228 
The Past Agricultural Year. 
appeared in one or two places some years ago under tlie name of " blackleg." 
At two or three days old there appear livid swellings on any part of the 
body, from tip of nose to root of tail, and death comes in a day or two — no 
recovery. We thus lost more than a third of our lambs, and generally the 
best. When a week old they were safe from the blackleg, but then came the 
old familiar " cripples " to swell the list of casualties, and the unprecedented 
result is that we have but eighteen lambs (many of them miserable things) 
from each score (twenty) of ewes put to the tu]). The woi'st crop we ever 
before had was twenty-four, and a fair average we reckon at twenty-eight, 
weaned, fi om " Border " Leicester Ewes (bred from Messrs. Stone and Burgess 
of Leicestershire). Of course, hardier crosses from the Cheviot have, in this 
low country, done much better, though they have not been altogether scathe- 
less. At the autumn lamb sales it was observed that well-known flocks pre- 
sented little more than half their usual number of " tops," and these not up to 
the maik. Tlius, the tremendous fall in wool and the drop in mutton, together 
with the uncertainty of the turnip-croji, have combined to keep the price of 
lamb rather below last year, quality considered. Talking of wool, ours is good, 
scarcely a cotted fleece among the ewes. But can any one explain this cotting, 
or, as we (perhaps more significantly) call it, " coating " of fleeces ? It is not 
always the leanest ewe that is worst. 
2nd. As to Field-work. — Of winter wheat I can say nothing. My own 
was sown on March 3rd, each of the 7 acres receiving 4 bushels Square- 
Headed seed, with Ij cwt. fish-guano, and bone-meal afterwards. It came thin 
and spindly, though afterwards dark enough in flag. In 1877 the same sort, 
sown a month earlier, was cut on October 8th, but this was a later season still, 
certainly the latest of modern times, and we did not cut till October 15th. Last 
year, and two years ago, we learned most emphatically that a very big crop 
may yield very poorly. As to the turnip-crop, some of us had enough of swedes 
stored to serve a month or two, but more were surprised by the early winter, 
and had to dig laboriously among snow for daily supplies. Taking advantage 
of occasional thaws, we managed to supplement our store with roots fresh 
enough for immediate use, though not so clean as could have been wished ; 
and any poaching of the land was remedied by the frosts of March. It was 
well for us that we managed thus to save part of our original store until April ; 
for the very considerable breadth that remained on the ground was never fit 
to keep in store above a week, getting steadily worse as they stood, until at 
last quite one-half of the remainder were no better than soap, and cattle had 
even to sup portions of the latter half, and did tolerably well too. Among 
all this wreck, however, there was a brilliant exception in a somewhat old- 
fashioned purple-topped swede, deep-growing and round — none of your " big 
croppers," which are soft as btitter — and you may guess I sow no other until 
better advised. As to fallow operations, it is perhaps owing to our late climate 
that autumn cultivation is seldom now attempted, and never with satisfactory 
results, the land so treated being no cleaner in sjjring, and much wetter than 
if it had lain in plough-furrow. 
There can be no question as to the good of land drainage, if properly 
planned ; but two days ago I had water standing between Government 4-feet 
drains at 28 feet intervals ; while heavier land, where we more recently put in 
a 30-inch drain in these intervals, was drying fairly and regularly. After 
twenty-five years' observation, I am all for shallow drains, and plenty of them, 
on anything like heavy land. 
On some liglit lands most of the roots got sown in May, the weather being 
remarkably favourable at first, although showery towards the end of the month. 
After that we had ten inches of rain in two months ; and, not to mention minor 
delays, were uuable to get horses on the land for a whole fortnight together. 
Our swedes were well planted, not all thinned though, nor could we get 
