September 12, 1878. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
211 
Pulmonaria officinalis and var. alba, Pyrethrum parthenium vars. flore-pleno 
and aureum, Pyrola media, P. rotundifolia, Ranunculus acris plenus, Salvia 
pratensis, Saxifraga aizoides, S. czespitosa, S. cernua, S. decipiens, S. denu- 
data, S. elongella, S. elegans, S. Geum, S. granulata and double variety, 
8. Hirculus, S. hirta, S. hirsuta, S. hypnoides, S. incurvifolia, S. letevirens, 
S. leptophylla, S. muscoides, S. nivalis, S. oppositifolia, S. platypetala, S. stel- 
aris, S. umbrosa, Scrophularia nodosa variegata, Sedum acre, S. albescens, 
S. album, S. anglicum, S. dasyphyllum, S. Forsterianum, S. glaucum, ‘S. mi- 
cranthum, S. oblongum, S. reflexum, S. rhodiola, S. rupestre, S. sexangulare, 
S. Telephium, S. villosum, Sempervivum tectorum, Silene acaulis and var. 
alba, S. maritima and var. flore-pleno, Solidago virgaurea, Spirea Filipendula 
and var. plena, S. Ulmaria, Statice binervosa, S. nana, S. rariflora, 8. reticu- 
lata, Stellaria Holostea, Stipa pennata, Symphytum officinale fol. var., S. tube- 
rosum, Tanacetum vulgare crispum, Teucrium Chamzdrys, Thalictrum 
alpinum, T. minus, Thymus citriodorus aureo-marginatus, T. Serpyllum 
variegatis, Trifolium repens pentaphyllum, Trollius europeus, Tussilago 
Farfara foliis variegatis, Verbascum nigrum, Veronica Chamzedrys, V. hybrida, 
Vv. spicata, Vinca major, and V.minor.. Many are in cultivation. For height, 
time of flowering, and colour consult a catalogue. 
INSECT (J. Weaver).—We cannot name any insect unless we see a speci- 
men. 
NAME OF FRUIT (J. W.)—Duncan. 
NAMES OF PLANTS ZL. W.).—1, Adiantum pubescens ; 2, Panicum varie- 
gatum ; 3, Pteris serrulata ; 4, Fittonia argyroneura. (Rev. L. C.).—Fuchsia 
coccinea. (J. S. #.).—Acer Negundo variegata. 
THE HOME FARM: 
POULTRY, PIGEON, AND BEE CHRONICLE. 
THE CULTIVATION OF WINTER TARES OR 
VETCHES. 
UPoN certain soils winter yetches are an important fodder 
crop, and they may be styled a preparatory crop in the rotation 
adopted upon different soils. The cultivation may be considered 
comparatively trivial and inexpensive. Under ordinary farming 
few farmers ever think of doing anything for them except merely 
ploughing, sowing, harrowing, rolling, &c.; but upon the home 
farm where winter vetches are to be grown, and if not in high 
condition, manure should be applied. The land should be quite 
clean before ploughing and sowing, for if only a few bunches of 
couch grass or docks appear they should be forked out by hand, 
and thus save the extra horse labour. In the event of a con- 
siderable quantity of couch being in the soil a short fallow will 
be necessary, the best plan being to rafter or half-plough the 
land and then scarify across the rafters, which will lift out the 
couch and enable it to be dealt with by the usual process of 
dragging, harrowing, and rolling. The best implement of the 
drag kind we have seen is that recently invented and manu- 
factured by Howards of Bedford, and named the improved self- 
lifting Jrag-harrow, with bud tines covering 43 feet of ground. 
This is an admirable implement, and upon all land after ploughs 
ing and undergoing the fallow process it is calculated to super- 
sede all other drags or scarifers on account of its easy draught 
and effective working. No home farm should be without it, as 
it is useful for many purposes in ordinary cultivation. 
