374 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 3, 18S3. 
ment in farming transactions. But to do this we mu9t banish 
from our minds many traditional matters hitherto customary in 
this country (except for comparison), so that we may be enabled 
to restore confidence to many men in their calling, and encourage¬ 
ment to young men, thousands of whom for seven years past have 
been deterred from entering on the business of farming because 
of the large amount of capital required in sheep farming, and the 
uncertainty of profit connected therewith ; and especially when 
connected with a style and system of cropping where only a 
limited acreage of sale crops can be grown, in some cases in 
consequence of prevailing customs, in others by restrictions of 
leases. Anything which operates in this way is a serious matter 
for the consideration of landowners as well as intending tenants, 
hence the difficulty of letting farms, and the fact that large num¬ 
bers of young men are taking their capital to the American 
continent. Our principal object in taking up this subject is to 
show how confidence between landlord and tenant, as well as the 
home farmer and his employer, may be restored by leading them 
into a course of farming not only more profitable, but at the same 
time requiring at least one-third less investment of capital than 
has previously been considered necessary in connection with sheep 
farming. In order to do this we shall lay before our readers 
illustrations of detailed systems of management adapted for 
different soils and farms of various sizes and situations, both as to 
climate and facility for the sale of produce. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour .—Although the weather has lately proved very cold, 
still the snow showers and rain have softened the land where rough 
and cloddy, and enabled the completion of the Lent corn seeding, 
which we finished in promising condition on the 2(1 th of April. We 
are now turning our attention to the seeding for the Mangold and 
Carrot crops ; in fact, some Mangold seed has been drilled in good 
tilth on the 21st of April, and this is not too soon, especially for the 
Golden Tankard variety, which grows more slowly than most other 
sorts ; and it is worthy of recollection by the liome farmer that this 
6ort is the most valuable of any for feeding purposes, as they contain 
a larger amount of saccharine than other varieties. It should also be 
borne in mind that it is quite impossible to manure too highly for 
them if ammoniacal and mineral manures are both used, for the 
simple reason that as this crop is usually drawn off the land, the 
more manure there has been applied the more valuable will be the 
residue in the land, and also the greater the crop will be available for 
feeding purposes. The land now may be prepared for Carrots, and 
the less of manure applied at seedtime the better, except it consists 
of such as superphosphate and ashes with the seed. The preparation 
of the seed, too, is a matter of paramount importance, for the old 
plan of mixing the seed in its ordinary state with the manure is now 
ignored, and it is best to prepare the seed by hand-rubbing with 
leather harvesting gloves so as to free it from the burr or husk, for 
when this has been carefully done the seed will pass easily and with 
as much regularity as Turnip seed through the drill. This is im¬ 
portant, for when the seed with the burr attached is mixed with the 
ashes or manure for drilling it is extremely rare to obtain a regular 
plant. Unlike some other of our root crops it is not best to sow 
Carrots very early ; in fact, until the weather and the earth become 
warm the Carrot seed does not vegetate. The weeds regelate imme¬ 
diately, and frequently overwhelm the young plants if sown too 
early ; at any rate, sowing the second week in May saves one hand- 
hoeing as compared with seeding in the month of March, which is 
often advocated as the best time for sowing. 
The work in preparing for Swedish Turnips must be pushed forward, 
for an early preparation of the land and being kept perfectly fine 
between the scarifyings will hatch out the Turnip flies, and if no 
vegetation is found they perish before the seeding time arrives ; at 
least this is our practice, which has answered our purpose for many 
years. The top-dressing of Wheat, which could not be effected by 
yard or town manure in the autumn seedtime, may now be done with 
great advantage. We have applied 2£ cwt. of concentrated corn 
manure to some of our Wheat, which seemed to require something 
to revive the plants after the paralysing effect of the almost un¬ 
paralleled succession of rains, continuing from the first week in 
October up to the 20th of February. Two tines with the harrows 
simultaneously with sowing the manure, whether of concentrated 
manures or nitrate of soda only, opens the land, gives more effect to 
the manures, and greatly assists the growth of the young plants, for 
they are generally very thin on the land this season. Wherever 
horse-hoeing accompanied by hand-hoeing of the Wheat has been 
possible, it is advisable even now for another week or two that it 
should be done, for the Wheat is generally very backward, especially 
on the coldest clay and flat-lying soils. 
Hand Labour .—This has been a capital time for setting out the 
draining of land, as all the damp spots and position of the water 
acting under the surface has been plainly indicated on the first occur¬ 
rence of the drying east winds of March and April; and if the work 
has been marked out at the proper time it may now proceed, as this 
is the best period of the year for cutting the drains and also for laying 
in the pipes, for after filling in now the land will lay well in the 
future. Women are now forking out bunches of couch and twitch, 
which can be easily seen in almost any of the crops; and let the 
home farmer bear in mind that this plan has been practised with 
great advantage for many yeai s, and it has been found that hand 
labour by the expenditure of a few shillings per acre has saved an 
outlay of many pounds’ worth of horse labour, besides the advantage 
of preventing delay in the succeeding seedtime. 
