November 24, 1881. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
487 
hard floor like clinker bricks ; and when the animal lies down 
he finds a much more comfortable bed also, and as the urine is 
immediately absorbed the air is never tainted if the ordinary 
means of ventilation is adopted. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour. —Wheat-sowing still proceeds, but is now nearly 
finished in all the latest districts—at least, it is sown up to the 
hurdles where sheep are eating off Turnips, Rape, and Cabbage. 
The season being so fine we advise the home farmer to sow as much 
Wheat as he can find suitable land for, as it is now and ever has been 
the rent-paying crop, except in some districts where the soil is more 
especially kind for Barley, and producing in ordinary seasons a malt¬ 
ing sample of grain. The teams should now be fully employed in 
fallow-ploughing the land intended for Potatoes, Mangolds, and 
Swedes ; and if the land has been autumn-tilled and cleaned of couch 
on the surface it may be ploughed the full depth, so that no raw sub¬ 
soil may be brought up ; for rather than plough too deep we would 
sooner use the subsoiling implement, following in every furrow behind 
the plough. We still note upon various farms in many districts that 
the land intended for Barley after Wheat or for roots in the spring is 
extremely foul, and in many cases no attempt has been made to clean 
it by autumn culture. When this is the case we do not recommend 
deep fallow ploughing, but we would prefer to rafter or half-plough, 
otherwise double-rafter or back-stetch, as either of these plans leaves 
the land open to frost, and sufficiently open also to allow superfluous 
rainfall to pass easily into the subsoil, at the same time keeping the 
couch near enough to the surface for working out on the first favour¬ 
able weather in the spring. We note that some farmers have been 
fallowing the land by deep ploughing, although heavily laden with 
couch grass. The result of our experience compels us to denounce 
this practice, for when so treated it is very rare that we can bring, 
even by continuous and costly labour, the couch upon the surface 
entirely; but we have often seen that in attempting this the roots 
have been divided into small pieces, rendering it almost impossible 
to be destroyed, especially when the spring season is showery. Tri- 
folium, Vetches, Rye, and all catch crops look more promising than 
in any of the past three years. The winter Beans, winter Oats, and 
winter Barley are also very promising ; in fact, look which way we 
will on the home farm we are gratified by the appearance of all our 
autumn seeding, nor can we recollect a finer season within our long 
experience for all farm work usually carried out in the autumn. 
S ime threshing of Wheat and Barley may now be done with advan¬ 
tage, for it is useless to defer this work until the busy period of 
spring or summer, for it is a question of labour more than of policy 
both for men and horses ; and it is also a question of providing straw 
for litter, fodder, and for sale, to be delivered in the period of leisure 
for horses. All straw should be stacked and thatched as fast as 
thrashed, especially now straw is selling at a high price—in fact, it 
is as dear as hay in some of our northern and midland counties. 
Still, much of it has been so injured in colour and quality by the 
heavy rains in the harvest that very little is fit for foddering cattle, 
unless it is cut into chaff and spiced and mixed with pulped roots, 
cake, meal, &c. 
Live Stock .—Cattle have done well during the autumn, but foot- 
and-mouth disease is still prevalent in certain districts in the king¬ 
dom, and we know some farms, where the tenants were on the point 
of quitting, that this disease has amounted to a great disaster in con¬ 
sequence of non-removal of the animals and reduced condition. 
Sheep have been more free from foot-rot and epidemic lameness than 
we have known them for the past four or five years. Fatting sheep 
have made good progress—in fact, where the cake and corn has been 
liberally supplied to them more mutton has been made than in the 
generality of autumn seasons. Horned ewes of some of the best 
flocks which we have lately visited have nearly finished lambing. 
Some flocks have quite done, and the ewes and their lambs are now 
together folding on common Turnips and looking beautifully : some 
of the earliest lambs now weigh 8 tbs. per quarter, and will be very 
fat and handsome for killing at Christmas. It is very entertaining 
to walk through these noble flocks as we have lately done, such as 
we know from experience are of the finest tribes, and we are pleased 
to find that as the weather has been fair and fine a larger number of 
lambs have fallen and been saved than for some years past. It is 
greatly in their favour that the best sorts of Dutch and Hop Clover 
hay has never been known in finer condition for the feeding of early 
ewes and lambs ; in fact, we have examined some flocks which have 
as yet only received hay and red round Turnips, and are as fine in 
condition as they well can be. It is not only the horned ewes which 
are so forward this year, but the west-country down ewes are also 
forward, and various flocks we know of are due to lamb well together 
during the month of December, and we notice also that they are in 
splendid condition. All the bullocks for fattening should now be in 
the stalls or boxes. We prefer the latter, especially for those which 
are nearly ready for the shambles, and as the Christmas demand for 
beef is now very near liberal feeding must be continued until they 
are sold. 
