JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Ju’y 11, 1889 
36 
and of the test to be applied to all attempts at improvement. It is 
a safeguard both against extravagance and parsimony, and points 
to the happy mean that spends wisely and saves wisely. The term 
really implies profitable expenditure and the avoidance of wasteful 
outlay, or the culture of any crop, the rearing of any animal upon 
which a fair profit is not tolerably well assured. Anything like 
precision m farming is impossible, our best efforts often falling 
■short of the success they deserve through causes beyond our 
control, and we certainly do well to avoid all such risk of failure so 
far as we can. 
As a means to this end it appears highly desirable that much 
more attention should be given to pasture farming than it has 
hitherto received. It is a question for the consideration of every 
farmer, if it is not in his power to avoid altogether the cultivation of 
tr )ot crops. They are proverbially uncertain, are very much the 
sport of seasons, are certainly very costly, and are by no means so 
indispensable as is generally supposed, and we hope that as greater 
attention is given to the cultivation of pasture it will be found that 
forage in one form or other is a suitable substitute for roots. On 
many—on most farms—roots are now thought to be indispensable. 
Why ? If only for the nutriment they contain, then certainly fair 
(comparison is much in favour of forage. Take the test of analysis, 
and we find Mangold roots are composed of water, 88'0 ; albumi¬ 
noids, IT ; fats, Of ; carbo-hydrates, 9f ; ash, 0'8. Swedes have of 
water 89'4 ; albuminoids, T4 ; fats, 02 ; carbo-hydrates, 71 ; ash,0'C. 
Yellow Turnips—-water, 905 ; albuminoids, T4 ; fats, 0 2 ; carbo-hy¬ 
drates, 5’8 ; ash, TO. White Turnips—-water, 92'0 ; albuminoids, TO ; 
fats, Of ; carbo-hydrates, 5'2 ; ash, OG. Compare with these an 
analysis of grass silage, and we have water, 73 530 ; albuminoids, 
■2-305 ; carbo-hydrates, 1T605 ; woody fibre, 8T40 ; ash, 3'920, which 
shows a balance of nutriment much in favour of the silage, and it is 
very much more in favour of hay and Oat or Barley straw. As an 
example of how such analyses are turned to practical account, take 
an ordinary full-grown healthy dairy cow. We know that its 
food should contain in, say, 25 lbs. of dry matter daily, 2’5 lb 3 . of 
digestible albuminoids, 04 of fat, and 125 of carbo-hydrates, and 
it is certainly our concern to impart such nourishment in the most 
economical manner. In summer, with plenty of rich pasture, 
eows become sleek, and the yield of milk is rich, abundant, and 
well sustained. Here is an analysis of such pasture :—Water, 78'2 ; 
albuminoids, 44 ; fats, 04 ; carbo-hydrates, 104 ; ash, 22 ; which 
shows at a glance why cows and other grazing animals thrive so 
well upon it. 
We may remind our readers that the literal meaning of science 
is exact knowledge, and that the formation of permanent or tem¬ 
porary pasture has become a scientific matter of much importance. 
The preparation of the soil, the selection and sowing of the seed, 
and the subsequent cultivation have all been thoroughly digested, 
so that there can be no good reason now for negligence or slovenly 
practice. Why, indeed, should there ever have been in this matter ? 
It is true that accurate knowledge of the comparative value of 
forage plants is of recent date, but have even indigenous grasses 
and Clovers had fair play ? Take the majority c f old permanent 
pastures now, and do we not find them infested with weeds, low 
an fertility, and often deficient in drainage ? How anyone paying 
■rent for land can allow it to remain so neglected passes our com¬ 
prehension. Ignorance? surely not, for if a farmer knows anything 
•of his calling, he knows a weed when he sees it, and knows also 
whether land is fertile or not. It is true that he may be ignorant 
■of the best way of storing the soil with fertility, of the relative 
value of forage plants, of the theory and practice of drainage, 
but he has no excuse for remaining so. 
For tenint farmers especially temporary pasture of from three 
to five years answers best, for if sown down well in carefully 
prepared soil and fertility sustained full crops are a certainty. 
Once get the system established upon a farm in conjunction with 
ensilage, and down goe3 the labour account, while profits mount 
up in the most certain and delightful manner. The cost per acre 
of a root crop cannot well be calculated at less than £6, and then 
there is the risk of failure which cannot be ignored. To be able to 
avoid such outlay and risk is very desirable, and the question of 
roots versus forage is worthy of earnest, thoughtful consideration. 
