46 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 1-3, 1893. 
VACANT FARMS. 
Mixed farming generally, as was indicated last week, is 
without doubt advisable as a rule ; the exceptions are dairy, 
fruit, vegetable, and corn farms. Let us glance briefly at each 
class of farm in view of hiring one of them—not that this is so 
simple a matter as it may seem to the uninitiated. The popular 
idea that there are plenty of vacant farms everywhere, and that 
every farm is re-let at a heavy reduction of rent, most certainly 
does not apply to really good dairy farms. Reference to the 
rent roll of an estate consisting entirely of grass farms shows 
that the rents range now at from 378. to 60s. per acre. For a 
farm at the lower rent, which fell in last Lady Day, we had five 
applicants, and for another becoming vacant next April there 
are already four offers at the old rental of 408. per acre. These 
farms are in the midlands, but even in Essex we have had no 
difficulty in obtaining a rent of 30s. per acre for fair pasture—a 
very different thing to much of the poor exhausted corn land of 
that county. 
Turning to the rent roll of an East Anglian estate of corn 
farms we have a striking contrast to grass land rentals, those of 
the corn land ranging from 14s. per acre downwards to very 
little more than half that amount. It is only by making such 
ruinous reductions that tenants have been kept upon the land at 
all. On this particular estate there is the melancholy satisfaction 
that not one farm is vacant, while on neighbouring estates there 
are thousands of acres in hand. Nothing will induce the tena,nts 
to change or modify their practice; corn-growing or nothing 
appears to be a life maxim with them, and though the heavy 
rent reduction enables them to struggle on they have still to 
meet a large outlay for labour. Take for example one of the 
farms on this estate. Out of its total area of 859 acres there 
are not 30 acres in pasture, so that we may certainly 
estimate that there are 800 acres of it ai’able. Much of it 
is light land, but at best the outlay for tillage is a heavy 
matter. The staple produce is Barley and sheep, and we have 
no doubt the excellent flock of Suffolk sheep on this farm has 
stood the tenant in good stead under the depression. One point 
of practice worthy of all praise in East Anglian farming is the 
systematic sheep folding, which tends so materially to sustain 
soil fertility. We have striven in vain to induce our tenants in 
the midlands to adopt the prac'ice on hill farms in the winder, to 
stimulate some of their poor pasture. But they are slaves to 
custom; not one of them has ever set a sheep fold, nor have 
they any hurdles suitable for the purpose. 
Of their comparatively highly rented farms we can say that 
even under an easy-going system of management they answer, 
and there can be no doubt that dairy farms are profitable even 
when devoted sole’y to the production of milk for sale ; they 
ought to be much more so under the manufacture of first-class 
butter and cheese. But we must not forget that at a milk farm 
pure and simple there is no dairy work ; all the expense of a 
dairy plant or of butter and cheese making is avoided. Rich 
pasture, healthy cows, that before all things else are deep 
milkers, no matter what breed they may be, plenty of water and 
a refrigerator for cooling the milk, a sufficient stock of 17-gallon 
railway milk cans (which cost about £1 apiece), a station horse 
and cart or van, nearness to a railway station, with a milk 
market at not more than twenty or thirty miles’ distance by 
rail. These ar.e the few and simple conditions for the wou'd-be 
milk farmer to bear in mind. If to these he can add a few acres 
of arable land for roots, and such fodder crops as Yetches, 
Lucerne, Clover, Sainfoin, Rye Grass, mixed seeds, Green 
Maize, Cattle Cabbage, and Thousand-headed Kale, he will have 
every facility for a business which can be managed with a 
very moderate expenditure for labour. Outside some such 
radius as we have indicated it would be greatly to the advantage 
of the producer if milk could be diverted from the great centres of 
population to local butter or cheese factories, or under favourable 
conditions to the home productions of cheese and butter. 
