The Winter of 1885-86. 
431 
to as showing how experience supports the award of the Society's 
silver medal to that system at Norwich. 
Brewers' Grains. — ^In the West of England, especially, there 
are many men who have not found the need of ensilage, but 
these men have for years adopted a system that is practically 
the same. This is the storage in summer of brewers' grains ; 
and I have a capital experience on this point from Mr. W. B. 
Beauchamp, of Norton Hall, Bath. This gentleman — who is 
a large colliery proprietor, but the son of a tenant-farmer, and 
one who has nearly all his life been engaged in farming also — 
has a farm of some 200 acres in extent, chiefly of the best 
description of pasturage. Only six acres are not in grass, and 
he has done without roots for some years. The position of 
affairs there last winter is shown at the commencement of the 
following statement which has been sent me : — 
" Mr. Beauchamp recollects no parallel to the latter part of last summer 
since a similar season in 1844. The latter part of the summer the pastures 
were bare, but not so much from want of rain as from the peculiar state of 
the atmosphere. Dry scorching east winds killed all vegetation, the result 
being that there were no late grasses, and the winter feeding of cattle had to 
be commenced in September — two months earlier than usual. Thus, before 
the ordinary time of feeding, quite one-third of the usual quantity of food in 
an ordinary season had been already consumed. Besides this, the farm was 
very much overstocked, there being just over 100 head of cattle, besides 130 
head of sheep and 6 horses. Fifty head of the cattle form the dairy herd, the 
rest being grazing steers. In the autumn, prices of cattle and sheep were very 
low, and nothing could be sold except at an immense sacrifice. Mr. Beauchamp 
looked the difficulties square in the face, and decided not to sell, but to winter 
the whole of the stock. How was the difficulty faced ? There were no roots 
whatever on the farm ; but this (which in many cases would have been an 
insurmountable difiiculty) was very easily got over. Let us see what was the 
food supply on the farm. The hay crop of 1885 was not quite an average one, 
but there were one or two good exceptions on this farm. It must not be 
forgotten that there was in the spring a period of about six weeks during 
which time the grass grew rapidly. On one piece of 14 acres, which was 
fed as bare as possible to the middle of May, a crop of over 30 tons, of very 
fine quality, was cut and made in the first week of July. In the stackyard 
there were a little over 100 tons of hay in all, and this was made the basis of 
the calculation as to how to feed the stock in the winter. Then there were 2000 
bushels of brewers' grains — the experience of many years having shown these 
to be a very valuable and cheap food for mixing with other materials. For 
years past these have been stored in the summer for winter use. In one of 
the farm buildings are two immense brewery vats, which were bought several 
years ago. There is a contract witli a neighbouring brewery to take these 
grains during the summer and to the end of September, at 2d. per bushel. 
There is thus a great economy in buying in the summer. In the neighbour- 
hood of Frome last winter they were eagerly bought up at 5c/. and 6c^. j^er 
bushel, and at the latter price the demand could not be met. On this farm 
they have become so integral a portion of the feeding system, that the need 
which silage meets in other cases has not been found here, the result being 
that, although the owner is a man of no enterprise, no silo has been built. 
But without either these grains or a supply of silage the achievement of the 
