68 
Report on Messrs. Prout and MiddleditcK s 
bably more suitable for wheat than for barley or oats. Beans 
are found remunerative, and a good preparation for wheat. 
Clover has not yet been systematically grown. A week or ten 
days before harvest the growing crops are sold by auction. 
Both straw and grain are removed, but Mr. Middleditch evi- 
dently parts regretfully with his superior crops, rightly thinking 
that he could harvest them as well as anybody else, and might 
enjoy the purchaser's as well as the grower's profits. 
Leaving the house and passing westward through the garden 
and orchard, and still on the thin coral-rag, are two acres of 
lucerne, kept clean by frequent horse and hand hoeing, cut three 
or four times a year, chiefly for the horses, and proving so 
serviceable that its culture will speedily be extended. Adjacent, 
and still on the upland limestone-rag, are 35 acres of sainfoin, 
laid down in 1871, and bringing annually between 6/. and 7/. 
per acre : in 1874 it realised 8/. 5s. The first crop generally 
fetches 5/. ; occasionally it has been cut twice : the aftermath, 
which is fed off, usually brings 30s. ; but, owing to the scarcity 
of grass, Avhen put up for public competition on July 23rd, 
1874, the grazing, let until October 1st, averaged 3/., whilst 
one lot realised yOs. At this high figure it was rented to afford 
a fresh and healthy bite for 150 superior Cots wold lambs. To 
no better purpose than the growing of sainfoin can this thin' 
limestone soil be put. To sustain fertility the crop receives 
an occasional dressing of the limited amount of stable-manure 
which is made, and is also helped by the cake and corn given to 
the sheep which graze down the autumn bite. When the -sain- 
foin has exhausted itself, one or two capital corn-crops will 
follow ; but there is neither depth nor staple of soil to justify 
the adoption of the consecutive grain-crops, which can be pro- 
duced on the lower, deeper, and heavier portions of the farm. 
From the table-land on which stand the house, garden, and 
sainfoin field, a few steps bring us to the gently-sloping 
enclosure of 150 acres of especial interest in the annals of 
steam-ploughing — where fourteen years ago one of Jokn Fowler's 
engines astonished the Wiltshire farmers by its power and 
aptitude for land-culture. In 1874 this large field was chiefly 
seeded with Rivett wheat, the third wheat-crop in succes-'i 
sion — fully 100 acres, of splendid promise, standing on the 
sale-day beautilully erect ; some of the straw upwards of G feet 
high ; many heads discoverable numbering 100 grains, and ona 
giving the bountiful increase of 120 grains. The best porn 
tion sold for 17/. 5.'?. per acre, and, even with the autumn fall 
in the value of wheat, must still have left a fair profit. Several 
plots when threshed out averaged 7 quarters ; one reached 8^ 
quarters. The stout bright straw, which looks like 40 to 45 cwt, 
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