230 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
March  10,  1898. 
A  MODEL. 
[.Continued  from  page  116.) 
We  now'  come  to  the  consideration  of  the  flock  of  slieep.  How 
many  ewes  would  the  farm  of  100  acres  cany,  and  what  breed  would 
be  most  suitable  and  profitable? 
As  we  have  taken  for  granted  that  the  animals  w'ould  be  recpiired 
for  home  consumption,  either  as  fat  lambs  or  as  hoggets,  one  of  the 
Down  breeds  should  certainly  be  chosen  as  the  best  from  which  to 
select  the  breeding  ewes.  Hampshire  Downs  are  good  si  eep  for  the 
purpose,  as  they  breed  early  and  come  early  to  maturity  ;  but  we 
should  not  keep  a  pure  fiock,  because  there  would  not  be  room  for 
the  gimmers  during  summer  without  reducing  the  number  of  ewes,  so 
it  would  be  found  better  to  buy  in  ewes  alter  midsummer  according  to 
the  annual  reriuirements. 
We  should  recommend  the  use  of  a  Lincoln  ram,  the  cross 
between  Lincoln  and  Hampshire  Down  being  generally  successful  in 
producing  lambs  which,  if  they  miss  going  off  fat  as  lamb,  will  make 
good,  well  developed,  and  heavy  sheep  for  autumn  and  winter 
killing,  and  should  always  come  to  profit  before  they  are  twelve 
months  old. 
Tlie  number  of  ewes  to  breed  from  would  depend  much  on  the 
number  of  fat  lambs  required.  For  grazing  through  the  summer  the 
seven  acres  of  Clover  would  not  carry  more  than  twenty  ewes  and 
their  lambs  to  do  them  well ;  but  early  fat  lambs  might  be  had 
independently  of  this  Clover  by  growing  an  acre  of  Cabbage  instead 
of  an  acre  of  Mangold.  If  the  Cabbage  were  drilled  in  April  the 
crop  should  be  ready  for  consumption  in  late  autumn  or  early  spring. 
Thirty-five  ewes  put  to  the  ram  in  August  ought  to  lamb  down  in 
January  and  February,  and  if  only  a  dozen  of  these  be  fed  off  with 
their  lambs  before  IMay  the  seven  acres  of  Clover  should  be  enough  to 
Bee  the  remainder  through  the  summer.  Of  course,  the  Cabbage 
would  be  very  important  in  getting  the  early  lambs  forward  for 
killing.  There  would  be  plenty  of  well  sheltered  grass  land  on  which 
to  put  the  ewes  after  lambing,  and  if  they  had  a  liberal  allowance  of 
cake  and  Mangold  for  the  first  month,  then  a  few  Cabbage  for  a 
change  when  the  lambs  began  to  eat,  there  would  be  little  need  to 
stock  the  seeds  until  at  least  the  earliest  lambs  had  been  sent  to  the 
butcher.  If  the  Avinter  were  mild,  and  the  earliest  Tares  very  forward 
— i.e.y  too  forward — the  lambs  would  do  Avell  on  them  for  a  few  days, 
and  Avhilst  the  change  of  food  Avould  do  them  good  they  would  do  the 
Tares  no  harm. 
We  should  not  take  the  lambs  Mangold  or  Cabbage  whilst  on  the 
Tares,  preferring  to  put  them  on  the  Tares  for  a  day  or  tAvo  at  short 
intervals  for  a  change  than  to  keep  them  on  for  any  length  of  time. 
The  artificial  food  given  to  ewes  Avith  lambs,  and  particularly  to 
those  with  early  lambs,  should  be  something  suitable  for  the  lambs 
themselves  to  eat  and  digest.  To  mature  rapidly,  the  animal  must 
eat  as  Avell  as  drink;  and,  as  a  rule,  what  suits  the  lamb’s  digestion 
will  also  stimulate  the  milking  poAvers  of  his  dam.  IMany  forms  oi 
mixed  cake  are  made  suitable  lor  this  purpose.  Lamb  foods,  whilst 
being  iiiost  valuable  in  their  own  sjLere,  are  not  the  best  used  for 
fattening,  their  greatest  use  coming  in  after  weaning,  when  the  young 
animal  first  really  misses  its  mother’s  milk,  and  progre.ss  is  not  sc 
much  looked  for  as  the  retention  of  what  has  hitherto  been  acquired. 
