122 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
r Februa’’? 6, 1690. 
«very fine day the cattle were turned out, simply because it seemed 
better for them than standing in a small enclosure in several inches 
•of mud, for there was no litter used, as all the land was in pasture, 
and what straw is used must be purchased ; there was therefore 
much exposure of the animals to cold and wet, with the result of 
two cases of abortion—one by a cow, highly valued for its deep 
milking properties, the other a promising heifer ; a serious matter 
in any case, hut especially so in such a small herd. 
Our inspection enabled us to point out certain faults of arrange¬ 
ment and the remedies. The cowshed was so small and badly 
ventilated as to be quite unsuitable for its purpose. The remedy is 
a commodious cowhouse with weather-proof walls and roof, roof 
ventilation, floors of 3-inch Portland cement with a wide gutter and 
drain, and large separate stalls for each cow. The cows to be kept 
in and stall fed all the winter, the use of litter to be optional, but 
thorough cleanliness of floors, divisions, and walls to be strictly 
•observed. A loose box and calf pen to be built outside the cow¬ 
house for down-calving cows, entrance to the loose box only by an 
outer door, to ensure entire separation from the other cows in any 
subsequent cases of abortion. A cowyard with an open lodge to 
be added in due course, but as the locality is so cold and wet, close 
housing of cows always to be followed in winter. It was also 
advised that as there was an undue area of pasture for grazing 
and hay, enough should be broken up for the growth of forage and 
grain, and that the number of store or fat cattle on the farm 
should always be subservient to dairy requirements. It did not 
appear advisable to procure horses and implements for the arable 
land, which would only extend to a few acres, and could easily and 
economially be done by neighbouring farmers. No attempt will be 
made to prepare it for spring corn this year, but it will have the 
surface pared and burnt when the weather becomes favourable, and 
then be got ready f or next season. 
When cows are kept in altogether in winter they should always 
have a moderate quantity of Cabbages, Carrots, and Mangolds 
mixed with their food, of which the bulk should consist of the best 
meadow hay, the coats should be dressed daily with currycomb and 
brush, and the udders washed before the milking. Much more 
attention is now paid to cleanliness and comfort in the cowhouse 
than formerly, in view of the promotion of he^th, of a well 
sustained yield of milk, of cleanliness and purity in the milk, and 
of improvement in the quantity and quality of the butter. The 
greatest advance in this improvement of practice appears to have 
been made in Denmark by the Copenhagen Milk Supply Com¬ 
pany, which disposes of some 18 tons of milk daily, supplied by 
farmers whose cows are specially selected and regularly inspected 
by a veterinary surgeon. The most rigid cleanliness is observed, 
as well as fixed rules for the dietary, which in summer consists of 
grass and Clover, and in winter of hay, straw. Oats, Barley, and 
Carrots; a most wholesome mixture that is quite certain to 
impart no taint to the milk. But the novel feature consists in a 
system of filtration through compressed sponges as the milk is 
delivered, and it is said that notwithstanding all the care t.iken 
at the farms to have clean hands, clean udders, clean utensils, the 
quantity of foreign matter taken up by the sponges from the milk 
is extraordinary. If this is so, the introduction of the mik filtration 
into this country is only a matter of time, and till then really pure 
milk seems out of the question. For persistent effort and thorough 
painstaking with both milk and butter the Danes aife so far un¬ 
rivalled. The have now a continuous butter show for several 
months of the year, at which exhibitors have to send fresh samples 
at intervals of fourteen days, and at other times as the judges 
may require. 
WORK ON THE HOME EARM. 
Advantage has been taken of the unsettled weather to procure and 
mix chemical manures for pasture, the proper quantity per acre being 
weighed from the mixed heap, and put aside in bags in a dry store house 
till required for use. With the moderate quantity of soda we use, mixing 
two or three weeks before use may be done without risk of harm ; but 
when an excessive proportion of superphosphate is used the acid acts so 
Strongly upon soda and potash that if the mixture is not used quickly it 
becomes a damp sticky mass, most difficult to use at all. This is a 
serious matter in any case, but more especially when a large quantity is 
mixed. 
We have some very large barns, which are usually filled with corn 
sheaves at harvest time. Especial care is taken that all of this barn 
corn is in thorough good order when carted in from the fields, in order 
that it may be threshed sufficiently early to render the barns available 
for other purposes. A barnhead is a capital place for storing chaff, and 
we have just cut up enough Oat and Barley straw into chaff to last till 
turn-out time comes, be the spring early or late. We like a little heat 
in such chaff heaps—it imparts flavour, and renders the chaff more 
palatable than it would otherwise be. The heating is induced by 
sprinkling a little common salt among the chaff as it is put into the 
barn, and by a moderate trampling of each layer. This matter is now 
out of hand, and there will be an ample provision of horse food during 
seed time, when a stoppage for chaff cutting would prove a serious 
matter. 
