294 Report on the Farm-Prize Competition of 1872. 
bours. With tlie remainder the cake is continued, and an addi- 
tional ^ pint of peas daily is given in spring to finish them off. 
The common turnips mainly last until the first week in December, 
and by this time the swedes have done growing, and are fit for 
use. About the middle of March, when the swede heaps begin 
to disappear rapidly, mangolds are called into requisition ; but, 
until the sheep are used to them and the risk of scouring is 
abated, they are given mixed with about one-half or three-fourths 
of swedes. When the swede-land is wanted for barley sowing, 
the fat sheep are removed to some snug, dry grass field, where 
the mangolds have been previously stored in a convenient corner, 
or waste place, adjacent to the land intended to be thus manured. 
By the end of April the wether tegs, and those of the ewe tegs 
not bred from, are usually in prime condition, and command 
a high figure. They are sold out of the wool, and generally 
throw 10 lbs. per fleece, though this year, owing to the entire 
flock being down with foot-and-mouth disease, the produce was 
not over 9 lbs. The carcase weight usually reached is 20 to 21 lbs. 
per quarter, the average price this year, for the entire lot of 120 
tegs, being 3/. a head. The draft ewes make heavy weights 
by about P'ebruary, and are sold off in the wool, making this 
year 4/. each. Besides home-bred stock, Mr. Parsons purchases 
annually about 50 additional sheep, which are commonly fattened 
along with the draft ewes, and sold off at the same time. 
The breeding ewes, when separated from the rams, again 
form one lot, and are run on the pastures, a small allowance 
of hay and roots being given when the winter sets in, and the 
growing foetus demands an increased supply of nutriment. A 
few weeks before lambing they are folded on common turnips, 
or swedes, which they eat uncut, and from which they are 
not removed until the lambs begin to make their appearance. 
Though strongly opposed to anything like pampering of his 
ewes during pregnancy, Mr. Parsons deems it of the utmost 
importance that they should not suffer any material check, but 
should rather be kept uniformly well, and in progressiye health, 
during a period of such great importance. The young ewes, if 
they seem to require it, are separated from the older portion of 
the flock, and indulged a little more than the ewes of mature age. 
Pigs. — Pigs on this farm call for no special notice. One, and 
sometimes two, breeding sows (Berkshires) are kept, and their 
produce, excepting only the three or four required for home 
feeding, are sold off immediately they leave the wheat stubbles. 
Rotation of Crops. — Here, as in most farms throughout this dis- 
trict, the system of cropping is the 4-c()urse, namely, 1. Roots ; 
2. Barley or Wheat ; 3. Seeds ; 4. Wheat. 
Roots. — The preparation of the land for roots begins with a 
