114 
[ August 4, 1892. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
the management of every home farm. Given sufficient land for 
grazing, and the production of an ample supply of corn, roots, and 
green crops, how can we turn the remainder to profitable account ? 
Arable or pasture, which shall it be? For poor heavy land 
pasture by all means ; but for deep rich soil it is still quite worth 
while considering if corn, fruit, forage, roots, all or any of them 
might not be grown for sale. Much depends upon the situation. 
We should never think of laying down really good soil to pasture 
within fair distance of a large town. Just see what is possible ! 
Why, even an ordinary crop of Tares, or a growth of Clover, 
Lucerne, mixed seeds, Trifolium, or Sainfoin is worth £7 an acre 
on the land as it stands, so that if we include the second crop to be 
had from at least four of these forage crops there is a certain 
return of £14 an acre for a comparatively trifling outlay. Or take 
Italian Rye Grass, and you may realise from four to six times that 
amount. See that the land is rich in fertility, and the first crop 
will be ready early in April. It answers best to mow and deliver 
this, for if sold on the land buyers often delay the mowing and 
spoil the season. We must be prompt here if we would have four 
full crops. Apply about 2 cwt. of nitrate of soda as a top-dressing 
per acre immediately after each mowing, pay no heed to the talk of 
sleepy folk about scourging the land, but just cram it with manure, 
grow big crops, hit the markets, and there will be neither time nor 
inclination to trouble much about depression. 
Or to take roots, there are few more profitable crops than early 
Potatoes, with plenty of good land to be had at from 20s. to 30s. 
an acre. Here, again, big crops are a certainty with plenty of 
manure and well chosen carefully prepared seed. Better not touch 
this crop at all if you cannot comply with these simple but essential 
conditions. If you can, then the crop may be off the land in 
twelve or fourteen weeks from the time of planting, and a second 
crop of autumn Onions, Celery and Lettuce or Autumn Giant 
Cauliflower follow it at once. All of these crops are easily 
managed if the land is right; they are all safe crops, and it is 
worth while remembering that the Cauliflower answers well for 
sheep folding after the “ flowers ” are cut, ploughing and ridging 
for winter following the folding. 
Mangolds are a more costly crop, being longer on the land, 
and requiring much more labour than Potatoes ; but it should 
not be forgotten that on rich land a crop of 40 tons is often 
grown, which may be sold at the farm for 15s. a ton, or for 
20s. if delivered in town. It may, therefore, answer to have 
an extra field or two of Mangolds when it can be managed 
without interference with other crops. 
Of surplus corn crops Oats are the most generally useful, 
a really good home-grown sample commanding 9s. or 10s. a 
quarter more than foreign Oats. Winter Oats have suffered 
from the extreme cold of the last two winters, but we strongly 
advise the sowing extenaively of this useful crop as soon as la°nd 
can be had in September. It should not be sown on very 
heavy or wet land, but on mixed soil or light land, where it 
winters well, comes early for sheep folding if wanted for that 
purpose, and gives heavy crops which are usually harvested in 
July. 
Fruit culture on farms resolves itself into two distinct methods 
the one being simply an eradication of old worthless trees, and the 
planting of standard trees of the best sorts as orchard or hedge¬ 
row trees ; the other plan is to turn one or more fields into fruit 
plantations, with a mixture of half-standards of Apples, Pears, and 
Plums, with bush fruits or Strawberries between the trees ; or to 
plant pyramidal or bush trees on dwarfing stocks thickly, so as to 
have them begin fruiting the second or third year from the planting. 
