488 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 24, 1888 
had been telling them, among other things, of the wonderful crop 
of Barley obtained at Flitcham Abbey by the use of muriate of 
potash, and we were much amused by one' of them farming the 
land of an entire parish himself, who after declaring farmyard 
manure to be the sheet-anchor of farmers, turned to us with the 
question, “ What is muriate of potash ? ” He was evidently im¬ 
pressed by Mr. Cook’s success, and it is just possible he is a pur¬ 
chaser of considerable quantities of potash this season. The most 
remarkable effects of potash is, however, not always perceptible in 
the crop to which it is applied, but rather in those of the following 
year or two. But we must not wander from our subject, and will 
reserve some remarks bearing upon the results of the use of manures 
•for another paper. 
If proof were really required of the good work done by our 
Agricultural Societies we have only to turn to recent issue of the 
■journals of two of them. The Journal of the Bath and West of 
England, in addition to sixteen lengthy reports and papers on as 
many important subjects connected with agriculture, has numerous 
short pithy papers on such subjects as “ The Phenomena of 
Animal Life and Vegetation,” “ The Wheat Crop of 1887,” “ The 
Pig of the Future,” “ Seeds for Permanent Pasture,” “ Butter 
Making,” “Management of Farm Horses, &c.” The Journal of 
the Royal Horticultural Society has many important articles ; 
but if it only contained the reports of chemical analyses of manures, 
seeds, and oil cake it would be invaluable, for there it undoubtedly 
exposes an evil that has done material harm to the confiding British 
farmer. It is solely owing to this great Society that we are now 
able to procure pure seeds. In the eighteenth volume, published 
in 1882, there appeared a paper by Mr. Faunce Me Laune on 
Laying Down Land to Permanent Grass,” in which he said :— 
■“ I found, however careful I was in my orders, and from whatever 
seed merchant I ordered my seeds, the per-centage of Rye Grass, 
soft woolly grass, and other bad grasses and weeds, was beyond all 
belief. I found in a piece of land 8^ feet square about six plants 
of Cocksfoot, one Foxtail, two Meadow Fescue, five or six Crested 
Dogstail, and the rest Rye grass, soft woolly Grass, perennial Clovers^ 
■and weeds. I then got an introduction to Mr. Carruthers, and by 
means of his able help and valuable information, was enabled to 
make closer experiments. From these I learnt that good seed 
was most difficult to get ; and to illustrate how difficult, I 
will give some of my experience. I had five acres of very 
valuable land I wished to sow with permanent grass for seed ; 
the land was not only very good, but very highly manured 
and absolutely clean, liaving been a Hop garden. I divided this 
field into three parts, one to be sown with Cocksfoot, the second 
with Meadow Fescue, and the third with rough Meadow Grass 
I ordered, with special care, the three kinds of seed from one of. 
the great seed merchants, and looked forward next year to a good 
crop of seed, not suspecting that when seed was especially ordered 
of a particular kind from a firm of repute it would be anything 
but good. But after a few weeks’ growth, although I was satisfied 
that the Cocksfoot avas true, my suspicions were aroused about the 
others, and I sent some of the seed that was left to be examined 
by Mr. Carruthers. To my great amazement I was told the Meadow 
Fescue was all Rye Grass, and the Rough Meadow Grass all Smooth 
Meadow Grass. There was nothing left for it but in the best way 
possible to destroy all the grass and resow it.” He adds further 
OR, “ I have since these experiments never sown any seed except 
nfter the sample had been examined by Mr. Carruthers, and have) 
in consequence, obtained results most satisfactory to myself.” 
We might proceed to quote examples of an equal amount of 
good work done in the analyses of manures and oil cake, for the 
last number of the Journal contains no less than thirty pages of 
cases of adulteration, all which show clearly how heavily farmers 
have suffered from putting themselves in the hands of unscrupulous 
dealers. The fact is, however, sufficiently notorious, yet we fear 
even now that much so-called pure cake and special manures are 
comparatively worthless. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
As we write the weather is delightfully mild, and gentle rain has 
been falling for twelve hours or more. Nothing could possibly be more 
opportune than this change from cold dry weather, for the spring corn. 
