256 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 14, 1893. 
FARM HOMESTEADS. 
When the Scotch farmers came south after Essex farms, 
one of the first things asked for was additional farm buildings. 
They, at any rate, wei’e fully alive to the importance of an 
ample provision of shelter for their herds if not for their flocks ; 
they had it, and it must have contributed greatly to the success 
of their venture. In making such provision of outbuildings 
that are absolutely necessary a landlord enables his tenant to 
turn his holding to full account—aye, and to turn his live 
stock to full account also. To an able man the concession is 
positively more important than a reduction of rent, because it 
enables him to do his best with the stock—to afford it pro¬ 
tection from cold and wet in winter, from extreme heat and 
flies in summer. If it were possible to obtain a return of the 
actual number of animals lost annually from exposure to wet 
and cold we have no doubt it would astonish everyone connected 
with agriculture. But though it is not possible the fact 
remains that losses do occur frequently, the cause being usually 
attributed either to black leg or to hoose, and probably wi'h 
some truth, but exhaustion and low condition more often than 
not induce disease. 
Early in the present year we had a complete set of new out¬ 
buildings erected for a tenant in time to be of use to him during 
iummer. On a recent visit we were delighted to see a number 
of the best calves in the hovels that we had seen this season. 
They had never been out, but had been kept in and reai’ed by 
the grazier’s wife, and much credit are they to her. Nothing 
could be more satisfactory than their sleek, healthy condition. 
Home-hred and home-reared in the right way they are bound 
to prove profitable, such animals always being in demand; 
always commanding a price above, sometimes much above 
ordinary market rates. For another tenant who milks thirty 
cows a new house and set of outbuildings are to be built on a 
holding of about 200 acres. This farm is worthy of mention as 
a compact holding, recently arranged with an eye to general 
utility. Its lower boundary is in the heart of a valley by a 
road leading to a railway station, and the land stretches right 
up one side of the valley to the hill top, where there is con¬ 
nection with another public road. The rich grazing land in 
the valley is watered by a br. ok, and there are pools of sufficient 
capacity in the upland meadows. 
In selecting the site of the homestead water wa8 a primary 
consideration. A boring tool failed to reach wa^er after several 
trials; the brook was therefore turned to, the necessary levelling 
showing that an hydraulic ram was practicable, so that by 
means of it and a filter bed the homestead will be well supplied 
with wholesome wa^er, a matter of even more than usual 
importance, as this is a dairy farm, where cheese-making will be 
the chief thing. To avoid all risk of taint the dairy and cheese 
rooms will be on the north side, and the farmyard and out¬ 
buildings on the south side. On the ground floor there will be 
an entrance hall, having on the north side a sitting-room, 
behind which there will be a cheese-i’oom, binding-room, and 
dairy; on the south side will be the kitchen, connected by a 
passage running past the larder to a back kitchen ; and at the 
back of the house there will be a broad covered way from the 
back kitchen to the dairy. The upper floor will have six bed¬ 
rooms, and will contain a bath-room; in fact all necessaries to 
form a comfortable, convenient house, without any superfluous 
rooms. Water will be laid on, drainage well done, and the 
whey will go through a pipe from the dairy to a cistern by the 
piggeries. 
The outbuildings will consist of a cow house for thirty cows ; 
this will be a span-roofed building, with a passage down the 
centre between the stalls. There will also be a loose box for 
calving, two calf hovels, four large piggeries, stabling for three 
horses, shed for store cattle, 18 feet wide, with the yard side 
open, a meal-i’oom, chaff-room, granary, fowl house, and open 
shed for carts and implements. The cost of such a homestead 
depends mainly upon the building matei-ials, which range from 
costly dressed stone downwards to simple s'ud and plaster, 
representing two extremes, only desirable under stress of local 
circumstances. There appears to be no material equal to 
corrugated iron sheeting for cheapness, utility, and durability. 
As roofing for a granary it is objectionable, because it becomes 
cool with such rapidity of an evening that the moisture of the 
warm interior air is condensed, and there is often so much 
dripping of water from the roof upon the stores as to become a 
nuisance. 
WOKK ON THE HOME FAKM. 
