126 Accounts of a Hampshire Flock in 1918-19. [may, 



THE ACCOUNTS OF A HAMPSHIRE 

 FLOCK IN 1918-19. 



Sir Daniel Hall, K.C.B., F.R.S., 



Director-General, Intelligence Department, Ministry of Agriculture 

 and Fisheries. 



The Hampshire pedigree flock of 281 ewes, of which the 

 following accounts are set out, is the property of the Lord 

 Wandsworth Institution, and is kept on their Long Sutton 

 Estate near Winchfield, Hants. The land in cultivation 

 extends to about 700 acres, charged at an average rent of 

 20 s. an acre, but less on the fields with which the present account 

 is concerned. The land is comparatively high, mostly above 

 500 ft., and is a mixture of light loam and chalk and the 

 heavier flinty soils which so generally rest upon the Downs. 

 The flock was formed in 1915 by Mr. E. J. Bennett, of Chilmark. 

 The foundation ewes were obtained from Mr. W. C. Young, of 

 Stratford-sub-Castle, the late Mr. Coles, of Winterbourne Stoke, 

 and Mr. B. Nichols, of Burntwood, Winchester. Rams have 

 been bought from J. Fleming, D. Nichols, E. B. Black well 

 and J. Ismay. 



The season 1918-19 was not a good one for sheep in this 

 district owing to the shortage of keep throughout 1918. In 

 consequence the ewes were not in the best of condition at 

 lambing time, and 2 of them died before lambing and 20 

 during the early summer. Lambing was on the whole late, 

 and the persistent wet weather in the early part of 191Q was 

 unfavourable both for lambs and ewes, with the result that the 

 ram lambs were hardly forward enough for the summer sales 

 and shows. The 279 ewes in the flock at lambing time reared 

 278 lambs only, of which 5 died subsequently. 



The flock obtained H.C. for a pair of ram lambs and for a 

 single lamb at the Cardiff Show of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society and also H.C. and Reserve for a shearling ram. 



The flock was kept in the usual manner and was folded though- 

 out the winter upon turnips and a mixture of swedes and 

 kale, and throughout the spring and early summer upon 

 vetches and oats ; fair crops in either case. 



The accounts are kept upon the costs basis. The valuation 

 of the ewes is preserved from year to year at a fixed figure 

 of £4 per head on the ist May, and they are carried forward 

 at the closing of the account on nth October at this figure of 

 £4 plus the cost of their keep during the summer, plus the cost 



