146 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 16, 1893. 
versus thin Bowingf has been much discussed ; each plan has its 
advocates, but we think a medium course usually answers best- 
The four points of most importance are clean well-tilled soib 
thorough fertility, good seed, and careful sowing. 
If the manure application has been left till now, then it is 
certain that chemical manures must be used. Of these, to have 
a compound manure in which all the essential elements of plant 
food are present, take per acre Ij cwt. nitrate of soda, 3 cwt. 
mineral superphosphate, i cwt. steamed bone flour, J cwt. muriate 
of potash. This is a safe aud perfect manure, more perhaps 
than is necessary ; the only thing which may be dispensed with, 
however, is the potash for clay or heavy land, which usually 
contains enough of it. In the preparation of formula we have 
to make sure that there is enough of each of the indispensable 
elements of plant food— i.e., nitrogen, potash, and phosphoric 
acid. Without analysis it is not easy to say if pitash is 
required. Crops tell quickly enough, and we strongly advise 
our readers to watch growth closely in the coming spring and 
summer. If the spring corn is seen to be of a pale green or 
yellowish hue, it is probably owing to a want of potash ; if it is 
certain that the soil is well drained, then it is positive that 
potash is wanted. If more potash or phosphates are used than 
is requisite for the crop or crops of the current year, we know 
that the soil is able to hold them in suspension for tbe benefit 
of other crops; but if we use a superabundance of nitrogen 
that is waste, because it is so liable to be washed down to the 
drains by rain water. Even in this matter we derive some 
comfi rt from the fact of an equivalent of nitrogen entering the 
soil from the air. By all means endeavour to avoid the waste¬ 
ful use of manurial salts, but in any case it is better to err 
on the side of too much than too little. 
It will thus be obvious to our readers that we regard the Oat 
crop, whether it be spring or autumn sown, as now being one 
of the most important and profitable crops grown upon British 
farms. It can be turned to account in so many ways, for horses, 
cows, store cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry ; all like it, all thrive 
upon it, and any surplus is always to be sold at a profit, if only 
it is well grown. That is the point; strive to have only the 
best sorts on the farm, have them so well managed that your 
samples are of the best, and there will never be any difficulty 
about a market. As silage it is preferable to roots, being 
decidedly more nourishing, much less expensive to cultivate 
and to store; it keeps good twice as long as roots, and there is 
none of the uncertainty about it that there always is with 
roots. How frequently do we have to sow the same field of 
Swedes a second time owing to loss of plant from drought or 
insects! Then, too, the outlay for repeated hoeings, clearing, 
carting, storing, and slicing, is in the aggregate much higher 
than when silage is used. We press this matter upon the 
attention of all farmers as being one of several where reform 
means profit instead of loss. We have the highest authority 
in support of our advocacy of this change, as well as the dictates 
of prudence and common sense. Much Wheat straw has been 
cut into chaff for feeding cattle, and cows too, this winter, and 
though it is thus “chopped” to good purpose it must be 
regarded as inferior to Oat straw as food, and very much 
inferior to Oat silage. Of course there always must be a 
certain quantity of Wheat grown in home farms for flour, and 
for a supply of straw for the hunting and carriage horse 
stables, but that is a matter of de'ail, and does not affect the 
general question of farming economy. The general want of 
farmers now is crops that pay; certainly the Oat crop is one 
of them, and we shall do well now to consider advantages so 
possible, reform so profitab’e, and to make a radical change 
in a system of cropping which insists upon the persistent 
cultivation of crops from custom only. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Very trying has the weather been for young weakly lambs. High 
wind, with frequent showers of cold rain and sleet, is a correct record of 
the weather day after day since writing our last note. Greatly do we 
regret saying that we have seen numbers of lambs out with the ewes in 
the open, cowering under the cold blasts. Losses from such foolish 
exposure are a certainty ; yet they are easily avoided by keeping the 
whole of them in a yard or fold, and in trough feeding for ewes, silage, 
chaff, pea straw in racks, some crushed oats, and a few lumps of rock 
salt suffice for all the requirements of the ewes. We give them no 
meadow hay ; that is reserved for the dairy cows. Of course the shep¬ 
herds ask for hay, and insist upon it as a necessity for the ewes, but so 
long as we have ample supplies of silage, with Pea and Oat straw, or 
even Barley straw, not a truss of hay do the sheep have, simply because 
they do not require it. Our dietary for the ewes is bountiful enough. 
They must be fed well if we would have the lambs well nourished and 
high condition sustained in the ewes ; with this there must be shelter. 
