588 
Typical Farms in Cheshire and North Wales. 
temporary reduction has been allowed on last year’s rent. The rates have 
slightly increased in the past ten years. 
The arable land is worked nominally on the five-course shift, but this 
rotation is not strictly adhered to. Oats are succeeded by a green crop ; this 
is followed by wheat or oats, which are seeded down, and the young seeds 
are dressed with farmyard manure, and mown the following year ; the clover 
ley is left down a second year and then ploughed up, and the course again 
commenced with cereals. Autumn cleaning is resorted to, and farmyard 
manure ploughed in before winter in preparation for green crop, which is 
sown early with a small application of mineral superphosphate. About 30 1. 
to 40/. worth of artificial manures and bones are applied per annum. The 
area under crops this year is as follows : — 
Wheat . 
3 acres 
Permanent 
pastures 
Oats . 
32 „ 
(grazing) . 
. . 254 acres 
Potatoes 
4 „ 
Permanent 
pastures 
Turnips 
5 „ 
and meadows (to 
Mangel 
Cabbage 
First-year 
mow) 
clovers (to 
4 „ 
1 acre 
8 acres 
mow) 
. . 48 „ 
About 20 acres of clovers and 40 acres of hay are mown annually, 32 acres 
of the latter being meadow land which is put up for hay year after year. The 
land that is mown is generally dressed with farmyard manure in the autumn. 
The pastures are also occasionally boned with a mixture of 5 cwt. of bones 
and 3 cwt. of superphosphate per acre. The hay crop had here as elsewhere 
suffered from the drought, and was light, but the 8 acres of mowing clover 
were good. The oats, both Tartarian and White, and the wheat were heavy. 
The four acres of Stourbridge Glory potatoes were healthy and regular, and 
the roots, which were well cultivated and clean, were ready to hoe out, and 
looked likely to prove an abundant crop. 
The outlay on artificial manures for the land under cereals and root 
crops averages about 20/. per annum, and the pasture land is occasionally 
dressed with 5 cwt. of bone and 3 cwt. of superphosphate per acre. 
The live-stock upon the farm at the time of the inspection comprised : — 
2 hack horses. 
6 working cart horses. 
4 unbroken colts. 
109 milking cows. 
19 two-year-old heifers (feed- 
ing). 
28 yearling heifers. 
25 heifer calves. 
2 two-year-old stock bulls. 
2 yearling bulls. 
162 cross-bred ewes and yearlings. 
138 cross-bred lambs. 
74 pigs. 
The cart horses were of useful stamp and in good condition. A con- 
siderable number of the milking cows were descended from Ayrskires, but 
they and their progeny, having been crossed by Shorthorn bulls selected 
from milking strains for the last 21 years, now show little or nothing of the 
Ayrshire type. They are a fine herd, well fed and cared for, and deep 
milkers. The practice on this farm is to sell the milk from the whole of the 
cows during the six or seven autumn and winter months of the year, and to 
convert it into cheese the remainder of the time. The medium-ripening 
system of Cheshire cheese-making is practised, and usually commences with 
tiie month of April. All available hands are employed for the milking, and 
extra assistance is obtained from the women in the village. The cows are 
numbered in the stalls and about eight go to each milker. Each cow’s milk 
is weighed once a week. The milk is strnined through a sieve outside the 
