72 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
July 19, 1834. 
possibilities than is at all so well understood as it ought to be, 
even by some of those leaders of thought and pioneers in 
agricultural reform whose opinions are, or ought to be, a light 
and guide for those who look to them for help. To say that 
the profitable cultivation of Wheat is at an end, and that the 
milk trade is much overdone ; that land has become so foul and 
poor as to be unfit for cropping; to suggest that it shall be 
restored to sound condition by the State, but to give no definite 
information as to what purpose it could then be turned to; to 
offer no scheme of management which has the elements of 
success in it, is, to say the least, not satisfactory. It may 
be that the scope of commissioners’ reports is simply to make 
clear the agricultural situation in order that a scheme of 
improvement may be matured so wide and far-reaching in its 
character as to embrace the requirements of the whole nation. 
If so, such a scheme should set forth what to avoid and what 
to do, in order that the farmer’s efforts should not be spent, or 
his time and means wasted, in striving for that which is 
impossible. 
"Very far from satisfied should he be with the dictum that 
the milk trade is overdone, because in milk we have an article 
of diet of the first importance, the demand for which in its 
pure and simple form of new milk is ever growing, and is bound 
to increase very much in proportion to acquirement of a know¬ 
ledge of its real value by the masses, by whom cheap food, 
wholesome and nutritious, must be had. At present it is 
certain that there are thousands of poor children to whom 
plenty of pure new milk would prove a blessing in the promo¬ 
tion of robust health and vigorous growth, yet which is prac¬ 
tically denied to them, more through ignorance of its value, its 
nutritive properties, than from a want of means to procure it. 
At the breakfast table of the children of the upper and middle 
classes well cooked oatmeal porridge, with abundance of new 
milk, is always to be found; it is only in exceptional cases, 
few and far between, that the labourer’s children have it. We 
commend this matter to the attention of both dairy and cooking 
lecturers in their work in County Council classes 
That the purchase of new milk, both for cheese and butter 
making, is extending we have proof. It is probable that dairy 
factories have led to this in certain localities, and while pro¬ 
ducers can be found to sell milk for 6d. a gallon buyers ought 
certainly not to be wanting. It is in this direction that 
producers should look for an extension of trade. Let them try 
to grasp all that is possible in the profitable disposal of milk. 
If under this category we are to include 6d. a gallon, then 
it is certain that the town retailer of new milk at 4d. per quart 
must be making enormous profits. We are bound to tell every 
dairy farmer that it is so, that we know of one instance where a 
retail milk dealer is able to reside in a house for which he gave 
£800 of his profits ; and of another who is the owner of several 
good middle class houses. His profits are so large that he is 
thus able to lay house to house. He has none of the risk and 
anxiety of the farmer, he has simply to receive his milk, to sell 
it, and collect his money. 
The sale of milk to factories may or may not prove 
advantageous. The factory company fights entirely for its own 
hand, giving the farmer the lowest price for milk and turning 
everything to account for its own advantage. In the recent 
inspection of such a factory in Cumberland, we found the 
maliing of butter, margarine, and cheese, also cream cheese, 
the potting of cream, and the scalding of separated milk for sale, 
all being done in a thoroughly systematic manner. Nothing 
was wasted; poultry and pigs were kept for the consumption of 
refuse which could not otherwise be turned to account, the 
entire establishment being a striking embodiment of industry 
and economy. The only objectionable feature was the scalding 
of separated milk for sale. It was done in a perfectly open 
manner without a thought of evil, yet the sale of it undoubtedly 
is a bid for dishonesty, as it enables the retailer of new milk to 
mix with it the cheaper worthless separated article, and so add 
to his high profits. That is especially the case in the second 
round about 10 A m. when “lovely milk ” is offei'ed at Ijd. a pint 
in strident tones by the ever increasing number of those men 
who push milk handcarts about suburban streets So serious 
an evil is this sale of separated milk that we would make it 
penal, and the use of it at the place of separation for pigs 
compulsory. 
Be it understood that we do not recommend the sale of milk 
to the company factory, but we do most heartily commend its 
disposal at co-operative factories by the shareholding farmer; 
and we intend to call attention once more to the special 
advantages of such factories next week. 
WOEK ON THE HOME FAEM. 
