302 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 3, 1889. 
favour of the take. No doubt it requires some experience to 
enable one to manage tillage in the moat direct and thorough way, 
so aa to economise labour, and yet do all that is necessary ; but 
even a beginner cannot go far wrong if he acts upon the lines in¬ 
dicated and resolves that, come what may, his tillages shall be both 
deep and thorough. If he does this he has certainly taken the first 
step towards improvement. Whether it may eventually lead to pro¬ 
fitable results depends upon very much more than this, and we have 
next to consider our course of cropping, and to try and see whether 
it will answer best to keep the land under a regular four or five 
course shift or to lay it down for a few years. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Change of food tends to promote health in all animals, and is of 
especial importance for sheep. The ewe flock is now upon the last 
stubbles, with a change to Sainfoin and pasture, and on the whole it is 
healthy. The exception is present in frequent cases of foot-rot, which 
are kept from becoming bad by constant attention. Much depends upon 
the shepherd in keeping down this contagious disease, and if he becomes 
at all negligent he cannot conceal it, for not only do lame sheep 
multiply, but there is a rapid falling o£E in condition of all the badly 
affected animals. We recently heard it questioned if foot-rot were in¬ 
fectious, and we repeat that we proved it to be so many years ago. We are 
using both shearling and lamb tups this season of necessity, and not of 
design. We always prefer the younger tups, but the purchase of fresh 
taps yearly becomes a serious item if really well-bred animals are re¬ 
quired. It is well to change them daily in all large flocks, and to feed 
them well always. Many flock masters prefer to tup with the flock upon 
White Turnips ; well, we have no objection, but it is mere prejudice 
that could see any advantage in such a plan, which doubtless had its 
origin upon large corn-growing farms, where it answered to sow Turnips 
as early as possible, simply because there was so little pasture. The 
risk of thus having to depend upon so uncertain a crop is obvious, and 
much inconvenience must follow in an unfavourable root year. Lambs 
at all forward are approaching the hogget stage, and it answers well to 
push them on with plenty of trough food when they leave the stubbles. 
This food need not contain any cake, but may consist of crushed home 
grown corn. Oats, Peas, Beans, and Barley may often all be so turned 
to better account than to be sold as corn. A field of early Turnips 
folded off now will be available for Wheat, and the sheep are all the 
better for being upon the arable land so long as it continues firm enough 
for folding. But they must be withdrawn if very wet weather sets in, 
for no sheep can continue to thrive in such mud puddles as they are 
often kept upon in winter, with mud half way up the legs and nothing 
but mud to lie down upon. Under such conditions the strain upon 
the frames of the strongest must be very severe. 
REVIEW OF BOOK. 
The Booli of the Farm. In six Divisions—Division III. By Henry 
Stephens, F.R.S.E. Fourth Edition. Revised and in great part 
re-written by James Macdonald. Blackwood & Son, Edinburgh 
and London. 
Under the heading of “ Practice—Spring,” the third volume of this 
very practical work contains—Cattle in Spring, Sheep in Spring, 
Manures and Manuring, and Seed-time. Each subject is treated fully, 
not from a particular point of view, but by a series of deductions from 
the best practice generally, and the high character of the work is well 
sustained. To give some idea of the exhaustive manner in which each 
subject is treated we may take that upon calving and calf-rearing, to 
which are devoted some 160 paragraphs, each under its distinctive 
heading. In no other work have we seen such a fund of sound prac¬ 
tical information upon this subject, and the fact of the heading of each 
paragraph being given in a table of contents makes reference easy, and 
adds materially to its utility. 
The treatment of sheep in spring points naturally to the lambing 
season, and the entire process of lambing with its attendant risk is 
fully discussed. The views given of some of the best flockmasters upon 
abortion are of special value as affording direct information of its cause 
and how to avoid it. 
In his introduction to the important section of manures and manur¬ 
ing the able reviser says, “ In the advanced agriculture of the present 
day the question of manuring possesses far more importance and 
involves greater difliculties than were associated with it in the elementary 
farming of olden times. The extension and accumulation of knowledge 
in regard to the maintenance, utilisation, and recuperation of fertility ; 
the discovery and development of new sources of manurial commodities ; 
and the vastly increased and still growing consumption of farm produce 
■of all descriptions have, with their combined influence, contributed 
largely to the great revolution which, since 1313, has taken place in 
British farm practice. The farmer can no longer wait for the recuperat¬ 
ing power of Nature to restore reduced fertility. He is not content to 
merely “ turn over,” as it were, the natural store of plant food which 
the soil possesses. Before the advent of artificial manures and feeding 
stuffs the prevailing system of farming was little else than a turning 
over of the inherent fertility of the soil—the abstraction of fertility 
from one field in certain crops, and the returning of it, or a great part 
of it, to another field in the shape of farmyard manure. This, however, 
was a slow process, quite unequal to the wants, the aspirations, and 
resources of the progressive age in which we live. A speedier, more 
intense, more artificial system of farming has arisen, and to make pro¬ 
vision for the greater demands which are now made upon the productive 
powers of the soil active and persistent attention has for years been 
devoted by scientists, capitalists, and practical farmers to the all- 
important question of manuring. 
