5 to JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ D^ce-.bor ii, i384. 
shall have means of shelter and protection from inclement weather 
and excessive cold. Sich buildings should be spacious, yet snug and 
warm, airy, and with thorough ventilation without being draughty. 
Now, if ever, they should be in thorough repair ; sound roofs, secure 
doors and shutters, walls, partitions, floors, and drains all in order, 
and every attention given to promote the health and comfort of the 
animals. On some home farms with cosily and complete farm build¬ 
ings this advice may appear superfluous, but there are plenty of such 
farms in existence with inferior buildings of a very makeshift pat¬ 
tern. Not to new buildings but to the condition of old ones do we 
now desire to look closely. Have we made all snug and safe for 
winter ? Stockmen are frequently careless about ttifles which 
seriously affect the health of animals under their care, and managers 
of home farms should see carefully and often to the condition of all 
the buildings and enclosures. We like large loose boxes for horses, 
deep roomy lodges for cattle, plenty of snug pens for calves and 
delicate cows, warm clean pigstjms, and convenient poultry houses. 
Every yard and enclosure should have a gate or moveable panel for 
access to manure with carts. We have this convenience even in the 
small bull and colts yards, so as to remove all the manure with carts, 
and avoid the use of wheelbarrows. We have many lodges with 
boarded sides, all of which have had the anniul dressing of hot tar 
well rubbed in. A large old barn which was comparatively useless in 
its original form has become one of our most useful buildings since 
w’e had the interior divided into pens for cattle, and compartments 
for roots and fodder. 
The storage of grain in rat-proof buildings is another important 
matter. Rats are migratory animals, and we are seldom quite free 
from them. When we took charge of the farm now under our care 
we found a large granary over the cow house, which was much in¬ 
fested by rats, although the building was a lofty one with substantial 
stone walls. Ivy had been let grow up the walls, and th's formed a 
convenient ladder for the rats, but what was even worse was the 
existence of a ceiling of plaster in the cow house under the floor of 
the granary. The space between the floor and ceiling must have 
long been a paradise for the rats, for it proved to be almost full of 
the husks of corn. The removal of the Ivy and the ceiling rendered 
the granary safe from further incursions of rats, and we only mention 
the matter as an instance of stupidity and carelessness leading to a 
serious waste of grain. Granaries of galvanised iron would appear 
cheap and desirable buildings for the purpose, and quite vermin-proof. 
But we believe them to be decidedly objectionable from the fact of 
the iron sides and roof so frequently becoming much colder than the 
interior air, the natural result being a condensation of moisture, which 
falls upon the corn in sufficient quantities to do much mischief. The 
remedy would be an interior lining with a space between it and the 
roof and sides. 
The smoking house will now be required for the curing of hams 
and bacon. So plain a building is seldom out of order, but care must 
be taken to have the adjoining shed well stored with oak sawdust, 
quite free from any mixture of fir sawdust, which must never be iwed I 
in the smoking house, or the flavour of the bacon is spoiled. To 
obtain an equable temperature in the slaughter house in summer we 
have had the roof thickly thatched with Heather at a cost of 5s. per 
100 square feet. Fine perforated zinc shutters and doors have also 
been prepared for summer use in this building to exclude insects and 
to afford a free current of fresh air. 
IMPLEMENTS. 
Costly labour-saving appliances are now common to most farms, 
and it is only reasonable to expect that due care shall be taken of 
them, yet it is the fact that a well managed set of farm implements 
is the exception and not the rule. This is a matter demanding imme¬ 
diate reform, and this is the best season of the year to examine tools 
and to have all necessary repairs and painting done. Far better is it 
to set labourers at work with a paint brush on wet days than that they 
should lose time, for implements are of necessity so much exposed to 
wet that an annual coat or two of paint is clearly necessaiy. As ploughs, 
cultivators, horse hoes, and harrows come off the land the iron parts 
should be scraped, the whole made clean and examined, all repairs 
seen to at once, painting done as speedily as possible, and then each 
implement is in suitable condition to be put aside with a feeling of 
certainty that it is ready for use at a minute’s notice. We always 
keep a set of navvy barrows and 2-inch planks on hand for land 
Avork. If much used the wheel blocks and sides of such barrows 
require some repairs annually ; the planks, too, should have a band of 
2-inch iron hooping nailed round the ends, which tends materially to 
preserve them and prevent splitting. If reaping, mowing, and 
tedding machines and horse rakes were not examined and put into 
thorough repair immediately after haymaking and harvest it should 
be done now, and great care taken to overlook no flaw or worn part 
now that there is ample time for deliberate inspection and sound 
repairs. The full importance of close attention to these matters is 
Avell known to all practical men, for he is indeed fortunate who has 
never had a breakage of machinery in the midst of harvest, and the 
vexatious loss of time, which is then indeed most precious. 
WORK ON THE HOME EARM. 
Poultry .—The supply of eggs from the farm is now very satisfactory, 
a daily supply of about twenty fresh eggs being steadily maintained. > 
far this is right, but we hare not enough eggs, owing to the fact ot \\o 
serious failures elsewhere, only five eggs being forthcoming from t e 
gamekeeper’s poultry house last week, and not an egg from the orna¬ 
mental poultry house where the Silver-spangled Hamburghs are kep . 
