September 7, 1882. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
237 
lively. The head is small in comparison with the substance of 
the body. The muzzle is white and moderately fine ; cheek, thin. 
The chest is deep and full, the bosom sufficiently prominent. The 
shoulder bone is thin, flat, and sloping towards the chine, well 
covered on the outside with mellow flesh ; the kernel is full up 
from the shoulder point to throat, and so beautifully do the shoulder 
blades bend into the body that it is difficult to tell in a well-fed 
animal where they are set on. The chine and loin are broad, 
hips long and moderately broad, legs straight and small. The 
rump forms a straight line with the back, and is at a right angle 
with the thigh, which should be full of flesh down to the hocks 
without exuberances ; the twist should be good, well filled up 
with flesh, distinguishable by its yielding with a pleasing elas¬ 
ticity to the touch. The hide is thick, yet mellow, and well 
covered with soft glossy hair, having a tendency to curl. Such 
are the characteristic marks of a first-class Hereford.” 
The “ Hereford Herd Book,” which, in 1878, had recently been 
disposed of by Mr. Duckham to a company, recorded in its ninth 
volume the herds of 219 breeders, and had a list of 347 subscribers. 
The number of bulls entered in the entire work had then reached 
5176 ; of cows, with their produce, 4723 ; and of heifers, 4905. 
Within the last few years the most prominent exhibitors at the 
Royal Agricultural Society amongst others we may mention, are 
Mr. Wm. Taylor of Shovvle Court, Ledbury ; Mr. Wm. Tudge of 
Adforton, Leintwardine; Mrs. Sarah Edwards of Wintercott, 
Leominster ; and Her Majesty the Queen. In wishing to obtain 
the best blood in the kingdom, the home farmer cannot do better 
than select stock from the prizewinners’ herd, although he may not 
wish to play the part of an exhibitor at the agricultural shows. 
If he has for breeding purposes the best and purest blood he will 
be enabled to obtain the most profit, whether of grazing in the 
summer months, or box-feeding during the winter time, or to 
make the best price for those animals he may choose to sell for 
stock. Further, he can obtain the most meat for the food con¬ 
sumed, and in the shortest time, upon the principle of early 
maturity. If the stock is sold as veal at four or five months old, 
the Hereford calf will pay better for suckling than any other 
breed at weight for age, although the only difference we have 
ever found in our own practice was that the Devon calf was of the 
best quality and sold at the highest price per pound to the 
butcher, yet the Hereford calf, under the like circumstances of 
suckling, would yield the greatest weight for age and fetch the 
most money. The same rule applies in the rearing and feeding 
as “baby beef.” 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour. —This is a particularly busy time now for the horses, 
so that unless some means are adopted for supplementing their work, 
such as the use of oxen for a time, as we remarked last week, or the 
aid of steam power for cultivating, all the work required or necessary 
to be done before the 1st of December next cannot be accomplished 
in a satisfactory manner. Since reaping commenced the tillage of 
the land has crowded upon us, all requiring immediate attention in 
addition to the actual horse labour required for drawing the reaping 
and binding machine, the carting of corn to the rick or barn, as well 
as cutting the latter growth of Clover and other grasses, and the 
carting of the hay to rick. It must be considered that it is not good 
commercial farming to allow this work to have stood in the way of 
proceeding with tillage work ; for unless we have the power available 
by steam or otherwise of tilling the stubbles directly they are cleared 
our tillage power is insufficient; in fact, much should be done in the 
way of drilling stubble Turnip seed between the stooks of corn. It 
is in this way in the early districts that capital stubble Turnips are 
obtained after Wheat, Rye, white Oats, winter Oats, and early Peas, 
otherwise our establishment for autumn tillage, &c., is by no means 
equal to a profitable mode of conducting the labour of the farm in the 
autumn period. The sooner Trifolium sowing is done the better ; 
25 lbs. of seed should be sown per acre on the bare stubbles (which, 
however, should be free from couch), and then by using the iron 
harrows crossways and lengthways, followed by the chain harrows, 
and then rolled down. The collected stubble should be removed for 
use in bedding pigsties. The next work is sowing Rye, 3 bushels of 
seed per acre. The land should be ploughed and pressed, and the seed 
sown after the presser, or, which is better, by the press drill; it will 
then be buried deep enough to obtain firm hold of the subsoil, a matter 
of great importance in the event of a severe winter ensuing. 
