Experiences of a Scntfiman on the Es^sex Claya. 323 
curetl. But there is not enough of it, and in our case several 
hundreds of tons of stable manure have to be brought on by 
rail ; the home-made material, however, always gives the best 
results. 
The breed of cows which we nearly all prefer is, of ceurse, the 
Ayrshire, though many take to the Shorthorns. The belief in 
the Scottish breed is not, however, due to prejudice, because 
we can make more money through them than through other 
kinds. They cost less to start with, as the most of us (coming 
from their native district) can get a truck- load sent south at the 
lowest possible figure ; and we find they milk as well as the 
ordinary Shorthorns, and rather better than at home, while 
they need decidedly less food. The drawback is that, in this 
district, the old cows sell at very little ; but as the loss is 
spread over five or six years, it does not amount to so much. 
Those who work with Shorthorns prefer to buy in immediately 
after calving, keeping them only one seasou, and then dispos- 
ing of them to the butcher. We find our Ayrshires tend 
to gi'ow larger and coarser than the usual type of the breed ; 
but, on the whole, the change to a hotter and drier climate 
seems to agree with them. Being of a more nervous tempera- 
ment than the phlegmatic Shorthorn, the torment of flies in the 
heat of summer affects them more, so that it has been found 
necessary to put them indoors during the hot afternoons, and feed 
with tares or other green forage. They take kindly to the old, 
permanent "meads," however, and the quality of the milk yielded 
on this class of land is superior. 
A word may be said regarding the milking of the cows. This 
is almost universally done by women in Scotland, and it was quite 
a change to have men and lads at it. We find, however, that it 
is generally better to take on lads, and teach them, than to have 
older men who have previously been accustomed to larger cows, 
such as Shorthorns or Dutch. Dairying has thus become quite' a 
feature of the district, and where six or eight years ago only one 
or two persons were engaged in it, there are now a dozen. But it 
is only a feature, and the rest of the farming goes on pretty much 
as usual. With us on this farm there is quite as much capital 
invested in sheep and bullocks as in milch cows, while there is 
always a large amount of meadow hay and " mixture " for sale. 
Of all the different breeds of sheep which are common in the 
locality, there are none that give us more satisfaction than the 
Romney Marsh, but unfortunately the supply is limited ; Suflfolks 
and Hampshires are more common, but during the last year or 
two the price of store animals has been so high that thei'ewas no 
chance of buying with any room for profit in selling fat. On 
