372 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 1, 1890. 
system, naturally brought about under the influence of foreign 
•competition, that the home production and value of ^heat in 
England and Wales at the end of fifty years of the existence of the 
■Society, -which at the commencement -svas estimated by Mr. Pusey 
at 13,500,000 quarters, -worth £31,000,000, will not in 1890 exceed 
one-half of that quantity, and be worth not more than one-third 
-of it in value.” He goes on to show the swift increase of the 
area of land under permanent pasture, of its probable further 
extension and limits, and to what extent British agriculture 
may be calculated to hold its own in the future. The paper 
abounds with matter of importance, which will furnish subjects 
for thought and discussion among agriculturists for some time 
"to come. 
An article by Mr. Henry Evershed on “ The Early Fattening 
of Catde and Sheep ” has something of the tone of an historical 
sketch, touching points of progress in the more prominent breeds. 
He touches on the importance of careful selection, of dentition 
as a guide to determine the age of young animals, and gives useful 
examples of the practice of some of the best managers of live 
■stock. Here he enters usefully into details of treatment, especially 
in regard to diet. The gist of the whole article is. Select and 
Breed with judgment, rear the calf or lamb carefully, allow no 
falling-off in condition, but finish and sell the animal as quickly 
as possible, and it is bound to prove profitable. In proof 
of this, evidence is adduced that it costs no more to finish twenty 
weU-bred young bullocks under skilful treatment than it does 
Balf that number of Irish steers that have been let down in 
condition. 
Sir J. B. Lawes, in “ The Food from Agricultural Crops,” gives 
«s another suggestive paper from which many a useful hint may 
be gathered. It dwells chiefly upon the sources of nitrogen, and it 
shows how, after a very wet winter and spring, the soil in which 
•winter corn is growing may be low in nitrogen, and we take it 
■that the practical application of this teaching is to apply a surface 
of nitrate of soda to such corn at once. An able article, too, is 
that in which Mr. William Carruthers gives the results of his 
■observations on some English pastures, which, if taken apart from 
the Eye-grass controversy, is of considerable importance, for the 
observations embrace pastures in several counties. They have 
evidently been made with judgment and care ; the deductions are 
sound, and he says well that, “ In laying down land to pasture, as 
in sowing fields with Wheat or any other crop, we must try to 
surpass Nature. We must bring together the most nutritious 
perennial plants which will supply palatable food for stock as far 
as possible all the year round, and we must exclude weeds and 
worthless grasses which we have found too abundant in natural 
pastures. We must also consider the almost universal complaint 
of the deterioration if not failure of new pastures after the third 
or fourth year, and avoid short-lived grasses.” 
The number contains much other useful matter, and it certainly 
gives fair promise of a valuable and popular series. The price is 
now only 3s. 6d., and we strongly recommend owners of home 
farms to give a copy to their bailiffs as a wise investment in their 
own interests, for the teaching is sound, and the writers have 
evidently all given full recognition to the Society’s motto, and 
have striven to combine practice with science. 
WOBK ON THE HOME EARM. 
Since writing our last note we have seen some excellent crops of 
Winter Beans Frith a full plant as healthy and vigorous as heart could 
wish. The lo?s of plant appears to be confined very much to clay farms 
where a considerable area is usually devoted to this crop. Experience 
has shown that the loss of plant in spring on such land generally follows 
an exceptionally mild wet winter, which induces early growth and 
renders the plant liable to injury from late frosts. The harm is done 
close at the surface, where the temperature is always lowest, the cuticle 
being destroyed, which leads to the decay of the root and destruction of 
the plant. This year the harm was done by the short spell of very 
severe weather during the first week of March, when we had upwards 
of 20° of frost, and the minimum temperature of March 4th was the 
lowest recorded in that month for thirty years. 
Pasture from which the stock was withdrawn last October is now 
sufficiently forward for the dairy cows, affording an agreeable contrast 
to that of a neighbour who turned out cows and store beasts daily 
throughout winter, often only to stand about shivering in cold and wet, 
with the miserable result of now having a bare pasture, and what is 
even worse, four cases of abortion whieh the veterinary surgeon attributes 
to exposure. Abortion is often termed a mystery, but in this as in many 
other instances it is a result of mismanagement. 
