98 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 4, 1892. 
kitchen and along a dark narrow passage, windows low down’ 
with casements opening outwards, entirely without means for 
the exclusion of insects, an uneven badly paved floor, white¬ 
washed walls, whey drained into pails and carried out by 
hand; a storeroom adjoining, but with no entrance from 
the dairy, bad shelving, bad light, and faulty provision for 
ventilation. 
Such was the dairy of a Stilton cheese farm which we were 
recently asked to inspect and alter. The faults were as obvious 
as serious. The remedy was equally clear. A separate dairy 
drain was made, and taken alone well away from the house to a 
main drain. As showing how necessary watchfulness is about 
such work, we may mention that after giving the builder strict 
orders for this separate drain, we found him actually having a 
trench opened to connect it with the yard drains again at 
another point. We at once sent an estate foreman with some 
men to open a trench in the right direction, and to see that the 
dairy drain was made as we wished. The outfall for it and the 
yard drain is now into one side of a manhole, from the other 
side of which the main drain runs. The dairy drain is also 
carefully trapped, so that all risk of foul gases entering the 
dairy is at an end. 
The floor is levelled and repaved with small square tiles, the 
walls faced with white glazed tiles, the ceiling raised as there 
was ample space above the old ceiling. New windows, with 
sliding sashes and ventilators covered with finely perforated 
zinc are placed at a convenient height in the walls; old partitions 
are removed; doorways made from without, from the kitchen 
and into the storeroom; proper stands made for the curd pans, 
with a gutter below connected with a trapped pipe laid under¬ 
ground to a whey cistern close by the piggeries ; the storeroom has 
also new shelves, new windows and good ventilators. The outer 
door opens into a covered way leading to the kitchen, wash-house 
and cheese room. The milk is now taken into the dairy by the 
covered way, tramping through the kitchen with muddy boots 
being at an end. 
We have thus obtained two clean, well drained, thoroughly 
ventilated apartments, which might just as well have been made 
in the first instance, but builders of such places a hundred years 
ago apparently brought little if any common secse to bear upon 
their work. Useless passages, unnecessary divisions, low ceilings, 
bad drainage and ventilation prevail in old farmhouses, the pro¬ 
duction of good butter being practicilly impossible under such 
adverse cond tions. Many a similarly faulty old dairy have we had 
to remodel, and much money has been spent upon the construction 
of large rooms for milk pans. Cream separators now render 
large dairies unnecessa-y, more cream, and consequently more 
butter, being obtained by means of the separator, which requires 
little space, dairy work being thus rendered more expeditious, 
more certain, less laborious, and certa n'y more profitable than 
heretofore. 
Frequently are we asked to advise owners of property about 
such alterations, which tenants are quite justified in asking for, 
but which cannot be done by line and rule. Many things have to 
be taken into account in this matter. Is the tenant doing what 
is best, or does he intend doing so ? The whole thing must be 
treated solely on business lines, and not from a fanciful or 
sentimental point of view. If the establishment of a factory 
appeared probable we should then not think it advisable for a 
landlord to spend money upon oM dairies, or in building new 
ones. In the mutual interest of himself and his tenants he had 
much rather either take shares in a factory company or set it 
going himself. For something like £1000 he may do the latter 
and also much besides in helping tenants to improve their breed 
of cattle. 
Im nothing is reform more desirable than in the breeding 
and selec'ion of cows. What is wanted is a cow yielding 
yearly say 800 gallons of milk that is really rich; the ordinary 
cow often does not yield more than half that quantity, and the 
quality is also inferior. Given improved cows the temptation 
to try and produce better butter would be great. The point to 
consider is profit, which after all is a simple matter of calcula¬ 
tion. What we have to consider here in regard to it is whether 
or not a general alteration and improvement of farm house 
dairies is desirable. It is not when the milk can be sold at a 
fair profit to a factory within a distance of only a few miles 
of the firm. Then farmhouse work and marketing is con¬ 
siderably reduced, for there is no setting or separating of 
milk, no churning, no taking of butter to market, no uncer¬ 
tainty. There is a steady demand for milk always, very little 
fluctuation in price, and none of the anxiety and uncertainty 
which is inseparable from butter making in farmhouse dairies. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
There has been enough of frost and snow to do much good to land 
ridged up last autumn, and a friable seed bed is a resultant certainty. 
