128 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 7. 1890. 
PLANTS IN POTS. 
B. 
d. 
8. 
a. 
8. 
a. 
s. 
a. 
Aralia Sieboldi, dozen .. 
6 
0 to 12 
0 
Geraniums Scarlet, p. doz. 
3 
0 to 
6 
0 
Arbor Vitos (golden) doz. 
6 
0 
8 
0 
Heliotrope, per doz. 
4 
0 
8 
0 
Azalea, various, per dozen 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Hydrangea, doz. pots .. 
9 
0 
18 
0 
■Calceolaria, per doz. 
6 
0 
9 
0 
Lilium lancifolium, do*. 
„ longiflorum, do'. 
9 
0 
18 
0 
Climbing Plants, various, 
U 
0 
24 
0 
dozen pots. 
4 
0 
9 
0 
Lily of the Valley, 12 pots 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Crassula, per dozen 
9 
0 
24 
0 
Lobelia, per doz. 
s 
0 
4 
0 
Cyclamen, per dozen 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Marguerite Daisy, dozen 
6 
0 
12 
0 
Deutzia, 12 pots .. .. 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Mignonette, per dozen .. 
4 
0 
6 
0 
Dracaena terminalis, doz. 
21 
0 
42 
0 
Musk, per dozen 
Myrtles, dozen. 
2 
0 
4 
0 
„ viridis, dozen .. 
12 
0 
24 
0 
6 
0 
12 
0 
•Epiphyllum, per dozen .. 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Nasturtiums, dozen pots 
3 
0 
4 
0 
Erica, Cayendishi, per pt. 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Palms, in var., each.. .. 
Pelargoniums, per doz. .. 
2 
6 
21 
0 
„ various, dozen 
12 
0 
18 
0 
6 
■0 
12 
0 
Euonymus, var., dozen .. 
6 
0 
18 
0 
Rhodanthe, per dozen .. 
4 
0 
8 
0 
Evergreens, in var., do en 
6 
0 
24 
0 
Saxifraga pyramidalis, 
Ferns, in variety, dozen.. 
4 
0 
18 
0 
per dozen . 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Ficus elastica, each.. .. 
1 
6 
7 
0 
Spiraea, 12 pots. 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Foliage plants, var., each 
3 
0 
10 
0 
Stocks, per doz. 
4 
0 
6 
0 
Fuchsia, per doz. 
4 
0 
9 
0 
Tropteolums, various, per 
Geraniums, Ivy, per doz. 
3 
0 
6 
0 
dozen . 
3 
0 
6 
0 
BREEDING STOCK. 
Newspaper accounts of the vast quantities of meat imported into 
this country are enough to make a man “ look to his going ” in the 
•breeding of live stock, and to hesitate before going very far in any 
particular direction. Probably the most successful man is he who 
altogether avoids extremes, keeps steadily on impro\ing his stock, and 
gradually makes additions to it of sound useful animals, occasionally 
by purchase, but preferably by breeding, as he has always some¬ 
thing coming on for a good market whenever it offers. Such a man 
pays little heed to popular cries for combination and co-operation, 
for be is so thoroughly imbued with the spirit of self-reliance and 
eelf-help that he prefers to fight for his own hand. 
No pleasanter or more instructive sight is there in agriculture 
than a farm homestead with its full complement of breeding stock. 
Not merely for the farm work are horses kept there ; brood mares 
predominate, because every mare is expected to rear its annual foal. 
The more valuable the mare the more profitable the foal, and there 
is no hesitation about the breeding, all risk of loss being covered by 
insurance, the only practical objection to thus breeding from every 
mare being the necessary cessation of the work of each of them before 
■and after foaling, especially as this so frequently happens when 
there is a pressure of work in getting in the spring crops. I he diffi¬ 
culty is more apparent than real when the breeding is managed with 
a view to profitable sales, as it ought to be. Not the sale of yearlings, 
but rather of horses broken to work, and kept steadily at it till a 
•really good opportunity for sale offers. At the age of three years and 
•upwards a sound well-bred horse is worth any sum from £40 to £100 
cr more, and at such prices a surplus horse or two to relieve the 
mares from overwork may be very well kept, the governing principle 
•being to sell any horse for which a fair price can be had. 
Fancy prices must be left out of the calculations of an ordinary 
farmer. There are certain home farms where such prices are given 
and received, but the purchase of breeding stock for such farms and 
the amount realised may be treated of subsequently as a higher 
branch of farming, wherein wealthy landlords do good work in the 
improvement of live stock, and the hundreds or thousands of pounds 
occasionally given by them for a single animal is a thing of the 
moment, aL almost inevitable result of a contest of capitalists for the 
possession of the horse or beast of their fancy. 
Let the tenant farmer improve his stock, too, by every means in 
his power, but what he wants to produce to keep him going is plenty 
of bullocks, which go off his hands well within the second year at 
prices ranging from £i5 to £30 a-piece, and to do this he must breed 
and feed well and carefully. Home-bred stock and home-grown 
food are a tower of strength to him, the purchase of stock being 
altogether avoided except for the improvement of the herd, but some 
dry food may be purchased to advantage. 