Grass may positively be said to have continued growing-throughout 
this mild winter, and there has been a much less demand than usual for 
trough food for sheep ; but it has been a trying winter for flocks suffer¬ 
ing from foot rot, and more care than usual has been necessary to keep 
this insidious disease down. So far autumn-sown crop look a strong 
full plant, but there is much risk of early sown Tares losing plant now, 
and a close watch must be kept, in order that any failures may be made 
good by early sowings of spring Tares. It is some seven or eight years 
since we lost the whole of our winter Tares in a mild wet winter, and 
the loss proved so serious a matter that in order to avoid the risk we 
have always since then kept back the sowing till well into October. 
DUE LETTER BOX. 
IHCantire for Clover (A". J. A.).—As the Clover is a full plant the 
land is evidently not Clover sick, but the plant being small and weak 
shows poverty of soil, for which the proposed dressing of gypsum would 
certainly not prove an effectual remedy. The prescription given for 
pasture a fortnight ago would answer perfectly well for it, if only you 
are careful to keep strictly to the formula, to procure each sort of 
manure separately from a reliable source and superintend the mixing 
yourself. We fear you have not done this hitherto, for the failure you 
mention in 1888 tends to show that you could not have used genuine 
manures or not applied them at the right time. We have used the 
mixtures we have so often recommended on light, mixed, and heavy 
land with singularly uniform success, and are positive that your failure 
was not owing to the formula. In so wet a summer as that of 1888 
good artificial manure was more than usually effective. We used about 
£400 worth that year at six different farms with excellent results, but 
then we used pure manures in the right way. Be assured that we never 
recommend any manures we have not proved to be good, and do not 
allow anyone to induce you to substitute other manures for those we 
mention, or you may thus court failure. For example, we recommend 
muriate of potash, which contains when pure 52 per cent, of potash, 
often more. Instead of acting upon our advice you allow yourself to be 
persuaded to substitute sulphate of potash, containing only 44° of 
potash, and often a great deal less, for it, and then complain of the 
result. We may remind you that the most economical way of restoring 
the vigour of your Clover layer is to fold sheep upon the first growth, 
and then you have the option of turning the second growth (which is 
certain to be vigorous) to account either for seed or forage. But if you 
require a vigorous first crop then by all means use the chemical manures, 
and in doing so on your light sandy soil you ought to be especially care¬ 
ful to use it early, so as to insure that it is dissolved and washed into 
the soil by the time active growth begins. Last year was an exception¬ 
ally favourable one for light land, and had you drilled in chemical 
manure with the Barley you would not now be complaining of a weak 
Clover plant. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 61° 8S'40"N.; Long. 0° 8-0" W.; Altitude, 11 Ifeot. 
DATE. 
9 A.X. 
IN THE DAY. 
(3 
PS 
1890. 
Jan. and Feb. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 82“ 
and Sea 
Level. 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
. 
o-d 
S a 
2^ 
So 
S 
H 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass 
Sunday.26 
Monday.27 
Tuesday .... 28 
Wednesday.. 29 
Thursday..., 30 
Friday .31 
Saturday .... 1 
Inches. 
29.891 
29.855 
29.720 
80.253 
30.389 
30.367 
30.314 
dej?. 
4‘J.l 
42.1 
40.6 
34.8 
8H.0 
47.8 
471 
dejf. 
37 3 
40.2 
40.3 
33.1 
37.2 
47.2 
46.9 
w. 
w. 
E. 
N. 
-N. 
S. 
dejf. 
42.9 
42.9 
41.9 
41.3 
399 
40.9 
42.4 
deff^ 
51.3 
46.4 
49 8 
42.8 
48.1 
50.4 
49.3 
dej?. 
89 4 
40.0 
86.1 
3L4 
330 
37 7 
46.4 
desf. 
74.9 
819 
59.2 
72.7 
59.3 
64-8 
52.2 
deg. 
33.6 
36.2 
33.9 
29.3 
27 7 
34.6 
41.9 
In. 
0108 
0.346 
0.240 
0.058 
0.080 
0.010 
30.113 
41.5 403 
41.7 
48.3 
38.0 
65.0 
34.3 
0.792 
KEMARKS. 
S6th.—Bright morning ; cloudy afternoon; showery evening; frequent heavy squalls of 
wind all day. 
27th.—Showers early; bright from 10 A.M. till night. 
28th.—Very wet from l.t0 A.M. to 11 A M.; fine with a Utile sun at mid-day; showery and 
drizaly afternoon and evening. 
29th.—Almost cloudless throughout: soUrhalo at 8 P.M. 
30th.—Fine and occasional sunshine; spots of rain In the evening. 
Slst.-Dull and dr zzly all day. 
IsU-Slight fog till lu A.M., then overcast. 
Another warm week, with a considerable rainfall, but much bright sunahlie.— 
Q J. SYMONS. 
