14 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 2, 1891. 
of this that should not be passed over lightly. Early maturity of 
:all fat stock and a prompt and timely disposal of all surplus store 
stock must be insisted upon. Keep well within bounds as to 
numbers, and see that your stock are of the best. We also strongly 
advise small farmers to keep out of parish business as much as 
possible. There is a common craving for posts which bring a man 
into prominence, and which give him a voice in parochial matters. 
This is all well and good if he has time to spare for it, but other¬ 
wise he is far better without it. 
Another mistake which has come under cur notice is a tendency 
of small farmers to copy the practice in force on large farms. 
Nothing can be attended with more risk than such a course, and 
we have repeatedly pointed out the evil result of such a mistaken 
idea. The small farmer must look closely into trifles, and turn 
every foot of space and every handful of produce to best account. 
If he has his wits about him he is keen to grasp any special local 
want and to make special efforts to supply it. It is entirely 
worth his while to cultivate the earliest Peas for “ podders,” the 
earliest Potatoes, and to give some space to a few of the best 
sorts of fruit. If he can manage to have a few roods of ripe 
Strawberries while the bulk of that crop is still green he is 
certain to obtain a ready land profitable market. When ripe 
Strawberries are being sent off from the local st itions at the rate 
of 50 tons daily he is practically out of it, as indeed he ought 
to be, for his Strawberry season is over before the glut of fruit 
as upon the market. Then, again, in planting fruit trees his aim 
should be the best early and late sorts for which he may fairly 
expect a profitable sale. We do not advise any rash launching 
out into fruit culture, but we do and must insist upon the 
necessity which exists for a radical change in fruit culture by 
farmers. It presents no insuperable difficulty, and if space is 
given up to fruit at all pray let it be turned to good account, 
and not be as hitherto a standing reproach to both landlord and 
tenant. 
Turning now to la petite culture of the Continent, we agree with 
Mr. Clare Sewell Read that it is not desirable that cur small 
farmers should conform still more closely to the model of the Con¬ 
tinental peasant, and live and work still harder than he does now. 
He says well that there is much to admire in the thrift, the self- 
denial, and the industry of the Continental peasantry, and there 
may be something to learn from their better manipulation of their 
small products ; but to recommend to a race of hard-working Eng¬ 
lishmen a life of grinding poverty is not likely to prove attractive 
to the individual or beneficial to the community. 
Take for example the existing state of things in Francs. The 
land which the peasant occupies is generally his own ; there are 
some 8,000,000 landowners, of whom more than 3,000,000 are 
exempt from taxation from actual poverty. These peasants are 
worse housed and worse fed than our labourers. Their cottage is 
generally of one room, having a mud floor, where they and their 
families herd together in a most filthy bestial fashion. Excessive 
and prolonged toil is their daily lot, women and children are all 
constantly employed with the men from early morn till dewy eve, 
when they turn into their hovels worn out with toil. Yet with all 
this two English acres yield as much produce as three French, and 
the superiority of the French lies in their greater business 
acuteness. The French peasant makes from £20 to £25 a year out 
of the butter of each cow, and be it remembered the cow has 
often to take its share of work upon the land. It is quite certain 
that much improvement is possible both in the breed and yield of 
British cows generally, even with our well-known superiority 
in farm produce generally. It is claimed that the British Isles 
produce more food for cattle than the whole of Fiance with twice 
the extend, and that England alone produces four times as much 
meat, milk, and wool as France, which is solely attributable to 
superior cultivation. Well will it be if we continue to maintain 
the superiority of our small farmers, and not suffer them to sink 
down to the level of the French peasant. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
With fair settled weather and a full grass crop haymaking is likely 
to predominate largely over ensilage this season. Mowing will begin 
when the grasses are in full bloom, for then the herbage is at its best for 
hay. Let this be clearly understood, for there is still an erroneous 
popular impression that the best hay has the seed in it. The best hay 
is that which is made before there is any actual development of seed, 
because seed development robs the herbage of much of its most valuable 
food properties. With the flowering of the grasses full growth has come, 
and there is no reason for waiting any longer for the mowing. 
Sun and wind soon make good hay, and the labour involved in the 
making is comparatively trifling to what it is in unsettled weather. Let 
the tedding machine follow the mower closely, and then with a free use 
of horse rakes the hay ought to be turned and got together at a cheap 
rate. The chief thing is full exposure to sun and wind with judicious 
cocking to guard against damage by rain. Do not cart to the rick till 
the hay is quite ready, or there will be serious risk from overheating. 
For stacks of from 20 to 30 tons we invariably U3e a sack stuffed with 
straw, drawn upwards in the middle of the stack as the building goes 
on, so as to form a passage for the escape of heat quickly, to facilitate 
which the sack is withdrawn altogether each night during the building 
of the stack. 
