58 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 15, 1886. 
GREEN CROPS FOR SPRING. 
An essential part of good practice in farming is to make 
timely provision for our wants in the future, especially in 
having an ample store of food for live stock produced upon the 
farm, which is thus self-supporting, and we avoid vexatious 
forced sales, and are able to use or dispose of the stock in 
the best way. Forced sales occur most frequently in March 
or April, and again in July and August. It is a common 
fault for farmers to become overstocked in autumn. No 
calculation is made of the exact quantity of food that will 
be required during winter and spring, nor is allowance made 
for the fact that growing animals will require more food in 
spring than they did in the preceding autumn. Yet the 
matter is a simple one, and is really only a trifling matter 
of detail to which due attention may easily be given. 
The approach of harvest time reminds us that seed should 
be had in readiness for the sowing of green crops for use in 
spring. The first of such crops is Trifolium incarnatum, 
which with the late white variety should be sown upon the 
first corn stubbles that are cleared. No ploughing is required, 
but we like to clear off weeds and most of the stubble with 
harrows. A stubble foul with twitch or other perennial 
weeds is unsuitable for this Trifolium, but annual weeds, or 
in fact any which can be cleared either by harrows or by 
horse hoes, cannot be regarded as an obstacle to the sowing. 
"We use from 25 to 30 lbs. of seed per acre in order to obtain 
a full plant. The seed must be covered well, or much of it 
is destroyed by birds. We have also sometimes lost many 
of the young plants from the attacks of slugs. If land can 
be spared it is always well to have a few acres to spare of 
this valuable early forage plant, for if not used green it makes 
excellent stover, especially for horses. Near large towns 
there should be no difficulty in selling it upon the land as 
green forage at Is. a perch or £8 an acre, at which rate it 
should be profitable, especially as there is so little labour 
required in its cultivation. The crop is in perfection so early 
that the land can easily be got ready for a crop of Turnips, 
for which there must b9 a full dressing of manure. 
Where winter Oats are grown the early harvesting of that 
crop renders the stubbles a suitable seed bed for Trifolium 
incarnatum, and it is after Wheat that we generally get in 
some stubble Turnips. This catch crop is so useful for lambs 
in March that we always try and get as many acres of it 
as the pressure of harvest work admits. Success with it 
is due so much to the weather that results cannot be 
depended upon with certainty. A few timely showers make 
all the difference between success and failure, for in moist 
warm soil seed-germination and growth is quick and sure. 
No furrows and ridges are required for stubble Turnips; 
ploughing, harrowing, and rolling sufficiently to get a fine 
seed bed, and immediate sowing of the seed being all that is 
necessary. If chemical manure is med, as it may be with 
advantage in favourable weather, it should be sown after the 
first turn with the harrows, so that it may not be buried deep 
in the soil. In sowing Turnips everything that is possible 
should be done to induce quick germination followed by 
strong growth. A fine seed bed; soil mellow, moist, rich, 
and clean, and new seed are the essentials to enable the 
plants to grow quickly out of the way of the fly. It will also 
help the growth if the soil between the rows is kept well 
stirred. 
Late Drumhead Cabbage, drilled about the third week 
of the present month in rich soil, is a very useful late spring 
crop. In a hot dry summer preference is given to sowing 
in a seed bed where the seed can be watered regularly and 
the plants transplanted during showery weather in autumn. 
The high nutritive value of cattle Cabbage renders it worthy 
of more general cultivation, and few crops yield such a 
weight per acre. The late Dr. Yoelcker had a very high 
opinion of it. He said that “ No kind of green food culti¬ 
vated on a large scale in the field contains so much nutritious- 
matter as Cabbage.” 
Of other green crops for spring Rye Grass was sown at 
the same time as Clover. Rye and winter Oats should both 
be sown in September, the Rye following spring Tares or 
winter Oats, and the Oats following any other corn crop 
which can be got off the land in time for early ploughing and 
cleaning. There need be no hesitation in sowing corn upon 
the same land year after year provided pure chemical manure 
is applied regularly so as to keep the soil well stored with 
fertility. To those who have not yet had winter Oats under 
cultivation we may explain that they maybe fed off by sheep 
in a case of necessity, and afterwards afford a crop of corn. 
