360 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. t October u, mo. 
successful growth of roots upon such light dry soils as compose 
the chalk'hill farms. 
The feeding off these root crops in good time is of the highest 
importance, in order that the Lent corn may be sown early, which 
in the case of a dry flock like wether sheep may easily be done, 
because larger numbers may be kept for a time, and then the 
numbers of the stock may be adjusted by sale to the food. Not 
so with the breeding flock, in consequence of its being necessary 
for a profitable result to retain the lambs and offgoing ewes until 
certain periods of the year when they are at maturity for the 
markets in which they are to be sold. On some chalk hill 
farms at a great elevation, or more than usually exposed, it will 
be necessary to leave out the Mangold crop, because under such 
circumstances, particularly in the north midland and western 
counties, it cannot result in a full crop. We have therefore to 
recommend that, in the absence of Mangold, Swedes be sub¬ 
stituted in the root lain, of varieties which will not only stand 
the winter without injury better than many others, but can be 
preserved to a later period in the spring—namely, the green, white 
or bronze varieties. Either of these will do when we can obtain 
them of a deep yellow colour inside and a clean growth, for if 
the seed is sown after the 10th of June they will retain their feed¬ 
ing value under treatment during the last half of the month of 
April and the first half of the month of May, which is a matter of 
so much consequence that we have on various occasions resorted 
to the plan of crowing down, after the greens have run up about 
12 or 15 inches, by cutting off these close to the root. In this 
way we have retained the roots in the land into the month of 
June; nevertheless, if a full stock of ewes and lambs are main¬ 
tained on the farm the lambs, when allowed to run in advance of 
the ewes, will sometimes pick off the greens and keep the roots in 
good feeding condition without extra labour. About 10 acres of 
Swedes reserved in this way will enable all the Lent corn to be 
sown in good time, and will only diminish the lain to 90 acres ; 
we have therefore, after the Swedes are fed off, to crop this 
10 acres in another way, and so that it may fall into the Wheat 
lain in the next year. Our plan is, as fast as the Swedes are fed 
off to plough and sow immediately a mixed crop of 1 lb. of Rape 
seed and 2 bushels of Italian Rye Grass seed of foreign growth per 
acre, mixed and sown broadcast. We prefer this plan to sowing 
Turnips after the Swedes, because this Grass and Rape will give 
abundance of food in the autumn, winter, and in early spring, 
after which it is laid up and cut for hay, then ploughed, and 
pressed, and drilled with Turnips to be fed off, and the land sown 
with Wheat. 
The third course w ill be Lent corn, &c., 100 acres, 90 of which 
wall be seeded with Clover and Grasses in the Lent corn, 50acres 
with Red Clover Alsike and Giant Saintfoin for hay, and 40 acres 
with Dutch Clover and Italian Rye Grass for feeding, this seeding 
to be reversed in the next rotation. The Clovers, &c., will be cut 
twice for hay, and the land be dunged and sown with Wheat after 
one ploughing and pressing. The 40 acres sown with Dutch and 
Italian Grass will, together with the 10 acres of Grass and Rape 
above alluded to, make up 50 acres, to be ploughed and pressed 
at midsummer, and sown with Turnips to be fed off by sheep, a 
liberal dressing of superphosphate having been drilled with the 
seed, and a good allowance of cotton cake allowed the sheep whilst 
feeding will not only answer the purpose as profitable manage¬ 
ment of sheep, but w'ill be a judicious mode by which the land is 
made rich enough to carry a full crop of Wheat, the whole of the 
farmyard and stable manure having been applied to the 50 acres 
of Clover lain. Thus it will be clear that we have 190 acres of 
cereal crops, and one of the largest provisions for a breeding flock 
of sheep which can be advised upon a cold hill farm of the given 
area or farm of 450 acres. The rotation as just concluded refers 
more particularly to a poor chalk soil in an elevated position. 
We shall, however, now consider a rotation for a farm on a 
chalk soil, which although very thin and light is of a kind, soft, 
and malmy texture, and situated in the southern or south-eastern 
counties. We will again take a farm of 450 acres for illustration, 
although it actually represents the system pursued by one of the 
oldest and most practical farmers within our acquaintance. He 
follows a system peculiar to himself, whereby he is enabled to 
keep a very large quantity of stock, and to take three corn crops 
in six years. The foundation of his system is keeping the ground 
constantly in action, and growing great quantities of good 
sheep food whilst bringing the land into the best possible con¬ 
dition for cereal crops. This farm consists of 900 acres; but in 
order that the home farmer may more easily compare the system 
with those which we have given before, and those to which we 
intend to refer hereafter, we will take an acreage of 450 acres. 
