228 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 8, 1802. 
and slower. This applies especially to heavy land, and it was 
through having to sow Wheat extensively in such soil that we first 
gave close attention to this work. The farm was a large one, all 
heavy land, with considerably upwards of a hundred acres under 
Wheat every year ; the bailiff was an able man and a good farmer, 
but given to late sowing, and having matters very much his own 
way the first season, as it was an outlying farm and we had several 
others in hand. Wet weather, as usual, set in during October, and 
the difficulty he had in sowing the whole of the Wheat probably 
did more to promote early sowing subsequently than anything we 
could say. 
The pity of it is that such lessons of adversity are not turned 
to better account generally. Witness last season, when the 
sowing of thousands of acres had to be put off so very late 
owing to unfavourable weather. Surely sensible men have not 
forgotten this, but have done and are doing all they can to sow 
early and to sow well. With attention to this, and really gcod 
culture, it is only reasonable to suppose that our Wheat averages 
would be much higher than they now are. The agricultural 
produce statistics published by the Board of Agriculture show a 
Wheat average yield per acre last year for England 31 33 bushels ; 
Wales 23 73 ; Scotland 36'98 ; and Ireland 32-34 ; or 3T30 bushels 
per acre for the United Kingdom. This average certainly com¬ 
pares favourably with those of former years, but it is much below 
the 5 quarters or 40 bushels per acre which is so possible and so 
desirable. 
The average for Wales is much below the others ; it is always 
so ; yet as affording proof of how much better it might be, Mr. 
Byng Morris of Bridgend, Glamorganshire, wrote recently in 
the “ Agricultural Gazette ” of a working farmer tvho sowed a field 
in that parish with Wheat in September after lea, and, having 
dressed it liberally with lime, and driven his sheep on and off it, 
weather permitting, through the winter to tread and manure it, he 
grew a crop of sixty bushels (7£ quarters) per acre. He also 
mentions a crop of seventy bushels an acre in the Fens, another of 
sixty bushels an acre in Oxfordshire. Of his own Welsh farm he says, 
“ I sowed a field of Wheat last October, and manured subsequently 
on the surface with 3cwt. of superphosphate, 2cwt. of kainit, 1 ton 
of lime, and seven small loads of quite rotten yard dung per acre, 
in accordance with Wile’s directions. I commenced reaping the 
crop on August 3rd, and am of opinion that the yield will be sixty 
bushels per acre.” In this opinion he appears to be supported by 
that of the neighbouring farmers, one of whom pronounced it the 
finest, and the other as fine a crop of Wheat as he had ever seen. 
“Yet,” says Mr. Morris, “my land would not return the seed 
without fit manuring and cleaning.” 
Mention is made of his use of lime with other’ manures, 
because though lime undoubtedly forms the basis of a successful 
Wheat crop, the mistake so frequently made is in trusting to it 
alone. In his well known work on artificial manures Ville says 
the four substances most favourable to fertility are nitrogenous 
matter, calcic phosphate, potash, and lime. He terms this mixture 
his normal manure, and shows by diagrams how necessary each 
element of fertility is to produce a full crop. With normal 
manure the yield per acre was 6108 lbs. of straw and 50J bushels 
of grain ; with nitrogenous manure, without mineral matter, the 
yield fell to 3069 lbs. of st-aw and 22 bushels of grain. With 
minerals without nitrogen it was only 2643 lbs. of straw and 
18 bushels of grain ; and without any manure 12 bushels of grain 
and 2323 lbs. of straw was the result. We have seen some crops 
of Wheat, Oats, and Beans recently so poor that they evidently 
came under the no manure category. 
Early-sown Wheat is in a mild winter so vigorous in growth 
that it may be worth while running the sheep over it occasionally 
when the surface is sufficiently dry. In any case they do it much 
good in the way of manure. But we prefer drilling in chemical 
manure with the seed, and in doing so judgment is called for in 
the selection of manures. For soil that is sound and has had 
manure regularly for previous crops, a hundredweight of super¬ 
phosphate with half that quantity of sulphate of ammonia per 
acre might suffice for sowing with the seed, following in spring just 
as active growth begins with a hundredweight per acre of nitrate 
of soda applied as a top-dressing. For exhausted soil the quantity 
of superphosphate would be increased to 3 cwt., with the addition 
of half a hundredweight of muriate of potash instead of kainit T 
with the sulphate of ammonia. For very early September sowings 
we have used nitrate of soda with excellent results, seed germina¬ 
tion being then so quick that the plant is up and growing freely 
before there is any risk of loss of nitrogen by heavy rain washing 
it down to the drains. We prefer it to sulphate of ammonia, 
which is much slower in action. 
