November 4,1880. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
comparison [with farmyard manure brief in its duration. I have 
watched the effects of both classes of manure closely, and have 
found it so evenly balanced as to induce me to place both upon 
a par as valuable fertilisers. 
This result is of the utmost importance to those of us who 
carry on farming in a hilly country at a considerable distance 
from a railway station. Mr. Lawes, a high authority upon 
questions of manure, uses 14 tons per acre of farmyard manure 
upon his land. Now I cannot procure manure of that class in 
this neighbourhood, and if I turn my attention to London dung, 
of which there is plenty in the market, the lowest price is 9 s. 6d. 
per ton at a railway station five miles off ; add to this 5s. cost of 
cartage per ton to the farm, and we have the startling total of 
£10 3s. per acre for manure. Gladly, therefore, do we turn to 
the artificial manure which is delivered at the same railway 
station at £8 10s. per ton for quantities of not less than 2 tons. 
It is applied to the land at the rate of 4 cwt. per acre, and the 
total cost including cartage and labour may fairly be stated at 
36s. per acre—a reasonable rate of expenditure, for which the land 
in all favourable seasons as to weather yields a fair return, not 
only in its ton or more of hay per acre, but in that after growth 
so valuable for the dairy cows, and which alone is sufficient for 
their maintenance during August, September, and October. 
Haymaking is such an important operation that it must be 
reserved for consideration at an appropriate time.— Edward 
Luckhurst. 
MALTING BARLEY FOR CATTLE FEEDING. 
As the time is near when farmers will be malting Barley for 
cattle, we have asked a scientific maltster of many years’ practical 
experience to give us a few plain hints for publication ; the 
following are his remarks :— 
Plant.—I should advise farmers to be very cautious in buying 
or building the various things required for malting. Bad as some 
Barley may be, it may still pay for proper treatment, and for this 
purpose some little care and knowledge are required. It is not 
improbable, therefore, that some of the small country malt-houses, 
now but little or at all used, may under the new system be put to 
work for this purpose. A farmer may probably find it better to 
send his Barley to one of these places and pay 2s. or 3,?. a quarter 
to have his malt properly made. Perhaps one large farmer, or a 
combination of smaller ones, may find it pay to hire one of these 
buildings than to have all the trouble and expense of erecting 
them. In the process of working, too, the grain must be attended 
to at the right time whatever else may be in hand, and it may not 
improbably be found inconvenient and expensive to take a 
labourer three or four times a day from his regular employment 
to look after a few sacks of malt. Those who decide to give the 
new plan a trial on their own premises might begin with a few 
tubs for wetting, a level floor of almost any sort for working, and 
a bit of hair-cloth or wire, enclosed, with an opening into an 
existing chimney for drying. In making the kiln it will be well 
to forget all the traditions of malting—as it will in some other 
respects also—for when malt is made for beer, flavour that can be 
developed by heat is an important consideration, while that for 
cattle need only be dried at “ sun heat,”—say, beginning at 708 
and not exceeding 130°. It is very probable, too, that our manu¬ 
facturers will soon be offering a cheap handy small kiln for this 
purpose. 
Steeping. —Under the excise laws the maltster was limited as to 
steeping and sprinkling the growing malt, so it is as well to forget 
the usual fifty hours, and let the Barley lie under water for a 
time, varying with the weather and the quality of the corn. In 
winter, and with stout flinty grain, seventy or eighty hours would 
not be too long. 
Working. —When the water is drawn off the corn may remain 
in the steeping vessel for a day, or till it acquires a slight warmth 
—say not exceeding 60°. It may then be turned out on the floor 
at such a thickness as will keep it about this temperature and 
bring out a short bushy root. To keep this root short, strong, and 
healthy—not dried or shrivelled—is the object to be attained, and 
the growing corn must be stirred, turned, and sprinkled as often 
as may be found necessary to secure this. Especially must it be 
remembered that in no case should it be allowed to heat or “ get 
together,” for in that case an unpleasant flavour will be produced 
and a loss of quality sustained. 
Drying. —After lying from eight to seventeen days on the floor, 
according to weather, &c., the acrospire should be at least half¬ 
way up the back, the interior of the grain all flour, and should 
make a mark like chalk on the finger nail. The water should be 
all out of it, and it should now be put on the kiln, turned occasion¬ 
ally, and dried sufficiently for keeping. 
