172 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 21, 1890. 
its way into every badly built corn shock and every loose sheaf. 
On the whole the crops are good, and with us decidedly above the 
average. Barleys are a big crop, so are Oats ; Winter Beans are 
■excellent, and with Wheat up to £2 a quarter we long for fine 
weather to impart quality to both Wheat and Barley, and enable 
ns to realise the fair promise of an abundant yield and profitable 
prices which seemed so possible only a week ago. Ah ! there is a 
gleam of sunshine ; the storm is o’er, the clouds are passing away, 
and all may yet be well. Let us take the broken weather as an 
incentive to exertion, and strive to the utmost to save the harvest. 
As a means to so desirable an end we have endeavoured so to 
arrange the work and the rate of pay that the workmen can have 
no just cause of complaint, and no question can arise to cause 
friction or any dispute during harvest. All the corn upon every 
farm has been put in the harvest. Each man has to reap a 
given number of acres. The men select the lord of the harvest, who 
for the time being is foreman and leader. The price paid per 
■acre is inclusive of binding and stacking, and if a self-binder is 
used due allowance is made for it. But we assist the men with all 
the extra help we can command, as that is a matter clearly in our 
■own interest. The rate of weekly advance out of the gross amount 
to be paid for the work is £1 per man ; a shilling each is given to 
bind the bargain ” when the terms are decided, and 2s. 6d. each is 
also given at the final settlement when the balance due to each man 
is paid him. 
The Truck (Amendment) Act of 1887 renders payment by beer 
•or other intoxicating drink illegal, and it is only when labourers 
board in the house that there should be any question about drink of 
any kind. We have long discontinued any allowance of beer or 
-cider, simply because it was a nuisance, and once there was a clear 
-understanding that all payments were to be made in money the 
■nuisance ceased. Kindly feeling between master and man is highly 
desirable, and we have not found pandering to the common greed 
for drink tend to promote it. Rather, much rather, was it a source 
of ill-feeling, and the cause of many a growl, for the conception of 
what is enough in the way of drink allowance by the ordinary 
labourer is a remarkably near approach to the verge of in¬ 
toxication. 
On every large farm in hand it has been our custom to supply a 
reaping machine, with a change of horses every two hours, and this 
is taken into account when the price per acre is settled with the 
men. A self-delivery reaper with its rakes is a real labour-saving 
appliance, and a fair calculation as to the extent of its use can be 
made beforehand. But the self-binder is much more of a specula¬ 
tive affair. Given a full crop of clean, upstanding growth, when 
the corn is well out of the milky stage, a self-binder before all 
things say we, if only we could be certain that the corn would 
not be beaten down ! But that is precisely our difficulty, and it 
never was greater than in the present summer of unsettled weather. 
The only thing we can do is to base our calculations upon the 
condition of the corn, and to have an explicit understanding with 
the men that if the self-binder can be used it must be used, and 
then there must be a proportionate reduction in pay. It would be 
ridiculous to suppose the men would regard such an implement 
with favour, and the master, while bound to enforce its use, will do 
-well to consider the men so far as is possible. 
We are often told that a day labourer is so badly paid that if it 
were not for the extra pay of hay and corn harvest he could not get 
on at all. We agree so far as the day pay question goes, but then 
we altogether object to day pay it it can be avoided, and it can in a 
much greater degree than obtains recognition on most farms. 
Piecework involves a little more care in the supervision, and a 
•certain amount of preliminary calculation, but it is unquestionably 
more satisfactory from whatever point of view we regard it. Far 
Letter it is to retain the services of a few really good skilful work¬ 
men who have the healthful incentive of piecework to exertion, 
than to have a greater number of underpaid day labourers, who, 
having no such incentive, do as little as possible, complain bitterly 
of their lot, and naturally feel that they are oppressed and down¬ 
trodden by a master, who pays as little as he can, and gives them 
so few opportunities earning extra pay. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
If the cattle Cabbage has not been sown no time should be lost in 
getting in the seed. Transplantation from a seed bed will probably be 
an early and expeditious thing this damp season. But if land can be 
had preference should always be given to drilling the seed for the 
greater certainty of obtaining a plant, and for economy of labour. It is 
quite possible that we may have some dry hot weather yet, and then the 
advantage of drilling will be sufficient to well reward us for our 
diligence in an early preparation of land for the drilling. 
This is decidedly a light land farmers’ season, and they should have 
no difficulty about drilling Cabbages and stubble Turnips. Trifolium 
incarnatum of both early and late varieties should be drilled upon the 
first clean stubbles available, wherever this crop answers, as it is 
a most valuable early spring fodder, of immense bulk and most 
nutritious. 