On this farm is a capital pasture or down on the high ground, 
and the best managed of any we have ever seen, which is done 
by taking the produce without close feeding on the open down 
system, the sheep being allowed only to feed on it within shifting 
folds, similar to the ordinary plan of folding off green crops or 
roots, and in this way the Grass is never eaten out so bare as to 
injure the herbage or finer Grasses. We will call this pasture 
30 acres, which will leave 420 acres, which under a six-course 
will give 70 acres in each. The rotation may be described as— 
1st, Wheat; 2nd, Barley ; 3rd, Turnips, Swedes, and other roots ; 
4th, Barley; 5th, Clover and Grass ; 6th, old Clover and Grass 
lea. The courses or lains will then consist of 70 acres each. The 
first course Wheat will be sown after Clover and Grass having 
laid two years in part, the other part being after Turnips, grown 
after the Grass lea ground had been ploughed and pressed at mid¬ 
summer, the Clover lea part being dunged from the farmyard, the 
other part being fed off with Turnips, and the sheep eating cake, 
corn, &c., then forms a full and well-tilled course prepared for 
Wheat. The second course is Barley, clean-ploughed and laid up 
for the winter, so that it may not require ploughing in the spring, 
the scarifier only being used to obtain a tilth, except in the case of 
a field being foul, it is then fallowed in the autumn. Now, the 
Barley grown is drilled with artificial manures, and yields corn of 
capital malting quality, and far better than it could be as a rule 
when taken after roots, because it can be earlier sown, but not on 
account of the treading of the sheep, for the soil we are speaking 
of does not suffer by treading, but rather the reverse. The third 
course will be root crops, the whole 70 acres being seeded in the 
autumn for green crops, such as Rye, Trifolium, and Winter 
Vetches ; these after being fed off by sheep eating cake, &c., upon 
the land, give a good preparation for roots, Mangolds following 
Rye, for it must be remembered that on this soil, the climate being 
favourable, Mangolds succeed very well. Swedes follow the Tri¬ 
folium and the earliest-fed Vetches, the remainder being sown 
■with hybrid and common Turnips. The fourth course is Barley, or 
the latest cleared land is sown with white Waterloo Oats or drege. 
Half this course is seeded with 8 lbs. of Broad Clover, 4 lbs. of 
Alsike, and 2 bushels of Giant Saintfoin per acre ; the latter takes 
extremely well, in consequence of there being no regular Saint¬ 
foin course as pursued on some farms, and this mixture not only 
affords hay of capital quality, but an excellent layer for the 
second year. The half of the lain is sown with Dutch and 
Alsike Clover seed, in admixture with Perennial Rye Grass, Italian 
Rye not being approved on this farm, where constant feeding is 
going on, it being said that the sheep do not so well in feeding off 
the second and third foldings of Italian Rye Grass, and often 
refuse it. This is a strong argument against it, as in this case the 
Grass is fed off by sheep for at least eighteen months, and although 
it is not often done we think that Giant Saintfoin in mixture with 
the Grasses for feeding would be an improvement. It is, however, 
held that if Saintfoin formed part of the Grass seeding it would 
not take so well in the next course, when the land would come 
in for seeding with the Clovers and Saintfoin in admixture. The 
sixth and last course will be Clover and Grass leas, the latter 
being broken up in summer and cropped with Turnips, as the 
preparation for Wheat, as above stated. It will be noticed on this 
system of cropping that half the arable land will be in cereal crop, 
two-thirds of which will be Barley, and it must be admitted to 
be judicious that it is so arranged, for this soil is as well adapted 
as any we could name for producing a malting quality. The 
other third is cropped with Wheat, and although under the system 
adopted only one crop is taken in six years, and although the 
Wheat grown is generally a full crop, yet it has for some years 
been exceeded as an acreable money return by the Barley crop. 
Taking this system as a whole it exhibits great practical know¬ 
ledge and judicious management, and we can recommend it with 
great confidence to the careful consideration of the home farmer. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME EARM. 
Horse Labour .—This has been greatly relieved during the period 
since harvest by the judicious employment of steam power in the 
cultivation of land intended for early cereals and root crops next 
spring. Not only has a vast deal of the heavy work of cultivating 
been done, but it has been effected within the shortest time that is 
possible for autumn preparation of the land, and particularly as we 
never can reckon beyond a certain number of days in the most 
favourable seasons. We have not only the certainty of the autumn 
rains commencing during the month of October more or less, but the 
practical fact that the seed time for the autumn-sown Wheat must 
during that month receive a large share of attention. By steam 
power, however, the ploughing and pressing of four or more furrows 
upon Clover lea ground can be done at one pass of the plough in 
ridging up the land for Wheat. This circumstance also enables the 
home farmer to continue the autumn cultivating to a later period, in 
consequence of the great amount of work in ploughing and pressing 
