December 21, 1882. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
583 
closely that the seed cannot germinate. Should there come a change 
of open weather to enable the sowing of Wheat to be again com¬ 
menced, a larger quantity of seed (not less than 3 bushels per acre) 
should be sown, for when late sown the birds are sure to destroy a 
portion of the young shoots as they first appear above ground. The 
home farmer need not hesitate about sowing Wheat from this time 
until the first week of February on the dry soils of the eastern, 
southern, and home counties if a favourable season occurs, because 
if the land can be harrowed so as to bury the seed, the heavier and 
closer the land lies the better, for it prevents the growth of various 
weeds. The great objection to sowing Wheat late, especially in the 
latter part of February or March, is when the land is too dry and 
light, for then the land does not furnish a firm root-holding for the 
young plant, but it also favours the growth of numerous weeds, 
which are indigenous to some soils. If the season should still con¬ 
tinue quite unfavourable for sowing the land with Wheat, the land 
may then be (especially on strong clay soils) sown with the black 
Tartar Oats. Drege, however, will give the greatest quantity of 
grain, and if the newly-selected white Tartar Oats are mixed with 
the long-eared American Barley the yield will reach the outside of 
produce, and the straw will be valuable fodder. If the land is sandy 
or gravelly Barley may be sown alone if the season be favourable. 
Still we think that Oats or drege offer the best substitute for Wheat, 
because we expect when the land is in good condition that as many 
quarters of Oats will be grown as sacks of Wheat, which at present 
prices will make as much money, and it is more likely to be the case 
when Oats or drege is sown upon land previously prepared or intended 
to have been sown with Wheat. 
Horses have been lately employed in drawing out couchy earth or 
earthy composts on to the pastures without injury during frosty 
weather. When the weather has been wet the drawing of earth 
from various sources to heaps for future mixture with yard dung has 
been done, and has filled up the odd time with advantage if parties 
are prepared to make a good use of the earth hereafter. Not only 
do we recommend it for mixture with dung as compost for grass 
land, but we advise that it should be used at the bottom of all pens 
where cattle are housed, but also on the floor of the pig pens and 
cart-horse stables, sheep folds for lambing yard, breeding sows’ yard, 
also the farmyard or cattle-yards, and also for use upon all sites for 
making dung heaps. The value of earth if properly placed as an 
absorbent of liquid manure and urine of animals is not sufficiently 
regarded by farmers in general, and the loss which has occurred in 
all old-fashioned farmyards during the late autumn rains has been 
very great. Before we can expect the home farmer to agree with us 
to the full extent in these matters he must accept our ideas as 
correct—namely, that every cubic yard of earth saturated with urine 
undercover will contain as much of the elements of manure as 2 cubic 
yards or cartloads of farmyard straw-made dung. 
Hand Labour .—In all open weather let the women or old men go 
fork in hand and look over all land where lumps or bunches of 
Couch-grass or black Bents prevail, also the Onion-grass and Docks. 
All these, whether on the fallows or between the Turnips and Swedes, 
before feeding with sheep should be forked out and carried to small 
heaps first, and afterwards be cleared away with horse and cart the 
first opportunity. Some hands will be required in fine weather to 
attend the threshing machine, for we advocate the threshing of the 
greater part of the corn during the winter months, because the hands 
should not be displaced or taken away from important farm work 
in the spring or summer months. 
Live Stock .—Much extra attention has been required during the 
prevalence of snow and frost. All young cattle of a year and half 
old intended for young beef should now be well fed under cover, so 
that they may be ready for sale from the middle of June to the 
jniddle of the month of August, as beef always sells well at that 
period, especially of light weights and nice quality. The Dorset 
Downs are now just lambing down, and will require the usual care, 
good lair, good food, both hay and Cabbage, but always with rock 
salt within reach, as it has been lately stated by good authority that 
even those ewes which had flukes in their liver have so far recovered 
after being fed with salt, iron, <fcc., in their mixtures of cake and roots 
that when killed have on examination of the livers proved that the 
flukes had been destroyed and expelled from the liver, which exhibited 
the injury done and the bealed surfaces which had been affected by 
these parasites. The lambing folds sin uld be carefully made in a 
dry sheltered position, on slightly slopij g ground, but the shepherd 
and his assistant should be prepared b r attending day and night 
with the moveable shepherd’s house or ' an properly provided. It is 
in those cases where many twins occur that extra attention is so 
much required both by night ard by day, the assistant and the 
shepherd relieving each other at night time. 
