198 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ March 5, 1891. 
GREEN CROPS. 
Among the lessona of adversity taught by climatic variations 
last season one of the most important was the due provision of 
auxiliary green or forage crops for use in stall and yard, and also 
on pasture, or in folds upon the arable land. Such crops are known 
to be useful, but there ia yet much to learn about their true value, 
culture, and place in the economy of farm management, and we 
invite special attention to them now as we approach the border 
line of seed time—nay, rather as we enter the busy time of seed¬ 
sowing once more, for as we write in the last week of February 
the corn drills are in full activity under the calm line weather of 
an anticyclone, and much Lenten corn has already been sown. 
Extreme measures very seldom answer in anything, and they 
•certainly have not done so in agriculture. The low price of corn 
has induced such an extension of permanent pasture that very 
many dairy farms are now entirely under grass, and the occupants 
■of such farms being dependent on pasture herbage for feeding 
their flocks and herds found feed become so scarce last autumn 
that it involved them in losses which in many instances were con¬ 
siderable. Some farmers were able to hire feed, others who were 
unable to do so sold part of their live stock at a sacrifice : nor did 
the loss end there, for the autumnal drought being followed by a 
long hard winter has led to much more stock being forced upon 
local markets, and a seiious local reduction in prices. It is obvious, 
therefore, how the fine dry autumn which proved a blessing to 
corn farmers, who turned it to full account for clearing the land, 
became a curse to the graziers, who had so foolishly put all their 
eggs into one basket, or, in other words, who depended so entirely 
on pasture. Equally obvious is it how such a crisis might have 
been avoided, for had a moderate proportion of each dairy farm 
been cropped with Vetches, Lucerne, Cabbage, Italian Rye Grass, 
or Maize there would have been an ample supply of food for all 
possible requirements. 
March is the month for sowing all these crops for autumn use 
-except Maize, which is sown early in June, and we earnestly beg 
home farmers not to continue a risky dependence entirely upon 
pasture, but to cultivate some or all of them. In doing this do 
not be content with half crops. High farming is certainly safe 
farming among crops intended for use in a green state, as there is 
no risk of any part of them being spoilt by bad weather if only 
they are used in good time. As well grow a crop of Tares 4 feet 
high as 2 feet high, it is simply a question of more or less manure, 
•and for this particular crop the latest teaching of science shows 
that we have only to see that the soil is fully stored with potash 
and phosphoric acid, and we may rest assured that the Tare plant 
will obtain sufficient nitrogen from the atmosphere for its full 
development. This fact has such an important bearing upon the 
culture of Tares, and all other leguminous plants, that we shall 
refer to it at greater length shortly. 
A table headed “ How Best to Meet a Deficiency of Green Stock 
Food or Green Crops all the Year Round ” is given in Messrs. 
Carter’s new farm seed catalogue, and attention is directed to it 
here because it is so admirably calculated for the assistance of all 
farmers, but especially of that particular section for whom we are 
now writing. All the crops so usefully enumerated are worthy of 
cultivation, but where Trifolium incarnatum — named Red and 
White Trifolium in the list—are grown especial care must be taken 
to sow early in August on a clean stubble, the best way being to 
sow the seed broadcast rather thickly, and to harrow the surface 
sufficiently to cover the seed. We usually follow Winter Oats 
with this crop because the Oats are in most seasons harvested 
by the end of July. A moderate dressing of muriate of potash and 
superphosphate harrowed in with the seed is always to be recom¬ 
mended to ensure a full crop, for however fertile the soil may be 
there must be some degree of exhaustion from a full crop of Oats. 
