566 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 28, 188 
pound, while lean pork was worth Gd. or 7d. a pound. That made 
a great deal of difference to the breeders. Last week he had a 
supply, and they were too fat, so he sent half of the meat to 
London, because that was the only place to dispose of fat meat. 
The fat meat brought him 2£d. a pound, while the lean parts 
brought 7d. a pound. 
At this Show, the champion beast was Mr. J. J. Coleman’s 
Red Poll, which won three champion prizes as best of the Red 
Polls, best ox or steer, and best beast in the Show. This grand 
beast was also champion at the Norwich Show, and a prizewinner 
at Smithfield. Animals of other pure and cross-breeds were well 
shown, and it was a veritable triumph for the Red Polls that the 
breed won the championship in its own district, where it was boldly 
challenged by the older and more famous Polled Angus breed. A 
novel and admirable feature of this Show was the contest for special 
prizes offered by local landlords to tenants on their estates both for 
cattle and sheep. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Farm work at midwinter is often much curtailed by broken weather, 
to which of late years has been added the stress of hard times, which has 
made so many families reduce the labour staff as much as possible every 
winter. Much as we regret this, it cannot, in common fairness, be ex¬ 
pected that employment for farm labourers is to be found from purely 
philanthropic motives, yet it is clearly worth while seeing if more work 
may not be done upon farms generally in winter, without loss to the 
farmer at any rate. Taking corn-threshing, for example ; time was 
when from every barn came the sound of the flail at this season of the 
year, and the labourer was quite assured of regular employment. The 
threshing machine has robbed him of much of this work, but we think 
the flails might still be kept going, to the mutual advantage of master 
and man, by paying for the threshing by the sack of corn threshed and 
screened ready for market. The men would earn enough for the main¬ 
tenance of themselves and their families, the masters would have the 
unquestionable advantage of retaining the services of steady reliable 
men, the exodus of farm labourers to towns would cease in a great 
measure, and thus the best men would not be lost off the land. 
Another point, too, bearing upon this important matter is the estab¬ 
lishment of some kind of motive power at every large farm for the 
grinding or crushing of corn, cake, and other foods, as well as chaff 
cutting, root slicing and pulping, water pumping, and similar work. 
Horses, at any rate, may often be turned to account for such work, if 
only there is proper shelter for horses and gearing in the form of a f 
roofed structure with boarded sides. This renders the farmer inde¬ 
pendent of the miller, and saves much time in sending to mills. The 
kindly doctrine of live and let live holds good here despite of what 
may be said of the miller’s loss, for surely the farmer’s own men claim 
his consideration first of all, and they will certainly have it when it so 
clearly accords with his interests. What is much wanted for farmers is 
a cheap engine, driven either by petroleum or steam, of say two-horse 
power, the price of which would be well within the scope of an ordinary 
farmer’s means. We quite think the sale for such a motor would be 
very large, for sure we are that a hundred of them would be sold where 
one of the present costly engines now finds purchasers. 
CHRISTMAS CATTLE. 
Right royally has Her Majesty the Queen done credit to her 
position as a model farmer and as President for the year of the 
Royal Agricultural Society of England in the recent exhibitions of 
Christmas cattle at Birmingham and at Smithfield. At Birming¬ 
ham there were eight animals entered for competition from the 
royal farms, with which Her Majesty won four first prizes, three 
second prizes, two high commendations, a reserve, the two breed 
championships for Herefords and Shorthorns, as well as the 
championships for the whole Show. At Smithfield even more 
remarkable results were achieved. Thirteen animals were entered, 
with which Her Majesty gained six first, two second, and three 
third prizes, the Shorthorn breed cup, the best ox or steer cup, and 
the champion prize for the best beast in the Show. The royal 
champion ox is a Shorthorn, about forty-three months old, and its 
weight is 23 cwt. 17 lbs. Seen alone it would doubtless impress 
one more than it did as we saw it at Islington. It is undoubtedly 
a gr.and animal of very noble proportions, but its age was against 
it, and the Judges were a long while in coming to a decision both 
at Birmingham and Smithfield, its rival at both Shows being Mr. 
Clement Stephenson’s polled Aberdeen Angus heifer, weighing 
under 14 cwt., but nevertheless a beast of superb quality, which no 
doubt told with the Judges much more than mere size would do. 
