490 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Jane 13, 1889 
There are difficulties in the way of the farmer desirous of 
information which is not easily overcome, and unless he be a man 
of firm resolve and steady perseverance he may be tempted to turn 
away in disgust at the contrariety of opinion shown by those who 
assume the position of leaders of thought and action in the agricul¬ 
tural world. -I You cannot farm without stock ” is the popular cry 
with which his inquiries after the best manure are met, nor is it 
often that any attempt is made to qualify this downright assertion. 
On one hand he is told there is nothing like farmyard manure, on 
the other that chemical manures are indispensable ; or if he wishes 
to bring down his labour bill by laying down land to pasture he is 
met at the outset by the Rye Grass controversy, by more dogmatic 
■statements for and against selected Grasses and those which are 
indigenous to the soil, till he is ready to exclaim with Mr. Tulliver, 
■“ This is a puzzlin’ world !” 
To a man of ordinary intelligence this contradictory evidence 
invariably brings conviction that he must proceed with caution in 
attempts at improvement, and eventually he will be led to adopt a 
safe means and to avoid placing blind confidence in the advice of 
any man of extreme views. “ No artificials for me ! Why Noodle- 
kins went on using nitrate of soda till his land was worn out,” said 
a positive John Bull to us the other day, with such an air of con¬ 
viction that we made no attempt to explain why the excessive use 
of nitrate of soda alone does harm. No doubt farmyard manure is 
safe and efficient, because it contains all the elements of plant food, 
yet we are bound to decry its extreme use because it is so costly to 
manufacture and apply to the soil. As an outcome of the recent 
improvement in the price of cattle it is said that there has been 
some profit besides manure upon fat cattle. The fact of such a 
thing being thought sufficiently important to be mentioned shows 
that it is exceptional, and if account were taken of the value of the 
beasts when purchased, or of the cost of rearing, grazing, and 
fattening, together with that of carting the manure to form a huge 
heap or mixen, turning over the heap, carting to and spreading upon 
the land, with the actual loss sustained during the entire process 
in the gase3 escaping from the top and liquid manure from the 
bottom of the mixen, there would be a heavy per contra to enter 
against any so-called profit. 
Instead of a heavy outlay upon cattle to provide enough manure 
for a farm, it would appear advisable to confine the herd of live 
stock to horses, pigs, cows, and a moderate number of home-bred 
■cattle, using the manure so obtained for roots, Beans, Peas, and 
■other crops, so far as it will go. Coincidently with this all sheep¬ 
folding possible should be done upon other parts of the farm, and 
for the remainder pure chemical manure, consisting of mineral and 
nitrogenous manures, selected and blended with care and judgment, 
so as to store the soil with sufficient nitrogen, potash, and phos¬ 
phoric acid to ensure a full development of each crop. This 
arrangement to sustain the fertility of the soil is the happy mean 
at which all farmers should aim, for it is reasonable, economical, and 
must certainly prove efficient under the guidance of sound practical 
knowledge. Under the light of modern science it is simple non¬ 
sense to assert that “ artificials ” are worthless, or that “ muck is 
the backbone of farming.” A very weak backbone it must prove 
if we may believe the evidence of our senses as we drive past the 
huge mixens which are so generally made by the roadside in May 
after the stock is turned out to grass, for the sense of smell is 
offended by the pungent odour of gases set free by fermentation, 
and the sense of sight by the stream of dark rich liquid running to 
waste from the heap. It is true enough that the mixen suffers no 
perceptible loss of bulk, but it does undoubtedly lose the quint¬ 
essence of its rich store of fertility, and is then just so much 
humus or decaying vegetable matter, which does some good to the 
soil, but nothing like the good it ought to do, and would have done 
had all its primary properties been retained in it. 
The advice to lay down land to pasture should also be received 
with reserve and adopted with caution, especially by tenant 
farmers. When the landlord finds the seed the question of perma¬ 
nent pasture may be entertained, but otherwise it would appear 
more desirable to make temporary pastures for three or four years. 
There need then be no anxiety about the finer Grasses, as they are 
altogether dispensed with, only those of robust free growth being 
used, with a happy feeling of certainty of a full plant and abundant 
crop year after year if only the soil is really fertile. There can be 
no doubt that a three or four years lay, when well managed, 
affords relief by lessening labour, and is also profitable. It is 
questionable if we know as yet how profitable the plan is or may 
be, for if by a system of alternate husbandry in combination with 
ensilage we are enabled to dispense with a certain number of men 
and horses, and altogether avoid the cultivation of costly root 
crops, it would indeed prove a boon, and would tend to lighten 
the burden and cheer the heart of many an anxious farmer in his 
struggle with adversity. 
WORK OX THE HOME FARM. 
