210 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ March 17, 1892. 
exceptional vigour in the crop, but to store the soil with enough of 
that prime fertiliser for the requirements of a crop of corn. 
This teaching points clearly to a considerable saving in the 
purchase of manures, for if we by judicious cropping can become 
practically independent of nitrate of soda for general cropping by 
only having to use it occasionally, we shall avoid our present heavy 
outlay on this the most expensive of the indispensable manures, 
and with a lesser demand for it would come a reduction in price. 
Subsequently he has explained how the experiments conducted by 
him at the Darmstadt Agricultural Research Station have shown 
that nitrogen and phosphoric acid are to be obtained in the cheapest 
way by the cultivation of Leguminosse, and by the use of basic slag 
and potash salts. 
Well will it be to bear this in mind now, and to let this 
important matter have its due influence upon our schemes of 
cropping for the coming season. Of the Leguminosse, or pod bearers, 
we have in cultivation Peas, Beans, Yetches, Clover, Sainfoin, 
Lucerne, Trefoil, and Lupins, for all which crops no nitrate of 
soda is required, only superphosphate, or preferably, for its more 
quick and certain action, Albert’s soluble basic phosphate, and 
possibly some muriate of potash. On clay land Albert’s phosphate 
may be used alone. We thus effect a very considerable saving upon 
our outlay for manure, and may see that for such crops it may be 
wasteful to use farmyard manure. 
In grass mixtures for alternate husbandry of from two to four 
year leys, also for permanent pasture, the Clovers and Trefoils should 
enter much more largely than they have done hitherto, as being 
certain to give a greater bulk of herbage, with less expenditure 
upon manures. Sainfoin and Lucerne should both be cultivated 
much more extensively than they are. Like the Clovers, Sainfoin 
gives two full crops in each year. It is alike valuable in its green 
state or as hay, cattle, sheep, and horses all being fond of it ; and 
it is in high favour in the Newmarket district as hay or stover 
for horses. Lucerne gives four crops a year, the first crop being 
ready for use long before Red Clover ; it roots so deeply as to 
be unaffected by drought, is sown in drills far enough apart to 
admit of hoeing to keep down weeds, and then lasts for ten or 
twelve years. It is certainly one of our most useful forage crops, 
which should find a place near every homestead, so that ample 
supplies of its nutritious herbage may easily be taken to horse 
stables and cattle yards. Sir J. B. Lawes thinks so highly of it as 
to recommend it to be used in mixtures for permanent pasture. 
There is very little doubt it will answer in any really well-cultivated 
land that is drained and has thorough mechanical division. As we 
hold that all land should be brought into such an open friable con¬ 
dition, we are justified in our recommendation of Lucerne 
generally. 
For very poor land the most profitable forage crop of all is the 
despised Corse, which, be it remembered, is a pod bearer deriving 
ample supplies of nitrogen from the air. It thrives wonderfully on 
poor thin soils, hears mowing just like grass, and when bruised so 
as to crush the spines is eaten readily by cattle, sheep, and horses. 
Analysis shows it to be really nutritious. It may be sown now in 
rows a foot apart, using about 25 lbs. of seed per acre. When kept 
mown regularly it throws up a dense growth of soft succulent 
shoots, and it holds its own well among the most wild or crowded 
growth. 
Yetches are likely to be turned most to account for storing the 
soil with nitrogen for a corn crop. There is frequently enough of 
stems and roots left for this purpose after the crop is mown, as the 
plant has the lower part so pressed down upon the soil by its own 
weight that the scythe can only touch the upper part. This is one 
of our most valuable green crops either for mowing to be eaten in 
rack or manger, for folding with sheep, or lambs when weaned and 
being pushed on for any special purpose, for a crop of seed, or for 
ploughing in, Successional sowings afford a supply from spring 
till long after midsummer. Many a load have we carted to 
cows out on pasture which was parched and almost dried up by 
drought. 
All the crops mentioned are really useful sources of food supply 
for the farm live stock. Under good management they afford 
a much greater bulk of forage than an ordinary grass crop does, 
which, too, may often be had when pastures fail. In the immediate 
future they are likely to receive additional attention for their 
value as soil feeders, and have a leading place given them for 
economy in cropping. 
WORK ON THE HOME HARM. 
