22 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 1, 1885. 
gone, and strive to arrange our plans for the future in some¬ 
thing like definite order. The stern teaching of excellence tells 
us that however well and wisely our plans are laid, however 
energetic and persistent our efforts to give full effect to them, 
success full, perfect, and unchequered by failures cannot be 
reckoned upon; for in calculations of results in farm manage¬ 
ment we cannot forget that crops may fail, that animals may 
sicken and die. Granting this, we also know that by close atten¬ 
tion to details, by the exercise of all possible forethought and 
care, and by judicious treatment, both cattle and land may be so 
managed that the risk of losses and failure is reduced to a 
minimum, As a means to so desirable an end we do well to 
remember past failures and the cause of them. The retrospect 
may not be a pleasant one, especially if it brings conviction to 
the mind that they were owing to some degree to ignorance or 
carelessness on our part, but taken aright such knowledge will 
have a wholesome healthy influence upon our future efforts and 
prove their best safeguard. 
Among errors of management, overstocking the farm occurs 
to us now perhaps more forcibly than at any other season of 
the year, for grass feeding is practically quiescent except for 
sheep, and overstocked yards point to troubles next March and 
April when a cold late spring tells upon hay and straw stacks, 
and root heaps diminish with unpleasant rapidity. Only once 
has our supply of home-grown fodder run so short that we had 
to purchase more in spring, and we have never forgotten the 
lesson. Let us repeat here that heavy bills for corn, cake, and 
fodder spoil the balance sheet, and that is a matter which there 
is no shirking, nor indeed ought there to be. Profit and loss is 
the best because it is the only safe test in farming, and when a 
man’s work will not sustain such test he can hardly hope to give 
satisfaction in these hard times. 
Nor must the costly item of horses be overlooked, and we 
may well consider if any reduction is possible in the number of 
farm horses. It is true enough that during the full pressure of 
haying and harvest an extra horse or two is of much use, but 
afterwards when the land is cleared and the autumn crop sow 7 n, 
it often becomes difficult to find work for all of them. We are 
strongly of opinion that horse-breeding should receive more 
attention from farmers than it has had hitherto. A certain 
number of young horses broken to work yearly and passed 
through the teams for sale is a source of profit that is not lightly 
to be overlooked, and is one of the items in profitable farming to 
which greater prominence will probably be given. 
The application of manures is another matter worthy of care¬ 
ful study. We must avoid the use of farmyard manure so far 
as is possible, and also avoid the patent nostrums of artificial 
manure merchants. We know that nitrogen, phosphorus, and 
potash are the only chemical elements which it is absolutely 
essontial for the farmer to apply to the soil, and he must ascer¬ 
tain exactly for himself what is the minimum quantity of each 
element necessary to give a maximum crop. Then, by procuring 
the manures in a separate and pure form from a reliable source, 
mixing them at the farm, and seeing the mixture carefully 
applied, we avoid the wasteful expenditure so frequently incurred 
for the comparatively worthless mixtures of the dealers. Do not 
let us forget, however, that the enlightened scientific application 
of manures must be accompanied by drainage of the soil and 
its thorough mechanical division. Bare land, too, in the guise 
of summer fallows ought no longer to be seen. Green crops, 
especially of White 1V1 ustard, sown and ploughed in repeatedly 
during summer impart astonishing fertility to the soil, which is 
simply a medium for conveying food to plants. This ploughing- 
m, of green crops is a pleasing example of the application of 
science to practice. Chemists teach us that about 90 per cent, 
of plant growth is derived from the air and rain; by ploughing- 
ln several crops of the strong quick growth of White Mustard we 
impart to the soil all that is necessary for the food of heavy 
crops of corn and roots. 
Grass land must also have its share of attention in our plans ; 
drainage, improved herbage and manuring all must be done in 
the best way. There must be no waiting till March before sow- 
mg the manures ; either this month or the next it must be done 
so as to ensure so far as we may the manures being dissolved 
and washed downwards to the roots of the plants before growth 
begins; then with the soil richly stored with all the necessary 
elements of fertility our grass growth will be strong, early, 
and abundant. We had ample and pleasing proof of this last 
summer in our heavy grass crops and big hayricks when com¬ 
plaints were so general of a short crop of hay owing to the 
spring drought and undissolved manures. Our thoughts have 
run on almost on the limits assigned us, and we refrain from 
dwelling farther now upon the numerous other matters worthy 
of a word of caution, and with an expression of hope that a 
brighter and more prosperous time is opening upon farmers, we 
wish our readers and brother farmers— 
A Happy New Teak 
A LOOK ROUND THE FARM. 
Seldom has New Year’s Day witnessed a more flourishing appearance 
of the autumn-sown crops than now. Rye is wonderfully forward, and is 
so vigorous that we have more than once been tempted to feed it off, but 
have refrained, as there has been no real scarcity of food to render such 
a course advisable, and an early cut of Rye will prove of great service 
later on. White Mustard sown on land that the fine autumn enabled us 
to clean and plough and sow is quite ready for folding, and any that is not 
so used will be ploughed in for spring corn. This i< a useful catch crop, 
useful for retaining nitrogen in the soil during winter as well as for the 
other purposes mentioned. 
