326 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov 1, 1900. 
■with bindeis, and I hear of many instances 
in which the farmer has decided not to use 
his binder at all, but has engaged extra 
hands ; and this he finds will be cheaper 
than purchasing twine for the binder, that 
commodity having gone up terribly in price 
owing to "the war in Manilla. In Britain, 
binders have not yet proved themselves such 
an unqualified success as they have in our 
'Colonies, and this is owing partly to the fact 
that our crops are heavier and longer in 
the straw than the colonial crops, and so 
the binder is unaljle to clear itself ; another 
drawback to binders is the fact that great 
downpovu's of rain occur often during our 
harvesting which make the ground so soft 
that heavy machines sink deep and are a 
terrible drag on horses. When a farmer 
takes to a binder, he tries to work with 
fewer hands, and then when he commences 
leading his crop and a fine day comes, he 
regrets the absence of these few hands which 
would have enabled him to work more 
carts and get throiTgh the work more ex- 
peditiously. In the Colonies sevetal weeks 
of perfect weather can be depended upon 
'at harvest time, so the farmers there are 
not compelled to hurry themselves as we 
are, when a fine day conies to pass. 
I have frequently mentioned my want of 
faith in 
ARTIFICIAL MANURES, 
especially when bulky manure can be ob- 
tained, and I had my views supported in a 
remarkable manner the other day. I was 
travelling by train, and in the carriage with 
me there were several farmers* and their 
better halves. Two of these agriculturists 
started a heated argument on the qualities 
of several artificials that they had been 
using, and whilst pretending to read my 
newspaper, I listened with rapt attention 
to the discussion. At last, with a view to 
settling their difference of opinion, one of 
the farmers turning to a very old gentle- 
man, who was sitting next to me, said :— 
" What is your opinion, Hilly, about these 
manures ; you have been a long time farm- 
ing and must know something about them ?" 
The old man mumbled away for a little, 
and then delivered himself of this opinion : 
II I am 91 years of age, and have lived 
on a farm all my life ; and during that 
time I have known artificial manures 
do a great deal of good to the mer- 
chants who sold them, but I never knew 
a farmer, who bou{);ht any of them, who 
was benefited one scrap by them," and 
I softly said to myself, " encore," whilst the 
two disputants simply seemed to totter in 
their intellects when they heard the sage's 
opinion. ^ „. . 
Referring to radway travelhng remmds 
me that the animated 
HOLIDAY SEASON 
has been characterised by the usual break- 
downs of the railway service in Aberdeeu- 
shire, and nuich inconvenience have the 
farmers been put to, when going to sales or 
markets, by the uncertainty of the hours of 
arrival of the trains. Platforms are given 
up to a crowd of excited excursionists, 
pushing, rushing and tumbling as if they 
■i:i(ij)> ' ■ 
were all in the physical training of all foot- 
ballers. You pay for a first-class ticket and 
are becomingly grateful if you get accom- 
modation in a third-class carriage of antique 
design, built in the days when these were 
made after the similitude of cattle trucks. 
Y on are bustled and hustled, and have your 
coat nearly torn otf your back, and, when 
you appeal to any one of the railway people 
for ijrotection. they I'eply that you should 
be thankful if they carry you without loss 
of life or limb. The poet sings about " every 
door l)eincc thronged with suitors," ;ind I 
think he must have had the doors of Uif 
carriages on our local railway in his iiiind's 
eye, when he thus unburdened himself. So 
much annoyance and inconvenience has the 
bad management, on our lines, caused the 
farmers, that most of them have again t.ikeu 
to the family gig and shult, or learned to 
ride the fiery, untamed bicycle. 
For some years back I have observed that 
females, born on any farm, are superior to 
males, whether these be the off spring of the 
horse, the cow. the sheep or man himself. I 
have asked other farmers their views on the 
subject, but farmers are not very observant, 
and so, in no single case have I received any 
information. I have, howevei% taken the 
trouble to observe 
THE STOCK ON OTHER FARMS, 
and ain quite convinced that there is some- 
thing in it after all, one of my neighbours, 
for instance, having always been moi-e suc- 
cessful in the breeding of males than females. 
If this is anything more than a coincidence, 
it must have some foundation in the soil cf 
the farm, and the food grown thereon. In 
my own case it has been somewhat remark- 
able. Ewes, bred by me, have for long 
maintained their position at the top price of 
the sale ring ; but rams, of identically the 
same breeding, have failed to make their 
mark. Mares, bred on the farm, have 
proved exceptionally good, whilst horses 
have run to leg and become weedy. Cows, 
bred by me, have been, without exception, 
dandies ; but bulls I have never bred to 
please myself. Even my own laborers' fami- 
lies tend in the same direction, and having 
been long in my service their children have 
mostly all been born on the ground, and the 
girls are strong, robust, healthy lassies, 
whilst the boys run too much to weeds, have 
a. sort of white-black-fellow look about them- 
with no calves to their legs. The neighbour 
I have referred to must have had a similar 
experience, although he had never taken the 
trouble to think about it, for, although his 
steers for years were in the first flight at 
Smithfield cattle show, and his young bulls 
fetched the top prices at the county bull 
sales, he never yet bred a cow that was any 
thing of a credit to him. My readers may 
be inclined to fancy that I have discovered 
a mare's nest —well, perhaps I have. I only 
give facts and leave others to try to refute 
them. As another instance of my farm being 
more suitable for females than males, let 
me mention that I purchased, about three 
months ago, a number of cattle of both 
sexes ; these have since been fattened and 
sold off the grass, the heifers having added 
