138 
JOUnXAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 12, 1301 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
E. C. Notcutt, Broughton Road, Ipswich.— Catalogue of Choice 
€h rgsayi th emv ms. 
j. Carter & Co., 2.37 and 233, High Holborn.— List of Kcio and 
Beautiful Chrysanthemums. 
B. E. Davis, Yeovil.— Catalogue of Tuherous Begonias. 
Harlem P. Kelsey, Linville, Mitchell Co., North Carolina.— Catalogue 
mf Trees, Shruhs, and other Plants. 
SEWAGE. 
Sewage or liquid manure of any sort ought to play an import¬ 
ant part in the culture of all forage crops, of root crops, and in 
fruit farming. "VVe have been told positively that bullocks do not 
fatten so well upon sewage hay as they do upon ordinary hay, but 
surely it will be granted that we have ample compensation for 
lowness of quality in enlarged quantity. Bullocks are not fattened 
exclusively on hay, though hay may form the bulk of food used, 
and it is an easy matter to guard against any want of quality in the 
■hay by some addition to other parts of the dietary. 
Some twenty-four years ago it was proved that a ton of grass 
could be grown for each 100 tons of London sewage used, and this, 
too, irrespective of quality of pasture. A yield considerably 
upwards of 30 tons of Rye Grass per acre obtained by several 
•consecutive mowings from a very poor shallow soil upon gravel 
about that time ought to have led to better things than it did. 
Objection was taken to anything like a general use of sewage by 
the scientific leaders of that day, because its deficiency in potash 
and phosphoric acid might cause mischief by the persistent use of 
sewage upon the same plot of land. Yet how easily might such an 
objection be overcome by a sufficient top-dressing of chemical 
manures before the sewage was used, and it should not be forgotten 
that very much soil contains sufficient potash. 
Subsequent practice has shown this to have been very much a 
false alarm, just as the unavoidably excessive dilution of sewage 
with w’ater proved to be an advantage rather than an obstacle to its 
profitable use. It is really a moot point as to what is excessive 
dilution, for it must never be forgotten that the water promotes 
decomposition, so that when the sewage enters the soil its manurial 
•constituents are absorbed and retained, leaving an odourless trans¬ 
parent effluent. We prefer the term of absorption to that of 
filtration, because plant food is taken up by the roots in a gaseous 
or liquid form ; yet the terms are conjointly applicable to the pro¬ 
cess, for sewage that is applied to the soil in a very crude state has 
the particles of manure arrested and kept in the soil by a process of 
mechanical filtration. 
The popular idea largely shared by scientific men that sewage 
could only be used to advantage for light and very porous soils was 
also a mistake, and the objection to its use for heavy land on the 
score that such land became cracked in a drought, and the sewage 
was lost by running away in the cracks or fissures, was simply 
ridiculous, and yet the statement was made in evidence before a 
Committee of the House of Commons. Holding as we do that 
all soil can profitably be brought into a suitable mechanical con- 
•dition by judicious cultivation, we must insist upon the general 
utility of sewage when used with judgment. We should store the 
soil with fertility now before growth begins if we would have a 
full crop and sustained vigour. Let the home farmer having the 
advantage of a manure tank and a bon-accord pump keep the 
manure distributor briskly at work throughout the present month 
on all firm pasture or leys, and he will reap a rich reward in an 
early and abundant crop of herbage available for stall feeding, 
grazing, or hay. 
From 50 to CO tons per acre of Mangolds have been grown on 
land manured with sewage, which is applied long before the seed is 
sown, and frequently after seed germination. Care has to be taken 
not to pour the sewage over the leaves, and the difficulty in using 
it on a large scale for root culture is the want of a cheap and 
efficient method of distribution ; the difficulty does not exist where 
a system of irrigation is in force. Marvellous crops of cattle 
Cabbage, too, may be had by a regular use of sewage weekly, and 
we may remind managers of small home farms that with a large 
manure tank at their disposal it is in their power to produce crops of 
such phenomenal abundance as will astonish the tenant farmers, and 
afford them a valuable lesson if they care to take advantage of it. 
