October 31, 1878. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
we always found better than hay for that purpose, and upon 
which subject Mr. Blundell of Southampton read a paper before 
the Royal Agricultural Society in 1862, giving his experience of 
and experiments upon straw feeding of thirty-seven head of 
bullocks during three years, which left a clear profit of 3s, 3d. 
per head per week, whereas the use of hay would have left only 
9d. per week profit. But there is another view of this matter, 
because when cattle are fed upon straw they enjoy continuous 
good health, whereas hay often clogs and disorders the stomach ; 
but we have never found them refuse their food when straw was 
the only fodder used. Still we find the case is now somewhat 
altered, owing to the relative value of straw and hay, for in many 
districts there is little or no difference in the value of the two 
articles, yet the advantage of straw prevails on account of the 
uniformity of the health of the fatting cattle. We find horses 
will do much better with straw chaff and corn mixed with pulped 
roots, either mangolds or carrots, and some farmers whom we 
know are now beginning to follow our plan and make it a rule to 
feed in this manner, either by displacing all the oats or a part of 
them according to the labour required of the horses, and in this 
way they may be kept in fine condition upon the home farm. 
‘The advantage in this method of horse-feeding is that they are 
induced to eat straw which they would refuse unless mixed with 
roots, and these roots consumed by displacing a portion of the 
corn usually given is in itself a profitable transaction. The 
feeding value of an acre of roots is equivalent to three acres of 
corn produce, because 3 cwt. of carrots or mangolds are equal in 
feeding value to one bushel of oats, taking for comparison a crop 
of oats at six quarters per acre, and a crop of carrots or mangolds 
at 21 tons per acre. Straw must also be considered almost a 
necessity in affording cleanliness and health to our animals, and, 
also in forming the basis of manure on the home farm. It is 
however, to be greatly economised in the stable or cattle pens, 
where the floor of the stalls is absorbent, hence the earth or burnt- 
clay bottom to the stalls requires far less straw to keep the 
animals clean and healthy than the ordinary brick or stone floor. 
Various substitutes for straw may be found upon the home 
farm ; ferns, rough grass in the plantations, rushes and patches of 
seeded grass in the pastures, may all be used to economise straw 
in littering the pens for cows, pigs, &c. Under the heading of 
“Straw.” Dr. Voelcker gives the analysis of peas and beans, but we 
call it haulm; and although the analysis shows more feeding 
value in pea and bean haulm than straw of the cereals, yet bean 
haulm is a coarse and rough article, and cannot be brought into 
general use for feeding without being cut into chaff and mixed 
with other articles as cooked food ; we therefore only use it upon 
the home farm for the bottom of corn and hay ricks, or place it at 
the bottom of cattle boxes as an absorbent for manure. Pea 
haulm when well secured we always set apart as good feeding 
material, especially as chaff in admixture with other feeding stuffs. 
Ricking and preservation of straw at the time of threshing is very 
important. It should be ricked and thatched with as much care 
and caution as hay, so that when required for use it may be cut 
out and carried to the homestead fresh and sweet from the rick. 
In the case of barley or oat straw with clover in it, it comes out 
better than when it is oftentimes stored in a barn mow, in which 
case it is often tainted by rats and mice. Refuse straw intended 
for litter may also be kept dry, but its abuse must be guarded 
against ; for we often see ten or more tons of straw strewed over 
an open yard with only a few pigs and dairy cows to tread it 
down for manure, but upon farms where the tenant has liberty to 
sell straw this practice will soon die out. Again, upon some of 
the chalk hill farms there is the muckle fold, in which case the 
straw is spread over the land and the sheep tread it down ina 
shifting fold at night. This is the old-fashioned way of using 
straw when the tenant was compelled to consume or use it. This, 
however, will not now hold as a practice compared with straw 
sold and the money expended in artificial or town manures. No 
farm manager need now hesitate as to the outlay for manures 
with straw at the present high value, for not only will it pay to 
make the outlay on the home farm for the purpose of growing a 
full cereal crop, but beyond the ordinary cultivation of the land 
and its produce the yalue of the extra straw grown will pay for 
the manure irrespective of the increased quantity of grain, because 
we cannot generally obtain the highest produce of corn without 
we obtain a full crop of straw, subject, of course, to the yield 
consequent upon the variation of the seasons. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour is still chiefly required in preparing the land and 
drilling the wheat. It is usual to plough and press the clover 
lea ground before ploughing and sowing the fallow preparations 
upon all dry soils; yet such is the state of the weather, and it 
encourages the slug so much, that it is advisable to delay seeding 
the clover leas until the last week in November or first week in 
December. The slugs having been so numerous in the cloyers 
during the whole summer they will be sure to commit serious 
tayages upon the young wheat plants as soon as they show above 
ground, unless the wheat is sown sufficiently late to have when it 
vegetates a chance of frost. We therefore advise the seeding of the 
fallow ground first, whether it is after turnips fed off, or after peas 
or beans, because the slug is not so likely to injure the wheat 
where the land has been lately tilled and fallowed. We must 
again call to notice the advantage of using Down’s Farmer’s 
Friend as the best preparation for seed wheat, to prevent the 
growth of smut in the crop next harvest. The quantity required 
of seed wheat per acre is still a yexed question, and will probably 
continue so, as the soil and preparation as well as climate and the 
period of sowing must all influence the question as to quantity 
of seed. We therefore recommend a quantity, varying with the 
season, from two bushels to three bushels per acre. The early 
sowing of wheat for the purpose: of saving seed is continually 
being agitated by Mr. Mechi and others. As, however, early sow- 
ing and thin seeding go hand in hand, we beg to observe that 
upon many farms the early sowing of wheat would cause much 
inconvenience and derangement of the usual mode of culture. 
