24 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 6 , 1687. 
beasts of our friend with from 200 to 300 others sold at an 
average of £25 apiece. Such a price for highly fattened 
Christmas beasts points to an absolute loss over and above 
any value real or fanciful which may be put upon the manure. 
Nor were we surprised on the following market day to see 
prime sirloins of beef offered for sale at 7jd per lb. By all 
means let us have dairy farming in conjunction with pig¬ 
keeping at the homestead, with milk for home consumption, 
butter and cheese for market, calves fattened for market, too, 
as quickly as possible, and only enough saved for heifers to 
keep up our supply of cows. In this way we should obtain 
enough manure for our root crops, and avoid an annual loss 
which in the end may prove fatal. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
As we sit down to write this note frost and snow render grazing upon 
any kind of pasture impossible for the flock, and the utmost care is being 
taken in feeding the ewes forward in lamb. No frozen roots must they 
have now, or dead lambs and abortion will be the result. Plenty of sweet 
wholesome chaff, consisting of meadow hay, Oat and Barley straw, well 
mixed and slightly salted by scattering a few handfuls of salt upon the 
chaff as it is thrown into a heap from the machine, is given regularly in 
the troughs with corn. In the racks we keep a full supply of Pea straw 
and hay, so that the sheep have always some food by them ; but we 
prefer to give only enough trough food at stated intervals for the sheep 
to clear up at once. Both in quality and quantity of food due regard is 
had to the condition of the sheep, and if the slightest tendency to 
poverty is perceptible cake must be used in addition to corn. We hold, 
however, that if pregnant ewes have been well managed since the last 
lambing season there can be no necessity for extreme measures now. 
We cannot obtain a good crop of lambs from ewes that were brought 
very low in condition last season. There must be no undue strain made 
upon an animal’s system at any time if its progeny is to be strong and 
healthy. It is solely by attention to this and by careful selection that we 
have one flock superior to another. Apart from the fancier’s point of 
view, and regarded solely from that of the practical farmer, it is obvious 
that a well-fed ewe may reasonably be expected to yield a well nurtured 
lamb, just as a badly fed ewe must yield a weak lamb. Glad a»e we to 
say that both our ewe flocks are in a satisfactory condition, and although 
they are not quite free from the taint of foot rot, yet there are no bad 
cases among them now. Hoggets and crones are now coming nicely on 
in condition for the butcher, and we have now a certain number on sale 
weekly. The fat ewes find a ready and profitable sale, some sold last 
week ranging as high as 53s. apiece. These sheep have now been for 
several months in folds upon a full diet of grass, roots, and dry food, and 
we hope to derive benefit, not only in the crops to follow the folding, but 
also in a reduced chemical manure bill this year. Strong healthy crones 
and forward hoggets pay ; crones brought very low by poor diet and 
being kept late with the lambs, and late hoggets do not. 
THE HESSIAN FLY IN BRITAIN. 
One of the notable events of the agricultural season of 1886 was the 
startling appearance of the long-dreaded Hessian fly upon British soil. 
With commendable diligence, Miss Ormerod, F.R.M.S., Consulting Ento¬ 
mologist of the Royal Agricultural S iciety, has drawn up a report of 
observations made, adding thereto sundry suggestions as to means of 
prevention or remedy. Accepting the present version of facts, I must own 
to some apprehensions that the insect may shortly turn up in some of our 
fields about North Kent, and the explanation is easy. Large quantities 
of manure from London stables, cab yards, and the like places, is brought 
down to Gravesend in barges to be used on the land, and it furnishes a 
tolerably ready medium for the transit of the fly from the Continent in 
what has been called its “ flax seed •’ or pupa condition. It should be 
explained that for the package of goods received from abroad quantities 
of straw are used, and many city houses, wholesale or retail, relieve them¬ 
selves of accumulations of this by selling it to stable keepers. The 
natural result is that such straw becomes a constituent of mixed manure 
sent from town to country. 
It is exactly a century since this pest was first noticed in America, 
and not till 1834 was it proved to occur in Europe. On the Continent the 
chief localities for the insect are the south of France, Austria, Hungary, 
and South Russia. A U.S. Commission lately sitting considers the true 
habitat to be Western Asia, near the Mediterranean. There have been 
many alarms about it in England. Whether previously to last summer it 
had occurred here Miss Ormerod doubts, but she received specimens from 
Barley fields near Hertford on July 27 h, and a fortnight after some were 
found at Romford. Later on the Hessian fly turned up in several Scotch 
counties, while Hitchin and Luton were added to the southern localities. 
As yet, however, the attacks have been in no place sufficiently violent to 
cause more than trifling damage, and on the Continent the yearly loss 
through this fly is small compared with the considerable one that appears 
almost every season in the corn returns of the United States. 
The following is quoted from Kaltenbach as a good epitome of the 
insect’s life history—“ The Hessian fly, or Cecidomyia destructor, resides 
as larva in the haulm of Wheat, Rye, and Barley. The females usually lay 
their eggs on the young leaves twice in the year (in May and September), 
out of which eggs the larv® hatch in fourteen days. These work them¬ 
selves in between the leaf sheath and the stem, and fix themselves near 
the three lowest joints, often near the root, and suck the juices of the 
stem, so that afterwards the ear, which only produces small or few grains, 
falls down at a sharp angle. Six or eight maggots may be found together, 
which turn to pupae in spring, or about the end of July.” A variation as 
to this is noticeable in different countries, and it appears that the pupa, or 
“ flax seed,” may exist from October to spring within the stalks. 
