440 
Hie Winter of 1885-86. 
a failure of the root crops, and with the knowledge that to 
properly carry stock through the winter, or till such time as 
they were properly fattened, this shortness of capital was a 
potent factor in forcing half-fattened stock into markets already 
filled with meat from New Zealand, as well as places in our 
own hemisphere. It was in such a combination of circum- 
stances as these that the winter of 1885 came upon us so early. 
This enquiry shows, by example after example, that there 
was no occasion whatever for such a wholesale sacrifice of half- 
fattened stock as was the case in the autumn of last year, and 
that we still need to learn the lesson of greater economy in 
cattle feeding. If we did not trust so much to the turnip crop, 
we should not have seen the markets glutted with unfinished 
stock, and the great losses which followed would never have 
been suffered. The turnip crop is not everything in winter 
feeding, and its place can be filled in many ways, and that 
too without having resource even to the expensive cake. 
Silage and brewers' grains are both shown to be excellent 
succulent foods, while at the present low prices of both English 
and foreign corn, mixtures of corn meal are cheap. The whole 
lesson of the past winter is one of economy— to always eco- 
nomise, by proper mixtures and proper thrift, all the produce 
of the farm. If all owners of stock would have a supply of 
Silage, or brewers' grains, or of rough corn for crushing, of 
straw and hay, or of linseed, they might in a bad root year find 
themselves quite independent of roots for the winter which 
followed. In a good root year, they might increase their stock, 
and, by due economy of mixtures, keep a larger number. By 
proper food-economy a much larger head of stock than is now 
kept could be sustained on our present resources. But trusting 
to the turnip crop alone is like having all the eggs in one 
basket ; and when the crash comes, the whole resources are 
gone. 
In writing the above, I have not the slightest wish to 
dogmatise. In practical agriculture, the least that is done in 
that way the better. The position of a farmer with regard to 
the land he actually tills is very like a large number of men 
playing whist. No two hold the same hand, and each has to 
play his own hand to the best of his ability. So too, no two 
farmers have to deal with conditions of agriculture that are 
exactly alike. Their farms vary in soils, in climate, in live 
stock, and in resources. A collection of the best experiences 
during a season like the last will be of service, however, in 
giving the reader a good idea of how those who have revealed 
them have utilised their resources, and few practical men will 
not learn some valuable wrinkles, how they themselves can 
