488 Suggestions for Stock-feeding in the Winter of 1893 - 94 . 
an excellent substitute for silage ancl hay for early-calved cows. 
I think many farmers will agree with me that the price given 
for the winter milk, by the large milk and dairy companies, 
is not nearly enough to pay the producer a fair margin for the 
extra expense and trouble to which he will be put. 
Young cattle and late in-calf cows will in many places have 
to be wintered in the open, and, if kept on dry sheltered pas- 
tures, will be much more healthy than if put in draughty yards 
with a scanty supply of bedding ; such practice as the latter 
often leads to serious consequences. Dry, sheltered yards, and a 
good supply of sweet straw, with about 3 lb. of cake per head, 
furnish our usual means of wintering dry cattle, but this season 
w r e shall not have sufficient straw. Therefore, I suggest, where 
there is sheltered and enclosed pasture land, to give in troughs 
some straw chaff, with a little inferior corn ground, and, if 
conveniently obtainable, some furze or gorse (young shoots) 
chopped fine or bruised, which would be a great help. A less 
expensive w T ay, perhaps, would be to employ some green 
straw of this year’s growth, served out twice daily with a little 
cotton-cake ; a few roots are good, but I do not think there will 
be any to spare for young cattle. 
In conclusion, I am afraid that, however careful and econo- 
mical farmers may be in the utilising of their feeding-stuffs, 
and however fortunate in the keeping and rearing of their 
stock, the winter of 1893-94 will prove one of considerable loss, 
and without the liberal aid of landlords, and better prices for 
stock and corn, many stock-feeders will have hard work to 
pull through. 
Tom T. Stacey. 
IX. 
If the experience in Hampshire may be taken as a reliable 
index, our fodder and forage crops as a whole have suffered terribly 
through the recent severe and prolonged drought. Throughout 
Hampshire only about one-half the usual quantity of straw has 
been secured, whilst hay has suffered still more grievously, the 
year’s supply having fallen short by quite three-fourths of the 
ordinary crop. But it is to be feared that the record of bad crops 
is not yet complete. Boots are decidedly unpromising. Man- 
gel — probably the most valuable for spring consumption — has 
practically failed ; and swedes and turnips are so very backward 
that it is hopeless to expect a fair supply of either. 
The prospect is more especially discouraging to the farmers 
in Hampshire because they have already suffered very severely 
from the expensive winters of the two previous years. They 