There  are  several  excellent  makes  of  the  cake  we  recommend.  They 
are  generally  made  of  a  round  shape;  they  should  be  fairly  soft  and 
easily  broken,  and  on  analysis  should  contain  as  much  oil  as  an 
average  linseed  cake.  With  24  acres  mown  every  year,  there 
should  be  no  difficultj'  in  keeping  the  lamhs  from  weaning  until  they 
could  be  got  on  Turnips;  there  wouldgnot  be  much  more  than  one 
lamb  for  each  acre  of  aftermath,  and  Avith  a  little  lamb  food  and  a  few 
Mangolds,  if  any  were  left  over,  they  should  hold  their  OAvn  at  the  very 
least.  Cattle  would  also  be  run  on  the  fog,  and  the  lambs  might  either 
be  run  along  with  them  over  the  whole  24  acres,  or  one  field  retained 
on  purpose  for  them  ;  but  in  the  latter  case  the  cattle  and  lambs  would 
both  benefit  from  an  exchange  of  pasture  at  least  once  during  the  two 
months  or  more  during  which  the  lambs  would  be  on  the  grass. 
In  this  connection  lambs  are  generally  best  kept  without  a  supply 
of  Avater,  unless  the  water  be  a  running  stream  and  very  pure,  but 
they  are  safer  AAuthout  any  ;  for  at  this  stage  their  stomachs  are  easily- 
upset,  and  if  they  are  a  little  feverish  and  haA'e  an  unlimited  supply 
of  water  they  are  very  likely  to  drink  more  than  their  systems 
can  absorb,  and  bring  on  pneumonia,  followed  by  rapid  decease. 
Every  effort  should  be  made  to  get  these  cross-bred  lambs  fattened 
off  before  February,  as  Ave  have  found  them  very  liable  to  lameness  as 
the  days  lengthen  and  March  approaches. 
The  eA\-es  from  October  until  they  lamb  down  would  have  plenty 
of  room  on  the  grass  land,  and  Avith  a  little  hay  and  malt  culm  would 
not  require  a  great  many  Turnips  ;  if  there  were  very  little  grass  on 
the  meadoAVs  of  course  it  would  have  to  be  supplemented  Avith  Turnips 
to  a  moderate  extent,  but  roots  should  not  form  more  than  half  the 
ration  of  the  ewe  at  any  time. 
During  autumn  breeding  eAves  are  no  worse  for  being  kept  a  little 
low  in  condition,  but  during  the  last  eight  weeks  of  pregnancy  they 
nmst  be  Avell  fed.  We  are  in  the  habit,  when  we  notice  an  ewe  look¬ 
ing  a  little  below  par  about  Christmas  time,  to  put  her  on  cut  Turnips 
and  cake  Avith  the  feeding  sheep,  and  it  is  wonderful  to  see  how  good 
the  result  invariably  is. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
Though  the  frosts  have  not  been  severe,  they  have  made  the  land 
firmer  for  carting  upon,  and  we  have  been  glad  of  the  opportunity  to  get 
some  manure  from  the  yards,  also  to  get  sundry  heaps  of  compost  placed 
where  they  will  have  the  chance  to  make  a  grateful  return  for  the  care 
taken  of  them. 
The  manure  has  gone  straight  on  to  the  land  now  being  prepared  for 
Potatoes  ;  it  is  practically  fresh  made,  but  a  portion  of  the  same  field  will 
be  dressed  with  a  heap  of  old  rotten  manure  ;  both  portions  will  have 
sulphate  of  ammonia  given  as  a  top-dressing,  which  will  give  (he  best 
result.  If  all  we  are  now  hearing  be  true  with  regard  to  the  effect  of 
manure  on  artificial  nitrogen,  the  old  manure  should  do  best,  as  we  are 
told  that  fresh  mamwe  will  send  off  the  nitrogen  from  nitrate  of  soda  in 
about  fourteen  days.  It  would  appear,  then,  that  we  had  better  apply 
our  sulphate  elsewhere  ;  but  “  seeing  is  believing,”  and  we  shall  try  the 
experiment  and  note  the  result. 