As we write this note on the morning of March 9th, in a midland 
farmhouse, it has been snowing heavily for some hours. Snow is still 
falling, the cold is intense, yet the cows have just been turned out for 
exercise in the snow-covered pasture, where they will probably remain 
for hours, instinctively seeking that shelter under a hedge which is so 
foolishly denied them by their owner. The scanty meal of hay which 
they had before being turned out was barely sufficient for the mainte¬ 
nance of vital heat, to say nothing of bodily nourishment. Very few 
cows on the neighbouring farms lie in at all; they are out in the open 
exposed to every change of w’eather. Most young sturdy beasts survive, 
but delicate beasts succumb one after another, and when summer comes 
again the low condition of the survivors shows how terribly severe the 
strain has been. It tells, too, upon their calves as well as upon the 
milk yield, the one being weak, undersized, and predisposed to disease, 
the other being sadly deficient both in quality and quantity. Again we 
say keep in the cows from autumn till spring in yards well sheltered on 
the north and east sides ; let the open lodges be wide enough—18 or 
20 feet—to afford complete shelter ; cowhouse well ventilated and 
drained ; bedding fresh, clean, and dry ; food abundant, wholesome, and 
nourishing ; water pure and fresh. 
A couple of commodious loose boxes have just been added to the 
homestead of a tenant’s farm, specially for down calving cows or 
foaling mares ; either or both can also be used as a hospital upon 
occasion. A separate yard, with a division and two deep lodges or 
hovels, was made at the same farm in a meadow at some distance 
from the homestead as a receptacle for cattle when first brought to 
the farm, so as to avoid all risk of contagion. Foot and mouth in 
cattle, glanders in horses, fever in pigs, foot rot in sheep, should all 
be guarded against by keeping all newly purchased animals quite 
apart from others till it is certain they are healthy. This is just one 
of those trifling matters of detail that are generally neglected ; un¬ 
fortunately the resultant mischief and loss is not usually confined to 
any one farm, but is often spread far and wide. Do not forget how 
the germs of disease are carried from farm to farm by the clothes of 
persons and the hair of animals. Keep off 1 must be our cry while 
foot and mouth disease continues to spread, even at the risk of being 
thought churlish. 
The insides of all hovels, lodges, cowhouses, and piggeries are having 
an extra coat of whitewash. By adding one part of common salt to 
three of quicklime we obtain a wash as hard as cement. This is due 
to the hygroscopic action of salt, which absorbs water, and permits of 
the speedy combination of the lime with the carbonic acid of the atmo¬ 
sphere. It may be made thin and applied with a syringe perfectly well, 
and much quicker than is possible with a brush. 
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. 
Bain. 
1892. 
March. 
Barometer 
at 32°, and 
Sea 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 .. 
6 
30.241 
32.1 
28.3 
E. 
35.6 
37.9 
30.2 
66.6 
27.4 
— 
Monday .. 
7 
29.991 
30.7 
28.4 
E. 
35.1 
37.2 
29.2 
78.8 
27 2 
— 
Tuesday .. 
8 
29.944 
30.9 
27.9 
E. 
34.9 
36.4 
24.2 
63.3 
20.7 
— 
Wednesday 
9 
29.630 
32.8 
30.9 
S.W. 
34.8 
39.3 
22.3 
88.2 
21.9 
0.128 
Thursday.. 
10 
29.350 
31.2 
30.1 
S.W. 
34.3 
39.1 
23.3 
74.4 
25.2 
0.048 
Friday 
11 
29.589 
31.4 
29.9 
N.W. 
34.2 
40.5 
24.6 
82.2 
21.6 
— 
Saturday .. 
12 
29.568 
30.9 
29.4 
N.W. 
34.0 
39.7 
27.0 
85.5 
24.9 
— 
29.759 
31.4 
29.3 
34.7 
38.6 
25.8 
77.0 
24.1 
0.176 
REMAEKS. 
6th.—Cloudy morning; frequently bright in afternoon and evening. 
7th.—Sunshine almost throughout. 
8th.—Sun shining through haze, a thin cloud in morning; cloudy at times in 
afternoon. 
9th.—Bright early, clouded over soon after 9 A.M., and between 9.30 and 11.15 A.M. 
about an inch of snow fell; bright sun again at 0.30 P.M., but between 1 and 
2 P.M. another inch of snow fell; bright sun at 2.30 and alternate cloud and 
sunshine after. 
10th.—Bright early ; slight snow from 8.30 to 9.30 A.M., and half an inch between that 
time and 10.30 A.M., bright sunshine till 2 P.M., then variable with occasional 
slight snow. 
11th.—Frequently cloudy, but long intervals of brilliant sunshine. 
12th.—Almost unbroken sunshine throughout. 
A brilliant but very cold week, the mean temperature being nearly 10® below the 
average.—G. J. Symons. 
