122 FIELD AND FERN. 



Manchester, Wakefield, and Newcastle. Many men 

 will feed from fifty to a hundred, all shorthorn 

 crosses. 



A few West Highlanders and Shetlanders may creep 

 in, but scarcely any polls. There is no induccDaent 

 to tie them up, as the climate is good, and they are 

 mostly kept in small open courts with good sheds, 

 and very seldom in boxes. As regards oat-straw, 

 horses get the preference, and the cattle have to fall 

 back on barley, wheat, and bean straw as it is 

 thrashed out. The straw is very seldom given 

 chopped and, if there is enough to spare from the 

 horses, the cows get next turn. 



" Of the softer turnips, the white globe occupies 

 the largest space, but it has been to some extent dis- 

 placed by the Greystone, a species recently intro- 

 duced, which produces the heaviest crop of any 

 variety. Being very soft, and liable to injury from 

 the frost, its use is restricted to the early part of the 

 season, a circumstance which must always tend to 

 circumscribe the extent of its cultivation. Skirving's 

 purple-top succeeds the earlier turnips, whilst green 

 and yellow varieties follow as the food of the farm 

 till Christmas, when the Swede becomes the reliance 

 of the farmer for all animals, save breeding ewes, for 

 which white or yellow turnips are reserved. An an- 

 nual sweepstakes, which is held under the auspices 

 of the local agricultural society, shows the following 

 as the highest weights on the best five acres of 

 turnips of different sorts — Swedes 31 tons 18 



