500 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ June 17, 1888. 
now almost as well as heretofore. It is a popular idea that 
the price of Wheat should rule the rate of rent, hut having 
regard to the yearly reduction of the area of land under 
Wheat, we regard this idea as a fallacy. The future of farming 
will witness one of two things : either the culture of Wheat 
will be so much improved that the result may continue to be 
taken as a safe guide, or the amount realised by the entire 
farm produce must be divided by the number of acres con¬ 
tained in it, and we submit that such a test would be the 
safe one for general adoption. To those persons intending to 
hire farms we would say, Do not be tempted by mere lowness 
of rent. We know farms that are now being offered at 6s. and 
8s. an acre which we would not have rent free, for they have 
fallen upon the landlord’s hands in deplorable condition. 
“ Farmed out ” is the term applied to them, and the term is 
well understood to imply both poverty and foulness, and also 
a probable want of drainage. If the drainage is said to be 
efficient, it often proves to be so much at fault as to cause 
serious injury to crops. We have recently been over several 
farms where some of the drains have become choked from 1 
some cause or other, with the serious result of a large patch ’ 
of corn spoilt. We know an acre of Winter Oats so spoilt 
at the present time in a large field where the remainder of 
the crop is in excellent condition. The lesson gained by such 
a sight is invaluable ; the land that is saturated with water 
being not soft, but hard and sour, the drained soil close by 
being soft, sweet, and mellow. 
The stoppage of drains in arable land—especially in land 
that has fallen out of cultivation—is frequently caused by 
deep steam cultivation, and there is most risk of this when 
the drains are shallow. They are perhaps most frequently 
choked by foul ditches, which, having remained unscoured 
year after year, have an accumulation of weeds, mud, and 
leaves over the mouths of the drains, and we have had them 
quite filled by the roots of trees which grow along the pipes 
for a considerable distance. A main drain opened recently 
had the pipes filled with Elm roots running under a hard 
road some 40 feet wide. This leads us to mention the evil 
arising'] from an overgrowth of hedgerow timber on farms, 
which was probably an outcome of the easy-going prosperous 
days of farming. Upon asking why there were so many 
trees upon a farm which came upon our hands a few months 
ago we were told it was for the sake of appearance. Finding 
the farmhouse and buildings in a sadly dilapidated state we 
were by a judicious thinning of trees able to realise enough 
money to put the buildings into a thorough state of repair, 
and we venture to say that the appearance of the farm is 
now far more attractive to a practical man both as regards 
the condition of the buildings and the hedgerows also. 
Farm homesteads are also worthy of much more attention 
than is given them upon many estates. There is no reason 
why the farmhouse and the approach to it should not be both 
neat and attractive; on the contrary, all that is possible 
should be done to make them so. But too frequently the 
position and arrangement of the outbuildings would appear 
to be the result of an accident rather than of careful fore¬ 
thought and well-matured plans. We know several home¬ 
steads where the windows of the house open upon the farm¬ 
yard, yet this might easily be avoided without having the 
house far away from the buildings. A central position upon 
the farm with a good road to it, buildings easy of access, 
commodious, convenient, strong, and so connected that the 
whole of them may be used without difficulty, is what we 
require. Avoid extremes in such matters, and strive to 
attain the happy mean between inconvenient hovels and 
sheds and palatial buildings, involving an expenditure of two 
or three thousand pounds for a single homestead. 
We neither hope nor desire to effect sweeping reforms in 
the farming of the future, but we would fain do what is 
possible to bring about improvements in culture of which so 
many farms are so much in need. The first step to so 
desirable an end is individual effort on the part of farmers at 
self-improvement. Might not Farmers’ Clubs and Chambers 
of Agriculture help in this matter ? No doubt they do help 
in some degree by the reading of papers and discussions on 
practical subjects ; well would it be if the meetings of such, 
associations were confined almost solely to such sound work 
to the exclusion of political debates upon protection and. 
kindred subjects. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
As the ewes are removed from the lambs for weaning the entire flock- 
will be carefully examined, and crones or over-age ewes withdrawn from: 
it at once to be fattened for market. This will be done by folding upon 
some such green crop as Tares, Trefoil, Clover, Lucerne, Mustard, or 
Grass, according to locality and convenience. We shall thus be doing 
good to the land and turning the old sheep to best account. Other ewes 
will be added to the flock for next season either by purchase of one-shear 
ewes or by drafting from other flocks. Annual attention to this is important 
now in order to insure a sound healthy breeding flock. Our ewes 
have been well fed since last October, and they are withdrawn from the 
lambs, somewhat low in flesh it is true, but otherwise in sound condition. 
