150 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August IS, 1885. 
devote more land to the culture of Mangolds than to Swedes 
—Mangolds being a sure crop, but Swedes are very uncertain, 
and by a system of pulping and mixing with chaff Mangolds 
may be rendered excellent food throughout winter. Carrots 
are highly valuable in winter for horses, cows, lean stock, 
and sheep, and we regret not finding their culture more 
common than it is. For light thin soil Red Intermediate 
answers best, and for deep rich soil Long Red is preferable. 
The soil should be fertile for this crop, the seed sown in drills 
early in April, singling done as soon as the plants are large 
enough, and the hand hoes should follow quickly, for if 
weeds crowd the young plants they are apt to become drawn 
and weak. Nothing can be more simple than the culture of 
this root, and it certainly well repays us for it. 
May for the north, June for the south, are the months for 
sowing Swedes. White Turnips may also be sown then and 
in the two following months for a late supply, a late crop of 
Turnips being very useful in spring for store sheep, and it is 
often obtained by sowing after Winter Oats. In hot dry 
weather the Turnip fly does much harm ; but with a fine 
seed bed, soil highly manured, and new seed, we may usually 
avoid much harm from it, and by way of precaution we 
generally sow about 2 lbs. per acre of White Mustard with 
it, the quick germination and growth of the Mustard bringing 
it on for the fly before the Turnip plant can suffer. 
Assuming that the clergyman’s farm will always have a 
fair proportion of live stock upon it, including horses, cows, 
store cattle, sheep, and pigs, the value of an ample store of 
roots in winter and spring is self evident. A change of diet 
is good at all times, but it is especially so in winter when, 
with the exception of sheep, all animals are confined in 
yards and sheds. In November Carrots come into regular 
use for the dairy cows and horses, and there should be 
enough Carrots for the horses till spring. For the cows 
sliced, not pulped, Carrots are best, mixed with bran; this, 
with plenty of the best meadow liay, forms an excellent 
winter dietary for strong healthy cows. For a change that 
is both wholesome and nutritious, Drumhead Cabbage and 
later on sliced Mangolds and Thousand-headed Kale are 
used; but Turnips are not given to dairy cows at any time. 
For store cattle an occasional meal of Turnips is a whole¬ 
some change, especially in November and December, after 
which time preference is given to Mangolds. Let us take 
especial care that our store of both Carrots and Mangolds is 
a large one. It is by the end of February that we have the 
full value of such provision impressed upon us. Store cattle 
kept till then upon hay and straw only become mangy. A 
regular supply of roots corrects this, and what a help 
to the hayricks as well as to the animals are plenty 
of Mangolds then ! For the breeding flock they are 
invaluable, only do not let them be given wastefully. 
A daily supply of fresh roots should be taken to the fold 
or pasture, and the quantity strictly regulated by the 
consumption. Sows and store pigs eat them greedily, and 
so fond are horses of them that in the eastern counties they 
are used instead of Carrots. Poultry, too, are very fond of 
them. It is really surprising to see how soon two or three 
old hens will consume a huge root of the Mammoth Long 
Red, and we take care to let them have as many as they can 
eat. For poultry confined in wired enclosures a root or two 
given frequently would prove highly beneficial. The roots 
are not sliced for poultry, but thrown to them uncut, and 
they soon peck them up. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Corn harvest, though somewhat retarded, is now upon us, and on the 
whole it is an abundant one. As is invariably the case, good farming 
proves to be the best farming—best in the important sense of full crops upon 
land highly cultivated. It will, however, he well to consider what, under 
the present adverse circumstances, we ought to regard as the profitable 
limit of high cultivation. Results are before us. How have they been 
obtained ? It is only by careful thought, by an intelligent grasp of facts, 
and by careful comparisons made constantly week by week, and especially 
now, that we can hope to master fully every lesson affecting our calling 
that is worth learning. How to get our harvest work done economically 
has been a weighty matter. Hornsby’s reaping and binding machinea 
are on hire at 4s. an acre. This fact, doubtless, had weight with Norfolk 
farmers when they decided to “hire the harvest” to the labourers at 
£7 instead of £8. This amount is supposed, and in point of fact does, 
closely represent a payment of about 11s. an acre for reaping, binding, 
and stacking the crops. But an average sum cannot be a fair one, for the 
farmer with a light corn crop must demur at being compelled to pay as 
much per acre as another with a heavy one. The question we have now 
to decide is the comparative cost of a reaper and binder at 4s. an acre, 
with the addition of 2s. for string, and the cost of stacking, with the old 
system, and if only a saving of 2s. an acre is effected by the use of 
improved machinery it must be done. It is idle to talk of harsh treat¬ 
ment of the labourers. A revolution in farming is upon us, and we 
must either resolve to turn its stern lessons to account or be overwhelmed 
by it. . . 
