493 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Jane 16, 1887. 
poultry, pigs, and sheep we can have nothing better, 
nothing cheaper, whether as home-grown or purchased 
food. Imported Oats have been and are still very cheap, 
but many samples of foreign Oats are so inferior in 
quality as to be comparatively worthless, affording un- 
mistakeable evidence of the poverty of the soil in which 
they were grown. No corn answers better under high 
culture—none repays better; and yet we often find less 
care bestowed upon it than upon any other crop. 
We know that 15 quarters of Oats can be grown per acre, 
and if the sample is a good one there is very little diffi¬ 
culty in obtaining a fair price for it—that is to say, a 
price that really affords a fair profit. At 18s. per quarter 
w i have a return of £13 10s. per acre for grain, and we 
must not forget how valuable the straw is when cut into 
chaff for feeding horses, bullocks, cows, and sheep. It 
has been possible to obtain the price we mention for 
home-grown Oats even during the prevalence of exception¬ 
ally low rates, which have been brought about by heavy 
importations of foreign corn. We have, therefore, ample 
reason for our assertion that this corn crop is a profitable 
one, worthy to take rank with our best farm crops if only 
due care and pains are bestowed upon its culture. In 
point of fact it is really superior to either Wheat or 
Barley in many ways. If we take winter Oats we can 
sow them in the autumn either for grazing as a green 
crop in spring; for a supply of ripe corn in July, which is 
harvested and threshed before other corn is ripe, or for 
both purposes; for winter Oats may be fed off by sheep in 
spring and yet afford a fair crop of grain subsequently. 
Last year we did not get our winter Oats off the land so 
early as usual, yet never did we find the crop more useful. 
It was at once threshed, the corn was sold at 18s. per 
quarter, and the straw was either chopped or turned to 
account for thatching other corn stacks. When Oat 
straw is thus used for thatching care is taken to build the 
top of the ricks to an acute angle, so that rain water may 
pass off quickly, as Oat straw becomes sodden with wet 
more quickly than any other. 
Winter Oats should always be sown on land that is 
well drained, and if possible on an elevated position. In 
so severe a winter as the last one was the winter Oat 
plant suffered so much in the lower fields that whole 
patches of it were killed. It is not often that this happens, 
yet it is as well to avoid the risk by sowing both winter 
Oats and winter Beans on upland fields where the cold is 
less intense and drainage is sound. Let the Oats also be 
sown early, so as to get a strong sturdy plant before 
severe weather sets in. Avoid over-luxuriance of growth 
in autumn by having the land sound but not too rich in 
fertility. Rather give a liberal dressing of chemical 
manures in February, when the manures are quite certain 
to be dissolved quickly, and to take speedy effect upon 
the plant. We have several fields of this useful crop on 
different farms, the best of which was self-sown. The 
field was ploughed early in autumn, and the Oats sprang 
up so thickly that we decided to leave them undisturbed 
till spring, when the plant seemed thick enough to be 
worth keeping and dressing with chemical manure. This 
was done, and now it presents a luxuriant appearance, 
the growth being strong and of that dark green hue which 
betokens unmistakeably soil stored with fertility in the 
best way. 
Spring Oats are also very useful, and may be sown 
earlier or later than any other corn. We may sow them 
in February or May with an equal degree of certainty of 
getting a full crop. We may add that we have done so 
this year, and although the late-sown Oats are somewhat 
backward in growth yet they are full of promise, and will 
follow the other crops closely. White Oats or black Oats 
are very much alike as to results : the first may be classed 
as Avena sativa, the common Oat; the last as Avena 
orientalis, or Tartarian Cat. Varieties of both are 
numerous enough, yet we have only to take care in our 
selection of seed that it is free of tail corn and seeds of 
Charlock or other weeds. We prefer a thick, short, 
plump grain to a long thin one. One word more about 
manure for Oats. We have on the poor thin soil of mid- 
Sussex had Oats in the same field G inches high and 
6 feet high, the 6-inch and the G-feet straw each alike 
bearing its panicle of grain perfect in development, 
though wonderfully different in size. The lesson is clear 
enough: feed the Oat crop well and it will repay you, for 
the manurial constituents of an acre in decimals are— 
nitrogen G3, potash 48, and phosphates 4 -*. 
WORK OX TRE HOME FARM. 