Frequently have we heard the remark that this has not been a 
favourable season for the use of “artificials.” Our one failure was upon 
some pasture where, owing to the draining, the chemical manure could 
not be used till the drought had set in. But where it was used early it 
answered well enough for pasture, and its beneficial influence upon root 
crops was never more remarkable. Swedes, Mangolds, and Potatoes 
have all thriven wonderfully, and we were not surprised to hear from a 
correspondent to whom we recommended what we term our County 
Council mixture, that he has a crop of Potatoes of remarkable 
abundance, yielding a peck of tubers to a plant. With land made 
thoroughly clean now and ridged by double-breasted ploughs, we can 
next spring apply manure to the furrows, plant the Potatoes, and split 
the ridges over them, feeling assured that the soil is well stored with 
fertility. For Mangolds and Swedes the mixture may be sown broadcast 
after the muck is placed in the furrows, a top-dressing of nitrate of soda 
being applied after the plant is up and growing freely. 
Let yards, hovels, and all means of shelter for cattle for winter be 
now made ready for use next month. See that drains are in order, that 
the water supply is ample, and that the surface of all inner walls is 
limewashed. Litter is likely to be so scarce next winter that we advise 
all home farmers to collect all the tree leaves they can, to get bracken 
from the woods, and any sedges, rushes, or coarse grass that can be had. 
Reduce the head of stock well within reasonable limits; keep no unsound 
or delicate animals through the winter; calculate ways and means 
closely, and prepare for a long hard winter. If the weather proves 
mild and open so much the better; but a prudent man makes provision 
for the worst, and it is only in doing so that he can feel safe. We much 
fear that heavy losses of young stock are likely to occur in the coming 
winter, and so many are now in terribly low condition. We saw a 
herd of thirty or forty calves a few days ago that had been bought 
cheap I All of them were “ bags of bones,” and hardly any of them are 
likely to live through the winter. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Oamdex Square, London. 
Lat.51° 32'40" N.: Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
Date. 
9 A.M. 
In the Day. 
.9 
p:^ 
1893. 
September. 
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 .. 
3 
(^•288 
65-1 
57-2 
E. 
61-0 
72-9 
52-3 
119-8 
46-1 
_ 
Monday .. 
4 
30-239 
58-8 
56-1 
E. 
61-1 
70-4 
48-9 
102-9 
43 6 
_ 
Tuesday .. 
5 
30-047 
59 1 
55-4 
E. 
60-2 
78-1 
46-1 
108-4 
40-4 
_ 
Wednesday 
6 
29-860 
64-4 
58-0 
S. 
60-6 
81 6 
52-2 
117-6 
47-0 
0-036 
Thursday.. 
7 
69-7 
64-4 
W. 
62-0 
77-3 
61-9 
123-4 
58-8 
— 
Friday 
8 
29-774 
61-3 
57-1 
s.w. 
62-1 
69-2 
52-9 
1184 
48-3 
0-199 
Saturday .. 
9 
29-908 
56-6 
51-1 
N. 
60-2 
64-8 
49-9 
112-1 
45 9 
— 
29-983 
62-1 
57-0 
61-0 
73-5 
52-0 
114-7 
47-2 
0-235 
REMARKS. 
3rd.—Pine and bright throughout. 
4th.—Fog at 8 and misty at 9 A.ll., bright sun 9.35 and up to 1 r.M., then overcast; 
bright again after S p.m. ; fine night. 
5th.—Bright and sunny throughout; fine night. 
6th.—Bright early and up to 5 P.M., then overcast; fine evening. 
7th.—Fine and bright at 9 A.M.. and during the morning; overcast at times in afternoon, 
but generally sunny ; fine night. 
8th.- Rain at 9 A.M.. bright sun 10 A.M., rain and slight thunderstorm at 11.45 to 0.30; 
bright at 0.50, spots of rain at intervals in afternoon and much sun ; fine 
night. 
9th.—Bright sunny morning, but more or less dull during morning, fine afternoon and 
evening. 
Another generally fine week, with the temperature even higher than in the previous 
one, and considerably above the average.—G. J. SviaoNS. 
