April 26, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
353 
Blundell on “ The Advantage of Manuring Land by Ploughing-in 
Green and Vegetable Crops.” 
The consideration of the subject was, however, confined in its 
application to the vale farms of the South Hants district. We 
cannot, however, limit the consideration of our subject thus, but 
shall endeavour and intend to show its value and importance 
when connected with the cultivation of farms in general upon a 
great diversity of soils ; but our remarks will have especial refer¬ 
ence to the chalk hills and limestone districts of various counties, 
and upon which soils it is often asserted that it cannot be profit¬ 
ably farmed unless by the maintenance of large flocks, and our 
observations will probably by some be considered quite opposed 
to the time-honoured and prevailing custom of consuming all 
green and root crops by sheep on the land. Regarding the 
ploughiug-in of root crops, we find it stated at this club meeting 
that in various seasons, but particularly in 1872 and 1878, in¬ 
stances were related of the great success which had attended the 
ploughing-in of root crops for the Barley crop, especially when 
the roots, greens, and all had been passed through Gardner’s 
Turnip-cutter, and thus completely buried, often using only a 
portion of the crop, say about 13 tons per acre, which has been 
found ample and sufficient for green manuring, the residue, if 
any, being removed for the feeding of dairy cows. 
A valuable statement was made at this meeting by a member, 
who is said to be one of the most experienced and practical 
farmers of the South Hants district (Mr. James Withers of Snake- 
moor), who said—“ About twelve years ago he had a very heavy 
root crop and not stock enough to consume it. He had a field of 
15 acres—10 with Swedes and 5 with Turnips. He estimated the 
former at 24 tons per acre, and the latter at 16 tons per acre. 
The Swedes were fed off with sheep, which had half a ton of oil¬ 
cake, while the Turnips were chopped up and ploughed in. The 
whole field was sown with Barley, and he had considerably more 
per acre where the roots were ploughed in than he had where 
they were fed off and the sheep had eaten oilcake, while a second 
crop of Clover was decidedly the best he had. He had 10 acres 
of roots last year, 5 of which were fed off, and the fold and 5 were 
chopped up and ploughed in. The whole 10 acres were sowed 
with white Oats, and the 5 acres ploughed in produced 7 quarters 
per acre, and the other part 5 quarters per acre. While in the 
two parts there was a difference of from 12 to 16 inches in the 
length of the straw, in the part where the roots were ploughed in ; 
it was on a black light and loamy soil. A- member asked him 
whether he thought it was wise to grow Turnips and then plough 
them in, and he thought he could answer the question. Some 
four years ago he purchased sheep when they were very dear. 
They cost him something like 10,?. each for cake, and when he 
sold them out they fetched 12s. more each than the buying-in 
price. Thus, he had only 2.?. per head to pay his rent, taxes, 
tithes, and the hay, &c., they consumed. He also said his profit 
on sheep last year was nothing.” This closes our quotations from 
the experience of practical men on the points named ; we have, 
however, yet to state a very interesting and important part of the 
subject. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour . —During April and greater part of March the horses 
have been continuously employed, and successfully too, for the work 
done has generally been well performed, and the land so dry that in 
a few exceptional cases of strong clay soil it is next to impossible to 
reduce it into a fine surface tilth. There is, however, plenty of land 
that will work freely where it is of a light and friable nature, so that 
the rough land must wait for rain, and if sufficient rain does not come 
in time for any proposed crop we must wait with patience and seed 
the land for another kind, such as early roots like Mangolds, Carrots, 
and Swedes. Since writing the above a fine rain has fallen, and will 
save much labour. Some of the Wheat lands we find on inspection 
are unusually thin of plant, and will therefore require some horse 
labour in harrowing and hoeing, and upon any Wheat which wa3 
drilled early at 12 inches between the lines harrowing may be done 
across the drills if free working land ; otherwise on the strong clay 
soils it may be horse-hoed, so as to break the hard shell of the surface, 
which is found on most of such land. If, however, the seed was 
sown broadcast the land should be harrowed first, and then hand- 
hoed if it is very thin of plant, w r ith 4-inch hand-hoes, because nearly 
all strong lands have weeds which are peculiar or indigenous to them, 
and should be cut up ; otherwise where the plant of Wheat is deficient 
these weeds will surely overwhelm the crop. The hoeing must be 
done by careful men who are accustomed to this work, which requires 
a quick eye and steady hand, in order that every plant may be saved 
during the operation of hoeing. We used to find the women do 
this work best; it i3 now seldom that female labour can be obtained, 
especially for work requiring so much skill and nicety as hoeing 
broadcast Wheat. It is truly astonishing to see the progress thin 
Wheat will make in tillering and stalking out after being properly 
hand-hoed or horse-hoed, and particularly if top-dressed also with 
nitrate of soda—2 cwt. per acre—or other concentrated manure ; and 
this season it is more required than usual, for a very large portion of 
Wheat land was seeded without any dung being carted on to the 
land, as it would not bear the carts during the continuous rainy 
season from November to February inclusive. 
