58 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 17,18W. 
almost solely in arable farming are involved is a serious matter, and if it 
could be realised that land could be laid down profitably to pasture, 
either permanently or for a few years only, it would be done. Hitherto 
any mention of laying down land to grass has been met with the query, 
How can we render or keep it profitable ? The answer to this is, 
Prepare the seed bed carefully by reducing it to a clean fine tilth, obtain 
pure seed in correct proportions of Foxtail, Cocksfoot, Timothy, 
Perennial Rye Grass, the Fescues, with the Clovers and Yarrow, fold the 
young plant lightly, yet as continuously as may be necessary, first with 
lambs, and subsequently with sheep, and you will soon have a well-knit 
pasture, so robust and vigorous that the crop will be alike superior in 
nutriment and bulk to most old pasture of indigenous Grasses. To sum 
up this matter in the briefest possible manner, you have only to farm 
new pasture as highly as arable land by seeing that the soil is kept well 
stored with fertility, and the herbage kept from producing seed. 
Professor Fream procured turves from old pasture in twelve English 
and seven Irish counties for trial at Downton last year, yet I for one 
fail to see what good can arise from such trials, except affording proof 
how generally Perennial Rye Grass is found in old pastures. For the 
fact of it and certain other Grasses being found in old pasture by no 
means proves them superior to or even equal to the Grasses which have 
been tested and selected with such care by Mr. Martin Sutton and 
others. Whether pastures be new or old, the point I wish to enforce is 
that it requires careful cultivation equally with all other farm ciops, 
and experience shows such cultivation to be profitable. Holding as I 
do that no full crops can be taken from the land without a certain 
per-centage of exhaustion of its fertility, ia order to obtain an equally 
full crop next season such loss must first of all be made good. 
The renovation of old pasture is in its way as important a detail of 
profitable farming as the cultivation of new pasture. I would lay very 
little stress upon what are termed renovating seed mixtures, for I have 
found that by keeping down weed, by an annual dressing per acre at 
the end of February of \ cwt. muriate of potash, 1 cwt. nitrate of 
soda, li cwt. mineral superphosphate, J cwt. steamed bone flour, or by 
sheep folding, and by draining when necessary, old neglected pasture 
may be brought into a high state of fertility which may be fully 
sustained under such treatment. The annual outlay of £1 per acre, or 
a shilling or two more for manure, will not only ensure a full crop of 
hay but an abundant aftermath with favourable weather, and the 
pasture will present a green flourishing appearance in winter in pleasing 
contrast to the brown stunted guise of neglected grass land. 
ARABLE LARD. 
The mere mention of this, undoubtedly the most important branch 
of agriculture, opens up so wide a field of thought that I dare not 
attempt to enter upon it at all in detail now, and must only venture to 
call your attention to one or two important points to which special 
prominence has been given recently. 
In an article in the last number of the journal of the Royal Agri¬ 
culture Society of England on “Barley from a Maltster’s Point of 
View,” Mr. Robert Free of Mistley, Essex, says that Barley has not 
taken so high a place in profitable farming as it should do, simply from 
carelessness and mismanagement on the part of Barley growers. He 
says in the matter of Barley growing there are certain plain means to 
the desired end which have been, to an almost incredible extent, 
neglected. The general absence of care in the selection of seed is per¬ 
haps the most radical defect. Buyers of grain are not usually backward 
in pointing out the shortcomings of samples submitted to them, and 
therefore the growers can scarcely plead ignorance as to what is re¬ 
quired in a malting Barley. They know at all events that amongst the 
first conditions looked for are that the grain should be well matured 
and evenly ripened ; and yet it is a fact that thousands of acres of good 
arable land in this country are regularly sown with such samples of 
Barley as the farmer finds unsaleable to the maltster in consequence of 
their inferior quality or condition, or with the cheapest lots that can be 
bought on the markets. If rubbish be sown, says he, it would indeed 
be strange if there be anything but rubbish to reap. His views are 
equally sensible upon the importance of thorough ripeness before reap¬ 
ing, and care in the preparation of the grain for sale, and I for one am 
entirely in accord with him as to the importance of twice dressing the 
bulk before samples are taken for market. 
The points to which it appears desirable more attention should be 
given are the selection of seed ; more care in sheep-folding or in the 
application of other manure in order to secure uniformity of growth as 
well as of ripening of the grain ; careful harvesting ; thorough dressing 
and due care in the storage and management of the grain between 
thrashing and delivery to the maltster. 
No doubt the selection of seed corn is a most important matter, and 
I have found results justify the outlay involved in the purchase of the 
best strain of Chevalier Barley, and the best sorts of Red and White 
Wheat. In doing this one has to remember that seed is one thing and 
soil another, and that to sow good seed in poor half-tilled soil, is, to say 
the least, not the action of a wise man. Depend upon it we should never 
have had a Giant Wheat by the process of mere selection ; there must 
have been high culture of the soil for its development, and we must 
sow in equally rich soil if we would maintain its high standard of 
excellence. 
MANURES 
Are undoubtedly of primary importance in profitable farming, and the 
experience of another year strengthens the conviction of the high value 
of chemical, or, as they have perhaps been more fitly termed, concentrated 
manures. In the exercise of due knowledge and care in selectio 
mixing, and applicat ion to the soil of such manure, we combine economy 
with utility in the best manner, for we avoid the heavy outlay involved 
in the manufacture of farmyard manure ; we avoid, too, the heavy loss 
of nitrogen common to the muck heap. For general purposes the best 
way of using chemical manure is to drill it in with the seed, its action 
then being more prompt and certain than a top-dressing sown broadcast 
ever can be. 
