356 Best Means of Increasing the Home-Production of Beef. 
and in the case of rearing calves we have the droppings collected 
and removed daily. 
The occupation in my mind is a typical farm of 252 acres 
in a Midland county, rented at 38s. to 40s. per acre, with a 
labour-bill of 30s. per acre. The following is a fair description 
of the farm, resting on a deep loam on the upper alluvium : — 
30 acres grazing land, 100 acres dairy or store pasture, 20 acres 
meadow, 102 acres tillage. The chief object is the production 
of milk and of meat. The tillage land is worked on a six- 
course rotation of 17 acres each, thus : — 
(1st) 17 acres oats after second seeds ; (2nd) 17 acres wheat 
after oats ; (3rd) 1 7 acres turnip-fallow, catch-crops, and roots ; 
(4th) 13 acres barley and 4 acres linseed; (5th and 6th) 17 
acres seeds. 
The 3rd shift is thus arranged : — 2 acres winter oats and 
beans, sown immediately the wheat crop has been cut, fol- 
lowed in ten days by 2 acres rye, and these in another week 
by 3 acres of tares, the remaining 10 acres being reserved for 
early root crops. Of these, 2 acres are planted in November 
with early cabbages or Scotch kale, 4 acres are sown with 
mangel at the end of March or first week in April, and at 
the same time 2 acres of kohl-rabi are sown, the remaining 2 
acres being sown with swedes early in May. By the end of 
May the winter oats and rye have been cleared, and the land 
sown with swedes. The tares will be ready by June 1, and 
the land is cleared for a crop of common turnips early in July. 
There should be a sufficient quantity of old manure left in the 
yards to supply a dressing of ten to twelve loads per acre, 
spread on the stubble, and ploughed in for the catch-crops, whilst 
later on this may be profitably supplemented by 1 cwt. nitrate 
of soda and 3 cwt. superphosphate, 32 per cent, soluble. 
In the 4th shift the linseed should be used on the farm, and 
the straw disposed of to the paper-manufacturer. This shift is 
seeded down with mixed seeds for a two years' lay. As soon 
as the barley crop is harvested, the young seed-layers receive a 
dressing of twelve loads of farmyard manure. The land is not 
stocked during the winter, and is ready to cut for hay by 
June 10, and is then grazed by sheep and young cattle until 
the autumn, and afterwards affords the in-lamb ewes a healthy 
run during the winter months. The ewes receive half-a-pound 
of oats per day, along with a small allowance of cut chaff. The 
second year's seed-layers are grazed during both the summer 
and winter. The advantage of oats following the second year's 
seed-layers is twofold : first, the uncertainty of obtaining a 
good wheat plant on a two-year-old seed-layer is obviated ; 
