January 6,1881. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 17 
the details might have appeared unnecessary, yet our principal 
object is to inform the novice and the beginner in agriculture. 
Our retrospect will commence with the month of October, 1879, 
this being practically the first month in the agricultural year, as 
it is the period for sowing Wheat, the chief sale crop or rent- 
paying produce of the arable land. It is remarkable that one of the 
lightest rainfalls on record was that in the three months of Octo¬ 
ber, November, and December in 1879. This enabled the farmers 
in nearly every district, but especially in the midland and northern 
counties, to complete Wheat-sowing under very favourable con¬ 
ditions as to the weather. Unfortunately, however, much of the 
seed corn of that harvest was ill-matured, and the Wheat plant in 
consequence did not flourish in the winter ; the frost, too, at times 
being severe much of the plant perished, or later in the spring was 
eaten by slugs. A very deficient plant of Wheat was the result in 
most districts, but as the spring wore on—the weather being dry 
in March, April, and May—the plants tillered and appeared 
very promising. Still the results were not satisfactory, although 
where a good plant was saved through the winter the Wheat 
yielded fairly in most instances, yet in those numerous cases 
where the plants were too thin they were so weakened by the 
tillering process and hasty growth that they fell a prey to blight 
and mildew during the heavy storms and floods which occurred 
in July, twenty-six rainy days being recorded during that month. 
With respect to the seed time for pulse crops as well as Lent corn, 
owing to the months of January to May inclusive being favourable, 
all these crops were sown in good time with the soil in fair con¬ 
dition throughout the kingdom. These crops promised well—• 
especially Beans, Peas, and Oats—until July, when the drenching 
and flooding rains rendered the crops so broken that they suffered 
in every district, especially the Barley, which in most instances 
was beaten to the ground. 
The harvest for cereals and pulse crops commenced in 1880 
during the first week in August, and with the exception of two 
heavy storms on the 7th and 25th days of this month the weather 
was generally favourable down to the 11th of September, thus 
giving time for securing the crops in the early districts through¬ 
out the southern and eastern counties in fair condition. From 
this date a general change of the weather occurred, and during 
the four or five following days inches of rain fell, which greatly 
impeded harvest operations m the late districts, and until the close 
of the northern counties harvest immense damage was sustained 
by all the cereal and pulse crops. Now, this was just the reverse 
of the operations during the previous year, for being late the 
northern counties enjoyed a favourable harvest, whilst in the 
southern and forward districts immense damage was done to all 
the cereal produce, a very large portion being unsaleable, and 
was used for feeding cattle and pigs. Keferring to the crops of 
corn and pulse arising from theharvest of 1880 we give the follow¬ 
ing particulars, gathered from the various published reports of 
experienced men residing in different districts throughout the 
kingdom. Wheat is considerably under a good average. Barley, 
Oats, Beans, and Peas are, upon the whole, above an average. 
We must add, however, that the samples of Wheat are far better 
in quality than in 1879. The samples of Barley are not of so good 
malting Barley as was expected, and a large portion was seriously 
stained by heavy rains in the midland and northern counties. 
The crops of hay and also of green fodder were very deficient in 
most instances, and the early crops of hay as near totally spoiled 
as we ever remember having seen them. The second crops of 
Clover, however, owing to the continuous rains in July, proved of 
great bulk, and the dry weather during the harvest month enabled 
the crop to be stacked in good condition ; we have therefore an 
average crop of hay for use, although for the most part both field 
and pasture produce of inferior quality. Boot crops have greatly 
flourished, for although the Mangold seed did not generally vege¬ 
tate with regularity, yet the few acres seeded early proved a 
magnificent produce, and the aftergrowths of the remainder being 
luxuriant an average crop has been the result. Of Swedes and 
Turnips, Cabbage, and Carrots there has never within our remem¬ 
brance been a finer crop of rare feeding quality ; therefore with 
an average crop of hay, although damaged, and an abundant root 
crop, the animals of the farm may fare well during the coming 
winter without any unusual outlay for artificial foods. The 
Potato crop, fast becoming an important produce to the home 
farmer, has this year upon the whole proved an almost unparalleled 
and healthy produce ; but in various districts where the flooding 
rains fell with the greatest severity much of the crop has been 
lost by the disease. If, however, we take the aggregate produce 
we shall find that the Potato crop, as a whole, is one of the best 
quantity and quality considered that has been secured for some 
years. 