General complaints are again prevalent of much spoiled Clover hay, 
as was to be expected in so wet a summer. One manager of a certain 
home farm declares that he has hardly any good hay. Has he ever 
heard of ensilage 1 He must have done so, and might have turned most 
of his first cut of Clover to good account by means of it. Professor 
Wrightson says, in the Agricultural Gazette, “ That he has a fair heap 
of some 300 tons of meadow grass made into silage, which is weighted 
with a substantial hayrick on the top. The heat a few inches beyond 
the surface is about 110°, and the smell, as tested by borers, is like rich 
plum cake hot from the oven.” 
Most disheartening has been much of the work done among root 
crops. Repeatedly have hoed weeds struck root again, and now that 
harvest work is in full swing there is no time to take advantage of fine 
weather for more hoeing. Upon clay farms not only are the roots foul 
with weeds, but the crop has a stunted, meagre appearance that is very 
unsatisfactory. Here again the advantage is with the light land men, 
for whom the outlook is very satisfactory. 
Of the harvest we can only say that upon many farms Barley will be 
reaped before Wheat this year. The crop of the year on heavy land 
farms is the winter Beans, which are excellent. 
The Harvest. —An estimate of the harvest is given by The Mark 
Lane Express, which publishes a summary of replies it has received 
from more than four hundred correspondents scattered over the United 
Kingdom, who were invited to send in returns as to the various crops 
in their districts. These returns “ show that Wheat is 3T per cent, 
under an average, Barley 0’8 per cent, over an average, Oats 2’7 per cent, 
over an average, Potatoes 0T per cent, over an average, Beans 2 - 5 per 
cent, over, Peas 18 per cent, under, roots 3‘6 per cent, under, and hay 
18 - 9 per cent, under. In the case of two of these crops, however, the 
figures do not tell the whole story. In the case of Potatoes the great 
bulk of the correspondents speak of them as diseased—a larger number, 
in fact, than has been the case in any year since these returns were started. 
In the case of hay, also, although the figures show the crop to have 
been about four-fifths of an average one, it is very evident that much 
of this is damaged. More than half of the entire number of corre¬ 
spondents refer to this fact. With these facts in mind, however, it is 
still evident that, although the year is not fulfilling its high promise, 
the crops all round are fairly within what may be called ‘ the average 
zone ’—jf there is no wonderful abundance, there is, on the other 
hand, no story of great disaster.” 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQTJABE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 AM. 
IN THE DAY. 
Rain 
1 
1890. 
August. 
» cr oj 
<v cm 
gcoajoj 
2 33 rtf ^ 
a Jr? 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
G . 
Odd 
53 d 
P 
So 
o.— 9 
—* l-H O 
gO’H 
<U 
H 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. | Wet. 
Max. Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass 
Sunday.10 
Monday.11 
Tuesday .... 12 
Wednesday.. 13 
Thursday.... 14 
Friday .15 
Saturday .... 16 
Inches. 
29.767 
29.694 
29.808 
29.780 
29.797 
29.609 
29.745 
deg. 
64.6 
63.2 
65.2 
59.4 
61.3 
62.6 
59.2 
deg. 
63.3 
61.0 
62.0 
53.1 
56.9 
60.6 
56.9 
E. 
S.W. 
8.W. 
N.W. 
S. 
S. 
s. 
deg. 
62.4 
62.2 
62.4 
61.8 
61.8 
61.5 
61.6 
deg. 
74.2 
73.7 
69.2 
69.2 
68.2 
72.0 
71.7 
deg. 
58.3 
59.1 
60.8 
52.9 
52.4 
55.5 
55.2 
deg. 
113.8 
122.7 
113.2 
120.0 
111.2 
121.1 
120.1 
deg. 
55.1 
58.2 
59.1 
49.9 
49.7 
54.8 
51.3 
In. 
0.242 
0.059 
0.028 
29.743 62.2 ( 59.1 
62.0 
71.2 
56.3 
117.4 
54.0 
0.329 
REMARKS. 
10th.—Wet all the morning, then fair and bright; sun in late afternoon; wet again in 
the evening and night. . 
11th—Wet till 9.30 A.M., then line with occasional 9un; thunder heard in the distance in 
the afternoon; slight shower, but no measurable quantity; dull night. 
12th.—Heavy, close morning; drops of rain in the morning, and gleams of sun during 
the day; fine night. 
13th.— Bright morning, fine day, and dark night. _. 
14th.—Fine and bright early; overcast at 11.30 A.M., with occasional sun, and dark 
15th.—Wet^early ; fine at 9 A.M , shower at 10 A M, bright sun at 1.30 P.M., but generally 
16th.—Slight shower early; fine, with bright sun and high wind in morning; the wind 
less in the afternoon ; fine evening. 
The temperature for some weeks has been very uniform and near the average, the 
rainfall since the downpour of July 17th has b«ea small.—G. J. Symons. 
