264 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDEEER. 
[ April 1, 1886. 
cattle or sheep. We may qualify this assertion, and say that 
Mangolds alone will not fatten animals either fast enough or 
sufficiently well, but they are an excellent, and, in the opinion 
of many farmers, an indispensable addition to the food of all 
animals of the farm now. Valuable as Mangolds undoubtedly 
are, it is a mistake to regard them as quite indispensable, and 
when the small store of this season is exhausted, to sell 
animals at a sacrifice as we were asked to do by one of our 
bailiffs. With a liberal diet of crushed corn, cake, and chaff, 
and pure fresh water, we can dispense with Mangolds, but we 
never would do so except from necessity. Happy is he who 
has more than he requires, for the price has reached the 
abnormal height of 25s. per ton. What say they to this price 
who assert that 15s. per ton is the actual value of Mangolds 
as an article of food ? Well will it be if the short supply of 
Mangold teaches us never to depend too much upon any 
particular crop, but rather so to apportion the land at our 
disposal that there may be a fair proportion of all useful 
crops. 
Kohl Rabi, if grown on ridges prepared precisely in the 
same manner as for Mangolds, should find a place on every 
farm, for its nutritive value is high, its culture easy, it bears 
transplanting well, and withstands the effects of drought in a 
remarkable degree. With it too, early sowing is all-important, 
as enabling it to become well rooted and to grow freely 
before the extreme heat of summer begins. The risk and 
labour of transplanting have led to drilling, and the seed can 
now be had sufficiently cheap to enable us so to use it. No 
doubt Kohl Rabi is a greedy plant, requiring a rich store of 
fertility in the soil for its full development; but it is certainly 
not more so than the Mangold, and it should take rank with 
it as an article of diet, and precedence of the Swede both for 
nutritive value and certainty of a crop. It is this certainty 
which adds so materially to its value; once get the plants 
established in soil stored with the requisite elements of 
fertility, and they answer so well that we have known 
instances of its adoption as a substitute for the Mangold, 
which, owing to a failure or two, was considered unsuitable 
for the soil. Well would it be if farmers were not so generally 
predisposed to take things for granted, but would rather 
persist in proving for themselves why certain crops answer or 
otherwise. Knowledge so gained is invaluable, and while 
avoiding costly speculative experiments, we are certainly 
justified in striving for improvements which shall render 
results more certain and more profitable. 
It is our agreeable privilege to own that we were success¬ 
ful in our Swede culture last year, and we have found the 
roots most serviceable. The earlier-sown Swedes were 
cleared off the land and put in clamps for the hoggets, the 
later sowings were left out upon the land, and we are now 
folding ewes with forward lambs upon them. The lambs run 
forward and give ample proof of lusty appetites by eating 
many of the Swedes level with the surface before the ewes are 
let in to clear up the remainder of the roots which are pecked 
up for them. Why is it that so many farmers in the southern 
and midland counties wait till June before sowing the Swedes ? 
We saw a field of Swedes last year which was sown at the 
same time as the Mangolds, and the roots were very fine, 
much finer than any other Swede which came under our 
notice. All things considered we prefer May for our first 
sowings, and then follow with a June sowing for folding as 
we are doing now. The land then comes nicely to hand for 
successional crops of spring Tares, on which the sheep are 
again folded, and the land is subsequently in admirable con¬ 
dition for a Wheat crop, being ploughed early, so as to be 
ready for the first sowing by the end of September. Not 
unfrequently, however, advantage is taken of its high state of 
fertility for a crop of winter Beans, which we invariably sow 
early in autumn. 
White Turnips, though low in nutritive value, are very 
useful, and we gladly welcome two or three successional crops 
for the sheep. We generally have a field or two at this season 
of the year, with nice green tops for the lambs, but, alas! 
our wintry March weather has destroyed the tops which were 
green enough in February. May, June, and the two follow¬ 
ing months should each afford us a crop if land can be had 
and the weather is favourable. We failed to obtain any early 
White Turnips last year, and we know a farm where a field 
was sown three times in vain, and there were no White 
Turnips on that farm. We never fold sheep solely upon a 
diet of Turnips, but always give dry food in troughs, not as 
a simple matter of course, but according to our invariable 
practice of promoting quick growth and early maturity in the 
sheep. 
