February 8, 1883. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 125 
can be made to stand quietly during the time of milking, but 
trough-feeding simultaneously with milking will go a long way 
towards quieting them. It is, however, frequently the case that 
the milking cannot be done without great loss of time in the 
operation, or the loss of the milk through the action of restless 
animals, in which case they are obliged to be confined in a guillo¬ 
tine or stocks, in which they are fixed by the neck andean neither 
move forwards or backwards ; but this need be only a last resort, 
and if it fails to answer it is best to dispose of the Goat. In the 
act of milking, just the same as with cows, gentleness and kind 
words will generally have its effect and enable the milking to be 
effected with promptitude ; but heavy milkers will require some¬ 
thing more than the usual twice-a-day milkine, for those whose 
bags are very supple and rapidly fill should have them emptied 
three times daily, when a greater return will be made, for with 
the Goat the more you take the more she will continue to yield, 
and for a longer period. For the first three or four months after 
parturition the yield continues at its height, but at the end of 
nine months it is customary to allow the supply to cease, but to 
this course we have before stated our objections. In Goat man¬ 
agement there is much more to be learned of detail than 
we can find space for in these columns ; but in order that all 
which is required for success in Goat-keeping may be learned we 
will advise not only the amateur but all who feel an interest in 
the subject to obtain a work, thoroughly practical, called “ The 
Book of the Goat,” by H. Stephen Holmes Pegler, which in a 
frontispiece gives an excellent illustration of an English milch 
Goat, which may well prove valuable to an intending purchaser. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
TTorse Labour. —Wheat-sowing is now generally finished, but some 
farmers still consider Wheat as the rent-paying crop, and we cannot 
deny it. A farmer recently told us that his ground which had been 
ploughed ready for sowing during the last two months, and that the 
land would not work with the harrows at any time since, and he 
feared it would not work until it became too late. He could have 
sown it long ago if he bad ploughed it again and sowed as fast as it 
was ploughed daily and hour by hour, but the idea did not occur to 
him. Our readers will remember that this is the plan we have 
advised during the whole of the past winter. Ploughing can still be 
done where it is to be fallowed for roots. In the case of Beans and 
Peas, however, the land should not be ploughed before, for these 
crops will always succeed best by ploughing and seeding simul¬ 
taneously, as this not only insures the work being completed as fast 
as undertaken, but also favours the growth of any pulse crop much 
more than when ploughed beforehand. This is not the case with 
the preparation for Oats or drege. because if the land for this crop 
is ploughed and pressed early it will settle down close with the heavy 
rains which usually occur in February, and the working of the land 
will be easily done on the first dry time afterwards, and after the 
Oats come up the land will be too close for the wireworm to 
injure them. Thus the ploughing may be done for these crops, the 
sooner the better. Care should now be taken not to disturb the land 
intended for Barley until the weather becomes dry, when it may be 
done by ploughing and sowing simultaneously even after roots have 
been fed on the land by sheep, but the land should not be disturbed until 
it is ploughed and sown. Some farmers, however, think that as fast 
as the roots are eaten the land should be scarified, fearing that heavy 
rains will wash away the manure, but we have not found this to be 
the case even on our hilly land, for the urine is the chief manure, 
and is absorbed as quickly as it is dropped, the ammonia fixed and 
deodorised. The dung of sheep is often so much trodden into the 
soil that it does not run away more than the urine. 
Hand Labour .—This has consisted of hedge-trimming and cutting, 
also forking out grass where only a few bunches are found, but in 
case a considerable quantity is left in the land it must remain until 
the land becomes dry enough to work the scarifier before ploughing. 
Examination of all drain work should now take place. We have 
just completed this work on a farm which was vacated at Michaelmas 
last; in some parts the drains have been repaired, and in all cases 
the outlets have been examined and made free from any obstruction. 