If possible we avoid feeding, as we like to get this crop har¬ 
vested and out of the way before the other corn ripens. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Drought and heat combine to render the season one of much care 
and anxiety to the heavy land farmer. On our big heavy land farm the 
Barley is sadly parched and weakened. Spring Oats are also suffering, 
and roots though a full plant make no appreciable progress. Winter 
Oats, Beans, and Wheat on the contrary are in thriving condition, Webb’s 
Giant White Wheat being especially remarkable for its robust straw and 
large ears. The sowing of spring Oats on this farm was with us a matter 
of necessity, but we shall make strenuous efforts in future to sow only 
winter Oats, and so avoid all risk of harm from drought. The soil is kept 
well stirred between the rows of Mangolds and Swedes, and if only we 
are favoured with a few hours of rain we may do well yet. Upon all our 
other farms the crops are satisfactory, the combined efEects of drains, 
deep cultivation, and good manure telling plainly that success follows 
such high farming. Root-thinning, hoeing, and haymaking has kept the 
men fully employed. Half a dozen of our extra men employed for the 
haymaking upon the home farm found the exercise of their functions as 
voters at the election of so arduous a nature as to require two days’ hard 
drinking after recording their votes. When these free and independent 
members of the community at length thought well to come to the farm, 
we had so arranged matters as to be able to dispense with their services 
a'together. For this, and for every reason, we use as much machinery 
as possible for all work of which the results are liable to be seriously 
affected by the weather. Long days work has been the rule with us 
throughout the haymaking. The mowing machine has been going early 
and late, for we hold that settled weather is an incentive to exertioD, full 
advantage being taken of it to save the hay, for if it change to wet weather 
before all is done we like to know that full advantage was taken of all 
the fine weather. Let harvest arrangements be seen to soon—machinery, 
waggons, rick yards, and everything affecting the work in good order, so 
that it may be done with dispatch. The very large quantity of Barley 
discoloured by rain last year led to a serious loss, which we shall do well 
to avoid in future. There is no doubt that self-binding reapers help to- 
shorten the harvest very materially, and it was ihe farmers that used 
them last season who suffered least from broken weather. Due care 
should be taken to secure a stock of young pigs sufficiently forward in 
growth for turning out upon the stubbles after harvest, care being taken to 
avoid having any from districts having the taint of swine fever. 
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. 
■ cr 
(Dw (S,__ 
Uygrome- 
P3 . 
Shade Tem- 
Radiation 
a 
1886. 
g 4JCO > 
ter. 
53 O 
5o 
si- g 
BoS 
o rj _ 
Ph 
perature. 
Temperature 
o! 
35 
July. 
S. fe fl*- 3 
CQ 3 oj 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
gras.- 
Inches. 
deg. 
dec\ 
deg. 
deg. 
d«cr 
desr. 
dec 
In. 
Sunday . 
30 310 
75.2 
64.7 
N.W. 
G3.8 
87.5 
62.2 
130.6 
55.9 
Monday . 
30.258 
71.7 
60.0 
\V. 
65.1 
83 3 
58 9 
125.4 
52.1 
_ 
Tuesday. 
30.142 
73.3 
61.7 
E. 
65.2 
86.2 
54.7 
126.6 
49 0 
_ 
Wednesday . 
. 7 
29.952 
72.7 
64.1 
E. 
65 6 
84.3 
58.7 
126.9 
51.8 
— 
Thursday ... 
. 8 
29.776 
60.6 
57.3 
N.W. 
65.9 
71.6 
59.3 
115.3 
54.2 
— 
Friday. 
29.999 
GO.O 
53.3 
N. 
64.7 
70.4 
49 5 
115.4 
44.3 
0.019- 
Saturday ... 
. 10 
30.175 
58.7 
55.0 
S.W. 
63.2 
71.6 
481 
117.1 
43.7 
— 
30.087 
67.5 
59.4 
64.8 
79.3 
55.9 
1225 
59.1 
0.019 
REMARKS. 
4th.—Fine summer day, and nearly cloudless. 
5th.—Cloudless, but not so hot. 
6th.—Hot, and very dry. 
7.h.—Fine and hot morning, thunder clouds in N.E. in afternoon, cool evening. 
8th —Cloudy, and cool throughout. 
!*th.—Bright, but cool morning; cloudy, with showers, in afternoon, 
luth.—Cloudy early, clear and line afternoon and evening. 
The week has been composed of two very dissimilar periods, the change occurring - 
about 6 P.M. on Wednesday, when a sudden fall of temperature occurred. In spite, how¬ 
ever, of the coolness of the last three days, the mean for the week is above the average. 
Almost rainless.—G. J. STMONS. 
