462 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 19, 1885. 
upon us. To fold pregnant ewes upon Turnips or Swedes 
now, or rather from the present time till after the lambing, 
is to court failure; it is a reckless proceeding of which no 
really intelligent man can be guilty. It is still done, how¬ 
ever, and last year we again had urgent inquiry for a remedy 
for abortion after the mischief was done. A mixed diet, 
kindly gentle treatment, rest upon a sound dry pasture; in 
a wo rd, let us follow the dictates of common sense in feeding 
the ewes, and in our own care for their external comfort. 
May we go a little farther, and ask our readers to try and 
see what food does for animals ? Food consists of two dis¬ 
tinct parts—organic and inorganic. Organic food consists 
of combustible substances divisible into two classes—nitro- 
genised and non-nitrogenised. The office of the first is to 
form tissue and blood; of the last to maintain heat and 
promote respiration. Inorganic food, really the residue of 
the other, supplies bone and enters into the juices of the body 
and into the composition of the blood. Our object here 
is to show that food does something more than 
form tissue, hone, and blood. It maintains heat, with¬ 
out which no animal of the farm can be in a healthy 
thriving condition. To expose animals in a bleak wind-swept 
field, to keep them penned up in a fold, standing hour after 
hour in a mud puddle several inches in depth, to give them 
nothing but cold wet food ; all or any of these things tend to 
exhaust the strength, to waste the heat, to lower the 
condition. 
A short time ago mention was made of the use of un¬ 
threshed Oats as an economical article of food, and we may 
here strongly recommend the chaffing of unthreshed Oat 
sheaves for sheep. In analyses of grain and straw we are 
shown the various proportions of constituents in one hundred 
parts, and Oats certainly compare favourably with other 
cereals, the grain containing of water, 13-09; flesh formers, 
11-85; heat and flesh producers, 63-34; and the straw of 
water, 12-06; flesh formers, 1-63; heat and fat producers, 
39-98. Compare these proportions with those of Swedes, 
which give of water, 89-40; of flesh formers, 1-44; of fatty 
matters hardly an appreciable proportion, and we see how 
admirably chaffed grain and straw of Oats is calculated to 
correct the deficiency of the roots. It is undoubtedly true 
that we have repeatedly advised that ewes should be kept off 
the roots till after lambing, and this course has been adopted 
as the only safe one while so much careless practice is known 
to exist. But in safe hands both Swedes and Turnips may 
be used at any time in moderation, and carefully mixed with 
other food. 
The value of other straw must not be overlooked. Barley, 
Pea, and Bean straw are all nutritious, and are used un¬ 
chaffed in racks, affording a frequent change and much 
wholesome nourishment to the sheep. We have strong faith 
in keeping pregnant ewes in high condition, our aim being 
to obtain fine sturdy lambs early in the season, so that we 
may draft a certain number to be brought on for market as 
tat lambs, and to select the best ewe lambs for breeding in 
the first year. Two flocks of such lambs of the current year 
have taken the tups, and we have reasonable hopes of obtain¬ 
ing good lambs from them, for they have been well fed to 
bring them forward in growth, the tups being put with them 
a month later than with the older ewes. These lambs have 
had some cake, but now that corn is so cheap it is used in¬ 
stead of cake, a mixture of Barley, Peas, and Beans being 
ground, and forming excellent nourishing food, a fair amount 
of which will be used for them throughout winter, and we 
believe that this gain of a year in breeding will well repay 
us for the extra outlay in food which it involves. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
The killing and curing of bacon hogs is now being done at the home 
farm, nice compact animals of about 250 lbs. dead weight being selected 
for this purpose, and we have plenty to choose from, our stock of pigs 
being considerably enlarged to consume cheap corn, which just now at any 
rate answers best if turned into pork, and so passed into the market, such 
pigs producing about £6 apiece under the auctioneer’s hammer. We 
regret having had to expend a considerable sum of money in stocking the 
five farms which we have in hand with pigs. This is undoubtedly bad 
practice, but in our case it was unavoidable for this winter. Another 
season we hope to do better by having enough breeding sows on each 
farm. Whether pork is cheap or dear pigs bring a quick return for money 
expended upon them, no animal growing or fattening so fast. Perhaps 
stubble pigs answer best. We saw a fine herd out upcn the stubbles of a 
large farm this autumn that at a reasonable rate must have brought the 
wise owner considerably upwards of £1000 by this time. Swine fever is 
still rampant at many farms, and the sale of young store pigs is prohibited 
in open markets. Why should pigs be kept in the filthy state in which 
so olten see them ? We have had the walls of all our piggeries thoroughly 
cleansed with washings of fresh-slacked limewasb, the yards cleared of 
any accumulations of old manure, and plenty of fresh straw kept littered 
about yards and beds. We use large sheds, opening into yards of pro¬ 
portionate size, for pigs, from forty to sixty pigs being kept together in 
each of them, and we find this plan answers well, the feeding and littering 
being much less laborious than when the pigs are in separate styes. 
