June 1, 1882.] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
459 
it well washed, and it is a more marketable commodity in con¬ 
sequence. The reports from the United States, continental 
countries, as well as our wool-growing colonies, all concur in the 
practice of washing the wool on the sheep’s back. We have a 
valuable, practical, and suggestive description of a mode of spout¬ 
washing sheep upon a large scale, furnished to the Eoyal Agri¬ 
cultural Society by Mr. G. H. Cox, a member of the Legislative 
Council of New South Wales, and a plan of the whole arrangements, 
which we cannot here illustrate, but can describe to a certain 
extent, steam being employed for some of the various purposes. 
The wash-pen and the modus operandl is as follows :—“ Twelve 
sheep are caught and thrown into the hot-water tank (making 
four in each compartment), which has been previously filled with 
water to within G inches of the top, heated from 100° to 110° 
Fahrenheit, and in which also has been dissolved from 15 to 20 lbs. 
of soft soap. The sheep then walk up an incline, or are lifted 
upon a grating at the end of the tank, and after the fleece has 
been squeezed are made to slide down an incline into the hands 
of the washers (who stand in zinc tubs), and are placed upon 
supports, immediately under the jets or spouts, where they are 
turned round and round until thoroughly cleansed ; they then 
swim to the end of the pool and walk up an incline to the top of 
the dam or causeway, after which they pass to the drying pad- 
docks. In this way from 500 to 700 sheep a day can be washed 
as white as snow.” AVe have introduced this method, thinking it 
may lead to improvements in washing in this country, but of 
course only in the case of large flocks like some of the long-woolled 
flocks in Lincolnshire or mountain districts of the kingdom. The 
place of sheep-washing adopted by the late Mr. Wm. Torr, of 
Aylesby Manor, is an improvement upon the old rough system of 
bathing in water only for a short time, was as follows :—“ A tub 
or tank used was made on the farm of the best red-wood deal 
1 ^ inch thick, 5 ft. 2 ins. long, 3 ft. 1 in. wide, and 2 ft. 3 ins. deep. 
The boiling copper used holds 24 gallons of water ; soft soap used, 
1 lb. to every twenty sheep. Eight men are required ; four to 
stand at the washing-tub, one to catch and halter the sheep, one 
to stand at the head of the tub to keep the sheep’s head above 
water, one to lead water into the reserve tub, and one to boil 
soap, &c. About thirty sheep an hour, or three hundred per day, 
can be washed.” 
We must now quote the opinions and recommendations of the 
Bradford Chamber of Commerce, the members of which are 
largely interested as buyers of wool, in having it produced for 
sale in the cleanest and best manner possible. They say:— 
“The Chamber has taken great interest in the getting-up of 
wool, as will be seen from the circulars and reports. The Com¬ 
mittee are of opinion that the best way will be to state con¬ 
cisely their views in the following order:—1, That wool should 
not be washed or dipped before the first week in June, or later 
where the district is cold ; the object being to have as much yolk 
as possible in the wool, so as to secure a good scour in the wash¬ 
ing. 2, The information and experience which the trade and the 
Committee have gathered during many years leads them to say 
that washing in tubs under proper conditions is of great advantage 
to the wool, because the yolk being a kind of natural soap, and 
sound in great abundance at clip time, it follows that by washing 
in a stream or large pool of water the valuable effects of this 
natural soap are, to a great extent, thrown away ; and in dyke or 
stream-washing, the sheep in many cases have to be driven for 
miles along dusty roads; so that even where a thorough wash 
has been obtained at the stream, its effects are partially neutralised, 
and the wool is dusty and discoloured. Tub-washing on the farm 
obviates this. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
/Torse Labour .—Since the heavy rains at the beginning of the 
month of May the weather has been favourable for sowing Mangolds 
and Carrots, as well as planting the latest varieties of. Potatoes. It 
is even now not too late to drill the seed of Mangold and Carrots if 
the land is in good condition, or freely dressed with artificial manures 
at the time of drilling. The seed does not, however, always germi¬ 
nate if it is drilled after the fallow preparation if the weather is very 
dry, in which case we prefer drilling after once ploughing where Rye, 
Trifolium, or other catch crops have been recently cleared off, pro¬ 
ceeding in such cases to plough and work down and drill the land as 
fast as it is ready, finishing off all the work the same day. This 
plan, and this only, is the surest way to start the seed at once, which 
is the most important point, as every day of dry weather which pre¬ 
vents the seed vegetating is so much time lost, for at so late a date it 
means also the loss of so many tons of roots per acre. AYe have, 
however, frequently by this method obtained 26 tons of Mangolds per 
acre, although seeded after the hay crop has been taken. At all 
events, we could always grow more weight of Mangolds per acre than 
of Swedes, which is an important point to be considered,' especially as 
a ton of Mangolds has one-fifth more feeding value than a ton of 
Swedes, which we have proved for many years by giving our bullocks 
in the boxes 60 lbs. of Mangolds per day, but 75 lbs. of Swedes as the 
equivalent. 