Live Stock .—The lambing season is now on with all varieties of 
Down sheep and their crosses. The long-wools will soon follow, and 
their keeping should be moderate, for root food, like Turnips and 
Swedes, should be given sparingly if at all. Cabbages are best for 
pregnant ewes ; but in the pasture districts good sweet hay without 
roots will be sufficient if the animals have access to rock salt and the 
opportunity of obtaining water, but what is better, a run at daytime 
on the chaik downs or limestone pastures. We knew a good farmer 
who would never give his ewes hay before lambing, but instead, did not 
feed his dry pastures after the 14th of July, and then in the early winter 
months the sheep were allowed a folding every day of this reserved 
late summer and autumn growth of grass, and he did this for fifty 
years with uniform success in the lambing fold and the general good 
health of his flock, but it is in strong land pasture districts without 
arable land where the difficulties arise. Would it not be wise to feed 
fatting bullocks or dairy cows only on such strong land pastures, and 
thus escape the fluke rot, and at the same time not injure or destroy 
the finer gasses by sheep feeding ? The store animals are not now 
allowed, nor the dairy cows either, to go on the pastures, as some 
of the finest pastures tread very much and are injured by winter 
feeding, therefore only dry paddocks near the farm buildings should 
be used as airing ground for any cattle in the wet winter months ; 
but all the young stock which are now being forwarded for the 
butcher should be kept in the hovels or boxes and fed carefully upon 
the principle of early maturity—that is to say, to give them the 
cotton cake as yearlings, with Swedes cut and mixed with it, and 
good sweet Oat straw, that arising from the white Oats being the 
best, up to the time of twelve months. After that time they should 
be kept in separate boxes and never see the sun nor feel the rain 
again until they pass to the butcher after being fed up to twenty or 
twenty-four months of age, with 4 lbs. linseed oil cake, 2 tbs. of bean 
or barleymeal mixed with cut roots, G4 lbs. of Swedes, or 5G tbs. of 
Mangolds, with sweet straw ad libitum per day. This is the only way 
by which we could ever make a profit on fatting bullocks, but in case 
we gave hay instead of straw it injured the health of the animals, 
and absorbed 3s. per week of the otherwise profit on feeding. 
POTATOES AS A FIELD CROP. 
Under this heading Messrs. Sutton & Sons of Reading have 
published a manual of eight pages, which is much more than a 
catalogue, inasmuch as the prices of the varieties enumerated are not 
quoted ; it is rather a record of the practice of independent cultivators, 
which is submitted to show that Potatoes may be grown with a fair 
amount of profit in this country. The following extract will show 
the nature of the work :— 
“ Report from a Bedfordshire grower, who annually sends an 
immense quantity of Potatoes to the London market. He is one of 
the most competent men we know to express an opinion on this 
subject. 
“ December 14th, 1882. 
“ Ten acres of Wheat stubble owing to unfavourable seasons con¬ 
tained a quantity of twitch in the autumn of 1881. This I deter¬ 
mined to plant with Magnum Bonurn and Reading Hero Potatoes 
depending upon this crop to clean the land also, hence the otherwise 
unnecessary amount spent on the cultivation. The following is the 
estimated cost per acre :— 
£ «. d. 
Rent and taxes. 300 
Once ploughing in September, 1881.0 10 0 
Harrowing the tilth, March, 1882 . 0 1 0 
Twenty-five tons shortened manure,at 10,?. per tou ..12 10 0 
Spreading manure. 020 
Ploughing in seed Potatoes, April, 1812, per acre .. .. 0 10 0 
Seed, 11 cwt., at 5.< per cwt. .2 15 0 
Women laying in Potato seed, ppr acre .. .. ..026 
Scuffling land with six-horse scuffle across furrows after 
planting .050 
Once drag-harrowing with 4 horses. ..030 
Twice harrowing at intervals (2-horse harrows) .. ..020 
Horse-hoeing three times with grubbers fixed .. .. 0 4 C 
Hand-hoeing twice, at 4.?. per acre.0 8 0 
Earthing up with moulding plough.0 2 6 
Digging and sorting .150 
Drawing to railway (at 2.5. 6 d. per ton) 7 tons .. .. 0 17 6 
Sowed broadcast before horse-hoeing, 80 bushels soot, per 
acre at 8</. .2 13 4 
Man sowing the same.016 
£25 12 10 
CROP¬ 
S' tons best Potatoes at present price (Dec. 14th) £7 per 
ton .. 
.38 
10 
0 
1 ton seed Potatoes .. 
0 
0 
£45 
10 
0 
Salesman’s commission, 6J tons at 7 s . 6 J 
. £2 8 9 
Railway freight, 6J tons at 7s. Gd. 
2 8 9 4 
17 
6 
£40 
12 
6 
Cost of cultivation . 
12 
10 
Net profit. 
19 
8 
“ Remarks. —Everybody would not be at this liberal outlay for 
manure and soot, but this is my way of doing it. Some farmers 
would probably manage at a much less cost. The scuffling and drag- 
harrowing would be dispensed with if the land was clean. 
“ The Potatoes were ploughed in by three two-horse teams, the 
third and covering plough horses walked single out of the furrow to 
avoid treading on the Potatoes. The Potatoes were laid in the side 
of the furrow by six women (the labourers’ wives) ; each woman 
planted a sixth part of the length of the furrow, crossing the land 
and planting both sides as the ploughs came round. I plant by this 
means about three acres per diem. The land after the Potato crop 
was almost clean, and was made quite so at an expense of 3s. per 
acre forking. It is now ploughed up ready for sowing with Barley, 
to be followed with Clover, and then Wheat again.—J. M. J.” 
