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XV.— The Winter 0/ 1885-86. By Henry F. Moore, of 
Frome, Somerset. 
The winter of 1885-86 was a remarkable one in many re- 
spects, its most salient features being its great length and long- 
continued cold. In many parts of the country the pastures gave 
out, under the influence of dry scorching easterly winds, at the 
end of the summer ; the root crops — turnips especially — were 
everywhere a partial failure, and over large areas totally so ; 
the stock markets in the autumn were glutted with stock, much 
half-fattened, which had to be sold at ruinous rates ; the suc- 
ceeding spring was abnormally late, and all early green food, 
common in recent years for spring feeding, was very scarce. 
All these facts combined to make the season a noteworthy 
one, and I was commissioned by the Council of the Royal 
Agricultural Society to institute enquiries among its members, 
and other practical men, into the lessons taught by the season, 
and into its effect on the Agriculture of the country. 
Questions. 
In obedience to the commands of the Council I sent out to 
some 450 members of the Society, the following series of 
fourteen questions : — 
1. Where is your farm situated, and what are, speaking generally, its con- 
ditions of soil and climate ? 
2. What was your general experience of the summer and autumn of 1885, 
the winter of 1885-6, and the spring of 1886 ? 
A.— THE SEASON AND LIVE-STOCK MANAGEMENT. 
3. What was the effect of the summer and autumn of 1835 on the root 
crops of that year ? 
4. How dill you provide food, and especially succulent food, for your cattle 
and sheep during the long winter ? 
5. Did the long winter prevent your obtaining gi-een crops in early spring ? 
If so, what aiTangements did you make in consequence ? 
6. Have you had any experience of ensilage during the past winter? If so, 
would you kindly give it ? 
7. To what extent is shelter provided for sheep in j'our district? Did the 
experience of the past winter show that further shelter is required ? 
8. On this point, what were your experiences during the heavy and 
disastrous snowstorms of January 18th and 19th, 1881 ? Did the lessons of 
those storms result in more shelter being provided, or in any other alterations 
in sheep management ? 
9. How far, in your opinion, were the abnormally low prices of beef and 
mutton produced by tlie peculiarities of the season — the partial failure of the 
root crops, and consequent shortness of food; the increased quantity of stock 
in the country ; and lorced sales of half-fattened animals ? 
10. What, in your opinion, are the lessons the past season teaches us so 
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