The Batch A'jricuitural Colonies. 
801 
rabi, and carrots ; and to fodder plants, such as vetches, clover, 
and maize. The green fodder is ensiled either beneath the 
ground, or in stacks by Blunt s apparatus. Potatoes are kept 
in large low bams, partly dug out of the sandy soil, and roofed 
with thick layers of turf. 
In the year 1890, 163 acres of the Society's six farms were 
planted with rye, 61 with oats, 44 with buckwheat. 102 with 
potatoes,' 37 with grass and clover, 17 with mangel, 5 with 
beans, 14 with roots, 17 with fodder plants, 20 with peas, and 7 
with various, while 331 acres were in permanent pastui-e. About 
20 acres on the estate are devoted to market gardening. Vege- 
tables, such as peas, beans, haricots, carrots, etc., and fruits, 
such as apples, pears, plums, apricots, etc., are dried at a private 
drying establishment on the estate (established in 1888), and 
are sent all over Holland, where they are much esteemed. 
About 56/. is spent annually on each of the six farms for 
artificial manures, consisting of basic slag, kainit. and nitrate 
of soda. 
A feature of the cultiviition that has received much attention, 
especially since the establishment of the forestn," school, is the 
care of the woodlands. The greater part of these are planted 
with firs, and the remainder with oaks. The land is dug a vard 
deep by the spade, and acorns are sown in rows. After two or 
three years the young plants are transplanted, and again after 
a similar interval of time at wider distances. Here they remain 
until they are about ten years old, when they are felled, the bark 
being sold for tanning and the wood *br fuel. 
AH the cattle on the farms are bred on the estate ; but buUs 
for stud purposes are bought annually in Friesland. ililking 
qualities are especially studied in the rearing of cows, and onlv 
those are bred from which have been proved to give plentiful 
and good milk. In the Annual Report for 1890 particulars are 
given of the yields of milk of the 150 cows on the farms, from 
which it appears that two gave over 1,000 gallons of milk in 
the year, one over 900 gallons, five over 800 gallons, 11 over 
700 gallons, 23 over 600 gallons, 27 over 500 gallons, 26 over 
400 gallons, and 12 over 350 gallons, the remaining 43 being 
under this standard. The average yield is 575 gallons, and the 
milk is stated to contain from two to four per cent, of butter- 
'■ In view of the interest which has recently been escited on the subject of 
•he preventive treatment of potatoes against disease, it maybe worth mention- 
log that last season a portion of the potatoes on the estate was dressed with 
hfiviV-e hnrdflaiie. the first time at the end of Jane, and the second in the 
middle of July. The result was that on the 60 acres so treated there was an 
increase in the yield of from .36 to 72 bn&hels per acre. The cost of the two 
dressings was about 10*. per acre. 
VOL. II. T. S. — 8 y G 