Hand Labour .—Men will now be employed in sowing nitrate of 
soda upon the Wheat and Oats where the land has not been other¬ 
wise manured. The stores of Mangold should now be examined, and 
if any portion of the roots are decayed they should be picked out 
to prevent further injury, for when this has been done and the store 
heaps reformed and carefully thatched, the roots will keep good for 
use during the whole summer, and be found in good feeding quality 
until Mangolds of the new crop are available. " Should the decayed 
roots removed from the store heap be of sufficient extent they may 
be laid out and ploughed in, after being broken down for manure. 
We did this last year as a dressing for white Oats, and the crop 
proved most abundant upon the portion of the field where they were 
ploughed in. 
Live Stock .—There is still a great scarcity of sheep in the kingdom, 
and it will take years to make good the lost numbers ; it will there¬ 
fore be advisable for farmers who have a sufficiency of food to carry 
out the plan we have previously advised, to hold over the lambs 
which are usually sold at light weight, and instead of selling them to 
weigh only 10 or 12 tbs. per quarter, they may be kept with increased 
benefit until they weigh 18 or 20 lbs. per quarter. We note that Her 
Majesty the Queen has ordered that, on account of their scarcity, 
no lambs are to be used in her establishment. How far this idea may 
be approved and carried out by other householders is very doubtful. 
The prices for both beef and mutton have lately fallen, and will not 
probably reach the late prices again during the summer period; at 
any rate the farmers are running a considerable risk in calculating 
upon the return of extreme prices. Now is the time to consider which 
is likely to answer best—a milk-selling dairy, or a suckling dairy in 
which calves are purchased at a week or ten days old and kept for 
making veal. We hear some complaining of the milk-selling system 
as not answering their purpose, except close to towns, where it can be 
sold by retail near at hand. It is said that in those cases, even within 
three miles of a town or station, that the cost of delivery twice a day 
is a great tax upon profits at present prices. Now when we look at 
the top price for veal, calves, being now 6s. 4 d. per stone, all things 
considered, must pay better than milk-selling. When good Devon or 
Hereford calves are suckled they will be sure to make the top 
quotations, and they can always be obtained at about a week or ten 
days old, at this time of year especially. The points in their favour 
are several. The cows will continue in milk longer when suckling 
calves than when the cows are hand-milked ; there is less trouble or 
expense in suckling than in milking and delivery of milk. The 
detail, however, of management is important, but not difficult, for 
whilst young two calves may be put to one cow, and to get them 
used to meal-feeding in addition to suckling we give them balls (put 
into their mouths at first) composed of linseed meal and barley or 
bean meal. In a week or ten days they will readily take the food as 
pudding out of the hand, and soon after eat it out of a trough. Now 
there is nothing makes better veal than when calves are fed in this 
way, getting more milk and more pudding as they grow heavier, and 
when they will make from £5 to £5 10s. each they may be sold, nor 
is there any more profitable mode of consuming cake and meal. 
SOIL-EXHAUSTION—SPECIAL WANTS OF 
SPECIAL CROPS. 
Right or wrong we look upon the editorial note at page 270 as 
an invitation to complete the paper headed as above. The subject 
is a rather extensive one, and the longer one peers into the distance 
of it the greater it seems, tiff the horizon limiting its area dis¬ 
appears entirely. But it is not our present intention to go very 
deeply into the subject, as those unacquainted with the subject 
might not care to follow, while those who are hardly need instruc¬ 
tion. For these, then, who know little of agricultural chemistry 
we write, and for their sakes we will not travel too far. 
Unwittingly, all that need bo said of the wants of Potatoes has 
been already said, so that we may just as well begin where we left 
off. As one way of restoring land impoverished by strong-growing 
Potatoes, and that, perhaps, the most economical, it only remains to 
speak of the wants of such crops as generally follow Potatoes. 
Hitherto Potatoes or Turnips have formed the beginning of a 
rotation, for to such crops farmers have been in the habit of giving 
all the manure applied to the land till again cropped with Potatoes 
or Turnips With the old weakly growing Potatoes this was bad 
enough, for by the time the green crop had taken much of the 
manure the rain washed more away, and, a crop of corn and hay 
taken, the soil was generally exhausted—on light sandy soil utterly 
so. The pasture, which in some rotations, especially in the north, 
followed such, was certainly of the scantiest and most innutritious 
character. The soil being exhausted it could not produce either 