Among green crops sown this spring one of the most important was 
a few acres of Lucerne near the homestead, chiefly for horses, but also 
for the cows. This is one of our most useful and safe forage crops, 
altogether preferable to sueh a doubtful novelty as Prickly Comfrey, 
for once established it may be mown repeatedly every summer ; it con¬ 
tinues in full vigour for several years, is unaffected by drought, and 
only requires sowing in rows wide enough apart to admit of the free use 
of horse hoes to keep down weeds. Why it is not sown as extensively as 
Sainfoin, Clover, or mixed seeds, is a question we have never been able 
to answer to our satisfaction, for the value of the crop is so apparent, 
and all animals are so fond of it, that instead of being practically 
ignored as it now is, it ought to hold a leading position among such 
crops. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Corse and Comfrey as Forage Crops (^Long). —Cut, crushed, 
and mixed with chaff and other food. Corse is a valuable addition to the 
dietary of both horses and cattle. It also has a special value as food for 
dairy cows in winter and spring, as it tends materially to improve both 
the quantity and quality of the milk. Here is its analysis ;— 
Water . 72 ■O 
Albuminoids (flesh formers) ... ... 3’2 
Fats ... ... . I'l 
Carbohydrates (heat producers) ... 8 2 
Ash . ... S'O 
The fibre may be taken as making up the numbers to 100, and to show 
the value of this analysis we may add that the per-centage of albu¬ 
minoids in Oat straw is 3^5, or a mere fraction more than in Corse. It 
thrives in poor thin soil, and yields from 7 to 10 tons per acre every year 
after it is well established in the soil. It should be sown at once in a 
fine seed bed in drills 9 inches apart, using about 25 lbs. of seed per acre. 
The young plant is not ready for use till the second winter, and it suffers 
from weeds, so that in land at all foul the drills should be sufficiently 
wide apart for a free use of the horse hoe between the rows, in which 
case much less seed will be required. When once established it may be 
mown just like any other forage crop, and it continues throwing up an 
annual growth of wonderful vigour in shallow soils, where hardly any 
other profitable crop can be grown. Prickly Comfrey, on the other 
hand, is a much overrated plant. We gave it a fair trial in deep alluvial 
soil, where it grew freely enough, but nothing would eat it freely, and 
the only way to get rid of it was to pass it through the chaff-cutter and 
mix enough other food with it to induce the stock to consume it. In 
this way it may be turned to account, but having regard to the fact that 
it is a gross feeder, requiring deep rich soil at the outset, and heavy 
dressings of manure subsequently, we came to th® conclusion that it was 
unworthy of extensive culture, and we simply retained a small plot of 
it upon the home farm for a few years as a curiosity. 
METEOROLOaiCAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CiMOBN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" -W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 AM. 
IN THE DAY. 
Hygrimc- 
Shade Tem- 
Radiation 
d 
1890. 
32” £ 
ler. 
perature. 
Temperature. 
ApriU 
fl O'*-* 
la 
On 
nSS 
Dry. 
Wet. 
5 o 
Max. 
Min. 
sun. 
grass 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sundav . 
30.167 
42.1 
38.2 
E. 
44.5 
54.2 
88.0 
85.4 
86.8 
— 
Monday. 
21 
30.198 
53.8 
50.0 
S.E. 
44.9 
58.7 
41.9 
93.2 
88.1 
0.150 
Tuesdav ... 
. 22 
29.884 
51.9 
50.8 
s. w. 
46.1 
63.3 
48.8 
110.9 
47.7 
— 
AVednesday. 
. 23 
30.010 
51.4 
4.5.9 
s. w. 
46.4 
59.6 
40.1 
105.6 
36.2 
0.164 
Thursday ... 
. 24 
29.652 
50.2 
48.4 
N.E. 
47.0 
54.6 
44.1 
72.1 
44.0 
0.127 
Friday . 
29,2.53 
44.1 
43.2 
N.E. 
47.0 
50.7 
43.7 
79.3 
43.3 
0.543 
Saturday ,,, 
. 26 
29.598 
48.9 
42.2 
calm. 
45.3 
54.3 
33.9 
8-5.8 
27.6 
0.184 
29.823 
48.9 
45.5 
45.9 
56.6 
41.5 
90.3 
39.1 
1.168 
EEMARKS. 
SOth.—Fine and mild, with occasional faint sunshine. 
2l8t.~Brightearly; cloudy an! hazy morning; frequent spots of rain all afternoon and 
evening. 
22nd.—Wet from 2 A.M to 5AM.; dull and drizzly till noon, then bright sunshine and 
high wind, but slight showers between 3 and 4 P.M.; clear night. 
23rd.—Fine and frequently bright In the morning; alternate sunshine and showers in 
afternoon ; wet night: solar halo 4 to 5 P.M. 
24th.—Dull and damp early; cloudy tlU 3.30, thenalittle sunshine,and rain in evening. 
25th.—Very wet from 7 A M. to 1 PM.; cloudy till 3.80, then frequent sunshine. 
26th.—Brilliant early, and fine and generally bright till 1L30, then overcast and dark; 
heavy rain from 0.30 to 2.30 P.M., then fair again. 
Range of temperature still rather small, temperature near the average, a wet week, 
grais frozen on 26tn.—G. J, Stmo:(S« 
