190 JOURNAL .OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ August 25, isai. 
strong loamy parts of these farms a three-course may be adopted 
for the produce of sale crops only—viz., Wheat, Lent corn, pulse, 
Eye, April Wheat or Potatoes, Beans, Peas, or seed crops of 
various sorts in most demand, such as Turnip, Mangold, Clover, 
Vetches, Trifolium, &e., for we have frequently seen some of these 
seed crops make more money than any cereal crop per acre. 
Irrespective, however, of the rotation of crops above named 
a portion will, of course, always be in Saintfoin, also some of the 
land before roots will be sown with winter Oats, Bye, forward 
white Oats, or April Wheat, to be either fed off as spring food, or 
cut for straw, or used like American Oat hay, and followed by 
Mangolds, Swedes, Kape, and Turnips. Any of these modes of close 
cropping will not be entirely dependant upon horse labour for 
cultivation, because we have steam power, which takes so little 
time in its work is particularly well suited for cleaning the land 
between the crops. We have also the advantage as regards 
manure of the sheep in consuming root crops on the outlying 
land, which supersedes the dung cart entirely. In the same 
manner artificial manures applied to those crops on the vale land 
taken in quick succession Droves very satisfactory, for their 
application is quickly done without hindrance. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Ilorse Labour .—When the weather is fine the horses will be em¬ 
ployed in working the reaper and mower, the new string binding 
machines being the best, as reported by the Judges at the trials in 
Derbyshire connected with the meeting of the Royal Agricultural 
Society. These trials were made on crops of Wheat and Oats upon 
Mr. Hall’s farm, Thulston, Derby. The result has been decided 
according to the value of the work done. The gold medal to the 
M’Cormick Harvesting Machiue Company for their reaper and binder ; 
two silver medals, Messrs. Samuelson it Co., and the Johnston Har¬ 
vester Company ; highly commended, Mr. H. J. H. King for principle 
of tying and separating sheaves. For some time past the weather 
has been very variable, and where cutting corn took place without 
binding much of it has laid on the land, taking damage by the late 
rains, especially Barley in those cases where the binders did not 
follow the reaping machine and keep pace with it while the straw 
was dry. The rains we had, however, have proved very beneficial to 
the root crops, and our first sowing of stubble Turnips are now 
nearly fit for hoeing. Nevertheless, where stubble Turnips are re¬ 
quired it is not too late to drill the seed now. As the land is moist the 
seed will vegetate immediately, and the young plants will grow fast, 
especially when drilled with a generous supply of superphosphate 
and ashes ; it is also favourable for the sowing of Trifolium, Vetches, 
and Rye. The land after Peas and seed Vetches if intended as a 
backward fallow for Wheat should, if foul with couch, either be 
ploughed shallow or rafter-ploughed, so the scarifier or Howard’s 
self-lifting drag may pull through the land and comb out the couch. 
We often use only a strong one-horse cultivator, such as an ordinary 
horse-hoe with the plain tines on set wide apart; this is only light 
work for one horse, and two of them would scarify four acres and a 
half in a day, and do the work well if driven across the ploughed 
furrows, and afterwards the land may be harrowed and rolled, and 
the couch carried away to a heap ; it will then require but little 
labour as compared with burning, and can be done also in showery 
weather, and the land be quickly ready for the next ploughing. The 
lea ground after Clover on the hill farms may now have the dung 
laid out and ploughed in and the land pressed, there to remain and 
become mellow for the sowing and drilling of Wheat in the early 
part of October. 
Hand Labour .—Men will be required for harvest work for some 
time yet tying Barley behind the mower, except on those farms 
where the home farmer has the self-binding machine in use. The 
women can follow and set up the sheaves, and when making up the 
stooks care should be taken to have them settled in close together at 
the top to keep out the wet; the crop will then take a deal of rain 
without staining the colour of the grain, as is done when the crop 
lies on the land ready for harvesting as loose corn. Turnip-hoeing, 
and the second hoeing of Swedes, Carrots, and Cabbage should now 
be finished at the first opportunity. If the land is too wet for hoeing 
filling the dung carts will be going on, also hedge-trimming. 
