is supplied by the troughs around the building, and seldom fails of water. The width of passage between the stalls allows of carting in turnips, &c. The stalls are adapted for tying up two beasts in each, two polled or one-horned bullocks may be loose. I generally have two in each stall during the winter, and one during the summer months. When two are tied up, the manure taken from them is thrown into the outer cattle-yards, and again foddered upon by leaner cattle. When loose in the stalls, nothing is removed till quite full; there is a drainage from the stalls and piggeries to the tank; the tank is a large bricked arch running under the hay-house about 6 feet in depth. Each stall having separate doors, I am enabled to regulate the heat of my shed, opening the upper doors on the contrary side to the wind; and, during the heat of the last summer, I closed them all. The shed being dark, the bullocks were not troubled by flies, and the ventilation in the roof kept them cool. Three strong ash rails divide the stalls, fastened with pegs into the posts, that they may be removed in an instant if required. The doors are also guarded by two ash rails (removable).

"My plan of making the compound is to put 9 pails of water into a copper; when boiling-hot, scatter in 2 pecks of crushed linseed, boil this five minutes, then stir in 4 pecks of bean or pea meal; as soon as this is done, take away the fire that it may not burn. With a wooden shovel empty the contents of the copper into two small tubs, where it may remain till next morning, when, being turned over, they will show you two puddings of about 10 stone each (14 lbs. per stone). This is ready to slice and give to the cattle. As the bullocks progress, I increase the linseed. For the last two years I have cooked 20 stone daily, with few exceptions.

"The cost of my pudding, including fire and labour, I estimate at 44d. per stone; and this I believe equal to two English cakes at 6d.

I engage my man to be in the shed at 5 o'clock every morning, and to give 1 stone of pudding to each beast as the first food. From 1 to 2 bushels of roots are given during the day, and 3 or 4 half-peck baskets of hay or other chaff, generally mixing with it 1 to 2 pints of crushed linseed, and 4 pints of bean-meal. Every evening at 8 o'clock, from 2 to 4 lbs. of uncut hay are given to each, if the stack-yard will allow of it. When the bullocks are getting fat, I increase the pudding to 2 stone per head, and reduce the roots to 1 bushel each. The beasts are supplied with water. By preparing common white turnips, swedes, mangel wurzel, tares, clover, and grass, I have a succession of green food the whole year. The food is prepared and placed in baskets near each beast before any is given, so that all may be eating at the same time, and, owing to this regularity of feeding, all the bullocks are generally laid within 5 minutes after eating their allotted quantity.". Dec. 24th, 1846.

In addition to these excellent observations, I beg to give a plan of a boiling-house, two or three of which have lately been fitted up for the preparation of compound on a considerable scale.

The boiling-house, of which the annexed drawing is a plan, occupies the angle formed by the bullock-shed and piggery.

1, 1. Iron boilers holding 100 gallons each. Two boilers are greatly to be preferred to one, as a man can tend two fires at the same time. The top of the brickwork is covered with one-inch boards, the boiler-lids are made in two pieces for the convenience of taking off, and they fit close into the covering of boards.

2. Flue.

3. The brick floor of this compartment is raised about 9 inches, and the part (4) in front of the furnace is lowered about 9 inches. The floor at the back of the boiler being raised gives great convenience for stirring and mixing the compound, and in removing it from the boilers. The common situation of a copper at the side or in the corner of a building will not admit of this arrangement, for the man employed in stirring would be obliged to be elevated on a stool immediately in front of the furnace, which is not a very agreeable position, or one in which the man is likely to perform his work as it ought to be done. Some portion of this place may be fitted with tubs or cisterns for the reception of the compound.

4. Place in front of furnace for tending the fire and keeping a supply of fuel. 5. Steps.

6. Pump. The water is pumped directly into either copper; it also supplies water to the cattle and pigs.

7. Piggery.

8. Bullock-shed.

c, Flue.

d, Dampers for regulating the fire and putting it out when required. The dampers are of great service, as without them there is some danger of the mixture boiling over when the linseed is added to the water; they also effect a saving in the fuel.

e, Pump.

The building is lighted by glass tiles in the roof, and the steam passes out by a lever boarded window, and through interstices formed by lapping the ridge-tiles over one another.

