420 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 24, 1894. 
viewlof that final test of profit and loss to which all he does is 
subjected. Will it pay ? is the question which the new order 
of things compels him to ask. If he is prudent, if he is as 
sensible of the risk of loss in his business as he ought to be 
the query will ever be in mind, and its influence will induce 
judicious change from crops—vegetable or animal—which do 
not “pay”— ie., which have ceased to be profitable, to those 
upon which a profit is known to be possible under certain con¬ 
ditions. Clearly it is his affair to ascertain all about such 
conditions in every aspect bearing upon production and disposal. 
His sole aim is to master every detail of production and sale— 
the best produce, the best market, the best way to sell, the best 
purchaser from whom the nimble ninepence may be had, a 
rapid turn over of capital, a steady accretion of profit. In this 
he has a wide field. Foreign competition undoubtedly tells, but 
it has not rendered farming in this country impossible. It has 
dealt a fatal blow to ignorant practice, to slothful indulgence) 
to unjust covenants, to unfair burdens upon the land, to 
business inaptitude all round. 
It follows, then, that the true Briton, thoroughly imbued 
with the national trait of never being beaten, has set himself to 
see what he can do to hold his own in the contest—how he 
can change and adapt his practice to the times. Looking to 
Government returns of the value of imports, he finds that 
we pay annually to foreign producers for butter alone (not 
margarine) £11,965,284, for cheese £5,417,777, for eggs 
£3,793,018. We might go on counting up the millions piid 
besides for poultry, pork, bacon, hams, lard, fruit, vegetables, 
mounting up to a total value in round numbers of about 
£40,000,000. But the fact of something approximate to this vast 
sum being paid to the foreigner every year ought surely to act 
as an incentive upon the home producer to try and turn some 
of this golden stream into his own pocket. For his encourage¬ 
ment it may be said that there is a decided preference for high- 
class home-grown produce. At the present time, when hundreds 
of tons of foreign eggs are pouring into this country, and the 
retail price is anything from ten to twenty for Is., a fresh 
English egg costs l^d., or eight for Is., and shopkeepers in 
London have no difficulty in obtaining that price for them. 
Place twice the present number of them upon the market, let 
the shopkeeper, the provision merchant, take off fifty per cent, 
in his price, so that the metropolitan consumer can purchase a 
new laid egg for Id. in May, and there would still be a capital 
profit for the producer, even if he had to purchase some cheap 
foreign corn for his poultry, which may or may not be advisable. 
An abundance of home-grown Oats enables him to feed and 
fatten poultry in the best way. Often have we wondered why 
poultry farming has not been turned to more generally by East 
Anglian corn farmers as one of the possible improvements. We 
once ventured to suggest this to a certain farmers’ club in 
Suffolk, but our suggestion was treated with scorn ; corn, and 
corn alone, was evidently their creed. It is undoubtedly true, 
as the “ Pall Mall Gazette ” said recently,'• the English farmer 
is terribly difficult to move.” Probably the recent visit of a 
large party of representative men to the Sussex poultry district 
may tend eventually to an extension of judicious poultry rearing 
by farmers. That is what is wanted, and not the floating of new 
companies. By the term of judicious poultry rearing we mean 
simply such au extension of the farm poultry department as 
its importance merits. 
In the matter of dairy produce we must have in cheese more 
attention to quality. It is just because this has been done so 
well and so generally in Canada that Canadian Cheddar holds 
a leading place among cheese in this country. Go to any large 
stores in London, taste home made and Canadian Cheddar, and 
the superiority of the flavour of the imported article is so 
pronounced that preference is almost invariably given to it. 
In butter there is the same want. Repeatedly has it been made 
clear that for home produce to hold its own with Danish and 
Brittany butter there must be a guarantee of uniform quality. 
To take the leading position in the trade, which it ought to 
hold, and for dairy farmers to derive full benefit from it, we 
must have co-operative butter factories, then quantity and 
quality would both be assured, and the foreigner would be met 
in the right way. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
“ Is there any remedy for wireworm among corn now? ’’ we were asked 
recently. Our reply was, if the corn is not too high a couple of turns 
with a ring or Cambridge roller and a dressing of nitrate of soda answers 
best. The roller crushes many of the tunnels which the pest makes 
near the surface, and the nitrate accelerates growth and soon brings the 
corn out of harm’s way. Mark such land, and when broken up in 
autumn give it a very heavy dressing of salt. We have seen evidence 
of the presence of wireworm in many a corn field recently ; in one, a 
Wheat field, very much of the growth was stunted from poverty of soil 
and the land was terribly foul with thistles. It was a small farm and 
was certainly not an example of good practice. Such corn growing 
can have nothing satisfactory about it—certainly it would not pay 
expenses, to say nothing of profit. 
