4S0 
JOUBiVAl OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
r June 7, '.8 8. 
dairy county, did well to set so good an example. This was 
followed by visits to Derbyshire and Ireland, the latter being 
■especially successful; and this year, in the fourth week of May, 
came a visit of the Association, extending over four days, to the 
great corn-growing district of East Anglia. 
On the first day there was a butter-making contest in the Drill 
Hall at Ipswich, with both local and open classes, of which it is 
worthy of remark that all the prizes were awarded to butter made 
in end-over-end churns. Cream for the contest was supplied from 
local dairies, so that the competitors were upon a footing of equality 
as to quality of cream, and though prizes were awarded for skilful 
manipulation of the butter, yet Professor Long, the Judge, re¬ 
marked subsequently of this Suffolk butter that it was as poor as 
could be, while at Norwich he found as good butter as anyone 
could desire. 
During this contest Mr. W. H. Lynch of Ontario, Canada, gave 
an address on butter making, in which especial stress was laid upon 
four essential points ;—1, The removal of all the butter milk. 2, 
The preservation of the grain, injury to which affected the flavour. 
3, Even and properly salting. 4, Uniformity in quality. Then came 
a conference in the Council Chamber of the Town Hall, at which 
Mr. H. A. Howman of Tame Hurst, Kingsbury, Tamworth, read 
■an appropriate paper on Dairy Farming in Arable Districts, and 
the remainder of the day was devoted to an excursion by water to 
Woolverstone Park Dairy, 
On each of the following days the programmes were full—in 
point of fact they were too full, and on the last day there was such 
a multiplicity of engagements that the short intervals allowed at 
■each halting place detracted from the pleasure of the meeting very 
much. Without giving the whole itinerary, we may mention visits 
to some of the best herds of Red Polls, to the Duchess of 
Hamilton’s Pound Farm Dairy at Glenham with its herd of some 
■fifty choice cows, its model cowhouse, and elaborate steam apparatus 
Sor driving the Laval Separator, the churn, as well as machinery 
for the preparation of the cows’ food. Then to Easton Hall, then 
to Albert College, Framlingham, where a paper was read by 
Dr. W. A, Elleston of Ipswich on “ Milk.” Next to Bury 
St. Edmunds, where, in the Constitutional Hall, Professor J. 
Wortley Axe read an important paper on “ Parturient Apo¬ 
plexy,” which though highly technical was much appreciated, 
and was followed by a practical discussion calculated to do 
much good. This paper was certainly the most valuable of all. 
Then came excursions to Ickworth Park, Carrow Abbey, the 
Whitlingham Herd and Dairy, followed by a conference in the 
Agricultural Hall, Norwich, where Professor James Long read a 
paper on “Profitable Summer Farming.” This, too, was a valuable 
paper, wherein Professor Long endeavoured to show that forage 
■cropping and stall feeding produce a better result than grazing. 
He gave tables illustrating how much of each crop would keep a 
•cow for six months, the result being that 100 acres of good grazing, 
and the same area of Clover or Tares, would keep 100 head of 
stock, while the powers of maintenance of other crops on the 
100 acres were Trifolium, eighty head; Lucerne, 200; Sainfoin, 
H7 ; Rye Grass, 188 ; Rye, 117 ; Maize, 1G3 ; Sorghum, IGO ; and 
Uabbage, 133. The farther advantage claimed for such temporary 
crops over pasture was the inestimable value that they could be 
removed and succeeded by others. For this reason their value was 
almost double that shown in the figures. 
The excursions tliroughout East Anglia culminated in a visit to 
Sandringham, where a pleasant surprise awaited the visitors in the 
presence of the Princess of Wales and the Princesses Louise, 
Tictoria, and Maud. Many of the visitors went round the cow 
shails with the Princess, who pointed out some of her favourites, 
and luncheon was subsequently served to some 200 guests in a 
sp.icious marquee near the dairy, the chair being taken by Sir 
Dighton Pro by n. 
Of the value of such meetings we can bear pleasant testimony, 
for we took some part in them, and derived much pleasure from the 
keen discussions of points of interest in matters affecting dairy 
farming, which were constantly taking place. Men of mark, 
leaders in dairy farming were there from all parts of the country, 
and many of them were frank and outspoken with words of en¬ 
couragement and advice. “ Do not despair if you have a few 
failures,” said one of them in a genial after-dinner speech, “ I turn 
out upwards of 10,000 Stilton cheeses from my dairy every year, 
yet when we began neither I nor my wife had ever made a cheese.” 
