22 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 3. 1884. 
beef would prove a good speculation. We find IMr. N. Fitt in his 
essay gives us another link in the chain of events connected with 
Longhorn success. lie says, “ IMr. Hhomas Satchw’ell of Ileintield, 
near Birmingham, had a herd in 187G that must have been founded 
at a very early date. He used from Wroxall, and also a bull by 
IMr. Horton’s ‘ Old Conqueror,’ the tirst prize animal at the Oxford 
Eoyal Show in 1839. The Wroxall herd dates back at least to the 
middle of the hist century.” 
(To be continued.) 
WORK OX THE HOME FARM. 
IForse Laljonr .—It is a busy time now, for not only is the prepara¬ 
tion for and the drilling of Turnip seeds going on, but at all intervals 
the carting of hay, ensilage, &c., is going on also. The horse labour 
connected with hay is rather considerable, for one or two mowdng 
machines will be constantly employed, for these work early and late 
without reference to the weather. The tedding machines, however, 
work only in fine weather ; but the horse rake is very valuable as a 
labour-saving implement, especially on the upland or paik pastures, as 
well as on the large outlying fields on the hill farms, where large flocks 
of breeding ewes are usually kept. In the water meadows, however, 
especially where they are old-established meadows, the labour of men 
with the scythe is required. There are, however, in some districts 
catch meadows, as they are called, on which the flood waters in some 
districts are carried on to the higher parts, and the water distributed by 
its own gravity, being caught by cross trenches, each being a distributor 
at a lower level. It is here woith while to consider the labour of horses 
connected with the carriage of grass to the silo, for it is not only from 
five to seven times greater than the caitage of hay to the stack, but 
greater when wet with rain water. We note also that a new implement 
is available for cutting tbe grass into chaff or short lengths as delivered 
from the caits. The chaff or cut grass is carried on from the cutter 
machine and delivered into the silos by an endless web or cloth 
traverser, thus saving some labour. Now, it is important to consider 
what kind of grass produce should be secured in the silo for ensilage. 
This will of course depend upon our requirements and the products we 
have available for the purpose, also the character of the season prevail¬ 
ing at the time of cutting. Generally speaking, the water meadow 
grasses being coarse are better adajited for ensilage than park lands ; 
but first of all the home farmer must consider what animals he will 
have to feed during the winter and early spring months. If dairy cows 
will require the produce of the meadows it would yield more milk in 
ensilage than when made into hay. At the same time the probable 
weather must always be taken into account, for in showery or adverse 
seasons for haying, if there is a silo, it is best to secure it there instead 
of risking its value as hay. There does not appear at present on farms 
where a fair proportion of arable land is attached that it is woith while 
to attempt the making of ensilage in ordinary or average seasons, for 
the use of the ewe flock either before or after lambing, for now that the 
large Drumhead Cattle and Savoy Cabbages can be grown as easily as 
any other of the rooc crops, for when they can he fed with good oat 
straw as well they are always well adapted for the feeding of ewe,=, 
especially before lambing, and certainly at less labour and trouble than 
ensilage at the time of winter feeding in the fold. 
It IS now a good time to drill the Greystone Turnip seed for producing 
the main crop for consuming on the land. As fast as our JIangold crops 
are ready for horse-hoeing the second time we shall certainly sow over 
the land 1^ lb. of Turnip seed per acre, and sow also 1 cwt. of nitrate 
of soda per acre between the lines of Mangold, in order to make the 
Turnips grow and yield a good amount of foliage, although they will be 
somewhat shaded by the Blangold ; but in case the Mangolds are drilled 
at from 30 to 3G inches apart between the line.®, a very valuable produce 
of Turnip leaves may be had without reducing the weight per acre of the 
Mangold if the plants are left closer in the lines ; and where the land 
has been liberally dressed with yard manure and superphosphate drilled 
with the seed, we look forward to ploughing-in for a Wheat crop after 
the Mangolds are removed, all the Turnip foliage grown, and the 
Mangold greens combined, which our practice tells us is sufficient for a 
full crop or bulk of Wheat straw, the yield of course depending upon 
the nature of the season. 
Hand Lnhinir .—Any opportunity occurring hedge-trimming should 
now be done ; for although to keep hedges in nice order they should be 
looked over again jmt before Michaelmas, yet the fir.-t trimming should 
always be done directly after midsummer, because the trimmings of 
grass, weeds, &c., will be prevented from going to seed, and which, 
together with tbe young hedge wood, may be collected and stored for 
covering Mangold and other root heaps, it being better than straw for 
that purpose. Men will now be required in filling the carts when 
laying-out earth and manure composts on the meadows, and spreading 
as fast as it is laid out, for as soon as it is spread, rolled, and chain- 
harrow’ed the sooner it will be improving the growth of after grass, and 
the sooner the worms will begin to draw into their holes any decaying 
vegetable matters attached to the compost, for in this way any sub¬ 
stances which will rot will be operating as manure for grass land. The 
women also should be encouraged to do light field work, especially in 
cases where small bunches of couch may be found, for when they are 
removed with a light three-grained fork it is easy work fer women; 
and, unlike hoeing, which does not always kill, but often transplants t^e 
roots of couch, and in future instead of being women’s labour only it 
soon spreads and makes a fallow necessary, with all its attendant costly 
horse labour and loss of crops. 
