204 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ March 11, 1886. 
luxuries of life through the spread of knowledge and improved methods 
of production obtained in new and enlarged fields. 
In farming capital it ought to afford 5 per cent, up to 7J per cent. I 
think it is usually calculated at 6 per cent, which on £2000 is £120 per 
annum, to which we have to add remuneration for management, oranother 
£120, which is manifestly one-third in advance of the value, as a competent 
manager can be had for a 200-acre farm at 25s. to 30s. per week ; but as 
a farmer finding his own capital I make due allowance for it, and accord 
remuneration for the assumed extra care possessed in its application, as it 
is clear he would have to give a commission as incentive to other if it 
were to be applied with the strictest regard to profits, which are in pro¬ 
portion to the efficiency. Now 3 per cent, would be all he would get for 
the money invested, so as to give him no trouble or anxiety ; by usiDg it 
himself it returns G per cent. How much of the 3 per cent, is put aside to 
meet depressions in values, bad debts, and other things that are incidental 
to all business transactions ? Does the former put by any of the G per 
cent, against a rainy day ? Three per cent, ought to go to the reserve 
account, as the money would return that without any exertion on his 
part, so that he gets a living for himself, a recompense for his manage¬ 
ment, and 3 per cent, profit on the £2000, or £60 per annum ; and this, 
added to the reserves, is £120 per annum. His capital is doubled— £2000 in 
the land, 2000 standing to his credit at the bank at the end of some 
thirteen years if the weather is propitious, and murrain does not prevail in 
the interim. If the farmer, on the other hand, spends the profits of his 
farm as realised, then the first adverse season marks h's decline. There is 
less 6tock, less put in the land, and lessened labour. Relief is sought the 
wrong way, as a reduction of stock, tillage, &c., is corresponding to a re¬ 
duction of capital, and the profits are in proportion with the fact that rent 
and other charges remain the same. The farmer must do one of two 
things—save or waste, like anybody else. 
I make no question of his saving when his sons, after being educated, 
are made to earn their own living, but if they live out of the farm they 
live on the profits and contribute in no way to them. It is different if 
the sons stand in place of some labour that would otherwise have to be 
paid for ; then who would have right to complain ? It is the same with 
the daughters. If they stand in place of servants, save money from being 
paid in wages, then I grant they are entitled to pianos and every other 
luxury and enjoyment that their status warrants. The land will only do 
so much. The landlord grabs, the farmer grabs, and the two have driven 
away the small capitalists, and caused them, by the industrial energy they 
were not permitted to exercise at home, to practise thriftily in the colonies 
with a success enabling them to undersell the grower in the home markets 
with everything against them except rent and the insecurity of tenure, 
with compensation for unexhausted improvements. 
Treat the land fairly, and it will pay good interest on investments. 
Revive agriculture, put capital in the soil, and other trades will revive in 
proportion to the increase of the products of it. It wants capital— 
utilised, not protected ; thrift, not extravagance.— Utilitarian. 
If “Thinker” takes me to be a farmer, I beg to inform him that 1 
am not, but a spademan ; not a kid glove man either ; also that I am not 
connected with kid-gloved farmers. The farmers that I uphold are those 
that take breakfast in the morning in summer at half-past five, and 
see their men come and set them to work, also take the care of sheep and 
stock by being their own shepherds, follow their own drill, and frequently 
take a day at the manure cart ; in fact ready for anything connected 
with the farm. There are as many good farmers as gardeners or market 
gardeners, and there is in each branch quite as many bad ones, but do 
not condemn all for half. “ Thinker ” states that it is the farmers’ 
remedy that rent and wages must come down, or should come down. 
Are not all other industries lowering the wages 1 I see these last three 
weeks several large firms have lowered their wages from 71 to 10 per cent., 
which is proving my statement, and depend upon it things will find their 
level, but it is not all done at once. “ Thinker ” asks if the rents of the 
labourers’ cottages ought not to come down. I wishfor fair play all round. 
Agricultural labourers pay here from £3 to £5 per year, and most of the 
cottages have a good garden, also keeping a pig. Between 1S52 and 
1858 not a few large landowners had their estates valued twice. In 
several cases the rent was doubled, but not a shilling was put on the 
labourers’ cottages here, nor did any farmer wish to have their labourers' 
rent raised, but I do not think it is so in the towns. There the rents are 
double the above without any gardens, or if any they are very small, but 
town cottages are held by mechanics mostly. 
Iam pleased to hear that “Thinker” spent “one year” in a farm 
honee. I need not remind him of the hours of labour there ; but perhaps 
I had better, lest he may have forgotten. My time was four o’clock in 
the morning to the stable, and eight hours at the plough, to turn over 
one acre per day, which all were expected to do, and we left the stable at 
eight o’clock at night; in winter from five in the morning to seven 
at night; in harvest no limit to time. This is how I served in the 
farm house. 