Some heavy land sown with roots in ridges had the surfaces of the 
ridges dried into a hard cake, and as the plant was not visible the light 
Barley rollers were run over the ridges, the crust was broken and the 
plant soon appeared. Had not this been done there would have been 
a full, regular plant, as that under the harder portion could not push 
through. Here is another example of the value of mechanical 
division of soils. Had that heavy land had a dressing of burnt clay, 
coal ashes, or other fine, hard matter well worked into the surface there 
could have been no crude crust from heavy rain and sunshine. This is 
one of the lessons, by the way, which are always cropping up, and which 
it is well to note as they occur, in view of subsequent improvements. 
Watch the soil, and make a point of gradually improving it wherever it 
is possible. With the soil well drained and with perfect mechanical 
division cultivation is comparatively easy, it is always open to air 
circulation, water passes through by filtration readily, seed germination 
is as quick as subsequent growth is brisk, and a really full crop is. 
practically a certainty. Look well after weeds, in such drippingr 
weather they are sure to be rampant, and thistles at any rate should be 
kept under now. 
CROP PROSPECTS IN CHESHIRE AND LANCASHIRE. 
Having during the past past few weeks travelled through portions 
of Shropshire, Cheshire, and South and South-west Lancashire, I have 
been delighted to see on every side, even on some of the poorer soils,, 
indications of a most bountiful season. The cereals appear to be in 
most places well forward, robust, and of a good colour. Meadow grass 
is starting well, with plenty of bottom. Clover crops will be exception¬ 
ally good. You cannot see a bare patch anywhere, and on the well 
farmed lands round Ormskirk I noted field after field of grandly set 
crops. The fine open winter and spring has enabled farmers to keep¬ 
well abreast of their work, consequently the Potatoes have been put 
in early, and the Turnip and Mangold land all ready for the drill. 
Fruit generally of all kinds seems to have set well. Pears especially 
again promising a very heavy crop. Therefore, given a continuance o2 
genial spring showers, with sufficient warmth and a good harvest time,, 
the year bids fair to make amends very largely for the shortcomings ol 
1893.—X. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN Square, London. 
Lat.Sl° 32'40" N.; Long. 0°8'0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
Date. 
9 A.M. 
In the Day. 
Rain. 
1894. 
May. 
1 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. 
Inch Si 
Sunday .. 
13 
30-119 
54-8 
47-6 
N.W. 
49 8 
62-7 
40*2 
112-3 
34-5 
0-010' 
Monday .. 
14 
30-014 
55-2 
4T3 
S.E. 
51-7 
68-8 
48-7 
115-1 
45-8 
— 
Tuesday .. 
15 
29-888 
60-2 
54-0 
E. 
529 
71-5 
47-1 
114-9 
38-0 
0-068 
Wednesday 
16 
29-905 
63-6 
58-3 
NB. 
54*1 
68-9 
55-0 
91-0 
52-1 
0-010 
Thursday.. 
17 
30-138 
51-9 
5 -4 
N. 
54-3 
69-2 
48-6 
112-3 
49*J 
— 
Friday 
18 
30-inl 
45-9 
51-2 
N.E. 
54-9 
69-1 
44-4 
115-8 
40-8 
— 
Saturday .. 
19 
30-220 
47-2 
41-4 
N.E. 
54-9 
55*6 
42-2 
108*3 
380 
— 
30*066 
54-1 
50*3 
53-2 
66-5 
46-6 
110*0 
42*6 
0 088 
REMARKS. 
13tlj.—Bright sunshine till 4 P.M., generally cloudy after. 
14th.—Overcast, with spots of rain till about 9 A.M ; an almost perfect day after 
10 A.M. 
15th.—Fine, with a good deal of sunshine, but cloudy at times, rain in evening and 
night. 
16th.—Close, oppressive and threatening, with a shower at noon and occasional spots of 
rain. 
17th.—Fair early: generally sunny after 11 A.M., and brilliant afternoon and evening. 
18th.—Bright and fine throughout. 
19th.—Generally overcast, but occasional intervals of sunshine. 
A generally fine week, warm on the whole, but variable in temperature.— 
G. J. SVMONS. 