Bath and West of England Societal — At the last Council 
Meeting of the Society held at Bristol, it was resolved, on the 
motion of the Hon. and Rev. J. T. Boscawen, seconded by Colonel 
Luttrell, that the Cardiff Meeting next year shall commence on the 
Monday in the week between the Epsom and Ascot races. The 
fixture of this date was justified on various grounds, among others 
the desirability of adhering to the old usage of the Society anterior 
to the existence of either of the great Metropolitan Horse Shows ; 
the importance of the usual date to manufacturers, more especially of 
mowers and haymakers, who, in anticipation of the hay harvest, find 
a very large sale of such labour-saving machinery; and further, a 
desire to abstain as far as possible from interfering Avith the Royal 
Agricultural Society either as to the date or district of its meeting. 
As at Cardiff there are peculiar facilities, it is proposed to have a 
large exhibition of field implements within the show-yard as long 
as the Show continues ; for this purpose grass crops will be provided 
free of charge, under such arrangements and limitations as shall be 
determined by the Field Stewards, for the working exhibition, within 
and immediately outside the yard, of grass-cutting, haymaking, rick- 
making, and any new appliance for saving the grass crops. With 
reference to the meeting, a deputation of the Glamorganshire Society, 
consisting of Colonel Turbervill, Mr. Garsed, and Mr. Huntley (Secre¬ 
tary), attended to express their desire to amalgamate with the Bath 
and West of England and Southern Counties Society, and, instead of 
holding a meeting of their own during the year, to offer prizes of 
upwards of £200 for competition in the Cardiff show-yard. After 
some discussion as to the terms on which the amalgamation should 
take place, it was cordially ratified on both sides by the Council and 
the Deputation. 
POULTRY NOTES. 
We referred last week to the admirable manner in which the 
arrangements for receiving and penning the legion of poultry and 
Pigeons at the Crystal Palace Show were planned and carried out 
inside the building. Everything was as orderly and methodical 
as if only five hundred instead of five thousand birds were being 
dealt with. The management earned success, and we are pleased 
to be able to record that the Committee have had substantial 
proofs that their efforts are appreciated. Never before have they 
had such an entry, and never before has the number of visitors to 
the Show approached the record of this year. The sales, also, 
have been large ; and though we have not heard of any such sen¬ 
sational purchases as have been made in some former years, yet 
many good birds in the poultry section have changed owners at 
prices varying from £10 to £25. Lady Gwydyr’s cup and second 
Dark Brahma cockerels reached the latter figure, the former going 
to join the cup old cock and the latter to a Yorkshire yard. 
Amongst the Pigeons, also, sales were brisk, one bird—an English 
Owl—finding a purchaser at £50, and others at £30, £25, and £20. 
Apakt from the question of judging, which is a very difficult 
one, and to which we referred in our note last week, there are one 
or two points as to which we would venture to offer a sugges ion. 
There was a class for table poultry, pure or cross-bred, to be 
judged by weight only, and another for cross-bred table fowl to 
be judged for fineness of quality, &e., “ sex and breed of parents 
to be stated.” These are useful nractical classes, and the pro¬ 
vision which we have quoted from the schedule applied to both, 
and enforced, would make them of great value to the poultry 
farmer. As a matter of fact the rule only applies to the last- 
named class, and was far more honoured in the breach than in 
the observance. The cup for weight went to Mr. Boissier w th 
a massive pair of Silver-Grey Dorkings which weighed 19 lbs. 
Second and third were fine-looking birds, probably of Brahma- 
Dorking origin, but the catalogue was silent as to this. In the 
other class the Rev. G. Gilbert took the cup with a pair of close- 
feathered meaty-looking pullets, but, iu defiance of the printed 
rules, their parentage was not disclosed. We guess them to be a 
cross between Pile Game and Silver-Grey Dorkings; but why 
should we be obliged to guess? Second here went to Mr. leget- 
meier with a fine pair of cockerels. The catalogue gives t! e 
parentage here as “ Dorking cock and Game hen," but adds the 
puzzling words “second-cross cockerels. ’ What does this mean 
Did Mr. Tegetmc.ier cross back to the Dorking or to the Game 
and if so, how does the statement as to parentage come in ? Third 
were evidently also of a Game-Dorking cross, but were again 
without pedigree. These cl: s es ought to be the means of dissemi¬ 
nating useful information as to cross-breed-, and it is for the 
Committee to apply the rule as to stating parentage to both 
classes, and to insist upon its being strictly adhered to. 
The other matter as to which we have a suggestion to offer is 