Losses of ewes and lambs from negligence either in feeding or in 
sheltering, or in both, are unpardonable. To say that a due provision of 
yards and folds for very large flocks is impossible is mere nonsense. If 
a man can afford to hire a grazing farm of two or three thousand acres, 
he should insist upon a reasonable provision of enclosures and hovels 
by the landlord, and do his part in the construction of temporary folds. 
To make the farm self-supporting preference is given to home grown 
food, but where circumstances justify the purchase of some food, let 
it be done. There is no profit possible now in half-fed animals. 
Lambs must be well fed from birth; they can then always be dis¬ 
posed of to advantage when they have served their turn upon the land. 
Folding of hoggets and draft ewes upon poor upland pasture has 
gone steadily on all the winter, the snow never having been 
too deep for this work. The sheep as they become fat are gradually 
sold, and sold profitably too, and the pasture is so thoroughly en¬ 
riched as to make plenty of rich herbage a certainty in the coming 
summer and autumn. Advantage was taken of low prices in the 
autumn to purchase sound store sheep largely for this important 
work of soil enrichment by means of judicious sheep folding. 
Farmery. — Mr. S. Nicholls, F.B.C.E., Albert Bridge, Battersea, 
sends us a circular of a very optimistic nature, announcing that he 
proposes to hold a consultation meeting at St. Martin’s Town Hall, 
Charing Cross, W.C., on Tuesday afternoon, February 28th. Among 
other things he says ;—“That meeting,yjcr se, is intended to be quite 
unique in its character and procedure, and if possible, to be made 
profitable for the purpose of immediately promoting parochial honey- 
pots and “farmery” combinations. Therefore I am wishful to meet, 
and be met, with kindness and courtesy by practically thoughtful land- 
owners, farmers, clergymen, engineers, and mechanics having had some 
experience of agriculture; grist millers, chefs, and cooks (British) of 
either sex, and more particularly young men and women possessing 
natural gifts for material conception and constructive genius, with a 
view to qualify for ‘ farmery ’ duties, and thus become, as His late 
Royal Highness Prince Albert so aptly put it, princes and princesses 
amongst their country men and women.” Then Mr. Nicholls makes the 
startling assertion that “ Farm workmen could easily earn from £3 to 
£5 per week, and pile up mighty fortunes for their employers under 
parochial farmery methods of procedure.” 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Poultry Farming (/S'. —Poultry farming pure and simple has 
never yet paid in this country, but combined with gardening, fruit 
growing, and dairying, it will pay its way well. Like every other 
business, poultry keeping must be learned, and you can only acquire the 
knowledge by starting with a few birds and carefully studying them, 
then as your knowledge increases so you can extend your operations. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 
Oamden Squarb, London. 
’ Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; Long. O'' 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
Date. 
9 A.M. 
In the Day. 
Rain. 
1893. 
February. 
1 Barometer 
1 at32“,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 .. 5 
30-432 
31-3 
30-5 
B. 
39-4 
36-3 
26-8 
48-0 
21-0 
_ 
Monday .. 6 
30-400 
29-5 
29-5 
Calm. 
37-9 
47-0 
25-1 
58-1 
20-1 
0-038 
Tuesday .. 7 
30-245 
46-4 
46-2 
W. 
37-1 
53-0 
28-9 
801 
26-8 
0-064 
Wednesday 8 
29-917 
43-9 
41-7 
W. 
38-6 
48-3 
41-4 
80-9 
35-8 
— 
Thursday.. 9 
29-940 
40-1 
38-9 
W. 
38-1 
48-1 
34-1 
54-4 
;8-6 
0-147 
Friday ., 10 
29-343 
44-3 
41-2 
w. 
39-0 
51-8 
39-3 
81-8 
34 2 
0-046 
Saturday .. 11 
29-669 
48-3 
48-1 
s.w. 
39-9 
50-0 
43-1 
56-6 
38-1 
0-183 
29-992 
40-5 
39-4 
38-6 
47-8 
34-1 
65-7 
292 
0-478 
REMARKS. 
5th.—Bright and sunny almost throughout. 
6th.—Fog early, dense from 9 to 10 A.ir.; bright sunshine from 10.3 A.M. 
7th.—A little rain early ; unbroken sunshine after 9.30 a.m. 
8th.—Heavy rain at 5.30 a.m., then overcast, but clearing after 10 A.M.; occasional 
sun from 11 A.M. and continueus bright sun in afternoon. 
9th.—Fair morning, with occasional sunshine early ; almost continuous rain from 
1.30 P.M., and gale at night. 
10th.—Gale with showers early ; alternate sunshine and showers after 10.30 A.M.; clear 
night. 
11th.—Very wet from 8.30 to 11 A.M., then gleams of sunshine till noon, and generally 
overcast after. 
Not so warm as the previous week, but temperature still above the average. 
—G. J. Sy.mons. 
