280 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 2(5, 1889. 
LANDLORDS’ FARMING. 
Sound policy is it always to encourage tenants to drain land by 
the landlord supplying the pipes, upon condition that the tenant 
makes the drains subject to the approval and inspection of the 
agent. Had this been done more generally the landlords’ burden 
now would be much lighter than it is, for the only thing to do with 
a neglected farm falling in hand is to bring it into sound condition 
as soon as possible, and drainage forms the basis of all such 
improvement. It is not to be set aside indefinitely, but is of such 
primary importance that it must have due attention before any 
manure is used. To apply manure to wet land is mere waste, the 
inert soil derives no real benefit from it, and disappointment 
follows the sowing of any crop. Singular indeed is the ignorance 
which still prevails among farmers about the effect of and necessity 
of drainage. During the recent harvest a tenant farmer was loud 
in bis complaints about a small crop of Wheat on heavily manured 
land which he had folded twice and then manured. He is a sharp 
shrewd man of business, and we doubt not that our explanation of 
the want of drainage being the cause of the failure, and why it was 
so, will be turned to practical account. But is it not remarkable 
that a man born and bred to farming should arrive at middle age 
and yet remain ignorant of a matter of such vital importance ? He 
at first said that he did not think the land was wet, but we were 
bound to show that the failure was a simple case of cause and 
effect; that without a free passage of water through and from the 
land there could be no circulation of air in it, no absorption of 
fertilising gases by it, no kindly root-action in it, so that anything 
like robust growth and full crops were impossible. If only farmers 
CDuld grasp the full significance of all this and would test the con¬ 
dition of the soil which they essay to cultivate, and not trust so 
much to the imagination, it would be greatly to their advantage. 
In land drainage no rule can be laid down, the nature of the 
soil and subsoil being the only safe guide. The drains may have to 
be any distance apart, from 15 to 30 feet, and any depth from 
20 to 40 inches, or even more. It is true that capillary attraction 
is active in clay, but it is only in exceptional cases that very deep 
drains are necessary in clay. We may mention once more that 
deep drainage is intended to keep the water table so low—so far 
from the surface—as to prevent the excessive rising of moisture from 
it by attraction, and so check that excessive evaporation which 
tends to lower the temperature of the surface so seriously as to 
prove hurtful to vegetation. Our especial object in calling atten¬ 
tion to drainage here is to induce caution in the autumn cultivation 
of farms falling in hand now. The aim is naturally to sow a 
■certain proportion with winter corn, but if the drainage is deficient 
far better will it be to refrain, and rather to do what is possible in 
clearing the land now, to ridge it up roughly for winter, to drain 
as much as possible during winter, and then to sow spring corn 
with a full dressing of pure home mixed chemical manure next 
March. Pray do not listen, or rather pay no heed, to prejudicial 
remarks against the use of such manure. The land is practically 
exhausted of fertility; the only sure way to impart sufficient 
fertility to it so as to insure full crops next season is to use full 
dressings of carefully mixed mineral and nitrogenous manures when 
the corn is sown. Care must of course be taken to obtain the 
manure from a reliable source and to avoid all risk of adulteration. 
Do what you can later on by sheep folding and with farmyard 
manure, but pray rise to the emergency and let nothing prevent the 
use of chemical manures, for the first season at any rate. It is 
precisely because we have so used them that we have been so 
Successful in our treatment of exhausted land. No doubt there is 
a certain risk of waste in using such manures upon land newly in 
hand, but that cannot be avoided ; the object is to store it with 
plant food, and provided each element of fertility is there we do 
not mind a little in excess. We want a crop, and it must be a full 
one, and then it will cover expenditure and afford some profit. 
