August 1, 1878. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
97 
the grass and weeds will be kept on the surface instead of being 
buried under the soil by whole ploughing. This plan will enable 
the land to be worked with the chain harrow, and the best imple- 
ment we have seen for this and all other purposes where the chain 
harrow is required is the latest invention of Howard’s flexible 
chain harrow. This implement we greatly approve for general 
purposes ; by its use the grass and weeds are drawn together, and 
may then with the least amount of hand or horse labour be carted 
away to heap or otherwise disposed of. Horse-hoeing will still be 
required for the latest Swedes and turnips, and we have often 
found it a good plan to entirely cut up the weeds between the 
rows of turnips. Instead of going once with the horse hoe between 
the lines we do the work at twice, holding hard up to the line on 
one side, and so continue throughout the field. After two or three 
days we go over the field again and hold the hoe hard up on the 
other side, and should any of the plants be partially buried with 
the loose earth they will have had time to release themselves and 
become erect between the first and second operation. By hoeing 
hard up to the lines in each hoeing the weeds will have been more 
completely rooted up than they would by the horse hoe only pass- 
ing once between the lines. The horses will also be employed in 
reaping such corn as may be ripe, either rye, winter oats, white 
Canadian oats, &c., the latter being a very early sort. We saw a 
sample of this variety sold in a southern county corn market on 
19th of July last, the grain weighing 46 Ibs. per bushel. In this 
case the land being cleared of the crop so early there is a capital 
opportunity to obtain a good crop of stubble turnips, perhaps 
even better than if sown after an expensive fallow preparation. 
The odd horse will be engaged in collecting hedge trimmings for 
burning, also carting clover for horses, cattle, and pigs. It is im- 
portant that the succession of green food should be insured as 
much as possible by looking forward and taking care that if possible 
a third cutting of clover may be obtained; or green fodder may 
be available where vetches and oats have been sown in admixture. 
We have seen lately some very promising crops of this kind sown 
after trifolium cut up for cattle, and in other cases after vetches 
and oats cut up. The advantage of this late cropping for green 
fodder is great. If this has not been provided it may be well to 
reserve a piece of second-cut meadow grass, and we have some 
now which bids fair to be capital food for horses, &c., as late as 
the months of September and October. We have often grown 
capital crops of clover when seeded in the wheat, and the corn cut 
high enough to reserve the clover untouched ; it will then on the 
average of seasons produce a valuable crop of green fodder until 
the early frosts of November begin. In this plan of feeding the 
horses do much better than by feeding on hay, and the longer the 
hay feeding for horses can be deferred the better. It has some- 
times been imagined that cutting the young clover in the autumn 
would injure the produce in the following summer, but we have 
never found it so; in fact it is much better than close feeding by 
sheep, which is acommon practice. As soon as the second cutting 
of.cloyer is carted, the land being intended for wheat, the sooner 
the yard dung is carted out and spread thereon the better. The 
ploughing and pressing should follow immediately, as early 
plonghed lea ground is sure to give the best preparation for 
wheat, more especially upon the loamy and mixed soils. 
Hand Labour.—The men not engaged in harvest work will be 
now employed in hand-hoeing the turnips, and care should be 
taken not only to leave them singly, but leave the strongest 
plants, for these will always bring the best bulbs. When down 
ewes are kept for producing early lambs this is the time to turn 
out the rams. The best kind of down ewes for this purpose 1s not 
the Hampshire downs but the Dorsetshire downs, as they will 
generally offer to the ram earlier than the Hampshire downs. As 
many of the Dorset flocks are descended by crossing from the 
horned sheep they will in consequence breed sooner in the year, 
and bring a greater number of lambs; the shepherds will there- 
fore be now required to give the ewes a constant change of fresh 
grass, saintfoin, vetches, «ec. 
THE TRIAL OF INCUBATORS. 
THE forthcoming trial of incubators at Hemel Hempstead can- 
not fail to be of the highest interest to all who keep poultry 
whether for pleasure or profit. Hnglsh springs do not improve, 
and year by year we hear increasing complaints among amateurs 
of exhibition poultry that they cannot procure sitting hens in the 
early months, and that consequently their chances of success at 
the chicken shows are much lessened. On the other hand, those 
who regard poultry from a commercial point of view would find 
their profits immensely increased if any reliable incubator were 
introduced, which would not only obviate the trouble of a multi- 
tude of sitting hens and coops, but would also insure the hatching 
of abundance of chickens at the time desired. As far as we know 
this will be the first occasion on which any competition of the 
kind will have ever taken place on satisfactory and equitable con- 
ditions. A prize was last year offered for the best incubator at 
the Agricultural Hall Show, but the award was, we believe, made 
solely with reference to the apparent ingenuity of the instrument 
and the consequent probability of its success. It need hardly be 
pointed out that this is a most unsatisfactory and delusive test. 