Sheep-shearing is now practically ended once more, but we shall 
not sell the wool till prices are steady. We did hope to obtain Is. 
per pound for wool this season, but are now doubtful if we shall get 
more than lOd. The ewes come out of the wool in fair condition, having 
regard to the fact of the heavy strain which big growing lambs have 
made upon them up to the time of shearing. We do not like to see 
newly shorn ewes so much reduced in condition as to be just so many 
“ bags of bones,” for then they are a long time before they recover from 
the effects of such treatment. In the case of young ewes so fallen off 
in condition, the growth is stunted, and the lambs next season are apt to 
be weakly and delicate. It is the habit of many farmers to feed the 
lambs well, while the ewes are only half fed, yet they ought to know 
that the milk of such ewes affords much less sustenance than that of a> 
well fed ewe. Truly such men are “ penny wise, pound foolish.” We 
cannot upset the balance of Nature with impunity, and we repeat that 
every animal kept upon a farm should be either fat or in a kindly 
healthy condition. A week ago we sold our first batch of store lambs 
at 28s. 9d. apiece. There was a hundred of them, and they were fine 
sturdy animals, forward in condition, but not fat. They were the off¬ 
spring of half-bred Suffolk ewes and Hampshire Down tups. From 
this cross we obtain big sturdy lambs which, under careful treatment, 
grow quickly, and which may be fattened early or soon brought on 
as hoggets. The best test of’the value of lambs is a comparison of 
prices at the early sales, and for pure Suffolk lambs sold a day or two 
after ours we note such prices as 27s., 26s., 22s. 6d., 20s. 6d., and 16s. 
Such prices speak for themselves, and may be taken as a clear indication 
of value in an open market. On the day we sold our first batch of 
lambs we saw hoggets sold for 33s. apiece. Those hoggets had evidently 
had “ to earn their own living ” from the time they were weaned, and 
they could not have been well fed, even as suckling lambs. We maintain 
that this semi-starvation practice is altogether a mistake, involving, as it 
undoubtedly does, a loss of money, poverty of condition, both in the 
animals, and also in the land on which they are kept. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Flies and Horses (G. D. P .).—When flits are very troublesome Dr. 
Ridge recommends a mixture of one part of crude carbolic acid with six or 
more parts of olive oil. This should be rubbed lightly all over the animal 
with a rag, and applied more thicklv to the interior of the ears and other 
parts most likely to be attacked. This application may need to be repeated 
in the course of the day, but while any odour of the acid remains the flits 
decline to settle, and the horse is completely free from all their annoyance. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 61°82' 10" N.; Lmg, 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude. Ill feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
1887. 
g?< 8— 
S2»£ 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
d . 
CrJ 
tz 
I Temp, of 
| Soil at 
| 1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
d 
~A 
June. 
03 is 
Dry. 
Wet. 
t- 
«o 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass 
Sunday . 
5 
Inches. 
30.122 
deg 
69 2 
deg. 
63.4 
N.E. 
deg. 
64.0 
deg. 
69 6 
deg. 
50.8 
deg. 
1113 
deg. 
47.0 
In* 
Monday. 
6 
30.140 
58 0 
60.1 
N.W. 
55 2 
67 9 
632 
114.2 
49 2 
Tuesday ... 
7 
£€.045 
64.5 
68.6 
S. 
65 2 
68 3 
53 4 
101.6 
47.7 
Wednesday. 
8 
30.056 
63 6 
60.1 
S.K. 
55 9 
74.8 
56.4 
116 4 
52.8 
Thursday ... 
9 
30.187 
60.6 
55.1 
W. 
56 3 
73.4 
49.7 
119.4 
44 9 
Friday . 
10 
30.385 
613 
64.7 
N.W. 
57.4 
72.2 
49 4 
121.5 
42.7 
Saturday ... 
11 
30.433 
61.3 
53.9 
s. 
67.6 
75 2 
46.6 
1182 
S9.7 
— 
30.196 
01.3 
50.0 
55.9 
71.6 
61-4 
114 7 
46.3 
0.< 52 
REMARKS. 
5th.—Fine and bright day and night. 
6th.—Generally cloudy till after 3 P.M. 
7th.—Fine and generully bright. 
8th.—Fine hot morning ; showers with thunder in afternoon; fine evening. 
9th.—l ovely alt day. 
10th.—Fine, cool, and pleasant. 
11 th.—Bright and tine. 
A fine dry week; temperature about 1° above the average—G. J. STMoxs 
