462 
Report of the Judges on the 
Mr. Carrington was credited with being a generous, if not an 
extravagant feeder of his milch cows, but his purchased food 
(mainly decorticated cotton-cake) did not amount to more than 
38s. an acre, while the annual expenditure upon the first and 
second prize-farms stood, respectively, at 60s. and 51s. per acre. 
It is utterly impossible with such an outlay that any land should 
lose its fertility ; on the contrary, we believe that it must be not 
only transiently but permanently improved. 
In the detailed report of each farm which follows will be 
found the exact quantities of the different kinds of food with 
which the cows and other stock are supplied. We would only 
make the general remark that decorticated cotton-cake seems 
greatly in favour, not only for its production of milk but for its 
excellent efi^ect upon all grasses, especially those permanent 
seeds which are newly laid down. But the common use of 
brewers' grains, although well known to most cowkeepers, may 
not be so generally understood. There appears no food like 
them for the production of milk, and when mixed with more 
costly feeding stuffs the milk is not only abundant but exceed- 
ingly good. Take for instance the first and second prize large 
dairy-farms, where grains are used all the year round : at Mark- 
eaton 63 cows produced 710 gallons of milk each, and at Twy- 
ford 36 cows gave 921 gallons in the year. In the immediate 
vicinity of the great brewing town of Burton-on-Trent, grains of 
the best quality and in any quantity are to be had at all times of 
the year, but there is not so much demand for them in summer. 
In the winter, prices range as high as 6rf. per bushel, and in 
summer they fall as low as 2d. Great pits from 6 to 10 feet deep 
are dug in the dry ground, and 5000 or 6000 bushels of grains 
are trodden in. When the surface is reached the grains are 
well heaped up in the middle, beaten down, cased with chaff or 
road-scrapings and then well covered with a thick coat of soil, 
so as to resemble a large mangold-hole. Sometimes these pits 
are lined with bricks, and more frequently a proper vault either 
above or under the ground is made. An old barn with brick 
partitions run across it makes a capital receptacle for storing 
grains. Some farmers use salt in packing the fresh grains, and 
are very particular in the covering that is applied to the surface ; 
but it appears that if ordinary care is taken to exclude the air 
grains may be kept in the roughest manner and be perfectly 
sweet and good at the end of six or even nine months. 
The sale of milk, instead of cheese or butter-making, is 
essentially popular with the females of the household. All 
they have now to do is to attend to scalding and cleansing the 
milk-tins. A milkmaid is unknown, for no woman troubles 
herself to milk. The milk never enters the farmhouse, but is 