For cheese and butter making there must be a well ventilated, 
well drained dairy, so placed that no impure air comes near it 
from cattle yards, stables, piggeries, manure heap, or sewer, or 
taint will be imparted to the milk, cream, or curds, as the case 
may be. In it the milk is passed through the separator for 
butter, or is brought to a proper temperature to receive the 
rennet for cheese. Butter and cheese should both be made 
there, the cheese being taken thence to a room with shelves, 
ventilators, and heating apparatus ; the butter to a cool store 
room on slates, with only wall brackets to receive them, and 
a central packing table or slate slab. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
If the annual insurance of crop and stock does not include corn or 
haystacks on outlying land, the prompt insurance of such stacks should 
always be done, as they are especially liable to accidents from the care¬ 
less use of matches by vagrants. Once on fire there is little hope of 
saving them, as they may burn for some time before being seen, and 
when they are seen much time is usually lost before real efforts are made 
to extinguish the fire. On a property which came into our hands some 
time ago, the buildings of a certain homestead had been destroyed by 
fire and rebuilt. Among the new buildings were some neat looking 
stables of brickwork, but the common mistake had been made of 
leaving the inner walls exposed, with the equally common result of 
bricks and mortar being kicked to pieces by the horses. All brickwork 
in stables must be covered to a height of 5 feet with stout match board - 
ing, to prevent this vexatious destruction of property. This is entirely 
a matter for the owner or agent of the property to see to. In our 
experience we have not found tenants to trouble themselves about it. 
Milch cows should be kept in by day during this sultry weather or 
they will be so worried by flies as to be constantly rushing about the 
pasture to their detriment and a serious falling off in the milk yield. 
Not only is it a humane thing to have commodious well ventilated 
hovels which can be closed for this purpose, but it is decidedly profit¬ 
able. With a good cut of Clover, Lucerne, or other green fodder going, 
the hovel or cowhouse racks are filled regularly twice during the day, 
so that the cows can quietly feed in comfort and then be turned out 
after the evening milking. Here, again, the few acres of arable land on a 
dairy farm tell in an acceptable supply of green fodder as an invaluable 
auxiliary to the permanent pasture, enabling the grazier to do the best 
thing for his own advantage in the better management of his stock. 
Especial attention has been given to pig breeding so as to have a 
large number ready for the corn stubbles. This is an easy matter as 
young sows come into breeding so early, and it is certainly desirable to 
breed sows as well as store pigs while they are so dear. We have 
recently seen some enormous sows in the Midlands, and must needs 
repeat our warning against keeping such unwieldly animals. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Oamden Squarb, Loxdox. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0"^ 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
Date. 
9 A.M. 
Ix THE Day. 
Bain. 
1893. 
July. 
1 Barometer 
1 at 32°, and 
1 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 
G-rass. 
Inchs. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Inchs. 
Sunday .. 
2 
30-146 
69-4 
62-6 
N.E. 
64-1 
83-6 
68-4 
116-9 
55-8 
— 
Monday .. 
3 
30-133 
69-7 
60-7 
E. 
64-9 
83-2 
58-9 
125-7 
57-4 
— 
Tuesday .. 
4 
30-056 
64-6 
57-2 
E. 
65-1 
76-7 
65-0 
121-9 
52-1 
0-180 
Wednesday 
5 
29-787 
65-0 
61-2 
N.E. 
65-0 
76-7 
54-3 
112-0 
54-5 
— 
Thursday.. 
6 
29-995 
69-3 
61-8 
N.B. 
63-9 
85-7 
54-6 
120-4 
51-7 
— 
Friday 
7 
29-993 
72-2 
60-9 
E. 
65-0 
90-7 
54-1 
128-2 
48-4 
_ 
Saturday .. 
8 
29-736 
80-2 
67-2 
S. 
66-3 
88-4 
63-2 
130-3 
66-4 
0-456 
29-978 
70-1 
61-7 
64-9 
83-6 
56-9 
122-2 
53-8 
0-636 
REMARKS. 
2nd.—Hot, hazy, and oppressive; clouds at times in evening. 
3rd.—Generally sunny, but a good deal of cirro-cumulus cloud. 
4tli.—Bright breezy day, cloudy at times in afternoon, overcast evening, and rain 
from 10 P.M. 
5th.—Bain till 2 A.M., overcast morning, spots of rain at noon, occasional gleams of 
sun in afternoon, cloudless evening. 
6th.—Hot, clear, and almost cloudless, 
7th.—Sunny and hot, but calm and a little hazy. 
8th.—Sunny and hot, but some breeze; heavy rain with lightning and thunder from 
4.30 P.M. to 6.30 P.M., showers again at night. 
A very hot week, hotter than any week in Jubilee year (1887), or than in any year 
back to 1882 at least.—G. J. Symoxs, 
