The Agriculture of StaffurdsJiirc. 
291 
be constantly fed with manure, and this is managed on a four- 
courso rotation in the following system. The root-crops are 
well dressed with artificial manures and hones, and they get all 
the farmyard dung except what is reserved for tares, which 
should always be dunged, and for seeds ; the best barley is grown 
after dung. The seeds are the mainstay of the flock during summer. 
Eight acres of vetches are sown in succession for the flock ; 
turnips follow afterwards. About one-half of the swedes are 
carted to the yards, and with these and the mangolds and a large 
quantity of straw-chaff and corn, 30 or 40 head of horned stock 
are fattened. 
Rye is grown as an occasional " snatch crop," to be eaten off 
by the yearling cattle, with pulped mangold, chaff, and malt- 
dust. The mangold headlands and any spare corners are sown 
with rape, to be mown for the sheep. 
About 500 sheep of all ages are summered, viz. 160 ewes, 
their lambs averaging 240, and the rams, wethers, and yearling 
ewes, saved for succession and sale. At the annual sale, 80 to 
100 drafted ewes and 40 rams are disposed of. 
Having noticed the live stock, the system of maintenance, the dis- 
posal of the manure, and the constant feeding the land receives, I 
will add a few other details to describe the quality of the land and 
the general management. Oats are frequently substituted for wheat 
as the fourth crop, being frequently more profitable on a thin 
soil ; 50 acres of the latter are the usual breadth instead of 75 
acres. The furrow is pressed for wheat. Frequently the flock 
is helped with two years' green crop (vetches) instead of wheat, 
or a field of seeds stands two or even three years. In that case 
it is alwavs fed, and the land is manured with farmyard dung 
for oats. The breadth of seeds is 70 acres, of which from 15 to 
20 acres are mown for hay. 
Tares are mown and placed between hurdles for the sheep 
to pull through. Three or four acres of cabbages are grown 
for change of food. " Rib " has been found to have but little 
feeding value, and has been discontinued in the mixture of seeds, 
which consists of 1 bushel of Italian rye-grass and 12 lbs. of 
mixed clovers — white, red, alsike, and trefoil. Red and white 
clovers are sown alternately so as to be grown only once upon the 
same land in eight years. For two or three years' seeds the 
white is increased ; and for early feed, 2 bushels of Italian rye- 
grass per acre are used, as it comes quick when sown thickly. 
If the dung can be got on for swedes in winter, the ridges are 
then drawn 5 inches closer (22 inches), and that is a gain on this 
land. Fallows are ploughed 6 inches deep in autumn ; deep 
cultivation is useless on this lean soil ; subsoil ing, which is so 
