604 
Typical Farms in Cheshire and North Wales. 
the sale of milk and partly to the manufacture of cheese. The cows are 
numbered in their stalls, from 1 to 9, and all available hands are re- 
quisitioned for milking night and morning, 9 cows being allotted to each 
milker, but one person does not always milk the same cows. The milking 
occupies about one hour, and is closely supervised. The whole of the Weston 
Hall milk is sold from May to August, and for the remainder of the season 
one-half is sold and the rest made into cheese. The cows are good milkers, and 
their produce both in quantity and quality will compare favourably with the 
best herds of the county. The management of the dairy and poultry at 
Weston Hall is under the control of Mrs. and Miss Parton ; that of Chorlton 
is administered by a dairymaid. 
The cows are a fine lot, with great similarity of type and colour, good 
quality, and very decided Shorthorn character. The bulls previously and 
now in service are pure-bred Shorthorns. But while looking to quality Mr. 
Parton does not lose sight of milking attributes, and selects bulls from good 
milking strains backwards for three or four generations. The cows are 
drafted off at 6 years of age, if not parted with for other reasons at an 
earlier period. They are housed early in October, and well fed and managed 
on the lines previously described, beginning to calve down in November and 
on through the winter till February and March, when the greater proportion 
drop their calves. The bull calves are kept about one month on the cows, 
and are readily sold for rearing at remunerative prices. The heifer calves 
not kept for replenishing the herd go away sooner, while those retained are 
reared by hand, well cared for till 16 or 17 months old, then put to bull in 
July, and ultimately take their place in the dairy. 
The flock of Shropshire sheep was established three years ago from good 
strains of blood. The ewes were a creditable lot, and carefully attended to. 
They are ratted in October, run the pasture the winter, and are lambed 
down in the yards. They are supplied with few roots, some cut hay, and 
I lb. of crushed oats through winter, and 1 lb. after lambing, when they 
frequent the seeds. The lambs have their cake separately in May, and this 
is continued until they are sold fat to the butcher. The first draft goes at 
Easter ; the last by the end of June. Thirty ewe lambs are brought into 
the flock each year. About 100 pigs are annually disposed of, half of which 
are sold fat at some 12-score weights, the rest as weaners. Their food is 
cooked, and the dairy offal and potatoes are mixed with a liberal allowance 
of meal. 
Two-thirds of the home-grown oats are consumed on the holding, and the 
purchased food account is a very heavy item in the year’s expenditure. 
Mr. Parton has six cottages under his control, one occupied by the 
waggoner, one by the stock-man, and the rest by labourers. Waggoner’s and 
stock-man’s hours are from 5 A. nr. to about 6 P.M., and ordinary labourers’ 
from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The other labour required on farm is accomplished by 
four Irishmen, who arrive in March and remain till the autumn. They have 
piecework and extra wages for harvest. Three lads who work on the farm 
are boarded and lodged indoors, while of the two sous residing with their 
father, one takes the superintendence and management of the Weston Hall 
herd, and the other of the flock. 
A 6-horse-power traction engine by Fowler with threshing-machine by 
Hornsby does the threshing, whilst the hay- and chaff-cutting, corn-grind- 
ing, cake-crushing, and pulping are done by machinery worked by a small 
fixed engine connected with a boiler which is utilised for cooking pigs’ food, 
steaming dairy vessels, and other domestic purposes. Hay and corn are cut 
by Harrison, McGregor & Co.’s grass-cutter (combined and manual delivery), 
and the rest of the implements on the farm are well up to date. 