Growth has gone on with such rapidity that before the publication 
of this note we hope to be well on the way with the haymaking. May 
the weather prove propitious, for the crop is one of great abundance, 
and it will be a real treat to make some good hay once more after the 
sad experience of a wet haysel last year. Never had we so much diffi¬ 
culty to sell hay as we have recently experienced. Dealers take full 
advantage of the fact that the hay in stack is of doubtful quality, and 
of the prospect of an abundance of good hay this year. 
The application of nitrate of soda as a late top-dressing to growing 
crops has told well, and we have now ample proof that there is no loss 
of nitrogen when very wet weather follows the use of this valuable 
fertiliser in spring ; on the contrary, the dark colour and robust growth 
of some Wheat where this happened is remarkable, and is in striking 
contrast to another part of the same crop where the soda was used later 
in damp, but not downright wet weather. Depend upon it the advice 
to use soda in dull damp weather, but not in very wet weather in spring, 
is wrong. Sir J. B. Lawes told us there was a certain loss of nitrogen 
in the drainage water during winter, but it by no means follows that 
such waste of fertility continues in spring. 
Every effort has been made to keep down weeds, and we are now 
able to record a tolerably full Mangold plant with the land so clean 
that we hope it will give us very little trouble during haymaking. On 
one of our off hand farms, where the land is heavy and foul with couch 
grass, much extra labour will be required both with hand and horse hoes. 
This farm came in hand at Michaelmas, 1887, and we have not yet 
got it really clean, for the late tenant left behind a sad heritage of 
Couch Grass, Charlock, and wild Oats. His crops and his purse suffered 
from his slovenly practice, and we have been put to much expense in 
trying to get rid of these robbers of the soil. When will farmers see it is 
their own interest to keep the land clean, and to suffer none of its fertility 
to be wasted 1 Surely this is one of the stern lessons of adversity. 
Indian Wheat.— An American exchange says that the exports 
of Wheat from India during the last week of April were 680,000 
bushels, of which 300,000 bushels went to the United Kingdom, and 
380,000 to the Continent. The shipments for the corresponding week 
in 1888 were 060,000 bushels. The total shipments since April 1st were 
1,960,000 bushels, of which 1,210,000 bushels went to the United 
Kingdom, and 720,000 bushels to the Continent. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 
CAMDEN’ SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 82' 40" N. ; Lon*. 0° 8' 0" W. : Altitude. Ill feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
i?! 3-4 
Hygrome- 
fl . 
o ti.? 
Shade Tem- 
Radiation 
a 
1889. 
ter. 
33 g 
KIT* 
g-=§ 
perature. 
Temperature. 
3 
Jane. 
O S- 
In 
Ons 
CS £ =j_ 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
sun.- 
gras 
Inches. 
detr. 
desr. 
del?. 
des?. 
dee. 
deft. 
de<?. 
In. 
Bunday . 
29.707 
72.7 
65 9 
E. 
57.9 
83 0 
55.4 
126.2 
51.6 
Monday. 
3 
29.837 
65 9 
59-2 
w. 
60.3 
73.2 
57.4 
12625 
53.4 
Tuesday .... 
4 
30.259 
62.1 
58.2 
w. 
61.0 
75 8 
52.0 
124.9 
47.8 
Wednesday.. 
5 
30 423 
66.6 
56.2 
N.E. 
61.9 
75 8 
54.0 
121.1 
48 5 
_ 
Thursday.... 
6 
30.157 
6L3 
54.8 
N.E. 
62.9 
84 5 
54 9 
122.6 
52 3 
0.519 
Friday . 
7 
S0.< 03 
70.4 
65 7 
N. 
63 9 
7*.9 
61.6 
122 7 
57.9 
0.27i 
Satarday .... 
8 
29 905 
56 7 
5522 
N. 
630 
616 
54 1 
76.7 
55.2 i 
30.049 
65.1 
59 9 
61.6 
76.1 
55.6 
117.2 
52.4 
0 791 
KEMABKti. 
2nd.—Bright and hot. 3rd.—Bright, breezy, and pleasant. 
4th.—Bright and fine. 5th.—Fine bright day ; cloudy evening. 
6th.—Cloudy morning; bright hot afternoon; very severe thunderstorm from 9 toll P.M^ 
with 0*519 in. of rain and more than 1300 flashes of lightning. 
7th.—Warm and fine morning; cloudy afternoon, with distant thunder, and thunderstorm 
from 5 to 5.30 P.M., with 0*20 in. of rain in ten minutes. Doll evening. 
8th.—Overcast throughout. 
A week of hot summer weather, with an exceptionally severe thunderstorm on the 
•th. Temperature about 8° above the average.—G. J. SYMONS. 
