502 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ KoTember 30, 1893. 
PROFITABLE LIVE STOCK. 
Hopefully do we write about the possible improvement of 
stock, because it is so obviously in the interest of farmers that 
we are working. It is for them to consider ways and means, to 
proceed with caution—yet by all means to proceed to bring 
about a reform; to shake off the heedless, aimless, buying and 
breeding of inferior animals; to give full recognition to the 
value of stock upon which some profit is always possible, by 
having only such stock upon their hands. 
Given then of such high class animals, dairy cows whose 
annual milk average is well up to the 700 gallons which we 
know to be so entirely possible, there must also be sound 
practice in feeding and housing them. The difficulty here is in 
the conception of what sound practice really is. We may define 
it as a combination of gentle kindly treatment, with wholesome 
nutritious food, thorough shelter, and cleanliness. Brutality, 
and the hurried driving of cows, has spoiled many a batch of 
cheese and butter, as well as checked the flow of milk. It is 
a well-known fact that when cows, frantic from attacks of 
gadflies, rush about pasture for hours, the milk yield falls off 
very much ; it is also known that when cows are driven to the 
milking hurriedly, or are knocked about in the cow house, the 
quick souring of the milk shows how much it has been injured. 
Avoid extremes in feeding; nothing can be worse than the state 
of semi starvation in which cows are so frequently kept during the 
dry or non-milking period, which on cheese farms often extends 
for three or four months. The fact that cows require more 
rather than less nourishment during gestation is apparently 
ignored; they are kept out on pasture to clear off the fog which 
really affords very little nourishment, in addition to which a 
scanty bite of hay is thrown out to them on the pasture. They 
must always be hungry; they fall off woefully in condition; 
can we wonder that the calves are weakly, and enfeebled 
from the emaciated dams ? It is ridiculous to talk to the 
brutal, foolish owners of such cows about selection, breeding, 
or any detail of management. They positively court failure, 
and then cry to Jupiter, in the guise of their landlord, for aid 
in the form of rent reduction! 
It is the landlord who is to be pitied, and not the tenant in 
sucb a case. To tho^e who have so mismanaged their cows in 
pure ignorance and thoughtlessness, and who would do better if 
they knew how, we say. Keep up condition in your cows, and 
economise food in winter by the provision of thorough shelter. 
The poor animals ask you for it plainly enough, by seeking 
such shelter as can be had from tree clumps or hedgerows 
when they are left out at night. Even that is better than some 
hovels known to us. So many of them are too narrow, 
more are so badly constructed as to be almost useless. For all 
open hovels—i e., having the side-facing a yard open, the correct 
width is 18 feet, for close hovels 15 feet is sufficient. We know 
a long hovel at a certain midland dairy farm, which has a brick 
side and ends, the other side having faggots set on ends. They 
do not reach to the eaves, and as there is an open space between 
the top of the wall and the eaves on the other side, the hovel is 
draughty and cold. This is bad enough, but as the whole of the 
land is in pasture there is no straw, the cows lie upon the bare 
floor, which would not matter if it were dry and clean, but it is 
worn into holes, tilth is suffered to accumulate upon it, so that 
at turning out time in the spring the cows are in a disgustingly 
filthy condition. It is impossible that the milk can come from 
such a building, or animals so dirty, untainted. There is often 
trouble of another kind with winter milk, which goes straight 
from the cowhouse to the separator, and that is the clogging of 
the separator by foi'eign matter in the milk. It is patent to every¬ 
one that when the milker comes to milk cows with their coats 
full of dry filth, into which he butts his head during the milking 
the friction causes much “ foreign matter ” to fall into the pail, 
to which dirty hands often contribute. The fact is not pleasant 
to write about, but there can be no doubt that cleanliness of the 
cow it?elf, of its food, and of its sui’roundings, has not a tithe 
of the attention it ought to have. We would have the curry 
comb and brush in daily use among cows during winter just as 
much as for horses, the cowhouse should rival the stable in 
keeping, the cowman be as c’ean as his milk pails—all matters 
of detail worthy of our best attention. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Are the roots ail in clamp or heaps yet ? If not, all large roots may 
now be spoiled by a cold snap of very brief duration. Since writing 
our last notes we have seen a field of fine Swedes on the borders of 
Yorkshire being pulled and trimmed while it was freezing sharply, with 
occasional snowstorms. This was not good management, nor was the 
apparent waste of the Swede tops this season in the eyes of a southern 
farmer. For a month or more the fresh green growth upon them which 
come so freely in the moist warm autumn has been in use for the cows, 
and though to eke out the tops as long as possible the clearance of roots 
was prolonged, it was got through in time to be safe from severe frost. 
