March 11, 18S6. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
203 
ment in front and a compartment for artificial manure at 
back, each perfectly separate from and independent of the 
other. It is claimed for the manure drill that it distributes 
•damp or sticky manures evenly, and this can easily be under¬ 
stood when the distributors are seen in motion, for they are 
of metal, and the revolving table n, fig. 87, is kept clean by 
contact with g. There are shut-off slides to the distributors 
to admit of grain or manure being sown in a given number 
of rows. 
Another separate and independent part of the implement 
is the grass seed drill, which may be termed a corn drill in 
miniature. We have therefore here an implement by means 
of which a man with two horses may at one and the same 
time sow, say, Barley, artificial manure, and Clover or mixed 
seed for a two or three-years layer. In no implement which 
has come under our notice have we found utility, simplicity, 
lightness, and strength in such admirable combination. 
Even in the coulters we have a novelty in the spring by 
means of which they may pass over obstructions without 
injury. They have reversible steel points, are easily adjusted 
to deep or shallow soil, and the driver can with the lever 
raise the coulters and throw the distributors out of gear. 
An examination of this ingenious implement will convince 
any practical farmer that it is destined speedily to take rank 
with the best labour-saving appliances of the day. It will, 
we think, prove as important at seed time as the self-binding 
reaper does at harvest, and it is our intention to have one 
upon each of our large farms. 
We have intentionally devoted much of our space this 
week to a somewhat full but by no means exhaustive descrip¬ 
tion of an implement which lends itself so admirably to the 
Fig. 38. 
economy of labour and to the application of artificial manure 
to corn crops. Very little consideration will show the con¬ 
trast between the manufacture of farmyard manure and its 
distribution with men, horses, and carts, and the use of 
home-mixed pure artificial manures applied to the soil by 
means of this drill, which is represented in fig. 38. 
By whatever means seed and manure are sown this year, 
let due thought be given to so apportion the land that there 
may be no extremes in cropping, for such a course seldom 
answers. There should be a clearly defined reason for the 
sowing of every crop either for home use or for sale, but we 
must leave the consideration of this important matter till 
next week. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Very trying has the severe weather proved for the lambs, but so far 
we have avoided losses. Lambing was practically over in our large flock 
on the home farm when the heavy snow storms set in at the end of 
February. Tbe forward lambs were out with the ewes in the park, 
and as there are plenty of belts and clumps of evergreen trees there for 
shelter we kept them there. The next batch of lambs went with the 
ewee into our large comfortable lambing fold, sheltered by a thick belt 
of trees, enclosed by a thick fence of straw, and with plenty of snug pens 
and straw bedding. The younger and more delicate lambs were taken 
into a yard with plenty of deep open lodges. With such shelter and 
plenty of sound nourishing food, lambs may fairly be expected to escape 
harm from cold weather, and to continue in thriving condition, a liberal 
diet to the ewes ensuring plenty of rich milk to the lambs. Arrange¬ 
ments had been made for beginning folding some of the ewes and 
early lambs on Turnips, but we decided to wait till the snow was gone, 
for although we have lamb cloths to fasten to the hurdles, the Turnip 
field was in such a bleak situation that we feared the effect of the 
exposure. 
That cows are fast calving now we had pleasing evidence recently 
in the dairy of one of our tenants—a lady who is rich enough to he able 
to keep a coachman to drive her carriage and horses, and yet she was 
up that morning at 4 A.H. to help make the 80 lbs. of butter which we 
saw. It is her custom to do so always on churning mornings, and we 
mention the fact as evidence of energetic action on a Suffolk larm equal 
to anything we have heard of the doings of the notable wives of Sussex 
farmers. On this particular farm the calves were being sold as soon 
as possible, so high a price being obtained for the butter that it was 
not considered desirable to fatten any of the calves. In this and similar 
instances such a course is right, but in many others fat calves prove an 
excellent investment, still a calf a few weeks old being as valuable 
as many are at six months. In our own dairy herd we only save enough 
of the best cow calve3 to add to the herd eventually. All others are 
fattened for veal as quickly as possible. Be it remembered that such 
provision for annual additions to the dairy herd is always necessary, for 
there are failures, if not losses, in every herd. We cannot well confine 
ourselves to a given number. Barrenness, abortion, old age, and disease 
must all be taken into account, and a cow with any of such blemishes 
fails to be useful for dairy purposes, and well for us is it if we are 
always able to replace such failure with useful home-bred animals, and to 
avoid having to purchase new cows. 
