July 29, 1880. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
105 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour .—Work of every kind that can be done by the horses 
in anticipation of the harvest should now be attended to, so that as 
little as possible of the necessary work may be left undone at the 
time of harvest. It may now in most instances be decided whether 
the produce of certain fields either of Wheat, Barley, Oats, Peas, and 
including the second crop of Clover hay, shall be stacked in the field 
where grown or carted to the barns or rickyard. The materials for 
making the stands for them may be carted to the spot required, such 
as bavins, and also the straw for thatching. If more is wanted of 
either material than is produced upon the farm it should be purchased 
and got home, and placed ready for use, in order that the horse labour 
so valuable at all times may be economised, and not displaced at the 
busy period. If it is intended to sow Turnips in the stubbles after 
cereal crops or pulse, such as winter Beans, Peas, Vetches, Ac., both 
seed and manure should be obtained and prepared for use at short 
notice. The latter, whether of dissolved bones, superphosphate, or 
other artificial dressing, should be placed in the manure house mixed 
with ashes, Ac., ready for use when required. In the case of the 
Turnip seed being drilled it should be done every day as fast as the 
corn is cut, and the seed with manure drilled whilst the land is soft, 
moist, and kind, which is the important point in growing stubble 
Turnips, and this may be done upon two-thirds of the land, and then 
finish the remaining third after the corn is carted. Where there is 
any land to be seeded to permanent pasture it should be ready to 
receive the grass seed about the middle of August, because we find if 
sown much before that date the weeds are apt to overpower the 
young grass plants. Whatever seeds are selected it is best to sow 
the heavy seeds, such as Clover, separate from the light seeds, such 
as the pasture grass seeds. Unless the land has been previously 
manured it is best to sow artificial manures in a finely divided state, 
and we recommend 4 cwt. per acre of bone superphosphate to be 
sown and harrowed-in with the seeds, because if ammoniacal manures 
are required it should be sown the next year, otherwise the weeds are 
too much encouraged if sown with the seed. The second cutting of 
broad Clover will soon be ready for hay ; it is, however, frequently 
folded off with sheep ; but we prefer cutting for hay, or seed, or for 
soiling cattle, as we find that more Wheat can be grown when cut 
twice or thrice than when the lattermath is fed off by sheep. This 
is accounted for chiefly by the extra growth and weight of Clover 
roots attained, these roots being found to afford great nourishment 
to the following Wheat crop. The sowing of Turnips after green 
crops will still be continued with the chance of a fair crop of a quick¬ 
growing variety like the Grey Stone, but we prefer planting or 
ploughing under furrow good strong plants of the Thousand-headed 
Kale. These will be sure to live and thrive to a much greater cer¬ 
tainty, and come fit for feeding much quicker than Turnips sown 
late. It is, however, expensive to purchase the plants, but we called 
the attention of the home farmer in the spring to the advantage of 
growing seeds for his own use of all kinds of Cabbage, Kale, Rape, 
Broccoli, Ac., for he will always find it answer his purpose, as there is 
sure to be a ready sale for any plants which he may not require if 
the seed sown was of the best kinds. 
Hand Labour .—This has been greatly economised by the use of 
labour-saving machinery, even at the busy period of haymaking in 
the park land, pastures, and meadow's. The working of the mowing 
and tedding machines has very much curtailed the time and cost of 
the work, except in the water meadows flooded by the ridge-and- 
furrow system where the scythe is still required owing to the uneven 
surface; but upon catch meadows the mowing machine can be em¬ 
ployed again at the time of carting.. The horse rake to gather the hay 
is a saving; and at the rick, instead of the heavy lifting labour in 
passing the hay from the waggon or cart to the stack, the elevator 
as lately improved is an immense saving of hand labour. Men will 
still be required in hoeing root crops both by cutting up the weeds 
and singling the plants, the cutting of Peas, winter Oats, Canadian 
Oats, and winter Barley, as well as Rye, as these will all be fit in a 
few days, and should each in their turn have the attention of the 
home farmer, and should be cut rather green with the view of not 
only saving the most grain, but with the advantage of a better 
feeding value in the straw and haulm of the different crops. The 
shepherds should now pay attention to the ewes both of Hants and 
Dorset downs, and if in good order and condition they will offer to 
the ram early, so as to bring their lambs soon enough to be fattened 
for the Easter markets, or held on as superior animals for exhibition 
at the first cattle shows next year. The ew r es will generally offer 
early with a constant change from Saintfoin at day to a folding of 
Rape at night time. A few cracked Beans, however, will be of great 
service to them, but as soon as the ewes have been served they may 
be drafted from the main flock and fed with rather less cost. The 
home farmer should now secure a well-bred yearling off bull to run 
with the heifers of the same age, so that the calves may fall as soon 
as the early grass is ready for the cows in milk. All the young lambs, 
whether of ewes for stock or wethers for grazing, should be shorn 
about the first week in August, because they always winter better, 
as their wool will be firm and reject the rains of winter. When not 
shorn the sooner they are diq>ped the better to prevent the fly from 
striking, but this operation requires great care and attention by the 
farmer, for we have known serious losses when men unaccustomed to 
tbe work have been employed. The dairy cows after the recent rains 
will be doing better, for they have made but poor returns in milk, 
butter, or cheese, the months of April and May having been so dry 
and harsh, and much against the growth of grass on the pastures. 