It is matter for congratulation that more attention is being given 
to the importance of town sewage as manure. Hitherto the chief diffi¬ 
culty appears to have been to precipitate the sludge in a form suitable 
for easy application to the soil. The first samples sent me were com¬ 
pressed cakes, difficult to divide for use. But last spring 2 tons of 
magnetic sludge manure were sent me from Acton for trial. This is a 
soft dry powder, easy of application, and I was able to give a favourable 
report of results, and certainly consider the International Water and 
Sewage Purification Company, from whom I received it, have solved the 
problem of sewage precipitation, and of its use as a fertiliser of the soil. 
Even in the crude form of compressed cakes the sludge has a ready sale. 
At Colchester it is sold at 2s. a ton, and is highly valued by Essex 
farmers. At Leeds the demand for it is so great that the Corporation 
of Manchester purpose spending £490,000 upon a new sewage scheme, 
the most interesting features of which to farmers are two intercepting 
sewers and the chemical precipitation of the sewage, which under the 
existing system finds its way into the Irwell by numerous drains and 
streams. The sludge obtained by the process of precipitation is to be 
offered to farmers at the rate of 25 tons daily, which goes to show that 
some 9000 tons annually of matter rich in every important element of 
plant food will be available for the land from Manchester alone: 
I cannot now enter upon the merits of sheep folding, nor need I do 
so, for we are all fully sensible of the high value of sheep upon the land, 
and I have no doubt that at present prices we should all assign them a 
leading place in profitable farming. 
My theme is so comprehensive that it is impossible to exhaust it in a 
single paper. I might go on to speak of the profits of judicious horse 
breeding, of early maturity in cattle, sheep, and pigs ; and you may be 
surprised to hear of a longing to dwell upon fruit farming, for I could 
a tale unfold of such profit derived from fruit-growing as would make a 
poor corn grower’s mouth water, and may note in passing the fact of a 
farmer in the Fens having this year sold from 30 to 40 tons of Crown 
Bob Gooseberries at £10 a ton, the fruit being sent to a distance by rail 
in hundredweight baskets. But I will refrain, and will only add that 
if profitable farming is to continue possible in this country, it must be 
upon the lines indicated— i.e., curtailment of the area of farms in pro¬ 
portion to tenant’s capital, judicious expenditure, thorough energetic 
action in every detail of practice, avoidance of every wasteful or doubt¬ 
ful process which has nothing but mere custom to justify it, the dis¬ 
posal of all farm produce on sound mercantile principles, and the in¬ 
telligent adoption of every possible improvement which has borne the 
test of fair experiment. Then with relief from any burden which it is 
clearly shown the land cannot bear, there can be no legitimate reason 
why British farming should not be so fairly remunerative in the future 
as to be in reality profitable farming. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Dairy Matters (IT. R. RJ). — Copies of the Dairy Committee rules 
for butter making on a printed sheet adapted for hanging up in dairies 
at Id. each or 5s. per hundred ca n be had at the offices of the Royal 
Agricultural Society of England, 12, Hanover Square, London, W. As 
only one of your cows gets its coat into a filthy condition your man is 
probably right as to the cause. There is no remedy, for animals have 
traits of character as well as men, and this is one which nothing can 
alter. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 82' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAT. 
'aitfa 
1889. 
January. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 32° 
and Sea 
Level. 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
Temp, of 
soil at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass 
Inches. 
dee. 
dev. 
deg. 
deg. 
dee. 
dee. 
dee- 
In. 
Sunday . 
6 
30.138 
27.2 
26.6 
X.E. 
36.1 
29.2 
26.2 
30.0 
23.2 
_ 
Monda'y. 
7 
30.041 
27.2 
27.2 
a.E. 
35 9 
37.2 
22.0 
37.3 
16.4 
_ 
Tuesday .... 
8 
2.» 930 
36.4 
35.9 
E. 
353 
47.1 
26 7 
48 6 
22.9 
0 02O 
Wednesday.. 
y 
29.538 
46.8 
44.9 
8.W 
357 
48.2 
36.1 
55.4 
23 0 
I'AIT 
Thursday .... 
10 
29.373 
36.9 
36.1 
N.W 
37.1 
39 4 
36.4 
4. 9 
35.9 
0.091 
Friday . 
n 
29.704 
35.4 
34.2 
N.E. 
37-3 
41.8 
33 2 
59.8 
27.3 
— 
Saturday _ 
12 
29.441 
34.6 
34.1 
-N.E. 
37.1 
36.2 
29.9 
40.8 
24.6 
0.19k 
29 738 
34.9 
S4.1 
i 36.4 
39.9 
30.1 
44.8 
24.8 
0 4811 
REMARKS. 
6th.—Fog in the morning, fine afternoon and evening. 
7th.—Cold, with fog in the morning, fair afternoon, and fog again at night. 
S'h - Slight fog early, line mild day. 
9th — Mild, fine, aDd generally bright, but one or two si Jglit showers; wet evening nd 
ni^ht. 
10 ‘h.—Dull and damp, with frequent cold rain,and flakes of snow, 
lltb.—Fine and pleasant, with a good deal of sunshine. 
12th.—Wet snow all day ; fair evening. 
Calm, cold, damp, and rather foggy.-G. J. SYMONS. 
