October 20, 1881. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 369 
fortunate point we have to dwell upon is the loss of Mr. Hum¬ 
phrey’s sheep ; for although of so much value in their blood, and 
although his rams were sought for by the best flock-masters, yet 
not one has ever attempted to maintain this splendid breed of 
animals in purity, which Mr. Humphrey has told us in conver¬ 
sation on various occasions took him more than twenty years of 
careful selection to obtain. Some of the best flocks, however, owe 
their distinguished position at present in the show yard to the 
influence of the rams obtained from Mr. Humphrey. 
We must now call attention of the breeders of this class of 
stock (Hants and West-country Down), for since this blood is now 
only to be obtained in a largely diluted degree through the various 
flocks where used, we ask the question, Which way are we to look 
for sheep to improve our present stocks of Hampshire Downs ? 
Since we lost Mr. Humphrey’s we have not been enabled to 
obtain any other type of similar value for all the varied purposes 
for which this breed was celebrated, but more especially for its 
early maturity, quality of mutton, short fine wool, and adaptation 
for breeding purposes upon the cold hill farms of the different 
districts. We cannot, however, pass over without remark the fact 
that Hampshire and West-country Downs are not good breeders. 
It is recorded in an article in the “ Bath and West of England 
Society’s Journal,” contributed by Mr. E. P. Squarey, of Odstock 
Farm, Salisbury, on the “ Hill Farming of Wiltshire and Hamp¬ 
shire ” that as the result of a census taken on the 4th of May, for 
five consecutive years, in a district within a radius of ten miles 
of Salisbury, Wilts, the average produce of 10,600 ewes was only 
89 per cent, of lambs. From the conditions under which these 
numbers were obtained it is believed that they fairly represent 
the general circumstances of the flocks of the hill districts of 
Wiltshire. This return, too, was given in 1861, at a time when the 
improvements introduced by the use of the best breeds of stock 
had been in full operation for a considerable period. If we look 
for fresh blood to renovate or maintain the value of the Hants and 
West-country Downs we cannot find it in the Shropshire Downs, 
because we should lose early maturity, as proved by the contests 
and exhibitions at the Royal from 1857 to 1862 ; we may, how¬ 
ever, and probably should, gain a greater number of lambs. If we 
take the Oxford Downs we should find early maturity it is true, 
and obtain a better produce in number of lambs ; but we should 
lose in the quality of the meat and get a longer staple in the 
wool, which is not calculated to improve a short-woolled breed, 
nor should we consider them so hardy for feeding on the cold 
chalk hills like Hampshire Downs. As we are now alluding to 
breeding flocks, yet we do not deny that the cross of the Oxford 
Down with off-going ewes has frequently proved satisfactory on 
account of the increase of lambs as compared with Hampshires. 
As we have now occupied the attention of our readers by lengthy 
statements of the attributes and advantages, as well as the disad¬ 
vantages, of the Hants and Wilts Down stock, it has been only to 
prepare them for further statements connected with the proposed 
new style of sheep which we intend to bring under notice. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour .—This will still be connected with the Wheat season. 
All the Clover lea ground should have been ploughed before this 
time; if not, the sooner it is ploughed and pressed the better. We 
are becoming more than ever in favour of the presser being used 
before seeding, especially upon lea ground. When the land is light 
and dry the ploughing after roots fed off or any other fallow prepara¬ 
tion, pressing and seeding with the press drill simultaneously, is to 
be preferred to drilling in the ordinary. If it be carefully done the 
Wheat may very well be horse-hoed in the spring, as the lines would 
be from 10 inches to a foot apart, which is not too wide on strong 
land. It is of great importance, also, that on much flat land, even 
after it has been effectually pipe-drained, the ridges should be small 
—say the ten furrows or five turns with the plough—but they need 
not at this size be made very round or high in the centre. The chief 
point is to have the ridges to fit the drill as to width, and not have 
the land furrows struck out too deeply. Let this work be done with 
the Potato plough, in order that the loose earth may be thrown out 
equally on either side, and then the furrow if deep will be very 
narrow, and not hinder the effective working of the reaping and 
mowing machines either at harvest or hay time if driven across the 
ridges. Raising Potatoes should now be finished as soon as possible 
if the land is flat, as the lifting frame does not act well after heavy 
rains when the land is tough and sodden. The Mangold crop must 
be preserved by carting away to heap at the farmstead. 
Hand / abour .—This may be applied to the storing of Mangold or 
Swedes, especially when either are pitted in the field. We find the 
best plan is to let the work on hire to a man, his wife, and family at 
so much an acre ; they will then earn far more money and finish the 
work in much less time. This is important in the Mangold crop, so 
that they may be heaped and covered in before the frosts of Novem¬ 
ber set in. Planting Cabbages may now be continued, but the sooner 
it is completed the better, and for this time of year the plants ought 
to be strong, and if the land is stetched and the plants set in the 
furrows it will preserve and shelter them in the winter. In many 
districts when the snow is on the land game and wood pigeons are 
very destructive to winter plants unless covered with snow, which is 
quickly done when planted in the furrows between the stetches, and 
in the spring the stetches when split with the double mould plough 
earth the plants very beneficially. 
