520 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Jane SI. 1867. 
incentive to begin this important work to which most 
farmers yield, for if we do not make hay when the sun 
shines we cannot justly complain if subsequently it is 
spoilt by heavy rain. When to begin? is the momentous 
question by which the minds of so many men are exercised. 
Is it best to do so just as the crop is coming into flower, 
when it is in full flower, or just as the tioaers fade? 
For general guidance we might answer that the best time 
is just when the crop is in full bloom, and before any 
demand is made upon the economy of the plant in the 
development of seed vessels. But seasons occur when we 
may advantageously break through rules, and the 
present season appears to us to be one of them. To let slip 
fine weather for the sake of seeing all the flowers expand 
before beginning mowing is simple nonsense—nay, it is 
more, for it is a grave error. 8aicl a clever old farmer 
to us only a day before writing this article : “ I have had 
too much musty Clover in my day to waste such fine 
weather for haymaking now,” and he went on to s.iy: 
“Why should I wait? I know that I am mowing 
Sainfoin and Red Clover before the growth is in full 
bloom, but then while waiting for another inch or two of 
growth I may lose the fine weather, and by mowing at 
once I make sure of a fine lot of stover, and may fairly 
reckon upon a vigorous second growth, which I shall 
either also mow or feed off in folds, or save for seed 
according to the state of the weather later on.” 
We have advisedly taken “ Forage Crops” for the title 
of this article, because we wish to call attention to the 
importance of the exercise of caution in laying down land 
to pasture. If the price of corn continues low we shall 
certainly have more and more land in pasture, but we 
shall also maintain a due proportion of other forage crops 
upon every farm. Take for example Sainfoin; what a 
bulk per acre of it do we get, not only in the ffrst year, 
but also in the second and third also. For three years 
the culture of land under this crop is reduced to a mini¬ 
mum. We have recently had sheep and lambs in folds 
upon two fields of first-year Sainfoin. No forage crop 
is better than this—few so good to “ finish ” lambs upon, 
and the sheep have so thoroughly enriched these layers 
that the second growth is certain to be so good that we 
may turn it to profitable account either for seed, for 
stover, or for grazing. We shall not save it for seed, 
because that would exhaust the plant, and we wish to 
retain it for at least two years longer. 
It is not, however, on all farms that Sainfoin can be 
grown, from the fact that it requires lime in the soil, 
or rather, we might say, soils with both lime and chalk. 
But the mixed layers of alternate husbandry and Clovers 
are open to every farmer, ('lover-sick land do you say? 
Only a few hours ago while travelling by rail, and on the 
sides of an embankment alongside the line, to Norwich, we 
saw occasional patches of Clover high up upon the slope 
where the hot sun and drought must have tried it sorely, 
yet there surrounded by parched and stunted turf were 
the Clover patches, green, vigorous, and positively 
rampant. What had happened to those isolated spots to 
induce such vigorous growth of one forage plant, while 
another surrounding it was sickly and languishing ? 
Why, just this, each patch of Clover had sprung up 
where the clippings of the railway boundary hedges 
had been burnt, and it was undoubtedly the potash of 
the ashes that had imparted vigour to the Clover under 
such peculiar conditions of position and exposure to the 
effects of heat and drought. 
The lesson is obvious: Clover revels in potash, and 
therefore one of the best forms of applying it is in that of 
the cheap and simple one of a dressing to the land of 
wood ashes. More than once previously have we drawn 
attention to the value of wood ashes in the culture. of 
Clover. We have used them on permanent pasture with 
excellent results, but we must own that on permanent 
pasture some nitrogen should be mixed with them. 
For mixed layers we require really fertile soil, con¬ 
taining in due proportion nitrogen, potash, and phos¬ 
phorus ; we then get a wonderful bulk per acre of splendid 
forage, much more than is usually obtained from per¬ 
manent pasture, and we may by annual dressings of 
chemical manures in February, or by sheep folding, main¬ 
tain such layers in full vigour for full four years. Such 
crops enable us to keep down labour expenses, a matter 
of vital importance under the agricultural depression. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK OR THE HOME FARM. 