FARMERS AND GARDENERS. 
Your correspondent, “ One Who Wishes for Fair Play,” asks what 
capital ought a farmer to command for the satisfactory working of a 200- 
acre farm ? and then answers the question after the stereotyped fashion, or 
that meeting with general acceptation—£10 per acre, equal to £2000. 
Now money is at present cheap, the Bank of England rate being 2 per cent. 
The question is, What is a fair rate of interest for capital invested in 
farming ? Trade is bad, prices are low, an outcome of the spending being 
in excess of the profits. If a manufacturer cannot get a profit upon each 
£100 invested it is clear there must be a loss. Relief will be sought in 
some way—reduction of wages, economy in plant, or the greater utilisa¬ 
tion of material. He must be eased in some shape to enable him to 
manufacture more cheaply, and so meet the requirements of the spending 
classes, whose means of purchasing are reduced. Suppose a farmer 
invests £2000 in a 200-acre farm, what interest is it likely to bring him 
per annum ? Deposited capital, money granted for others—bankers, 
public works, and companies—to work, the depositor taking no risk, and 
having a first claim, gets 2J per cent, upwards, rarely above 4 percent., all 
high rates showing the riskiness of the deposit. Deposit with risk, or 
shareholders in public companies get rates of interest varying from 
3 to 0 per cent. 
Just apply this to farming—£2000 working invested capital should 
afford a return in proportion to the risk incurred. The risks are inclement 
seasons and disease of stock, concerning which little preventive measures 
can be taken, though means can be made available in mitigation of the 
risk. A bad harvest means loss of crop of an exceedingly variable value. 
Something must be set aside as a reserve fund to meet such calamities 
not incidental to manufacture. To get at this we must know the actual 
loss of the 200-acre farmer from providential causes during the past ten 
years. Has it been a quarter ? Then £500 ought to be standing to his 
credit at the bank in addition to the £2000 invested in tbe land ; if not, 
then we must take it from the £2000, and have only £1500 actually 
available for future investment, for all loss of active capital means draw¬ 
ing on the reserve ; and if there is no reserve whence is the money drawn ? 
From the capital ? Then the interest, to say nothing of the inadequacy 
of the capital for the working of the land, must he in proportion ; instead 
of interest on £2000 we have only to look for interest on £1500, with 
lessened output in produce. The risk in farming is double what it is in 
commercial enterprise of a manufacturing character. Bad seasons and 
losses from disease are clearly not applicable to manufacture, though it is 
in commerce. In shipping there are high rates of insurance corresponding 
to the reserve, though provided in a different way, and the house or firm 
does not go down under a calamity simply because steps have been taken 
to keep it afloat in case of probable disaster. Is there such an insurance 
of farmers against bad harvests and contagious disease in cattle 1 
Taken on an equality with manufacturers of raw material, we have to 
consider farming as profitable in proportion to the capital invested. Land 
differs in quality, capability of producing according to the efforts at 
improvement, and distance from market, or means of transit of goods to or 
off the farm. This also determines the rent. As the land is, so should the 
rent and capital be. If poor, wet, cold, and away from market it must of 
necessity bring a low rental, whilst if near a town or railway it will be 
under any conditions in better heart from facilities of manuring, &c., 
and considerably lessened in working expenses, witl bring the highest 
rental, and the rates will be higher. These matters have great influence 
on capital and on profits, though relatively there is not much difference 
in the capital invested, only the first turns it over slowly and the other 
quickly from peculiarity of crop and location. There is a decided 
difference between them—the capital of the one can only be turned over 
once in a twelvemonth, whilst the other is turned over two or three times. 
This as applied to anything is profitable only in proportion to the skill 
and sound judgment exercised in its application. One farmer has 
improved stock for dairy or fattening purposes, improvements in imple¬ 
ments, the choicest of seed, and uses most of the best fertilisers. The 
other is not careful about such matters ; the time advances, and he cares 
not to move forward with them, and is found some day in despair. Rents 
are too high, rates are ruinous—everything advanced but the prices of his 
commodities—he fails to see that there has been a breaking up of 
monopolies, a cheapening all round of the necessaries as well as the 
