80 
Relative Profits to the Farmer from 
the midland counties, iipon rather a strong land, that rents at 21. an acre- 
About one half of the land is in permanent pasture, and some of the best 
fields fatten a bullock oa each acre. The cattle are all bred by the owner, and 
sold fat at the age of 2k years on the average. They are a profit-making 
breed, without any pretensions to pedigree Shorthorns, and the average price 
they have made for some years is 10s. 
All the calves are hand-fed, and for the first ten days they are served with 
two quarts of milk a day ; then skim-milk and linseed-gruel till they are 
three months old. Say that the value of the calf, or cost, is 50s., keep for 
three months, 45s. ; in all, 4/. 15s., at three months old. Then there remains ' 
19?. 15s. as the payment for 24 months' keep — at the rate of 16s. 8c?. per 
calendar month. 
Again, on the same farm, the sheep are likewise bred, and fattened off at 
14 months on the average (being the months of April and March). The 
average price obtained is 61s., which is a payment of 4s. Aid. per month, being 
an equivalent of four to one cattle beast (if the first cost of the lamb is not 
reckoned). 
On the farm referred to, the stock are pastured in the field for five months, 
and for the remaining seven months of the year they are fed on roots and 
fodder. I have assumed the value of the calf at three months old to be Al. 15*. 
Then let 2,1. 10s. be allowed for the first summer grazing, and 10 tons of roots 
for the winter — 5?. (say, half-acre). Next summer, Zl. may be put down for 
grass, and 9Z. 5s. for roots, and you have the sum of 19?. 15s. — the actual amount 
obtained on the average for the stock referred to. No value is put on the 
straw or hay consumed, as their cost is met by the dung obtained. So, also, 
about 30s. worth of cake is used, which recoups itself in the extra quality of 
the manure. I have not, indeed, allowed for risk, interest on capital, and 
labour; but the returns shown are bona fide, and the farmer is obtaining a 
good margin of profit annually. The several items given have been submitted 
to his inspection, and quite accord with his views. 
One very important element, as between buying and breeding, is the general 
judgment and business qualities of the farmer and stock-master ; for it is a 
fact, whatever way it may be explained, that many tillage-farmers never acquire 
the requisite skill for making the purchasing so profitable as it might be. 
Hence we find that men — dealers and jobbers, having skill and prudence — 
have in many cases enriched themselves at the expense of those who are not 
adepts in the business. 
On all dry, gravelly, and sharp lands, sheep are the most profitable, not only 
as paying more for the given keep, but also as enriching the ground much 
more. About twenty to twenty-five years ago, when sheep were taken more 
to in the Howe of the Mearns (Kincardineshire), the land depastured with them 
yielded an extra increase of about 12 bushels an acre when ploughdd for corn 
crops. 
There is little mountain-ground in Bedfordshire, and yet there are six sheep 
for one cattle-beast; so that every farmer rears and breeds, with little exception, 
a considerable number of sheep. The Oxford Down is the favourite breed on 
the best land, and on cold lands farmers prefer Long-wools — most commonly, 
Cotswolds. 
On poor clay-soils they are decidedly preferable to cattle, as they can bo 
fattened on pastures that would not fatten cattle. My experience was the 
same on gravelly land in Forfarshire, and on my own trap-soils in llenfrew- 
shire. Rather singularly, on the poor gravels at the former place, I went into 
breeding pure Leicesters, and, owing to their becoming too fat for breeding, 
the experiment was a complete failure. 
The Sutlblk is the common horse for plough and cart in Bedfordshire. 
David Robie. 
