58 
Some of the Agricultural Lessons o/" 1868, 
entirely on forced mcai, sucli as 'chop,' Indian meal, linseed cake, and locust 
beans." 
Mr. Moore, Lord Radnor's agent, near Farringdon, speaks of 
a somewLat similar experience : — 
" Onr plan has been to disjDOSc of cverj-thing we could possibly get fit for 
slaughtering. Fat beasts were forced through the autumn and are all cleared 
out — tlie same with the sheep ; and the wether lambs, which could not be sold 
as stores without gi-cat loss, arc now [December] being regularly drafted for 
butcher, and are paying pretty well for their keep. We hope to clear out in a 
month ready for lambing time. We preferred forcing them all tln-ough the 
season to having them on hand this winter. In doing this we have mixed 
various descriptions of corn (beans, peas, barley, oats) and cake. For store 
stock we propose using straw and haj', cut into chaff, with a few mangold- 
wurzcl. Ewes will be done as usual ; as we have a good stock of mangold- 
wurzel. We give them a little hay now whilst running on the grass lands. 
They come gradually to mangold-wurzel, with a little care, just before and 
after lambing. We cannot economize straw as food so much as we should 
like, as we require so much litter — at the same time we are not very partial 
to its extensive use, unless roots and other feeding stuffs can be given 
with it." 
Mr. Clare Sewell Read, M.P., is another of those who pre- 
ferred contending \yith the difficulty to yielding at discretion — 
feeding his flock at unusual cost to giving them away : — 
" As I am lumbered up with a lot of sheep that I can hardly give away, 
much less sell, I have already commenced keeping them in yards in lieu of 
bullocks. They will go out every day for a run on the pastures, or for a bite 
of what few roots and green croi^ there may be, and to keep their feet right ; 
and will be fed in the yards with chaff, cake (half linseed and half rape), 
acorns, corn, and pollard. I fill my barns with chaff-cutting, fths oat-straw 
and the rest hay, well treading it together and salting the whole mass. The 
chaff wonderfully softens and sweetens by this treatment, and even young 
sheep eat it readily. I shall not be able to graze a bullock after Christmas, 
but must buy in 40 or 50 young steers for the few marshes I have ; and they 
will be fed on straw, chaft', and cake. I have about 15 acres of mangolds that 
may produce half tlie usual weight, and these are all the roots I have that arc 
worth removing from the land. These will "be pulped and given to the stock 
that need them most, care being taken to reserve a few for the ewes and lambs 
in the spring." 
Mr. Paget, of Ruddington Grange, Nottingham, says : — 
" The hay remaining from the great crop of 1867, added to the two-thirds of 
a crop of this year, and the excellent quality of the straw, removes anxiety as 
to the supply of dry fodder. 
" The weight of the straw was large, and we cut it for bedding, which 
economises its use. Mangold being an average crop, and cabbage 25 tons to the 
acre (two-thirds of a crop), and the common turnips being about half the value 
of a crop of swedes, I do not very much fear the winter, and I have my usual 
quantity of stock. Feeding cakes being so dear I have purchased a quantity 
of very good wheat at HI. 5s. per ton on which I know that cattle will feed 
and milk as well as on any other food." 
Mr. John Wallis, Farm Bailiff to his Grace the Duke of Man- 
chester, of Kimbolton Castle, sends the following report : — 
