368 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
| May 2, 1889. 
AUXILIARY CROPS. 
In a spring which has proved so favourable for cleaning land 
all that is possible should be done to sow such green crops as can be 
turned to account either for sheep folding or for ploughing in when 
fully grown to enrich the land ; for some of such crops do afford 
us this desirable alternative, of which we take advantage according 
to the requirements of the flock and the peculiarities of the season. 
In a warm, dripping season White Mustard for example may be 
sown in two or three successional crops upon the same land with 
material advantage, storing up fertility in it for the winter corn, 
but in a hot dry summer very little good can be done with Mustard, 
except in spring and autumn ; its use as an auxiliary crop must 
therefore depend upon the weather. 
We are induced to call attention to such crops at the present 
time by the sight of a large field of exceptionally vigorous Thousand¬ 
headed Kale, to the growth of which the weather was so favourable 
■last year. The seed of this crop was drilled last August at the rate 
-of 5 lbs. of seed per acre ; the wet weather which followed the 
sowing, and which prevailed more or less continuously after the 
plants were singled, doubtless induced strong growth, but this was 
also owing very much to the fertile condition of the land. The 
August sowing is always of special use for ewes and lambs now, 
and where Rye is backward it is doubly so. It is certainly worth 
■consideration if this Ivale might not altogether replace Rye for 
■Spring foldiug. The seed costs Is. per 1 lb., or 5s. an acre when 
■drilled, and we always drill the seed and avoid a seed bed and trans¬ 
plantation. The rows are 30 inches, and the plants 2 feet apart in 
•the rows when singled. If the land is poor drill with the seed a 
mixture of 1 cwt. nitrate of soda, 1 cwt. muriate of potash, and 
3 cwt. mineral superphosphate. For late summer or autumn use a 
■sowing is also made near the end of the present month. This may 
be either on land cleaned and enriched with manure this spring, or 
after the sheep folds on Swedes. If farmyard manure is used about 
thirty cartloads an acre is a fair dressing. 
The fact of this Kale standing for three or four years if kept 
from running to seed is not generally turned to account. When it 
is to be so left the sheep are taken off before they can injure the 
stem, which soon forms fresh leaves. With us its special value is 
for sheep folding, but it is also used by some farmer’s solely for 
dairy cows, and if not given them in excessive quantities is 
■excellent forage for them, especially in winter and early spring. 
Early Drumhead Cabbage is also now being drilled to be used 
during the last three months of the year. It is then invaluable, 
for pastures are bare and green food of most kinds is scarce. 
Pregnant ewes may have some Cabbage, then with advantage, but a 
dietary of Cabbage pure and simple is undesirable, and some dry 
trough food should always be used with it. If farmers would only 
use Cabbage instead of Turnips for the breeding flock then there 
would be much less loss among ewes, but many are so slow to 
change, so slow to adopt improvements, that it was not so very 
long ago a certain per-centage of losses among the ewes was re¬ 
garded as inevitable at lambing time. The Giant Drumhead 
Cabbage is not sown till August for use in spring and summer. 
Rape is a splendid heavy land crop for folding. To have it in 
perfection the land must be rich and the plants should be singled, 
and not left in the usual crowded fashion. In the deep rich 
alluvial soil of the Fen district it yields a crop of wonderful bulk, 
and is exceedingly useful for hogget folding. It is not a desirable 
crop for light land, except perhaps in a wet summer, and if sown 
<in light or gravelly soils it need not be singled. It may be sown 
in May and June, and makes excellent autumn feed. Professor 
Wrightson has recently stated that Rape is a cultivated variety of 
the Swede, in which the leaf has been developed while the root re¬ 
mains divided and fibrous. He also tells how the late Mr. John 
Algernon Clarke relates in his “ Farming of Lincolnshire,” that the 
crops of Rape in that county grow so strongly as to become 
impenetrable like a fence, and that sheep may be placed upon it 
without requiring to be confined in hurdles. Such a crop, he says, 
will maintain 400 sheep per acre for a week, which is equivalent to 
the amount of keep supplied by 20 tons of Swedes. This sounds 
very much indeed like high farming, and is very tempting, but 
then the soil of the Fens is both deep and rich. Without hoping 
to produce such a crop there certainly might be much better results 
generally under special culture, which would be quite worth while, 
and would repay one for the labour bestowed upon it. The fact, 
however, of an ordinary crop of Rape being obtainable with little 
labour beyond the drilling prevents many farmers attempting any 
improvement in its culture. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
On all fertile pasture the herbage is now forward enough for the 
cows to go out upon it daily, and the butter shows much improvement. 