TAve Stock .—The young cattle now require attention—both steers 
and heifers—the latter especially. They, being most subject to the 
quarter-ill, should now be accommodated either on a very high and 
dry grass paddock, otherwise in sheltered littered yards and sheds at 
night time, and receive cotton cake or beanmeal, or both, in connec¬ 
tion with cut roots or Cabbage. This will keep them healthy and in 
good condition. Some farmers we notice lately, in supplementing 
the grass food for dairy cows, give them brewers’ grains laid in small 
heaps on the pastures even where there is a good bite of grass ; but 
how much better it is to give such food in the mangers at milking 
time night and morning. As the nights are growing longer and the 
weather colder the fatting sheep which have hitherto done well upon 
early Turnips or Rape, or in some cases Cabbage or Thousand-headed 
Kale without any hay, should now receive some in chaff ; but at the 
present price of the article we think cotton cake and meal mixed with 
cut roots more profitable feeding than hay chaff. About 1 lb. of the 
mixture per head per day is an ample allowance, especially if the 
root food is passed through Gardner’s cutter. Some farmers object 
to cutting common or hybrid Turnips for sheep, as they are so much 
softer and more easily eaten than Swedes ; but it is a mistaken idea, 
for the waste during their consumption on the land is considerable, 
and the animals have in fact to work for their living, whereas when 
cut and placed in troughs the roots are always clean and may be 
consumed without waste if the troughs are not over-filled. Little 
and often is the best mode of feeding, and it is the only way of feed¬ 
ing with cake or meal in admixture with the cut roots by which 
waste more or less can be avoided. 
We have looked over lately some of the finest flocks of horned 
Somerset ewes to be found in the kingdom, and find that they are 
lambing fast and bring a large number of twins—in fact, all the 
horned ewes of Somerset and Dorset breed are earlier to lamb this 
year than in the average of seasons. The Dorset Downs, also, are 
early to lamb, but these of course lamb in December and January, 
whilst the Hampshire and Wiltshire ewes lamb in January and Feb¬ 
ruary. We have noticed for many years that in dry hot summers like 
the past season up to the middle of August the ewes of each breed will 
always breed earlier, and the lambs come better together than in cold 
sunless seasons like 1879. The early Somerset lambs as they fall should 
now, together with their dams, be drafted from the flock, and the 
ewes will bear the best of food, both of roots, cake, meal, &c. As 
soon as the lambs are strong enough to follow the ewes they may 
together go into Italian Ryegrass for a while in the daytime, but receive 
a fold of roots at night on dry ground. Italian grass is, however, the 
food which will produce more milk than any other food. The ewes 
should be cooped every day, and those which have more milk than 
the young lambs can take the shepherd should milk dry by hand, 
otherwise penned milk will kill the lambs. If the ewes and young 
lambs go on to young Clovers they should be removed at night; it 
being the coldest lying for them they often suffer from rheumatic 
affections and become crippled, for which there is no cure, and we 
have found that they should then be destroyed and another lamb 
placed with the ewe. The flocks of Wiltshire and Hampshire ewes 
should now be regularly kept without a heavy fold of food night or 
day, especially of roots, for at this period of their pregnancy they are 
more likely to abort than later on and nearer to lambing time. 
We use straw chaff, as it will not answer to give dairy cows hay 
at present prices and during the winter, when they are comparatively 
out of profit. As soon, however, as they drop their calves they should 
receive hay and straw chaff mixed together with a moderate quantity 
of cut Mangold, and mixed with a liberal allowance of oilcake ; and 
the better they are kept the more profit they will yield, either for 
making butter, milk for sale, or suckling calves for veal. We do not 
recommend the fatting of many pigs for sale, as we do not think they 
pay so well as fatting bullocks. Our mode of feeding, however, is to 
mix meal with pulped Mangolds at the commencement, using the 
proportion of two-thirds Mangold to one-third of Barley meal, or a 
mixture of Bean, Barley, and Maize meal, gradually during the 
process of fatting increasing the quantity of meal, and finishing off 
by several weeks of feeding with meal only. Instead of fatting 
many pigs we prefer to keep a number of breeding sows fed on roots 
and cheap meal food, and allow them to run in well-littered yards, 
in which case they make much manure and are sure breeders. The 
profit arising is by the sale of the young pigs as stores at about 25$. 
or 30s. each, and when the large white Yorkshire is crossed with the 
Berkshire breed we obtain large farrows of the most valuable pigs at 
weight for age. 
Laxton’s Early Maple Pea.— Mr. Laxton is now distri¬ 
buting this new agricultural Pea, which he states was raised by 
crossing the old Maple or Partridge Pea with the earliest white 
variety, the result being a Maple Pea which is quite as forward 
as the earliest garden Pea, and three weeks in advance of the old 
Maple. The height from 4 to 5 feet. In all other respects it 
