134 



cost of Is. 9d., or a penny per score, including the expense of 

 crushing, boiling, &c. 



That so small a quantity of linseed should be divided 

 amongst 420 sheep, must, of course, appear paradoxical; but 

 the following explanation will remove doubt. 



A peck of linseed reduced to fine meal is stirred into twenty 

 gallons of water ; in about ten minutes, the mucilage being 

 formed, a pail-full is poured, by one person, upon two bushels 

 of cut hay thrown into a strong trough, while another mixes 

 it with a fork, and hastens the absorption with a small rammer. 

 The like quantity of chaff is next added with the mucilage 

 as before, till the copper is empty. The mass being firmly 

 pressed down, is, after a short time, carried in sacks to the 

 fold, where I had the pleasure of witnessing the avidity with 

 which sheep devour hay, before so ordinary that they refused 

 to eat. As the lambing season advances, and circumstances 

 require, the proportion of linseed will be increased — a method 

 that all, who are straitened for provender, will find it their 

 interest to adopt; remembering that this mixture is alike 

 serviceable to lean cattle and to horses, and that the straw of 

 peas and the stalks of beans are second only to hay. A few 

 Swede turnips, mangold wurzel, or carrots, sliced very small, 

 and added to the water when first put into the copper, will 

 much improve the compound. 



In oiFering, or rather in repeating, the above hints, I disclaim 

 every consideration but that of assisting my countrymen in 

 these perplexing and alarming times. Under happier cir- 

 cumstances, it would be the duty of every occupier of the soil 

 to ascertain the extent of his own resources. But at the 

 present crisis, the investigation is rendered imperative in 

 a ten-fold degree. The farmer must remember, that other 

 interests are involved besides his own, and that he must no 

 longer turn a deaf ear to the calls for improvement on 

 account of imaginary trouble. For although a Protec- 

 tionist myself, I am confident that a free trade in corn, with 

 its consequent evils, can only be averted by '* increased pro- 

 tection." 



John Warnes, Jun. 



Trimingham, Dec. \%th, 1845. 