Due care must be taken to avoid the exposure of delicate cows to cold 
wind and heavy rain. The recent inspection of some wretched hovels 
used for cows impels us once more to remind our readers of the im¬ 
portance of thorough shelter and warmth for them. All open sheds 
should be sufficiently deep to enable cows to avoid driving rain, and 
the closed sides should have no openings for cold draughts. See that 
plenty of dry clean litter is put down regularly, and that cows at no 
season of the year are compelled to stand or lie down upon sodden 
filthy bedding. Pleasant indeed is the sight of downright good 
practice among farm animals. We recently had this pleasure at the 
homestead of a tenant farmer. The last of the cows had just calved, 
so that they were all in full profit. None of the calves had been sold, 
notwithstanding the high price of calves just now, but all were being 
reared, and a more thriving healthy lot we never saw. It is certainly 
curious that home-reared beasts are not more common, for comparison 
between them and the “ lean kine ” common to most markets is much 
in their favour. A moderate quantity of home-bred beasts, a herd 
of good dairy cows, plenty of pigs, and a flock of sheep in proportion to 
the size of the farm, all goes to support. a farmer and enable him to 
contend with low prices for corn, and if to this he can add a fair stock 
of poultry there is always a considerable accretion of small profits and 
quick returns coming to hand, and which are available for current 
expenses. 
Many farmers are using home-grown corn in preference to purchased 
cake for sheep and cattle now. Beans both of the spring and autumn 
crops continue so soft as to be only saleable at a very low price, and 
are much better turned to account for home use. A moderate quantity 
mixed with other food answers well for both sheep and beasts. Much 
discoloured Barley has been kept over and used with mixed food for 
sheep, the grain being crushed slightly for ewes, and given whole to 
hoggets. Far better is it to do this than to dispose of corn at prices 
that can afford no profit. There is, of course, a limit to this home 
consumption of corn, but it can certainly be extended sufficiently to 
enable one to avoid expenditure upon the purchase of any feeding 
stuffs. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden square, London. 
Lat. 51° 38' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8'0” W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
iS. S_: 
Hygrome- 
d . 
O ! 
Shade Tem- 
Radiation 
a 
its 33 ?? 
ter. 
+3 q 
g-~§ 
perature. 
Temperature 
April. 
£ & 
In 
On 
a 
Dry. 
Wet. 
So 
H 
Max. 
Min. 
sun. 
grass 
Inches. 
dee. 
dee. 
dee- 
deg. 
dev. 
dev. 
dev. 
In. 
Sunday . 
29.*-28 
50.7 
46.6 
s.w. 
473 
56.4 
44.5 
04 4 
40.1 
0.030 
Monday. 
29.823 
50.9 
45.7 
s.w. 
46.8 
57.4 
39.6 
101.5 
34.4 
0.179 
Tuesday ... 
2i 
20.807 
48 0 
44.2 
W. 
46 1 
54.2 
36.S 
933 
32.9 
0.350 
Wednesday. 
24 
20.455 
46.2 
42 0 
W. 
45.6 
51 7 
40 2 
98.3 
37 8 
0.124 
Thursday... 
25 
20 741 
4 ;.n 
45 2 
N.W. 
45.2 
52.2 
41.2 
90 0 
38 3 
0.053 
Friday . 
30.034 
44 8 
43.2 
S.E. 
45 0 
60.1 
34.1 
103.3 
29 3 
0.129 
Saturday ... 
2/ 
30 003 
52.2 
49.1 
W. 
46 2 
61.2 
439 
98.4 
45.2 
0.077 
20 813 
48.6 
45.3 
1 46.0 
56.2 
40.0 
98.3 
, 36.9 
0.942 
REMAKES. 
2lst.—Gale all clay, with showers at 10 A.M4.30 and 7 P.M., and generally cloudy, hut one 
or two spells of sunshine. 
22 nd.—Bright between frequent showers ; thunder and hail in the afternoon. 
23rd.—Brilliant till 10 A.M , then cloudy and showery, especially in the afternoon. 
24th.- Generally cloudy, with frequent spots of rain in morning, showery at mld-dny* 
very dark from smoke cloud in the afternoon, gas necessaiy from 2 to 4 P.M.; tine 
evening. 
25th.- Cloudy, with occasional drizzle and showers in the morning ; pleasant afternoon* 
with some sun. 
20th.—Slight fo* early, bright day, rain at night. 
27tli.—Fine, with frequent sunshine. 
A variable week, more sun than in any previous week this year, the maximum being 
08 3° ; but also a rainy week, nearly an inch having fallen, some on every day. Tempera¬ 
ture near the average.—G. J. SYMONS. 