If we would have fine lambs early in the season the ewes must have good 
food and careful treatment. Many ewes come from the lambs in such 
poor condition that it requires some months to render them fairly sleek. 
It is doubtless owing to this that breeding begins so late in many flocks. 
There are three ways of turning the lambs to account after weaning— 
they may be forced on by high feeding till the end of July or early in 
August, when they will have closely approached the weight and size of 
full grown sheep. They may be sold at once, or be kept for hoggets to 
be folded on roots next winter and sold in batches as they become ready 
for the butcher. There is still some hoeing of weeds in corn, for we 
keep at this as long as possible before turning to the roots. We like to 
get all such work finished before haymaking begins, as there is little time 
afterwards for it. The Mangolds have grown so fast that we hope 
to finish thinning and hoeing soon now. The fly has been busy 
among the young Swede plants, but with such favourable weather growth 
is quick, and we have now reason to hope we shall have no failure to 
record this summer. On the contrary, the whole of the crops upon our 
farms are in flourishing condition, giving fair promise of an abundant 
harvest. Growth was much retarded by a backward spring ; but real' 
summer weather effects a remarkable change in a short time among all 
crops. Grass for hay has much improved during the past week, and most 
of the late Grasses will be in bloom by the time this note is printed. 
Last summer we had two or three serious failures of Mustard seed, which, 
though only a catch crop, is an important one, as it is sown and ploughed, 
in to impart fertility to poor soil. We have no such failure this year, for 
showers fell soon after the seed was sown, and the plants are growing, 
freely. How much better this is than bare fallows we hope our readers 
now know full well. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Sowing Cattle Cabbage (A. B. C. D .).—The season being so much 
advanced you can only sow in July to have plants ready for sale by the. 
end of September to plant out for a late spring crop, and sow in August to 
plant out about the end of October for a summer crop. It requires about 
2 lbs. of seed to afford enough plants for an acre of land. To have rung 
plants make a fine seed bed on fertile soil—that in which your ea.ly Potatoes, 
are growing will answer well—sow the seed thinly broadcast, rake in, and 
scatter a little fine soil over it to insure covering all the seed, or the birds 
will take much of it. The seed bed should be divided into plots, which can 
be watered without trampling upon them. Late Drumhead is the best sort 
for the July and August sowings. In addition to this, another season you 
may sow Early Sheepfold or Flockmaster in February and March to have, 
plants ready for sale in June and July for an early autumn crop, and sow 
Early Drumhead in March and April for sale at the same time as Early 
Sheepfold for a late autumn and winter crop. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATION?. 
Camdbn Square, London. 
Lat. 51° 32'40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
1886. 
a co <d © 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
P . 
O 
53 P 
I Temp, of 
Soil at 
1 1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
a 
a? 
a 
June. 
« S S’- 5 
MS 03 
Dry. 
Wet. 
££ 
5o 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
aun. 
On 
grass 
Sunday . 
Inches. 
29.951 
deg. 
57.6 
deg. 
51.8 
N. 
deer. 
54.3 
deg. 
73.3 
deg. 
44.4 
deg. 
114.6 
deg. 
37.1 
In. 
Monday. 
7 
29.910 
62.8 
55.8 
N. 
55.6 
73.8 
45.3 
120.6 
38.4 
— 
Tuesday. 
29.921 
6L.8 
54.0 
N.E. 
56.4 
73.5 
47.C 
114.7 
89.8 
— 
Wednesday . 
y 
29.846 
58.8 
54.5 
E. 
57.2 
70.7 
51.1 
100.8 
45.6 
— 
Thursday ... 
10 
29 773 
56.3 
54.1 
E. 
57.2 
66.8 
52.1 
99.2 
50.2 
0.252’ 
Friday. 
29.948 
61.2 
55.5 
S. 
56 3 
69.2 
51.6 
114.8 
45.2 
0.019 
Saturday ... 
12 
29.753 
61.7 
55.0 
s.w. 
56.8 
70.5 
54.3 
113.1 
50.4 
0.047 
29.873 
60.0 
54.4 
56.3 
71.1 
49.5 
111.1 
43.8 
0.318 
REMARKS. 
6th.—Fine and bright throughout. 
7th.—A glorious summer day. 
8th.—A glorious summer day. 
9th.—Fine, but rather close and nppresive. 
loth.—Dull morning, with spets of rain; heavy rain from noon to 1P.M.; cloudy afternoon, 
ltth.—A fine bright pleasant d;iy ; showers in evening, 
12th.—Fine, with alternate bright sunshine and spots of rain ; heavy shower about 5 P.M.. 
As a whole a week of bright pleasant weather, with cool breezes. Temperature 
about 4° above .that of the preceding week, and almost identical with the average. 
—G. J. StMONS. 
