JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 29, 1886. 
104 
FARMED OUT. 
“ All the farms in our parish are in hand, and we are 
losing money upon them every year,” said an estate agent to 
us, and he evidently by his manner intended to imply that 
the loss was inevitable, that it was impossible to prevent it 
while farm produce was so cheap. Without presuming to 
question the wisdom of submission to the inevitable, we 
certainly do claim a right to inquire whether in our own 
practice such losses may not be reduced and gradually be 
avoided. We may go further than this, and assert that 
farms thrown upon the landlords' hands farmed-out, may be 
brought into condition again and rendered profitable by 
judicious treatment, if a reasonable amount of capital be 
applied to the work of reclamation. Advisedly do we say 
that the work should be done gradually rather than hastily, 
step by step, year by year, only taking especial care to effect 
real improvements each season. 
It is by no means intended to infer that a radical change 
may not be effected in a single season, and there are doubt¬ 
less circumstances in which such a course would be best, as, 
for example, in the case of a single farm falling upon the 
landlord’s hands. But having regard to the present general 
reduction of rent, and the consequent diminution of the land¬ 
lord’s income, it would be unwise—even rash—to recommend 
an expenditure of money upon which the return might be 
rendered more than doubtful by bad weather. Yet it is well 
to know what may be done in a single season to land farmed- 
out, foul with weeds, badly drained, and altogether in a foul, 
wet, poverty-stricken condition. If the land could be had 
now, and it proved to be foul with perennial weed roots 
mingled with a growth of annuals, we should at once see if 
the surface could be pared and burnt. The late showery 
weather should have rendered paring possible, but it can 
hardly be done during a drought, for the surface is then 
usually so hard the paring share will not answer. For 
expeditious paring the three-shared implement exhibited by 
Howard of Bedford at the Norwich meeting of the Royal 
Agricultural Society appeared admirably adapted. After 
the paring the soil should be broken up, preferably by a 
steam cultivator, thrown up roughly and left fully exposed to 
sun and air. After a few weeks of such exposure, the clod 
crusher, cultivator, and barrows should enable the farm to 
get a fine seed bed for winter corn, but before that is sown 
due attention must be given to drainage. Pipe drains are, 
of course, preferable both for durability and efficiency. Bush 
drains though not so durable are equally efficient for a few 
years. We are using them to good purpose upon four of the 
farms which we have in hand, and we were only too glad to 
find materials for this work ready to our hands in the over¬ 
grown neglected hedges which we found upon these farms. 
In heavy land we would make them as close as from 4 to 
6 yards apart, knowing as we do that the money so expended 
is a safe investment for a quick and profitable return, and 
not until wet land is so drained should we venture to begin 
storing it with fertility. Having regard, however, to the 
fact that drains could hardly now be made till after harvest, 
if the land is clean, it will be well to see what can be done 
to impart fertility to it by means of green crops. 
Of such, White Mustard by its free germination and 
quick strong growth lends itself most readily to our purpose, 
if only showery weather can be had to give it a good start. 
When it is up and growing freely, if the weather is so 
unsettled that we may fairly reckon upon some showers, a 
hundredweight of nitrate of soda per acre will impart much | 
vigour to the Mustard, and we must take care and plough it 
in when the seed pods are well developed, but while they 
are still green. If this only can be managed we shall have 
gained a step in advance for another season, when the sowing 
and ploughing in of green crops should have no inconsider¬ 
able share in our work of storing the soil with fertility. 
