Maroli 18, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
223 
CUT FLOWERS. 
8. 
a. 
B. 
a. 
8. 
d. 
s. 
a. 
Abutilons 
12 bunches 
0 
0 to 0 
0 
Lilium longiflorum, 12 blms. 
0 
0 
to 0 
0 
Acacia (Mimosa), Fr., per 
Lily of the Valley, 12 sprays 
0 
9 
1 
6 
bunch 
.. ,. 
i 
0 
1 
8 
Marguerites.. 12 bunches 
6 
0 
8 
0 
Arum Lilies .. 
12 blooms 
4 
0 
6 
0 
Mignonette .. 12 bunches 
s 
0 
6 
0 
Azalea .. .. 
12 sprays 
0 
6 
i 
0 
Pelargoniums, per 12 trusses 
1 
0 
1 
6 
Bouvardias .. 
per bunch 
0 
6 
i 
0 
„ scarlet, 12 trusses 
0 
9 
1 
0 
Camellias 
12 blooms 
2 
0 
5 
0 
Poinsettia .. 12 b'ooms 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Carnations . 
12 blooms 
i 
0 
8 
0 
Roses (indoor), per dozen 
3 
0 
9 
0 
vhrysanthemums 12 bloom? 
2 
0 
4 
0 
„ Tea. dozen 
g 
0 
4 
6 
12 bunches 
9 
0 
18 
0 
„ red, French. . dozen 
a 
0 
4 
0 
Uyclamen 
doz. blooms 
0 
4 
0 
9 
Spirma .. .. 12 sprays 
1 
0 
0 
0 
Epiphjllnm .. 
doz. blooms 
0 
6 
0 
9 
Tropmolum .. 12 bunches 
2 
0 
3 
0 
Eucharis 
per dozen 
4 
0 
8 
0 
Tuberoses .. 12 blooms 
8 
0 
0 
0 
Gardenias 
12 blooms 
6 
0 
18 
0 
Tulips .. dozen blooms 
0 
9 
1 
0 
Hellebore 
doz. blooms 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Violets .. .. 12 bunches 
1 
0 
1 
6 
Hyacinths,Roman,12 sprays 
1 
0 
1 
6 
„ Czar, Fr., .. bunch 
1 
6 
2 
0 
Lapageria, white, 12 blooms 
0 
0 
0 
0 
„ Parme, French, per 
Lapageria, red 
.. 12 blooms 
i 
0 
a 
0 
bunch . i ' .. 
4 
0 
8 
0 
SEED TIME. 
Barley, Oats, Clover, Bye Grass, the mixed seeds of 
alternate husbandry, Spring Tares, White Mustard, Cattle 
Cabbage, and Thousand-headed Kale, Sainfoin, Lucerne, 
Mangolds, Swedes, Parsnips, Carrots, and White Turnips 
are among the principal crops to be sown in the course of the 
next few weeks. We have given particular attention to 
procure good seed of whatever sorts had to be purchased, for 
we make it our especial object to procure seed both clean and 
fine. For example, we required a rather large quantity of 
Black Tartarian Oats, but we had to reject more than one 
sample foul with the seeds of weeds and other corn ; we also 
declined buying some Fen Oats pressed upon our notice as 
really excellent seed, but to our mind the large quantity of 
small tail corn in the sample gave promise of anything but 
an excellent crop. Upon pointing this blemish out to the 
vendor he was loud in his assurances as to the vitality of the 
seed, and we had some difficulty in making him understand 
that it was not the vitality of the seed, but the vigour of its 
growth after germination that we considered questionable. 
Eventually we purchased a fine clean sample of short, stout, 
even-sized grain at the high price of 26s. per quarter, and 
judging from experience the extra outlay of 6s. per quarter 
should prove a profitable investment. To obtain the best 
possible crops the sowing in good time of first-class seed is 
the crown and finish of our work at seed time, and we cannot 
too strongly deprecate the erroneous practice of sowing inferior 
seed. 
A dry February and so much hard frost must confer the 
advantage of a good seed bed for spring corn generally. 
Early sowing is doubtless desirable, but it is well to wait till 
the soil is really dry enough for the free action of drills and 
harrows. Barley sowing should then come first, and we 
only wish our readers had Excelsior drills to apply artificial 
manure to the soil at the same time. 
Oat sowing follows Barley closely, and no corn answers 
better for a dressing of manure, which ought also to be given 
to Clover and mixed seeds. Foul land will probably be in 
condition to be cleaned early, and if poverty-stricken as well 
we cannot do better than sow it with White Mustard—20 lbs. 
of seed per acre, giving a dressing of 1 cwt. of nitrate of 
soda per acre as soon as it is well above the surface; and 
when the Mustard has shed its blossom and the seed pods 
are fully grown but still green, at once plough in the Mustard, 
and sow another crop of it if the season proves favourable. 