Turkey poults are now in season, and we have plenty of nice forward 
birds that for several weeks after harvest were out upon the corn stubbles 
daily. The important thing in turkey breeding is to have plenty of for¬ 
ward broods, to which end there must be kept plenty of breeding stock, 
old birds always commanding high prices if fattened specially for Christ¬ 
mas, for it is size that tells in the turkey market—the larger the kind the 
higher the price. For home consumption we try to have enough full- 
grown plump young hen birds, which are considered to be best for the 
table of a connoisseur. An excellent supply of eggs is now afforded by 
the early chickens which were saved from the March and April broods. 
It is only by having this done regularly year by year that we are able to 
insure plenty of eggs in winter, when old hens have ceased laying and do 
not begin again till spring. 
MR. W. J. MURPHY, CLONMEL. 
This is a familiar name to readers of horticultural and agricultural 
literature. A portrait of Mr. Murphy appeared in The Irish Farm of the 
14th inst., with the following appreciative remarks :— 
“ Mr. W. J. Murphy, whose portrait we give to-day, has been one of 
our correspondents in both the farming, gardening, and industiial depart¬ 
ments for many years. He is a graduate of the Government Farming 
Institute at Glasnevin, where, in open competition, more than twenty 
years ago with eighty others, he won one of the first places. The Albert 
Farm, as it was called, had then for superintendent Dr. Kirkpatrick, who 
was succeeded by Professor Baldwin, now of the Land Commission. 
Here for more than two years Mr. Murphy had the benefit of sessional 
lectures also from W. K. Sullivan, Ph.D., now President of the Cork 
Queen’s College ; Dr. Hodges of Belfast ; Dr. Moore, Ph.D., R.D.S., 
Botanic Gardens ; James M’Donnell, M.A., and many other eminent men 
in various spheres and subjects. A machine accident at this time deprived 
him of his left hand and seriously interfered with some ‘ high hopes and 
pious intentions ’ then entertained. A man of less energy and independence 
of character would have gone home to his father’s farm in Carlow, looked 
after the cattle, or ended his days in some listless occupation. He faced 
the world, took the first position that offered, and was appointed head 
master and agriculturist to the Local Board of Clonmel just twenty yearn 
since. Instead of settling down to a hum-drum official existence, Mr. 
Murphy has spent his vacations in acquiring topographical and other 
knowledge, and adding to a well-stocked fund of general information, 
especially on gardening, farming, and collateral matters. He wields a 
versatile, graphic, and fluent pen, combined with considerable grasp of 
observation. In all his correspondence, so far as we know, it may be re¬ 
peated of him, he never lost a friend or made a foe—if he cannot serve 
mankind in general, or individuals in particular, he will do them no 
harm ; and this is no small commendation in those exciting times.” 
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. 
0 
"3 
1885. 
November. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 32« 
and Sea 
Level i 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
Temp, of 
Soil at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Miu 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
dev. 
dev. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sunday . 
8 
30.366 
41.2 
40.1 
N.E. 
43.5 
46 2 
32.1 
48.1 
23.5 
— 
Monday. 
9 
30.313 
44.6 
43.3 
N.E. 
43.7 
46.0 
41.3 
47.4 
41.1 
0.046- 
Tuesday. 
10 
30.317 
442 
43.9 
E. 
44.2 
47.2 
42.9 
48.6 
42.0 
0.049 
Wednesday .. 
11 
80.292 
41.6 
41.3 
N.E. 
44.7 
47.4 
40.8 
48.6 
40.9 
0.010 
Thursday .... 
12 
30.230 
42.8 
41.4 
N.E. 
44 6 
44.7 
41.2 
45.3 
41.0 
— 
Friday. 
13 
30.045 
43.4 
42.8 
N. 
44.3 
48.8 
41.7 
52.6 
4 >.4 
— 
Saturday .... 
14 
29.74 L 
46.4 
45.6 
S.W. 
44 8 
49.2 
43.1 
54.1 
37.4 
0.112 
30.189. 
43.5 
[42.0 
44.3 
47.1 
40.4 
49.2 
38.0, 
9.21 T 
REMARKS. 
8th,—Dull, with a little drizzle in evening. 
9th.—Dull morning ; drizzly afternoon and evening. 
10th.—Drizzly day and evening. 
11th.—Drizzle all day. 
12th.—Very dense high fog; gas necessary all day. 
13th.—Cloudy, with fog in morning; fine afternoon ; foggy evening. 
14th.—Wet up to noon, then fair; fine evening. 
An exceptionally du'l week, wilh fog and cloud, and of course very small range of 
temperature.—Q. J. SYMONS. 