The last method costs more than any other for the planting ; but^ 
on the other hand, it affords a return more quickly. For example^ 
an Apple plantation of pyramidal trees on the broad-leaved Para¬ 
dise stoek in this, the third year from the planting, had an average 
of a dozen flower trusses on each tree, and there is sufficient fruit 
to render the plantation an attractive sight now. Avoid planting 
many sorts—a common fault of beginners ; rather plant several of 
each sort recommended for early and continuous cropping, as 
enumerated in Mr. J. Wright’s manual on “Profitable Fruit- 
Growing.” Now is the time to come to a decision about planting,, 
so as to have the land ready by the beginning of November. It 
must be well drained, if not naturally then artificially, then 
trenched two-spit deep, or preferably broken up by a steam culti¬ 
vator at much less expense perfectly well, and for manure we 
altogether prefer a good mixture of steamed bone flour, mineral 
superphosphate, and muriate of potash, applied at the time of 
planting, reserving nitrate of soda for top-dresssing during growth 
in the following summer. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
On the whole haymaking was a success, the hay made being really 
good useful fodder, and not mere dry litter, as so much of it was last 
year. There is still very much hay about, much not yet cut in the 
Midlands. It is high time it was off the land now if we would have a 
good aftermath. Far better make good silage where the weather is 
broken than a lot of bad hay. The one is cheap and most nutritious 
food; the other is costly and certainly not nutritious. Ensilage is 
possible under comparatively moderate pressure, but to have good silage 
that will keep well air must be excluded from the stack. This is only to 
be managed by pressure, with which we feel certain of good results. 
Avoid small stacks ; make them sufficiently large to generate heat and 
exclude air well. The whole process is most simple, inexpensive, and 
certain. By means of it we avoid the heavy outlay of making hay, 
cutting, carting, and staking the grass at once. The meadow is cleared, 
the grass is saved with all its nutriment intact—none washed out of it, 
and we have a store of sweet wholesome food for next winter and 
spring, which we can obtain by no other means equally simple and 
economical. 
Bear in mind that the general temperature of the present summer is 
low, that nights are cold, and rainfall frequent. Calves exposed to 
such weather cannot thrive as they ought to do, and may be expected in 
the course of another month to be much troubled with hoose—that 
trying dry cough which proves fatal to so many young beasts. Pre¬ 
vention is simple and certain, cure difficult and doubtful, leaving 
behind it a tendency to cold and cough which may occur repeatedly. 
If you wish to avoid this risk and loss, take in your calves always 
at night, keep them in on cold wet days, or on very sultry days when 
gadflies are so troublesome. Continue using your gruel and cake, or 
crushed corn; see that the building is snug, quite clean everywhere, 
and well ventilated. Never suffer cattle young or old to lie down upon 
filthy litter. See that the drinking troughs are cleaned out occasionally. 
All our drinking troughs are of wrought iron in yards, and out on 
pasture; they are fed by pipes and a ballcock in an underground 
cistern from a reservoir and ponds, the iron yields sufficiently to 
pressure from frost, and the wa*er is always fresh. The troughs are 
6 feet long, 18 inches wide, and 13 inches deep. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8^ 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
Date. 
9 A.M. 
In the Day. 
.3 
d 
M 
1892. 
July. 
| Barometer 
at 32°, and 
I 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. 
Sunday .. 24 
Inchs. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Inchs. 
iJU’359 
58-8 
54-4 
N.E. 
55-6 
69-3 
52-7 
106-5 
50-5 
Monday .. 25 
30-297 
55-9 
51-4 
N.E. 
59-2 
67-3 
52-9 
1141 
50-8 
Tuesday .. 26 
30-203 
61-4 
55-8 
N.E. 
59-0 
73-9 
54-0 
126-3 
48-9 
Wednesday 27 
30-224 
61-0 
57 -2 
N.E. 
60-1 
71-6 
55-3 
114-4 
54-8 
Thursday.. 28 
30-245 
58-0 
54-1 
N.E. 
60-3 
75-7 
53-7 
117-4 
49 2 
Friday .. 29 
30-213 
60-4 
54-2 
N.E. 
60-9 
76-8 
49-2 
117-2 
44‘9 
Saturday .. 30 
30-186 
56-2 
53-8 
N.E. 
61-9 
75-0 
52-7 
118-8 
50-1 
30-247 
58-8 
54-4 
60-1 
72-8 
52-9 
116-4 
49-9 
— 
REMARKS. 
24th.—Fine, with alternate cloud and sunshine. 
25th— Generally cloudy in the morning ; frequently sunny in the afternoon. 
26th.—Cloudy early ; almost continuous sunshine after 9 A.M. 
27th.—Fair, with occasional sunshine. 
28th.—Cloudy early, almost unbroken sunshine after 10 A.M. 
29th—Bright and sunny throughout. 
30th.—Overcast morning, sunny afternoon. 
A fine summer week, with steady barometer, and no rain, no high temperatures, 
and range generally small.—G. J. Symons. 
