January 20, 1881. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 57 
struggle for the bees, but if they be only strong and have ample supplies Jack 
Frost will have to do much more yet before he conquers them. The non-con¬ 
ductivity of hive sides is now of the very highest moment, and in relation to 
this matter some experiments are in hand, which have yielded curious results, 
which before long will be described in our columns.—F. C. 
COYBNT GARDEN MARKET.—JANUARY 19. 
LITTLE or no business doing, our market being completely frozen out. 
FRUIT. 
8. 
d. 
s. 
d. 
8. 
d. 
8. 
d. 
Apples. 
6 to 4 
6 
Melons . 
each 
0 
OtoO 
0 
Apricots. 
0 
0 
0 
Nectarines. 
dozen 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Cherries. 
0 
0 
0 
Oranges . 
v 100 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Chestnuts. 
0 
16 
0 
Peaches . 
dozen 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Figs. 
0 
0 
0 
Pears, kitchen .. 
dozen 
2 
0 
3 
0 
Filberts. 
0 
0 
0 
dessert . 
dozen 
2 
0 
4 
0 
Cobs. 
0 
0 
0 
Pine Apples .... 
4? lb 
1 
0 
0 
6 
Gooseberries 
j sieve 0 
0 
0 
0 
Plums .. 
4 sieve 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Grapes . 
0 
8 
0 
Walnuts . 
bushel 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Lemons. 
0 
18 
0 
ditto . 
V 100 
0 
0 
0 
0 
VEGETABLES. 
8« 
d. 
8. 
d. 
8. 
d. 
s. 
d. 
Artichokes. dozen 2 0to4 0 
Asparagus. bundle 0 0 0 0 
Beans,Kidney.... 100 1 0 10 
Beet, Red. dozen 10 2 0 
Broccoli. bundle 0 9 16 
Brussels Sprouts.. } sieve 0 9 18 
Cabbage. dozen 0 6 10 
Carrots. bunch 0 4 0 6 
Capsicums. ^ 100 1 6 2 0 
Cauliflowers. dozen 0 0 8 6 
Celery. bundle 16 2 0 
Coleworts-doz. bunches 2 0 4 0 
Cucumbers. each 0 6 16 
Endive. dozen 10 2 0 
Fennel. bunch 0 3 0 0 
Garlic . 49-th. 0 6 0 0 
Herbs . bunch o 2 0 0 
Leeks. bunch 0 3 0 4 
Mushrooms .punnet 1 Otol 6 
Mustard* Cress ..punnet 0 2 0 3 
Onions. bushel S 6 SO 
pickling. quart 0 0 0 0 
Parsley. doz.bunches 6 0 0 0 
Parsnips. dozen 10 2 0 
Peas . quart 0 0 0 0 
Potatoes. bushel 8 9 4 0 
Kidney. bushel 4 0 4 6 
Radishes_ doz .bunches 16 29 
Rhubarb. bundle 0 4 0 6 
Salsafy. bundle 10 0 0 
Scorzonera . bundle 16 Oft 
Seakale . basket 3 0 3 0 
Shallots . ^ fb. 0 8 0 8 
Spinach . bushel 3 0 0 0 
Turnips. bunch 0 4 0 0 
Vegetable Marrows each 0 2 0 0 
POULTRY AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS AND MACHINERY. 
( Continued from page 36.) 
Relative to the various machines made and supplied by Mr. 
Gibbs, a writer in the Agricultural Gazette of October 4th, 1880, 
observes: —“ We will not stop to estimate the loss that has been 
sustained during the hay and corn harvests of 1878-79-80. or what 
the use of Gibbs’ drying machines have saved the farmers, for it is 
now generally admitted that it has been very great, and had the 
use been anything like general throughout the kingdom the saving 
would have been enormous. Considerable improvements have 
lately been made in the details of construction, so that machines 
are now made in various ways to suit the requirements of farmers, 
and of different sizes. Any kind of steam engine which the 
farmer may possess can be used for driving the machines ; they 
are now also made for being driven by horse and bullock gears. 
