304 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEH 
April 4, 1895. 
on the market, and as the drought grew in intensity the demand 
for any fodder went on increasing daily. It was a splendid 
chance for the British farmer, which, alas ! very few were able 
to take advantage of. The lecturer told how large orders were 
placed in the north, and how a few farmers in the south having 
hay reaped a little fortune out of it, one farmer in Hertford¬ 
shire receiving £6000 and another £4000 for hay alone. 
In the winter of that year thousands of cattle were kept 
alive on a diet of Oat straw and a few roots, many of them 
having nothing hut the straw. The lesson was a severe one^ 
which ought to have had tangible results in efforts for the 
improvement of pasture. So far as we can see it did nothing 
of the sort. Pasture is as much neglected as it ever was ; there 
is no systematic culture of it. There is nothing like sustained 
fertility in ordinary pasture. During the winter it is brown and 
bare as it ever was; in the spring it is late in growth, that part 
of it which is reserved for hay may have a slight dressing of 
so-called manure, which usually is just so much decaying 
humus containing very little fertilising matter that ii available 
by the growing crop, with the inevitable result that anything 
like an approach to a fair crop of hay is dependent on rainfall. 
At the best the hay a short crop—often taken so late that there 
is no useful aftermath. 
It is so difficult to convince even dairy farmers of the certain 
profit of pasture cultivation—of the advantage to them in so 
many ways of an annual dressing of manure worthy of the 
name. Yet it is well known in actual practice that by an 
annual expenditure of about £1 per acre on pure chemical 
manure, applied to pasture by the end of February, we are 
certain of—first of all sustained fertility, next an early growth 
of herbage, next a hay crop saved by or soon after midsummer, 
followed by an aftermath of almost equal abundance, and 
pasture green and fresh-looking all the winter. At the least 
2 tons of hay per acre may be taken as the mean crop on land so 
cared for, as compared with a ton, or often considerably less, 
on starved land. Then, too, there is the difference between an 
early crop and an aftermath, and a late crop and only late 
autumnal growth ; between June hay and September hay ; 
between cheap hay of high quality, and dear hay of low quality. 
The best hay always being the less costly, from being made 
with such ease and dispatch; the inferior hay, from being 
exposed to rain from being thrown into haycocks and repeatedly 
shaken out, being really very expensive Well did Mr. Young 
say that the farmer of the present day is chiefly to be found 
fault with for his want of adaptability to circumstances, and 
for a narrowminded prejudice about departing from old 
customs and embarking on new ones. Such grave accusations 
from a practical man cannot be ignored. They were not 
made lightly, and certainly were intended for the benefit of 
thoughtful earnest men, who, however laden with difficulties, 
are manfully struggling to adapt their practice to circumstances, 
and to effect such changes as bid fair to lead to improvement 
and profit. 
Well also did he say that a most serious difficulty—a real 
hindrance to prosperity, or such changes as might lead to it 
among very many farmers—is a want of cap tal. He is 
undoubtedly correct in this, and we are convinced that now 
in Lady Day hirings, and again at Michaelmas, every farmer 
will do well to keep well within the scope of his means. We 
have always thought so, and have repeatedly proved the truth 
of this truism. We have no sympathy with the vanity which 
makes a man “ acre proud, ’ and which leads him on to hire 
more land than he can handle to the mutual advantage of 
himself and his landlord. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Of the ordinary spring-sown crops, Barley, Oats, spring Tares, 
Cabbage and Kale, have all been got in well, in a seed-bed of super¬ 
excellence, so fine, so deep, so easily worked, as to be entirely satis¬ 
factory. The planting of field Potatoes is in hand, and it goes some¬ 
what more slowly than most other spring work, from the care we insist 
on in the handling of the seed. We proved to our satisfaction and 
profit long ago that the storage of the seed in single layers during 
winter was right, that late rather than early planting, with one or two 
well-developed shoots on the seed was right, and that a dressing of 
chemical manure in the furrows was right, more especially for the main 
crop, with the rows 3 feet apart. 
Oiher root crops claiming attention now are Carrots and Mangolds. 
Only an acre or two of Carrots are sown at the home farm to have a 
supply for horses and cows. This crop is too expensive in the labour it 
involves to extend beyond narrow limits ; Mangold, on the other band, 
is easier to cultivate, and decidedly more profitable for farm live stock. 
We sow the entire crop of it in April, and find such early sowing tends 
very much to insure a full plant and early maturity, so that the crop 
can be got off the land in the autumn before there is much heavy rain, 
while carting is light and easy, and there is no risk of damage to the 
roots from frost. We know full well that in the eyes of many farmers 
these are trifling considerations, but we like to avoid the very consider¬ 
able risk of hindrance from heavy rain, and a compulsory exposure of 
part or all of the crop to severe frost. 