Breeding sows should be kept in a roomy well-littered yard, and 
besides trough food, should get a liberal supply of green fodder. 
Rice meal is now cheap feeding, and well adapted for trough food in 
part. 
KERRY COWS—SELECTION AND BREEDING. 
Like all other breeds of cattle there are degrees of excellence 
among the Kerrys. Good, better, best are pleasant and possible 
gradations among them, the two first already being within our 
grasp, but the higher and most desirable stage has yet to be 
attained, as it undoubtedly will be in due course. An abundant 
yield of milk, rich as an Alderney’s, a plump and sleek condition, 
hardiness, small size, and a moderate consumption of food in 
comparison with that of larger animals, great gentleness and 
docility, are merits possessed more or less by all Kerrys that I 
have seen. Keeping these points in view, it is reasonable to 
suppose that by careful selection the breeder may hope to obtain 
a herd of cows all up to a given standard of excellence. 
Now, it is for the dairy that this breed is unquestionably most 
valuable, notwithstanding the fact of the beef commanding a 
higher price than any other in the Dublin market, and it is 
therefore from the best milkers that we must hope to obtain a 
select and pure strain, and not by the indiscriminate purchase 
of any cows imported from the mountains of Kerry. In the first 
instance recourse was had to imported cattle, and it is from such 
that the Streame herd sprang. Of the degree of excellence to 
which this herd has already been brought “ D., Deal’s ” note 
on page 18 bears witness. I have not yet been able to obtain a 
cow equal to Dr. Hogg’s famous one which gives twelve quarts 
of milk daily, or Mr. Robertson’s still better cow, which was 
giving sixteen quarts a day last August at La Mancha ; but 
amongst those had from Streame for the home farm here the 
smallest and best is Daisy just entering her fourth year. She 
had her second calf in May, and now gives eleven quarts of 
milk daily. As a heifer this cow was so full of promise that I 
regretted her first calf was a bull ; this year she has a cow calf, 
a strong healthy well-shaped animal by a pure Kerry bull, and 
will I hope eventually prove to combine the good milking 
properties of one parent with the vigorous kindly condition of the 
other. 
The development of the good points in a particular breed of 
cattle is not an uncertain process ; repeatedly has it been demon¬ 
strated that natural functions may be brought to and sustained in 
an abnormal condition. The Shorthorns show this in a remarkable 
degree, and a glance tells the practitioner whether a particular 
herd has been bred solely for the production of milk or of beef, 
or for the best combination of both qualities. Originally Short¬ 
horns were all deep milkers, but now most of the pedigree herds 
have been so much bred away from milk that the cows are often 
found not to yield enough milk to rear their own calves. Among 
breeders of Shorthorns prize beasts have been so much the rage 
that what may be termed showyard points of excellence have 
taken the lead of all others—wrongfully as I think. Aptitude to 
lay on flesh and early ripeness for the butcher, a square-built 
frame laden with fat and flesh, fore-quarters as wide and massive 
as the hind, all point to the production of beef at the expense of 
milk. But then this very numerous and important class of 
cattle breeders are very apt to pooh-pooh any idea of a dairy. 
“ No milk pails for me,” said a breeder of Sussex stock to me 
once ; “ I like my steers to be worth £20 at twenty months, and 
they require every drop of the mother’s milk to give them the 
necessary start.” 
Naturally the full flow of milk in any cow is of very brief 
duration, artificially it has been extended almost at will. Careful 
selection extending through several generations is, however, 
necessary to fully develope this valuable capacity. In doing it let 
especial care be taken not to proceed to such lengths as to alto¬ 
gether sacrifice flesh for the produce of milk. In writing this 
paper I have specially kept the home farmer and his require¬ 
ments in view. I am a home farmer myself, and in filling any 
vacancies that occur in the herd of cows kept here for the dairy 
supply of a large establishment, especial care is taken to select 
animals likely to give rich milk abundantly and yet fatten readily 
when done with. I once tried Aldcrneys, but have done with 
them. An Alderney eight or nine years old is little better than 
“ a bag of bones.” Now the Kerrys give milk rich as the 
Alderneys, and are always in a sleek condition, most of them 
having frames of that happy medium between the typical square- 
built beefy Shorthorn and the typical wedge-shaped milky Ayr¬ 
shire. Taken in comparison with such huge animals they may be 
termed models in miniature. Is it this smallness of size that 