We  are  ridging  our  land  about  26  inches  wide  ;  this  is  quite  narrow 
enough  to  cart  upon  without  spoiling  the  ridges.  We  make  our  ridges  for 
later  varieties  28  or  even  30  inches,  but  this  field  is  to  be  planted  with 
Elephants,  and  anywhere  between  24  and  26  inches  will  do  for  second 
eailies.  The  seed  is  just  budding,  and  we  shall  get  it  put  in  at  once, 
taking  care  to  get  it  well  covered  up  from  frost  and  birds. 
Lambing  has  hardly  commenced  here,  but  we  hear  of  good  progress 
being  made  here  and  there.  Complaints  are  made  of  ewes  lambing  down 
slowly  ;  this  may  be  owing  to  the  dry  season  more  than  to  any  large 
proportion  of  the  animals  being  barren. 
It  is  very  satisfactory  to  hear  that  Colonel  De-la-Bere’s  proposed 
national  poultry  test  has  been  so  aa-cH  taken  up  and  will  be  well  carried 
out.  We  cannot  see,  however,  why  there  should  be  any  hard  and  fast 
rule  about  feeding  ;  it  would  have  been  more  instructive  to  have  had  a 
record  of  the  results  attained  by  different  systems  of  feeding  as  well  as  a 
general  answer  to  the  question  whether  egg-production  pays. 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden  Square,  London. 
Lat.  51°  32'  40"  N.;  Long.  0°  8'  0"  W. ;  Altitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.AI. 
In  tue  Day. 
Rain. 
1898. 
February 
and 
March. 
.2 
p 
Mis* 
Hygrometer 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Wind. 
Temp 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot 
Shade  Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Tempera¬ 
ture. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun 
On 
Grass 
Sunday  ....  27 
Monday  ....  28 
Tuesday  ....  1 
AVednesday  2 
Thursday  . .  3 
Friday .  4 
Saturday....  5 
inchs 
29-999 
29-998 
•29  ■7-23 
•29-075 
29-782 
•29-859 
•29 -864 
deg. 
41-4 
37-0 
44-0 
40-8 
35-2 
35-3 
34-] 
deg. 
40- 2 
36-2 
41- 9 
37  -0 
3-2-0 
34-9 
33-2 
S.AV. 
W. 
AV. 
N.AV. 
AV. 
N. 
N. 
deg. 
38-2 
38- 1 
39- 0 
38-7 
38-0 
37- 8 
38- 0 
deg. 
48-4 
47-9 
52-1 
40 -9 
40  ”2 
44-7 
44-3 
deg. 
35-8 
33- 0 
38-1 
34- 0 
•29-7 
33-1 
32-0 
deg. 
68-1 
72-8 
85-0 
84-2 
87-3 
78-1 
80-4 
deg. 
30-3 
28-0 
33-0 
28- 9 
25-3 
30-2 
29- 1 
inchs. 
0  113 
0-052 
0-3-24 
29-843 
38-4 
36-0 
38-3 
47-2 
33-8 
79-5 
29-3 
0^89 
27tli.— Dull,  Avith  frequent  slight  rain  in  morning  ;  stonn  rain  with  hail  at  2  P.M., 
then  generally  bright,  but  rain  again  at  4.30  p.m. 
28th. — Sunny  morning  ;  fair  afternoon  and  evening. 
1st. — Variable,  threatening  at  times,  and  rain  and  hail  from  Ito  2.30  P.M.,  but 
much  bright  sun. 
2nd.— Alternate  cloud  and  sunshine  ;  .spots  of  rain  at  2  p.m.  and  3  p.m.  ;  bright 
night. 
3rd.— Sunny  till  3  P.M.  ;  rain  and  wet  .snow  at  4.45  p.m.,  and  rain  or  snow  from 
7.30  P.M.  to  midnight ;  the  ground  white. 
4th.— Overcast  till  9.30  A.M.,  then  sunny  ;  conical  hail  at  noon  and  1.55  p.m.  ; 
sunny  again  from  2.30  P.M. 
5th.— Fine,  and  frequently  sunny. 
A  week  with  average  temperature  and  rainfall  and  much  bright  sunshine, — 
G.  J.  Symons. 