From this it is suggested that thorough clearing of stubble during the 
autumn is important as a preventive measure. Others advise the sowing 
of narrow strips of Wheat at that season to attract the flies that are about, 
when eggs and maggots can be subsequently ploughed in. Straw is, of 
course, too valuable to burn, but Mr. J. Marten advises forming it after 
threshing into very firm compact stacks ; a great proportion of the flies 
must be then destroyed because they cannot reach the outside of the 
stack. Late-aown Wheat has been found in the United States to escape 
comparatively, because ere it attains any size the flies that would have 
attacked it are dead. 
I should add that, although I am not at liberty to mention names, 
there are entomologists who profess themselves convinced that C. destruc¬ 
tor has not been taken here as stated. The species of Cecidomyia are well 
known to present difficulties of identification, and we have several native 
species whose history has not been worked out. One at least has been 
detected feeding within the stalks of Graminaceous plants both wild and 
cultivated.— Entomologist. 
FOWLS LAYING IN DECEMBER. 
The writer of “ A Well Stocked Homestead ” asks “ Can it be proved 
that the owner of 100 hens or pullets gets ten eggs per day in December 1 ” 
In December, 1881, I had 302 eggs from rather less than fifty hens and 
pullets—cross Creve and Langshan. It is fair to say that this month was 
mild ; but in the following January, when the weather was sharp, I had 
481 eggs from the sam) stock. In December, 1882, I had 457 eggs from 
a cross of Cr6ve and Black Hamburghs; but again the month was com¬ 
paratively mild. In subsequent years I have not been so successful, but 
still from the same number of hens and pullets I have never till this year 
taken less than five eggs a day in December, with crossed Dorking and 
Game, and some of the old stock. 
But this year I have made a bad shot with Andalusians, the hens not 
laying and the pullets only beginning late in December, and then very 
sp irsely —60 that I have but 100 eggs chiefly from old Creve hens, which I 
find good layers. The fowls in each case were fed with house scraps 
mixed with middlings in the morning hot, and mixed grain in the after¬ 
noon. A grass run of course. These facts may interest the writer of your 
article.— Veteran. 
OUR LETrER BOX. 
Drainage of a Meadow on Clay (Perplexed ).—Have no hesitation in 
draining at once, making the drains 25 to 30 feet apart, and only 22 inches 
deep. Use the ordinary round 2-inch land drain pipes, and see that they 
are well laid with a regular incline throughout. Annual dressings of coal 
and wood ashes, and occasional dressings of lime, would gradually render the 
soil porous and less retentive of moisture, and when this has taken place 
we would introduce a few deeper drains to prevent the ascent of water from 
the subsoil by capillary attraction. Have no fear that the drains will do 
harm by making the soil too dry in summer as you suggest. It was proved 
long ago that well-drained land suffers less from drought than that which 
has no drains. We hope shortly to take up this important subject once 
more, for it is not at all well understood by farmers generally, and yet 
nothing so materially affects their work upon the land. The chemical 
manures may be mixed advantageously a fortnight before using. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8'0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
1886. 
December. 
in a8— . 
d co oj a> 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
O-d 
is 
Temp, ol 
Soil at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
a 
as 
as 
1887. 
January. 
*So J 
(0 " as 
Dry. 
Wet. 
st 
So 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass 
Sunday .26 
Inches. 
29.888 
de*. 
36.9 
de*. 
36.7 
S.E. 
de*. 
35.9 
de*. 
39.8 
d*s 
29.3 
dear. 
40.4 
de«. 
22.3 
In. 
1.820 
Monday.27 
29.629 
34.0 
33.6 
N.W. 
35.8 
37.6 
31.8 
68.2 
31.4 
0.079 
Tuesday.28 
29.883 
37.8 
37.0 
8.W. 
35.5 
41.0 
31.8 
54.1 
27.1 
— 
Wednesday .. 20 
29.880 
37.9 
35.8 
N.W. 
35.7 
42.0 
33.3 
63 4 
28.8 
o.oio. 
Thursday .... 30 
30.306 
31.2 
31.0 
N. 
35.9 
36.7 
28.1 
52.6 
23.4 
— 
Friday.31 
30.571 
30.7 
29.9 
N. 
35.7 
36.1 
28.4 
50.8 
24.4 
— 
Saturday .... 1 
30.441 
19.8 
19.6 
S. 
35.2 
27.9 
182 
26.5 
14.6 
— 
30.085 
32.6 
31.9 
35.7 
37.3 
28.7 
49.4 
24.6 
1.909 
REMARKS. 
2Gth.—Dull early, rain from 9 A.M., turning to snow about 6 P.M., and falling heavily to 
midnight, with gale. 
27th.—Very heavy snow in early morning, glorious day, almost cloudless till late even¬ 
ing—8 inches of snow on ground. 
28th.—Slight fog early, bright day, fine solar halo at noon. 
29th.—Bright and warm generally, slight shower at noon, and again In evening. 
SOth.—Bright and fine. 
31st.—Lovely winter’s day. 
1st.—Very cold morning, fine and bright; fog from about 2 to 6 P.M., but not dense here ; 
clear starlight night. 
The special feature of the week was the unusually heavy fall of dense wet snow on the 
night 26th-27th. The snow was nearly twice as dense as usual, for whereas usually it 
takes 12 inches of snow to yield 1 inch of rain, about 5} inches of tnis snow yielded 1 inch 
of water. Tne total yield 182 inches is most unusual in London, except from thunder¬ 
storms. G. J. SYMONS, 