I think there will be no necessity for screening, as the whole— 
root and all—may be ground up together. It may be well to add 
that the process should take place in cool weather, and with 
Barley fresh from the straw ; and. further, that under certain 
circumstances other grain may pay for malting better than Barley. 
It is quite out of my province to say a word as to feeding, still it 
may not be amiss to caution beginners that it will most probably 
be found that malt alone will not be so profitably used as when 
mixed judiciously with other food .—(Land Agents' Record.') 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE POULTRY SHOW. 
The schedule of this great Show reached us somewhat late. 
There is always but a short interval between its publication and 
the close of entries ; we suppose that its great prestige warrants 
this. The Dorking and Cochin classes are much the same as 
in former years. Langshans and Black Cochins are classified 
together 1 There are no less than seven prizes for Dark Brahma 
cockerels, the first being £15 15s. ; for Dark pullets there are six 
prizes, the first being six guineas. Light cockerels and pullets 
each have a first prize of the same amount. There is a class for 
La Fleche, two for Plymouth Rocks, two for Andalusians, two 
for Sultans. Japanese Bantams again have a class to themselves. 
Ducks seem liberally treated with no less than nine classes. 
There are again two classes for respectively the heaviest cockerel 
and the heaviest pullet, but this year with the proviso of their 
being “suitable for the table.” There is also another class for the 
best couple of cross-bred cockerels or couple of pullets (not 
capons), in which “ fineness of quality, smallness of bone, absence 
of offal, and closeness of plumage is to be considered in preference 
to mere weight; sex and breed of parents must be stated.” Among 
the poultry Judges we see the names, new, we think, at the Crystal 
Palace, of Mr. T. C. Burnell, Mr. S. Matthew, and Mr. T. Raines. 
For Pigeons there are ten classes for Pouters and one for Pigmy 
Pouters, a champion class and twelve other classes for Carriers, 
twenty-one for Dragoons—which embrace almost every age and 
colour—six for Tumblers, three for Fantails, seven for Jacobins, 
eight for Owls, seven for Turbits. Frillbacks for the first time 
have a class to themselves, and Magpies now have three. 
If there are among our readers any who love poultry and 
Pigeons and have not seen the Palace Show we advise them to 
make an effort to attend it this year. The place is unequalled for 
such an exhibition. 
FOWLS AND THE COLD WEATHER. 
Those who have given much attention to fowls can pretty well 
tell what cold different varieties will enjoy throughout the winter 
without being injured, but others with less experience are often 
seriously alarmed on the approach of winter as to how their 
favourites will bear it. When a new breed has been taken in 
hand their hardy and tender points have to be ascertained, and 
practical hands soon learn this ; but beginners are not so quick, 
and are more careful—in fact, they are, as a rule, too careful. 
Fowls which have been coddled and pampered in fine weather 
will never endure cold well or severe weather, but those which 
have been brought up in an ordinary hardy way will scarcely feel 
the change of weather ; indeed, many fowls seem to enjoy better 
health in cold weather than they did in the hot season. Cold 
certainly sharpens their appetite, and this itself is an advantage 
when they are to be fattened for killing, or backward pullets 
for laying. Since the weather began growing cold our fowls have 
eaten more food than they did before. They are also redder in 
the combs, and have more spirit. Very hardy breeds of fowls, or 
those which have been used to it, will sleep out on the trees and 
bushes all night for the whole of the winter, and never appear in 
the slightest way harmed. Wet is more injurious than cold, and 
the two combined are worse still. The most tender fowls will 
bear much cold, but wet soon generates disease. We should 
have no hesitation whatever in allowing the most tender fowls to 
have a long and good run out on a sharp dry frosty day, but we 
prefer keeping them inside or under cover when it is raining 
or snowing. This particularly applies to crested fowls, as when 
the crest becomes wet it is a long time in drying in cold weather, 
and they are very liable to have as the result a severe cold in the 
head. Those with wired runs and covered houses can easily give 
their fowls whatever treatment they like in the way of letting 
them out or keeping them in ; but many have not the convenience, 
and the best advice that can be given to such is to allow their 
fowls freedom in dry weather and keep them under cover as much 
as possible during wmt. They had better be crowded together in 
their roosting houses or sheds for a day or two than be allowed to 
become thoroughly drenched. With an ordinary amount of care 
in this way no one need be afraid of their fowls being injured by 
