September 16, 1880. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 271 
opening so that manure, Ac., may be removed conveniently, or 
earth, &c., filled-in as required. The food store and space for the 
preparation of cattle food is a separate matter, and will have to 
he considered in its relation to other buildings on the farm, except 
only that it should be contiguous to the cattle box range. In the 
event of these double rows being increased to two or more the 
passage between the boxes should be widened to 6 feet with a 
tramway, so that food, litter, &c., may be conveyed by truck to 
the boxes, and the manure removed in the same way at certain 
periods. In case of additional rows being added the roof may be 
upon the ridge-and-furrow principle, supported by iron pillars for 
all except the outside walls. All roofing may be composed of 
galvanised corrugated iron, with small elevated ventilators on the 
top at certain distances. The division of boxes may be of wooden 
rails, or they may be of hollow round bar iron made in lifting 
panels (moveable, but keyed-in for use), water being laid on and 
feeding troughs to rise or fall with the manure in the boxes. 
Anything beyond our statement is a builder’s question. 
We now proceed to consider the method of littering the boxes, 
for after having earth placed 10 or 12 inches deep in the bottom, 
litter of straw or other materials will be used as cleanliness 
dictates. About 18 or 20 lbs. of straw will be required daily to 
each box when no excrement is removed. There is, however, 
some difference of opinion as to the length of the straw used. 
Some advocate chaff about 4 or 6 inches in length, or even shorter, 
as they say it becomes more absorbent; but we dislike the ex¬ 
pense of cutting by machinery, and we advise the straw to be 
used in longer pieces, say from 12 to 15 inches in length. For 
this purpose we tie the straw into single bond trusses, and use a 
thatcher’s knife to divide it at the bond ; this makes the straw fit 
for use, and it will then bind down firm with an even surface. 
As a case in point, some thirty years ago, when box-feeding was 
in its infancy, we were asked by a home farmer belonging to a 
nobleman’s establishment to nail and see his box system, which 
he said he could not think would answer, and wished for our 
opinion and advice, as his cattle made little or no progress. On 
inspecting the buildings we found them everything which could 
be desired, but the boxes were littered with straw chaff, cut nearly 
short enough to feed the cattle upon, and without any earth for 
absorbing the urine. Some very fine North Devon oxen were in 
the boxes, and well fed—indeed, overfed as regards the quantity 
of cake allowed. It was stated that the oxen had been in the 
boxes ever since the previous October, the time we visited them 
being February. We noticed that the bedding reached above the 
animals’ knees, and asked the herdman to take a prong and lift a 
little of the litter ; on doing this a volume of steam ascended 
immediately. We then explained to the home farmer that it was 
no wonder the cattle did not thrive living upon such a reeking 
mass of manure, and that it was lucky the animals had not died ; 
that their ill condition was caused by the bedding being cut so 
short that it would not bear the weight of the cattle, and at every 
movement, instead of treading the manure into a firm compact 
mass, the animals were kneading the litter into a state of fermen¬ 
tation, injurious alike to the health of the cattle and value of the 
manure, thus showing how easily the best systems of management 
may be perverted by the omission of one item of practical detail. 
The utilisation of boxes upon pasture farms, or where straw is 
scarce, may still be obtained, somewhat upon the plan in use by 
Mr. Mechi years ago—that is, a sparred floor ; but we think it 
should be made to rise or fall with the accumulation of manure, to 
prevent a strong current of air under. The best plan is to place 
dried and screened earth at the bottom of the box, in order to 
absorb the liquid and solid excrement as it falls through the 
sparred floor, and by the daily addition of dry earth or ashes, 
gypsum, &c., swept through the grating the accumulation in the 
pit will be found to fix the ammonia in the manure, and make the 
floor healthy for the cattle above it. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour .—In various districts the harvest is not concluded, 
therefore the horses will still be employed in carting the corn and 
pulse. In many cases Beans are still in the field, but the sooner they 
can be stacked the better, in order that where Wheat is to follow the 
Bean crop the tillage mav be proceeded with without delay. In cul¬ 
tivating Bean stubbles the land should not be ploughed in the ordi¬ 
nary way with a whole furrow, especially where couch grass prevails, 
but may with more advantage be first rafter-ploughed and then 
scarified across with the points, not the shares, for in this way the 
grass, &c., will be combed out and left on the surface to be dealt with 
by harrows, roller, &c.; but should the land have been clean-ploughed 
the grass will be turned under and buried, so that it will require more 
than double labour to work it out; in fact, by such a mode of pro¬ 
ceeding it is never properly cleaned the same season. This remark 
applies to all autumn cultivation, except the land is quite free from 
couch grass. We notice that all over the country steam power is in 
full operation, and this is in every case advisable, for it not only eases 
