October 26, 1882. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
399 
is favourable for ploughing and drilling, there is no better time than 
during the next week or ten days from this date. If from unavoid¬ 
able circumstances the seeding of Wheat should be delayed into the 
month of November, the home farmer should be prepared to do the 
work daily, so as not to trust the weather, for it is seldom that we 
obtain an opportunity to sow the seed in good condition at that time 
unless the ploughing, drilling the seed, and finishing the work is 
done simultaneously. This is the only way to be sure of a season, 
for it must be remembered that the English climate in November is 
either wet or frosty in the morning, both of which interferes very 
much with the work of seeding, whereas if sufficient horse power is 
judiciously employed in finishing off the work as fast as the seed is 
drilled, if rain sets in at any time of the day, the work done is secure 
against variations of the weather afterwards. The weather is now 
too uncertain for undertaking such work as threshing corn ricks in 
the fields, therefore when the horses cannot be doing day work con¬ 
nected with the Wheat season the winter fallow-ploughing may be 
done at odd times. The odd horse or mule will now have plenty of 
jobbing work to do, such as carting roots for the cattle in their boxes, 
hurdles and hay for the shepherd, also hay roots and straw for litter 
for the cart horses, straw for littering the pig pens, dairy-cow stalls, 
and cattle sheds as night lair for the calves and yearlings. We 
know farms where mules are kept to do the odd work, and they 
answer better than horses for all jobbing work on the farm all the 
year through, including hoeing the root and corn crops by the use 
of the horse hoe, it is found that the day is never too long for 
them when well fed. They are not subject to diseases like horses, 
are very long-lived, frequently outliving the home farmer himself, 
but it is necessary to obtain an animal of the largest kind, which are 
costly, and cannot be bought for less than a cart horse of a good 
stamp and size. We hear a shipload is coming from Egypt of 
850 animals; they would all find ready buyers if thousands were 
brought to this country of the right sort and size. 
Hand Labour .—The heaping and storing of many Carrots and 
Swedes will now be going on, also the cutting and carting of border 
grass, seaside sedge, river sedge, and rough coarse grass in the plan¬ 
tations ; also the collection of seaweed in the seacoast districts. All 
of these materials are extremely useful in the storing of roots, also in 
saving straw, an article now improving in value annually, especially 
in the grazing districts and in the immediate neighbourhood of large 
towns. Nor is this a matter of surprise when we know that nearly 
every tradesman now keeps a horse or horses connected with their 
advertising vans; in fact, the use of straw for feeding cattle is 
beginning to be better understood either as a substitute or in con¬ 
nection with hay for horses, hence it will answer better in the future 
to grow long-strawed crops of corn, as well as growing full crops by 
generous and liberal manuring. Labourers will now be required in 
the woodlands and hedgerows for cutting and making the hazel into 
hurdles and wattles, also the cutting and felling of Ash and Elm 
timber will be going on. The planting of Larch and other trees may 
now be provided for by cultivating and preparing the land, setting 
the young plants; and where the plantations have arrived at a size 
which make them valuable for the purposes intended, such as Hop 
poles and railway sleepers, they may now be cut and cleared, and 
the land either brought into cultivation for other purposes, or other¬ 
wise, as we have done on some properties planted the land again 
only by grubbing and planting between the old stools without re¬ 
moving them, as their removal is attended with heavy expenses in 
the absence of steam power. We can point now to plantations of 
Larch of splendid growth, for the old stools soon decay without 
injuring the growth of the young plants of succession. 
The water meadows will be now, or shortly, in flood, and will 
require the constant attention of the drowners. Low flat-lying 
meadows should now be free of the cattle and the trenches taken 
out with care, and thus remain during the winter months whether 
they are to be grazed or cut for hay in the following year, for the 
herbage will be improved in quality by preventing all stagnant 
water from lying upon the surface of any grass land. Men will 
now be daily required in making out the water furrows upon the cold 
soils after the Wheat is sown ; and it is important, too, that the land 
furrows between the ridges should be struck out with the double 
mould-board plough instead of the oidinary plough, which throws up 
the crumbs of earth from the furrow on one side only. Men will also 
be carefully employed in steeping the se'd Wheat to prevent smut, &c., 
and we know no better material than D< wn’s Farmers’ Friend for the 
purpose, as it gives but little troubl ■, ai d with full directions for use 
but few mistakes can be made by the most ignorant workmen. 
Live Stock .—The young sheep and wethers now feeding on roots 
will require cake in admixture with the cut roots. Some persons 
object to the cutting of common Turnips, but we prefer to do so 
always, as it is little trouble to prepare them for the cutter, and at 
the same time the waste is less than when eaten on the land ; and this 
together with the advantage of mixing meal with the roots, and the 
animals having more time to lie down, makes it the most profitable 
method of management in open field feeding. In the southern and 
home counties where the horned Dorset and Somerset ewes are kept 
for producing early lambs for the metropolitan market they have com¬ 
menced lambing and are yeaning numerous twins, and although they 
are very high in price, yet they will with high feeding and careful 
shepherding pay more than any other ewes, either Downs or cross¬ 
breds, because they can be all sold off, both ewes and lambs, in first- 
rate condition by Easter. These ewes as fast as they drop their 
lambs should have the best grass, such as young Clovers and Italian 
Rye Grass, with a dry night lair and some white heart Cabbages cut 
and mixed with linseed cake meal in the troughs. By this style of 
feeding the ewes will keep their twin lambs and themselves also in 
first-rate condition until they go with their lambs on to root-feeding. 
