February 17, 1881 . ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 141 
we shall make that it is a custom of the management of stock on 
arable farms which has previously existed, and is still prevailing. 
Estimated Cost or Feeding an Ox Per Week in Covered Box, Ac. 
Br. £ s. d. 
To 4 rbs. of oilcake per day, or 28 ttis. per week at £ 12 per ton. 0 3 0 
„ 60 lbs. of roots per day or 420 lbs. per week, at 9.'. per ton . 0 1 8 
„ 20 lbs. straw fodder per day, 140 lbs. per week, at 30.?. per ton. 0 1 10 
•• ,, „ for litter, at 10 s. per ton. 0 0 S 
it Carriage of dung to field, spreading, Ac. 0 0 3 
„ Interest on extra capital. 0 0 3 
„ Attendance per week .. 0 0 8 
„ Balance, profit ... 0 3 0 
£0 11 4 
CR. £ s. d. 
By Value of manure per week... 0 1 4 
„ Increased value of bullock per week . 0 10 0 
£0 11 4 
Estimated Cost of Feeding Four Sheep Per Week in Open Field. 
PR- £ (J. 
To 4 lbs. of oilcake per day, 28 lbs. per week at £12 per ton . 0 3 0 
„ 60 lbs. of roots per day, or 420 lbs. per week, at 7s. 6d. per ton. 0 14 
„ 4 lbs. of hay per day, or 28 lbs. per week, at 4,t. per cwt. 0 1 0 
„ Attendance per week . 0 0 3 
£0 5 7 
CR. £ i. d. 
By Value of manure per week . 0 1 4 
„ Increased value of four sheep per week. 0 4 0 
„ Balance, loss .. 0 0 3 
£0 5 7 
We must now—in order that our debtor and creditor account, 
which involves somewhat intricate and complicated calculations, 
may be the better understood by the home farmer—give some 
practical explanations relating to the items in these estimates. 
Let us take first the selection of bullocks of either the Devon, 
Hereford, or Shorthorn breed at about three years old, and if 
purchased in October, when they are being sold off the grass land 
and pasture farms, of a condition just beneath the butcher’s 
requirements, and to cost on the average of seasons £17 each 
when they enter the boxes, and selling out at £27 each. Taking 
secondly the sheep two-teeth wethers or tegs, of either Hampshire 
Downs, South Downs, or Ootswolds in good condition, to cost on 
the average of seasons 45s. each when they enter the field, and 
selling out at 65s. each. The foregoing account will require 
probably some explanations as to how the items are made out. 
Referring to the value of a ton of roots for consumption by 
bullocks we will suppose a field sown half with Mangolds and 
half with Swedes, the former producing 24 tons per acre, the latter 
16 tons per acre ; average crop 20 tons. The cost of this crop— 
including tillages, manure, rent, rates, tithes, &c.—we wfill esti¬ 
mate at £6 10.?. per acre ; thus the roots will cost 6s. 6d. per ton ; 
pulling, storing, and preparing the Mangold, 25 s. per acre ; ditto 
the Swedes, 15.?. per acre ; average cost of preparing, &c., 20.?. per 
acre, or 1.?. per ton. But here we must observe that the compari¬ 
son between the roots for bullock consumption and that for sheep 
must cease, and to proceed we will estimate the cost of carting the 
roots to the homestead, perhaps a quarter of mile distance, for on 
the outlying light or poor land the roots would be fed with sheep 
only. Carting home and storing Mangold at per acre, 35.?. ; cart¬ 
ing home, &c., the Swedes, 25.?. per acre ; average cost of carting 
home and storing, 30.?. per acre, or 1,?. 6d. per ton. Charging the 
fodder, oat straw, at market value in the place at 30.?. per ton is 
fair, because the straw may be sold oil, the equivalent value being 
returned in purchased manures, which may raise the question as 
to the policy of selling or consuming by cattle. The litter straw 
we have only charged at 10.?. per ton, because straw, which could 
not be sold, of an inferior description, will answer every pur¬ 
pose in the boxes. We estimate the carting and spreading dung 
returned to the land (a bullock making a ton of dung per month) 
at 3.?. per head per week. We reckon interest on £8 for twenty 
weeks at ten per cent., being the amount of extra capital employed 
in the purchase of an ox over that of the four sheep, the former 
costing £17, the latter £9. The attendance is estimated at 8 d. 
per bullock per week ; one man to feed, litter, and attend to 
twenty-five bullocks. This item closes the bullock account on the 
debtor side. 