February will soon be gone, and we shall do well to be ready to seize the- 
first opportunity for sowing spring corn and seeds. Sow no inferior 
seed, but have it good and clean. Have also the manure ready to sow 
with it, and then you will have a fine seed bed well stored with fertility, 
good seed, early sowing, work out of hand, thoroughly well done with 
very little labour. Compare such sound practice with that of the man 
who has only ploughed his land gradually during the winter ; clearly 
he will have to wait for March winds to dry his furrows, and it may be 
for April showers to soften them. It is just such laggards who cry out 
about weather and bad seasons ; their work is never sufficiently advanced 
to enable them to take advantage of early chances of sowing. Both last 
spring and last autumn examples of this were numerous enough. A brief 
spell of fine open weather occurred early in both seasons. Those who 
were ready got in their corn, those who were not ready lost their chance, 
and it did not occur again for a long time. Many a farmer has not 
sown his Wheat because of a wet autumn and winter, but had the land 
been ready in September sowing might have been done. 
It is a good plan to purchase enough chemical manure for the season 
now, only there must be a sound building, with a hard dry concrete 
floor for storing it. By procuring it in bulk full advantage is taken of 
ton rates. For grass use 1 cwt. nitrate of soda, cwt. superphosphate, 
i cwt. muriate of potash, 1 cwt. common salt per acre. Apply this- 
dressing at the end of the month, mixing only a few days before using. 
On light shallow soils three or four times the quantity of salt may be 
used with advantage. For Tares, Peas, and Beans, 4 cwt. super¬ 
phosphate and 2 cwt. basic slag per acre is sufficient, no nitrate of soda 
being required for such crops, the only possible advantageous addition 
being ^ cwt. muriate of potash where land is known to be deficient in 
potash. For sowing with spring corn, 1 cwt. nitrate of soda, f cwt. 
muriate of potash, J cwt. steamed bone flour, \ cwt. superphosphate. 
Apply the same mixture as a top dressing for Wheat. For Swedes, f cwt. 
muriate of potash, ^ cwt. nitrate of soda, 3^ cwt. steamed bone flour, 14 
tons farmyard manure. For Mangolds, | cwt. muriate of potash, IJ cwt. 
nitrate of soda, 2 cwt. steamed bone flour, 1 cwt. common salt, 14 tons^ 
farmyard manure. __ 
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 
PS 
1892. 
January. 
Barometer 
at 32°, and 
S?a Level. 
Hygrometer. 
Direc¬ 
tion of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of soil 
at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun 
On 
Grass. 
Inchs. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Inchs. 
Sunday •. 
24 
30.098 
47.7 
47T 
N. 
37.2 
50.0 
44.3 
78.9 
42.2 
— 
Monday .. 
25 
30.431 
33.1 
33.0 
N.W. 
37.2 
43.8 
30.8 
71.0 
25.8 
— 
T’uesday .. 
26 
30.602 
31.4 
31.3 
S.W. 
36.1 
45.2 
28.4 
61.8 
24 6 
0.010 
Wednesday 
27 
30.103 
44.9 
43.6 
S.W. 
36.7 
47.6 
30.9 
48.8 
28.4 
0.110 
Thursday.. 
28 
30.293 
37.4 
35.1 
N.W. 
37.9 
50.0 
35.3 
51.6 
30.5 
— 
Friday 
29 
30.079 
49.7 
47.7 
w. 
38.9 
52.0 
37.2 
57.2 
35.1 
— 
Saturday .. 
30 
30.167 
47.7 
44.7 
w. 
40.2 
51.3 
45.6 
65.0 
41.6 
0.048 
30.239 
41.7 
40.4 
37.7 
48.6 
36.1 
60.6 
32.6 
0.168 
REMAKES. 
24th.—Showery early; continuous sunshine after 10 A .M. 
25th.—Brilliant throughout. 
26th.—Hazy early; a little sun in morning; cloudy afternoon; drizzle and slight 
showers in evening. 
27th.—Overcast morning; wet from 3.45 to 9 p.M.; bright night. 
28th.—Bright early, and a little sun at 11 A.M., otherwise cloudy throughout. 
29th.—Cloudy throughout. 
30th.—Fine with frequent sunshine in morning ; cloudy afternoon. 
A variable week, but with mean temperature nearly 5° above the average.— 
G. J. Symons. 