For instance, if all the wheat were sown early, or planted in the 
month of September, how could any autumn cultivation for root 
crops the next season be effected? How could the various crops 
preparatory for wheat be removed, such as potatoes, turnips, 
mangolds, &c., which are in process of digging, storing, or feeding- 
off by sheep, &c., during the months of October and November ? 
What is the advantage of saving a bushel of seed per acre, or 
eyen more than a bushel, as compared with the advantage of 
taking up in good seasons crops of potatoes, carrots, mangolds, 
&e., which are often more valuable than the wheat crop itself, 
although they are preparatory ? and what is the saving of seed 
compared with the requirements of large flocks of sheep, and their 
benefit to the land as a preparation for the wheat crop? The 
adyocates for thin seeding must not forget that they run the risk 
of blight in their crops, for no corn is so liable to blight as those 
which are called upon to tiller and branch out, and make damaging 
efforts to fill vacancies in the spring of the year. 
There is no period of the year when the odd horse or horses 
will be more fully employed than now. In fact the work is now 
so pressing that it is difficult to say which demands the first 
attention. On the autumn fallows there may be still some couch 
and weeds to cart away to heap, there to rot for future use. Hedge 
trimmings may still be required to be carted away, particularly in 
fields where roots were growing, as the carts could not enter until 
the roots, such as mangolds, &c., were cleared away. 
Hand Labour.—Manual labour will now be employed in spread- 
ing dung upon land intended for wheat, and also where there are 
water meadows the drowner, or person entrusted with the irri- 
gation and its necessary labour, must now have the trenches 
scoured. The right principle in irrigation is not only to lead 
the water on to the land, so that it may flow with regularity 
over the whole surface, but also to give it the freest outlet 
after having served the purposes of flooding. Store cattle will 
now require some change from the pastures which are getting 
stale, and they may now be accommodated in yards and sheds 
at night, and there receive a moderate allowance of decorticated 
cotton cake and straw; and if it is required to advance them 
quickly, common turnips cut and placed in troughs in addition, 
and by no means forgetting a lump of rock salt accessible to all. 
The dairy cows, too, demand our attention ; for after the middle 
of October the grass, if not short in quantity, becomes poor in 
feeding value; we therefore give them cabbages upon the pas- 
tures, and we find them do well without decreasing their milk. 
They must, however, soon be brought to the stalls at night time, 
and receive in addition to cabbages some sweet oat straw, as they 
will not pay for hay, especially those which are nearly or quite 
out of profit. The woodlands upon the home farm must now be 
looked to, any portion of the underwood becoming fit for sale or 
cutting this winter must be disposed of accordingly ; and it is 
well that only some portion should be cut every year, particularly 
where it is desired to rear and retain a few pheasants, and also for 
furnishing with regularity spar and hurdle wood, &c., for use on 
the home farm. 
RABBITS AND THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL 
DISORDERS. 
THERE are many hereditary weaknesses which grow on Rabbits 
chiefly from neglect and unnatural treatment, and which not 
unfrequently descend to the next generation. It is as well to 
remember that one male will often spoil twenty or fifty litters 
and a hundred or two of young ones, so that it is very important 
to see that everything is right before introducing a fresh sire. 
When contemplating this fact it should also be borne in mind 
that so many of these complaints are doubled or trebled by in- 
breeding, because both parents are likely to be affected in the 
same way; therefore, strange Rabbits should be selected when 
possible. 
Paralysis is a complaint that is often transmitted in the blood. 
In the first place it is most likely caused by an excess of damp in 
the hutch. Ifthe wood or hutch is porous, so that the wet can 
sink in, a nasty efluvia rises and keeps the air polluted. If this 
is continued it causes several complaints, and ultimately paralysis. 
As soon as the disease takes any hold upon a Rabbit the animal 
