46 
JOURNAL OF HOTxTIGULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 10, 1884, 
bIiows, they simply competed ia a mixed or miscellaneous class of 
‘ crosses, or any other breed,’ from which Shorthorns and the more 
favoured breeds were excluded. In 1862, however, at Battersea, 
separate classes were opened for this interesting old-established race, 
and the result was a display such as to convince even opponents of 
the breed that, far from becoming extinct, the ‘ curly-coats’ were in 
the ascendant. Stimulated by their success at this, the first inter¬ 
national gathering, and by the admiration bestowed on their exhibits 
by shrewd practical men, the leading breeders—to wit. His Grace the 
Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, and manj'^ others too numerous 
to mention—endeavoured, like the north-country wres ler, to‘mend 
their hold,’ and, having done this, they seem determined to keep it. 
At any rate it must be honestly admitted that Longhorns are extend¬ 
ing themselves beyond their original home of Leicestershire, Warwick¬ 
shire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, and the adjacent counties ; and it 
was plainly visible from the classes at Kilburn that in addition to the 
formation of a Longhorn herd-book, very great care indeed is now 
being bestowed on their cultivation. Great length of frame, deep 
ribs, well-covered backs and loins, heavy flesh, majestic carriage, and 
remarkable similarity are outwardly visible marks of the breed ; 
while they enjoy a reputation for yielding, on poor herbage, a fair 
measure of milk, singularly rich in caseine (or cheese), and producing 
quite the average per-centage of butter ; and when slaughtered they 
abound in lean flesh, and weigh well to their appearance.” Eeport 
on live stock at Carlisle by Finlay Dun, 1880 :—“ Longhorns increase 
in number and popularity ; a herd-book records their ancient descent; 
new breeders in other parts of the countrj'^ are added to the ranks of 
their select midland counties supporters ; separate classes are opened 
for them at many important shows ; £130 offered in prizes at 
Carlisle called forth eighteen entries. Whilst cultivating early 
maturit}", the economical manufacture of beef and show-jmrd honours, 
it is to be hoped that the milking capabilities of this old dairy sort 
will be preserved. For such purposes they are more likely to be of 
national value than in vainly competing more exclusively as beef- 
makers with Shorthorns, Herefords, and polled brce's. If they are 
to become a robust, hardy, milking breed the over-feeding of the 
heifers animadverted on by the Judges must be avoided. The most 
striking Longhorn was Major-General Sir Frederick Fitzwigram’s 
‘ Prince Victor,’ one of the biggest and most imposing bulls at 
Carlisle, with capital carriage, back, loins, and hind-quarters. His 
half-brother, shown by Mr. Hall of Derby, was placed second ; 
several of his progeny took prizes in the younger classes. Of the 
females the best-looking was the Duke of Buckingham's prize two- 
year-old, the massive symmetrical ‘Lady Aston.’” Having made 
these numerous quotations from the reports of the Royal shows in 
several years down to 1880, we may in conclusion observe that 
except for its hardiness, and perhaps the making of certain kinds of 
cheese, the Longhorn is now so far surpassed by our more fashion¬ 
able breeds ; bu^ yet no national show would be complete without 
some specimens of what was once the finest breed of cattle in 
England, and probably in the world. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour .—To be profitable this must be economised, both as to 
the number and power of the animals, and also through judicious 
management on the land, the mode of feeding, and general management 
in the stalls. The horses’ health in the stables must be maintained by- 
floors and stalls affording an easy bed, capable of absorbing all urine, 
which, with earth floors, will fix and deodorise all noxious vapours, and 
at the same time require less straw or peat moss for bedding, to be used 
only as cleanliness requires. The result, when properly managed, will 
lengthen the duration of life and labour of each animal (barring 
accidents) by three years. The mode of feeding never, either in winter 
or summer, should consist of dry food only. The animals should never 
be under 16|^ hands high, stout in proportion, with clean legs and quick 
action. An odd horse or mule is indispensable to economy in use of the 
team horses. One great requirement of horse labour is fallowing ; but 
why are fallows on the generality of soils necessary 1 Simply because of 
the rotation of farming commonly carried out prevents the land being 
kept clean by hand labour only, which, in a close system of cropping, can 
be easily accomplished by forking out couch and other indigenous weeds. 
The cleanest farms we have ever seen, even on the mixed soils, have 
been kept so without ever making a fallow, which Sir J. B. Lawes very 
truly says suffer loss of fertility, and involve horse labour, which can¬ 
not be made effective in adverse seasons ; but cleaning the land by band 
labour is never hindered by any weather except a term of frost, the 
hand labour in results being effective and cheap, whereas horse labour in 
its results is very costly and uncertain. Horse labour, on the other hand, 
may be made effective by the use of the mowing and tedding machines, 
also by the use of horse rake and elevator for hay, corn, &c., and the 
reaping and tying machine proves the best substitute for insufficient 
and inefficient hand labour and absence of female workers, in which 
case Koldmoo’s one-horse weed-eradicator is great economy. So it will 
be observed that horse labour used with proper implements saves manual 
labour, and vice versa when no fallows are required. At the same time 
practical farmers will be greatly benefited by the less time required to 
carry out all the old operation.? formerly done by hand labour only ; and 
commercially speaking, saving time by shortening the haying and harvest 
periods means reduction of costs and improved value of products saved. 