On the credit side we have estimated the increased value at 
10.?. per week, for we have found in our business for a number 
of years that bullocks of various ages have on the average in¬ 
creased in value 10s. per week during the twenty weeks’ feeding 
on roots, &c., in the winter months. We have reckoned the value 
of the manure at 5.?. 4 d. per ton, and allowing each bullock to 
make a ton per month, this gives Is. 4 d. per week, and this we 
believe to be very near the truth ; but whether it is, in fact, more 
or less, it does not affect our comparative calculations, because 
we have charged the same value of manure in the sheep account. 
As regards the sheep stock account, debtor side, the value of the 
root crop for consuming in the open field will be the same as for 
bullocks up to the point where they are pulled, prepared, and 
stored, which will give the value of Is. 6d. per ton. We have 
charged the sheep with hay, because practically we cannot make 
fatting sheep eat straw without cutting it into chaff and mixing 
with superior food, which will lead into expense and waste. We 
have charged the hay at market price in the place, which is about 
the sum it costs to grow and secure it, and may therefore be 
considered a fair charge. On the credit side of the account we 
have reckoned the manure of the four sheep at the same as the 
ox, but it should be remembered that some of the manure is 
lost by exposure and heavy rains. We have calculated the sheep, 
whether two-teeths or tegs, to gain 1.?. per week for twenty weeks’ 
feeding, in accordance with the average result for a number of 
years on our own farm, as well as many others, and as a rule it 
will be found over the mark rather than under. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour .—This has been continued upon some hill farms and 
dry loamy vale land by fallow ploughing in those cases where un¬ 
completed before the great snowstorm of January 18th, which by 
farmers will be remembered for a long time as the disastrous snow¬ 
storm of 1881. Ploughing and pressing should now be done of the 
Clover and Saintfoin leas for Oats, Peas, or Vetches. We, however, 
like drege best, for when Barley is mixed with the Oats the crop not 
only yields a better and heavier sample of grain but the plant is more 
likely to come with greater regularity, for upon lea ground the wire- 
worms are frequently found to destroy some of the young plants ; 
but we have noticed that they will very seldom eat off both Barley 
and Oat plants, as the Barley being of quicker growth often grows 
out of the way, whilst the Oats fall a prey to the wireworm to some 
extent. Upon the strong loams the first opportunity should be seized 
to sow the Beans, and either late Peas or winter Vetches may be 
mixed with them ; for this plan not only diminishes the risk of 
blight, but after the second horse-hoeing the Peas or Vetches spread 
over the space between the rows of Beans, and keep down the growth 
of various weeds by shading the land. 
Hand I.abour .—Guano and any artificial manure which requires 
manipulating and preparing beforehand for use may now be broken 
down and passed through a quarter-inch wire riddle in readiness for 
use at the appointed time ; this can be done in wet weather in 
the manure house under cover, so that neither men or women may 
lose time and pay during weather unfitted for outdoor labour. In 
preparing guano and such manure after being passed through the 
sieve it may be bagged up again, so as to be available when the 
period for its application arrives either for the Potato or Mangold 
crops, as well as for Lent corn or upon any land to be planted with 
Cabbages. Men may now be employed in preparing seed beds for 
the growth of such vegetables as Cabbages, Kohl Rabi, Broccoli, Ac.; 
and if the plants are not grown under the care and superintendence 
of the gardener at the mansion it is best to prepare a bed or beds for 
the growth of seeds in some corner of a field or headland, in which 
the plants are to be set out. This will save time and labour at planting, 
and also allow of the plants being set as fast as they are pulled, and 
in some seasons this is very important. As soon as the land can be 
worked freely it should have a dressing of guano forked in, and the 
seed sown when the land is dry enough. The seed may, to facilitate 
the hoeing and pulling of the plants, be drilled with a hand garden 
drill at about 14 inches apart. Upon the fields or pieces of land 
where Cabbage plants were set in the autumn we fear that many 
plants have been destroyed by wood pigeons, larks, and rabbits if 
planted on the fiat or level ground ; for the late snow and frost will 
show the advantage of planting between the furrows of the land 
undei stetch, for they will not only have felt the effect of frost less 
severely, but where covered with snow they will have been kept free 
from the attacks of enemies, as well as protected from the cutting 
winds which accompanied the snow. 
The Wheat plant we find has been injured on the open districts 
where the land was left bare by the snow drifting before the wind. 
It is, however, too early to say whether damage of this kind will be 
fatal to the plant as a whole, for if one or two plants only are left in 
a square foot of ground, tillering upon good land may maintain a 
plant sufficient for the production of an average crop. We also 
understand that in some cases both Turnips and Swedes have been 
destroyed by the frost. Should this prove to be the case to any 
great extent it will be a very serious matter as regards the provision 
for stock in the spring, which shows that wherever the land and 
climate is adapted for the growth of Mangold that theyshould.be 
grown to a much greater extent than heretofore ; because after being 
securely stored they are the sheet anchor of stock farmers, and the 
