256 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
r September 17,1891. 
FARMS IN HAND. 
This is the term applied to farms given up by tenants, and 
which for some reason or other have not been relet, but have fallen 
upon the landlord’s hands, and as this happens at Michaelmas 
attention may now usefully he given to the treatment of such 
land, as it not unfrequently falls to the lot of the home farmer to 
take up farm after farm as they so fall in. When he has this 
extra work coming upon him every effort should be made to 
push on autumn work on the home farm, so that the vacant 
farm may have prompt attention as soon after Michaelmas as 
possible. 
No rules can be framed for such an emergency, but the farm 
falling in hand must be treated solely upon its merits, and not at 
all by line and rule. If it should be a dairy farm with the land 
chiefly in grass, the work of reclamation will be comparatively easy. 
But it is quite exceptional for such farms to be given up ; it is the 
poor arable farms that are generally as foul as they are poor, which 
fall in hand, and no light undertaking is it to bring them into 
thorough cultivation again. Let the home farmer bear this well in 
mind, and let him insist upon having sufficient means for the 
undertaking. If he foolishly agrees to try and do this extra work 
with the home farm staff of men and horses, he will fail, the 
home farm will be neglected, and in the end he will be 
blamed. No, it will be quite enough for him to have this 
extra work upon his hands, and if he is a wise man he will at 
the outset make it clear to the landlord or the agent that the new 
farm must have sufficient implements, horses, and workmen for its 
requirements. The outgoing tenant will most probably have an 
auction sale, at which something may be purchased for stocking 
the farm. But this is very doubtful, both live and dead stock 
generally being of the worst possible description, and it is mere 
waste of money to purchase a lot of old implements that require 
repairing at once. We once took over a farm upon an estate which 
came under our management, and the first year the wheelwright’s 
bill for repairing old implements was nearly £50. The agent 
who stocked the farm was an auctioneer who was always 
picking up “ bargains ” at sales, and he left behind him at several 
farms such a collection of them as we hope never to meet with 
again. 
The best rule in such a case is to purchase as few implements 
as possible, and to have them quite sound and good. Such things 
as a seed drill, extra harrows, rollers, &c., can always be spared 
from the home farm ; but ploughs and carts must be had. Do not 
purchase old horses ; younger animals are expensive, but they must 
be had. Using from fifty to sixty horses, it has long been our 
rule to breed enough young stock to fill vacancies and to meet 
emergencies, and so we have always been able to stock any farms 
falling in hand. If occasionally it is found that our surplus horse 
stock exceeds due bounds there is no difficulty about the disposal 
of such sound home-bred stock. We never send them to auction 
sales, but invite one or two respectable dealers to inspect our 
sale draft, telling them our price, and the matter is settled 
quietly. It is, of course, well to remember that a dealer never 
can bring himself to give the price asked by the seller, and 
a sufficient margin must be allowed for the dealer’s “ beating 
down.” 
It will most probably be found that the only clean land upon 
the fajrm consists of a bare fallow, for which a heavy charge for 
tillages has been paid in the valuation. This must be turned to 
account for winter corn, and Wheat and winter Oats sown at once, 
with a dressing per acre of 1 cwt. sulphate of ammonia and 
j cwt. each of steamed bone flour, mineral superphosphate, and 
muriate of potash. This is a safe autumn dressing, and we may 
feel certain it is required, as the land if clean is very certain to be 
poor, and we must proceed upon the principle of judicious storing 
of the soil with fertility. In spring the whole of the winter corn 
should have mixed seeds sown for a temporary pasture of five or 
six years’ duration, and the labour on that portion of the farm will 
be reduced permanently. 
If there are any root crops they should be clamped for folding 
with sheep on the land for spring corn, also to be laid down to 
temporary pasture, and then we must set to in real earnest at the 
remainder of the land to get it clean at once if possible. But this 
is a matter dependant upon weather, and we can only resolve to do 
all we can in autumn, and to go on in spring as weather permits. 