In fruit farming sewage should be regarded as a prime factor to 
success. For young fruit trees it answers best when the fruit is 
swelling ; for old trees having a tendency to barrenness now is the 
time to saturate the soil with it, and in doing this care must be 
taken to reach all the roots, and so to store the soil with fertility 
that all new roots grown in the coming season shall find ample 
stores of food in the soil. Very simple is it not ? And yet how 
many farm orchards are there in which the trees are in a 
lamentable state of exhaustion, while the sewage is suffered to run 
to w'aste as a worthless thing. For Strawberries and bush fruits 
it cannot be esteemed too highly. It makes certain, vigorous 
growth, full crops, fine fruit, if only it is used freely enough. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
The long frost has prevented the sowing of much Wheat on heavy 
land, and has given the laggards a lesson which they will do well to 
remember. Not a single good reason have they for putting off Wheat 
sowing till the end of November. Our own Wheat plant from the 
September sowings is a little brown in parts of the fields where the 
snow was not thick enough to protect it from the frost, but on the 
whole we can report a full strong plant, over which the Cambridge’s 
press wheel roller or a Howard fluted roller will be passed as soon as 
the surface is sufficiently firm and dry. On very rough land a Crosskill 
roller may have preference, but it will be rather too heavy for the 
tender condition of land for some time to come. 
The scarcity of Clover seed will make prices rule high, and will, we 
hope, induce a much more extensive sowing of mixed seeds, which can 
be kept down for three or four years by farmers generally at any rate. 
In Essex and Suffolk, where the climate is generally so favourable to 
the development of Clover seed, it will probably still have preference ; 
but this a matter altogether apart from the general question. With 
land so exceptionally clean, the wi'dom of laying down a considerable 
breadth to temporary pasture is obvious enough. 
Reports of serious outbreaks of pleuro pneumonia and swine fever 
continue, and special attention should now be given to the condition of 
piggeries and the division of the pigs. Guard well against crowding. Pigs 
will lie close together, and often become so overheated that they rush 
into the open air, get a sudden chill, and disease follows. Clean stys, 
very little litter, and ample space, are the simple but efficient preven¬ 
tives. The temptation to allow muck and filth to accumulate in 
piggeries at this season of the year is very great, and the only safe way 
to overcome it is to insist on a regular clearance at stated times, so that 
there can be no excuse for negligence. 
A mixed dietary is altogether preferable for bacon hogs. Maize 
must not be the chief thing or they become too fat. Middlings, bran, 
and buttermilk, with a moderate quantity of Maize, and some Mangolds 
and cattle Cabbage, tend to promote health and the development of a 
carcase with lean and fat in well balanced proportions. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
C.4.MDBX SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 32^ 40" N.; Long. 0° 8^ 0" W.; Altitnae, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 AM. 
IN THE DAT. 
Hygrome- 
fl - 
Shade Tern- 
Radiation 
18dl« 
ter. 
§ 
perature. 
Temperature. 
c3 
P? 
February. 
ii !n 3"^ 
S 
In 
On 
Dry. 
Wet. 
So 
Max. 
Min. 
sun. 
grass 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In, 
Sunday. 
1 
30.00t 
43.8 
42.3 
N.W. 
40.0 
47.0 
41.2 
75.2 
35.4 
— 
Monday. 
2 
SO.OiiO 
33.8 
82.2 
K. 
38.9 
47.7 
29.9 
53.6 
25.3 
Tuesday .... 
3 
31.625 
44.9 
43.1 
W. 
38.9 
48,4 
82.9 
53.4 
2<,9 
— 
Wednesday.. 
4 
30.658 
47.2 
45.2 
N. 
39.9 
48.0 
43.9 
72.6 
39.1 
_ 
Thursday.... 
5 
30.704 
40.4 
39.9 
N.W. 
39.7 
4o.6 
3t.9 
67.9 
27.4 
— 
Friday . 
6 
30.63'! 
41.2 
39.9 
N.W. 
89.0 
41.9 
35.1 
51.8 
28.1 
_ 
Saturday .... 
7 
30.553 
43.4 
42.8 
Calm. 
89.8 
44.7 
41.1 
43.0 
89.9 
0.010 
30.559 
4.M 
40.8 
31.5 
47.0 
87.0 
61.5 
32.0 
0.010 
REMARKS. 
1st.—Cloudy till noon, almost cloudless alter. 
2ad,—Slight tog early; fine day, but no strong sunshine. 
3rd.—Fine, with a gleam of sun^ihine at midday. 
4th.—Cloudy morning, bright afternoon and evening. 
5th.—Overcast early ; fine day, with frequent sunshine. 
(ith.—Overcast, with a little drizzle at midday. 
7th.—Fog and darkness, with drizzle and light rain ; darker than an average cloudy 
night from 9.45 A.M. to IRS') A.M. At 10.45 A.M. a white board 3 feet by 1 foot 
6 inches was invisible at 10 feet distance. The misty rain which fell was 
so dirty that every drop was distinctly marked on white paper exposed to its fall. 
Temperature near, but rather above, the average.—G. J. Si'MONS. 