Anyhow, it is one more triumph for the Shorthorns, or rather a 
double victory. Even our favourite Devons were beaten by the 
royal champion in the contest for the £50 cup for the steer or ox, 
which lay between it and the Devon steer of Mr. John Wortley at 
Islington. 
It must not be thought that undue preference is given to Short¬ 
horns at the royal farms. On the contrary, most of the leading 
breeds find a place there, and the highest price realised at Her 
Majesty’s fat stock sale on the 7th inst. was £71 for a Devon, and 
£60 for a Hereford. Of the Devons it may be said that they 
compare favourably with other breeds in quality, and are decidedly 
superior to the Sussex, which bear some resemblance to them. 
Certainly Devon beef is in high favour at the present time in the 
metropolitan district, and it is the boast of many a suburban 
butcher that he “kills” no other beef. 
The great Christmas market at Islington on the 16th inst. had 
a total number of 5000 beasts and 11,000 sheep, or about 2000 less 
beasts and a thousand less sheep than were shown at the same 
market last year. This falling off in numbers was attributed to 
the fact of an over-supply which led to a serious reduction in 
prices last Christmas. As usual at this particular “ great day,” as 
it is termed, when close attention is paid to quality, Devons and 
Scotch took the lead as being in prime condition and not over¬ 
fat. Prices were considered to rule somewhat better than last year, 
but it cannot be said that there was any marked advance. 
Butchers’ and salesmen’s requirements appear to have more 
attention paid to them than formerly. Dear-bought experience 
has long shown both graziers and butchers that an over-fat beast 
is unprofitable, and the rule holds good in reference to all animals. 
The best pigs for the London market are nice little porkers of an 
average weight of 50 lbs., and only moderately fat ; yet it is 
notorious that there are thousands of pigs sent to London every 
year at a loss simply through overfeeding. At the Ipswich Show 
of the Suffolk Fat Cattle Club on the 16th inst. Mr. Robert 
Seager, who claims to be the largest buyer of pigs in the eastern 
counties, said some years ago he was obliged to send to the "West 
of England for his supplies because he could not obtain near at 
home animals lean enough. Suffolk pigs at that time were very 
much too fat. He had not to send away for supplies now, but he 
had to be very careful in selecting them. He asked breeders to 
remember that the market price for fat pork now was not 3d. a 
Storing Swedes. —A correspondent of the Aberdeen Free Press 
describes a method of preserving Swedes, which, he says, has been a 
little more or less satisfactory according to the severity of the winter 
and has been practised in England for over half a century. It consists 
of drawing the Swedes by hand, and piling them into conical heaps of a 
large cartload each, just as they are drawn out of the ground, care 
being taken that the outside ones are dropped around, so that the leaves 
of them hang down to form a kind of thatch for receiving the earth with 
which they are subsequently covered. A man can easily grasp four or 
six in each hand according to the size of the roots. They should be 
dropped as much in a bunch as possible that the starting ring may be 
well defined. Then the Swedes nearest the ring should be thrown into 
it till the centre is well raised above the top of the first ring. This will 
admit of the second outside ring or circular layer being so formed that 
the necks of the roots used for it will have a downward slope, and the 
leaves, therefore, fall close down for forming the kind of thatch 
mentioned. So the heaping may be continued till the top has been 
formed into a sugar-loaf end. The only other care required in forming 
these heaps is to have the height so proportionate to the width of the 
bottom that the earth, which should be 4 inches deep, may not slip off 
after a sharp frost. 
Agricultural Grant for Aberdeen.— We learn that the Board 
of Agriculture has intimated a grant of £300, from the sum voted by 
Parliament in support of agricultural education, to Mr. Thos. Jamieson, 
Aberdeen, in connection with the work which he is presently doing in 
that city and county. Of this sum £200 is for education, the balance of 
£100 being in aid of the agricultural research station. Last year only 
£50 was granted to the latter, and £100 in support of education, so that 
the grants have both been doubled this year. This is a tangible recog¬ 
nition of Mr. Jamieson’s valuable services to the cause of agricultural 
science, which will be much appreciated by his many friends and 
admirers. 
JVM 
