3 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
r January 9, 1890. 
AGRICULTURAL VITALITY. 
There is no such thing as standing still in this world ; while 
life and strength hold we must go forward to meet the good and 
•evil of life, always resolute to grapple with our difficulties, to rise 
superior to and overcome them. That some such feeling animates 
agriculturists as individuals and as a class we have no doubt, for 
we may certainly speak of agriculture as progressive and not 
stagnant. On every hand there are signs of intelligent progress, 
which betoken vitality, and which certainly point to a brighter 
decade than that which has just closed with the last of the 
-eighties. 
No doubt there are still many grave faults of practice and custom 
to correct. One of these is the show-yard gloss of cattle, sheep, 
and pigs. It is claimed that “ mountains of fat ” are no longer 
visible at agricultural shows, and we grant that the system is 
modified, but it is still wastefully in error. Take, for example, the 
Sandringham prize pen of South Down sheep at the Smithfield 
Christmas Cattle Show ; were they not seriously fattened to waste ? 
So, too, were several other pens. Christmas beasts always abound 
in butcher’s waste, and the tendency to favour small breeds is fast 
growing. Go to any cattle mart now, and it will be found that 
small well finished animals invariably command more competition 
and a better sale than large coarse beasts. Yarious reasons have 
been given for this, but we think it is a clear case of a general 
preference for meat of high quality, hence the popularity of Devons 
and polled Scots. Kerries are also gradually making way for beef 
as well as milk, and the Live Stock Journal tells recently of a very 
remarkable carcase of beef being one of the Kerry heifers from 
Elsenham Hall, the depth and thickness of which in proportion to 
its length being phenomenal. 
Early maturity in breeding has especial attention, and is bound 
to affect all breeds sooner or later. Keen competition is very apt 
to induce undue preference on the part of breeders for the develop¬ 
ment of beef rather than dairy points in a breed. Take the Here- 
fords for example. In the improvement of these massive animals 
beef alone has been kept in view, and milk has been quite ignored. 
Prom a strictly economical point of view this is wrong, but the 
temptation to develope beef only in the “White Faces” was 
irresistible. We went through a large herd of them in Northamp¬ 
tonshire last autumn ; they were out on rich pasture, where they 
had been also regularly trough fed. Not one of them would be 
tied up, for they were just as ripe as Blackberries, and were being 
sent off to London at the rate of ten a week. Nobody could 
venture to generalise with such grand beasts before him, for there 
was evidently “ money ” in them, and a lot of it too. Can we 
wonder that the judges of Red Polls at Windsor should remind 
breeders of the importance of retaining the high milking qualities 
of this breed, in which the tendency to produce beef is so apparent 
also ? 
This is a reminder that dairy farming is progressive also. Miss 
Amy Barron’s recent lecture on the science of butter making in 
her native village of Borrowash, near Derby, abounds with useful 
bints and sound practical information, and is certainly worthy to 
rank with the exhaustive lecture on the same subject given by Dr. 
Voelcker a month or two ago. Butter factories are increasing, 
much to the benefit of local farmers, the latest announced being 
for the especial benefit of Sir Henry B. Meux’s tenants, and is 
calculated to take the milk of 500 cows. The initial capital 
required for the building and management of such a factory is 
£4000. The prices guaranteed for milk are 5:^d. per gallon for six 
months, Gd. for two months, 74d. for two months, and 84d. for two 
months. These prices appear low in comparison with that paid 
to retailers of milk, but they are certain, and there is no 
risk of loss, no carting to railway stations, no delivery at long 
distances. 
By all means let us push on the dairy farming, and everything 
else that tends to make us less dependant on corn growing. The 
Australian Wheat harvest is almost ended, and the calculated 
surplus of Wheat is a million quarters, which will not be held for a 
market, but will oe sent to Europe and sold at any price. There 
may be a falling off in Wheat growing in the United States of 
America, but it must never be forgotten that Wheat is imported in 
considerable quantities into this country from nearly twenty other 
countries besides the United States. It is always coming, nothing 
can keep it back, and though farmers may wax eloquent upon the 
wrong done them by the people being fed below the ccst of pro¬ 
duction, be very sure the people will not suffer their rulers to tax 
them to save the farmers. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Poultry repay well now for especial attention. They suffer from 
exposure to cold, and are w'retched in the extreme upon a sodden muddy 
run. We have two fowl houses, one entirely enclosed by weather- 
boarded sides, with roosts and nests ; the other boarded at the ends and 
back, but the front facing the south has fine wire netting, with about 
2 feet of the bottom only boarded. Here most of the fowls are fed, and 
they are induced to remain here on wet or snowy days by a fresh supply 
of fine dry ashes daily. There are plenty of low perches upon which 
some pass the greater part of the day, while others revel in the dust ; a 
Cabbage and a Mangold or two are placed in this feeding house fre¬ 
quently, and are much enjoyed. Eggs come freely, and are the best 
evidence of successful management. 
