82 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 28,1887. 
crop with another, in order to select the best of them both 
for the land of his farm and the markets open to him for 
the disposal ol his farm produce. The term “ answer ” is a 
broad and comprehensive one, bearing as it does not only 
upon the full development of a crop, but the subsequent 
profitable use or sale of it. The downward tendency of 
prices for almost all farm produce often upsets the most 
careful calculations, the most prudent schemes, yet with¬ 
out a purpose and plan we cannot work with any degree 
of certainty, and therefore we are bound to make such 
arrangements as appear best calculated to lead to 
success. 
Local influences must always affect our plans, unless 
indeed we can obtain a market in some great mercantile 
centre; but even there we arein competition with the markets 
of the whole world, for that is undoubtedly what free trade 
has brought us to. Well, complaints are useless, for are we 
not the head and centre of a vast empire ? Protection 
may be asked for, but protection against what ? Depend 
upon it, if a scheme of federation is to be carried out there 
must be no exclusion of colonial enterprise by the mother 
country. Instead of crying out for impossible measures 
of State aid, far better would it be to set ourselves earnestly 
to try and manage our farms so as to make them more 
profitable. It is ridiculous to suppose that the Govern¬ 
ment is not intimately acquainted with the difficulties 
with which the efforts of farmers are now beset. We know 
ns a positive fact that in common with other landlords, the 
leader of the House of Commons has farms in hand which 
he would let if he could, and we could point to more than 
■one noble member of the House of Lords whose income is 
so much reduced that he cannot afford to live upon his 
property, but has either let his country house or 
closed it. 
Turning now to farmers and their woi’k, it is most im¬ 
portant at the outset that they should hire a farm well 
within the scope of their means. Never was the difference 
between good and bad farming more apparent than it is 
now. No doubt the drought has been very trying for 
spring corn, but we have recently seen Barley fields with 
only a hedge between them so different in appearance that 
it seemed hardly possible that the soil was alike on both 
sides of the hedge. It was naturally of the same staple, 
yet how different had it become under cultivation! On 
the one hand the Barley w r as positively rampant with 
luxuriance of growth, and fine long ears of corn crowned 
every stem, the drought notwithstanding. Barley and 
nothing else was to be seen in the field. On the other 
hand the Barley, stunted in growth and so parched that 
its leaves were turning yellow before the meagre little ears 
had fully appeared, would not afford half a crop, and wild 
Oats had sprung up so thickly among it that it could only 
eventually be used as grinding corn. The difference in the 
crops of the two fields is precisely that of good and bad 
farming. The good Barley will probably realise from 36s. 
to 40s. a quarter; the other will be practically un¬ 
saleable. 
In some soils Barley has a strong tendency to degenerate 
into a coarse inferior grain such as the buyers of malting 
Barley do not care for, and as the price given for grinding 
Barley is invariably less than for malting Barley, the area 
of land devoted to its culture should be restricted to home 
requirements. Not lightly would we turn from this part 
of our subject, for among all farm crops there is none 
which answers better than a large one of Barley- 
fed pigs. To grow Barley specially for this purpose 
is undoubtedly good practice, but there must be care¬ 
ful intelligent management of the pigs, and then the con¬ 
version of Barley into pork will prove a sound and profit¬ 
able investment. 
Pigs have always had a place among farming stock. In 
the good days of high prices for corn their use was to con¬ 
sume tail corn, and it was never thought desirab'e to 
assign them a prominent or leading place in farming 
economy. But with such low prices for corn that it is by 
no means an easy matter to cultivate it profitably, it is 
surely worth while seeing if we cannot turn some of it to 
account by striving for a share of that pork trade which 
has for some time put such large sums of money into the 
pockets of foreign producers and importers. Swine hold a 
lowly position in the agricultural mind in comparison with 
that of cattle, but we prefer a clear profit upon swine¬ 
rearing to the loss which now attends the fattening of 
bullocks for market. 
(To ba continued.) 
WORK OK THE HOME FARM. 