the horse labour but completes work for which there is only a limited 
time at command ; for when once the autumn rains commence it 
seldom happens that cleaning the land can be continued. In the 
early districts and on the chalk hill farms the drawing-out of manure 
will be going on, and the spreading and ploughing may follow as 
soon as possible ; for upon these soils, particularly in bleak situations, 
the Wheat requires to be sown the last week in this or the first week 
in next month. Upon the heavy land farms also the same work 
applies, hut the seed time may be delayed until the end of October 
with advantage. With reference to the drilling of Wheat upon 
heavy land we again advise the home farmer to drill the lines 
12 inches apart, otherwise it is in some seasons quite impossible to 
insure a successful growth of the plant; for after a wet winter, when 
the land is close and hard on the surface, the plant often looks pale 
and sickly, in which case if it is not horse-hoed by moving the surface 
the crop will be deficient, as sickly plants only produce small ears at 
harvest. We advise the sowing of pedigree corn, and if this costs 
rather more money less seed is required, especially if it is drilled at 
the earliest season and at the wide distance. Although from some 
cause or other the plant may be thin in the spring, yet pedigree grain 
will make up more deficiencies than the ordinary sorts, because it will 
always produce a larger ear. Trifolium sowing should now be com¬ 
pleted, for although the late sorts may be sown as well as the early 
variety, yet the seed time must not be deferred. Winter Vetches and 
winter Oats may now be sown in admixture—bushel Vetches and 
half a bushel of Oats. Rye, also, should now be sown if required for 
early spring food, and the winter seldom kills, only checks, the growth 
however forward it may be. Winter Beans may now be drilled, and 
we do not like to trust to them entirely, but recommend the mixture 
of half a bushel per acre of winter Vetches. This will not interfere with 
horse or hand hoeing in the spring, but as soon as it is completed the 
Vetches reach across the lines and dominate the weeds, which other¬ 
wise injure the growth of the Beans, besides which both Beans and 
Vetches seldom suffer from blight in the same season. The feeding 
off early Turnips has been going on lately with great benefit to the 
sheep and the land also, and as there is a full crop this year a portion 
may be carted off for feeding cattle with great advantage. Old 
Saintfoin leas which are due for ploughing and seeding with another 
crop, may in a season like the present be pared and burned or autumn- 
cleaned, and sown either with Wheat or left for seeding with Oats in 
the spring, after being deeply ploughed. Nearly all the late sorts of 
Potatoes will now be forward enough to plough out; and we are 
pleased to say that the disease has not spread lately, nor do we find 
that those which have grown out are injured as was expected ; in 
fact, the fine weather has so far altered the Potato crop that a full 
produce is likely to be well secured. We find in some cases that the 
gross haulm of the Champion variety has been cut off and used for 
feeding dairy cows this autumn with some advantage. Dairy cows 
which are used for suckling calves for veal will now have an advan¬ 
tage in some respects compared with those for making butter, cheese, 
or selling milk, especially when we consider how deficient in many 
instances is the milking process carried out for want of care and atten¬ 
tion by the hand-milkers, and we have yet no milking machine which 
in our opinion answers the purpose in all respects. Again, in referring 
to the custom of allowing the cows to go dry for several months 
before calving, this, together with imperfect milking, is a serious evil, 
and a large number of animals lose their teats or suffer at calving 
time with the downfall in the udder. Great injury arises from the 
cows in such cases making internal fat in various ways, and it is not 
sufficient, if it could be proved, that cows allowed to go dry for a 
considerable period give more milk after calving. We have a set-off 
against this by a large number coming to grief, which is not the case 
when calves are suckled for veal throughout a lengthened milking 
period. 
BUYING- EXHIBITION CHICKENS. 
We live in an age of competition, and few of us are now content 
with our cows, or pigs, or dogs, or poultry unless they have some 
chance of competing with success against those of our neighbours. 
The season of poultry shows is coming round, when all breeders 
seem to take an interest in their well-bred stock. Unfortunately 
in many this interest is spasmodic and periodical, and only recurs 
at this time of year ; the result is that either their exhibits make 
a very sorry figure, or that they buy from more painstaking 
breeders. It is a well-known fact that year after year certain 
famous and successful exhibitors buy all their exhibition chickens ; 
they are not able or do not care for months to bestow on the 
little growing birds the attention which alone will secure success 
afterwards in the show pen. 
It always seems to us that there must be something a little 
unsatisfactory in this systematic purchasing, but those who buy 
know their own business best, and the liberal prices often given 
for first-rate young stock are a great encouragement to clever 
and perhaps poor breeders. Apart, however, from such regular 
buying for exhibition, many a would-be exhibitor begins by pur- 
