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tention in freeing them of decayed leaves; and after frost, the difficulty is still greater; it is, however, indispensably necessary, in order to prevent the milk from being tainted.

I had last year thirty-five tons and a half of cabbages per acre, or 2352 plants at a distance of four feet and a half from each other, and with but fourteen tons of manure; some of the cabbages weighed 55lb.: the same ground has this year produced sixty Winchesters of barley, for one sown with Mr. M'Dowell's drill.

The last two years, I have not been successful with cabbages, the severity of the winter having destroyed my young plants. Cabbages are a great convenience in case of a long duration of frost, when turnips cannot be procured. The 1000 headed cabbage I have found answer a tolerable purpose, but I have no idea of their repaying the labour of stripping the leaves.

The cabbages planted were the drum-head cabbage. I wish an equal weighty and more hardy kind could be obtained, that would stand the winter better, as the cost of cleaning and stripping the decayed leaves tends greatly to reduce their value.

The common turnip followed; next the Swedish and kohlrabi; and last the coleseed. This latter article of food I found to be most productive of milk, and it has the further advantage of standing till the end of May, and latterly to the middle of June, by which time luIcern is fit to cut.

I made a further experiment in feeding milch-cows, by giving oil cake. This novelty encountered still greater prejudice. On trial it soon appeared that the

milk was considerably richer, its flavour not affected, and the quantity also much increased.

An attempt was made to prejudice the public against the Schoose milk. The children (no doubt set upon doing it) followed the cart, crying out, "oil-cake milk." A little experience soon overcame the prejudice, and it is now sought for from its superior richness, in preference to any milk brought to the

town.

To this I attribute the uncommon condition of the whole stock so fed. The certificates, which accompany this, will be fully satisfactory upon that point.

My dairy commenced the 1st of October, 1804, and continued constantly supplying the town till the 18th of May, 1805. As a part of the heifers were not purchased till late in October, the whole not in milk till the middle of November, I have extended the period thirty days above the two hundred, upon which the calculation of food is founded, to complete that period for the whole stock; and allowance must be made for this small excess.

The time of milking in the morning was between six and seven; immediately afterwards, a feed of cabbages was given, as long as they lasted. At ten o'clock, previous to turning out, two pounds of oilcake each. In favourable days they had turnips in the pasture, with the tops and tails cut off; on returning to the sheds, they were served with cabbages; between that time and four they were milked: this was followed by a second allowance of two pounds of oilcake each; afterwards a third feed of cabbages; and

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Expense of attendance on Milch-cows and other Stock for 200 Days.

Dairymaid's wages

Board wages

One man and horse, for sale of milk and

leading green food, at 4s. 6d. der day One labourer, at 9s. per week

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The feeding cattle had 7 lb. of oil-cake, which made the expense of these 1s. per day. The dairymaid's wages were wholly charged to the milk ac. count, though by much the greater part of her time was employed in the farm-house. Some occasional assistance in milking was given, but by no means equal to what is overcharged to the dairy on her account.

Twenty pounds of butter were made per week, by which, I am very confident, I was a considerable loser. The skim-milk was included in the butter account,

count, and the quantity sold, not ascertained. New milk was sold for 2d. per quart, wine measure; skim milk for 1d..

There were sold during the whole period, 17 410 wine quarts; on an average 87 quarts per day. The demand was so great that the milk-cart was met before it reached the town, and the whole disposed of, morn. ing and evening, in little more than an hour. The daily sale of this winter (1807) 180 quarts.

The forward condition of my heifers made them sell early in the spring, and with less loss than 1 expected. I have formed my estimate on what I am told would be a fair average, one year with another; the price of cattle in the spring depending upon the season, and the quantity of fodder which remains on hand.

It was allowed by the dealers and others, there was no stock in the neighbourhood, however fed, that were in any thing like the condition of mine. To be able fully to ascertain and establish this fact, is to remove a very weighty objection to the plan. Supposing the profit of the farmer and milkman united:

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Had the whole been well conduced, the profit should have been 300l., out of which taxes, rent, &c.

must be deducted.

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Let us suppose thirty-three head of cattle to have been fed on hay, and that each consumed two stone per day; estimating the produce of an acre of hay at one hundred and sixty stone; at this rate it would have required eighty-two acres to have fed them for 200 days, admitting the after-grass to have been adequate to the support of thirty-five head of Highland heifers, and sixty sheep for the like space of time. If I am correct in this calculation, there will be found a clear gain to the public of sixty acres of land in the feeding of this trifling stock.

A moderate acre of green food is supposed to produce 15 tons, or 2400 stone; but with the drill husbandry, I conceive the weight will be considerably greater.

I have not thought proper to make any alteration in the preceding statement of the supposed weight of green crop, but suffered it to remain as an example of the danger of arguing from any thing but actual experience. Fortunately for the position I maintained, the green crops under my own inspection (obtained with coal ashes) greatly exceed the data upon which I calculated. Subsequent information obtained of the weight of turnip crops in Durham and Northumberland, offers a further confirmation of the value of green crops. I am much indebted to my ingenious and intelligent friend, Mr. G. Taylor, of St. Helen's, Auckland, for the following valuable communication of an experiment made by the Durham Society for Agricultural Experiments, and for the permission granted me by the Society to make use of them.

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