Water-wheels may be employed in hilly districts where water¬ 
falls are plentiful. Heated air from a coke furnace is used for 
drying hay, corn in the sheaf, Hops, malt, wet grain, &c., but wood 
or peat charcoal will answer equally well, if not better. The 
heated products of combustion are drawn from the coke furnace 
by a suction and blast fan, and driven through air-ducts into the 
hay in a direction the same as that in which the grass moves 
from the feed end to the discharge end. The temperature of the 
hot blast may be about 320° Fahr., and this high temperature 
from the way it is applied does not scorch the hay so much as 
a burning sun. The tedding of the hay is effected by a twofold 
operation thus : It is supplied at one end of the machine in fork¬ 
fuls from the cart that brings it from the field. The floor has a 
to-and-fro motion, like the shakers of a threshing machine, which 
draws in the wet hay and throws it forward ; but at every inch 
of its progress to the delivery end sets of forks on crank axles 
give the hay a gentle toss as it passes, shaking it up loosely to 
the action of the heated air, so that wet hay from the mowing 
machine passes through the drier ready for the stack, cleaner and 
less damaged than when made by tedding machines and horse 
rakes in bright sunshine. The appearance of the hay in stack, 
the avidity with which live stock of every kind relish and thrive 
upon it, and the chemical analysis by Dr. Yoelcker and other 
chemists, all prove this.” 
Some of the trials of Gibbs’ drying machine were hardly fair 
for to obtain the full advantage in any wet season. The newly 
cut grass from the mowing machine ought to be carted directly to 
the drier, and stacked as fast as dried ; in this way it is stated 
that 10 acres can be secured daily. No doubt this will to a great 
extent be the practice in future, and farmers who cut their grass 
in adverse seasons and allow it to lie about until spoiled will 
have only themselves to blame. It is a question of employing a 
sufficiency of capital only in farming to become independent of 
the seasons both at hay time and harvest. There are now not 
only the hay and loose corn-driers, but also the sheaf-drying 
machine. It is recorded that Mr. Ashcombe of Sewardstone 
cleared an acre per hour from the swathe, and dried it in fine 
condition at the cost of 11s. per acre, the hay realising £4 5s. per 
load (crop of 1879) when sent to market. It is calculated that 
the machine-dried hay made a profit beyond the ordinary process 
and cost of the rent and rates, &c., charged upon the land. 
In the sheaf-drier the heated air from the coke furnace is forced 
into the hot-air chamber, placed immediately below the floor of 
the drying shed. A number of conical perforated tubes, open at 
the bottom, rise from the floor. The sheaves of corn are placed 
upon these, butt-end down, the ears being uppermost. The hot 
air in the chamber below is compressed upwards through the 
small perforations in the floor, and tubes all through the sheaf. 
Under these conditions it has a very drying effect, so that in the 
course of fifteen or twenty minutes the sheaves, however wet, are 
ready for stacking or threshing. The small shed exhibited by 
Mr. Gibbs at Manchester in 1869 only held thirty-two sheaves at 
a time ; but sheds of any size may be made, say sufficient to hold 
a cartload at a time. With a shed of this size a farmer could 
carry, dry, and stack his Wheat, Barley, or Oats as fast as the sheaf- 
binder could cut and bind it, say 10 acres per day. By this plan the 
expense of stooking would be avoided, as also the labour of setting 
up stooks when blown down in stormy weather, and the loss from 
shaking, discolouring, and sprouting of the grain. Gibbs’ drying 
cylinder is another machine worth attention, being adapted for 
drying damp grain—Hops, malt, and any kind of small seeds, often 
difficult to harvest in wet seasons. We commend the machines 
noticed to the home farmer, as they are somewhat costly, and in 
some instances may be out of the reach of many^tenants of small 
farms. We have reason to believe, however, that, like most other 
valuable machinery, they may be let on hire in the future, as they 
are adapted for so many useful purposes that they would be in 
request at all seasons of the year. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour.—We now ask the home farmer to look forward and 
anticipate the work to be done in the spring as much as possible; 
amongst other matters, to consider and arrange what seeds of pulse 
or Lent corn will be required, so that the varieties may be fixed on and 
purchased the first favourable opportunity. A new variety of field Pea 
is now advertised, called Laxton’s No. 1 Early Maple, said to be three 
weeks earlier than the old Maple, and was, it appears, raised by crossing 
the old Maple with the earliest white garden variety. If the seed is sown 
in February it is stated that the crop can be cleared off early in July, 
the haulm growing about 4 feet high. This variety may be worth a 
trial when the land is required for the growth of Turnips after the 
Peas are harvested. Again, we believe from our experience that on 
the mixed soils Barley is often sown after roots fed off when there 
is not the slightest probability of growing an even and plump malting 
sample, in consequence of the variations of soil and variations in 
certain parts of its condition owing to the difference in the weather 
during the time the sheep were feeding off the roots. In such cases 
we recommend sowing white Canadian Oats or black Tartarian Oats 