Where does “ Thinker ” see it stated by me that we are to give 
up growing Apples because of our climate ? Here he is contrary to his 
own thoughts. On page 3 of this Journal he states American Apples are 
sent 4000 miles to market, have a ready sale, our home-grown fruit going 
a-begging, we not having selected the right sorts. Then he asks if I was 
at the Crystal Palace a few years ago, to which I say “Yes,” and 
several times since ; also at most of the London shows for the last 
fourteen years, and have shown and taken prizes. But this is going 
from the subject. “ Thinker ” states, at the Palace Show referred to, 
taking the Apples bulk for bulk—that is, English and American, the 
ormer would, if sold, have realised more money than the latter. Now, 
by this statement our own hcme-grown fruit must be the best, there¬ 
fore it is contrary to his former statement. I stated, and will prove if, 
that we cannot colour Apples here, except in very few places, like 
they are coloured in America. The proof I wish to show is, Apples 
have been Eent here from America and Canada by friends connected 
with the family I serve. The best only were sent, and some were 
very fine and the colour excellent, but the flavour does not equal our 
choice sorts. To further prove my statement, I may remark we have 
had a dozen and a half of eight choice sorts of young Apple trees sent 
here from America, and though planted on the best land the result is 
fruit deficient in size, colour, and flavour; also the trees as yet are 
very shy bearers, otherwise they are very healthy and not too vigorous, 
but make good short-jointed wood. They have been planted eight 
years. Why is not Covent Garden the best market for fruit 100 miles 
from London ? Is Manchester, York, Leeds, or Halifax any better I 
I say, Decidedly not. How is it that the best Celery has been sent to 
Covent Garden from Yorkshire through the autumn 1 also there are now 
scores of tens of Turnips sent to Co vent Garden from Yorkshire. I do 
not agree in sending further north even to St. Petersburg!), though I 
agree with “ Thinker ” that corn, taking the average, has been as low 
before as now. I have sold good Barley at 16s. per quarter, but rents 
were only about half what they are now, and rates not a quarter.— 
One who Wishes for Fair Play. 
Seed Samples. —We have the pleasure t. hand herewith for inspec¬ 
tion and acceptance our cabinet of guaranteed grass seeds, and are sure 
you will pronounce it unique in character on account of the very con¬ 
venient form in which the seeds are shown, as it admits of the case being 
kept for reference upon the study or library table, and is altogether an 
immense advantage over the old system of issuing samples in packets, 
which must not only be partially destroyed to get at the contents, but 
prevent the seed being handled without loss.— James Carter & Co. 
[The “cabinet” is an extremely neat box, comprising eight small 
metal boxes with glass lids, each box containing a sample of some Grass 
or Clover seed, and bearing the common and botanical name on a narrow 
red label. We agree in all our correspondents say about it as a convenient 
and improved method of sending sample seeds for inspection.] 
Messrs. James Dickson & Sons’ Farm Seed Catalogue.— 
Among other interesting matter in the issue before us is the approximate 
number of seeds in 1 lb. weight of the principal forage and pasture 
Grasses, some of which, such as the Meadow Grasses, Poa pratensis and 
P. trivialis, being recorded as about 2,582,000. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Experiments in Agricultural Chemistry (II. P .).—Professor Jamieson’s 
views on agricultural chemistry and the results of his experiments are 
embodied in a series of annual reports of the work of the Associations 
for the Improvement of Agriculture, which have for some years been under 
his control both in Sussex and Aberdeenshire. We believe the reports are 
only printed for the benefit of members of the Associations, and are not 
sold. 
Lame Pigs ( B. B .).—If the lameness is simply a result of exposure to 
damp and cold, warm food and enough dry bedding to enable the pigs to 
burrow under it and cover themselves may suffice. But if the lameness is 
accompanied by difficulty of breathing and failing appetite at once call in a 
veterinary surgeon, for it may prove to be swine lever, which is a serious 
contagious disease, and of which you are bound to inform the local inspector. 
Six of the best Strawberries are Marguerite, President, Sir Joseph Paxton, 
James Yeitch, Dr. Hogg, and Loxford Hall Seedling. 
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. 
fl 
a 
« 
1886. 
February & March 
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 
eun. 
On 
grass. 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
di*g 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sunday .... 
30.254 
31.8 
31.4 
N.E. 
34 3 
32.8 
30.0 
39.8 
24.0 
0.01T 
Monday. 
29.797 
81.6 
31.5 
S.E. 
34.2 
36.4 
28.8 
39 7 
24.1 
0.383 
Tuesday. 
29.31G 
35.3 
32.2 
IV. 
34.2 
40.5 
3".2 
76.2 
30.4 
0018 
Wednesday . 
. 3 
29.437 
83.1 
32.7 
N.E. 
34.3 
36.4 
29.8 
68.2 
28.6 
0.014 
Thursday ... 
. 4 
29.875 
30.2 
28.8 
w. 
34.2 
41.4 
24.7 
75 8 
22.8 
— 
Friday. 
29.352 
34.5 
33.3 
S.E. 
34.2 
38 8 
28.6 
64.2 
23.4 
— 
Saturday ... 
. 6 
29.679 
32.2 
30.4 
N.W. 
34.2 
40 9 
27.2 
73.1 
22.2 
— 
29.673 
32.7 
31.5 
34.2 
38.2 
28.5 
C2.4 
25.1 
0.432 
REMARKS. 
28th.—Cloudy all day, with occasional sleet. 
1st.—Sleet and line snow on ground, and falling all the morning to a total depth of 
l£ inch; it fell also most of the afternoon, but melted as it fell. Heavy rain in 
evening. 
2nd.—Cloudy early, with a little sleet: fine morning, afternoon cloudy, sleet at night. 
8rd.—Alternate bright sun and heavy snow; windy clear night. 
4th.—Very cold, hut gloriously bright. 
5th,—Very bright morning, cloudy afternoon. 
Gtb.—Fine and bright early, shower of snow and sleet between 11 A.M. and 5 P.M. 
Not quite so cold as the previous week, hut the temperature still far below the average. 
—G. J Symons. 