To the flock the first place among stock will be assigned by most 
farmers—certainly by all whose land will carry a flock in winter, 
both for the quick return it affords upon outlay, and for the econo¬ 
mical and thorough manner in which it manures the land. Early 
maturity, first of all so admirably developed in Hampshire Downs, 
has come to be regarded as indispensable in all breeds, and even 
when prices were generally so low two or three years ago, drafts 
from well known flocks always brought special prices. At the 
present time lambs are selling wonderfully well, some select Suffolk 
ewe lambs reaching as high as 60s. 6d. each. These were an excep¬ 
tionally fine lot, but plenty of lambs have realised from 40. to 50s. 
each at the ordinary auction sales. In East Anglia the pure Black¬ 
faced Suffolk always commands a special price, superior to that of 
cross-bred sheep. But we have found much improvement follow the 
use of good Hampshire Down tups with good cross-bred ewes, the 
lambs proving hardy animals, always forward in condition under fair 
treatment. 
It is of the utmost importance to have both male and female 
parents of the best, and a selection of tup3 should now be made for 
turning into the flock at the end of the month. With such an 
abundance of food on pastures the ewes are in excellent condition, 
but it will much assist early breeding to give them a daily run of an 
hour or two upon the corn stubbles, and they may be placed on early 
Turnips to clear and manure the land for winter corn. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Our advice has been recently asked about the treatment of an old 
pasture on a clay farm, which was so infested with rushes as to be 
practically worthless, and we at once said, Pare the turf deeply, turning 
up 2 or 3 inches of soil with it, and burn the whole of it. Then 
bush drain it, the depth of the drains being from 20 to 30 inches—the 
latter depth preferably, if a sufficient fall can be had to the eye or 
outlet of each drain ; the drains to be 15 feet apart. After the draining 
spread the burnt clay and ashes over the surface, and then break up the 
soil deeply with a steam cultivator ; give it repeated turns with culti¬ 
vator, drag harrow, rollers, and ploughs during the autumn, and finally 
throw it up in ridges with the double-breasted plough for the winter. 
On the first favourable opportunity next spring harrow down the ridges, 
and sow it with a mixture consisting of Perennial Rye Grass, Cocksfoot, 
Timothy, and Perennial White Clover, either with or without a crop of 
Oats. As the field is in the hands of a tenant farmer, he will probably 
take a crop of Oats, and there need be no undue exhaustion of the soil 
if he sows with the Oats a mixture of nitrate of soda and mineral super¬ 
phosphate. 
We give our advice here in detail because of the too common impres¬ 
sion that a simple process of draining is sufficient to eradicate rushes. 
We have found it so in bog land, but heavy clay is quite another thing. 
We give preference to bush drains, because clay often settles so closely 
around drain pipes as to close the joints and preventthe entrance of water. 
The weather though still unsettled has been more favourable for the 
corn, and harvest follows the tardy haymaking closely. Peas and 
winter Oats are reaped, and will be in stack before this note is printed, 
if the promise of bright sunshine with which August opens is fulfilled. 
Much of the Wheat too is changing fast to the yellow hue which 
betokens speedy maturity, and the sparrows are making sad havoc 
among the ears again, and yet no effort is made to eradicate these pests 
which cost the farmer so dear. Well may he exclaim, “ There goes the 
rent! ” as he sees a cloud of them spring from the corn upon his approach, 
only to return again when he is gone. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 AM. 
IN THE DAY. 
1890. 
igS-j 
E 03 T3 
J— -I -4 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
0 . 
O T5 
r 0 
So 
I 
B 0+4 
55 00 rH 
H 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
0 
*53 
July and August. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
Uu 
grass 
Sunday.27 
Monday..28 
Tuesday .... 29 
Wednesday.. 30 
Thursday..., 3L 
Friday . l 
Saturday .... 2 
Inches. 
29.991 
29.855 
30.030 
29.955 
29.994 
29.906 
29.954 
deg. 
65.0 
62.8 
62.1 
61.4 
66.3 
67.4 
61.7 
deg. 
£9.0 
58.2 
56.3 
57.9 
63.2 
62.7 
57.2 
s.w. 
8. 
S. 
S. 
S.W. 
S.E. 
W. 
deg. 
62.0 
62.0 
62.0 
62.0 
62.0 
62.3 
63.3 
deg. 
69.8 
74.7 
72.6 
68.7 
70.4 
79.0 
69.1 
deg. 
55.3 
57.4 
47.6 
54.8 
61.2 
60.8 
52.1 
deg. 
117.7 
126.8 
D7.3 
83.6 
97.8 
124.6 
112.9 
deg. 
52.8 
54.5 
45.0 
52.7 
59.4 
57.9 
50.3 
In. 
0.019 
0.020 
0.063 
29.955 
63.8 
59.2 
62.2 
72.0 
55.0 
Hi.5 
53.2 
0.102 
REMARKS. 
27th.—Generally fine and bright, but slight shower about noon. [bright. 
28th.—Dull and drizzly early ; short sharp shower at 9.45 A.M, then fine and generally 
:9th.—Fine, but with little bright sunshine. 
30th.—Showers early ; overcast day with spots of rain in the morning. 
3ist. — Overcast, with occasional very slight showers. 
1st.—Frequently cloudy in morning. Hottest day this year, but max. only 79 0. 
2nd.—Generally cloudy and threatening in the morning, si ght rain in afternoon, and 
more from 7.30 to 9 P.M. 
A generally fine week with average temperature.—G. J. SYMONS, 
