186 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 24, 1893. 
compact; a torse drawing an iron roller is also kept going over 
it till a 6rm layer 3 feet high is made. This layer is then left 
to settle and heat for three or four days, a thorough rolling 
with the horse and iron roller being given daily. Then another 
layer is put on and treated in precisely the same way, the heap 
being thus gradually built to a height of 6 feet. The sloping 
ends are then cut off with a hay knife, thrown upon the top of 
the heap, spread out and well trampled down, so that ends and 
sides are all left perpendicular. The top is then weighted with 
timber—rough logs answer perfectly well—topped up with 
rough litter or straw and thatched. Of course there is some 
heating, bat the gradual construction and pressure prevents 
excessive or hurtful heating, and the silage becomes cool in 
about three months. At half a hundi'edweight to the cubic foot, 
the contents of such a heap work out at about 97 tons, and the 
fortunate owner of it might well be an object of envy to his 
brother farmers in the coming wintei*. The difficulty—the only 
difficulty, is to get enough green forage, not necessarily of the 
same sort. It may be a mixture of green Oats, Rye, Rye Grass, 
Lucerne, second cut of Clover, Tares, or mixed seeds, it matters 
not which; all or any of them treated in the simple manner 
described will make an aromatic heap of fodder that will prove 
invaluable for stock feeding from Christmas till May day, or 
longer if necessary. 
We had written the above before seeing the hints on special 
ensilage which the Board of Agriculture has sent out, and 
which appeared in the last number of the Journal. They are 
certainly well timed, and will do good if they induce farmers to 
save every scrap of spai*e herbage, and store it for winter by 
ensilage. Our details of the process were advisedly confined to 
the making of clamped silage, because of its facility, economy, 
and certainty. After the clamp is made the two important 
points are pressure and tha'ching to throw off rain. By all 
means use dry earth if it can be had; but bearing in mind how 
doubtful that is in autumn, we think it better to recommend 
the use of logs of timber. Anything heavy will do —we used 
slag from an old blast furnace for our first silo—so as to keep 
a steady pressure upon the heap, then top up to a sufficiently 
acute angle and cover with thatch of straw, reeds, rushes, 
heather; with corrugated iron sheets, weather boards, felt, or 
anything to throw off rain and keep the silage dry. Soil alone 
will not do this, and we certainly think the Board of Agri¬ 
culture’s advice to use it for a covering as risky. We repeat, 
use plenty of pressure, and keep out the rain, if you would 
preserve silage in good condition. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
At the Royal Show at Chester an enterprising seedsman had a bundle 
of drought-resisting fodder plants with very long roots on his stand. He 
was wise, because particular attention to such crops has been forced 
upon the grazier this summer. We hope it may lead to the more 
general culture of Lucerne, which, good as it always is, hag stood out 
conspicuous for its superiority over all other forage plants without any 
special culture beyond that followed in ordinary practice. With its 
roots deep down in the soil it has passed through the drought unscathed, 
unaffected by it in the slightest degree. The three growths of it have 
given an aggregate in height of full 10 feet. What would graziers in 
Leicestershire with their hay crop barely 10 inches high, or Kent and 
Sussex farmers with no hay at all, say to this 1 Often when urging the 
value of this crop and its easy culture upon tenant farmers have we 
been told that soil must have lime in it for Lucerne. Well, we would 
certainly give land a heavy dressing of lime rather than go without 
Lucerne, and we once more earnestly recommend it for general 
cultivation. 
Second cropg of Clover are much heavier than was the first crop. 
They are being mown and made into hay with great facility now, the 
demand for hay of any kind being so general that very little Clover will 
be left for seed. Harvest work, and the breaking up of stubbles, has 
been going on briskly. Sheep-folding on a capital crop of White Mustard 
helps to ease the pastures. It makes a wholesome change for the flock, 
and the land is enriched for a crop of Winter Oats. 