Why is it that we find one farmer giving up farm after farm, and 
another taking them in hand ? Is it not because the one clings 
avith stolid persistence to old habits and old cultural practices, 
while the other is alert and prompt to seize and turn to account 
every real improvement in practice ? No doubt farmers have been 
pestered with much vexatious advice from well intentioned 
theorists But while we ignore fanciful theory, let us strive for 
an intelligent appreciation of all real progress, and by striving to 
apply all possible improvement in practice, not only derive due 
benefit from it, but also show how sensible we arc that while the 
British farmer may be the best in the world, even he still falls far 
below perfection in his practice. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Now that flies are in full force and are so troublesome to cattle, cows 
should be put in a cool lodge or cow house during the hottest part of 
the day, and have as much green food as they require in rack or manger. 
If left to seek shelter themselves they will run into a lodge or among 
coppice wood if they can, and remain there for hours without food, and 
so cause a falling oil in the yield of milk. Now above all things this 
should be prevented by a little extra attention, and it should not be 
forgotten how much a little dry food at milking time contributes to both 
the quality and quantity of the milk. We gave particulars of such food a 
few weeks ago, and repeat them now when they are most wanted. Give 
3 lbs. twice daily of a mixture of equal parts of bran, crushed oats, 
decorticated cotton cake, and Smith’s palm nut meal. This mixture so 
given in addition to a full supply of green food was found last summer 
to bring up the butter yield per cow to more than double the ordinary 
quantity. 
As the lambs were withdrawn from the ewes they were put into 
folds on Sainfoin and mixed layers, and let out for a change on grass for 
a few hours daily. Under such treatment they thrive much better than 
they would if turned out altogether on pasture. For new permanent 
pasture sown this spring without a corn crop nothing answers better 
than lamb folding repeatedly as each growth becomes ready, the object 
being to prevent seeding and to enrich the soil. The folds are made so 
small as to ensure a speedy consumption of herbage without harm to 
the young plant. All sheep and lambs should now be dipped in 
Cooper’s mixture as a preventive against fly attacks and to destroy 
all insects in the wool. If lambs are required for early hoggets continue 
giving a- full supply of Mackinder’s lamb food or crushed Waterloo 
cake, which is a compound of nutritious food very suitable for them ; 
but if they are for stores or late hoggets next spring they require very 
little trough food till autumn. Select and mark a certain number of 
the best ewe lambs for the ewe flock. By doing this annually the flock 
number is well sustained, and it always answers best to do this with 
home-bred rather than with purchased sheep, for no man parts with his 
best ewes if he can avoid it. All over-age ewes should be taken out of 
the flock and fattened for sale ; barrens and all doubtful or faulty 
animals should be included in this draught. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 88' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8'0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
S- 
Hygrome- 
a • 
Shade Tem- 
Radiation 
a 
1889. 
Pa 
ter. 
V a 
ifo 
o 
perature. 
Temperature. 
a 
« 
J une and July. 
»- -*• 
In 
On 
K2 a 
Dry. 
Wet. 
5 o 
H 
Max. 
Min. 
sun. 
grass 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sunday. 
30 
00-311 
07.9 
5«.8 
N. 
65 1 
78 2 
57.3 
119 0 
52.1 
_ 
Monday. 
l 
30.392 
63.9 
57.1 
N. 
65 9 
73 9 
53 7 
120 3 
49.3 
_ 
Tuesday .... 
2 
30.395 
618 
54.6 
E. 
65 9 
(9.1 
56 9 
110.9 
55.5 
_ 
Wednesday.. 
5 
3'.2:8 
59 6 
51.3 
N. 
04.8 
6(0 
5.3.4 
86.2 
47.8 
_ 
Thursday.... 
4 
30.174 
62 4 
57 4 
N.E. 
63.9 
74.6 
55 6 
117 4 
55 8 
_ 
Friday . 
5 
30.133 
C>.9 
00.1 
N.E. 
64.3 
80.9 
54 9 
122 4 
51.9 
Saturday .... 
6 
30.110 
09.0 
58 2 
N. 
65 4 
79 7 
50.9 
120 2 
41.2 
— 
30.263 
64.4 
57.2 
| 65 0 
74.6 
54 7 
114.6 
51.2 
- ~ 
SOtli.—Bright and fine; n little cloudy in evening. 
July let.—Fine bright morning; gener illy cloudy In tin afternoon and even'ng. 
2nd.—Cloudy morning; a little sun in the afternoon; bright evening; cool throughout. 
3rd.—Cloudy and cool. 
4th.—Cloudy morning ; bright afternoon. 
6th.—Bright and warm. 
6th.—Bright and warm. 
The third successive rainless week. It Is very unusual to have three—but barome'er 
falling and every prospect of rain. Temperature very tlmilar to the previous week— 
U. J STM DNS. 
