JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDEJSER. 
[ May 7, 1885. 
in addition to yards filled with manure, some dear-bought 
experience, which ought to act as a safeguard in future, and 
prevent that overstocking in winter which is so common and 
so entirely out of proportion to our provision of roots and 
forage. Our opinion having been asked about the sale of 
these beasts, we said at once, “ Wait till warm days and 
April showers bring grass, and prices will rise.” “ But I 
cannot; to wait for such a chance and meanwhile purchase 
food would be simply ruinous,” said the farmer. Now, what 
was wanting in the provision for winter and early spring 
upon this farm ? More roots—Mangolds, Swedes, Carrots, 
Parsnips, cooked Potatoes, and of green crops. How relieved 
would this puzzled farmer have been could he have turned to 
an acre or two of Thousand-headed Kale ? Sown now and 
again in July for a succession it can be had in use from 
autumn till May is well in, and so fast does it increase in bulk 
in March, April, and May as to well merit its title of Thousand¬ 
headed. If you have fallows see if at least an acre of land 
cannot be spared for drilling with Kale. It is true enough 
that drilling requires more seed than a seed-bed and trans¬ 
plantation, but then we avoid the risk—often very great— 
of loss in transplanting, and the earlier sowings are generally 
safe from attacks of flea. 
Drumhead Cabbage is another winter crop of much value 
both for cattle and sheep. It may be that one day ensilage 
will become so popular as to take a leading place in provision 
for winter; but do not let it entirely supersede so safe a crop 
as Cabbage. Rather adopt the safer plan of having a fair 
proportion of each kind of food. It is considered that silage 
has a tendency to render sheep costive, but given with Cab¬ 
bage it cannot have that effect. We like to have the winter 
and spring crop of Drumheads well established, thinned, 
hoed, and growing freely before the haymaking begins ; and 
if it happens to be placed alongside a flourishing field of 
Mangolds and another of Carrots, we can look forward a 
considerable way with feelings of satisfaction and confidence. 
Land well cleaned, thirty loads of farmyard manure per acre, 
a dressing of artificial manure to be worked in with the horse 
hoes after the plants are strong and growing freely with the 
roots spreading fast in the soil; the rows 30 inches apart, 
and the plants 24 to 30 inches apart in the rows. These are 
the most important details of Cabbage culture. The artificial 
manure should consist of ^-cwt. nitrate of potash, ^-cwt. 
nitrate of soda, |-cwt. superphosphate, Lcwt. steamed bone 
flour. This, in addition to thirty cartloads of farmyard 
manure, may appear an extravagant dressing, but it is not. 
Remember, it is no uncommon thing to have a couple of full- 
grown Drumhead Cabbages weighing a hundredweight, and 
an acre of Cabbages 30 inches apart contains 6969 plants. 
Under ordinary cultivation two-thirds of that number are 
under-sized, the really fine show specimens being few and far 
between; yet ought not the fact of some growing to so large 
a size that we are actually told of specimens weighing up¬ 
wards of 70 lbs. apiece, to act as an incentive to a higher 
mode of culture, even if we have to thin the plants to 3 or 
4 feet apart ? Cabbage and Kale culture ought also to 
receive special attention on sewage farms, crops of extra¬ 
ordinary bulk and weight being obtained by the regular use 
of sewage. 
Even under ordinary culture excellent results are obtained. 
Take, for example, the case of a farmer who grows about 
90,000 every year. He says :—“ I attribute the healthiness 
of the sheep very much to the free use of Cabbages. They 
are cut and carted out on the ground, beginning 
in November, and generally lasting till March. They 
grow to be a good size, weighing from 10 to 30 lbs. I have 
seen some weigh 35 lbs. They give more wholesome food 
for sheep and cattle and in larger quantities than anything 
I know of. For the fatting and store beasts we pulp the 
Cabbage and mix it with chaff and meal and cotton cake. 
To the cows we give it on the ground. The ewes and all 
stock are very fond of it, and nothing agrees so well with 
them.” 
The late Dr. Yoelcker said : “ No kind of green food cul¬ 
tivated on a large scale in the field contains so much nutri¬ 
tious matter as Cabbage. Being much more nutritious, 
weight for weight than Turnips, and at the same time very 
succulent, Cabbages form a valuable food for milch cows. 
Cattle are very fond of Cabbage, and dairy cows fed upon it 
and some hay produce much and rich milk, and the butter 
made from the latter is free from the disagreeable flavour 
which it always has when the cows are fed on Turnips.” In 
daily use from October till March, liked and eaten greedily 
by cattle, pigs, and sheep, of easy culture, great bulk, and 
most nutritious—what better crop can we have to assist us 
in making better provision for winter than we have ever done 
before ? Let us, therefore, plant it extensively for winter, 
and a proportionate quantity of Thousand-headed Kale to 
follow it in spring, so that they may keep cattle off the 
grass till it is abundant and strong. 