As active work on the land is brought to a close till spring go care¬ 
fully over all implements, have necessary repairs done at once, and let 
the whole of them be well cleaned and painted before being put away. 
Any that are worn out or useless should be got rid of ; there is no more 
objectionable sight about a homestead than old implements mouldering 
and rusty, unless it be useful implements left about in the open just as 
if they were worthless. It is a good rule to have them brought in and 
housed at once, and we like them to be painted afresh every year. 
Everything about the homestead should now be especially neat, trim, 
and in good order. Look well to drains. Suffer no accumulation of 
water in yards. See that there is scrupulous cleanliness in stable, 
cowhouse, and poultry houses, also that all are free from draughts, 
There is nothing better for such buildings than roof louvres with three 
or four openings, as then ventilation is assured. Poultry houses especi¬ 
ally must be snug and warm now if we would have winter eggs. We 
have often found harm caused in them by cold cutting winds entering 
along the eaves right upon the fowls on the perches. Now is the time 
to guage the egg supply and to ascertain if any alteration or improve¬ 
ment is possible or is required in view of doing better another winter. 
The matter is simply one of timely pullet selection in sufficient numbers 
to afford a full supply, no light matter for a large household, but just 
one of those things which denote good management. 
Extraordikaey Weight of Swedes. —Messrs. Webb & Sons inform 
us that their stands at the Birmingham and London Cattle Shows include 
some extraordinary specimens of Webbs’ Imperial Swede grown by Mr. 
W. Maxwell, Sparnel Bank, Galston ; 124 of these roots, which have 
been photographed, scaled the enormous weight of 1 ton 2 lbs., or an 
average of over 18 lbs. each. Messrs. Webb believe that this return 
beats all record, and the weight has been attested by reliable witnesses. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN Square, London. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.: Long. 0° 8/ 0" W.; Altitude. Ill feet 
Date. 
9 A.M. 
In the Day. 
Bain. 
1893. 
November. 
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 
Grass. 
Inchs. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Inchs. 
Sunday .. 
19 
29-602 
31-8 
30-8 
N. 
42-7 
42-7 
29-4 
49-7 
31-4 
0 067 
Monday .. 
20 
2H-976 
41-9 
37-7 
N.E. 
41-9 
43-3 
31-2 
56-2 
30-3 
— 
Tuesday .. 
21 
30-444 
39-7 
37-0 
N.E. 
41-3 
45 0 
37-2 
70-9 
32-2 
— 
Wednesday 
22 
30-189 
39-1 
36-7 
S.W. 
42-0 
45-0 
37-4 
58-0 
35-1 
— 
Thursday.. 
23 
30-(i60 
30-4 
28-3 
N. 
40-9 
38-4 
29-0 
63-7 
27-0 
— 
Friday 
24 
30-135 
35-0 
33-9 
S.W. 
39-3 
45-8 
28-5 
51-8 
25-4 
0-010 
Saturday .. 
25 
29-914 
45-2 
44-0 
w. 
40-0 
50-7 
34-9 
66-1 
33-3 
0-382 
30046 
37-6 
35-5 
41-2 
44-4 
32-5 
59-5 
30-7 
0-459 
REMARKS. 
19th.—Snowing till about 5 A.M., occasional flakes in morning, and also with spots of 
rain in afternoon, and a heavy shower between 6 and 7 P.M. Violent squalls of 
wind throughout. 
20th.—Bright sun at times in morning; overcast after, with spots of rain. 
21st.—Bright sunshine almost all morning ; generally overcast in afternoon. 
22nd.—Bright sunshine generally, but overcast at times, and a squall of rain and wind 
at 3 P.M. ; brilliant night. 
23rd.—Almost cloudless till 1 P.M.; generally overcast from 2.30 P.M. to 4 P.M., but 
clear again after, and brilliant night. 
24th.—Generally overcast, but occasional sunshine in afternoon; very slight showers 
about 9.30 A M. and 3.30 P M. 
25th.—Fine, with frequent sun in morning; overcast afternoon with occasional drizzle; 
steady rain from 7 P.M. 
Temperature rather below the average, but by no means exceptionally so.—G. J. STMONS. 