In any case the work will be expensive, and we must resolve to 
keep as much of the land as we can under fodder crops, and so keep 
down expense and gradually improve it. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
A glorious spell of fine weather has come at last, and it has required 
some self-control to go softly and not cart the corn too soon. The grain 
is not only soft, but very much of the husk is rotten, and as it dries 
much corn must be shaken out in the carting, however carefully it is 
handled. It is at best a good harvest spoilt, and the only thing left to 
do is to make the best of it now, and save all we can. A high price for 
a good sample of Wheat is now a certainty, and we doubt not plenty of 
good samples will be forthcoming, as the damage generally proves less 
than was expected. Malting Barley will be in high demand, and good 
samples must not be parted with lightly, for they should be very profit¬ 
able, and we do not intend Mr. Middleman to have too great a picking. 
He thrusts himself in between grower and consumer simply because we 
allow him to do so. We say, Sell to the malster and not to the middle¬ 
man ; it may mean an addition of 2s. per quarter to your profits, and 
why should you let that slip through your fingers ? 
Do all that is possible to turn corn that runs out upon the land to 
account by driving every sheep and pig you can upon the stubbles. 
Store lambs might just as well be pushed in now as not, and every old 
ewe drafted for fattening should be forced upon the fallen corn. They 
will eat it freely enough, and the only thing to guard against is over¬ 
feeding. 
We may have a fine autumn after all, and if so with the soil so 
softened by rain autumn tillage will be easy work, and should be pushed 
on with immediately after the corn is cleared off, and the fallen corn 
eaten. It will be as well, therefore, to clear one stubble thoroughly 
before turning stock into another in order that plough and cultivator 
may be at work as soon and as briskly as possible. Do not lose the 
golden opportunity of fine autumnal weather, for it means early sowing 
next spring, and a dry open condition of the soil, which can only be had 
by autumn cultivation and full exposure to frost, snow, wind, and rain 
all winter. Get the soil clean, and then throw it up to the action of 
the air, if you would have a good and early seed bed. 
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. 
Rain 
1891. 
September. 
S-5 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
a . 
O 
♦2 £ 
So 
**4 
<V ® r-f 
H 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In | On 
sun. grass 
Sunday. G 
Monday. 7 
Tuesday .... 8 
Wednesday.. 9 
Thursday..., 10 
Friday . 11 
Saturday .... 12 
Inches. 
30.030 
30.032 
30.153 
30.204 
30.199 
30.155 
39.140 
deg. 
59.4 
57.G 
62.9 
57.9 
G4.1 
64.3 
63.7 
deg. 
53.6 
52.9 
58.8 
57.0 
61.6 
61.2 
69.4 
S.AV. 
N.W. 
s. 
Calm. 
E. 
N.E. 
N.E. 
deg. 
56.5 
56.8 
£7.2 
57.8 
58.1 
58.2 
58.5 
deg. 
65.9 
67.2 
74.2 
79.6 
78.2 
79.2 
80.0 
deg. 
48.8 
51.4 
55.2 
49.7 
52.5 
50.4 
51.9 
deg. 
109 3 
98.4 
110.9 
116.9 
109.0 
113.8 
113.2 
deg. 
44.7 
47.1 
52.3 
45.4 
43.3 
45.2 
45.9 
In. 
0.071 
30.129 
61.4 
57.9 
57.6 
74.9 
51.4 
110.2 
46.7 
0.(71 
REMARKS. 
0th.—Cloudy throughout and rain at night. 
7th.—Brilliant parly : haze and thin cloud after 11.30 AM,; ove erst after 4 P.M.; spot 9 
of rain at night. 
8th —Bright and warm. 
9th.—Slightly foggy early, bright and warm after 9.30 A.M. 
10th.—Bright and warm, 
lllh.—Bright and warm. 
12th.—Bright and warm. 
AVith the exception of a little rain ou Sunday n'ght, a very due warm week—one of 
the extraordinarily few weeks (3) in which a temp mature of 89' in the shade has been 
reached.—G. J. SYMONS. 
