Some of the Agricultural Lessons of 18G8. 
63 
steeped Indian corn. Sloro pigs wo shall keep upon stnepod Indian corn, 
diseased potatoes, swill, &c., &c. It was in this way we succeeded iu success- 
fully brini;in;j; our stock through the winter of lS(;4-5, when the summer 
(irouglit and attacks of grub destroyed our green crops. Indian corn is this 
year iilentiful, and will bo in a great measure substituted for the oats or meal 
of 18()4-r). We hope to be etiually successful in this untoward season." 
Mr. Williams, of Baydon, says : — 
"The chaff-cutter is being generally used, and wo get a beautiful sack 
of chaff, with one-third hay, mixed with peas' haulm, oat and barley straw, 
wheat cavings, and some wheat straw, all very sweet; and the sheep and 
cattle are doing well with it, with what they can get in the stubble fields 
that have not been ploughed : they must soon go to the straw-yard, where 
with plenty of good water, a greater quantity of chaff must be given, together 
with some meal or sprouted corn. Wheat, witli the price any further reduced, 
will be (he cheapest article to give according to weight, and this, if sprouted, 
■will keep them in good condition ; but other corn no doubt will be given, and 
cake ; and the Chancellor of the Exchequer will not be able to prevent us this 
year from giving malt, for in the West of England the barley that was 
cut when the rain came was all malt in 48 hours, and the greater part 
that was standing is more or less sprouted. I intend keeping what roots 
I have till the spring, as there is no doubt that they will be of more value 
after lambing time than now." 
Among other correspondents on this subject is Mr. A. S. 
Ruston, of Chatteris, who, however, does not keep a breeding 
flock, and therefore buys lean sheep to graze just as he has need. 
He usually winters from 400 to 500 sheep in yards, as manure 
manufacturers ; this year he has food for only 150, and has been 
therefore obliged to procure a larger number of cattle to keep 
on straw and linseed and cotton-seed cakes. — Mr. Evershed, who 
has been a. contributor to this 'Journal' on this very subject, 
refers to his paper on 'Maintaining Sheep on Dry Food,' in 
the first volume of the New Series. — Mr. Burnet, agent to 
Colonel Kingscote, must also be quoted. He has cut up the 
barley and oat-straw with a third of their quantity of hay, and 
he mixes one day's food the day before using it with 6 lbs. of 
beans for each animal, throwing a few buckets of water over it. 
The store stock get as much of this as they like to eat, and are 
doing as well as when on grass. 
This is the one reference throughout our correspondence to 
that system of cooking by fermentation to which the agricultural 
journals drew a good deal of attention some years ago. The cost 
and labour of steaming food will probably be a hindrance to its 
adoption except where a very large number of live stock are 
being fed ; but it seems not unlikely that the heating of moistened 
heaps of chaff and other food may be so far an efficient cooking 
as to ensure at least that the poorer portions of the mixture shall 
be sufficiently penetrated by the more sapid and nutritive parts 
so as to make the whole a palatable food. An occasional year 
of scarcity may be useful if it teach us the useful lesson of 
