CIO 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
I March 6. 1390. 
yield of one of the cows was as low as 109 gallons, while that of the 
best cow reached the marvellous amount of 1206 gallons, which at 
the reasonable value of 8d. per imperial gallon gives the very hand¬ 
some sum of £40 4s, This, though undoubtedly phenomenal, is 
not a solitary instance of deep milking, for two other cows in the 
same herd gave over 1000 gallons each, and several others each gave 
•close upon 900 gallons, and if we take the yield of the twenty best 
•cows in the herd the average works out at a fraction over 882 gal¬ 
lons per head, which at 8d. is £29 8s. 
Now this last average is of especial value as showing what is 
possible with a herd of carefully selected cows, and it is very much in 
accord with the three years’ average of the Monewden herd of red 
polls in Suffolk, which was 804 gallons per head. Compare this 
with the computed average of 440 gallons per head of the dairy 
•cows of the U nited Kingdom, and it is at once evident how inferior 
generally dairy cows are, and how urgent is the need for improve¬ 
ment. Not an easy matter is it to form a really good herd of cows, 
•especially by a tenant farmer, and it is in the power of landlords 
to greatly assist their tenants by keeping a good dairy herd at the 
borne farm, and allowing them the use of bulls, and to purchase 
promising young dairy stock at reasonable rates. But farmers, 
whether tenants or otherwise, must not wait for such help, but 
rather combine both for the improvement of their cows and for the 
more profitable disposal of milk. It has long been notorious that 
the retail dealer charges the consumer at least double the price paid 
to the farmer, who has also to pay railway carriage, and to deliver 
the milk to his local station. The middleman here may talk of his 
risk of loss, which in reality is very low, for his is mostly a ready 
money business, but surely that could be well covered, and a safe 
margin left for profit at something less than one hundred per cent ? 
The entire milk business is now upon an unsatisfactory footing, 
from the breeding of cows down to the disposal of milk. It really 
■seems ridiculous to tell a man that an inferior animal consumes 
■quite as much, often more food than a really good one, and that a 
cow at £25 or £30 may prove much cheaper than another at half 
ihe price. Without combination it is really difficult to see how 
farmers can hope to effect a material improvement in this matter. 
It is not every farmer who can afford to keep a bull, and all his 
■care and expense in the selection of cows will in the end prove 
practically useless unless he can breed right, and it is for this reason 
that we urge landlords to do their part in a reform that in the end 
must be for the general good. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Well might Canon Kingsley sing in praise of the north-east wind, 
for if the clergyman of a country parish is in full sympathy and accord 
with his parishioners, he must share their keen appreciation of favour¬ 
able weather, and his greetings at this season of the year will be all the 
more welcome if he is able to offer such hearty congratulations as he 
can just now upon the beneficial effects of this much-abused wind, in 
drying the surface of the land and bringing it into capital condition tor 
the sowing of Lent corn. Not a day is lost now for turning the favour¬ 
able condition of the soil to full account for sowing spring Beans, 
Talavera Wheat, Peas, spring Tares, and Oats as fast as possible. Men, 
as well as horses, must work as long as daylight lasts, and the men 
should be well paid and the horses well fed and well cared for in stable 
and field. This is not a mere question of mercy or kindly feeling, but 
rather of self-interest. Very generally in the eastern counties the rate 
■of pay for agricultural labourers is only 9s. per week from Michaelmas 
to Lady day, and the loss of time in wet weather often brings down the 
pay to 63 . or 7s. Most of these men have a wife and family dependant 
upon them for the means of subsistence, and it is quite impossible that 
they can obtain enough food to enable them to do a fair day’s 
work. Employers’ means may be straitened, but in this matter they 
are evidently penny wise and pound foolish. 
It is generally agreed that to obtain a full crop of Barley it must be 
■sown early in a mellow, friable seed bed, but there is considerable 
difference of opinion as to the precise definition of earliness in this 
matter. Light-land men are very apt to say, “ wait a bit,” because they 
know a few hours of sunshine after rain will enable them to set the corn 
drill going, but the heavy land farmers dare not let slip any favourable 
opportunity for drilling, or they may have to wait so long for another 
chance that a full crop is out of the question ; and why such men will 
persist in giving undue prominence to such a fickle crop is difficult to 
understand, when it is in their power to do so much better with Oats. 
Like so many other things in practice where custom probably obtains a 
blind following in this matter, and it must not be forgotten than under 
ordinary cultural condition the Oat crop does not exceed Barley in 
appreciable degree. 
EEVIEW OF BOOK. 
Stcpherut' Booh of the Farm. Fourth edition. Revised by JAMES 
Macdonald. Division IV. Edinburgh and London : W. Black¬ 
wood & Sons. 
