418 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 10, 1887. 
example the formula laid down for the guidance of the 
judges in the annual farm-prize competition under the 
auspices of the Royal Agricultural Socitty of England, 
which are : — 
1, General management with a view to profit. 
2, Productiveness of crops. 
3, Quality and suitability of live stock 
4, Management of grass land. 
5, State of gates, fences, roads, and general neat 
ness. 
G, Mode of book-keeping followed (if any). 
7, Management of the dairy and dairy produce, if 
dairying is pursued. 
And we think it must he granted that the conditions so 
specified are of importance upon any farm, especially the 
first of them. For it is undoubtedly the general manage¬ 
ment with a view to profit that marks the progress or the 
reverse in a farmer’s practice. 
The cropping of a first-prize farm near Liverpool on 
the estate of the Earl of Derby was 34 acres Wheat 
(19 acres after a layer, 15 acres after Potatoes and 
Turnips), 17 acres of Oats (5 after roots, and 12 after a 
layer), 15 acres of Barley, 5 acres of Tares, 22 acres of 
Potatoes, 2 acres of Swedes, 1 acre of Mangolds, 4 2 
acres of first year’s seeds (22 after Oats and 14 after 
Wheat), 22 acres of second year's seeds, 6 acres of 
permanent pasture. No strict rotation is followed, but 
st is usually as follows:—First year, fallow crop, mostly 
Potatoes, and a few Swedes and Mangolds. Second 
year, Wheat sown down with seeds. Third and fourth 
year, grass, usually cut five times in the two years. 
Fifth year, Oats, and sometimes Wheat. 
Now, we have drawn attention to a similar rotation 
to this before, but we give the course and cropping here 
fully, as showing the sort of crops which are found to 
answer best near a large town. It will be noticed that 
a large proportion of the land is in seeds—that is to 
say, a mixture of the stronger-growing Grasses and 
Clovers, of which extraordinary crops are bad by the 
repeated application of top-dressings of sawdust soaked 
previously in liquid manure. We commend this dressing 
to the attention of buyers of peat moss litter for the 
bedding of horses. We tried the peat moss litter upon 
its first introduction into this country, and are bound 
to own that we found it answer well enough, but we 
ask, Why buy it when we have a much cheaper and equally 
suitable supply of such material as sawdust ready to our 
hands ? Sawdust is now much used in towns as bedding 
for horses, and it is eagerly sought after by farmers, 
who find a ready sale in return of green fodder, of which 
heavy successional crops are obtained by liberal top- 
dressings of the saturated sawdust 
To show something more of practical details on such 
a farm we may add that in the year it was in competition 
for the prize 160 tons of hay were made there; that the 
first crop of grass was 12 tons an acre, which sold at 20s. 
a ton; of Tares the yield was 16 tons an acre at rather 
under 20s., a ton, and there was something like 110 tons 
to dispose of. But, then, it must be mentioned that some 
1500 tons of manure was used either as top-dressing or 
for ploughing in, and clearly the result justified the 
expenditure. 
Repeatedly are cleanliness and thorough cultivation 
mentioned in the account given of the farm by the judges; 
and we take it as a remarkable example of what may be 
done by an intelligent farmer keeping well within the scope 
of his means, and doing his work in the best possible 
manner. We recently gave an account of the practice 
upon the farm of the Aylesbury Dairy Farm near Hor¬ 
sham, in which the condition of the land was said to 
approach that of a garden owing to superior and very 
deep cultivation. Why should it not be so ? we ask. If 
by high cultivation we ensure crops proportionate in bulk 
and quality to our work in the production of them, then 
by all means let us have them. Repeatedly have we 
urged the importance of such high farming upon the notice 
of our readers, and we doubt not that eventually, instead 
of the best land going out of cultivation, we shall find it 
is being brought into a state of fertility such as our fore¬ 
fathers never conceived possible. That indeed will be a 
sign of progress much to be desired, for then shall we be 
able to hold our own in the keen competition with produce 
imported from the markets of the world, which compe¬ 
tition we fear it is a foregone conclusion that we cannot 
avoid, and are therefore bound to grapple with it in the 
best way we can. 
