60 
Some of the Ar/ricuUural Lessons of 1868. 
Mr. Jolin Coleman, of Park Nook, Derby, reports, among 
other tilings, on the value of brewers' grains : — 
" Our cattle will have hay and straw chopped up together and mixed with 
.grains, large quantities of which are fetched from Burton-on-Trent by our 
farmers at 6c?. per bushel, and found by them to be cheaper than anything 
else this season, on account of the quantity there is for the money. It is not a 
question with many of making up the deficiency in the root crop, but of 
finding a substitute wholly for it, as on many farms not a root is to be seen. 
Straw, also, is so short, that I do uot know where the quantity of stuff 
required for cattle food is to be found. In this district we have much grass 
land, and with this open weather, and the fact of the land having produced so 
little in the summer, stock are now living almost entirely upon the land, with 
but little assistance. Slieep, from the failure of roots, will be much more 
difficult to keep than cattle. Some years ago I wintered 200 hoggets upon 
arable land without any turnips, and managed to keej) them alive, but I 
should be very sorry to repeat the experiment. The straw must all bo 
consumed, and it wants reducing to a pulp, as chaff is not fine enough or 
digestible enough for stock to take in such large quantities as will have to be 
given this season ; and when large quantities of straw are used boiled linseed, 
or other things that are not of an astringent nature, should be used, or j'oung 
stock particularly will suffer." 
According to Mr, Henry Hudson, of Pershore, the difficulties 
of a scanty winter's supply of food are to be met : — 
" First by having horse-power to the chaff-machine, and keeping it daily in 
ivork with an intelligent careful man in care of it ; cutting up as many 
varieties of fodder as possible, viz., hay, clover, pea-straw, vetch straw, wheat- 
straw — mixing a certain portion of wheat-chaff daily with the chop. Then 
by pulfiing mangold or swede roots, and mixing a certain jiortion of them 
over night with the chaff so as thoroughly to blend the] food : thereafter 
l)y mixing wheat, beans, peas, and tail barley, grinding the mixture and 
putting a certain portion of the meal with the chaff at feeding-time. All 
this must be given regularly, for nothing injures stock so much as irregular 
feeding, whether as regards the time or food. I prefer the pulpers to be 
worked by hand rather than to be driven by horse-power, as we can then use 
them in different parts of the farm, which is more convenient and a great 
saving of haulage. Most farmers have two or three additional wheat ricks 
this year, and one of them must be devoted to the stock on the farm ; nothing 
is cheaper and nothing is so good for stock, young or old. 
" All this may appear to be a troublesome and exijensive process, but it is 
nothing of the kind ; for well-trained youths, under proper supervision, will 
pulp the roots, mix the chaff" with the roots, and put the whole handy for a 
more experienced person to feed the stock. The cutting of chaff' and jiulping 
roots will be of more advantage than anything else that I can recommend, — 
and with attention to these matters I think we may get through the winter 
months far better than we expected. I have not yet alluded to the cutting up 
of a certain portion of wheat and barley straw. The Avheat straw of this 
season is so good that the cattle will cat it without any other mixture, there- 
fore it may be used more plentifully than usual, and the early harvested 
l)arley-straw is of immense value mixed with otlier fodder. Both feeding and 
store tegs will do better by eating the stubble turnips and other turnips on the 
land with plenty of chaff and corn kibbled until they are all gone ; and then, of 
■course, they will be put to pulped mangold or swedes with kibbled corn. The 
working horses and young colts we are keeping almost entirely on chaff with 