On an estate recently purchased we intend breaking up 20 or 
30 acres of very poor and foul pasture with a steam cultivator, and 
after a summer fallow to plant it with Larch and other timber in the 
autumn. The Larch will be small, healthy plants, to go 3 feet apart, so 
that in due course the plantation thinnings may come in for estate 
repairs—rails, posts, gate and hurdle wood. We at first thought of a 
crop of Mangolds sown wide apart to clean the land, but it is so foul 
that we have decided for the bare fallow. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Dairy Work (iV. C.).—“Butter and Cheese Making,” an elementary 
course of instruction for technical classes, by John Oliver (late Principal 
of the Western Dairy Institute) and Margaret Barron (late teacher and 
lecturer of the Derby County Council), with numerous illustrations, 
price Is. London : Bemroae & Sons, 23, Old Bailey. This is a practical 
manual, which may help you, as there can be no reason why you should 
not apply its teaching to the manipulation of the cream of your two 
cows. The general principles apply to all dairies, large and small. We 
will gladly assist you in any special difficulties if you will communicate 
them to us. 
Smoking Bacon (^Porcine ).—A smoking room for this purpose is a 
very simple affair. For many years we had the annual supply of bacon 
and hams for a large establishment smoked in two large chimneys of an 
old farmhouse on the home farm of an estate under our care. Care was 
taken to send no resinous wood to the farm for the fires—only Oak and 
Beech logs being used. Both bacon and hams were in pickle a month, 
and in smoke a month, and we always had satisfactory results, both 
bacon and hams being excellent, and keeping well suspended from 
the beams of the old parlour which we turned into a bacon room. 
This information should serve you as a safe point of departure in the 
construction and management of your bacon smoking room. A plain, 
rather lofty, apartment of brickwork, rafters, or beams, with hooks for 
suspending the bacon ; a slow fire of logs, or preferably of the sawdust 
of odourless timber; a small vent controlled by a damper for chimney, 
and careful attention to maintain a slow smouldering fire. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Sqdabb, London. 
Lat.51° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude 111 feet. 
Date. 
9 A.M. 
In the Day. 
A 
<A 
1895. 
March. 
Barometer 
at 32°, and 
Sea Level. 
Hygrometer. 
Direc¬ 
tion of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of soil 
at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
lu 
SUQ. 
On 
Grass. 
Inchs. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Inchs. 
Sunday .. 
24 
29-360 
50-9 
49-7 
S.W. 
43-9 
58-2 
49-7 
901 
46-0 
— 
Monday .. 
25 
29 369 
45-J 
41-9 
s.w. 
43 1 
54-1 
39-1 
98-0 
32 9 
0-010 
Tuesday .. 
26 
29-145 
46-2 
44-2 
w. 
42-9 
53-9 
38-9 
94-9 
34-2 
0-380 
Wednesday 
27 
29-184 
39-8 
39-2 
E. 
42 8 
53-9 
38-0 
72-8 
33-9 
0-142 
Thursday .. 
28 
28-912 
46-1 
41-3 
S.W. 
43-0 
48-9 
40-2 
80-6 
38-8 
0-071 
Friday .. 
29 
29 072 
39-9 
38-6 
S.W. 
42-2 
48-9 
38-8 
91-1 
36-2 
0-092 
Saturday .. 
30 
29-359 
41-2 
33-0 
S.W. 
41-7 
48-6 
35-1 
86-0 
31-2 
0-140 
29-200 
44-2 
41-8 
42-8 
52-4 
40-0 
87-6 
36-2 
0-835 
REMAEKS. 
24tli.—Dull, drizzly, and showery nearly all morning ; frequent sun in afternoon. Strong 
gale all day. 
25th.—Alternate sunshine and cloud, with very slight showers at 2 P.M., and in 
evening. 
26 Lh.—Overcast till 11 A.M., frequent sunshine after; spots of rain at 3.15 P.M. ; fine 
evening and night. 
27th. —Heavy rain from 4 A.M. to 8 A.M., frequent drizzle and showers in day, rain again 
in evening; a gleam of sun at 2.15 P.M. 
28th.—Gale all day, wi h occasional showers and frequent sunshine; fine night. 
29th. —Dull and damp morning ; occasional showers in afternoon, and heavy rain and 
hail at 2 P.M., gleams of sun after. 
30th.—Sunshine early ; overcast from 8.30 to 10 A.M., drizzle and showers till noon 
sunshine and showers in afternoon, and heavy rain at 6.30 P.M. 
A showery week of about the average temperature.—G. J. Symons. 