Live Stock.—la about a month’s time it will probably on some vale 
farms be advisable to buy in a lot of yearling off cattle of whatever 
kind may suit the district, and if on farms where dairy cows are kept it 
should be heifers, otherwise it should be steers, so that after eating 
the late grow th of grass in the meadows they may be boxed and fed on 
for beef to be sold in the following spring or early summer months, when 
light weights are always required by the butchers. N iw the winter 
provision for these young animals and the dairy cow's consumed at the 
farm will pay much better than the usual practice of buying sheep to 
be fed on the land, for the cattle fed at the homestead, alihough it 
involves the removal of a portion of the root crop.«, say all over 12 tons 
per acre, v/hich may bo ploughed-in for manure at any time and for any 
crop, either Wheat or Lent corn, without delaying the seed time or 
damaging the condition of the land like the treading with sheep ; and 
we say that in the future, as the cereals and pulse crops are the rent¬ 
paying produce, more attention and more extension of their growth 
must be the rule, or the result will not consist of full commercial advan¬ 
tages in the management of the home farm. Dairy cows should during 
the next two months receive a full allow'ance of green fodder at milking 
time night and morning, or citherwise cotton cake and maize meal in 
addition to their grazing on the pastures, otherwise they will go dry 
too soon, and go out of profit while getting costly food. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Foot-rot in Sheep (IF. J.). —We have had experience in this for many 
years, but we never hesitated to employ sufficient skilled labour to keep the 
disease under. Our remedy is as follow’s :—Take 3 ozs. of nitre, 3 ozs. of 
blue vitriol, 3 ozs. of coarse gunpowder reduced to a very fine powder, and 
well mixed with hog'.s lard ; it will then keep ready for use. This we have 
found a satisfactory remedy for forty years past, but the sheep must be 
attended daily, the feet pared if necessary, and after the dressing to stand on 
dry straw' for tw'o hours. 
Poultry Farming {T. 8 .)—An immense deal of harm has been done by 
rash writing. To begin with, certain wild enthusiasts, who perhaps deceived 
themselves and certainly deceived the public, wrote much about the 
enormous profits w'hich might be made by poultry breeding. Unfortunately 
some of their pamphlets sounded so attractive, from the promise of easily 
made gain which they held out, that they found far more purchasers and readers 
than they deserved. Their conclusions were not based on any real or 
practical knowledge, and w'ere, of course, found delusive. Those w’ho had 
been unwise enough to place much confidence in them were naturally 
disgusted, sold their poultry, often at great loss, tore down their long rows 
of houses and wire fences, and return'd to their original plan of buying 
shop eggs at Id. a iDiece instead of producing them, as they had fondly 
expected, at Id. a dozen. It is not long since w'e saw an advertisemei t to 
the effect that in some such p'ace, covering about 2 acres, from £ 1,500 to 
£2000 a year might be made by rearing biids for tbe markets. We venture 
to be positive that it w'ould be absolutely impossible for anyone to make 
anything like a tithe of that sum, and anyone who honestly believes in its 
possibility must be totally ignorant of the W'hole subject. We shall not be 
so rash as to hazard any plan for a poultry farm, much less shall we draw 
out any elaborate calculation as to the profits which might be derived from 
one. Figures may be made to prove almost anything, and those who have 
pretended to enter into them have done much harm. Because fifty fowls 
may be kept in health on an acre of ground and yield a fair profit, it by no 
means follows that five hundred will do the same on ten acres. We do 
believe, however, that many of the difficulties on this scire, and the risks 
too, may be much lessened by the intelligent distribution of stock over 
suitable ground, and by its systematic management on natural principles. 
ilETEOTlOLOGICAL OBSERVATtONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat.61° 32'40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" tV.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
« A.M. 
IN THE DAV. 
Rain 
1884. 
June. 
Barome¬ 
ter at S2‘» 
and Sea 
Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
1 of Wind. 
1 
1 Temp, of 
Soil at 
1 1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
prasK. 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg 
In. 
Sunday . 
22 
30.130 
02.1 
55.8 
N.E. 
60.4 
73.6 
51.4 
106.4 
4.5.2 
— 
Monday. 
23 
30. (» 
04.(> 
57 9 
N.W. 
61.2 
71.7 
5!.l 
120 1 
53..3 
— 
'Puesday. 
24 
30.000 
03.5 
5(5.8 
N. 
62.3 
75.9 
51.0 
120.0 
4(53 
0.010 
Wednesday .. 
25 
30.021 
,59G 
58.3 
N.W. 
63.6 
75.') 
.59.4 
117 1 
50.4 
— 
Thursday .... 
23 
30.197 
68.5 
59.4 
N .E. 
63.1 
8 1.7 
47.4 
119.4 
44.2 
— 
Friday. 
27 
30.158 
70.3 
61.7 
N.E. 
04 4 
81 7' 
53.4 
113.0 
48.4 
— 
Saturday .... 
28 
30.2.54 
70.3 
64.6 
E. 
63.8 
89.4 
541 
118.1 
47 8 
— 
80.122 
65.0 
59.5 
C2.7 
77 0 
531 
11(>5 
48 8 
O.OlO 
REMARKS. 
22nd.—Fine morning, but clouding over in the afternoon. 
23rd.—Fine, bright, and sunny. 
24rh.—Rat tier more cloud, but a very fine day. 
2.5th.—Colder, a spinkle of rain early, damp morning, fine aftcrw.irds. 
2t;th.—Nearly cloudless, fine and hot. 
27th .-Dull after 9 A.M., but afternoon and night very bright and fine. 
28th.—Fine and hot, lightning In S.W. from 9 P.M. 
A fine summer week, temperature much above the average, and only a sprinkle of 
rain.—G. J. SVMONS. 
