Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1921-01-11
AMONG THE FARMERS
" SPEED THE PLow."
Farmer. In Bonnie Scotland.

Farmers In Bonnie Scotland.
Aside from grass, the prominent crops
Of Southwestern Scotland are oats, pota-
toes, and turnips (Swedes). Compare
lively little wheat and barley Is grown.
Less than one acre in FIVE Is counted
arabic. One acre in three of the arabic
land is in oats. The next largest crop
is turnips which comprises an area
about one-third that Of oats.
Ayrshire Is noteworthy because 1t Is
lone Of the few places where timothy 10
raised as q pure crop-to use q British
expression. Timothy hay is well liked.
Mr.. Cochran, manager OF the West Of
Scotland Agricultural College Farm,
said that while mixture OF clover and
rye grass, which 10 the common rotation
grass, when well cured might make q
better food, In their climate it was like
ly to be damaged and hence was gener-
ally less desirable. The perennial habit
of timothy Is highly priced. My in
formant said that be had known timothy
meadows to last for twenty years. 1t is
perhaps not altogether without signii-
canoe as to soil conditions that one of
the arguments made for attempting to
breed the horns of Blsckface sheep Is,
that the horus exhaust the soil of phos-
phoric acid.
While there is considerable trade
in seed potatoes about Dumfriss for
shipping south into England, the pota-
toes are generally the early varieties
planted in February and lifted in June
and July at q time which gives them a
favorable market. This special potato
area lies In narrow strip near the sea-
shore north and south Of Ayr. The po-
totoes are auctioned off in the field.
The successful bidder must dig them
and turn the cleared land over to the
farmer by q given date. The land is
then plowed and Immediately put into
second crop. This may be Q grain
crop, as barley, but am told it is more
frequently rape which 10 fed of with
sheep. The rape crop is highly priced
by the sheep raiser, but was informed
in Eastern Scotland that farmers were
finding, In some cases, the rape crop
more valuable to plow down as . cover
crop than as feed for sheep. found no
difficulty in getting that statement dis
puted, but the fact that it was put for
ward by responsible parties 10 q matter
of interest. Years ago, Patterson of the
Maryland Station reported that there
was reason to believe the rape plant, be-
ing gross feeder, would make phos-
phorus available for other crops.
The country south Of Glasgow, until
one comes within five miles Of Kill
msrnock, Is rather unprepossessing, as
is apt to be the case in coal regions.
For q distance OF ten or fifteen miles
Immediately adjacent to the second
largest city in Great Britain, there is
practically not plowed field In sight.
Many Ayrshires were seen. The large
prepondersnce Of young stock in this
area attracted my attention. As We
proceeded southwark We came into q
"bonnie' country. Pastures and mead
ows intsrspersed with ripening fields of
oats (September 16), tasteful farm stead
ings and milking herds OF Ayrshires, as
well as evidences of "Bobbie" Burns
were to be seen on every hand. No
where during our travels of q thousand
miles did we see so many cattle to the
square mile. They may have been in
other regions but they were not In view.
The farms are fairly good size. Three
hundred acres are deemed to make q
tidy farm. A larger farm may contain
900 acres of arabic and in addition some
hill or mountain land, perhaps 1000
acres in all. / saw eight farms lying
side by side each containing 500 acres
and renting for from 81, 400 to $2,S00.
It is somewhat difficult to determine
how much lands rent for per acre, since
the farmers are not In the habit of think
ing in acres bat In the amount of live
stock the farm will carry. This is as u
should be. The size of farm should
not be determined by its acreage but by
its income. In Scotland, the farmers
income tax is computed on twice the
rent be pays for his farm. II he Is not
satisfied, he may declare bis income.
Thus far he has been content to allow
his income to be computed on twice his
rental, but be is looking forward to the
time when it will be expedient to show
his books. Hence there is brisk de-
mand among farmers for instruction in
bookkeeping.
The farm at Kilmsrnock, on which
the Dairy School for Scotland is located,
contains 200 acres while another so
acres has just been taken over. There
was some interesting work being done
at the Dairy School in the manufacture
Of Cheddar, Cheshire and Stilton cheese.
The processes of manufacturing these
different kinds of cheese were going on
side by side, which increased the value
Of the instruction. The students were
also taught to make butter from whole
milk. | was told that this practice is
quite in vogue in Scotland. II is espe-
cislly profitable where there is q good
demand for buttermilk. Ii is evidently
good buttermilk since 1t contains 06 to
OF per cent OF fat. However, there 10
comparatively little butter produced in
Southwestern Scotland. Thus In Dunn
friesshire, Mr.. John Gillies, In charge of
the county (extension) department for
the West OF Scotland Agricultural Col
lege, has $50 farms on which cheese is
made. There are rather more which
produce milk for consumption. There
is comparatively little butter produced
except when the demand for milk Is
slack and even then 1t Is more likely to
be made into cheese under existing con-
troll conditions.
Ivisitsd a number of dairy farms with
Mr.. Gillies, coming upon them uuex.
pectedly since telephones are uncom-
mon. Everywhere i was struck with
the cleanliness OF the "byres" (cow
barns) and surroundings. OF the num-
Der of herds of Ayrshire cattle that /
had the privilege of seeing somewhat
intimately, the herd of Mr.. James Howie
and Mr.. David Hodge stand ont n wor-
thy of special comment. Mr.. Howie is
one of the leading exporters and is well
known to American breeders of Ayrshire
cattle. His herd of thirty odd milking
cows think is the best herd OF Ayr
shires have ever seen. Most il not all
the cows had records of 10000 up to
II, 900 lbs. Mr.. Howle has .colors to
4 suit the American trade and other colors
to suit the South African taste, but he
himself says quite frankly that this in
sistenoe upon color 10 silly fad. How
ever, he admitted that you could not do
aay thing to q brown COW, but that by
washing her, you could greatly improve
white cow for the show ring.
4 The most striking thing about these