JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
f September 13. 188*. 
•25G 
LANDLORDS’ FARMING. 
By the removal of superfluous hedges and the filling in of 
ditches we avoid the expense of keeping them in order, and really 
gain a considerable area of land in a farm of two or three hundred 
•acres. A well-planned farm, with trim hedges, and every field clean 
as a garden, such as we see in the Lothiars, is a pleasant sight, and 
such farms may be regarded as patterns or examples of neatness. 
But before all things we must keep economy and practical utility 
n view. Every fence or hedge is a source of expense, and there¬ 
fore there should not be one more of them than is positively 
necessary. In Suffolk every hedge has its parallel ditch, often of 
a depth of 6 or 8 feet and half a rod wide. It is only an exception¬ 
ally strong current of water in winter that could render such ditches 
necessary, and two or three of them should suffice for the super¬ 
fluous rain water of an ordinary farm. We are gradually filling in 
all superfluous ditches and clearing away the hedges. 
In cultivation and cropping there should be no difference between 
the practice of landlord and tenant. Both have the same object in 
view, and there can be only one method by which that object may 
be attained. Thorough drainage, tillage, pure seed, timely culti¬ 
vation, all must be of the best. But there must be no expen¬ 
diture of time or money for the sake of mere appearance. We do 
not require anything upon a farm for mere show, but just sound 
useful animals, implements, and buildings. We know more than 
•one home farm with its magnificent homestead upon which several 
thousand pounds has been spent, much of it needlessly. Plain, un¬ 
pretentious buildings, which lend themselves to the convenience of^ 
and real wants of the farmer, are what we require, and there should 
always be an engine-house, or covered shed for horse gear, for 
motive power for pumping, grinding, chaffing, and corn threshing. 
In certain extensive repairs of homesteads which we have had in 
band for the last three or four years, not a penny has been spent 
upon anything like ornamental work. Take, for example, a home¬ 
stead of which the repairs were finished recently. The farmhouse; 
an old picturesque monastic building, with walls 2 to 3 feet thick, 
had so faulty a roof that it had to be re-tiled, the woodwork was 
painted, and that was all that was done to the exterior ; all in¬ 
terested suggestions of dressing the brickwork, a facing of stucco, 
colouring, &c., by the builder being quietly ignored. A moderate 
■expenditure of paint, paper, and whitewash rendered the interior 
comfortable, and there was an end of the work. The bam, 
stables, piggeries, cow and cattle sheds, were simply restored to 
a sound condition, the yard enclosures, fences, and gates re¬ 
paired, and a thorough coating of tar given to them and all 
exposed woodwork. 
Buildings so restored to what is known as tenantable repair 
are done in the mutual interest of landlord and tenant. We often 
have reason to regret finding so many thatched buildings at old 
homesteads, which involve landlord and tenant in a periodical out¬ 
lay for repairs, the landlord paying for the work and the tenant 
supplying the straw. Whenever it is possible corrugated iron is 
now used in preference to thatch, slate, or tiles, but it must not 
foe forgotten that the rafters of an old roof are frequently unsuit¬ 
able for covering with corrugated iron. A sound roof and floor 
are alike important for every farm building, and there can be no 
doubt that floors of asphalte or Portland cement kept thoroughly 
clean are an excellent preventive of swine fever. 
It is in the animals of the farm that a landlord should 
do whit is possible to set an example to his tenants. As a 
landlord’s representative we do what we can in this direction, 
and unquestionably very much can ba done for the improva. 
mant of ordinary live stock on a farm. Perhaps sheep are the 
most important, because they are the most profitable, and we find 
it answer best to keep select half-bred ewes, and to cross with 
Hampshire Downs. We have just purchased some excellent 
lamb tups of that breed at £5 a piece, using one for each fifty 
ewes. Of pigs, we find it answer well to have cross-bred animals, 
a medium Yorkshire and a Suffolk giving us excellent pigs. 
As we have said before, we regard pure bred Tamworths as 
likely to prove most suitable for the London market, for which 
porkers of 50 lbs. weight and not fat are required. Of cows a 
cros3-bred amimnl between a Guernsey and Shorthorn is that which 
gives stock alike superior for the dairy or butcher. We know 
Guernseys are not easily to be had, but this difficulty is to be over¬ 
come, and it is quite worth while to take sufficient pains to secure 
a cross that has proved to be so profitable as this. 