Messrs. Carter’s list includes an “ensilage mixture,” and rightly 
so, for that points to a provision of food for winter that is fully as 
important as the green crops for summer and autumn use. Essex 
dair;^ farmers are now buying all the Mangolds they can at £1 a 
ton, all which expenditure might have been avoided had they only 
made some stacks of silage last summer, but the change from hay¬ 
making to ensilage is very slow indeed. Strange it is that farmers 
generally cannot yet grasp the full significance of this change,^ and 
see how entirely their interests are bound up with it. The very 
simplicity, ease, and certainty of ensilage probably tell against its 
speedy adoption. But the scarcity of roots now induce more 
attention being given to it. Cannot more landlords give their 
tenants a lead in this matter ? Let home farmers bestir themselves 
and show what can be done, and let them not trust any complaints 
from shepherds or stockmen of the animals under their care not 
liking silage or not thriving when fed with it, but rather look closely 
into the matter and ascertain the real cause of failure of appetite. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
More Barley has been sown in February than we are able to sow in 
March in many seasons, and the popular belief that early sown Barley 
yields a heavy big-grained sample will certainly have a fair test this 
year. The indispensable fine tilth is to be had so generally, too, that 
we fear it may induce an undue preponderance being given to this crop 
on heavy land farms ; yet the fact remains that good malting samples 
can only be expected from light loams and sound free-working mixed 
soil. Far wiser will it be to go on with the extension of Oat crops on 
heavy land, and to curtail all doubtful crops, and rather than continuing 
to grow corn at a loss, more heavy land should be brought under green 
crops. Better to make such farms mere sheep runs than to keep on 
with the heavy labour bill which is inseparable from arable land ; but 
cultivation must not cease, only labour must be economised so that at 
least each farm is self-supporting. Not an easy matter this, with beef, 
mutton, and pork all ruling so low at market. 
With fat hoggets selling for very little more than could be had for 
them as lambs four or five months ago, the outlook is not encouraging 
for flockmasters. If it leads to a resolve to sell lambs freely next June 
or July then lamb food should be used as soon as the lambs will take it 
freely, so as to promote free growth and lusty condition. The fine dry 
calm weather is most favourable for the lambing, and the early lambs 
are both strong and healthy. We shall not have so much land under 
Turnip folds as usual, as the lambs must be kept from all rotten or 
decaying roots. Lamentable indeed is the sight, and most unpleasant 
the scent of many a field of Swedes just now. Where the roots are 
useless the best course to adopt is to plough them in and sow either corn 
or green crops for silage or grazing. 
Bad as are so many of the Swedes, those farmers who grow green 
vegetables for market have suffered a still heavier loss of winter Greens 
and Broccoli, hundreds of acres being destroyed by frost, which told with 
great severity on the Essex clays. But the Broccoli on the lighter soil of 
Kent, near Bexley, also appears to be all cut off irrespective of sorts, 
“ Protecting ” or otherwise having suffered alike. The loss is a serious 
one, and the resources of many an earnest hard-working tiller of the soil 
will be sorely tried by it. All we can say is. Try again, and take comfort 
from the fact that the greatest frost of the century is a thing of the past. 
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. 
a 
■3 
1891. 
February. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 328 
and Sea 
Level. 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
Temp, of 
soil at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
Ia 
sun. 
On 
grass 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg.' 
deg. 
la. 
Sunday. 
22 
30.425 
32.4 
32.3 
N. 
38.7 
42.5 
29.9 
.58.8 
34.7 
Monday. 
23 
80.509 
27.8 
27.8 
E. 
36.4 
41.0 
24.2 
57.4 
20.5 
Tuesday .... 
24 
80.568 
30.3 
30.3 
N.B. 
35.9 
38.8 
28.2 
48.4 
25.3 
Wednesday.. 
23 
30.343 
28.9 
28.9 
N.E. 
35.7 
50.7 
27.1 
70.1 
28.3 
Thursday.... 
28 
80.002 
31.9 
31.7 
N.E. 
35.9 
62.6 
27.6 
67.8 
19.7 
Friday . 
27 
80.209 
38.3 
35.9 
N.E. 
85.4 
69.6 
29.9 
83.8 
22.3 
Saturday .... 
28 
30.292 
32.2 
32,2 
W. 
85.4 
61.2 
28.3 
80.8 
21.7 
— 
30.334 
31.7 
31.3 j 
135.9 
49.5 
27.9 
68.4 
24.2 
— 
KEMARKS. 
22nd.—Foggy morning and evening; sunshine in afternoon. 
23rd.—Fog till 10 A M., then sunshine tlU noon, and dense fog from noon to 1 P.M.; slight 
fog in afternoon, with sun shining through. 
24th.—More or less fog all day, but the sun shining through at times. 
2.)th.—Fog nearly all the morning, hut very slight after 10 A.M,; bright mild afternoon. 
2Gth.—Bright and fine. 
27th.—Fine and bright throughout. 
1 28th.—Fog early, clearing gradually, and bright stinshine after 11 A.M. 
. Another rainless week, with high barometer ; temperature, as deduced from 
maximum and minimum, near the average, but mornings very cold.—Q. J. Symons. 
