It is made to 

 consist of four general divisions, two of which, 

 occupying the space where the walls are highest 

 and most sheltered, are for the ewes lambing in. 

 The young ewes are placed in the one, and the 

 olderones in the other. Inthcse two comparlmentR 

 of the fold and along the walls, pens are (ormed 

 of hurdles, of the length and breadth of one or of 

 Ivvo hurdles, as circumstances require. These 

 pens are intended for ihe reception of the ewes 

 that have newly lambed, with their lambs. 



In I he formation of these pens, the economy 

 wliich dist nguishes the whole management of this 

 (arm displays itself. As a great number of slakes 

 are required, to which to tie up the hurdles, not 

 only in this fold, but also where the turnips are li'A 

 ofl', in building the walls of the garden temporarily 

 employed as a (bid, recesses, about six inches deep, 

 ofthe height of a hurdle, and at the distance of 

 the length of one from each other, have been 

 formed in them. The ends of the hurdles being 

 inserled into these recesses are fixpd at the ends 

 next the wall, without the aid of stakes. At the 

 opposite ends, they are made fast to stakes in the 

 usual way ; and thus pens are formed around the 

 wall. 



Into these pens, as has been intimated, the 

 ewes that have newly lambed are put with their 

 lambs, a separate pen being allotted for each ewe 

 and lamb. They remain in the pens till they are 

 able to go in one of the outer and general divisions 

 of the lambing-lbid, which are (or the admission 

 of ewes and lambs, when the lambs are strong 

 enough to take care of themselves. From these 

 folds they are at liberty to go, in the day-time, into 

 a pasture or fallow-field, and fi-om the pasture or 

 fallow-field into a Swedish turnip-field. 



The lambing begins in the beginning of March, 

 and is nearly over by the end of that month. 

 When all are able to leave the lambing-(bld, they 

 are divided into three lots ; — the oldest, being the 

 six-teeth and full-mouthed ewes, with tlieir lambs, 

 into one lot ; the two-shear, or (bur-teeth ewes 

 with their lambs, into another lot ; and the young 