(To be continued.) 
WOKK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Corn-hoeing has been pushed on as fast as possible, for the winter 
corn is growing so fast that hoeing must soon be finished. Golden Drop 
Wheat was left till last, its habit of spreading its growth out upon the 
soil preventing the use of hoes among it till late. Both spring and 
autumn-sown corn crops are vigorous and full of promise. Grass retained 
for grazing, and dressed early with home-mixed artificial manures, has 
grown so fast that the cows have been turned out upon it sooner than we 
expected, the growth being fully a fornight earlier than that of the 
unmanured pastures. It is by closely watching the effects of these 
manures that we are able to judge fairly of their value—an early bite of 
grass, a heavy crop of hay, an annual improvement in the condition of 
the pasture ; these are some of the results which we have now had so 
repeatedly before us, that we shall be more and more urgent with our 
readers to use them. We have now a field of winter Oats that is “ the 
wonder of the parish,” for the land was waste and foul with wild growth 
three years ago. Two successive crops of spring Oats have been taken 
from it since it was taken into cultivation, and now we have a third Oat 
crop which was sown last autumn with Professor Jamieson’s half dressing 
of artificial manure — home-mixed be it remembered. Another half 
dressing was given early this spring, and now the field is a sight most 
pleasant, most instructive, for the Oats are already almost “knee high,” 
and of a deep green colour betokening soil stored with nutriment, and 
not exhausted even by a third crop of Oats, as the wiseacres said it would 
be. 
As the cattle leave the yards the manure will be removed and put into 
mixens, for which purpose beds of road-siding have been prepared about a 
foot deep. The manure is first heaped upon the soil till heat is generated 
and it is sinking together, the heap is then turned and the soil brought 
to the top so as to cover the manure, and to prevent the escape of ferti¬ 
lising gases so far as is possible. Avoid making such heaps upon waste 
land by road sides, rather spare the requisite space at a convenient point 
in a field so that none of the richness of the heap is let run to waste. It 
is good practice to got the whole of this work done before the haymaking 
begins, for the roads and land are now dry enough to render carting 
light and expeditious. When haymaking begins we ought not to expect 
horses to be at liberty for manure cart. The felling of Oak trees has been 
in hand lately, and the bark is being despatched to the tannery as it 
becomes fully dry, which requires about a fortnight after it is taken off 
the trees. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat. 51° 32'40" N.; Long. 0° 8' O’’ W.; Altitude, 111 feet 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAT. 
Rain 
1885. 
April. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 32« 
and Sea 
Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
I 
| Temp, of 
Soil at 
lfoot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
jWet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sunday . 
26 
29.610 
55.4 
50.2 
S.E. 
50.0 
62.6 
47.6 
104.1 
42.2 
— 
Monday. 
27 
29.722 
56.6 
50.9 
N.E. 
50.2 
65.6 
45 5 
106.7 
39.3 
— 
Tuesday. 
28 
29.754 
58.5 
51.0 
S.E. 
50.4 
67.3 
41.2 
1106 
33.9 
0.553 
Wednesday .. 
29 
29.675 
54.1 
50.4 
S E. 
51.6 
62 6 
48.9 
92.7 
44.8 
— 
Thursday .... 
30 
29 873 
52.9 
47.8 
N. 
50.7 
63.2 
40.0 
96.5 
35.2 
— 
Friday. 
1 
29.643 
53.8 
48.6 
E. 
50.5 
58.1 
41.8 
93.3 
37.4 
0.034 
Saturday .... 
2 
29.661 
50.3 
45.7 
S.E. 
49.7 
59 8 
42.7 
104.4 
37.5 
0.030 
29.705. 
54.5 
49.2 
50.4 
62.7 
44 0 
101.2 
38.6 
0.617 
REMARKS. 
20th.—Generally fair but cloudy ; rain in evening. 
27th.—Very bright early, cloudy morning,fine afternoon and evening. 
28th.—Fine and bright (first white butterfly seen), heavy rain at night. 
29th.—Cloudy threatening morning, fine bright afternoon. 
30th.—Fine and bright early, cloudy morning, fair after. 
1st.—Fine and bright early, cloudy morning, heavy shower in afternoon. 
2nd.—Dull and showery at intervals. 
Rather cooler and damper than the previous week,but the temperature still slightly 
1 above the average.—G. J. STMONS. 
