February 22, 1883 . ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 167 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour .—This has been seriously delayed for a long time. 
Even those who were intending to make up the deficiencies in the 
autumn seed-time by sowing spring Wheat have been quite unable 
to execute the work in a decent husbandlike form, as the rains have 
been so heavy and so constant, that even upon the driest soils the 
work has been badly done. As, however, a heavy seed time is best 
for spring Wheat, we will hope that the result may be better than 
the present appearances indicate. Preparation should now be made 
for seeding both Beans and Peas either separately or mixed, but the 
latter is the safest, for both are seldom attacked with the aphides 
(their great enemy) in the same season. The land will this year be 
very heavy indeed. This, however, does not signify for Beans if the 
work can be done, and there is a small drill made to be attached to 
the plough which will deposit the seed in the furrow ; otherwise we 
like the drill attached to a presser, so that the seed may fall into the 
grooves made by the rings of the presser at such distance apart as may 
be required. So much time has been lost, and this may still continue, 
in which case the carting of chalk or lime may be attended to, for on all 
our loamy soils there is a very serious deficiency of carbonate of lime in 
the soil generally ; therefore the drilling of screened chalk should be 
done instead of using ashes in the drill or otherwise in addition there. 
Twenty-five bushels of chalk per acre will save the root crop from 
clubbing of the roots. Lime, however, in the absence of chalk should 
be used, and brought to the farm at odd times when the ordinary 
work of the farm is delayed. The mode of preparing lime for appli¬ 
cation is so important, that as soon as it reaches the farmer’s land, 
and is deposited thereon in the shape of stones or shells from the kiln, 
in due time it should be spread as dry powder; hut in the interval 
between depositing and spreading it should not be permitted to be¬ 
come wet, though rain may fall daily. We will advise that a field in 
preparation for Potatoes or other root crops, and ready to receive its 
quota of lime : the ground is marked off into points, two poles apart, 
and thus there are forty points per acre. The carts laden with shells 
are drawn on, and half a bushel is deposited on each point; the shells 
are then covered with some of the surrounding earth. In a few days 
the lime begins to protrude, and bursting through its earthy covering, 
and when it is slacked to admit of mixing. The heap is then broken 
down, and the lime and earth are mixed, and again made up into a 
conical heap ; the lime is then considered safe, and its virtues se¬ 
cured. In a day or two it maybe spread, after which no fall of rain 
can injure it, and it may remain the farmer’s convenience as to 
ploughing in. As soon as the land becomes sufficiently dry where 
the Wheat is thin and has only partially vegetated, the surface 
should be dragged with Howard’s self-lifting drag ; this will not only 
improve the growth of what has come up, but it frequently admits 
the air, so that other grains may vegetate. 
Horse-feeding and stable management is of the utmost importance. 
We never drive more than two horses to the plough at any time, and 
in summer only two to the double-furrowed plough, as it is heavy 
work on some land. The horses should be upstanding and heavy, and 
be well fed, in which case their actual weight will assist in the work 
and make it comparatively easy. Our allowance of corn has been 
80 lbs. of Oats, with 2 cwt. of Clover hay, and about 70 lbs. of 
Carrots or other roots per horse per week all through the winter 
months, and until the Trifolium or other grass is ready for cutting 
in May. 
Hand Labour .—Draining work required should be set out as soon 
as the land is white dry on the surface, for then the dark spots show 
exactly the wettest parts and the direction for placing the drains; 
and our plan, as previously stated in these columns, is still the best— 
viz., placing the drains down the incline of the land at distances 
in accordance with the wetness of the land. If, however, the land 
is wet from bird’s-eye springs, then the drains should be cut across 
above the spring, in order to cut the water off before it reaches the 
surface. Women now should be constantly employed in such work 
as preparing roots for the cutter before the sheep, and also in looking 
over the ground, forking out any bunches of grass, Ac., before the 
hurdles are set up for the folding. The ploughing-in of roots should 
now be done where the sheep cannot eat them, or where the plan is 
adopted to avoid keeping sheep, with the view of ploughing-in the 
crop for Lent corn. This is best done by two women pulling the 
roots and striking them together to free them from earth, and cast 
them greens and all into the Gardner’s cutter, one man grinding 
them, and another spreading the cut loots. These men take turns 
in grinding and spreading. In this way about 12 or 13 tons of roots 
will produce as fine a crop of Oats as when the roots have been fed 
with sheep eating cake, hay, Ac., and in fact it i3 too high-farming 
for Barley, when the land is in good cultivation in other respects, and 
yields so much straw as to frequently injure the sample for malting 
purposes. 
