5M 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 6,188°. 
"which we deplore more than this lamentable sale of all the sheep 
from a farm, for it is a sure sign and token of despair, failure, 
bankruptcy. To our postulate, “ If the elements of fertility with- 
•drawn from the land by a crop are restored to it regularly before 
taking another crop, exhaustion is impossible,” all farmers xvill 
agree, whether they be advocates of muck or any other form of 
manure, and there is a concensus of opinion that there is no more 
certain or economical method of applying manure to land than by 
•sheep. It is, however, by no means so certain that the full value 
of sheep folding is so fully recognised, yet the matter is so simple, 
that a grain or two of common sense, combined with an ordinary 
amount of intelligence, ought to convince anyone of its importance. 
Folding really means concentration and thoroughness, and we 
•do it, not so much for the clearance of a crop, as for the thorough 
manuring of the land. Confined within a fold for a given period 
•of time, the sheep must do much more good to the land than if 
left to ramble at will over fifty or a hundred acres. By folding, 
we feed the sheep, and at the same time store the soil with 
"fertility. The sheep should eventually make us a fair return for 
the crops they consume, and their manure not only saves an outlay 
for chemical manures, but it renders the next crop a full and 
profitable one. Clear, simple, and unmistakeable as these facts 
are, they form a primary rule for our guidance in sheep manage¬ 
ment. We must have sheepfolds going as long as we can 
throughout the year. As we sit writing this article we have two 
flocks of hoggets on the road ; one flock being driven some fifteen 
miles to be folded on Turnips, with crushed corn and chaff, the 
other some twenty miles for the same purpose. The last flock of 
three hundred hoggets has been kept on a heavy land farm till the 
Turnip folding was done, our object being to get through with this 
before the clay land became too much saturated with moisture for 
folding. This is done, the land will be ploughed and left for 
•spring corn, and the hoggets now go to a mixed soil farm, where 
they will be in Turnip folds, with a change to pasture whenever 
the weather renders it necessary. 
Now these hoggets were not highly fed from the first, in point 
of fact they had no corn till autumn folding began. Hoggets 
forced to early maturity are being drafted to the butcher now, the 
other hoggets will then follow them towards the end of winter, 
onwards throughout spring and early summer. We have to 
remember all this when the lambs first begin eating, and to arrange 
the dietary according to their use upon the land. In any case 
sheep intended for the butcher—that is to say, wethers, ought 
.never to be kept longer than sixteen or seventeen months, or beyond 
June or July in the second year. In writing thus we keep profit 
and loss specially in view and ignore fancy altogether. We 
mention this because we know that on many home farms sheep 
are kept for home consumption to the age of three and four years, 
but such practice is altogether apart from that of an ordinary 
farmer, and sheep kept to that age are to be regarded as an article 
of luxury. But even in this matter of keeping sheep till age 
imparts colour and flavour to mutton we avoid doing so at a loss 
by making a selection of the best of the crones or over-age ewes 
that are drafted from the ewe flock every year. These old ewes if 
put upon sound pasture with a pound of crushed Oats daily soon 
•come into fine condition for killing, and we have supplied the table 
of a connoisseur with such mutton to his entire satisfaction, especial 
•commendation being bestowed upon the mutton for its colour, 
flavour, and delicacy. The latter quality, it must not be forgotten, 
depends very much indeed upon the management of the meat after 
it reaches the hands of the cook. A certain hotel at which we 
frequently dine on market days is famous for its saddles of mutton, 
and this high reputation is maintained simply by careful selection 
of the meat combined with judgment in keeping it and skilful 
cooking. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Glad indeed are we to find all sorts of winter corn coming well 
above the surface—a good, full, strong plant, which the exceptionally 
mild weather has induced to grow freely, and some little feeling of 
anxiety about late sowing and seed germination is now at an end. Soft 
seed is not necessarily immature. Of course it is practically unsaleable 
to corn dealer or miller, but if fully developed we desire nothing better 
for sowing. In point of fact germination of such seed is much more 
brisk than it is when the seed has been rendered very hard in a hot dry 
summer. Some of the Wheat was not sown in a satisfactory manner. 
We came upon one of our bailiffs this season sowing Wheat upon a 
Clover layer, which had only been ploughed a few days before the 
sowing, l’he land was wet and heavy, and in order to get sufficient 
depth of soil for the drills heavy harrows had been used, and they had 
pulled many of the sods green with Clover up in very rough fashion. 
When -we came on the scene there was only about half an acre more to 
sow, and the bailiff was very confident he should be able to put the sur¬ 
face in order next spring. We agreed that he should finish, for the only 
loss if it failed would be a bushel or two of seed Wheat, and the ex¬ 
perience gained might be worth very much more. We have heard of a 
light land farmer whose land is badly infested with Poppies harrowing 
the Wheat as soon as it was well up in order to destroy the pest. We 
seriously question the wisdom of this proceeding, for the young Wheat 
plant had so little hold of the soil as to be liable to serious damage now. 
