554 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 22, 1887. 
and the treatment of the soil for forage as for any other 
crop. The truth of this must he patent to the most casual 
observer. If certain sorts of Grass and (lover answer 
better than others, it is surely worth while growing them 
and discarding the others; and if by cultivation we can 
not only increase the ordinary bulk of the hay crop by 
two or three time's, but also materially improve the pasture 
for grazing in spring and autumn, it is surely worth doing 
so. How a farmer can allow pasture to be spoilt by 
Ononis, Docks, Thistles, Rushes, and Nettles in the 
manner we often see without making some effort to eradi¬ 
cate them quite passes our comprehension; for it is a 
clear question of profit and loss, and we maintain that 
every foot of land for which rent is paid ought to be 
turned to full account. 
No sadder sight has met our eyes than land that has 
really been suffered to go out of cultivation. It had 
evidently been corn land, for the ridges were still visible 
though covered with a thick growth of couch grass. Of 
course it was susceptible of improvement by cultivation, 
but the vanished or vanishing capital of farmers can hardly 
be thought of for such work. Land farmed out is not 
easily reclaimed, as we in common with other land agents 
know to our cost. Farm after farm have we taken in 
band as they fell in upon the estate, and our work has 
been very much the same upon all of them. First of all 
drainage, next mechanical division and getting rid of 
weeds, then storage of fertility. It is possible to do all 
this in a single season, but the work is so costly and the 
price of farm produce so low, that it is generally spread 
over two or three years. In cases where it is not impe¬ 
rative that an immediate return should be had from the 
land, the most economical way to impart fertility is clearly 
by a succession of ploughed-in green crops. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
The advantage to be derived from clay burning was never more 
apparent to us than when we were recently walking over some newly 
ploughed land on a clay farm on the borders of Essex. We have during 
the last two years spent much money in burning clay there and spread¬ 
ing it on the surface to be ploughed in, and it has now become so well 
mixed with the soil, that when ploughed after heavy rain it crumbles as 
it falls over from the ploughshare, thus showing than even the heaviest 
land may be rendered open to the action of rain and air. We have told 
before, and it will bear telling again, how that the clay so burnt was 
originally thrown into ridges when the ditches were made, and it had 
been so left for many years. These ridges were gradually cleared away 
and burnt, and we know that the money so spent was a sound invest¬ 
ment, for it would be quite in vain to apply manure to the land without 
some such preliminary treatment. We desire to call particular attention 
to this matter, because many a farmer has been puzzled about opening 
up the land fully to the action of sun and air. The ploughing in of 
half-decayed farmyard manure may do something, but the manure 
decays, and the soil soon settles down into a close mass again. It can 
never do so after burnt clay is applied, and the subsequent cultivation 
of the land is both easy and certain in its effects. 
The dairy cows are now having bran, Carrots, chaff, and hay, and 
some of the delicate Jerseys have an addition of crushed Oats. This 
dietary is both safe and simple, our especial aim being to avoid anything 
at all calculated to affect the flavour of the milk. If Turnips are used 
at all, they are always cooked, and the water strained off, so as to get 
rid of all unpleasantness of flavour. Cattle Cabbage may be used with 
advantage provided the quantity is moderate. The cows eat such green 
food ravenously, and if they have a large quantity the milk is quite 
certain to betray them by its rankness. Well mixed, sweet, wholesome 
food now goes far to insure good butter, and if cows can be had to calve 
in succession throughout winter at intervals of about a month, it will 
tend to render the butter really excellent in flavour, if a little deficient 
in colour. 
QUALITY, QUANTITY, DEPRESSION. 
( Continued from page 4S8 .) 
To create a demand and keep foremost place in the world’s markets, 
■everything produced must be a combination of the highest quality with 
a maximum of quantity. If that can be effected and maintained by 
th-i home producer, foreign or colonial competition may be defied. Some 
commodities, of course, the farmer and gardener are precluded from 
producing so as to compete with imported products satisfactorily, but 
no grower need keep burning his fingers ” by sticking to crops which 
cannot be placed in the market advantageously. If unable to sell 
Wheat, Barley, and Oats at a profit, what hinders the utilisation of 
grain in the production of beef, mutton, and pork? Even imported 
grain might be so utilised, and it would be wiser than grumbling and 
the persistent sending of raw produce to market when the demand is 
for the manufactured. The consumption of the raw material—the 
grass, hay, ensilage, forage, roots, grain, and straw—would have the 
advantage of maintaining, if not improving, the fertility of the soil, 
a value as manure equal to that going off as produce, and re¬ 
presenting a storehouse capital, from which profits are to accrue in 
future. Except artificials the land gets little added to its staple where 
the hay and straw is sold off. It is useless keeping straw, &c., to absorb 
the liquids resulting from keeping animals ; the draining of cow byres, 
farmyards, &c., are not worth taking into consideration. A few tons or 
cwts. of artificials are worth very much more than all the manure the 
raw material consumed at home would produce. Everything goes off 
the land except that consumed in the manufacture of flesh, and those 
farms producing most flesh, or having the most animals fed by the 
crops produced, are in the most satisfactory condition from a landlord’s, 
farmer’s, and consumer’s point of view. There seems a great decrease 
in the number of food-supplying animals. The agriculturists decrease the 
output and are in danger of ruin by the low prices of produce. This 
in face of a population for the past half century increased beyond 
home means of feeding. The profits of cultivation are not in raw 
material, but in the manufactured article. True there must be no 
falling off in the production of raw material, there must be abundance 
with which to manufacture a superior article such as none imported can 
equal, and the farmer can out of our much-abused soil produce crops 
for which the climate is suitable equal to any, and by their judicious 
utilisation produce beef, mutton, and bacon superior to any in the 
world. Rents ought not to be an obstacle, nor yet aids to cultivation. 