Winter Barley must next be sown, 3 bushels of seed per acre in the 
same manner as for Rye. In the event, however, of the black variety 
being sown 4 bushels will be required, for it does not tiller so much as 
the ordinary sort, but leaves the ground quicker in the spring, and is 
the most forward cereal plant known as a green-fodder crop. Vetches 
of the winter variety should now be sown, and if required for early 
feeding the early sort a very small grain should be sown with Rye or 
winter Barley in admixture, as the leaves of the cereals protect the 
Vetches in their first growth, and hold them up off the ground at full 
growth ; 2 bushels of Vetches and 1 bushel of cereals will be sufficient 
seed per acre. Italian Rye grass, too, may now be sown on a clean 
stubble, as it will give two good foldings for stock, or cuttings of 
green fodder before the preparation of the land is required for the 
root crop following ; 3 bushels of the best foreign seed well cleaned 
and prepared by the seedsman is required for an acre, but we would 
not sow seed grown at home upon any account, as it does not pro¬ 
duce either such a full crop or come so early or so quickly in the 
successional growth. Cart manure from the farmyard, the cattle 
boxes, pig-pens, &c., to the field where required, and the sooner it is 
spread and ploughed under the better, whether it is on lea or fallow 
ground ; and the land when ploughed should be pressed at the same 
time; the land may then remain until seed time, as it will become 
stale and mellow to receive the seed. On the fallowed land, especially 
where the soil is cold and lies flat, the sooner the dung can be laid 
out the more likely it will be to finish the carting work before the 
heavy autumn rains and without injury to the seed bed by treading; 
the dung, however, should be ploughed in a good depth in order that 
it may be properly buried, because if done in that way the land may 
remain undisturbed until drilling-time, the first or second week in 
October being the best time. Upon such soils the Wheat should be 
drilled 12 inches apart between the lines ; 2 bushels of seed at the 
early season will be sufficient, but should the seed time be delayed 
2£ or 3 bushels should be drilled. This wide drilling applies more 
particularly to strong soils, which are usually subject to Goldweed, 
black bent grass, &c., for either of them in some seasons will ruin the 
Wheat crop unless horse and hand-hoeing can be carried out. In 
fact the home farmer is never master of his position unless he can 
destroy the weeds, which he cannot do under broadcast sowing, except 
upon land after Clover lea, which is seldom troubled with weeds in 
spring ; this should always be seeded after the presser. We do not 
like drilling on lea ground, as the young plants are more likely to be 
lifted by frost and injured by wireworms, and again if required, 
horse and hand-hoeing may be done equally well after the presser or 
press-drill as after that seeded by the ordinary drill. 
Hand Labour. —Hedge-trimming, especially Whitethorn hedges, 
should now be done, the last time before the young shoots get hard 
and wiry. Drawing straw and piling away ready for use in thatching 
should be done at those intervals of showery weather which interfere 
with harvest work ; and we must again advise the home farmer to 
teach every capable labourer in his employ to build ricks and thatch 
them; the weather has been so stormy that stacks have been 
damaged on nearly every farm in consequence of not having been 
thatched as soon as built. 
Live Stock .—All those bullocks which are fat and having been 
grazed upon the pastures may be sold, but those not quite fit should 
now be allowed about 4 lbs. of linseed cake and 2 lbs. of crushed 
beans or peas, as the grass lands are getting stale and the after- 
math not so healthy and forcing as that of summer growth. Where 
the pasture have been grazed by dairy cows during the summer there 
will be tufts of grass left, and these should be cut off and cleared 
away, as these bunches of seedy grass often contain ergot, which pro¬ 
duces abortion. If, however, these pastures are fed by steers or young 
stock they may be allowed to eat it down during winter without 
receiving injury. The hill flocks of down breeding ewes, as well of 
the long-wools, in the vale pastures of the midlands will now have the 
rams running with them ; and if it is desired to force the ewes by 
extra feeding for the purpose of obtaining earlier lambs and more 
twins, the food and feeding ground should be changed twice a day, 
and they may also receive with advantage crushed beans, maize, or 
cotton cake about half-a-pound per day each. In purchasing sheep 
stock for winter feeding great caution will be required, for they are 
selling at high prices, which means an investment of more capital 
without any extra profits in view to compensate for the outlay. 
Hop Prospects. —The Kentish Observer finds that its special re¬ 
ports from the Hop districts are more unfavourable this week than 
ever. The ungenial weather has caused great damage throughout 
the county, but greater mischief still has been done by the spread of 
mould. It is impossible now for the grounds as a whole to yield 
what they promised to do about a fortnight ago; they will, it is 
estimated, produce from 1 cwt. to 2 cwt. per acre less, as a conse¬ 
quence of the combination of deterrent influences recorded above. 
In most of the grounds about Canterbury the Hops look shrivelled 
up and the leaves brown and black. Inside they are better, and 
here and there were some nice-looking Hops—fairly well developed 
and of a bright green hue. Mould and mildew are spreading. Al¬ 
though the Favei-sham district is favoured as compared with other 
parts of the county, there will not be so many Hops grown in this 
district as it was thought there would be a fortnight since. The 
weather is not warm enough to make them grow out, and some few 
gardens are going off with mould. In the neighbourhood of Maid¬ 
stone artificial aids have done much to improve the condition of the 
crops which have been preserved, and though the yield will be small 
some compensation is looked for in higher prices. 
The French Harvest. —The annual report upon the French 
harvest supplied by the firm of Estienne ife Co. of Marseilles, states 
that the Wheat crop has been very good in twenty departments, 
good in forty-six, pretty good in eleven, inferior in nine, and bad in 