Mustard, Clover, Tares, Coleseed, Rye, are all excellent 
green crops for ploughing in, and we should so reclaim a 
considerable proportion of the farm in order to avoid a heavy 
outlay upon chemical manures. A certain quantity of such 
manures must be had; be it our special care to see that they 
are genuine, that they are had separately from reliable 
sources, and mixed at the farm in due proportions to the 
requirements of the soil. If dealers in chemical manures 
would only cease to press their special mixtures upon 
farmers, and would Bupply genuine manures separately, it 
would be to the mutual advantage of buyer and seller. We 
are convinced that there is a wide field open to enterprising 
manure merchants in the direction we indicate, for if once 
they can gain the confidence of the farming world by selling 
at a low rate manures that render the soil so rich in fertility 
as to render crops more abundant and, therefore, more pro¬ 
fitable, the demand for such manures would grow with our 
knowledge of their value. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Mangolds have been gone over for the last time both with hand and 
horse hoes ; Swedes and early White Turnips have been thinned, and the 
soil between the plants well stirred. Part of the Swedes thinned and 
hoed before the haying have made such rapid progress that the plants are 
twice the size of the remainder which we were obliged to leave unthinned 
till after the haymaking. We regret this unavoidable delay with this 
work, for we regard a good root crop as the crown and finish of our 
summer cropping. The recent rain has done much good to grass, corn 
and roots. We have a vigorous tender green aftermath upon the 
meadows, and so free a growth of green food that our bailiffs are crying 
out for more sheep than we can well afford to procure for them. Spring 
Oats have improved very much of late, Earley and Wheat too are all full 
of promise, so that even with low prices we hope to do something more 
than pay our way this year. Hedges are being clipped as men esn be 
spared for the work, and we like to get through as much of it as we can 
before harvest. We regret to see such general negligence in the manage¬ 
ment of hedges at the present time among tenant farmers ; it is a token 
of a want of means for such work, yet we question if any real saving will 
be effected in the end, for the work of setting a rough neglected hedge 
in order is so great that it costs almost as much as if it had been done in 
the ordinary way, and the appearance of the hedge is spoilt for some 
time. 
The dairy oows are now kept out upon the meadows where hay was 
made. Living as they now do upon the fresh succulent growth of Grasses 
and Clover, the milk cannot possibly have any impure taint, and the 
butter is of a rich yellow colour with a delicious flavour. Now, therefore, 
is the best time for potting batter for winter use, care being taken to put 
it in glazed pots, and to fill each pot at once and not gtadually. Fat 
calves are now cheaper perhaps than they have been for several years, 
really fine calves being sold in the markets at from 80s. to 90s. The 
whole of the sheep and lambs have now been dipped in Cooper’s 
mixture. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8'0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAT. 
Rain 
1886. 
July. 
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. 
Sunday . 
18 
29.912 
68.3 
62.8 
S. 
61.0 
81.3 
56.2 
120.8 
61.8 
— 
Monday. 
19 
29.788 
65.6 
61.9 
S. 
62.4 
71.9 
58.8 
119.2 
54.4 
0.321 
Tuesday . 
20 
30.053 
64.1 
57.9 
s.w. 
62.0 
76.3 
53.4 
12L.7 
50.7 
— 
Wednesday .. 
21 
29.885 
73 3 
66.5 
E. 
G2.2 
86.4 
57.6 
133.4 
51.6 
— 
Thursday ... 
22 
29.847 
68.4 
60.2 
S.W. 
63.5 
73.3 
59.6 
123.7 
53.8 
Friday. 
23 
29.757 
63.8 
57.9 
s. 
63.4 
65 2 
57.9 
82.1 
54.1 
0 358 
Saturday ... 
24 
29.609 
65.9 
59.8 
w. 
62.3 
70 4 
57.3 
124.4 
54 3 
0 03& 
29.836 
67.1 
61.0 
62.4 
75.0 
57.3 
117.9 
53.0 
0.718 
REMARKS. 
18th.—Fine throughout, and hot In afternoon. 
10 th.—Cloudv, with slight showers in morn; heavy showers in afternoon anti evening. 
20 th.—Dull early; fine bright day. 
21st.—Hot and rather close; occasional spots of rain. 
22 nd.—Generally bright, but a few drops of rain. 
23rd.—Cloudy morning, showery afternoon, wet evening and night. Cooler. 
21 th.—Generally tine, hut dense clonds frequent. . _ T 
A variable week, blit temperature on the whole above the average.—G. J. SIMONS. 
