186 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER ; 
[ August 11, 1802. 
DAIRY REFORMS. 
Dairy schools, creameries, lectures arid demonstrations at 
agricultural shows, are among the most prominent schemes 
hitherto offered to farmers to enable them to effect improve¬ 
ments in butter making, so as to compete more favourably or 
upon more equal terms with French and Danish producers, whose 
butter is imported in such large quantities as to virtually give 
them the control of the butter trade in this country. It is 
quite true that what butter is made in British and Irish factories 
finds a ready sale when placed upon the market in the right 
manner, but this is a mere drop in the ocean, aud is nothing at all 
like the national effort that must be made to arrest the tide of 
importation if we would re-establish the trade for home-made 
butter. The principles which underlie the successful production 
and sale of high class butter are so simple that there can be no 
insuperable difficulty in the way, always provided that it is the 
right one. 
What the butter factor wants and will have is a specific 
guarantee of quantity as well as quality. Once convince him that 
he may rely upon a steady supply of first class butter of uniform 
quality, and he will buy fast enough at a price comparatively high 
to that given for butter of doubtful quality, with which he will 
have nothing whatever to do. We especially commend this fact to 
County Council technical committees, who among other things 
are striving to improve practice in farmhouse dairies. Do they 
comprehend all the difficulties in the way ? Not simply by the 
instruction of farmers’ daughters in dairy schools will they succeed, 
very much more goes to build up success than churning and 
working butter. The cows’ food and water, the construction and 
management of the cowsheds, cleanliness of milkers and milk pails, 
the construction, situation, and surroundings of the dairy, are all 
factors to success or failure. Then come the questions of milk 
setting or separation, of cream ripening, of temperature and mani- 
pu'ation. To master and deal with all these things in detail there 
must be practical experience combined with a knowledge of the 
principles which underlie the work. In a badly ventilated dirty 
cowhouse there is not only milk contamination but there are diseased 
animals much more frequently than is supposed, whose innocent 
looking milk frequently conveys the germs of disease to humanity. 
In Denmark these points are so well understood that the cows and 
all that affects them are kept under regular government supervision ; 
if this were attempted in this country what an outcry there would 
be about infringement of the liberty of the subject. 
County Counci’s cannot deal with the whole matter without a 
special Act of Parliament, but they may do much by the establish¬ 
ment of dairy factories in conjunction with dairy schools. This 
probably would be a prominent feature in the curriculum of such 
agricultural colleges as may be established, but very little good 
would be done in that way compared with dairy establishments 
pure and simple. A conviction that dairy farming must take a 
much more prominent position with us in the future than it has in 
the past is our inducement to insist upon the importance of this 
matter, and we would aim at a sweeping reform, not only in cow 
and dairy management, but also in the provision of food for the 
cows. It is but the repetition of an oft-told tale to say that most 
of the pasture on which cows graze in summer is not half culti¬ 
vated. Here is a test which will not fail anyone. Pasture which 
is brown and bare of herbage in winter, which gives useful growth 
late in spring, or which becomes bare early in autumn, is alike bad ; 
that which is really green in winter and is the converse of poor 
pasture in spring and autumn is good. 
One difficulty in the way of the establishment of factories is 
an erroneous idea of the cost. We repeat that buildings and 
plant should cost not more than £700, which is the maximum 
outlay necessary for a factory of sufficient capacity for the milk 
of 800 cows. If cows with land and buildings for them are 
required there would be a proportionate additional outlay, which 
is easily estimated for, but not so readily obtained. Nor is that the 
footing upon which it is desirable creameries should be placed. 
To be really useful, to promote the interest of farmers generally, 
it should be supplied with milk by them. This is done in the 
best way under a scheme of co-operation similar to that now in 
force in the South of Ireland. With the farmers for shareholders 
all difficulties about money and milk supply vanish ; all that is then 
wanted is skilful management, and a market for the butter, both 
of which things are easily obtained. There may be some little 
difficulty at the outset in placing the butter. There ought to be. 
