106 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
[ August 4, lf87 
lion of any farm should he under a grass crop must alto¬ 
gether depend upon local circumstances; but in every 
case it is clear all that is possible must be done to keep 
down expenses. We have no sympathy with the cry of 
** the land for the people.” Farmers should be keen men 
of business, only giving employment to just so many 
labourers as they are obliged to, and doing all they can 
to render their farms more profitable and to reduce 
labour in doing so. If by such action we drive labourers 
off the land to the towns, then let government take them 
in hand as it is bound to, for certainly farmers cannot 
aftord to regard the labourers’ welfare from a sentimental 
point of view, but it must be placed entirely upon a busi¬ 
ness footing. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Heat and drought have told upon the corn so much that by the time 
this note is published harvest work will have become general in the 
southern counties. We began with a piece of Rye, which was followed 
quickly by a self-sown field of Winter Oats, a fine full crop, which was 
cut and threshed at once, part of the straw being cut into chaff and the 
remainder put aside for thatching the other corn stacks, in order that 
Wheat straw may be reserved for sale. The chaffed Oat straw was put 
into a compact heap in a barn, a little salt being sprinkled among it to 
induce fermentation, by means of which the chaff becomes as savoury 
and high flavoured as meadow hay. Peas came next, and Spring Oats 
and Barley will follow on many farms where the Barley straw is shore 
and the grain has ripened prematurely. As we use Oat straw for 
thatching the corn stacks, especial care is taken to build them with a 
high steep slope, so that rain may pass off from the thatch at once, as 
Oat straw soon becomes saturated if water remains upon it. 
Pigs and sheep will go out upon stubbles to consume fallen corn im¬ 
mediately after the clearance of the crop, so that there may be no 
hindrance to ploughing as soon as possible after harvest. Especial at¬ 
tention should be given to this matter, for if fine weather continues 
every effort should be made to break up the land for autumn cleaning. 
If only we can do this really well a considerable saving will be effected 
upon corn-hoeing next spring, and much Charlock will be destroyed. 
Where land is badly infested with Charlock it is a mistake to plough 
deeply immediately after harvest, rather should we break up just enough 
of the surface to induce seed germination, and when a full plant of 
weeds is visible then stir or plough a little deeper, so as to induce more 
■weed seed to germinate. No rule can be laid down for this work, rather 
must each field have the special treatment which it appears to require. 
Upon light land the use of harrows once or twice will disturb the soil 
sufficiently to work the seed into it deep enough to induce growth. Upon 
heavy land light iron ploughs answer best, but where such land has 
become very hard and dry steam cultivation is required to break it up 
before it is softened by autumnal rain. Couch Grass, Thistles, Docks, 
and Charlock are the four pests which we desire to eradicate, no matter 
how it is done, for to suffer such perennial and annual weeds to remain 
established in the soil is indeed bad practice. 
IRON SULPHATE v. PARASITIC FUNGI. 
This note may prove useful to agriculturists, for it is not unlikely 
(judging from the present state of the weather in certain parts of the 
country) that our farm crops may be attacked by parasitic diseases of a 
fungoid nature. 
Having been the exponent for the use of iron sulphate as an antiseptic 
agent for various diseases which attack our farm crops (see my papers 
4 ‘ Transactions Chemical Society” for 1882-3-4-5-6-7), I wish to state, 
briefly that agriculturists will find it a sure and a cheap remedy for 
destroying most fungoid growths. 
The fungi which infest farm crops are all built upon the same plan 
viz., they are made up of hyphial filaments, which contain an external 
wa O °f a peculiar kind of cellulose, which I have named in a recent 
scientific memoir micro-parasitic cellulose, to distinguish it from the 
cellulose which is found in the higher plants. This micro-parasitic 
cellulose is chemically acted upon by iron sulphate, but not the cellulose 
of farm crops, hence the reason that the fungoid growths are destroyed 
by this agent. J 
In my papers already cited, and in one read before the Royal Society 
of Edinburgh on May 16th, 1886, I have shown, after a most careful 
investigation, that iron sulphate is a sure remedy for the Potato disease 
(Peronospora infestans), and the Wheat mildew (Puccinia graminis). 
As I have said before, all the fungoid growths which attack farm 
crops are built upon the same plan, and for this reason I wish to draw 
the attention of agriculturists to what is being done by scientific men 
of well-known reputation with iron sulphate as an antiseptic on the 
continent of Europe, which entirely confirms my work. 
The Vine is liable to be attacked by some 350 parasitic fungi in 
addition to the phylloxera ! Happily our English farm crops have not 
such an array of deadly foes as the Vine. The Wheat has its mildew, its 
smut, its canker, besides such animal foes as the corn weevil, the wire- 
worm, the corn moth, and the Hessian fly (Cecidomyia destructor), 
which has really “landed in force” (according to Miss Ormerod) in 
these realms. The Potato has its Peronospora and its Colorado 
beetle, &c. 
Coming back again to our scientific authorities who have used iron 
sulphate as an antiseptic, I may mention the following :—• 
1, Recently Dr. F. von Thiimen mentions in his treatise (“ Die Phoma- 
Krankheit der Wienreben verursacht durch die parasitischen Pibze Phoma 
vitis und Phoma Cookei ”) that he has used most successfully a 10 per 
cent, solution of iron sulphate for the destruction of Phoma vitis and 
Phoma Cookei, two fungi which attack the Vines of Austria and Hungary. 