The hot dry weather though favourable to Wheat has proved trying 
to other corn, especially upon light land. Wheat absolutely revels in 
such weather, aud wc never saw the crop in better condition at this 
season of the year ; the plant is very vigorous and robust, and Wheat 
ears will soon be plentiful enough. Winter Oats, too, have improved 
wonderfully, and the beneficial effects of the timely application of 
manure may now be seen unmistakeably in this crop. We have not had 
to put sheep upon any of our Oats, but we have seen it done upon farms 
where green food was scarce. 
Hoes, ploughs, harrows, and cultivators have been in full swing upon 
land in preparation for late Turnips and between Mangolds and Swedes, 
one or other such implements being brought into use as could be done to 
best advantage. Keep down the weeds say we, and there never was a 
better opportunity than the present fine weather for doing this. Land 
badly infested with couch grass has been ploughed and harrowed re¬ 
peatedly at intervals sufficiently long to expose the grass roots fully to 
the sun. That weeds draw fertility from the land is a self-evident fact; 
to suffer them to do so and then subsequently to make good the waste 
by the application of manure is clearly a mistake. By all means let us 
practise strict economy, but let us also learn when and how we can best 
do so. 
Haymaking is going on briskly, the first crop of Sainfoin, Lucerne, 
Clover, and mixed layers being very good. Our meadow hay crop on 
the home farm is generally very good ; there are, however, two or three 
poor pieces of pasture which must have special treatment before another 
spring comes round. We have not had the flock out on the park or 
meadows since they were laid in for hay, as we had plenty of roots and 
green crops upon arable land for them up to the present time. They are 
now upon Winter Tares, which are a good crop, but the land is light, 
and the drought has laid hold of it so that growth has ceased in the 
Tares and the sheep will soon be through them. We hope, however, to 
have enough pasture cleared of the hay crop in readiness for them by 
the time they require it. Luckily our first field of pasture from which 
the hay was cleared contains much Dactylis, which gives a strong second 
growth sooner than any other sort of grass. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 11°31' 40" N.; Long, 0° 8' 0" W. ; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAT. 
Hygrome- 
d . 
o 
Shade Tern- 
Radiation 
a 
1887. 
is*! 
ter. 
'2 a 
a I 
perature. 
Temperature. 
» 
Jnne. 
0> pH 
In 
On 
«£§ 
Dry. 
Wet. 
So 
H 
Max. 
Min. 
sun. 
grass 
Inches. 
deg 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In.. 
Sunday . 
12 
30.201 
65 9 
59.0 
N.E. 
58.6 
78 2 
51 2 
124.8 
46 O 
— 
Monday. 
30.165 
67.4 
59.9 
N. 
60.2 
81.8 
52.1 
124 8 
436 
— 
Tuesday ... 
14 
£€.237 
71.1 
58.2 
N. 
61 4 
79.6 
55 6 
112.9 
47.7 
— 
Wednesday. 
15 
30.305 
71 6 
61 4 
N.F. 
61.4 
85 3 
513 
128.9 
45.2 
— 
Thursday ... 
16 
3O.'50 
67.1 
60.9 
N.E. 
62 8 
79 9 
56.8 
1191 
49 4 
— 
Friday . 
17 
30.352 
67 9 
6o.2 
E. 
63.0 
75.4 
53.9 
118 6 
52.6 
— 
Saturday ... 
18 
30.3;‘3 
66 8 
69.1 
N.E. 
63.2 
80.4 
50.2 
122 8 
47.2 
— 
30.279 
683 
60.0 
61.5 
80.1 
63 0 
121 7 
47.4 
- 
REMARKS. 
12th.—A bright summer day. 
13 th.—Bright and hot; the first day of the year with a maximum temperature above 80°.• 
14 th.—Fiue and bright, but slightly hazy at times. 
15 th —Fine and very hot; maximum temperature above 86°. 
16 th.—Bright, with p'easant breeze. 
! 7 th.—Bright, with cool N.E. wind. 
18 th.—Fine and hot. 
A week of rainless hot summer weather, Temperature about six degrees above the' 
average—G. J. SYMOSS. 