Live Stock .—The home farmer should now consider his position as 
regards his ewes and lambs, for the position is really such as we have 
never known it before—five millions of sheep short in the kingdom 
as compared with ten years ago. Sheep for years to come, in accord¬ 
ance with general calculations, must be dear to buy for feeding, there¬ 
fore the breeders will have the most profit where an average growth 
of roots and grass occurs. Why should the lambs be sold at light 
or usual weights, say 10 or 12 lbs. per quarter, when, in case they are 
fed until they reach 20 lbs. per quarter, they would realise 75*. or 80s. 
each ? No part of their life will they pay more money, nor can sheep 
of any age be bought to pay so much as the lambs kept on until they 
reach the above-named weight. In fact, it is now a complete reversal 
of circumstances, the breeder obtaining the chief advantage. Let the 
farms which have usually been grazing farms during the past now 
change over and save all the lambs until they reach heavy weights, 
also reserving as many ewes as possible for future breeding. We 
must now refer to breeding swine. We prefer to rear cross-bred 
animals by mating the Berkshire sow with a large white Yorkshire 
boar of the largest kind we can obtain, as weight for age and early 
maturity are best obtained by this cross, and at the same time the 
Berkshires make the best mothers and bring large farrows as to num¬ 
ber, and they come into use not only very early, but yield the greatest 
proportion of lean to fat of any breed or cross with which we are 
acquainted. 
There is another point in favour of cross-breeding, for the offspring 
are usually more healthy than when animals are continually bred on 
the farm without change of blood. We keep our breeding sows in 
yards of small extent, with a small shed attached, and feed them for 
the most part with green vegetables and a few beans or peas twice a 
day. The yard is fenced with iron cattle hurdles and floored with 
earth, the long horse dung being spread over the yard as fast as it 
arises at the cart-horse stables, and allowed to accumulate. This is 
found to make excellent and roomy accommodation for the sows, 
which are constantly treading down the dung and adding to its value 
by their own droppings and consolidating the mass, which would 
deteriorate more or less under ordinary circumstances. When the 
sows are about to farrow they are removed to a comfortable pen of 
about 10 feet by 10 feet under cover, and the like space in the open, 
fenced by ironwork, the manure being allowed to accumulate in the 
outside space. Here they remain until the young pigs are weaned, 
when they return to the yard again, as they are found to breed well, 
but would bring but few pigs in numbers if kept in close pens without 
exercise. 
Hogg A Wood’s Annual Seed Report. —Messrs. Hogg A Wood 
of Coldstream observe in their report that of English Red and Welsh 
Red Clovers and Cowgrass really good examples are scarce and will 
be dear ; medium seeds are not plentiful. Of foreign Reds, the crops 
on the continents of Europe and America are much under the average, 
and will, to a large extent, be required for sowing abroad. France 
will be able to send us some good seeds, but at a high price. White 
Clover on the whole is an average crop. Both fine and medium quali¬ 
ties will be fairly plentiful, but owing to the failure of the crop of 
Alsike prices will be higher than those of last year. The home crop 
of Perennial and Italian Rye Grass seeds is a fair average, and prices 
are considerably lower than those of 1882. Of foreign Italian there 
is an extremely poor yield, and prices are high. The natural Grasses 
are under an average crop, and for pure clean samples prices rule 
high. Of Turnip, Mangold, and other root seeds we have had a good 
yield of excellent well-matured seed of strong growth. The cost of 
Turnip seeds is nothing as compared with the difference between a 
good and bad crop, and it is a fact now pretty well known that a 
good stock of Turnip or Mangold seeds will produce several tons more 
weight per acre than an inferior stock. 
Webbs’ Farm Seed Catalogue. —This work is noticeable as con¬ 
taining excellent original articles on the Turnip fly and finger-and-toe 
in Turnips, with illustrations showing the insects in their various 
phases as attacking the plants above ground, and the fungus which 
affects the roots and often seriously injures the crop. Remedies are 
proposed and means suggested for averting the attacks in question. 
EGGS AND THE HATCHING SEASON. 
“ It is an ill w r ind which blows nobody any good.” So says the 
old proverb, and we think we might add “ and an ill rain.” The 
late rains have indeed been disastrous alike to man, beast and bird, 
but we have already observed one advantage from them—viz., that 
eggs are hatching remarkably well. The effect which a damp 
atmosphere has upon the development of the germ within the egg 
is somewhat mysterious, but all observation has led us to think that 
a certain amount of damp is necessary to keep the thin skins which 
encircle the contents of the egg in such a condition that the chick 
when fully developed can with ease twist itself round in the shell, 
and so break its way out of it. Old henwives always complain that 
during east winds many chickens are “dead in the shells.” The 
meaning of this somewhat strange phraseology is that chickens, 
which up to the hatching point had duly developed, are unable to 
extricate themselves, and so die unhatched. We have observed in 
incubators, even where there are the most careful precautions taken 
to keep up a moist atmosphere, that many fully developed chickens 
do not hatch, and that, in the shells of those which do hatch, the 