In some critiques of this great work exception has been taken to the 
reviser’s selection of authorities. Yet it is precisely this feature which 
imparts such importance to the revision, which embodies the teaching, 
in both theory and practice, of the most prominent men of light and 
leading. It is this which renders the manure section in Division III. so 
valuable, and the opening chapter in this volume on Potato planting 
contains Dr. A. P. Aitkens’ deductions from the results of experiments 
of the Highland and Agricultural Society, as well as quotations from 
Dr. Gilbert’s Oxford and Cirencester lectures. Hear him about chemical 
manures :—“ It is shown that the exhaustion of phosphoric acid by the 
Potatoes was greater than that of potash ; that in the continuous growth 
of Potatoes (at Eothamsted) it was the available supply of mineral con¬ 
stituents within the root-range of the plant, more than of nitrogen, 
which became deficient—hence the greater produce from mineral 
manures alone than from nitrogenous manures alone, that it is only 
when all the essential elements of manure are present in sufficient 
quantity that the full benefit of any kind of dressing can be derived ; 
and that when thus applied together in a well-balanced dressing, 
artificial (nitrogenous and mineral) manures produced a crop which for 
twelve successive years exceeded the average yield of the United King¬ 
dom—decidedly greater indeed than the yield from farmyard manure 
alone, and only about 8 cwts. per acre behind the produce from a com¬ 
bined dressing of dung, superphosphate, and nitrate of soda.” This 
chapter on Potato planting, with others on the foaling season, sow far¬ 
rowing, poultry, and paring and burning of rough surfaces, brings 
spring work to a conclusion. 
Summer opens appropriately with weather notes and a summary of 
summer farm work. Brief chapters follow on Flax, Hemp, and Hop 
culture. Root crops have full and careful treatment. Turnip culture 
especially being given in full detail. Southern farmers will probably 
take exception to the advice to use Swedes for horses, which it may be 
assumed are used in this way by Scotch farmers as a substitute for 
Mangolds, that do not answer well with them. The chapters on insect 
pests and fungoid attacks on crops, though not exhaustive, contain many 
valuable hints, and are well illustrated. 
Sheep management in summer has the attention and space its im¬ 
portance merits ; shearing, lamb weaning, and ewe drafting being ex¬ 
plained in full detail, advice of especial excellence being given upon the 
importance of early drafting and a young flock. Equally sound and 
practical is the chapter on pasturing cattle. Well says the editor : — 
“ Give the pasture a good start. Do not be impatient to turn the cattle 
from the winter quarters to the summer grazing. Let cattle of all ages 
remain in the steading until the grass is quite ready to receive them 
and able to maintain them in a satisfactory condition. 
The volume closes with a well illustrated treatise on dairy work. 
Though last, the importance of the subject has full recognition, the 
nature and treatment of milk, the making of butter and cheese, all 
having the full light of the latest leading of the best dairy authorities 
throwD|upon it in a series of 197 of the concise, pithy paragraphs, each 
with its distinctive heading, which adds so admirably to the utility of 
the work. 
MKTKOROLOGIOAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 8S'40"N.J Long. 0“ 8-0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. j IN THE DAT. 
P 
*3 
1890, 
February and 
Marcli. 
O tl, ^ 
£ “-d If 
it Sw 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
. 
o-d 
gg 
5o 
S^o 
isn 
H 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass 
Sunday.28 
Monday.24 
Tuesday ,,,, 25 
Wednesday., 2B 
Thursday..., 27 
Friday .28 
Saturday .... l 
Inches. 
$0.6^3 
£0.699 
30.514 
80.284 
30.452 
30 418 
30.045 
desp. 
85.8 
84.8 
88.2 
85.4 
30.9 
30.9 
des:. 
82 7 
83.9 
33.7 
37.2 
33.2 
80.8 
29.7 
N.K. 
iJ.E. 
N. 
N. 
N.E. 
N. 
W. 
de<?. 
38.4 
87.4 
37 9 
88.4 
38.2 
87.2 
30.3 
dej?. 
42.0 
47 2 
43.1 
43.4 
40 9 
40 3 
35.0 
desf. 
30.3 
30.8 
33.2 
34.5 
314 
27.1 
25.8 
dejp. 
65 1 
76 7 
83.4 
50.1 
76 6 
78 6 
635 
deg. 
26.7 
24.6 
19.1 
33.7 
25.2 
23.7 
22.4 
In. 
0,010 
0 013 
0.194 
30.420 'l 34A i 33 0 
/-'^ 
37.7 
41.8 
30.4 1 69.1 
26,5 
0.217 
REMARKS. 
23rd.—Fine with sunshine In afternoon. 
2 tth.—A little sunshine In morning, overcast with spots of rain in afternoon. 
2 Jth.—Bright morning, fine afternoon with some sunshine. 
26th.—Overcast all day, slight showers in afternoon. 
27th.—Very variable, a good deal of bright sunshine, hut frequent showers of sleet and 
snow. 
23th.—Bright thronghont. 
1st.—Cloudy early, snowing more or less nearly all day, and heavily from 1 to S P.M. 
On the whole a fine and dry week, but very wintry at the close. Temperature abjnt 
4“ below the average,—G. J. SYMONS. 