The manner of feeding from that time we will direct on another occa¬ 
sion. There are many half-fat bullocks forced on the markets now, 
and this is home farmer’s opportunity to buy them for finishing off 
in the boxes ; this has always been a favourite plan of ours, which 
we have found to answer a good purpose. 
Illustrated British Ballads. —Parts 17,18,19, and 20 of this 
work, now being issued by Messrs. Cassi-ll, Petter & Gal pin, contain 
some well-selected ballads, beautifully illustrated, and amongst them 
the following are noteworthy :—Browning’s “Pied Piper of Hamelin,” 
Peacock’s “ Pool of the Diving Friar,” Praed’s “Quince” and “The 
Red Fisherman,” Kingsley’s “ Red King,” Manson’s “ Robert the 
Bruce,” “ Robin Hood,” and “ Guy of Gisborne,” with several others 
relating to Robin Hood ; Davis’s “ Sack of Baltimore,” Wordsworth’s 
“ Seven Sisters,” “ Sir Andrew Barton ” from the Percy “ Reliques,” 
and Hogg’s “ Sir David Graeme.” 
BANTAM NOTES. 
There is evidence that the Bantam fancy was the earliest phase 
of poultry-fancying in this country. Long before poultry were 
carefully bred up to ideal standards, and long before open poultry 
shows were dreamt of, there were private Bantam clubs in some 
districts, like columbarian clubs then and now-a-days, where rival 
fanciers met, compared notes, and showed the results of their 
breeding. Bantams, as we have often pointed out, are a suitable 
hobby for many who could not possibly keep Geese and Turkeys, 
or Brahmas and Dorkings. Nearly all the objections which occu¬ 
pants of small premises make to poultry in general are pointless 
in the case of these pigmies. They live where no other fowls could 
live, and thrive and luxuriate where others would pine. We are, 
therefore, very glad to see that the Bantam Club formed to breed 
and improve them is making some progress. Years ago an attempt 
was made at the Crystal Palace to establish a show of Bantams 
and Game birds in the spring. One pretty show was held, but it 
was not sufficiently successful to be repeated. Since then we have 
never seen anything like a prize list sufficiently complete to be any 
real encouragement to Bantam breeders till that of the forthcoming 
Kendal Show reached us this week. The Bantam Club has, we 
believe, for some time subvented such shows as have given a pro¬ 
mise to give good classification to miniature fowls. Now for 
the first time it purposes to hold a special show of Bantams at 
Kendal in connection with the general poultry show there. The 
classes, twenty-eight in number, as follows, seem to us admirably 
arranged :— 
They are : Game Bantams.—1, any variety cock over one year ; 
2, Black-breasted Red cockerel; 3, Brown-breasted Red cockerel; 
4, Duckwing cockerel; 5, Pile cockerel ; 6, any variety hen over 
one year; 7, Black-breasted Red pullet; 8, Brown-breasted Red 
pullet; 9, Duckwing pullet; 10, Pile pullet; 11, selling class, 
cock or cockerel ; 12, selling class, hen or pullet. Bantams (other 
than Game).—13, Black or White Rose-combed cock or cockerel ; 
14, Golden Sebright ditto ; 15, Silver Sebright ditto ; 16, Japanese 
ditto ; 17, Cuckoo or Scotch Grey ditto ; 18, Booted (any colour) 
ditto ; 19, any other distinct variety ditto ; 20, Black or White 
Rose-combed, hen or pullet; 21, Golden Sebright ditto ; 22, Silver 
Sebright ditto ; 23, Japanese (any colour) ditto ; 24, Cuckoo or 
Scotch Grey ditto ; 25, Booted (any colour) ditto ; 26, any other 
distinct variety ditto ; 27, selling class, any variety cock or 
cockerel; 28, selling class, any variety hen or pullet. 
Such a prize list as this gives an opportunity to many who have 
hitherto shunned exhibitions, especially the hazard of variety 
classes, to learn the comparative worth of their little birds and to 
enter them for a fair trial. It is not uninteresting to compare this 
comprehensive list with the catalogues of Bantams given in poultry 
books published years ago. Writing in 1850 Dixon enumerates 
Nankins, Partridge Bantams, Gold-laced and Silver-laced Sebrights, 
Black and White Rose-combed, Feather-legged, and Creepers or 
Jumpers. We fancy that he confused the <> d Gold and Silver- 
spangled with Partridge, as he describes them “almost miniatures 
of the Golden Hamburgh fowls, both Pencilled and Spangled.” 
We can remember the former, now we fear extinct, as extremely 
pretty birds. We fancy they were much used in the manufacture 