WORK ON THE HOWE FARM. 
Early sown Wheat was reaped and stacked in excellent condition 
before the third week in August. The work was done in a deliberate 
and careful manner, the stacks being so well built and thatched that all 
damp from rainfall is excluded, the stacks standing erect and compact, as 
all well-built stacks should do. We have seen much overripe corn still 
uncut, to our regret, because of the risk of heavy loss from such corn 
being shaken out in the cutting and carting. 
The sowing of Rye, winter Oats, and Wheat is now being done as 
fast as possible. We like to have the whole of this work out of hand as 
early this month as we can, but cannot always avoid some Wheat sowing 
in October, as autumnal tillage renders this month one of the busiest of 
the whole year. Horses must be well fed, and men well cared for, to 
bear the strain, for we will not have an hour of daylight wasted now, 
and the only plan is to be up and out with the men at dawn of day. 
Horses are kept in yards at night off pasture during this busy time, 
having plenty of second-crop Clover in the racks, with a liberal feed of 
corn morning and night. With a continuance of fine weather we hope 
to have most of the land clean, and sown or ridged up for winter by 
the end of the month. We hear much nonsense about which soil 
requires ridging in winter and which does not. The matter lies in a 
nutshell. All soil except that which is light and sandy is the better for 
winter ridging. We must have air circulation in the soil by deep 
tillage now ; drainage as a means to that end shall have attention later 
on, for if air circulation in soil is to be free and unchecked, superfluous 
water must pass from it by filtration and not by attraction and evapora¬ 
tion. The one causes the soil to be open, free, and warm, the other seals 
it against the air, keeps the temperatuie low both in and upon the soil, 
and renders vigorous growth impossible. 
The tups are now with the ewes as we like the lambing to begin in 
January, or upon occasion to finish in that month. Early ewe lambs 
kept going briskly from the first are strong animals by autumn. Profits 
from sheep are now so low as only to be possible by the most careful 
selection, breeding, and management. However low the price falls it 
must never be forgotten how exceedingly useful the flock is upon the 
land. 
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. 
Rain. 
1892. 
August and 
September. 
| Barometer 
| 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 .. 
28 
29-509 
52-6 
52-6 
N.E. 
60-4 
70-0 
52-6 
117-9 
52-6 
0-209- 
Monday ,. 
29 
29-733 
607 
59-8 
S. 
60-0 
71-6 
50-4 
101-9 
45 4 
0-019- 
Tuesday .. 
30 
29-622 
65-4 
59-3 
S.W. 
60-1 
71-1 
60-3 
117-9 
54-9 
0-037 
W ednesday 
31 
29-626 
62-2 
54-4 
s.w. 
60-0 
68-2 
54 8 
115-7 
49-6 
0-106 
Thursday.. 
1 
29-958 
57.7 
52-2 
S.W. 
5S-9 
65-0 
49-6 
104-1 
45 2 
0-068 
Friday ,. 
2 
29-697 
60-3 
5S-6 
s.w. 
59-0 
63-1 
58-5 
90-2 
54-5 
0-157 
Saturday .. 
3 
29-704 
56-5 
51-9 
s.w. 
581 
64-8 
46-8 
118-4 
42-1 
o-oio 
29-693 
59-3 
55 5 
59.5 
67-7 
533 
109-4 
49-2 
0 606 
REMARKS. 
28th—Continuous heavy rain from 4.S0 A.M. to 9.45 A.M.; generally overcast till noon ; 
bright afterno in and evening. 
29th.—Wet early ; windy day, with occasional sunshine, and one or two slight showers. 
30th.—Overcast early ; showers in morning ; fine afternoon, with sunshine at times. 
31st.—Sunny morning ; wet afternoon ; fair evening. 
1st. Sunny morning ; generally overcast and showery in afternoon. 
2nd—Almost continuous rain from 4.30 A.M, to 2 P.M., then overcast. 
3rd. —Bright sunshine till 10 A.M., slight showers about 10.30, then generally sunny 
again. 
A damp week of nearly average temperature, but with breezy intervals. — 
G. J. Symons. 