We thus get clean soil admirably stored with fertility in the 
most economical manner. 
Of green crops for the flock Spring Tares follow Swedes, 
Cabbage, and Bye, and well will it be if we can spare enough 
land for successional sowings till June. A large piece of 
Bye Grass or Bye Grass and Clovers sown with a corn crop 
is a wise provision for next spring, and we may well pass in re¬ 
view all such useful crops as Sainfoin, Lucerne, and Cabbage, 
the last named crop being alike valuable for cows and sheep. 
Let it not be forgotten, too, how exceedingly valuable Green 
Maize is for cows and store cattle in summer. This crop is 
not sown till the end of May, as the young growth will not 
bear exposure to late frosts, but it grows with such singular 
rapidity and vigour as to exceed by many tons per acre the 
bulk of any other forage crop. 
Upon the home farm Turnips and Mangold should not be 
grown altogether to the exclusion of Carrots, for although a 
somewhat expensive crop there can be no doubt of its value 
for dairy cows as well as for horses. Sliced Carrots and bran 
with meadow hay is the diet of our cows for the last three 
months of the year, and we have never found this sweet 
wholesome root affect the flavour of the milk hurtfully. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Weather of such extraordinary severity in March has rendered extra 
care necessary among the lambs. We were asked for lamb cloths to put 
on the hurdles enclosing a fold for some of the ewes and forward lambs on 
Turnips in an exposed field, but we were able to afford much better 
shelter by having hurdles thatched with straw put up round the fold, and 
at the same time to avoid an outlay of £4 or £5. We now fully realise 
the beneficial effect of a liberal dietary for the flock, only one weakly 
lamb having succumbed to the trying influence of snow and frost. We 
hear with regret of losses of both sheep and lambs from insufficient food 
and exposure to cold, and we repeat that sheep do suffer from exposure to 
cold and wet, notwithstanding their thick wool covering. When will 
farmers see that it is to their interest to provide ample means of shelter 
and plenty of good food for all the animals of the farm ? Do not attempt 
undertakings beyond the scope of your means. Fifty sheep well fed and 
well sheltered will always prove more profitable than a hundred turned 
out on bare pasture to “take their chance.” 
Corn-drilling and other work on the land has been retarded by frost’ 
and we have turned to Wheat-threshing at last, although the advance in 
price is so slight as to make very little difference to the final result. It 
was clear, however, that when the full pressure of spring work set in 
corn-threshing would prove such a hindrance that it was better to get it 
done beforehand. The carting of faggots, timber, stones, and gravel, has 
also been pushed on as fast as possible, as such work should soon be 
finished now. Hedgerow timber grubbed during winter has been taken 
off the fields, and all grass land must now be cleared of wood of all kinds, 
fallen branches and twigs picked up under trees, and stone-picking also 
done, preparatory to bush and chain-harrowing and rolling. Growth on 
poor pastures will be very late this season, poverty of condition always 
proving a hindrance to free growth, but fertile pastures well dressed with 
manure spring into free strong growth with the first change to mild 
weather. 
Fences and gates have all been examined and all repairs done. We 
have many fences requiring a coating of tar, but this work is reserved till 
summer. We hope, then, to do all that we can to have all bare or 
weather-worn wood and ironwork of fences, gates, and farm buildings, 
carefully dressed with hot tar, both for appearance and protection of the 
property entrusted to our care. It is undoubtedly a weak point upon 
farms generally, this negligence of such work which meet3 the eye on 
every hand, and yet nothing can possibly justify it, for the outlay cannot 
be material when tar can be had for 4d. a gallon. 
Messes. F. & A. Dickson & Sons’ “Book of the Farm.” —This neat 
annual, besides containing an article on laying down land to pasture, 
publishes an abstract of Professor Carruthers’ report relative to “ Cheap 
Seeds.” The Professor expresses his belief “ that the great progress made in 
supplying good and pure seeds extends to the larger houses throughout the 
country, but from some experience fears 1 that the smaller dealers in 
market towns distribute worthless materials among farmers.” He gives 
examples in support of his view, and remarks that in one case Meadow 
Fescue bought by a member of the Society in Kent, from a merchant in a 
neighbouring town, contained 70 per cent. Rye Grass, 4 per cent. Holcns, 
and 4 per cent, of other foreign species. He says, ‘ So long as farmers seek 
a low-priced article and accept and sow worthless seeds without complaint, 
they will be supplied.’ ” 
FROZEN MEAT. 
As affecting the interests of British farmers in one way and the great 
body of consumers of farm produce in another, the importance of the 
trade in frozen meat cannot be overlooked. Not in the cropping of the 
