11 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 7, 1886. 
FARMING PROSPECTS IN THE NEW YEAR. 
As the old year passes away and the new year opens 
before us we reach a period of time when events of the past 
and present are passed in review, and due thought is given to 
measures for the future. Well indeed would it he if past 
lessons could be so turned to account as to give point and 
certainty to future work ; but, alas ! we still have the agricul¬ 
tural depression upon us, and although there are some rays 
of light which give promise of a better state of things, yet 
there remains enough of doubt and uncertainty to bid us be 
cautious in all we do, and to take no steps either upon old or 
new lines without well considering the end. 
A leading question much discussed during the past year, 
and which is still far from being settled, is, Can we afford 
to continue the culture of Wheat in this country ? Yet the 
answer is simple in the extreme, and really merges into the 
answer to the wider query, Can we compete with the markets 
of the world, opened as they are to corn merchants by free 
trade ? If land cannot be had at a rent proportionate to 
the price of Wheat it cannot be cultivated profitably, and 
therefore a reduction of rents is inevitable, and, so far as we 
can judge, such a reduction will be permanent and not tem¬ 
porary. With vast tracts of land under the fine climate of many 
of our colonies, with the great and ever-increasing facilities for 
carriage by land and sea, and the keen competition for freight 
between rival carrying companies, the farmers of Great 
Britain are put very much upon a level with those of that 
Greater Britain, as our colonies are sometimes inclusively 
termed. If, however, landlords bow to the inevitable, and 
rent is reduced, it certainly is the farmer’s duty to do all 
that is possible with the land. We do not advocate extremes, 
but taking good sound common sense as the foremost quali¬ 
fication desirable in a farmer, we may assert that to practical 
knowledge he must now add sufficient scientific culture to 
enable him to obtain all the help he can from mechanics, ento¬ 
mology, botany, vegetable and animal physiology, chemistry, 
and accounts. Lamentable is the ignorance still to be found 
among farmers. It was only a week or two ago that we were 
told in open market by a man holding two large farms that 
cockles in Wheat was a mystery—a thing of seasons, coming 
and going in a manner inexplicable, that much Wheat had 
been badly affected by it last year ! Yet the youngest of our 
pupils could have told him better. We have no faith in 
so-called mysteries, and science is fast sweeping away all the 
nonsensical ideas which have so long been handed down 
from one generation to another, and have in reality often 
been a source of serious loss. 
Manual and horse labour will, and, in point of fact, are 
fast being reduced, every improvement in machinery and 
implements being a step in that direction. A few intelligent 
labourers with a thorough technical training will sooner or 
later take the place of the many old-fashioned illiterate 
labourers. Well has it been said recently that “ Times have 
changed, and the farmer now requires fewer hands, must be 
far higher in intelligence than in the past.” 
Another important matter is the general wish to avoid 
those leeches who live upon the very life blood of farmers— 
the middlemen. There can be no doubt that advantage has 
been taken of Barley discoloration to press low prices upon 
the farmer, yet the price of malt to the consumer keeps high. 
Bullocks have fallen so in price that there is a loss rather 
than profit upon all inferior animals. Sheep, too, have also 
been very cheap, yet our butchers’ prices have been sadly 
out of proportion. Fitful efforts have been made by several 
farmers to alter this, and we may mention one remarkable 
example of recent occurrence. Colonel Briggs of Hylton 
Castle was only getting 4^d. per lb. for sheep, yet his 
labourers were paying 9d. per lb. to the butchers for mutton. 
By having sheep killed and sold to the labourers at 6d. per lb. 
he got 15s. per head more for his sheep, while there was a 
saving of 18s. per head going into the pockets of his men. 
Butchers’ profits of 50 per cent, afford sure proof that in this 
as in many another case middlemen make far more profit 
than is justifiable. Middlemen are shrewd keen men of 
business—altogether too sharp for an easy-going farmer of 
the ordinary type. One farmer or a dozen cannot grapple 
with such an evil; there must be sensible combination to 
protect common interests, and it has been suggested that this 
is a matter for the serious consideration of our leading 
agricultural societies. 