Akin to this subject is the case of cows now. A warm, clean, cosy, 
yet well ventilated cow house is the best promoter of health and a full 
steady .vie d of milk. Roof ventilators such as we described a few 
weeks ago answer best, and there is no draught. When cows are kept 
in altogether they should have roomy quarters. We have seen them 
coupled for winter in stalls that were much too narrow, the poor 
animals not only being very uncomfortable, but getting in a most filthy 
condition. Altogether better is it to let cows have a little exercise on 
all fine days than to keep them constantly tied up. In the cow houses 
of the metropolis the cows are mere machines, kept only so long as they 
yield milk freely, and then at once passed on to the butcher. Such 
treatment is no guide for the home farmer ; he requires healthy animals 
for breeding as well as milking, and he cannot afford to use them up in 
a season or two. All the town milkman looks for in a cow is a big 
frame and a big bag, quality of milk or special breed is nothing to 
him. Mi.xed food and an occasional change should be given to all 
store cattle, and they should always have access to rock salt. Without 
a well-managed dietary they often fall off in condition now, and become 
very mangy. One can te'l at a glance if beasts are well managed, but 
that is a matter that should not rest with the stockman, nor should it 
be possible for him to waste food ; weight, and measure, and close 
supervision are the best checks. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 
CAIIDEX SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 61° 88'40''N.: Long. 0° 8'0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
J. O■ aS 
Hygrome- 
. 
Shade Tern- 
Radiation 
a 
1889'Oi). 
ter. 
peratare. 
Temperature. 
sS 
o; 
fiS ^ J 
In 
On 
PhS cj 
Dry. 
Wet. 
53 
H 
Max. 
Min. 
sun. 
grass 
Inches. 
dej?. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In* 
S anday. 
£9 
30.813 
25 5 
2)4 
Calm. 
38-1 
33.1 
2 i-8 
38.0 
17.1 
INtonday. 
89 
30.412 
Si.l 
32 7 
y. 
37.1 
35.1 
2 V2 
36 2 
22.2 
0 o :2 
Tueada'v 
31 
30.363 
30.4 
31.3 
E. 
86.8 
87 5 
28.8 
40.2 
27.2 
— 
Wednesday.. 
1 
30.413 
28 2 
28.2 
8E. 
36.2 
33.0 
26 4 
33.0 
19.6 
— 
Thursday.... 
2 
30.2"6 
82 7 
^2 5 
N.K. 
35 9 
34 2 
26.1 
37.1 
1.3.3 
Friday . 
3 
29 752 
31.7 
31.0 
N.E. 
35 6 
43 8 
3 £9 
44.4 
31.1 
0.111 
Saturday .... 
4 
29.7^5 
43 2 
42.9 
S. 
35.6 
47.5 
ai9 
55.1 
32.2 
0.178 
30.169 
3U 
819 
365 
37.7 
27.4 
39.9 
210 
0.3:1 
REMARKS. 
29tU,—Dense fog till about S P.M, then fairly clear. 
3 l>th.—Cold and ellghlly foggy; gas necessary from noon owing to high fog or smoke 
cioud. 
Sl.st.—Fog rendering gas necessary tiil noon, then cleared, and sunshine f.-om 1 P.M. 
1 st.—Fog; gas necessary tiii 12, then slight till evening, when it became dense again. 
2 nd,—Fair, but slightly foggy in the morning; cloudy afternoon. 
3rd.—Fog till 11; clondy and damp till 4.30, then rain. 
4th.—Dull and damp early; lair day, with a little sunshine at noon. 
Another very du.l and rather cold week; temperature not much above f.ec/.iug 
point and no wsrm sunshine except on 4th.—tl. J. SVMONS. 
