September 2i, 1882 . ] JOURNAL OR HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 285 
being able advantageously to grow so large a breadth of Wheat or 
Barley, which have for a long period been the most valuable of the 
cereal crops. Other beneficial products, however, such as Pota¬ 
toes, intervene and enable the Scotch farmer to pay as high rent 
for land of equal fertility as the Norfolk farmer. 
We must now refer to what chemistry will teach the home farmer, 
for thereby he can learn the changes which are enforced by the 
laws of climate and the conditions under which the various sorts 
of plants flourish and yield their different products in the greatest 
abundance and perfection. It must be understood that, other 
things being equal, the force and vigour of vegetable growth is 
largely in proportion to the temperature of the atmosphere and 
soil. It is well known that plants grow with much greater rapidity 
in summer than in spring in tropical countries than in temperate 
climates. It is ascertained that the higher temperature enables 
plants to assimilate a larger portion of food in a given time. 
Plants may, therefore, be said to be more grateful for a supply of 
manure when applied in summer than for spring growth. For 
instance, the vegetables grown by the market gardener are said to 
be forced by manure, because the ordinary kinds are grown during 
the colder period of the year. Again, not only are plants enabled 
to assimilate a larger quantity of manure during the summer 
season, but they also appear to have much greater powers of ab¬ 
sorbing food from the atmosphere. This, however, may arise from 
two causes, as it is assumed that ammonia, a most fertilising agent 
in producing vegetable growth, exists in much greater abundance 
during the warmer season, its quantity in the atmosphere being in 
a great measure regulated by that of its water or vapour, which is 
always greatest in the summer season. Another cause of the 
greatest power possessed by plants of absorbing ammonia during 
warm weather is attributed to the greater vigour of the plants and 
their enlarged leaf surface. When manure is abundant and culti¬ 
vation correct the farmer should endeavour to select those plants 
which have the capacity of yielding a growth or crop in proportion 
to the quantity and quality of the manure applied ; but this can 
only be fully obtained when their period of growth continues 
during the summer season. For instance, we may state that these 
conditions are fulfilled in flood meadows and those under irriga¬ 
tion, also in a field of Cabbages or similar vegetation, for both 
grow well as long as the temperature is suitable for vegetable 
growth, and both possess great capacities for growth under liberal 
treatment. It may also be noted that in case of irrigated meadows, 
even in the early spring and winter months when ice prevails, the 
grass will grow under it to a certain extent whilst the meadows 
are in flood, for the simple reason that the temperature is higher 
under the ice and water than in the atmosphere above. 
The quantity of plant food to be obtained from the atmosphere 
appears to depend in a great measure upon the capacity of plants 
and the extent of surface they expose in the form of healthy and 
luxuriant leaves which they can maintain during the period of 
growth. Under favourable conditions we may notice that grass 
and the Clovers produce a continual succession of leaves, which 
renders them much less dependant on a supply of food to their 
roots when derived either from manure or natural fertility of the 
soil. Again, take the case of the natural vegetation of wood¬ 
lands, including our various plantations of the Fir tribes, which 
yearly obtain a large amount of sustenance through the large leaf 
surface exposed during the summer months, and it is consequently 
seen the profitable production of timber trees, although planted 
upon the most worthless and otherwise useless soil, even in the 
highest altitudes and most exposed situations. With regard to 
our forage plants, within certain limits the strength of vegetation 
relies upon the temperature if a due supply of moisture is present, 
but when moisture is deficient the most abundant supplies of 
food in the shape of manure are of little avail in promoting 
growth. 
It is, therefore, to be noticed that much of the skill of the home 
farmer as well as farmers iu general consists in selecting those 
plants and cereals which are most suitable to the climate, as well 
as in adopting those special modes of cultivation which tend to 
compensate for deficiencies of climate ; and with due observation 
the farmer may generally rely in a great measure upon the pro¬ 
ducts of nature, and the best examples of cultivated productions 
upon any particular district in which it is his fortune to be 
placed. For instance, the blowing sands and rocky seacoasts are 
occupied by those species of grasses which can resist the extreme 
aridity of the strata in which their roots are working. Again, it 
is only on deep loamy and naturally fertile soils that the finer 
and more luxuriant grasses flourish in dry climates. Deep-rooting 
plants like Lucerne, Clover, and Sainfoin are less under the 
influence of drought, and are necessarily objects of culture in all 
our driest climates. On the other hand, the more rainy districts 
of the west of England render them specially genial to the 
growth of the shallow and surface-rooted varieties of grass, which 
are consequently an economical means of restoring and maintain¬ 
ing fertility to land previously exhausted by cropping. Italian Rye 
Grass furnishes an excellent and practical illustration of the in¬ 
fluence of climate, and it may also be said to be the cause of one 
of the peculiar contrasts between the rotation of Norfolk and 
that of the west of England and in Scotland, for in these latter 
districts the climate promotes its continuous growth throughout 
the season, whereas in the drier climates of the eastern and 
southern counties frequent and liberal dressings of liquid manure 
or nitrate of soda only enable it to produce a rapid successional 
crop. 