Live Stock .—All the sheep required on the farm may now be pur¬ 
chased ; if ewes to breed early lambs the rams should be obtained and 
placed with them, the ewes being fed with generous diet, including 
cake on pasture grass or lea ground at daytime, with a folding of 
Rape and Turnips or Mustard for night. This management gene¬ 
rally induces the ewes to be early, especially if some cotton cake is 
given in addition to the grass and roots. Throughout the country, 
both north and south, east and western districts, the fine rains which 
have fallen have improved the growth of grass immensely, and both 
sheep and cattle when feeding on the pastures will be greatly bene¬ 
fited. Those which are feeding for the butcher will soon be ready or 
far advanced towards maturity, whilst those kept as store stock will 
be got forward in condition ready for future fattening. This ha3 
been a fine season for sheep kept on the strong soils, where they are 
often fed upon summer Vetches entirely as green food, but daily 
receiving a liberal allowance of cake, in which case the animals make 
good proof ; and the land if intended for Wheat will be in good con¬ 
dition for seeding without any dung carting—a matter of immense 
importance upon the outlying fields of the home farm. All the 
young cattle, both heifers or steers, whilst grazing in the low-lying 
meadows should be taken at night into some dry pasture, unless 
there are dry patches in the meadows, of which they will not be slow 
to avail themselves as a night lair. We are rather particular in 
naming this, because it is the best way to avoid the quarter-evil which 
often attacks young cattle, especially the heifers, for we find the 
steers more hardy and often resist diseases of this nature. The 
fatting cattle in the boxes should now have early Turnips cut and 
mixed with oilcake; and in seasons like the present, when both hay 
and straw are scarce, a more liberal allowance of crushed Maize 
should be given with sweet Oat straw chaff in addition to the usual 
allowance of cake, which may be decorticated cotton cake for a 
month or two, but afterwards changed to best linseed cake. The 
dairy cows have this year during the summer months been very short 
of grass on all dry pastures and parklands ; but in those cases where 
a supplementary allowance of cake or bran and Maize, or such like 
substitutes has been given, they will have held on well in condition 
and giving a good supply of milk, for the cost of extra food will have 
been money well expended, because now the autumn grass is come 
in abundance the cows will continue to yield a full supply of milk, 
so that the milking capacity which has been maintained during the 
summer will also enable the cows to continue yielding milk for a 
longer period in the autumn months. 
VARIETIES. 
The Lincolnshire Bee-keepers’Association. — We are in¬ 
formed that the inquiries for entry forms for this Show are nume¬ 
rous, and several entries have already been made. Much interest is 
being shown in the north division of this county where Louth is 
situated, and there is every indication of a successful exhibition. 
-Egg Production in the Orkney Islands.—T hese islands 
appear to be good egg-producing districts, as from trustworthy 
statistics it has been ascertained that during the last twelve months 
more than 11,000,000 have been sent by steamers and sailing vessels 
to southern markets. From the various ports in Orcadia 7023 boxes 
of eggs were exported. These boxes contained from 120 to 1G0 dozen 
each ; and taking the average at 140 dozen, this gives 983,220 dozen, 
or 11,798,040 eggs. A fair estimate of this enormous number is got 
by an average of 8 d. per dozen, which is rather under than over the 
real value here. This gives a total value of £32,774—more than half 
the free rental of the county, and equal to 20s'. per head of the entire 
population .—(British Mercantile Gazette.) 
Eggs from Different Breeds of Poultry. — A corre¬ 
spondent of an American newspaper gives the following as the result 
of extended observations— 
Light Brahmas. 
Dark Brahmas . 
Cochins ... 
Plymouth Bocks . 
Houdans. 
La Plfeche . 
Spanish . 
Leghorns. 
Hamburghs . 
Polish . 
Bantams... 
No. per annum. 
130 
120 
125 
150 
150 
130 
140 
160 
150 
125 
90 
No. to ft. 
7 
8 
8 
8 
8 
7 
7 
9 
9 
9 
16 
- How the First Wheat was Sown in America. — Now 
that our American cousins are reducing the British farmer to despair 
by their enormous exportations of Wheat, it may be interesting to 
recall the fact that until about the end of the first quarter of the 
seventeenth century—that is to say, 250 years ago—England supplied 
the North American colonies with most of their Wheat. Since that 
time, however, North America has been gradually growing more in¬ 
dependent in the matter of the supply of bread stuffs. Wheat was 
first sown in those colonies in 1592, Gosnold, the traveller, scattering 
the first seeds on the Elizabeth Islands, in Massachusetts, during his 
exploration of that coast. It is curious to n fleet that it was English 
energy and daring which first of all supplied America with the means 
of entering, nearly three centuries later, into a disastrous competition 
with the mother country.— {Land.) 
- Produce of Meat from an Acre of Grass. —It is stated 
on good authority that an acre of the best Lincolnshire grazing land 
—and it is a county famous for its grass—will carry an ox and a 
sheep from New Mayday till Old Michaelmas, and that while grazing 