(To be continued). 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
The labour question has become a serious matter to farmers as well 
as labourers, for the farmer is bound to curtail expenditure in every¬ 
thing, and payments for labour are reduced as lov as possible. Instead 
of hedging, ditching, and draining being done in winter, little if any of 
such work is done now. Ploughing is pushed briskly on after harvest, 
winter corn sown, the root crop got off the land entirely or in part, and 
then the men who are regarded as supernumeraries are turned off to shift 
for themselves. Greatly as we deplore this unsatisfactory arrangement, 
yet it is by no means an easy matter to suggest a remedy. But we do 
say that under no circumstances can it answer for land to be badly cul¬ 
tivated, and it is clearly wiser for a farmer to curtail his acres rather 
than his labour, to do all the work he can by the use of improved farm 
implements, to select a few intelligent men, and so arrange his farm 
work as to keep on the men constantly. Harvest work and corn thr. shing 
of course call for extra labour, which need not be dwelt upon now, as 
such labour is always forthcoming. 
We have frequent consignments of small pigs of the size termed 
Londoners sent to the Metropolitan Meat Market, and generally find it 
answer best to have them killed and so disposed of rather than send 
them alive to local sales. Careful selection is, however, necessary for the 
London market, the best size being from (5 to 7 stones of 8 lbs. In proof 
of this, we may mention that of our last consignment, porkers weighing 
7 stone sold readily fords. 4d. per stone, but others weighing lOstone only 
realised 3s. lOd. per stone. The salesman said the 10 stone pigs were alto¬ 
gether too large and fat, the smaller size, not fat, being most in demand. 
This is one of those matters of detail worthy of attention, as leading to a 
profit upon both the feeding and sale of pLs. The smaller size of porkers 
should be had at the age of eight or nine weeks, but to have them ready 
for market by that age they must have the benefit of careful attention 
in feeding, warmth, and cleanliness, and there is no question that such 
care answers. We recently saw a sty containing a lot of porkers with¬ 
drawn from the sow and in a state of semi-starvation. Two or three 
Mangolds had been thro vn to them, but no sign was there of corn 
eeding, and they would require much of it to bring them into con lition. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 61° 83' 40" N.; Lon 3 . 0° 8 ' 0" W .; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAT. 
g&S-s 
Hygrome- 
d . 
0 
Shade Tem- 
Radiation 
P 
1887. 
S °5 » ® 
ter. 
$3 d 
yr 
perature. 
Temperature 
cj 
0* 
Oct. & Nov. 
0) 3i r- | 
In | On 
a 
Dry. 
Wet. : 
So 
Eh 
Max. 
Min. 
sun. 1 grass 
Inches. 
deg 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. I deg. 
Ir. 
Sunday . 
ST 
29 345 
42 8 
42.2 
w. 
45 0 
52.3 
08 9 
8fi 7 : 09 0 
0.61; 
Monday. 
SI 
29 533 
4n 0 
08.4 
w. 
44.8 
50.4 
37.9 
81.5 3 
Tuesday .... 
I 
29 329 
47.4 
43 4 
s. 
44.0 
48.4 
08.1 
52.2 3' .3 
0.276 
Wednesday.. 
2 
29.243 
45 9 
44.0 | 
s. 
439 
52.1 
39 2 
81.2 1 31.3 
0 168 
Thursday .... 
3 
28 839 
49 5 
48.1 : 
s. 
44 2 
5I.fi 
43 2 
79.2 1 3G.7 
O 6'»4 
Friday . 
4 
28 980 
48 4 
45.5 1 
8.W. 
448 
55 4 
42 3 
82.9 ! 09.4 
0.1 «3 
Saturday .... 
5 
29.537 
40.G 
40.0 1 
w. 
44 8 
53.0 
37.4 
89.9 j 32.fi 
(.212 
29 258 
44.9 
43.1 
44.5 
51.9 
39 6 
791 I 34.3 
1 
2.035 
REMARKS. 
30 th.—dale in email hours; voient squall at shout 5010 a.m.; day generally bright, but 
with occasional showers and rainbows ; lunar halo In the evening. 
31st.—Fine and bright alter 11 a.m.; clear night. 
1 st.—Unusually red sunrise; squally from S.E., with rain from 10a.m. till 4 pm., then 
dull and damp. 
2nd.—Morning alternately bright and dull, with rain at 7.30, between 9 and lo, and a few 
spots at 11 . 40 a.m.; tine bright afternoon ; wmdy night. 
3rd.— Wet morning, with very low barometric pressure ; bright for a coup e of hours at 
midday; then chill again with frequent rain. 
4th.—Fine bright morning, with showers in the afrernoon. 
5 th.—Fine and generally bright; ruin in lale evening and n'ght. 
A stormv and v»rv w-t. week. Temps-atnre about 3 W above that of tiie preceding 
week, aud 1° Lelow the average.—G. J. bVMUNS. 