Suffolk cheese, though very much a thing of the past, was so 
bad that it is still a byword. “ Why ! ” said Alderman Ridley at 
the dinner at Bury St. Edmunds, “ the very dogs used to bark at 
it, but ”—with a chuckle —“ they could not bite it !” It was with 
regret that we heard the worthy Alderman go on to remark that 
very much of the butter sent into Bury now by farmers was n't 
worth more than from 7d. to 9d. per pound. Can we wonder that 
such farmers declare that dairy farming, even in their small way, 
does not answer ? 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Complaints of drought and cold are frequent ; every change of wind 
is followed with anxiety, for ujjon the weather of the next few weeks 
depends the success or partial failure of many of the crops. A warm, 
dripping June would indeed prove a blessing, as in point of fact wilt the 
dry cold weather of the end of May, for has it not enabled us to grapple 
with our foul land as only such weather could do ? Plough, harrows, 
rollers, have indeed done good work, because they have been freely used 
throughout the spring onwards to the present time. They must, how¬ 
ever, be used with judgment, even under such favourable conditions, for 
when land is very foul with couch grass it requires to loe left sufficiently 
long after each ploughing and stirring for the small pieces of grass root 
to die. For example, a farm which came upon our hands last Michaelmas 
had thirty acres which had been under a long fallow, and which was 
therefore presumably clean. We decided to sow it with Wheat, and 
after the drill and harrows had been used for that purpose we found 
many grass roots brought to the surface still alive. Now, we had in the 
valuation of this farm paid for a given number of ploughings upon the 
understanding that they had been done at proper intervals of time 
during the past summer ; but we found that three of the ploughings 
had been done quickly without such intervals, and consequently the 
land was not left in as clean “ summerland ” ought to be. The reason 
of such hurried, improper ploughing -was a avant of horses to use for it 
at the proper time, and as the tenant was leaving the farm he would not 
be a sufferer from such bad practice. 
Both Mangolds and Swede plants are now well above the surface, 
and the horse hoe has already been used to stir the soil well between the 
rows. The Swedes are wonderfully free from insects, and with some 
rain we hope for a full crop. Of white Turnios we do not require early 
roots, but the land is almost ready for sowing, which will be done in due 
course in favourable weather. Maize should now be sown in sufficient 
quantity both for use in autumn and for silage. The land should be 
rich in fertility in order to have a full crop, and care must be taken to 
keep off rooks, or they will uproot the whole of the seed. There is 
nothing for it but to have a boy in each field to keep them oil, and it is 
surely worth while doing this to save so \aluable a crop, which, if well 
planted, absolutely revels in a hot, dry summer, and gives us twenty 
times the bulk per acre of any other green crop. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 
CAMDEN SQUAllE, LONDON, 
L»t. 51° 33'40'’N.; Long. 0° 8-0" W.; Altitude, 111 fact. 
DATE. I 9 A.M. I IN THE DAT. 
1888. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 82® 
and Sea 
Level. 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
a . 
c-a 
a 
O 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
■3 
oi 
May ELd June. 
Dry, 
Wet. 
Co 
1 
Max.| Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass 
Sunday . 
Inches. 
80.0-il 
deg 
.yjs 
deg. 
47.8 
8.E. 
deg. 
51.4 
deg. 
626 
deg. 
8'‘.4 
deg. 
9 .4 
deg. 
31.2 
In. 
Monday. 
24 
2U7U 
r>i 7 
52 5 
• JS.K. 
58 8 
*3 8 
41 6 
l*>6-5 
3i.9 
0.*)10 
Tuesday ... 
. ib 
29 9 <9 
51.4 
47 2 
E. 
54 2 
61.3 
45 7 
98 2 
42.8 
Wednesday. 
. 3i) 
2l).ri9 
r,'.} 9 
5,'! li 
S.W. 
54 7 
49 7 
118.6 
48 2 
Thursday... 
. 81 
29.94 i 
55.8 
48 7 
s w. 
54 4 
C.>6 
46 8 
119.9 
, 
Friday . 
. 1 
30.286 
59 4 
51.1 
N.W. 
55 2 
*8 9 
418 
119.2 
4-'.l 
Saturday ... 
. 2 
3 j 2(i9 
68.6 
65.6 
.56 7 
791 
53 7 
ua 0 
44.6 
— 
29 980 
y.2 
;u9 
51.8 
66 7 
46 0 
U'1.7 
4 .3 
11.2,2 
EE MARKS. 
27th.—Ratlier Ini^ty all day. 
V8th.—Ha/.y morn i-?, cloudy afternoon, spots of rain in event? gad n ght. 
2yth.—Fr« quentiy cloudy, but with a KOort deal of sun in ike m idle of iheday; solar 
halo in afternoon ; rain at nlKht. 
SO h.—Variable morning, w th a sl’^ht »hower at noon ; briRht afternoon. 
815*1.—Generally cloudy in lUe inoruiu^; bright afternoon and tveuiug. 
Ist.—15rlght and fine inortiiug; afternoon generally cloudy. 
2nd.—Cloudy till 11 A.M.; bright afternoon. 
Temperature gradually rising throughout the week, A frost on grass on Sn-day 
morning, and on the following Saturday 79*i*> in the shade and in the sun. Very 
llltlj rain except during the night between Tuesday and Wedueaday.—G. J. SrMoNd. 
