August 10 , 1882.] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 141 
cannot do better than quote from a letter in the Journal of the 
Royal Agricultural Society for 1859 from Mr. Wm. Cubbit of 
North Waltham to Mr. J. C. Morton, wherein he states—“ The 
land I occupy is of the finest quality, and I have come to the 
conclusion that to farm it unusually high, and stick to the usual 
four-course system, is occasionally attended with great loss and 
disappointment. My plan of late years has been to pursue no 
particular course, but to crop close and extend the rotation, as 
for instance, thus—First, Turnips or'Mangold Wurtzel; second, 
Wheat or Oats ; third, Barley ; fourth, Clover or other seeds or 
Beans ; fifth, Wheat; which is a kind of five-course shift, care 
being taken not to lay down more land in seeds than is required 
for the use of my horses. After Barley, therefore, I usually grow 
a field or two of Beans, but always grow as large a shift of roots 
as possible, being generally well paid by the winter grazing of 
sheep and cattle, and also by the means thus afforded of getting 
the straw made into good manure.” 
This Norfolk four-course system is still continued on the strong 
lands, generally on medium or small-sized holdings, in the county 
we are told ; but it is difficult to see how it can be practically 
turned to account as a profitable rotation, for the leading point 
in the system is the growth of one-fourth of the arable land in 
roots to be fed off by sheep, but this cannot be done on cold 
strong land in the winter months, or at spring in time for sowing 
the land with Lent corn. It may, however, be done by the removal 
of the main crop of roots off the land for bullock-feeding under 
cover ; but this is, if not a departure from Norfolk system, calcu¬ 
lated to incur great expenses. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour is now of more importance than in almost any other 
month of the year, because they will not only be required in such 
work as is usual during the use of the mowing machine, as well as the 
reaping and binding machine ; for, besides this work, as fast as the 
corn is cut and tied the land may be ploughed every day between 
the stooks of corn, such as Rye, especially of that which has now 
been cut for some little time, and some of it carted. All the early 
sorts of corn, such as winter Oats, White Yictoria Oats, Rye, and 
Wheat in the early districts of the southern and home counties 
together with winter Beans and forward Peas, were commenced 
being cut on the 24th of July, and in all such cases where enough 
hands were employed, the corn or pulse may have been placed 
either in stook or in pook, in such a position as to leave two-thirds 
of the land vacant and ready for ploughing, working down and 
drilling Turnip seed every evening after four o’clock. In this way 
we for many years secured fine crops of common Turnips forward 
enough to be fed by sheep in the month of November following; 
when, however, in the absence of Turnips being required for use 
grown in this way there is still a sufficient reason why the land if 
encumbered with couch, black grass, or other weeds should be scari¬ 
fied and worked with Howard’s self-lifting drag harrow, as the 
cheapest and earliest mode of commencing operations for an autumn 
fallow. In fact, throughout the harvest we contend that as fast as 
the crops of corn and pulse are cleared all the horses not required in 
carting corn should be constantly employed in cleaning the surface 
of all those fields intended for crops next year where a fallow is 
necessary. Not only is it necessary to do this work with the horses 
during the harvest period, but steam power should be employed 
also in the deeper stirring of the soil, so that the horses may 
follow after with Howard’s excellent implement and complete the 
work of surface-cleaning. Nor is there any other period of the year 
when so much can be done with such beneficial effect in a given 
time as during and just after the harvest, nor is it any use for the 
home farmer to tell us that his horse power and steam is not equal to 
do this. We answer that he is not farming on commercial principles, 
nor has he any reason for complaining of his land being foul if he 
loses the opportunities we have just described. It is not, however, 
the only loss which he must expect, for if he neglects the first op¬ 
portunity it may not and does not occur again in some seasons, and 
the crops intended to be sown are delayed. 