Carrots are grown principally for the dairy cows, our aim 
being to secure enough for stall feeding during the last three 
months of the year. We sow early in April upon a fine 
clean seed bed, the thinning is done early, in order that the 
hoes may be soon at work to keep under weeds. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
At last winter is gone ! and we have delightful spring weather for sowing 
the spring corn. All was in readiness for the change, and the work goes 
on so briskly that by the time this note is published most of the corn will 
be sown. We have five farms in hand, and our arrangements for spring 
work required much care and forethought. Due care had to be taken to 
have the best seed, to procure manure in due proportion according to the 
condition of the land, not only at each farm but in each field. As we have 
gone about upon the farms during the past week we had the gratification 
of finding our plans being carried out so well that we may reasonably hope 
for success. The seed drills were in full activity ; the soil mellow, and 
fine as adust heap—aye, even upon so-called heavy land farms required 
far less labour than usual either in the drilling or harrowing. The 
artificial manures, procured from various sources, were mixed in one huge 
heap at each farm, and the sowing of it upon all crops was being done. 
We were amused by the account of one of our bailiffs of the sensation 
caused in the village near his farm by his six-horse waggonload of bags 
of manure. Never had such a sight been seen there before, and the farmers 
declare it is a mere waste of money. We are not surprised, for have they 
not good reason to regard such manure with suspicion ? Well, we hope 
to prove to them we are right both for their benefit and our own profit. 
Attention is now being given to the preliminary measures for root crops. 
The farm and manure heaps are ready, and the other manures are ordered. 
We have had some little difficulty in obtaining bone flour in the only con¬ 
dition we use it, which is absolutely as fine as flour ; and impalpable 
powder, which by the minute division of its particles is precisely in the 
best condition for speedy action as plant food. After an explanation of 
our requirements, our reasons for them, and our willingness to pay for 
extra grinding, we had no further difficulty about the matter. 
The ewes and Iambs now being folded upon Swedes will, we fear, have 
finished them before the Rye is ready, and we may have to turn them upon 
meadow grass for a week or two. Our liberal diet of mixed trough food 
will be continued, as we wish to force on the lambs and to dispose of 
them early. Every week our conviction grows stronger of the fallacy of 
keeping store cattle or sheep, except for breeding. Lambs sold in July 
even at 30s. apiece must be more profitable than hoggets sold at eight or 
ten months later at 40s., and there can be no question that this is 
frequently done, but it is hardly possible that those who persist in doing 
it look very closely into details. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden square, London. 
Lat. 51° 32'40’' N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
y a.m. 
IN THE DAY. 
0 
rt 
« 
1886. 
March. 
I Barome- 
| terat32« 
and Sea 
| Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
1 Temp, of 
Soil at 
1 1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg 
deg. 
deg 
In. 
Sunday .... 
. 21 
29.982 
51.2 
50.0 
W. 
38.2 
61.2 
49.1 
81.4 
46.6 
— 
Monday. 
30.139 
47.0 
4G.6 
S.W. 
39 8 
54.6 
41.8 
63.4 
37.7 
0.067 
Tuesday. 
30.164 
52.6 
51.1 
E. 
41.2 
60S 
47.2 
69 7 
43.2 
0.017 
Wednesday 
. 24 
30.040 
45.4 
44.9 
E. 
42.3 
62.2 
42.5 
90.6 
38.8 
— 
Thursday ... 
. 25 
29.959 
53.6 
51.1 
S.W. 
432 
58 4 
44.9 
80.2 
42.2 
— 
Friday. 
29.970 
51.2 
48.4 
s.w. 
44 0 
56.4 
47.7 
84.7 
42.6 
0.177 
Saturday ... 
. 27 
29.845 
51.8 
50.6 
s. 
44.5 
55.4 
49.1 
63.2 
47.4 
0.088 
30.013 
50.4 
49.0 
41.9 
58.4 
46.0 
76.2 
42.9 
0.349 
REMARKS. 
2lst.—Dull till 11, then fine and warm. 
22nd.—Overcast. 
23rd.—Dull and showery morning, fine afternoon, but no bright sunshine. 
24th.—White fog early, line bright day. 
25th.—Cloudy morning, fine after. 
26th.—Alternate cloud and sunshine, rain in evening and night. 
27th.—Dull aud drizzly morning, fair after, with strong wind. 
The sudden change which occurred on the 18th has proceeded with exceptional 
rapidity, the temperature this week being 20° higher than that of the week before last. 
The only approach to so sudden a change which I can trace for some years past was 
between March and April, 1883—the maximum temperatures rose in the last two weeks 
of March and the first of April exactly as Much as in the two weeks just past—viz., 19.7^. 
But in 1883 the nights remained cooi, only rose 6 W , while this year they have risen '.0.8°. 
It must be long since so great change of mean temperature has occurred, and it is note¬ 
worthy that there has been very little change in the barometer, and very little rain.— 
G. J. SYMONS, 