Dr. Thiimen’s experiments were conducted at the Imperial Agricultural 
Station at Klosterneuberg, near Vienna. 
2, M. Millardet employs one kilogram of iron sulphate in two litres 
of water for washing the stocks of Vines a fortnight before the shoots 
begin to start. Madame Ponsort in Bordelais uses a mixture of four 
parts of iron sulphate and twenty parts of lime for the same purpose 
(See Trouessart’s “ Microbes, Ferments, and Moulds,” International 
Scientific Series, vol. 57, page 38). 
3, Dr. H. Muller and others (“ Biedermann’s Contralblatt fUr Agri- 
cultur-chemie,” 1883, page 630), have found a solution of one part of 
iron sulphate in two parts of water an excellent remedy for destroying 
Peronospora viticola, which attacks the Prussian Vines. 
4, M. A. Guillamont (“ Biedermann’s Contralblatt fiir Agricultur- 
chemie,” 1883, page 272), states that a mixture of ten parts of iron 
sulphate, ten parts of wood ashes, and two parts of coal tar is a good 
specific for destroying the phylloxera. 
5, The celebrated Professor of Botany at Wurzburg University, Dr. 
J. Von Sachs (“Biedermann’s Contralblatt f Ur Agricultur-chemie,” 1886, 
page 602), uses iron sulphate for trees and plants generally as a remedy 
for the disease known as “ chlorosis in plants.” 
6, In my address at the opening of the School of Science and Art, on 
the 27th September of last year, I alluded to the fact that my friend Pro¬ 
fessor Conrad, F.C.S., had used iron sulphate successfully fordestroying the 
mildew upon the Vines in the vicinity of Bordeaux. (See Lincoln, 
Gazette, October 2nd, 1886.) 
In the neighbourhood of Etton, near Peterborough, the crops of 
winter Beans have been this year a failure. Mr. G. W. Edgson, of 
Etton, an agriculturist of long experience, has kindly sent me a number 
of these Bean plants for inspection. They were about 7 inches in 
length. Mr. Edgson says in his letter :—“ The roots of the winter Beans 
you will find are covered with small boils, which appear to be living 
upon the plant, and have kept the Bean plants in the stage you now see 
them. For the last few months the crop in this district has been a 
failure. Not having seen anything like it before I thought it would be 
interesting for you to see them.” I found upon the roots of the Bean 
plants tubercular swellings, which are due to the growth of a parasitic 
fungus with extremely small spores. The mycelium of this Bean root 
fungus and also its spores are destroyed by iron sulphate. On treating 
the hyphial filaments of the fungus and its spores with a solution of 
iron sulphate upon a slide under the microscope one could see the 
perforation of the cellulose walls of the organism, exactly in the same 
way as 1 have so often observed in cases of microscopic fungi generally. 
To conclude, Mr. Editor, I hope these notes may be of use to the 
farmer in helping him to allay the terrible ravages done to his crops by 
that “unseen mist of organic forms.”—A. B. Griffiths, Schoo', of 
Scie n 'e, Lincoln.—(Lincoln Gazette.') 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; L ong, 0° 8-0' W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
Hygrome- 
0 . 
o ^ . 
Shade Tein- 
Radiation 
a 
1887. 
ter. 
perature. 
Temperature 
a 
« 
July. 
5 £ a- 3 
s- 
41 «.rH 
In 
On 
c5 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
sun. 
grass 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sunday . 
24 
29.957 
66.9 
61.4 
S.W. 
66.3 
79.6 
5K3 
123.7 
49 5 
0.289 
Monday. 
2 5 
29.842 
62.9 
60.2 
N.E. 
66.2 
76.1 
63.3 
113.8 
58.2 
Tuesday ... 
26 
29.741 
65.5 
59.7 
S.E. 
65.3 
77.2 
56.8 
119.2 
54.2 
0.081 
Wednesday. 
27 
29.6'? 7 
67.9 
61.6 
s.w. 
65.5 
76 8 
62 3 
124 8 
59 l 
Thursday... 
28 
30.078 
67.2 
60.9 
S.E. 
65 2 
76 8 
56 2 
125.0 
51.9 
_ 
Friday . 
2D 
29.977 
69 8 
63.2 
s.w. 
65.1 
74.6 
6o.2 
111.3 
54 8 
0.082 
Saturday ... 
30 
3J.125 
64 6 
59.0 
N.E. 
64 4 
76.5 
56 9 
121.0 
51.8 
29.917 
66.4 
60.9 
65.4 
76.8 
57 9 
119 8 
54 2 
0.452 
REMARKS. 
24th.—Fine and bright till about 11 A.M., the rest of the day cloudy. 
2oth.—Rain in the email hours, and cloudy day. 
26th.—Variable morning, fine afternooo, cloudy evening; showers at night. 
27th.—Showers early, variable day, fine evening. 
28th.—Fine pleasant day, clouding over at times. 
29th.—Fine early; overcast morning with slight showers; wet afternoon; fire and 
bright after 4 p.m. 
33th.—Bright warm morning, and fair throughout. 
Moan temperature about 5° above the average—a week of warm nights and p'.oa-uat 
days ; little rain, exopi on the 24th.—3. J. Symons. 