Trial stations, an extensive and ever-growing knowledge 
of the elements of plant food, pointing to an economical 
application of manures ; purs seeds of the best sorts, an 
abolition of fancy prices, more general energetic action, more 
intelligence, and much less of paying money to middlemen 
for doing our work, and in many an instance cheating us. 
Bags of mystery are those wonderful compounds termed 
special manures, which are pressed upon us in such a 
tempting form, done up neatly in bags bearing the flourishing 
impress of the dealers’ designations. How is it possible that 
a farmer can rest content with so unsatisfactory a state of 
things ? Can he afford to purchase so-called manure adul¬ 
terated with 50 per cent, of dust ? Can he afford to purchase 
cattle food in the form of oilcake, that so frequently proves not 
only to be largely adulterated, but to be positively injurious to 
the animals it is given to ? Can he afford to pay Is. per lb. for 
mixtures of grass seed containing a large proportion of seed 
of inferior sorts not worth half the money ? Yet he has done 
and is doing all this, and if the years of heavy depression 
serve only to eradicate all such grave faults, such loose 
practices, from farmers as a class, it will prove a blessing 
rather than a curse. 
It may be that in this paper we have wandered somewhat 
from the literal meaning of our title, and instead of pointing 
out prospects and probable results, have dwelt rather upon 
matters affecting farming prospects. Yet these are all things 
pressing for careful attention, and we would once more press 
upon our readers the importance of intelligent inquiry into 
cause and effect, never resting satisfied with a vague imper¬ 
fect understanding of what is passing around them, but 
striving for clear knowledge of everything affecting their 
work. With increasing knowledge will come that humility 
and teachableness that is not at all incompatible with self- 
respect. It will lead to better practice, better results, and 
will tend as much as anything can do to bring to them, as 
we heartily wish it may, a Happy New Year. 
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 
1885-6. 
Dec.-January. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 32« 
and Sea 
Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
I Temp, of 
Soil at 
1 1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass. 
Inches. 
deg. 
dee. 
dee. 
dee. 
dee 
dee. 
dee. 
In. 
Sunday .... 
30.556 
32.1 
32.1 
N. 
391 
43.4 
30.0 
48.8 
23.0 
— 
Monday ... 
30.047 
41.3 
39-4 
S.W. 
38.7 
48 2 
31.8 
53.2 
27.9 
0.164 
Tuesday. 
29.926 
34.6 
32.6 
s.w. 
39 2 
39.8 
33.2 
55.4 
27.5 
0.014 
Wednesday . 
. 30 
30.170 
29.9 
28.8 
w. 
37.8 
38.1 
26.8 
52.6 
22.2 
0.288 
Thursday ... 
. 31 
29.903 
44.7 
43.8 
N.W. 
37.2 
48 6 
29.2 
51.6 
25.9 
— 
Friday. 
3 '.096 
46.6 
45.6 
S.W. 
39.0 
49.8 
46.0 
52.3 
37.8 
0.030 
Saturday ... 
. 2 
29.966 
48.4 
47.0 
S.W. 
40.4 
51.3 
45.3 
65.5 
40.2 
— 
30.095 
39.7 
38.5 
38.8 
45.6 
34.6 
52.8 
29.2 
0.496 
REMARKS. 
27th.—Fog early, fine and bright after, foggy at night. 
28 th.—Dull and showery, with intervals of sunshine; evening wet and windy. 
2 'Jlh.—Bright and cold throughout, snow showers in evening, frosty night. 
30th.—Bright and cold morning,dull after, with slight fog: wet evening. 
31st.—Dull, warm, and hazy throughout, shower about 2 P.M. 
Jan. 1st. —Dull and damp all day. 
2nd.—Fine and warn). 
A dull and rather damp week, with a good deal of mistand fog. Temperature slightly 
above the average.—G. J. SYMONS. 