Though the haymaking has been somewhat hindered by rain it has 
not been so to a serious extent, and the rain was much wanted in some 
districts even tor the hay crop where land was stocked very late in 
spring. On the whole the weather has been so favourable for hay¬ 
making that ensilage has hardly been thought of generally. It is in 
hilly districts where the rainfall is always high, that ensilage should 
have more attention. Well would it be to make the relative value of 
roots and silage quite clear. If it can be shown that good silage is more 
nutritious than roots, then there ought to be a complete revolution in 
farm management in those widespread districts where roots are cul¬ 
tivated so extensively. Boot culture at the best is a costly piocess, and 
as compared with ensilage it is extravagant in the highest degree. For 
silage of the best quality we must have nutritious herbage, mown before 
seed is visible among it. In the process of ensilage there is no risk, no 
uncertainty, and though it has been condemned by practical men after 
a very perfunctory trial, there are many more good men and true with 
whom it has answered. Failures arise from various causes, and we hav& 
no doubt that every one of them could be explained in connection with 
this important matter. 
Oats are already changing colour, Winter Oats especially will soon 
be ready for the reaper. We want no self-binder for this valuable crop, 
but shall mow it at once after the grain has passed the milky stage. The 
threshing machine and chaff-cutter will be at hand ; the corn will be 
carted off the land to the thresher, the threshing will be followed at 
once by the chaff-cutter, the whole of the straw being cut into chaff, 
which is placed in a compact heap in a barn head or chaff house, every 
layer of a foot or two in thickness being well sprinkled with salt and 
well trampled. Sufficient heating follows to develop a delicious aroma, 
and to render the chaff as palatable as it is nutritious. It is available 
for horses during the general harvest, so that no time is taken up in the 
collection of food then, and the horses are certain to be all the better 
fed for that reason alone. 
MBTEOEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Oamden Squabs, London. 
Lat.Sl® 32'40" N.: Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
Date. 
9 A.M. 
In tub Day. 
Rain, 
1894, 
July. 
1 Barometer 
at 32°, and 
1 Sea Level. 
Hygrometer. 
Direc¬ 
tion of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of soil 
at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun. 
On 
Grass. 
Inchs. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
dee. 
dpg. 
Inchs. 
Sunday .. 
8 
30-i'68 
63-8 
56-3 
W. 
63-6 
72-9 
50-0 
128-0 
45-3 
0-128 
Monday .. 
9 
29-824 
63-6 
60-3 
S.W. 
62-9 
73-4 
54-4 
122-0 
53-1 
0 248 
Tuesday .. 
10 
29-620 
60-1 
55-9 
S.E. 
62-6 
67-0 
56-2 
94-1 
53-2 
1-123 
W ednesday 
11 
29-372 
89-8 
55-2 
W. 
61-1 
71-1 
54-2 
118-8 
53-4 
0-162 
Thursday.. 
12 
29-319 
61-4 
56-7 
W. 
1 1-0 
67-9 
53-0 
115-2 
48-1 
0-075 
Friday .. 
13 
29-669 
63-4 
56-7 
s. 
60-8 
65-2 
53-1 
94-9 
48-4 
0-355 
Saturday .. 
14 
29-679 
60-8 
56-2 
E. 
59-9 
69-8 
48-9 
126-1 
42-6 
— 
29-650 
61-8 
56-8 
61-7 
69-6 
53-8 
114-2 
49-2 
2-078 
REMARKS. 
Sth.—Brilliant early, generally cloudy in afternoon, spots of rain in evening ; rasa 
9.30 P.M. to midnight. 
9th.—Occasional gleams of sun, but generally overcast, with slight showers till 
ll,when0’20 inch of rain fell in nine minutes, followed by bright sun till 
3 P.M., then overcast, and showers between 8 p.m. and 8 P.M. 
10th.—Overcast all day, slight showers at 4.50 P.M.. and steady heavy rain from 
6.45 P.M., an inch having fallen by 3 A.M. on IJth. 
11th. —Continuous rain till 5 A.M., overcast till 9 a.M., and then sunny to noon, variable 
after, with high wind and occasional spots of rain. 
I2th.—Windy and showery, cloudy, and sunny alternately. 
13th.—Gleams of sun at times, but storm rains al frequent intervals till 4 p.m. ; fine 
and sunny after. 
14th. — Generally sunny in morning, cloudy afternoon and evening, spots of rain 
between noon and 1 P.M. 
A wet week, and much less warm. The fall of rain on the 10th is the heaviest on 
one day since October 9th, 1893.—G. J. SIMONS. 