“ By the discovery of vast natural deposits of manurial elements 
and by the manufacture of useful fertilisers from waste products 
and other material, great possibilities, hitherto undreamt of, have been 
placed in the hands of the farmer. By the means of these agencies 
it is possible for him to vastly increase and hasten the production of 
his farm, not only by adding to the supply of plant food already in the 
soil, but also by so stimulating, equalising, and preparing that supply 
as to render it far more serviceable and nutritious to the growing 
crops.” 
For this and other cognate reasons he goes on to explain why ex¬ 
ceptional attention and space have been given to the subject in this 
volume, and why he has taken to his aid the writings of our most 
eminent chemists and practical agriculturists. He then deals with the 
exhaustion and restoration of fertility in the soil, the manufacture and 
use of farmyard manure, and artificial manures are classified in groups 
as nitrogenous, phosphatic, potassic, and calcareous manures. Much 
valuable information follows of the application of manures, and then 
we have the Rothampsted, Aberdeen, and Sussex experiments and 
results, with those of the Highland and Agricultural Societies, given 
with sufficient detail and fulness to render them of real practical 
utility to every earnest intelligent reader. 
Under “ Seed Time ” the cultivation of spring corn is treated in all 
its various aspects of soil tillage—the varieties, preparation, and sowing 
of the seed. Permanent pasture hardly has the attention it deserves. 
Descriptions of Grasses and Clovers are taken from Mr. Martin J. 
Sutton’s great work on permanent pastures, and some useful lists for 
layers of from one to seven years’ duration are given. The diagrams 
showing the influence of drainage and tillage upon seed germination 
are of especial value, and the few paragraphs on “ Forage Crops ” which 
follow bring this valuable addition to agricultural literature to an end. 
We certainly regret space should not have been found in it for a few 
emphatic hints upon the importance of pasture cultivation, about which 
such general remissness prevails, for it is more than ever desirable that 
every acre of land under cultivation should be rendered as profitable 
an is possible. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Winter Dietary for Channel Island Cows (A Subscriber ).— 
Let the best meadow hay be given three times daily, only as much as 
the cows can consume being given each time. A little watchfulness will 
soon show how much they require. At milking time both morning and 
evening give each cow 3 lbs. of a mixture of equal parts of bran, 
crushed oats, decorticated cotton cake, and Smith’s palm nut meal. 
This dietary is sufficient, but if you have any Carrots or Cabbages a few 
may be given till Christmas, and a little Mangold may be used in the 
new year. You ask for the best and cheapest way of feeding in winter, 
and we may remind you that the cheapest way is not of necessity that 
which costs the least, but which gives the best return upon expenditure. 
The best way also is that which induces a full flow of milk that is 
entirely pure and sweet. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 8S' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8'0” W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAT. 
d 
*3 
« 
1889. 
September. 
v 
o k 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
0 . 
Ot3 
V 0 
So 
e— g 
S o ° 
00 r-4 
H 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass 
Sanday.22 
Monday.23 
Tuesday .... 24 
Wednesday.. 25 
Thursday.... 26 
Friday .27 
Saturday .... as 
Inches. 
£9.649 
29.931 
29.573 
29.842 
30.190 
30.146 
29 SCO 
deg 
49.9 
446 
65.2 
45.9 
47.9 
67.9 
55 9 
deg. 
46 6 
42.0 
54.4 
41 9 
44 9 
55.5 
50.9 
N.W. 
W. 
S.K. 
W. 
W. 
s.w. 
s w. 
deg. 
52 9 
51 8 
52 0 
52.0 
50 8 
51.9 
54 6 
deg. 
57 9 
57.3 
601 
55 5 
58 3 
66.0 
62 2 
deg. 
38 2 
85.1 
45.9 
4 i.2 
35.2 
50.7 
53.1 
deg. 
93.9 
85.9 
75.9 
98 8 
86 3 
87.7 
103.0 
deg. 
81.4 
28.4 
45.1 
36.2 
29.9 
48.2 
472 
Id. 
0.200 
0.734 
29 834 
51.1 
43 0 
52 3 
59.6 
42.6 
9X2 
38.0 
0.934 
REMARKS. 
22 nd.—Fair morning, overcast at times, bat generally fine ; bright night. 
23rd.—Overcast cold morning ; dull day and night. 
24th.—Dull damp morning, with heavy rain ; dull evening. 
25th.—Fine morning, day, and night, with fresh breeze. 
2 >th.—Bright sunthiny morning, fine day and night. 
27th.—Dali and overcast, slight rain ; fine day and night. 
28 tb.—Fuir, bat rather dull all day. 
Temperature slightly below the previous week, and about 2° below the average.— 
G J. SYMO>'S. 
