Great Britain -- Description and travel; Railroad travel -- Great Britain; Railroads -- Great Britain
All the buildings and arrangements have been executed from the plans and
directions of Mr. William Torr, the well known scientific farmer and short-
horn breeder, of Aylsby Manor, Lincolnshire. No expense has been spared in
obtaining the best possible workmanship and implements, but there has been no
waste in foolish experiments; and, consequently, there is all the difference
between the farm of a rich man who spends money profusely, in order to teach
himself farming, and a farm like that at Liskeard, where a rich man had said
to an agriculturist, at once scientific and practical, "Spare no expense, and
make me the best thing that money can make."
The buildings, including a residence, cottages, and gardens, occupy about
four acres, and the farm consists of 350 acres of strong clay land, which has
been thoroughly drained and profusely manured, with the object of getting
from it the largest possible crops. Fifty tons of turnips have been obtained
from an acre.
Eighty cows are kept in the shippons, ranged in rows, facing the paths by
which they are all fed at the head. They are fed on turnips, mangels, or
potatoes, with cut chaff of hay and straw, everything suitable being cut and
steamed, in the winter--on green clover, Italian ray-grass, and a little
linseed-cake, in the summer. They are curry-combed twice a day, and the dung
is removed constantly as it falls. The ventilation and the drainage has been
better managed than in most houses, so that the shippons have always a sweet
atmosphere and even temperature. The fittings, fastenings, and arrangements
of the windows, hanging from little railways, and sliding instead of closing
on hinges, are all ingenious, and worth examination. Mr. Littledale makes
use of a moveable wooden railway, carted over by a donkey in a light waggon,
to draw root crops from a field of heavy land.
The churn in use in the dairy makes eighty pounds of butter at a time, and is
worked by the steam-engine also used for cutting and steaming the food of the
cows. The milk and cream produced at this dairy is sold by retail,
unadulterated, and is in great demand. A brief account of this farm appeared
in the "Farmer's Magazine" of May, 1848, with a ground plan; but several
improvements have been made since that time. To parties who take an interest
in agricultural improvement, a visit to Liskeard Farm will be both
interesting and profitable.
We believe that Mr. Torr also farms another estate, which he purchased, in
conjunction with friends, from Sir William Stanley, at Eastham, near Hooton
(a pleasant voyage of an hour up the river), and cultivates after the North
Lincolnshire style, in such a manner as to set an example to the Cheshire
farmers--not a little needed. The country about Eastham is the prettiest part
of the Mersey.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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