Kohl Rabi, Mangolds, and Swedes were all ready for it, and the grass 
reserved for hay will also derive much benefit from it. It is true the 
rain prevents the finishing of corn-hoeing, but we do not mind this, for 
we have had an exceptionally favourable time for the destruction of 
weeds, and full advantage has been taken of it, so that we look forwtird 
confidently to full corn crops this year. It must not be forgotten that 
weeds among root crops will grow freely now, and we must resolve to 
get them under before haymaking begins. That important work will 
certainly be late in the season this year, and we shall have to push on 
briskly when we do begin in order to be ready for corn harvest. The 
grass mowers have already been sent in to the ironworks to be thoroughly 
overhauled and put in order, and we advise our readers to send in their 
machines if they are at all faulty, for every hour is precious when the 
haymaking begins, and all that is possible should now be done to pre¬ 
pare for it. To intending purchasers of new grass mowers we strongly 
advise preference to Hornsby’s machines, simply because after a trial of 
several we have found none equal to them. These machines are com¬ 
pact and strong, and they have a very strong connecting rod which 
seldom if ever breaks. It is wise to have duplicate parts of the machine 
which are most subject to wear and tear and to risk of breakage. By 
attention to these simple matters of preparation and precaution we were 
able to mow from 200 to 300 acres of grass, last season at the rate of 
10 acres per machine daily. Stones have been picked, and fallen twigs 
and branches picked and raked up under timber trees, both for safety 
to the mowers and for the sake of the hay. 
Food for sheep is now becoming abundant, and it has caused the 
price of store hoggets to have an upward tendency. Fat hoggets, too, 
have met with a brisk s.ale at good prices, and we have been selling 
some clipped ones at profitable rates. To do this advantageously so 
early there must be snug yards and sheds, with plenty of sound nouri.sh- 
ing food. We are fortunate in having such shelter, and the food has 
consisted of coarse lamb food, chaff, and Mangolds. 
BRITISH TOBACCO CULTURE. 
In the admirable report of the competition for the prizes offered by 
the London Chamber of Commerce for British grown Tobacco in your 
issue for May 16th, there is one point we would ask you to be good 
enough to allow us to explain. It reads as follows ; — 
“ None of the samples submitted were in a merchantable condition, 
so that it would appear that English growers have still a great deal 
to learn, especially as regards curing.” 
We would state that Tobacco of the crop of 1887 could not possibly 
be in a merchantable condition on May 1st, 1888. 
If it was intended to convey that the Tobacco should be in a mer¬ 
chantable condition, by which we understand in a condition to go into 
the hands of the manufacturer, or the broker, from the producer, the 
competition instead of taking place on May 1st, should have been 
delayed until September 1st, when the Tobacco would have passed 
through what is familiarly known in America as the “ May sweat.” 
and would ultimately have reached the mature stage it is supposed to 
attain before going into the hands of the broker or manufacturer. 
This we feel sure you will recognise is an important point and suffi¬ 
ciently interesting to justify our asking you to insert this letter for the 
informationy of your readers.— James Carter & Co. 
[Undoubtedly the point is important, and ready insertion is given to 
the explanatory communication.] 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUAnS, LONDON. 
Lat. 61° 82'40''N.: Long. 0° 8'0" W.; AlUtnda, 111 feet. 
date. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAT. 
Hygrome- 
d . 
Shade Tern- 
Radiation 
1888. 
02” S 
ter. 
S a 
peratnre. 
Temperature. 
s 
May. 
In 
On 
Dry. 
Wet. 
QE 
Max. 
Min. 
sun. 
grass 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sunday . 
S0.218 
56.0 
48 8 
s.w. 
514 
71JI 
40.1 
115.0 
36.4 
— 
Monday. 
29.871 
50.5 
44 6 
N.W. 
52.7 
60.4 
44.1 
110.1 
88.8 
— 
Tuesday ... 
. 15 
29.718 
52.1 
44.2 
E. 
52.3 
63.6 
41.6 
104.3 
35.1 
— 
Wednesday. 
. 16 
29.576 
58.4 
51.4 
S.E. 
52.2 
62.9 
42.3 
101.9 
35.4 
0.8.34 
Thursday... 
. 17 
29.607 
547 
52 8 
S. 
51.8 
61.7 
505 
73.0 
48,0 
0.257 
Friday . 
IS 
29 802 
58 6 
55.7 
E. 
52.2 
755 
54 3 
117.0 
52.7 
— 
Saturday ... 
. ly 
29.706 
69.3 
61.6 
E. 
54.0 
77.2 
57.2 
113.8 
51.4 
— 
29.785 
5M 
613 
52.4 
675 
47.1 
105.0 
42.5 
i'.57L 
REMARKS. 
IsTli.—A lovely summer day; the first with temperature above 70°. 
14th.—Bright early; generally cloudy after 10 A.M. 
lith.—Generally hazy, and frequently cloudy; but bright at times. 
16th.—Cloudy morning, wet afternoon, damp evening. 
17th.—Continuous rain till 3 P.M , then damp and showery. 
18th.—Dull and damp eariy, gradually cleared, and bright and hot after 11 A.3I. Lmar 
halo at night. 
19th.—Close, hot, and frequently cloudy. Thunder heard in the neighbourhood In the 
afternoon. 
Although Wednesday and Thursday were wet and uncomfortable, the rest o the 
week was extremely pleasant, and Friday and Saturday were quite snuunerllke,—G. J. 
STMONS. 