I f the harrowing had been left till spring, the Poppies might then be 
destroyed, and the Wheat would by that time have its roots so deep 
down in the soil that it could sustain no harm. A void ill-considered, 
rough-and-ready practice, say we. We have known much harm done to 
Barley in spring by a similar process of harrowing soon after the plant 
was visible to destroy Charlock. Due care must be taken to open water 
furrows across headlands into ditches, to ensure the speedy passage of 
all surface water from the land. Never suffer water to accumulate for 
want of such attention, as the crop is certain to suffer. 
THE PLOUGH DRILL. 
Would the writer of “ Home Farm ” in the Journal of November 
8th, No. 2093, be good enough to describe in a future number the 
“ single drill ” which was used attached to a plough for sowing Winter 
Beans and Tares ? An effective implement of this kind would be most 
useful to many small farmers, who are sometimes much inconvenienced 
by not being able to obtain the use of a large drill at the time most 
suitable for sowing his seeds.— Geo. Parish. 
[ The correct name of the single drill is the plough drill. Jt consists 
of a tapering wooden spout open at top and bottom, with an arm at the 
top, which is fastened to the plough beam by a bolt passing through it 
and the beam, with a nut and screw at the end. At the bottom of the 
drill is a wheel with the axle passing through the drill, and having a 
wooden collar on that part of the axle inside the drill, with diagonal 
grooves around the collar. This wheel runs upon the land, the motion 
of the plough causing it to revolve, and the seed to pass out with a 
steady regular flow. The distribution of the seed is regulated by an 
internal brush, which is raised or lowered by means of a sliding arm 
and screw. There is a staple on the drill, and at the end of each furrow 
the drill is lifted and suspended by the staple to a hook on the plough 
beam sufficiently high to prevent the wheel from rotation, and so stop 
the flow of seed while the plough is turned. The price of the drill is 
18s. It is a cheap, simp’e, and efficient labour-saving appliance, indis¬ 
pensable to all small farmers, and useful to every farmer. We have 
several of these drills at each of our large farms, and have founi them 
of especial use this autumn.] 
The Birmingham Cattle and Root Show. —We are requested 
to say that the stand of Messrs. Webb & Sons, Wordsley, contained 
the finest displays of roots and seeds they have ever arranged at Bingley 
Hall, and was a prominent feature of the Exhibition. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 82' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, HI feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
&?< co-t 
Hygrome- 
d . 
o-. ? 
Shade Tern- 
Radiation 
d 
November 
S £ 
o 
ter. 
V d 
p_, o 
perature. 
Temperature. 
$ 
and 
i 
S o-~ 
In 
On 
December. 
ms a 
Dry. Wet. 
So 
H 
Max. 
Min. 
sun. 
grass 
Inches. 
deg. 1 deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sunday . 
25 
29 9G^ 
54 2 ; 51.2 
s.w. 
48 0 
55.8 
516 
60.9 
48.1 
0.532 
Monday. 
2) 
29.023 
46.0 45 8 
s w. 
48 4 
52.1 
46.1 
719 
43.2 
0.091 
Tuesday .... 
27 
S9.3G0 
519 50.7 
S.E. 
47.0 
53.5 
43.1 
OD.l 
36 1 
0.136 
Wednesday .. 
23 
29.482 
36.4 36 3 
S. K. 
45.9 
45.5 
34.6 
47.1 
28 2 
0 29 ) 
Thursday .... 
29 
29 364 
45.3 44.6 
S.E. 
44 8 
473 
36 0 
62.0 
31.7 
0 13 > 
Friday . 
30 
29.252 
44 9 4 4.8 
N.E. 
44.9 
45.0 
447 
46.8 
38 8 
0.562 
Saturday .... 
1 
29.7 55 
379 37.6 
N.tfi. 
44 5 
48.1 
36.7 
49 2 
30.7 
— 
29.542 
45 3 44.4 
46.2 
49.7 
41.8 
55.4 
36.7 
1.744 
REMARKS. 
25th.—A little rain early, but not measurable; fair day, with a little sunshine in after¬ 
noon. 
28th.—overcast early; tine and bright after 10 A.M. 
£7th.—Wet morning; gale in afiernoon, with frequent sunshine; flue nl;h\ 
2»tli.—White frost early; fog all morning; wet aiteruoon and evening. 
29th.—Overcast all day. 
30th — Heavy rain all day ; fine night. 
1st.— Ilrigbt tine day; clear night. 
A warm aud wet week, the night between November 24th and 23th er ;eptio tally 
warm.—G J SYMONS. 