Hand Labour .—It is very rare that farmers commence cutting their 
crops too soon, and should they do so in some respects, yet in others 
they have the advantage, for the com of every kind when cut early if 
wet weather succeeds takes less injury when cut and set up in stook 
than it does if it takes bad weather before cutting. If loss occurs it 
is the worst corn or pulse which is lost, whereas losses occurring 
before the crops are cut it applies to the best of the grain ; the straw 
too is more valuable as fodder when cut early. It is just the same 
with Beans or Peas. The haulm is more valuable if cut early, and 
the pods are not likely to open and waste the grain if wet weather 
follows. It is frequently stated that Bean haulm is of little value, 
but if so it arises from not being cut soon enough. We know from 
experience that if the eye of the bean is turned black the crop should 
be cut; the haulm then will if harvested in a proper manner be fit 
for cutting into chaff and pulping, so as to form part of a valuable 
food in admixture with roots. It is only in this way that the feed¬ 
ing value as shown by analysis of Bean haulm can be made available 
as nutritious food, and the calculation of feeding value compared 
with straw, as shown by Dr. Yoelcker, can be obtained. It is now 
time to consider where the corn ricks are to be placed, and we 
contend that much time is often wasted by carrying corn to a rick 
yard, especially when it is intended to sell the straw, for in that case 
the ricks can be threshed and the straw stacked with as much advan¬ 
tage nearly as though it was corn, because straw is and will be very 
dear in the future in all districts, hut especially near towns and rail¬ 
way stations where carriage is easily obtained. 
Live Stock. —We must not forget our sheep stock and our cattle 
during harvest, nor can the shepherd take part in harvest work if he 
has a flock of breeding ewes, especially on the large outlying hill 
farms. To the dairyman on the large dairy farms, the harvesting 
of corn is nothing; his only care is for the hay, but for this it is 
seldom that he can find time for assisting at haying time, especially 
if he has a large herd of cows, but still more so if in addition he 
has to look to bullocks fattening on the pastures, which should 
have their cotton cake about 4 lbs. each daily, and if it is given with 
2 tbs. of bean meal so much the better, especially if the food is given 
in mixture with cut Cabbage or Mangolds held over for the purposes. 
It is essential for every bullock to have its proper share of food, and 
there is no better plan than having iron skeps, which hold a little 
over a bushel, each skep receiving the food for one bullock. In this 
way they can all feed separately without difficulty. Just in the same 
way yearlings and stores of any age may be fed with advantage with¬ 
out some having the lion’s share and others getting little or none of 
the trough food. With respect to the health of all our live stock, 
it is often the case that the most in quantity and the best in quality 
of the grass in the pastures is found in those which lie the lowest and 
on the sides of brooks and rivulets ; this land lies below- the level of 
night fogs. Now as the autumn advances this is an important matter 
for consideration, as young animals frequently suffer from quarter-ill 
(especially heifers in fine condition) unless they are removed to higher 
and drier pastures for night-lying. 
THE FATTENING OF FOWLS FOR THE TABLE. 
Our subjects are often suggested to us by the inquiries of 
correspondents. We have this week had a question put to us as 
to the best kind of fattening coop, which reminds us that fatten¬ 
ing is at this time of year an important operation in many poultry 
yards, and that some notes on the whole subject would not be 
out of place. We have before now stated that generally speaking 
we do not think any artificial fattening necessary, that well-kept 
chickens of good kinds should always be ready to kill, and that 
we do not ourselves pen up chickens to fatten, though we are 
often complimented on the" figure and flavour of ours on the 
table. There are, however, exceptions to all rules, and in this 
case there may be many good reasons for exceptions to our 
rule— e.g., where circumstances compel young and old fowls to 
be kept on one run, and that not a very large one, an old cock 
will so bully cockerels that it is impossible for them to put on 
any flesh ; or in farmyards and other places where there are 
necessarily impurities about, it is sometimes found that the flesh 
of chickens which have access to them has a disagreeable flavour. 
Again, there are some people who think fattened fowls, such as 
are sold in the London and Parisian markets, alone palatable. 
We have written often enough about table poultry to give our 
readers some idea of the breeds of fowls crossed or pure which 
are suitable for fattening. It is worse than useless to attempt to 
improve the condition of narrow, breastless, long-legged mon¬ 
grels. Such we have often seen imported from ill-managed farm¬ 
yards into gentlemen’s establishments, crowded into a wretched 
pen in a back yard, fed on oats or other grain—a diet perfectly 
unfit for a creature which takes no exercise, and then we have 
heard the family wonder why the chickens are so unpleasant on 
the table. 
1. To begin. A chicken which is to be fattened must have a 
plump frame and apt to carry fat on the breast, it must also be 
a perfectly healthy bird ; chickens which have only just been 
kept alive by care are not in a fit state to be fattened. Given a 
suitable ^lot of young birds, the methods of fattening them are 