Every outgoing tenant farms for a valuation, and therefore he 
usually has a certain proportion in fallow. If this is a bare fallow 
and the drainage is sound it is immediately available for Wheat 
sowing, with a half dressing of chemical manure well harrowed-in 
before the drill, or better still, if an Excelsior drill is available, 
drill the manure with the corn. We have every reason to recom¬ 
mend this plan, for the manure is dissolved and taken up by the 
soil immediately about the seed ; the seedlings thus have a full 
supply of food from the outset, the growth is proportionately 
robust, and the supplementary spring dressing is car more effective 
than it ever can be when the seedlings have been in a state of semi¬ 
starvation during winter, and a crop that is robust from the 
beginning comes to maturity much sooner than that which is 
weakened by poverty of soil. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Most pleasant has been the sight of couch fires, muck carts, ploughs, 
broadshares, cultivators, and harrows all in full activity upon the clay 
soil of late. Now, if ever, good management tells, and we have not to 
look far for evidence of it. Take for example a recent visit to two of 
our farms. At the first we found every corn stack had been thatched, 
as it was built by that handy man who is so indispensable on every large 
farm. Stubble clearing was being done, and so too was the carting of 
manure. The second growth of Clover had been folded by the ewes, and 
the layer was being ploughed in for Wheat. Part of ODe large field had 
of necessity been a bare fallow, the other part had been under Peas, and 
the whole was being got ready for Wheat. To the bailiff’s inquiry if the 
fallow should be again ploughed with the Wheat land, our answer was, 
“ No, the fallow is clean, time is precious, and besides, you will have the 
opportunity of trying the merits of stale and fresh furrows, about which 
there is much diversity of opinion.” At the other farm we found several 
corn stacks still unthatched, carting not begun, no stubbles cleared, and 
work generally in arrears ; yet the bailiff is, in his way, a good man, per¬ 
fectly honest and trustworthy, but sadly deficient in capacity to organise 
labour and turn it to best account. 
We had much difficulty in getting land ready for winter Beans last 
antumn. This time we are able to sow in September, before the Wheat 
sowing. Of the two spring Beans have proved altogether the best crop 
this year. They were the last crop out on the land, but they are now 
safely in stack in capital condition. Never did we see finer crops of 
green Maize. Some of the plants are 10 and 11 feet in height, and the 
bulk per acre must be far above the average. Rich soil and a hot 
showery summer ensure a full crop of this valuable forage plant. A11 
live stock eat it greedily, and nothing can be better for cows where the 
milk is sold. For home-farm dairy cows it has to be used with some 
caution, as it is apt to impart an unpleasant flavour to the butter. We 
are glad to find our old favourite the Kerry cow is at length making its 
way to the front rank of dairy cows. We have long regarded it as no 
mean rival to the Jerseys, for we have found it yield very rich milk 
abundantly, and it has the additional merit of being hardy, easily 
fattened, and fed at a comparatively low cost compared with that of 
most other cows. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 82' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8'0" W.: Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
Hysrrome- 
P . 
Shade Tem- 
Radiation 
_ P 
1£89. 
a k cc« 
c > 
ter. 
S P 
cLf o 
perature. 
Temperature 
aS 
September. 
Sis'll 
I 
6 c"*- 
OJ Xh 
In 
On 
Dry. ! Wet. 
5 o 
Max. 
Min. 
sun. 
grass 
Inches. 
deg dev. 
dev. 
dee. 
dee. 
dee. 
dee. 
In. 
S inday. 
15 
30.414 
55.8 ! 51.4 
N. 
61.6 
G2.G 
50.2 
109.9 
45.3 
— 
Monday. 
hi 
30.412 
54 1 , 49 9 
N. 
G».0 
586 
47.1 
84.4 
42.1 
— 
Tuesday .... 
17 
30.309 
52.4 415 2 
8.E. 
57.2 
G2 2 
36.0 
9«".0 
29.9 
_ 
Wednesday.. 
18 
30 228 
52.4 | 44.2 
N.E. 
53 0 
65 0 
38 5 
99.1 
32.3 
— 
Thursday.... 
19 
29.915 
581 ! 51.9 
8. 
55 6 
61 9 
42.2 
70 3 
35.8 
0.161 
Friday . 
2 ) 
29.G9D 
51.9 47.2 
W. 
55 0 
59 9 
45.6 
106.3 
41.L 
0.164 
Sitorday .... 
2L 
29 185 
49.0 44.9 
N.W. 
53.9 
57.7 
4 2 
1013 
35.6 
0.1 83 
30C97 
53.4 43 5 
57.0 
61.1 
42.8 
95.9 
8L4 
^.312 
REMARKS. 
15th.—Fine morning, but not sunny; fine d«v and nieht. 
lG.h.-Fair morning eaily; daik at 11.80 A.M.; generally dud and overcast, and chilly 
dull evening. 
17th.—Fair br ght day and night, but chilly. 
18th.—Fine bright morning; cold day, with occasional sun : fine night. 
19th —Dull and overcast generally ; cold and rain from 2 P M, to 7.15 p.M. 
20ih.—Fine breezy morning, with occasional sun and rain and hail at 3.15 r M., and then 
fine with some sun. 
2 st.—Fair morning, with occasional gleams of sun, sharp rain in the afternoon, and dull 
damp evening. 
The week has be»-n generally co’d with rain. The temperature about 13° tc’ow that 
of the preceding week, and i° below the average.-u. J. SYMJNS. 