The roofs and sides of some dilapidated old barns have been repaired 
in readiness for the harvest, and all the woodwork has had a dressing of 
tar. Negligence of outbuildings is a common fault, yet there never was a 
more expensive one, prompt attention to patching and tarring old. builu- 
ings saving many a pound. If Peas can he brought to the rickyard 
sufficiently forward for threshing, it will he done at once. Our state¬ 
ment as to the comparative value of winter and spring Beans proves some¬ 
what unsound, for since writing it we have seen several fields of spring 
Beans badly attacked by aphides, one field so seriously that the crop is 
worthless. Winter Beans, on the contrary, are in many fields so good a 
crop that they will prove very profitable, and the outcry about the failure 
of winter Beans was certainly a little premature. All our new hayricks 
have been insured. Land under spring Tares, wherever it has been folded 
with sheep, has been ploughed as the Tares were used. It will be turned 
to account at once for White Turnips, or it will he sowed in September 
for Rye for an early supply of green food next year. White Mustard is 
being ploughed in as fast as it becomes fully grown, or, rather, when it is 
in full bloom. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Ear-Cockle In Wheat (Sussex).—Purples or ear-cockle is generally 
brought into a Wheat field by the galls containing the dense cottony mass 
of worms being mixed with the seed corn. The gall is really the diseased 
grain so altered that instead of the germ and store of starch it contains a 
mass of minute worms. Ripened with the corn at harvest time, so long as 
the galls remain dry the worms remain torpid, and it has been proved that 
they retain vitality for a long time, and Professor Carruthers has shown 
how when the gall becomes moistened with water the worms become active, 
they penetrate the wall of the gall and escape. Even after they have left 
the gall they may be dried up and become torpid, and remain in this condi¬ 
tion for a considerable time without being killed, for when moisture is 
applied to them they revive again. You say that of two fields of Wheat 
sown with one lot of seed one has no cockle and the other is badly affected. 
We can only suggest that by some accident the galls had been mixed with 
part of the seed, or else thrown among manure used in the field containing 
the affected Wheat. 
Prickly Comfrey [W. S .).—In November the plants may be divided into 
as many pieces as there are crowns, r serving a portion of root to each 
division, planting in rows 30 to 36 inches asunder, and 24 to 30 inches apart, 
burying up to the crown in loose soil. The ground should have been deeply 
trenched, and the more manure is worked-in the better the plants will 
flourish. A good dressing of manure should be given about the crowns after 
planting, and this should be pointed-in early in spring. The deeper and 
richer the soil the more space should be given the plants. Comfrey does 
best in deep damp soil, but the moisture must not be stagnant. Propagation 
is also effected by cutting the roots into lengths of about a couple of inches, 
and dibbling them in at the above-named distance, apart. November ana 
February being suitable seasons. Guano, nitrate of soda, and salt are good 
surface dressings, applying in March. 
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. 
a 
"3 
« 
1885. 
August. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 32* 
and Sea 
Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
1 
Temp, of 
Soil at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass. 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sunday . 
2 
30.097 
59.0 
53.2 
N.E. 
65.0 
72.8 
54.5 
118.0 
53.3 
— 
3 
30.074 
59.2 
54.1 
N.E. 
64.3 
66.4 
54.0 
89.8 
53.3 
— 
Tuesday. 
4 
29.953 
61.2 
54.5 
N.E. 
63 0 
72.9 
49.6 
117.6 
43.2 
0.010- 
Wednesday .. 
5 
29.957 
60.5 
57.7 
N.E. 
631 
66.5 
54.4 
92.3 
48.5 
0.010 
Thursday .... 
6 
29.955 
59.7 
56.6 
E. 
62.4 
75.4 
51.8 
114.8 
43.9 
0.016- 
Friday. 
7 
29.786 
60.9 
54.8 
8. 
62.2 
69.2 
50.7 
115.2 
44.1 
0.077 
Saturday .... 
8 
29.875 
63.1 
57.3 
W. 
61.4 
72.0 
52.6 
120.2 
48.4 
— 
29.957 
60.5 
55.5 
63.1 
70.7 
52.5 
109.7 
47.8 
0.1 IS 
REMARES. 
2 nd.- Cloudy, but fine. 
3rd.—Pair, cool, and cloudy. 
4th.—Bright early, then cloudy, with a few drops of rain at fi P.M. 
6th.—Morning damp and misty ; afternoon and evening fine. 
(ith— Fine morning, then dull, slight rain at 3.30 P.M., thunder at 4 P.M., and occasionally 
later. 
7th.—Fine early ; slight thunderstorm with hail at 11 A M.; afternoon and evening fine. 
8lli.—Cloudy morning, hut very line afterwards. 
Temperature considerably below that of previous weeks, and very near the average. 
Thunder storms have prevailed in the neighbourhood, but the rainfall here has at 
present been quite Insignificant.—G. J. SIMONS. 