Winter Tares are short, sturdy, and strong, which is just how we like 
to have this crop now, and not for the plants to he so long as to recline 
upon the ground, for then there is much risk of loss and failure. We 
therefore do not sow it till October is well in, and consider eaily Septem¬ 
ber sowing decidedly faulty. 
Trifolium incarnatum is another good crop, the plants well covering 
the surface of the land. This crop was sown upon an Oat stubble, and 
the plants are thickly interspersed with a strong growth of Oats from seed 
shaken out of the sheaves in harvest. We tried hard to avoid this by 
having the Oats cut immediately after the corn had passed the “ m ilky ” 
s age and. while the stems were green; but the hot dry weather ripened 
the corn so fast that some loss was unavoidable. 
Winter Beans are full of promise; the plants have come upywell, and 
the growth is strong and even. Winter Oats are also a good p ant, thick 
on ihe ground, and sufficiently vigorous, with a deep green appearance, 
which clearly betokens the. good effect of the autumn dressing of artificial 
manures. This is a favourite crop of ours for light dry uplands, coming 
as it does early to maturity, and always being available in a late spring 
for folding purposes, to which, however, we avoid turning it, unless much 
straightened for keep. Wheat looks exceedingly well, and, like the whole 
of the autumn-sown crops, gives the best evidence how favourable to 
farming the late dry autumn was. The land is so much softened by the 
heavy rain that horses are kept off it now, and we are carting manure to 
heaps near the land reserved for the root crops of next season. It will 
lay in these heaps till March, and not be carted upon the land, however 
severe frosts may be, for to cart it out into small heaps in midwinter is to 
risk the loss of much of its fertility. 
Agriculture in New South Wales. —Some idea of the progress 
of agriculture in New South Wales may 7 be inferred from ihe fact that 
the quantity of land under cultivation at the close of 1S83 was as 
follows :—Wheat, 289,757 acres ; Maize, 123,634 acres ; Barley, 5081 
acres; Oats, 17,810 acres; Rye, 1140 acres; Potatoes, 14,953 acres; 
Tobacco, 1785 acres ; Sugarcane, 14,984 acres ; Grape Vines, 4378 acres ; 
OraDges, 7268 acres; sown Grasses, Wheat, Barley, and Outs, for hay, 
178,503 acres ; same, for cattle, 107,993 acres. Gardens and orchards 
abtoib 17,455 acres, the whole quantity of land under cultivation con¬ 
siderably exceeding three-quarters of a million acres. A severe drought 
rendered 1883 an unfavourable year for cereal produce, notwithstanding 
which there were raised no less than 4,345,437 bushels of Wheat, 4,538,604 
bu-hels of Maize, 106,496 bushels of Barley, 376,635 bushels of Oats, and 
proportionate quantities of other crops. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Tare Seed for Poultry (Constant Header ).— We do not remember 
receiving the letter to which you refer, but a similar question was 
answered in “ Poultry ” a fortnight ago (but under initials) as follows :— 
“ It is not a good sample; we have never tried Tare seed for poultry.” It 
is used for pigeons, but not for fowls. (JVCI UIG; 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat.51° 32'40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
y a.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
.2 
*5 
04 
1884. 
December. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 32« 
and Sea 
Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
| Temp, of 
Soil at 
1 1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass. 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sunday .... 
29.086 
36.9 
34.2 
X. 
40.7 
40.5 
34.4 
57.8 
31.3 
0.010 
Monday. 
30.236 
37.7 
3.>.9 
N. 
40.2 
42.4 
35.3 
57.8 
29.8 
— 
Tuesday. 
an. 110 
36.7 
34.8 
N.E. 
39.8 
41.2 
35.5 
48 5 
32.8 
0.018 
Wednesday . 
. 24 
30.117 
36.2 
33.8 
N.W. 
39.4 
37.8 
33 6 
44.2 
323 
— 
Thursday ... 
. 2.5 
30.017 
35.2 
34.0 
N. 
38.9 
40.6 
31.8 
51.4 
2G.8 
_ 
Friday. 
30.110 
35.5 
33.2 
N.E. 
38.6 
36.5 
323 
42.3 
i6.6 
_ 
Saturday ... 
. 27 
30.236 
36.1 
34.3 
N.E. 
38.2 
38.0 
33.4 
38.3 
32.5 
— 
30.116 
36.3 
34.3 
39.4 
39.6 
83.8 
48.G 
30.3 
0.028 
REMARKS. 
2lst.—Fine bright morning; dull afternoon ; slight rain in evening. 
22nd.—Lovely winter's day, but clouded over before sunset, 
2Srd.—Fair morning; cloudy afternoon ; snow and sleet after 4 p.m. 
24 th.—Dull. 
25th.—Bright early ; slight snow about 9.30 a.h. dull afternoon ; fne night. 
26th. —Cloudy and cold all day. 
27th.—Dull. 
A cool dry weelr, with on several days a very small range of temperature.-G. J. 