Pasturing seeds successfully for two years is another system 
which is very generally adopted with success as a means of re¬ 
storing fertility in Scotland and districts of the west of England ; 
in fact such a practice is often covenanted for in leases, and is 
well calculated to maintain the productiveness of the soil and 
husband its resources. It must, however, be considered best 
adapted as a system or rotation upon good useful loams which 
can maintain the herbage in a growing state. There is a point 
to be considered by the home farmer in this matter, which is to 
him of some consequence. Very shallow and weak soils do not 
generally support certain grasses, such as ordinary Rye Grass, 
the second year, and it is only when indigenous varieties appear, 
or when the few of the best kinds of permanent grasses are sown, 
that the produce in the second year becomes advantageous. As 
pasturing seeds for two years ought to be regarded, although in 
a lesser degree, as a substitute for improving the land like con¬ 
suming a crop of Turnips for two years in succession, the ad¬ 
vantage at any rate is found in its requiring no expense in 
manure and cultivation. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour .—All the horse power and also that of steam should 
still be continued on the autumn tillage of land which may have 
couch, black bent, or onion grass upon it wherever the land is not 
under crop, such as young Clover seeds and Clover leas. All the rest 
of the land should be very carefully examined to ascertain what 
weeds exist which autumn tillage will destroy, whether it is intended 
for Mangolds, early Barley, Potatoes, Carrots, Peas, and Beans. We 
wish especially to call the attention of the home farmer to the advan¬ 
tage of forking out grass by hand labour. If there is but little of it 
so much the better, and it should not be allowed to remain. It is no 
use to say that the grass is but little, that it will not injure any crop. 
That may be true for the time being, but it will be sure to increase 
if allowed to remain while the land is under crop, especially where it 
has been liberally manured. There is no plan which saves so much 
horse labour as forking out grass at every opportunity; for instance, 
in preparing the land for Potatoes. During many years we never 
thought of giving the land much costly tillage, our plan being after 
harvest as soon as the stubble Turnips were seeded was to plough 
the land a fair depth without working down, and after about two 
months any bunches of couch which may have started were forked 
out. The land was allowed to remain without working during the 
winter, and again in February, carefully forking out any lumps of 
couch which may be seen, and then only working the land with iron 
harrows twice, crossways and transversely, just before ploughing and 
planting, which was done simultaneously, the manure being strewed 
by band in the furrows with the sets at planting time. We always 
avoided yard or town manure, because the laying-out takes time and 
frequently treads the land and tracks it in adverse weather, seriously 
injuring the condition of the land for planting. Thus it will be seen 
that the actual work of preparing the land is reduced to a minimum, 
the horse labour being only two ploughings and five harrowings, and 
the hand labour only two forkings of couch, planting the sets, and 
hand-strewing the artificial manure, guano being found the most 
successful. In carrying out such a course of management and culti¬ 
vation our farm was always clean ; for the same system of forking 
was continued under all circumstances. We never employed more 
than four horses except an odd horse or mule to each bundled 
acres of arable land, and yet no steam cultivator was ever required 
or employed on the farm, no regular fallow being made for a period 
of twenty years except for Mangolds, and these generally were grown 
after stubble Turnips fed-off by sheep in the early spring or winter 
months. 
Hand Labour .—The labour question in most districts is fast becom¬ 
ing a very serious and costly affair. Education appears to have taught 
the rising generation of the labouring classes that anything is better 
than working on the farm, therefore large numbers of the most enter¬ 
prising youths are employed in the towns, any employment being 
considered better than agricultural labour. We therefore ask the 
home farmer to consider how the habits of the farm labourers can be 
improved, by exciting amongst them a spirit of emulation in their 
various departments of labour, such as ploughing, rick-building, and 
thatching. Within our recollection there used to be labourers’ en¬ 
couragement societies existing in nearly every district, by which 
prizes were offered for the best ploughing, for the best ricks built 