WORK OK THE HOME FARM. 
Hardly a day passes without rain, and harvest work drags its slow 
length along. Wheat is being carted, and many stacks are finished and 
thatched, but the grain is not really hard, and very little threshing will 
be done till after Christmas. It is something to save the corn at all in 
such unsettled weather, and so far, we believe, we shall have a bright, 
full sample of Wheat when we do thresh it. Barley is sadly discoloured, 
and good malting samples will be rare and costly ; fortunate indeed will 
be the farmer who has them. Those who have a large breadth of Wheat 
will very likely find it answer better than Barley. We are now fast 
getting down the latter crop, for it is ready and must come however 
unfavourable may be the weather. All sorts of reports are rife about 
harvest work and prospects, many of them being very nonsensical. It 
is undoubtedly a difficult season, and work makes slow progress, but we 
do not find it more costly than it has been in other years. If we in the 
southern half of Great Britain despair of a successful harvest, what do 
northern farmers say whose corn is still green and full of growth? Yet 
every field and every crop affords evidence of first-class practice, and a 
stout effort to overcome adverse climatic influences. 
If only we had a favourable change of weather the bulk of the corn 
should be in stack in the course of another fortnight. In any case much 
of the Barley will require care after it is mown, for the young layers 
have in many fields almost overwhelmed it, and it will have to be turned 
and exposed to sun and air to harvest it. Much care is required for this 
work in such unfavourable weather. Already have we heard of heating 
in Wheat stacks, nor can it be wondered at, for the bottoms of the 
sheaves contain so much green growth of weeds that heating is inevitable 
where stacking is done early. Yet what are farmers to do? If the 
Wheat is left out in the fields till the weeds are dead there is no small 
risk of sprouting grain, and it is just a choice of evils. If Wheat can 
be got into stack in a suitable condition in any favoured locality it will 
probably command a high price. 
Hay-drying Machine. —Would you kindly favour me with the 
address of the inventor of the hay-drying machine. I think his name is 
Gibbs.—W. M.—[We do not remember the address desired. Perhaps 
some of our readers may be able to supply it.] 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
in the Day. 
if. 2- 
Hygrome- 
0 . 
Shade Tem- 
Radiation 
fl 
1888. 
? £ 
ter. 
z a 
or 1 
g=8 
perature. 
Temperature 
i 
September. 
In 
On 
Dry. 
Wet. 
5 o 
H 
Max. 
Min. 
sun. 
grass 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Io. 
Sunday. 2 
S0.< *50 
53.6 
5i.l 
s.w. 
56.9 
62.7 
68 8 
78 4 
52.7 
0.074 
Monday. 3 
29 970 
61.3 
59.5 
s.w. 
57 3 
70.7 
58 1 
106.6 
67.3 
0.228 
Tuesday .... 4 
29 999 
57.3 
54 4 
N.W. 
57.7 
67.2 
52.6 
107.2 
47.6 
0.056 
Wednesday.. 5 
»W8l 
6 0.6 
58.2 
w\ 
581 
65.6 
56.8 
82.3 
55.4 
— 
Thursday.... 6 
80.033 
617 
68.3 
s.w. 
58.1 
65.2 
58.2 
107.8 
tC>2 
0.032 
Friday . 7 
30.046 
57.0 
62.7 
w. 
55 6 
65.2 
48 4 
112.6 
41.1 
0.137 
Saturday .... 8 
30.385 
5S.9 
49 8 
N. 
56.8 
60.5 
46.3 
106.9 
41.1 
— 
30.081 
58 6 
55.6 
57.2 
65.3 
53.5 
100.3 
50.8 
0.427 
REMARKS. 
2nd.—Overcast and showery all day. 
3rd.—Overcast in the morning, bright till 3.80, then heavy rain to 4.30, and damp 
afterwards. 
4th.—Cloudy early, flue b-ight day, dull evening and night. 
Sth.—Rain in the small hours, cloudy all day. 
6th.—Dull and drizzling till noon, then fine and bright. 
7th.—Generally bright, with occasional showers. 
8th.—Bright morning, fair afternoon, spots of rain in evening. 
A showeiy and rather dull week. Temperature about the average.—G. J. SYMONS. 