Nothing would be easier than to put in eggs incubated in the 
natural manner about to hatch at the time of trial ; the apparent 
success would be sure to influence most judges, however anxious 
to make fair awards. Could a certain amount of mechanical in- 
genuity insure success in artificial hatching assuredly it would be 
commoner than it is. 
Interesting to us as the subject is, we are almost tired of the 
various descriptions of incubators, each with some carefully 
elaborated method for the imitation of Nature, especially as to 
the moisture to which eggs are nearly always subjected. Un- 
fortunately in practice many of these instruments are not found 
to correspond to the anticipations of them formed in theory. We 
do not for a moment wish to depreciate the scientific care with 
which such inventions haye been worked out, but it does seem a 
little provoking that the accumulated knowledge of this nine- 
teenth century of grace cannot accomplish what was performed 
thousands of years ago by those whom we are wont to consider 
mere empirics. Some weeks ago we sketched the earlier history 
of artificial incubation, and were on the point of proceeding to 
discuss incubators of the present day, hoping from statistics sent 
us to compare the various instruments now in use. Many fanciers 
kindly sent us their experience, but the results were so extra- 
ordinarily different that we could really base little upon them, 
and every month seemed to bring to our notice some fresh inven- 
tion or adaptation of one; so we decided to postpone the subject 
for a time, believing it fairer to wait till we could draw conclusions 
from wider experiments, or till we could ourselves watch and, if 
possible, compare some of the most'famous instruments. This 
preliminary work will to a considerable extent be done for us at 
Hemel Hempstead next September. The scheme is certainly a 
most praiseworthy and spirited one, and the promoters of it de- 
serve our hearty thanks. The contest begins at 6 A.M. on Sep- 
tember 5th and ends at noon on September 26th, at which time 
the prize of £25 (a most liberal one) will be awarded to the in- 
cubator which has produced the largest per-centage of living 
chickens from fertile eggs. 
All the conditions of the contest are worth studying. The 
incubators are to be delivered on August 31st, and will be worked 
by and solely under the charge of a special committee, one of 
whom is, we believe, an engineer, throughout the trial. We fear 
the four intervening days will be found hardly time enough to un- 
pack the incubators, get them into working order, and master the 
principles of duly regulating each one, at least if those entered 
require anything like the preliminary care which some that have 
been under our own inspection do, This strikes us as the weak 
point of the regulations. Should, however, any difficulty arise 
on this score it might, perhaps, be obviated by postponing the 
contest a day or two. We heartily approve of the determination 
to test the machines independently of their inventors from 
written directions alone. If only time and care are taken to get 
over the preliminary difficulties of regulating the heat of each one 
severally, this method is obyiously the fairest. It is a great point 
of merit in an incubator to be easily worked by a purchaser from 
printed directions. We were last winter staying with a friend 
who was trying one of a make of which we heard much boasting 
a year or two ago. The manufacturer asserted that under his 
care the identical instrument had worked capitally, yet in the 
hands of a most intelligent person with full written directions 
nothing like the desired temperature could be kept up. If incu- 
bators are to be of real use they must be suitable for general 
introduction, and they can only so be if their management is 
simple and comprehensible to ordinary unscientific mortals. 
Lastly, “a report of the working and results of each incubator 
will be published after the competitions.” We look forward to 
this as likely to be of great value, for we may thereby learn at 
what point some particular machine fails which may have been 
working well up to that point, and so it may turn out that one 
which is not absolutely successful in this contest may be capable 
of being advanced towards perfection. On the whole we hail the 
contest with much pleasure. We hear that it has been criticised 
in some quarters, but for our own part we never fail to rejoice 
at such schemes set on foot by those who can derive no profit 
from them, but, on the contrary, give much valuable time and 
attention for the good of their neighbours and fellow fanciers.—C. 
OPEN TIME FOR BRITISH BIRDS. 
Aveust 1st being the end of the close time for British birds 
practical bird-catchers and the “bird frighteners,” as non-pro- 
fessionals are called, will begin their operations. Soft-meat and 
seed-eating birds will be taken by the “pull net.” A pull net 
yaries from 6 to 14 yards in length, and covers from 12 to 20 feet 
in width ; the bird-catcher works it with a string, standing about 
20 yards away. The best time for seeing these nets in full opera- 
tion is at daybreak on commons, waste lands, or seed-growers’ 
grounds. After ten o’clock in the morning the catching ceases 
| toa great extent, for the birds having fed. “lay up.” Towards 
the evening the birds again work the feeding places, but the bird- 
catchers generally haye then left the ground. During ordinary 