Indian Corn Cci.tdre in America. —Indian Corn is by far the 
most important staple crop grown by the American farmer. Under 
present acreage in this country, with a favourable season, the annual 
Corn crop should be fully 1,800,000,000 bushels. Though its market 
value per bushel is less than that of Wheat, yet the aggregate value of 
the Corn crop is nearly, or quite, double that of Wheat. It is not, 
however, as a grain raised for sale alone that the importance of the 
Corn crop is manifest to the farmer. Indian Corn is the basis on which 
is produced a large proportion of the pork, beef, and mutton of the 
country, while the production of butter, cheese, and wool is more or 
less dependant upon the feeding of Corn. These facts are brought 
more prominently to public notice in years like the present imme¬ 
diately following a season of general or partial failure in Corn.— 
[American Cultivator.) 
Mini 
CHOOSING A DORKING COCK. 
I have been asked to give the points by which I would choose 
a Dorking cock. It is a question not very readily answered in 
writing, as there is much that would be more easily pointed out 
in the live bird than defined by the pen in words. However, I 
will try. First as to carriage. He ought to carry himself up like 
the old-fashioned Game cock, not the low horizontal way in which 
the present mongrel does—the so-called Dorking. His tail should 
be carried well up and should be large and full, the larger the 
better, with fine long sickle feathers. One with a good Dorking 
tail is very difficult to find : I have scarcely seen any of late in 
the show pen. Next, his head should be large and his eyes bright ; 
and his comb large, upright, with long even spikes, finishing with 
a rounded lobe at the back, but not drooping towards the back 
of the head like that of a Cochin, as many of the show birds do, 
but being well up and relieved from the head at the back. A 
very excellent type of this form of comb can be found in Bewick’s 
“ British Birds,” vol. i., in the engraving entitled “ The Domestic 
Cock,” which also shows the carriage of the true DorkiDg. The 
neck should be of moderate length and well set on the shoulders, 
which should be broad, though not square like the Brahma, which 
makes the bird to look better than he really is, but it should have 
a rounded fullness. The breast should be deep, thick, well for¬ 
ward,full and rounded, having much more meat on than appears 
unless handled. The back should slope well towards the tail, as 
should the breast and sides, falling as it were to a point, so that 
the bird carries but little offal, bearing small or no resemblance 
to the show Dorking of the present, whose back often rises if it 
is not straight; and the great thickness from the back to the 
belly shows only too clearly the quantity of offal that it carries, 
which makes it weigh the more : at the same time it is a vastly 
deteriorated fowl. The thighs should be neither short nor long, 
but large and full and strong ; the legs rather short than long, 
but not very short like a Bakie or Dumpy. If they are too short 
the young fowls are apt to get overwet in the grass, which is 
prejudicial to their health and well-doing. The bones should be 
fine and by no means thick : a large-boned Dorking is a mongrel 
without any doubt , and is coarse in flesh as well as bone. The 
colour of the legs should be a whitish flesh colour, the scales 
looking soft and of fine texture. The whole of the feet, and 
particularly the toe nails, should be white. A dark toe nail is 
a sure sign of cross-breeding, and one so coloured should never be 
bought to breed from by the true Dorking fancier. The toes 
should consist of five in number, and be even, strong, straight, 
not lumpy or gouty ; and the fifth toe should be as long or nearly 
so as the middle toe in front, but turned up and nearly if not quite 
touching the back of the leg. This is an important point to notice, 
as many of the prize birds, even cup-winners, show clearly by 
their short straight fifth toe their mongrelism. The feathers 
should lie close to the body, any looseness betrays a cross. 
Again. Another great point to notice and to be utterly avoided 
is a red earlobe. This is a sure sign of Asiatic cross, and on no 
account should be tolerated. Jaques, writing of the true Dorking 
about twenty years ago says, “ The earlobe should be of a beau¬ 
tiful white, resembling the mother of pearl.” This to my mind 
is a most excellent definition of the colour. If the bird possesses 
the above qualities take it in your hand, and I have not the 
slightest doubt you will find that it has a clear white thin skin, 
with flesh of a fine texture and white, with white fat. It will be 
said, possibly, that I have not mentioned colour, nor have I. Get 
all the qualities I have stated, the colour is the last, the least, 
and the most useless consideration. The so-called Dark Dorking 
of to-day is not a Dorking colour at all, but is got by crossing, 
and has been one of the causes of the spoiling of the Dorking ; 
but so long as judges give to colour as a point, and so long as 
weak-headed critics of shows write such nonsense as “ Good bird, 
bad in colour,” or “Good, but we did not like the colour of his 
wing,” &c., the Dorking proper will not be seen at the shows. 
The colours of the Dorkings were chiefly the Dark Grey, the Reds 
or Bays with rose combs, the Speckled, the Cuckoo, the Browns, 
Mottles, and the Whites. The Grey were the hardiest and finest 
birds and truly beautiful, the cocks being slightly chestnut on the 