Live Stock .—The late cold and depressing weather for vegetation 
has not only kept back the growth of grass and Rye, but thrown 
the flocks and herds back up the root stores, such as Mangold and 
Swedes. The number of sheep, however, in the country has been so 
much diminished by disease during the past three years that the 
flocks are more easily provided for than usual. Dairy cows which 
have been honsed at night time should not lie out at night until the 
second week in May, and then it should, if possible, be upon a dry 
and sheltered pasture. The cattle in the boxes which are not yet fit 
for market, if well fed now, will be ready in good time, for light 
weights, if in the best condition, will sell well from the 1st of July up 
to the 20th of August, which is the period just previous to the cattle 
off the best grazing districts being brought to market. There has 
been much ado about the sale of lambs since Her Majesty the Queen 
made the announcement not to consume lamb in the royal household. 
The time, however, is past to do much injury to the farmers as to the 
sale of lamb, except for the forward lambs from the best horned 
Somerset and Dorset ewes, but they are now nearly all sold. There¬ 
fore the Down lambs, although fat, if they cannot be sold well at 
light weights, may be held on with advantage until Michaelmas 
where a provision in food can be obtained for them until that time. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Lucerne (S. .4.).—You can grow a crop of Lucerne to remain as many 
years as you wish. If you sow it between your winter Beans it will take 20 lbs. 
of seed per acre broadcast, if it is drilled at 15 inches apart 16 tbs. will be 
enough. It depends upon the distance between the lines of the Beans as to 
whether you can drill the seed with regularity between them, but if sown broad¬ 
cast and hoed-in the last time of hoeing the Beans it will probably answer. If 
you drill it the hand drill used in gardens will do the work well at any distance. 
Drilling is best, because the land can be kept clean, and the crops of Lucerne 
will be encouraged much in their growth by hoeing between the lines. 
Rape Cake (.Inquirer ).—Rape cake, although formerly used generally for 
the purposes of manure, is now extensively used as a feeding stuff. It does not 
differ very widely in general composition from the linseed cake. The composi¬ 
tion is as follows :—Oil, 11J per cent. ; albumen, 30J; starch, &c., 28 ; and 8 of 
mineral substances. Thus it contains a higher per-centage of albuminous or 
flesh-forming matters than linseed cake. It has, however, a certain bitter taste, 
which somewhat lowers its value for feeding purposes. The chief objection to 
rape cake is its liability to contain oil of mustard, the presence of which can be 
easily detected by mixing a little with water, and subjecting it to heat, when 
the smell of the mustard is very easily recognised. Foreign rape cake is the best, 
inasmuch as it is made from seed grown in the north of Germany and France, 
and is purer than the East Indian seed, from which English cake is principally 
manufactured. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40” N.; Long. 0° 8' 0” W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE day. 
a 
*5 
1883. 
April. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 32« 
and Sea 
Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
| Temp, of 
Soil at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass. 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sun. 22 
.30.22(3 
46.8 
41.2 
N.E. 
46.0 
53.3 
31.6 
97.8 
31.8 
0.ni.3 
Mon. 23 
29.875 
41.7 
36.3 
N.E. 
46.0 
48.2 
38.0 
97.6 
32.5 
0.197 
Tues. 24 
29.585 
42.1 
39.7 
N.E. 
44.5 
52.4 
31.3 
87.1 
31.0 
0.U16 
AVed. 25 
29.639 
45.1 
41.2 
N.W. 
446 
5'*.5 
39.8 
95.8 
37.3 
— 
Thurs. 24 
29.762 
52.4 
47.9 
S.E. 
44.7 
60.7 
33.3 
104.6 
26.6 
— 
Friday 27 
29.448 
51.7 
48.6 
E. 
46.3 
59.8 
46.9 
74.5 
43.3 
0.318 
Satur. 28 
29.426 
50.9 
51.1 
N.W. 
47.5 
60.8 
49.3 
103.0 
48.3 
0.300 
29.709 
47.2 
43.7 
45.7 
55.1 
39.1 
94 3 
35.8 
0.844 
REMARKS. 
22nd.—Dull and cold; sharp shower in forenoon, fine afternoon and evening; 
bright moonlight night. 
23rd.—Gusty and cold ; bright sunshine in forenoon, heavy shower of hail 
2.30 P.M., snow and hail at intervals during afternoon and evening. 
24th.—Cold and showery. 
25th.—Very fine and bright, with cold wind. 
26th.—Fine and bright; solar halo 5.30 P.M.; high wind in evening. 
27th.—Morning dull and showery ; fair afternoon and evening. 
28th.—Dull morning, with rain ; fine afternoon, rain again in evening. 
Temperature on the whole near the average, but the 23rd was very winterly, 
with a considerable fall of snow quite an inch in depth. Sharp frost on 26th.—- 
G. J. Symons. 