The land now in fallow for Swedes again works freely since the 
rains ; and in all the southern and south-eastern counties, where the 
soil is light and free-working, the best time for drilling Swede seed is 
from the 6th to thelOth of June. In the later districts of the midland 
and northern counties the best time is from the 20th to the 24th of 
May, as we noted last week. Cabbage and all the Brassica tribe may 
be planted now if the land is ever so dry, only it must be done by the 
spade, the advantage of which is that the plant roots reach the moist 
subsoil and the dry dust does not run in with the plant as when 
planted with the setting stick; again, if the weather should be wet 
the spade is still the best way to plant, because the soil does not 
become kneaded as when the setting stick is used. 
Every preparation should now be made by turning and mixing 
earth with a portion of yard or town manure in readiness for laying 
out on pasture or park lands as soon as the hay crop is removed ; and 
if immediately spread and after a few days chain-harrowed, at the 
end of a month it will afford good grazing for either cattle or sheep, 
whilst the cartage will not have disfigured the surface as when done 
in the winter months when the turf is soft and yielding. Many 
pastures, like our own, are much infested with the Buttercup, as this 
yellow flower is commonly called, which is very pernicious to dairy 
cows, although they avoid it as much as possible; but in so doing 
they cannot eat the grass down equally level. It is also of a very 
hot acrid taste. AYe therefore run the scythe or mower over the 
pastures, not low enough to cut the grass, but high enough to just 
reach the flowers and dispose of them by preventing their seeding ; 
thus diminishing the future growth of them and enabling the grass 
to grow better, and likewise enabling the animals to eat it more 
freely and with more regularity. 
The cutting of grass for hay will now be in full operation in all the 
early districts, and we ask the home farmer not to be deluded by fine 
weather from the purchase of the exhausting implement for with¬ 
drawing the heat from hay and cornstacks ; because if the weather is 
ever so fine he should be provided with the exhaust fan and construct 
the ricks in order to make use of it, for when the weather is fine the 
hay or corn can be put into rick several days earlier, which not only 
preserves it from the effects of any sudden change to stormy weather 
by delay and otherwise, but the hay, being heated and prevented 
from becoming overheated, is always the best hay. AYe have on 
various occasions formerly, when making Dutch or Hop Clover grass 
into hay for our early lambs, frequently, when the weather threatened 
for rain, put it into stack, knowing that it would overheat; but ex¬ 
perience told us that our best hay had been that which was heated in 
rick, and required to be turned over and up into stack again. This is 
the very point to be considered now we have the ingenious invention 
of exhausting the heat to make use of, for we may be assured that 
the younger the grass when cut and the quicker the hay is put into 
stack the higher the quality of the hay will be, and also be freer 
from the risk of damage from rain, although we know that damage 
by rain also is reduced to a minimum by the use of the exhausting- 
of-heat process. 
Hand Labour. —Hand-hoeing is now going on amongst the Potatoes, 
the horse hoe having previously been used between the lines. Before 
hand-hoeing, however, we like the plan of forking out any couch 
which may be found by the women before hand-hoeing, for the latter 
often cuts the running grass into shreds, and extends the plants 
rather than diminishes them; and as a few pieces of couch with all 
our care on the Sandy loams or mixed soils will still be found, let it 
be taken as a rule that the first opportunity is the best for the 
removal of couch, as is frequently by hand-forking. The expenditure 
of 2s. or 3s. per acre will often prevent a future expenditure of costly 
horse labour, preventing also delay at seeding time. Men should now 
be employed in preparing the ashes by screening, to be used with 
artificial manures for the root crops. A farmer told us yesterday 
that his Swedes and Turnips have been seriously injured for some 
past seasons by the clubbing of the fibrous roots, and that to meet 
the difficulty he had sowed his whole lain of roots with Mangolds. 
This, no doubt, is wise, especially if some Belgian Carrot seed also 
had been put in to the extent of a few acres ; but we told him that if 
he wished to grow Swedes or Turnips he could do so successfully by 
applying 25 bushels per acre of fine-screened chalk mixed with the 
artificial manures and drilled with the seed. 
Live Stock .—Dairy cows this spring, where they have been allowed 
to partake plentifully of the abundance of grass which this season 
has given, have done remarkably well; but we find that the milk 
trade is not so much in favour with the farmers as it has been, espe¬ 
cially where the farm is distant from the towns or railway stations. 
The making of butter from Channel Island cows is receiving more 
attention ; but for making cheese the shorthorned cows are most 
approved, and also they are most approved for suckling calves for 
veal, which is a very inexpensive way of beneficial dairy farming, 
especially where the Devon or Hereford calves can be obtained, as 
these far surpass shorthorned calves for quality and value. One of 
the great advantages, however, especially for heifers with their first 
calf, is that the cows through being sucked by calves instead of 
being milked by hand continue in profit five or six weeks longer 
which in our estimation is a very important point in dairy farming 