The live stock of the kingdom, at all times both important and 
interesting, has this year called forth unusual attention from the 
agricultural classes, consequent upon the enormcus losses of 1879 
by the coathe and rot. Unfortunately the mischief has not ended 
with that year, but, in consequence of the storms and floods of 
July and the succeeding autumn months, much of the grazing and 
park lands of the kingdom have been seriously injured by floods. 
This has been the case more especially in some of the midland 
counties, and has again brought the cntozoa of the fluke into life 
and activity, and the flocks of sheep which depend principally 
upon grass feeding are again seriously affected by the fluke rot. 
Unfortunately this has in some instances been the cause of ruin 
to the farmers. We have, however, occasionally advised them 
upon the best way of avoiding this, by not feeding grass down too 
bare where the sheep have previously been coathed, also to allow 
them a good mixture of food the produce of the arable laud, with 
a liberal allowance of cake and bean meal, and by all means to 
allow them access to salt, and have high and dry night quarters. 
At the same time we advise that such grazing lands should have a 
heavy dressing of salt twice a year, the quantity to be ascertained 
by experiment in order that it may not destroy vegetation. We 
hold to this matter tenaciously, because in our salt marshes where 
the sheep feed once a day we have never had a diseased sheep 
during the whole of our agricultural experience, although the 
sheep may have fed at some period upon meadows of very doubtful 
character upon the cbalkhiil and stonebrash farms. The sheep, 
although short of keep in the spring months, have proved more 
healthy than for some years past, and especially free from foot rot 
and foot lameness ; in fact the fall of lambs has been a good average, 
and the general health of the breeding flocks on the hill farms has 
been good, they have also sold at a good price in consequence of the 
serious losses on the low lands and vale farms. We have only 
occasionally had to report pleuro-pneumonia amongst cattle, and 
typhoid fever in swine during the spring and summer—in fact, the 
health of cow stock has been good for several years, but during 
the past three months we have again to report serious outbreaks 
of foot-and-mouth disease in the horned cattle, sheep, and swine 
also, in several of the southern and south-eastern counties, and 
likewise in other and various districts, and the prospect at present 
is bad, because in spite of all precautions of the authorities the 
area of the disease seems to extend. No doubt the disease has 
been imported from abroad, in proof of which the country was 
entirely free from it for the past two years. It looks, therefore, 
that we shall have to make a new departure, so that all our cattle 
should be slaughtered at the port of disembarkation, except store 
cattle, which should be subject to careful and lengthened quaran¬ 
tine, because our present system of surveillance has proved in¬ 
effectual. For we have reason to believe there are districts 
where imported store cattle passed by the inspectors and sold as 
sound stock at the local fairs, have broken down with disease 
soon after arriving at their winter quarters. The seed time for 
Wheat has been very prolonged this autumn in consequence of 
fine weather only prevailing for short periods ; it has, however, at 
last been concluded, and the young Wheat plant looks generally 
as strong and healthy as we have ever seen it. Let us, therefore, 
hope that our crops another year may prove more favourable 
than for several years past, and thus to some extent remove agri¬ 
cultural depression. 
[In the fourteenth line from the bottom of the first column, 
page 602, last week, the word “deprivation” should have been 
printed “ depreciation.”] 
RETENTION OF SOLUBLE MATTERS BY SOILS. 
One of the many wonderful powers which, the soil possesses is 
that of absorbing out of their solution in water certain substances, 
such as, for example, phosphate of lime and salts of ammonia. Our 
earliest information in reference to this absorptive power of soils 
was derived from the results of some experiments made in 1844 by 
Messrs. Thompson and Spence. They filtered solutions of salts of 
ammonia through layers of soil, and found that the ammonia was 
retained by the soil. In the Journal of the Royal Agricultural 
Society of England for the years 1850, 1852, and 1855 Mr. Way 
published the results of numerous experiments on the property of 
soils to retain certain ingredients of manure when subjected to the 
action of water. A certain quantity of the substance to be experi¬ 
mented -with was dissolved in water, and the solution passed through 
a layer of soil of 10 inches or more in depth. The water which 
passed through was analysed, and in many cases it was found to 
have lost all or portion of the solid matters which it had contained. 
Amongst the interesting results obtained by Way may be men¬ 
tioned that soluble or superphosphate of lime was wholly removed 
from solution by the soil, and the superphosphate was not subse¬ 
quently washed out by repeated applications of water to the soil. 