There seems nothing lacking, only the awakening of agriculturists to 
the responsibilities of their position. They seem paralysed by the low 
prices of produce, yet the produce of farms, except cereals, brings more 
money than the best of imported. 
There has been depression enough from various causes, but the worst 
form of it is a depression of agricultural skill, energy, and determination. 
The land has not been, and is not cultivated. It is foul with weeds— 
weeds which take as much from the soil as the useful crops, and corre¬ 
spondingly decrease the yield. The culture that returns the most to the 
soil is the most contributing to present and future crops. Experiments 
with manure prove that all the land wants is a little nitrate of soda, 
muriate of potash, and superphosphate. What we want is to return to 
land as much as possible of that removed. It is Nature’s plan ; but my 
object is to show that no additions are of use without the soil being in a 
proper state of cultivation, so that the crops can abstract the full value 
from them. * 
Depression has had its seekers for alleviation. The greatest states¬ 
men have made propositions ; farmers have been advised to turn their 
attention to supplying the markets with fruit and vegetables. Some 
have done so, and where are they now ? The farmers are about as likely 
to command the markets with fruit and vegetables as the French with 
fresh laid eggs. The advice was no doubt well intentioned, and sound, 
too, only no calculation had been made of the farmers’ inaptitude and 
indifference; their best and only schoolmaster is depression. But we 
may pass the agriculturists as not likely, for at least another generation, 
to pass muster as cultivators of horticultural produce. True, they may 
add to the continuance of the uphill work before the horticulturists in 
the rivalry with imported produce ; but there is no fear of the issue 
with the intelligence and zeal that opposition occasions.—G-. Abbey. 
(To be continued). 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 32'40''N.; Long. 0° 8'0" W.; Altitude, 111 leet. 
Date. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAT. 
1887. 
•O ot 
® <n «)_: 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
P . 
CT3 
3 P 
A- -*■ 
5o 
'o . 
• 31 
til 
<1, r _l 
H 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
P 
3 
« 
December. 
lIF 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass 
Sunday. 
Monday. 
Tuesday .... 
Wednesday.. 
Thursday.... 
Friday . 
Saturday .... 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
Inches. 
30.082 
30.138 
29.548 
i 9.553 
29.301 
29.430 
29.803 
deg. 
32.8 
32.1 
49.3 
39.6 
42 2 
51.6 
40.4 
deg. 
31.8 
31.4 
48.3 
37.7 
40.G 
50.3 
37.3 
N. 
S.E. 
S. 
S 
s.w. 
s.w. 
s.w. 
deg. 
40.3 
89 2 
39.2 
40.9 
40.5 
408 
41.7 
deg. 
40.2 
49 5 
50.9 
45.8 
51.9 
531 
458 
deg. 
27 9 
31-8 
31.1 
36.4 
365 
39.6 
38.9 
deg. 
40.3 
.50.2 
51.3 
61.2 
52.8 
71.6 
62.4 
deg. 
22.8 
29.6 
28.1 
29.3 
33^1 
33.2 
33.1 
In. 
0.142 
0.211 
0.028 
0.303 
0.052 
0.083 
29.694 
4U 
£9.6 
40.4 
48 2 
34.6 
55.7 
29.9 
0.819 
REMARKS. 
11th.—A little snow early, but only cnongh to whiten the ground; dull, thowery day 
with heavy rain from 11 A.M. till 1 P.M. 
12th.—Cold, dud, and foggy, 
lath.—Very warm, dull, aud damp. 
14th.— Foggy ear y : tine, with some sunshine till nearly noon, then showery till 2.30 P.M. 
dull and damp after ; fair evening; heavy rain after 10 P.M. 
l.tth.—Cloudv morning, with slight showers; flue afternoon, bright in the early part. 
16th.—Wet till 11 A.M., then hright and fine except for one shower in the afternoon and 
auother in the evening. 
17th.—Bright and fine. 
An unsettled and changeable week. Mean temperature very near the average.— 
O. J. Symons. 