Horse labour may now be employed in carting and laying out compost 
mixtures of earth and decayed vegetable substances of every kind, for we 
find that by laying it on the pastures as fast as the hay is cleared off it 
neither tracks or injures the pastures in any way, and is quite light 
carriage as compared with such work in the winter months, for soon 
after it is laid out it is chain-harrowed. In this way the earthy portions 
are spread on the soil, and the remains of decayed vegetation, such as 
couch and other weeds, are quickly drawn in by the worms. In this 
we are following a rule, which we have acted upon for many years, never 
to burn anything which will rot; for in the death and decay of all vege¬ 
table substances manure for future crops will be obtained. The same 
policy and advantages will be obtained by the lately revived system 
of green manuring. As soon as harvest commences and room is 
obtained for sowing green crop seeds, such as Turnips, winter Vetches, 
Giant Rye, Trifolium, &c., we have for the past forty years grown fine 
and abundant crops of Turnips, the seed being drilled every evening 
between the lines of sheaves of early white Oats and Wheat. Crops 
stolen, as we call it, in this way, are very valuable either for feeding 
sheep or for ploughing-in f n Lent corn in the spring. In our close 
system of cropping with saleable produce we have for a long period kept 
the land clean. The constant succession of cropping on the three-course 
rotation not only prevents weeds and couch from obtaining any hold on 
the land, but also gives frequent and constant opportunities for the 
female workers to fork out ct uch and weeds at any time of the year, 
except in frost; and when near harvest the land is covered with abundant 
produce. These are a few of the commercial advantages enabling the 
home farmer to meet the depression of the times, and which, after so 
long practice on our own farms, we can recommend them to any farmer 
as one of the best ways of meeting the circumstances by which all culti¬ 
vators are now surrounded more or less, and which seem likely to 
continue ; for if corn is to he cheap we must grow cheap corn, which 
can only be done by large acreages of large and abundant crops of 
grain, for there is no possibility of sheep-farming being substituted 
for corn-farming, because sheep-fatting is not profitable for two especial 
reasons—that is, it renders expensive fallows and root-culture a necessity, 
and at the same time displaces and thus renders impossible the growth of 
full acreages and abundant crops of corn. 
Live Stock .—The past winter and spring upon the whole has been 
favourable for dairy farming and the rearing of young horned cattle. It 
is in fact under ordinary circumstances the only way in which cattle can 
be made commercially advantageous, excepting cattle grazed and 
fattened on the best pastures without other feeding stuffs than grass and 
hay. The advantage of dairy cattle is that, unlike sheep, they displace 
no corn or pulse or rent-paying crops of any kind, and yet yield full 
profits and results either as milk, butter, cheese, or veal sold. Feeding 
bullocks for beef is seldom profitable under ordinary circumstances in 
which roots, cake, corn, and hay are used. We have often explained in 
this Journal that any advantage cannot be obtained except by the use of 
straw instead of hay in winter feeding, or otherwise by feeding with 
Clover and other green crops in the boxes during summer. Here, again, 
however, these are better than sheep, for they occupy no land either at 
seed time, or damage it by treading when feeding, tor the roots having 
been stored the land can be immediately seeded for corn and rent-paying 
crops. In fact, if dairy farming is carried on upon the arable land it will 
pay as well as pasture. It may even be made more profitable if com¬ 
pared either with sheep fattening or cattle feeding for the butcher. 
Breeding and rearing of pigs does not prove profitable, except as a 
speciality of sort and type for sale. The fatting of pigs can be done 
by anybody ; it is, therefore, not an actual farming requirement. The 
breeding and rearing of farm horses we have made to pay, especially 
when sold at two years of age, and never having been off the straw in 
yard or shed in divisions. In this way they are reared without blemish, 
and prove perfectly docile when carefully attended, the manure arising 
being an important point. 
METEOROLOaiCAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat. 81° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
» A.M. 
IN THE DAT. 
0 
1884. 
June and July. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 32S 
and Sea 
Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
i of Wind. 
I 
1 Temp, of 
1 Soil at 
1 1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Tmperatare. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
gra$i.M. 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
dee. 
fn. 
Sunday .... 
30.011 
63.2 
59.0 
N.E. 
64.0 
742 
55.8 
114A 
51.7 
0.112 
Monday .... 
30.111 
65.3 
00.2 
N.W. 
62.9 
77.6 
512 
120.4 
46.0 
Tuesday.... 
30.210 
68.0 
61.8 
S.E. 
64.1 
78.4 
55.3 
116.1 
51.9 
_ 
Wednesday 
. 2 
30.182 
68.0 
60.8 
E. 
64.3 
79.7 
52.7 
117.6 
48.4 
_ 
Thursday .. 
. 3 
30.035 
70.7 
63.2 
N.E. 
65.0 
82.9 
52.3 
106.8 
48.8 
_ 
Friday. 
29.922 
75.1 
66.6 
E. 
65 2 
869 
57.0 
125.0 
5U.3 
_ 
Saturday .. 
. 6 
2:».936 
69.6 
63.6 
E. 
66.5 
78.2 
59 2 
111.1 
54.4 
0.048 
80.059 
68.6 
62.2 
64.6 
79.7 
54.8 
115.9 
50.2 
0.160 
REMARKS. 
29th.—Sharp Rhower 9 to 10 A.M , increasingly dark till 0J5 P.M., then fine. 
SOth.—Very fine day; brilliant evening. 
Ist.—Lull morning; fine day and very calm. 
2nd.—Morning very misty, afterwards fine and very calm. 
3rd.—Almost foggy in the morning and dark, afterwards fine and hot. 
4th.—Very fine and hot; the hottest day since July 15th, 1881; lightning from 11 p.M. 
till after midnight. 
Sth.—Cloudy, cooler, and slight rain in afternoon. 
A very fine summer week, warmer than any week either in 1883 or 1882.—G. J. SYMONS . 
