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Agriculture of Hertfordshire. 
Mr. Oakley also grows early rape in preparation for wheat : 
5 lbs. or 6 lbs. of seed are drilled, 14 inches apart, with 3 cwt. 
of superphosphate per acre. The crop is folded at 8 or 10 weeks 
old, when about 18 inches high, and while young and luxuriant. 
At this age the sheep eat it to the ground without waste. Lambs 
on rape are supplied with clover-hay chaff, even in the hottest 
weather, and soon eat it freely. 
The land is frequently ploughed up after folding, and again 
sown broadcast and without dressing, and a second crop obtained 
in time for wheat to follow. 
Twenty or thirty acres of beans are grown on this farm by 
way of change. 
Another excellent manager of stock has adopted the following 
system with profit. He buys cows to calve in January or 
February ; the calves remain with their mothers until both are 
fat in the following May twelvemonth. They are summered 
on grass, and the cows get about 5 lbs. of cake daily, or rather 
less while the grass is at its best. As soon as the calf robs its 
mother's trough more cake is given, and by November the 
calves get 3 lbs. of cake each daily, and this is soon increased 
to 4 lbs. or 5 lbs. ; they are wintered on cut roots, cake and 
meal, and straw-chaff. By May the calves which have remained 
by their mother's side will weigh about GO stones, and some- 
times more, selling occasionally for 19/. at 15 months old. 
On farms with good pasture the calves should fall in May ; 
in summer they should be taken into yards with their mothers 
during the heat of the day, and kept in yards or boxes through 
the winter and sold to the butcher in June or July. Man- 
gold and lucerne are provided for late spring-feeding. This 
young beef is not of the best quality, but it is quickly and profit- 
ably made. Of course, the calf must be highly led from birth, 
and must receive no check. It may be said of this, as of most 
systems of feeding, " the grazier's eye is worth 4 lb. of cake 
a day." 
The following mixture of food for fattening oxen has been 
used on a large scale with success. 
2 cwts. of meal. i sack malt coombs. 
1 „ oilcake. 8 sacks chaff. 
1 „ pollard. 3 lbs. salt. 
The composition of the meal varies with prices ; at present it 
consists of 
1 sack of lentils. 1 sack of Indian corn. 
1 „ beans. , 1 „ oats. 
The chaff is one part of good hay, and two parts of the best 
straw. 