The cause of the failures is owing to a want of pullets saved from t e 
earliest broods of the year ; only in one inslance out of three have we 
been able to have our repeated orders obeyed, that enough strong ear y 
pullets should be reared and saved to afford a full supply of winter cgg'^- 
The bailiff’s wife is triumphant; the other caretakers are so clearly proven 
to be incompetent or careless that if they are allowed another tiial it 
must be upon the understanding that they are bound to succeed whe e 
success is so clearly possible, or resign their charge to the hands of rea y 
competent persons. There is really no special treatment necessary to 
induce pallets to begin laying early in autumn and throughout winter. 
They must of course be strong and healthy, but early, regular, and fre¬ 
quent feeding insures this. We have before now told how our first baton 
of pullets this year began laying when they were only four months ol -, 
but then it must not be forgotten that they always had the first meal ar 
5 A.M., and were fed again throughout each day at intervals of abou. 
three hours, and so had always eaten and digested one meal in the morn¬ 
ing before many chickens have had any food. At one time our losses ot 
spring chickens from gapes amounted to upwards of a hundred yearly. 
We now avoid this fatal disease altogether by taking hens and chickens 
right away from the old rearing yards out into the meadows, keeping 
them there till the chicks have the quill feathers well developed and are 
safe. 
Very heavy demands for chickens for cooking told so heavily upon 
our forward broods, that in order to avoid complaints of the size and 
quality of the later chickens we have for several weeks had the fattening 
coops in full use. The birds are put in these coops three weeks 
being killed. They are fed three time^ with a mixture of oatmeal, boi e 
potatoes, and chopped suet mixed with milk, and are crammed with bolts 
of the same mixture steeped in warm milk every evening. This fattens 
them quickly and renders the flesh very tender and juicy. A somew a 
similar process to this is practised at Heathfield, which is the centre o 
the Sussex chicken trade. The yards of the farmers and many ot t e 
cottagers there are crowded with fattening coops, and the fact ot fatteen 
tons of dead chickens being sent off weekly from Heathfield station gives 
some idea of the magnitude of this profitable business. 
American Farming. —Two cattle kings of the Pacific coast, Messrs 
Miller anl Lux, are rated at 8 , 000,000 to 10,000,000 dollars, and were 
poor men t wenty years ago. They have about 90,000 head of cattle and 
115,000 he.xd of sheep, of which latter they kill 6000 per month. They 
own an irrigating canal worth 1,000,000 dollars, fences 300 miles in 
length (a fortune in itself), in Califoruia 600,000 acres of land, in Nebraska 
10,000 acres and 15,000 acres of Alfalfa Grass.—(A/uericvia Cultivator.') 
Seeds .and Roots -Vt the Southfield Show. —We learn that sp endi I 
displays of seeds and roots are on view at the Smithfield Cattle Show in 
the Royal Agricultural Hall, arranged by such firms as Messrs. Carter and 
Co., Sutton & Sons, Webb & Son, and others who contribute so materially 
to the attrac'iveness of the exhibitions, but as wo have again to note the 
non-receipt of press tickets we are unable to refer more particularly to the 
exhibits. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat.51° 32'40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
OATH. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
1384. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 328 
and Sea 
Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
0 
1 Temp, of 
Soil at 
1 1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
.9 
A 
Nov and Doe. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
5o 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass. 
30 
Inches. 
30.070 
deg. 
30.2 
deg. 
29.7 
SE. 
deg. 
38.8 
deg. 
37.9 
deg. 
29.3 
deg. 
42.2 
deg. 
26.9 
In. 
0.700 
1 
29.882 
34.7 
34.4 
E. 
38 2 
37.8 
30.4 
36.7 
30.9 
0.049 
2 
29.834 
85.0 
34.8 
S.E. 
38.2 
49.5 
31.4 
48.4 
32.1 
0.2o8 
Wednesday .. 
3 
29.427 
53.7 
52.2 
S.AV. 
39.8 
65 2 
34.8 
59.7 
35.8 
0.174 
Thursday 
4 
29.254 
47.5 
44.8 
S.AV. 
41.9 
61.4 
41.6 
62.8 
34.9 
— 
5 
29.765 
38.9 
37.6 
S.AV. 
41.5 
47.1 
37.2 
66.7 
32.0 
0.413 
Saturday .... 
G 
29.707 
52.2 
51.2 
AV. 
41.3 
55.6 
38 3 
53.6 
34.8 
0.024 
20.708 
41.7 
40.7 
40.0 
47.8 
31.9 
53.3 
32.5 
1.G53 
REMARKS. 
30th.—Fair early, slight snow at 3.30 P.M.; snow or rain all the evening. 
1st.—Sleety rain in morning; dull and damp afternoon and evening. 
2nd.—Dnil .and drizzly, with frequent showers ; much warmer. 
3rd.—Dull morning; fine about noon; wet afternoon; fine night. 
4lh.—Wild day with some rain ; also some sun in morning. 
Sth.—Bright cold day ; rain in evening. 
6th.—AVanner, but dull and damp. , , , „ ^ , 
A wanner week than the two previons ones, and one of the very few wet weeks 
which Ave have had tliis Tear. In f ct, the only weeks wiih intdi of rain have been 
those ending June 7th (25:7), September 6th (i.eas), and December 6th (1.658).—G. J 
SYMONS. 
