Bulhridge and Ugford, near Salisbury. 
505 
Butter is made twice a week, and skim cheese every day 
during the summer. 
Sheep. 
Mr. Rawlence is well known as a successful breeder and 
exhibitor of Hampshire Down Sheep ; and it will have been 
observed that the chief object of his system of farming is to 
obtain as large a quantity and as continuous a succession of 
sheep-food as possible. 
Nearly 900 ewes are annually put to the ram, the actual 
number last year being 876. Mr. Rawlence lost the use, for 
that season, of 14 prize shearling ewes which were shown at 
Falmouth and Leicester, otherwise his total would have nearly 
reached the round hundreds. The number of draft-ewes is about 
250 annually, and the crop of lambs averages about 5 per cent, 
more than the ewes put to the ram. 
Before describing the details of his sheep management, it will 
conduce to clearness of comprehension if Mr. Rawlence's ruling 
principle is first brought into relief. It is simply frequent 
change of diet. As a general system the sheep are provided all 
the year round with a day fold and a night retreat, so that the 
appetite is continually Avhetted by variety. 
The ewes are put to the ram in August, either on the after- 
math of second-shear clover, or on sainfoin, and at night they are 
folded on the rape and turnips before wheat. The same treat- 
ment is pursued until the spring, rape and turnips being fed 
off in succession, and finally swedes, commencing about the 
middle of October and continuing until lambing time. As 
soon as wet weather or white frosts begin, cut hay and straw 
(about half of each) are given with the roots, and this addition 
is continued until lambing time. After lambing the ewes get 
mangolds with hay chaff for about 10 days in the lambing pens ; 
and in addition to this food, the ewes with tup-lambs or with 
couples get either 1 pint of oats or 1 lb. of cake ; but unless 
roots are scarce the remaining ewes are denied artificial food. 
At the expiration of 10 days or a fortnight the ewes and lambs 
go on turnips, those with tups or couples getting the same 
additional food, and they remain there until March 20lh. 
About March 20th the ewes and lambs go into the water- 
meadows by day, and are folded at night on swedes for the first 
fortnight or so, and afterwards on Italian rye-grass, or occa- 
sionally on rye and winter oats, which have been sown where 
rye-grass has failed. This treatment is continued until the 
middle of May, when the lambs are weaned. The tup and 
wether lambs get an allowance of corn or cake as soon as they 
can eat, which they find access to by means of lamb-gates. 
2 L 2 