Clover and Sainfoin, as well as mixed seeds, have already been mown 
for hay or stover. For this class of forage the tedding machine is not 
used, but after the mowing it is left to wither in the swathes, and is 
then turned over gently for the under side of the swathe to wither, when 
it is ready for carting to the rick. The reason for this difference in the 
making is that the large tender foliage of the Clovers will not bear the 
rough process of ordinary haymaking, as the foliage wou'd become 
battened to pieces and the forage would lose much of its goodness. 
Some of the first crop of Clover has been folded with sheep in view 
of sowing seed from the second crop. More caution than usual has been 
necessary in this folding owing to the very succulent growth of the 
Clover and the risk of sheep becoming “ blown” from overfeeding. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Diseased Cow (Z). E .').—An examination of the animal by a veteri¬ 
nary surgeon is the only course we can advise in this case. Mr. R. 
Dean, Ranelagh Road, Ealing, London, can give you authoritative infor¬ 
mation on the other subject. When writing him enclose a stamped directed 
envelope for his reply. 
Poor Pasture ( Cestrian ).—It would be quite useless applying 
chemical manure now while the weather continues dry. Your only 
chance for this season is to procure enough nitrate of soda to afford a 
dressing of a hundredweight per acre, and to sow it broadcast over the 
pasture in showery weather. It would then be dissolved and washed 
into the soil sufficiently to induce growth. Then when you have a fair 
bite of grass, if you can procure some sheep and fold them upon in 
small folds, using as many hurdles for each fold as there are sheep, 
feeding the sheep well with cake and corn, and making a fresh fold 
daily, you will thus store the soil with a fair amount of fertility by 
November, when all stock should be withdrawn from it. Next February 
apply a dressing of chemical manure, consisting per acre of 1 cwt. 
nitrate of soda, half-cwt. muriate of potash, half-cwt. mineral super¬ 
phosphate, and half-cwt. steamed bone flour, procured separately from 
a reliable source, and mixed under your own supervision. You may 
then reasonably expect a fair crop of grass, but the pasture will not be 
really first class for a couple of years. By using the chemical manure 
annually in February it is quite certain to become so in due course, 
and you will be well repaid for your outlay. You will understand 
success this season depends entirely upon favourable weather for our 
scheme. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. | 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAYt 
Bain 
1891. 
J une. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 328 
and Sea 
Level. 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
| of Wind. 
I Temp, of 
soil at 
1 1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 1 Wet. 
Max.! Min. 
In | On 
snn. ’grass 
8nnday. 21 
Monday.21 
Tuesday .... 23 
Wednesday.. 24 
Thursday.... 25 
Friday . 26 
Saturday .... 27 
Inches. 
30.292 
30.115 
29.960 
29.916 
29.846 
29.8'8 
29.904 
deg. 
60.5 
05.1 
58.7 
68.8 
66.9 
68.4 
66. S 
deg. 
54.8 
59.8 
57.2 
64.0 
63.7 
61.3 
58.5 
N.E. 
N.E. 
E. 
E. 
N.E. 
S. 
s.w. 
deg. 
62.9 
63.6 
63.1 
61.0 
61.7 
61.9 
62.2 
deg. 
74.2 
79.0 
69.0 
74.9 
74.7 
75.8 
72.7 
deg. 
51.4 
54.7 
56.3 
57.3 
61.1 
57.1 
67.6 
deg. 
121.6 
125.9 
101.3 
106.2 
105.9 
125.6 
I123.6 
deg. 
50.0 
65.2 
56.8 
56.3 
57.6 
54.6 
53.2 
In. 
0.322 
0.020 
0.033 
29.984 
65.0 , 59.9 | 62.3 
74.3 
56.5 
115.7 54.8 0.375 
REMARKS. 
21st.—Bright and fine throughout. 
22nd.—Bright, warm, morning, clouded over at noon, shower at 1.30 r M.,and continuous 
rain after 6 P.M. 
23rd.—Wet early and drizzly till 11 A.M, then cloudy and a slight shower i.t 2.20 P.M., 
a little sun in afternoon, damp drizziy evening. 
24th.—Fine and generally bright in morning, slight thunderstorm from 1.J5 to 2 P.M.j 
and generally threatening after, lightning at night. 
25th.—Wet till 8.30 A.M., humid and oppressive in morning, thunder from 1.50 to 3 P M., 
fair evening, distant lightning at night. 
26th.—Fine and p easant but cloudy at times. 
27th.—Bright and breezy. 
A gmerally fine week, with distant thunder on several occasions.—J. SYMONS. 
