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 London 

 market. Great care is taken that all the offal 

 from the sheep, except what can be sold, goes into 

 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. No 

 grain or cake is fed nothing but rape and 

 Italian rye grass pasture. These sheep are pas- 

 tured in hurdled lots. They are slaughtered once 

 a week until the sheep and pasturage are' all 

 gone. 



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

 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, the 

 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 same 

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

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

 and has the same system of boxing and sprouting. 