We have had many complaints of fly striking among the sheep of 
our correspondents, a special grievance being made of flies attacking 
sheep so soon after they have been dipped. It should be clearly under¬ 
stood tha,t while dipping may give sheep immunity from fly attacks for 
a short time, its special work is to destroy at the time of dipping all 
parasitical insects in the wool or upon the skin, especially those terrible 
blood-suckers, the ticks, which irritate the sheep to such a degree that 
they are practically never at rest, and cannot thrive. Dipping soon 
after shearing, and again in September, is usually all that is required ; 
both are indispensable, and are usually sufficient. Fly attacks are to be 
expected daily and hourly in such dry hot weather as we are now 
having, but there can be no material harm from them if the flock has 
proper attention. That is the point—pains and care, very little science 
is wanted. We recently went through the flock of a veterinary surgeon, 
and found several bad cases of foot-rot ; evidently the man of science 
was not a careful, hardly a humane man. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Thistles (A.).—To destroy Thistles they must be pulled up by the 
roots. On arable land this is done by repeated hoeing among root crops, 
or by thorough autumn tillage, ploughing, harrowing, deep stirring with 
cultivator or horse hoe, so as not only to sever the roots well beneath the 
surface, but to bring the loosened plants upon the surface, to be killed 
by exposure, or, better still, collected and burnt. On pasture, the 
practice of mowing Thistles once or twice during summer may weaken 
growth, but we always regard it as a waste of time and money. Root 
them up once for all, and there is an end of them ; we have had them 
pulled up by hands protected with stout leathern gloves when the land 
is softened by heavy rain, also dug up with dock spuds. The plan may 
be tedious, but it is certainly thorough. Never suffer a Thistle to run 
to seed ; turn every one to the rooting up of them at odd times, and by 
the exercise of a little perseverance you will get rid of them. Show this 
to your neighbour, and at any rate try and induce him to prevent Thistle 
seeding. We have known an entire parish to become infested with this 
pest by seed blown about it from the land of a slovenly farmer. That 
farm eventually came into our hands. By steady persistence we got rid 
of the Thistles. If your land is as badly infested by them as that was, 
you will have a very clear idea of the true meaning of perseverance 
before you have done with them. 
Poultry in France. —The income derived by French people who 
rear fowls, says an industrious statistician, according to octroi and 
market returns, is 337,100,000 francs, of which 153,500,000 francs 
represent the value of the flesh, and 183,600,000 francS that of the 
eggs. The quantity sold in poultry yards is immense, as is also the 
number used in the homes of those who rear fowls. These figures do 
not find their way into statistics. 
The Harvest in the Midlands. —Midland farmers, a daily 
contemporary asserts, have had greater advantages for in-gathering 
their crops this year than they have had for nearly a quarter of a 
century. It is estimated that Wheat on the average will yield from 
four to five, quarters per acre, which is above the usual produce, while 
the quality is exceptionally good. Oats again are far above the 
average, and are already so ripe that thrashing can begin as soon as the 
crop is cut. It is complained that the straw is short; hut the farmers 
have the compensating advantage that both quality and quantity are 
fairly excellent. During the past few days considerable progress has 
been made with the in-gathering, and the result so far has created 
much satisfaction. 
MBTBOROLOaiCAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Oamdex Square, Loxdox. 
Lat, 51° 32' 40" N.; Loag. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, HI feet. 
Date. 
9 A.M. 
In THE Day. 
Rain. 
1893. 
August. 
1 Barometer 
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 
Grass. 
Inchs. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Inchs. 
Sunday .. 13 
30-180 
74-5 
67-6 
E. 
65-4 
78-5 
59-3 
99-1 
55-1 
— 
Monday .. 14 
30-232 
71-3 
61-2 
Calm. 
65-2 
82-7 
60-2 
111-0 
55-3 
Tuesday .. 15 
30-223 
74-9 
64-2 
S. 
65 6 
87-8 
58-8 
119-8 
54-3 
_ 
Wednesday 16 
30-137 
75-2 
62-7 
S.W. 
66-0 
90-7 
59-9 
130-4 
53-3 
_ 
Thursday.. 17 
30-088 
76-3 
65-9 
s.w. 
67-0 
92-7 
61-3 
1.8-9 
56-1 
Friday .. 18 
29-819 
84-3 
66-7 
s. 
67-9 
93-6 
64-1 
131-9 
56-8 
_ 
Saturday.. 19 
29-920 
68-5 
61-8 
s.w. 
68-8 
79-5 
63-8 
123-2 
60-3 
— 
30-086 
75-0 
64-3 
66-6 
86-5 
61-1 
120-6 
55-9 
— 
REMARKS. 
13th.—Bright sunshine early, but haze and cloud gradually accumulated, and only 
occasional gleams of sun after 11 a.m. 
14th.—Calm, hazy, and oppressive throughout. 
15th.—Sunny and hot; hazy, with a little cloud in morning, and solar halo about 
11 A.M. 
16th.—Hot; almost cloudless till 3 30 P.M.; solar halo about 4 P.M., cloudless again 
by 5 p.M. 
17th.—Sunny and hot throughout, a little hazy in the morning. 
18th.—Almost cloudless, with very high temperature, but breezy and pleasant; distant 
lightning at night. 
19th.—Cool and pleasant, with sunshine at times. 
A very hot week; probably the hottest recorded here since the observations 
commenced in 1858. The 9 A.M. temperature on 18th (84'3°0 is without precedent in 
the thirty-six years, and the 16th, 17th, and 18th are the only instance of three con¬ 
secutive days with max. above 90'^. The temperature of 93-6° on 18th has only once 
been exceeded, namely on July 15th, 1881, when 94-6° was recorded.—d. J. SYMOXS. 