The grain and linseed require to be crushed, and the straw or hay to be cut into chaff before it is prepared. Hurwood's, of Ipswich, is

one of the best mills for crushing linseed, oats, &c.; but whatever kind are used, they should admit of being driven by horse-power or by steam. The mills are placed over the chaff-machine, and can be worked at the same time, and driven by the same power, as the chaff-cutter.

The following is the actual time of crushing, the mills being each driven by one horse, the increase of bulk by crushing, and the cost. Parsons' and Clyburn's V. mill crushes 1 qr. of peas or beans in 40 minutes.

The cost for the labour of attendance, horse, and wear and tear of the machinery is about 8d. per qr. for oats and barley, 10d. for linseed, and about 6d. for peas.

Though grain cannot be ground to powder by these mills, yet their use is a very great saving on the practice of sending grain to be ground by the miller, whose charge is about 2s. 6d. per qr. Oats may be ground as well by a steel mill, and linseed much better than it can be done by stones.

It would be an endless task to attempt to describe all the different ways of preparing compound adopted by different farmers. Linseed being the foundation upon which the compound is based, the other substances employed are barley, peas, beans, gold of pleasure, and a cheaper compound of boiled linseed and cut hay, straw, &c. As a general maxim, the constituent which forms the largest proportion in the linseed compound is that which bears comparatively the lowest price in the market; thus, in 1845, when barley was at a low price, a great quantity was made into compound: it also affords a ready means of converting dross and inferior grain into a nutritious food.

Estimate and manner of preparing a Compound of Peas, Linseed, and Barley.

A 100-gallon boiler of compound is prepared in the following

Sixty-four gallons of water being pumped into the boiler, 2 bushels

72

of crushed peas are put in, and the fire lighted. The peas will require boiling from 2 to 3 hours, till the mixture nearly resembles pea-soup, and the peas feel soft and mealy; one person now sprinkles 2 bushels of crushed linseed gradually by hand into the boiler, while another stirs up the mixture. The stirrer, or "rudder," is similar to those used by brewers; the stirring part may either be made of wood or iron. When the linseed is dissolved, the 6 bushels of crushed barley are gradually stirred into the boiler, until the whole is well mixed and incorporated together. The fire should now be put out by closing the damper; this will be of great use throughout the entire operation in regulating the fire. The copper-lids are put on: if the compound remains in the boiler it will be cool enough for the cattle the following day. The ingredients thus made will fill a 100-gallon copper, and will weigh about 68 stone, showing a loss of 4 stone by boiling.

From 1 to 2 stone of this compound is given with chaff to each bullock per day, at 3 baits. For sheep, a quantity is removed from the boiling-house to the field or shed in which the sheep are fattening, and it is given night and morning at the rate of about 2lbs. per sheep per day; but this of course varies with the size and condition of the sheep. Average estimate of cost of 68 stone of compound :

This will be rather over 51d. per stone, or 37. 10s. 7d. per ton.

2. Clay Walling.

Throughout the heavy land of Suffolk cottages and farm-buildings are principally, and farm-houses very often, constructed with clay walls. Clay houses whitewashed, plastered, or stuccoed, are not only neat in appearance, but are warm and durable.

Clay walls appear peculiarly adapted for the walls of sheds and for enclosing farm-yards; they are cheap, warm, never give out damp, and, if kept dry at top and bottom, will last for a great length of time. I have seen some that have stood 50 years with very slight repair, which were in every respect as good as when first put up. Cattle are not liable to injury by rubbing against them, as they are with rough stone walls. Clay walls are placed on a stone or brick pinning of from 2 to 2 feet high, or about as high as the manure rises in the yards; when completed, the walls are covered to prevent their being washed down by the rain, the material used being a brick coping, slate, boards, thatch, &c. The cost of building a wall 14 inches thick is 9d. per square yard, the stone pinning 6d. per foot run extra, the thatching about 1s. 6d. per yard run. This does not include the straw, or the cost of raising clay. The whole expenditure for a 14-inch wall is about 1s. a square yard. For further information as to the preparation of the clay, &c., see the Rev. C. Hill's Essay on Cottages,' Journal, vol. iv., p. 356.

6

Hengrave, Bury St. Edmunds, February, 1847.