We have let the trade slip through our fingers into the hands of 
the foreign producer, and the lost ground cannot be recovered 
without special effort. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Corn harvest is now in full swing in the southern counties. On 
August 3rd we saw Wheat being cut with hook and scythe on the Surrey 
hills, and Oat reaping in a similar primitive fashion a day or two later 
on the Essex flats. Much of the Oat straw was still unripe, but the 
practice of early reaping of both Wheat and Oats is highly commend¬ 
able. Cut at once when the grain is so firm that no milky juice can be 
squeezed out of it, and then carting and staking should be easily 
managed. Very much corn is wasted by being left uncut so long that 
it is shaken off in the reaping and carting. Oats mown green into 
swathes require turning over once ; sheaves set up in shocks should also 
be turned once, especially if the weather is dull or showery. In real 
hot harvest weather the dry air soon absorbs any moisture left in the 
straw, and very little turning is necessary. Let the master give an eye 
to the making of shocks and see that the sheaves are so well set up as 
to throw off rain and are not easily blown down. The making of shocks- 
is often left till the evening, when they go up with a rush, and are not 
always well done. 
With a continuance of fair weather there will soon be clear stubbles, 
over which pigs and sheep are run to clear up fallen corn. Be prompt 
about this, so that broad-shear, harrows, plough, and cultivator may be 
at work without the loss of a day. During the next five or six weeks 
more good may be done upon the land than at any other period of the 
year. Every possible effoit must be made to clean the land, to eradicate 
all perennial weeds, and to destroy much Charlock where it infests the 
soil. With the surface at all loose a turn or two with heavy harrows 
will often work the Charlock seed sufficiently into the soil to induce 
speedy germination; but when the land is firm shallow ploughing' 
becomes necessary, and when the Charlock plant is visible harrowing 
across the furrows destroys it and causes another crop to grow. 
Take the first clean fallow that can be had for sowing Trifolium 
incarnatum ; do not break it up, but sow the seed broadcast, harrow it 
in, and there should be a full plant well established before winter. 
Early sowing is essential to ensure a full crop of this useful early 
fodder crop. Push on ploughing for the sowing of Wheat, Winter Oats, 
and Rye in September. 
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. 
1892. 
S-4 rr-i _ * 
0) ci > 
Bo'S 
OIM 
Hygrometer. 
Direc¬ 
tion of 
Temp, 
of soil 
at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
.9 
aJ 
« 
July & August. 
5 43 0) 
PQ c3 CQ 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Wind. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun. 
On 
Grass. 
Sunday .. 
31 
Inchs. 
30-073 
deg. 
63-8 
deg. 
58-8 
N. 
deg. 
62-0 
deg. 
74-9 
deg. 
53-9 
deg. 
121-9 
deg. 
52-0 
Inchs. 
0-018 
Monday .. 
1 
29-912 
644 
60-3 
N.W. 
62-4 
70-9 
58-2 
It 6-3 
53 9 
0-012 
Tuesday .. 
2 
30-160 
59-5 
5^*4 
N.E. 
61-4 
64-0 
51-1 
106-3 
46-3 
Wednesday 
3 
30-112 
58-9 
55-8 
S.W. 
60-9 
72-4 
52-9 
121-9 
48-1 
__ 
Ihursday.. 
4 
30-063 
60-5 
53-6 
N.W. 
61-1 
71-0 
54-3 
121-1 
48 2 
Friday 
5 
30-139 
61-1 
51-9 
S.W. 
60-9 
75-1 
45-4 
122-1 
38-3 
Saturday .. 
6 
29-983 
67-6 
59-3 
S.W. 
61-2 
73-7 
52-1 
121-3 
45-9 
0 085- 
30-063 
62-3 
56-0 
61-4 
71-7 
52-6 
117-3 
47-5 
0-115 
REMARKS. 
31st.—Sunny and warm in morning, cloudy afternoon, slight rain in evening. 
1st. Spots of rain early, cloudy morning, generally sunny in afternoon but a slight 
shower at 3 p.m. and again in evening. 
2nd.—Brilliant early, generally cloudy after 10 A.M., spots of rain at 0.30 r.M. 
3rd.—Overcast morning, occasional sunshine in afternoon. 
4th.—Bright and warm. 
5th.—Sunny throughout. 
6th.—Alternate cloud and sunshine in morning with occasional spots of rain, 
sunny afternoon and evening. 
A rather unsettled week with a good deal of cloud but very little rain. Temperature 
near the average.—G-. J. Symons. 
