Management of the Grass Field. The total quantity of land at Fortis Green is 4.25 acres, of which 1.25 acre is occupied by the house, pleasure-ground, kitchen-garden, shrubberies, &c., and 3 acres are exclusively devoted to sheep. There are two modes of stocking a farm with sheep upon a small scale. First Method. Buy in September, or in the beginning of October, three ewes in lamb, per acre, at 25s. each, which will, on an average, produce four lambs an acre, in February (though there are frequently five or six). These lambs will be fat in May, or early in June, and will sell for 27s. each. The fleece of each ewe will weigh about 4 lb., and will sell for 1s. per lb.; and, nine or ten weeks after the lambs are gone, the ewes themselves will sell for 30s. each. This is a fair average, if the season is mild; but, as that cannot always be reckoned upon, it is prudent to grow mangold wurzel or Swedish turnips in some corner of the garden, which, with a truss of hay (rowens) to each sheep, will provide for the winter, when the ground is covered with snow; and thus the ewes will be kept in good condition, and be better prepared to afford milk for the lambing season. Spare Brussels sprouts and Scotch kale are very useful to give to the ewes after lambing, as they are extremely productive of milk, but too much is apt to induce rot, therefore caution is required. The account on this first mode will therefore run thus: -