Vetches may be drilled if only for the purpose of burying the 
seed better, and it is usual to sow two bushels of vetches and 
one bushel of rye per acre upon that portion which is intended 
for the earliest use, whether for sheep-feeding or for cutting-up 
to feed horses, cattle, &e. The portion required for second early 
purposes may be seeded with the same quantity of vetches with 
one bushel of winter oats per acre. The portion required for 
the latest use should have, in addition to the same quantity of 
vetches, one bushel per acre of White Tartarian oats, for this 
‘ind of oat will bear the weather of an average winter; and as 
they are the latest sort with which we are acquainted they 
will remain in good condition for cattle as long as the vetches 
are available. The object of sowing corn with the vetches is 
for the purpose not only of protecting them during the winter 
months, but also to hold them up from off the ground, in which 
case there is not so much waste when fed off by sheep, and the 
yetches retain their soiling value longer for cattle and horses. We 
are aware that upon some light land hill farms sowing corn with 
the vetches is objected to ; but there is no objection we have ever 
heard of when sown upon loamy or mixed soils. It is said, and 
perhaps with some truth, that upon certain poor and light soils the 
growth of cereals in connection with a pulse crop interferes with 
the well-doing of the corn crops which follow. There is, how- 
ever, a far more serious objection to vetches when grown upon 
either chalk hill land or light gravels, and we have often heard 
it designated as poison to the succeeding crops, although the 
vetches may have been fed-off by sheep eating oilcake at the 
same time. We have always thought that the mischief arises 
from the peculiar way in which vetches root in the land, and 
have often observed the numerous and minute white rootlets that 
completely intersect the soil whereon vetches have grown. From 
this circumstance it is that upon light gravelly, chalky, or sandy 
land, the soil which was already too hght and porous is made 
still more so by the decaying fibrous roots of the vetches, and 
this is in some of our driest seasons fatal to the root crops which 
follow. 
There is, however, another side to the picture, because our 
experience has shown us that upon heavy land this peculiar 
rooting of the vetches has a beneficial effect upon clay or strong 
soils. The rootlets of the vetches search the soil in every direc- 
tion and make it pervious to air and water after the decay of 
the roots, and this is one of the reasons why vetches are recom- 
mended as a double crop with beans, the former intersecting 
the soil with surface roots, whereas the latter dive down into 
the subsoil with a single taproot. In this way a capital pre- 
paratory or fallow crop is produced, not only valuable in its own 
produce, but providing for the succeeding wheat or barley crop 
in the most economical and efficient manner. The sowing of 
vetches upon strong soils raises an important question, it being 
the only way in which sheep can be profitably and advantageously 
fed on the fallow break. Upon light and dry soils we can grow 
capital roots to be fed-off by sheep in the autumn and winter 
months; but upon strong flat-lying land this cannot be done, 
for upon such land at such a time of year the tread of the sheep 
would be positively injurious, whereas upon the light soils it is 
the best known provision for cereal produce. 
We will now refer to the advantages of vetches fed-off in the 
summer months, so that as fast as the land is cleared it may be 
resown with mustard, the value of which is, that it may be either 
fed with sheep, or, if the season is too wet for folding, the crop 
may be ploughed under as a preparatory crop for wheat. We 
have often seen a crop of mustard as high or higher than the 
hurdles, so completely buried in the act of ploughing, that to a 
common obseryer it would not be known a green crop had been 
grown thereon. This is done best by the use of the skim coulter 
’ with a short chain and iron weight attached to the plough, which 
drags the green crop down and buries it so entirely as to resemble 
a fallow. Thus with vetches fed-off and mustard succeeding 
either fed by sheep or buried, we have one of the finest pre- 
parations known for wheat upon strong land ; and when the sheep 
have eaten cake whilst feeding no further manuring is required, 
and the land may then be ridged-up and sown at the first and 
earliest opportunity, which is so essential to the production of a 
full crop of wheat upon strong and difficult tillage land. 
Vetches are sometimes sown as a crop to be harvested. We, 
however, cannot recommend it with confidence to the home 
farmer, for notwithstanding the crop itself often proves valuable, 
and although the land would be kind and mellow after the crop 
has been harvested, yet it is an exhausting crop as regards the 
manure question, and the haulm of yetches is rarely obtained in 
such condition as to make it of consequence as cattle fodder. In 
this latter respect it will not bear comparison with a crop of peas, 
especially if an early sort is selected, for it is somewhat against 
seeding vetches that the harvest is usually later. It must be 
admitted, however, that winter vetches are often dear, sometimes 
from 10s. to 12s. per bushel, at which price they pay well for 
growing. The pulse or grain of vetches is of good feeding value 
for cattle, horses, and pigs, and in their composition and feeding 
properties they very much resemble lentils, which contain a large 
amount of flesh-forming materials. In the event of a wet harvest, 
if the vetches were injured for seeding purposes they would still 