In such a hot dry season it would appear to be an easy matter to 
keep down weeds. We certainly have not found it so. In spring and 
early summer Couch Grass had special attention ; since then Charlock, 
Thistles, and Docks have afforded much work, so much in point of fact 
that we cannot claim to have done all we wished. It is costly work 
this endeavour to eradicate weeds from a farm, yet it must be done, and 
very much of it may be done well and comparatively cheaply by the 
timely use of corn and root horse hoes. Caution is necessary in using 
harrows among spring corn to destroy Charlock, for if the weather con¬ 
tinues hot and dry afterwards the Barley plant is liable to suffer. The 
harrows so used ought therefore to be ver? light, so that the Barley may 
not be loosened in the soil. This hint is given, by the way, to be turned 
to account another season. A quiet walk alone through one of our off 
farms enabled us to learn more of the actual condition of the land than 
if the bailiff had been with us. We first went across a field of Barley 
which should have been exceptionally clean, for it was under White 
Mustard last year, and was ploughed two or three times. To our sur¬ 
prise we found it badly infested with Thistles, as was also an adjoining 
field of Barley. Now this second field had a fine crop of Mangold upon 
it last year, and was kept clean ; we could therefore only suppose the 
Thistle seed was sown with the Barley. It might of course be blown 
upon the land from the hedgerows, but we think not, for the bailiff is a 
careful man, and we found men employed in cutting down weeds along¬ 
side the hedgerows to prevent seeding. In a field of Winter Beans 
Charlock had come so freely among the Beans that hand-pulling of the 
weeds was being done. This is a costly process, but a thorough one, 
which we hope will eradicate Charlock from that field. We found a 
few patches of Dodder among some Red Clover ; each patch of this 
destructive parasite will be carefully collected and burnt. Winter Oats 
after Wheat, and Barley after Barley,'are good crops on this farm ; both 
fields had a full dressing of home-mixed chemical manures early in 
spring. It is by the regular annual application of manure that we are 
able to avoid rotation cropping ; we have only to keep the land well 
supplied with the necessary elements of fertility and we can continue 
sowing Wheat or other corn upon the same land as long as we please. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat. 51° 32- 40" N.; Long, 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
Date. 
■ 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAT. 
Hygrome- 
a . 
o «.• 
Shade Tem- 
Radiation 
a 
1887. 
ter. 
s a 
fa 8 
perature. 
Temperature 
a 
W 
July. 
s fea-5 
O l+ ‘ H 
In 
On 
8 
Dry. 
Wet. 
flo 
H 
Max. 
Min. 
sun. 
grass 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
I». 
Sunday . 
17 
30.231 
62 7 
56.0 
N. 
64 8 
72.4 
515 
122.7 
50 2 
0.068 
Monday. 
30.257 
59.1 
51.9 
ls T . 
63.3 
73 2 
45 6 
117.8 
43.8 
— 
Tuesday ... 
19 
30*262 
65.6 
56.0 
N.E. 
63.4 
78.4 
4 5.8 
124.2 
46.7 
— 
Wednesday. 
20 
30.295 
70.4 
60 8 
N.E. 
642 
82 8 
51.9 
1279 
50 8 
:_ 
Thursday ... 
21 
30 269 
65.4 
53.2 
E. 
65.2 
78 3 
552 
121.5 
53.1 
_ 
Friday . 
80.094 
618 
5S.6 
E. 
65.7 
8!.7 
50.1 
121-7 
45.2 
_ 
Saturday ... 
23 
81.172 
68 8 
59.1 
N.W. 
65 5 
81.3 
56 7 
126.3 
52.0 
— 
80.229 
61.8 
67.2 
64.6 
78.2 
51.1 
123.2 
48 8 
0.068 
REMARKS. 
17th.—Pine morning,then cloudy; heavy shower about 3.30 P.M.; evening fine and coV. 
18th.—Bright and pleasant. 
19th.—Pine morning; cloudy at times after. 
20th.—Fine, bright, and hot. 
2lst.—Bright and fine. 
22nd.—Hot, and very hazy; close and oppressive. 
33rd.—Bright and hot. 
A fine pleasant week, with only one shower of rain. Temperature nearly 3“ lower 
than that of the .preceding week (the nights being much colder), but still above the 
average.—G. J. STMONS 
