354 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October 11,189.fr 
is unsatisfactory for want of drainage ; to pasture foul with such 
robbers of the soil as Thistles, Docks, Brambles, Broom, Gorse 
Furze or Whins, Nettles, Ononis, and Bushes ; and to that on 
which numerous ant hills are an unmistakeable token of a form 
of negligence of many years’ standing. Repeatedly has it fallen 
to our lot to reclaim rough pasture, of which our experience has 
been so wide and peculiar as to embrace every aspect of it, 
that we have given as well as others not enumerated. We 
purpose now giving some examples calculated to afford useful 
hints to those readers who may be engaged in such work. 
For their encouragement it may be said that experience has 
shown most inferior pasture to be susceptible of improvement; 
•it must indeed be a hard case that is not so. Here is one. 
It was a field at one extremity of the home farm, so far 
from the homestead that manure carting had apparently never 
reached it. Low down on the margin of a brook in the heart 
of a valley it was unmistakeably “wet”—Rushes, Willow 
bushes, Sedges, and Brambles were present in thickets and 
tufts, the herbage was so poor as to be worthless for grazing, 
yet it had been in the hands of a tenant farmer for many years, 
who had paid rent for it with the rest of the farm, yet had done 
nothing to reclaim it. As a meadow it would te most useful, 
so we resolved to try and make it a good one. First of all, all 
bush and wood growth was cut down close to the surface and 
burnt, and the land was drained as well as its proximity to the 
brook would admit; then having regard to the formidable nature 
of the roots left in the soil near the surface, a plough with a 
strong wooden beam, and a share warranted “to go through 
anything,” was set going with four horses. The surface was 
so uneven that no regular depth of furrow was possible, nor 
did that matter. Sod and roots were torn up, a cultivator and 
harrows worked most of the soil out of it ; the whole of it was 
burnt in small fires, and the ashes spread over the surface. It 
was worked sufficiently to get a level surface and a good seed 
bed, wintered in ridges and laid down to pasture again, with 
a crop of Black Tartarian Oats, a dressing of nitrate of soda, 
steamed bone flour, and mineral superphosphate being sown 
broadcast over the ridges before they were broken down with 
harrows for the seed drill. The result was an excellent crop 
of corn, sown so early 'as to be harvested in time to admit of 
a strong growth of herbage from the seeds that autumn. This 
was cleared off by sheep folds passed qui kly over the field, 
the sheep being then withdrawn altogether, no stock being 
allowed to go on the pasture till the following spring. By 
subsequent attention to the systematic annual application of 
manure, either by sheep folding or chemical manures, it became 
a valuable meadow, as useful both for grazing and mowing as 
any on the farm. 
In the same valley we found a bog much infested by Rushes 
and Sedges, and so tender on the surface in places as to 
cause much trouble from live stock becoming fixed in it, or 
“ mired ” according to the dialect of that locality. An abun¬ 
dant deposit of ochre on the bottom and sides of the brook 
showed that drainage with pipes would not answer, as they 
would become choked Some Alder thickets close by were 
turned to account for a supply of faggots, which placed end 
to end in deep wide drains answered so well that the character 
of the herbage was quite changed. The Rushes and Sedges 
disappeared, the finer grasses taking possession of the surface, 
which became sound and firm, and though the peat was 4 or 
5 yards in depth the characteristic features of a bog vanished, 
and another useful addition was made to tbe pasture. Hay 
was being made on it when it passed out of our hands. 
There was much other rough pasture on this neglected 
farm calling for no particular mention, with the exception of 
a meadow high up on one side of the valley, which we found so 
impoverished as only to afford an occasional brief—very brief 
change for sheep. A sand pit on one side of it showed that 
the drainage was sound enough, the only fault to correct was 
poverty of soil. Manure carts were out of the question. Sheep 
folds were not to be thought of till there was something for 
the sheep to eat. It was a unique opportunity for testing the. 
true value of chemical manures, which were turned to account 
with such remarkably successful results, that we have often- 
pointed to that meadow as showing how, when soil is well 
drained, we have simply to store it with fertility, to be sustained 
by annual dressings, to obtain crops as full and abundant as- 
were produced there. 
WOEK ON THE HOME FARM. 
So favourable for autumn tillage has the weather been that our fall 
strength has been devoted to it. It is pitiable to see men and horses- 
working with the threshing machines now when they ought to be on the 
land. Money at any cost seems to be the guiding principle of many a 
farmer just now. Dire indeed must be the necessity which compels 
them to thresh and sell corn out of condition. Wheat continues ta 
decline in value if market quotations are still to be taken as a guide, 
but they are not altogether to be trusted, and there is bound to be some 
reaction, however trifling, when samples of really dry corn appears. 
Very much of the Wheat will require some months in the ricks to become 
dry and hard. Barley has hardly done “sweating” in tie ricks, and 
corn-threshing had altogether better be postponed till autumn tillage is 
over, and the root crops are got into heaps. 
The carting of a heavy dressing of coal ashes on some heavy land 
(corn stubbles) was done before they were broken up, the liming ot 
another field also followed harvest in the same manner; the thorough 
mixing of lime and ashes with the soil during the cleaning and ridging 
of the land is thus assured, and is in connection with drainage the first 
step in effecting a radical change in soil condition. Land badly infested 
by wireworm should have a sufficiently heavy dressing of salt after it is. 
cleaned and ridged to saturate the ridges with brine as the first heavy 
rain falls, which will destroy this pest, and also do much good to the 
land. Regard every fine day now as a golden opportunity for laud 
tillage ; every day’s work now is worth two or three in spring. Much 
better is it for men and horses to work hard now from daybreak till 
twilight, and to rest in winter, than to turn out to plough then when 
the land is so wet, and the work heavy and unsatisfactory. Pay the 
men well, feed the horses well, and be with them early and late while 
so much good may be done. Every man worth his salt will enter into 
the spirit of the thing, and do his utmost. 
A poor meadow to be drained this autumn is being stocked heavily 
to clear off the herbage, so as to get the draining done in good time. It 
is a meadow with a bad character which is to become really good 
pasture. IIow this is to be done we shall explain in the “ Rough. 
Pasture ” articles which begin this week. 
Loed Tbedegae’s Ageictjltural akd Poultry Show.—W e 
are requested to remind readers that Lord Tridegar has fixed November 
27th and 28th for holding his agricultural and pouliiy show as adver¬ 
tised in our columns. The prize list contains fifty-one classes for 
cattle, sheep, and horses, the prizes varying from £20 to £5, The prizes- 
for poultry amount to £240. There will be no show of pigs, and the 
entries close on November 14th. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 
Oamden Square, Londox. 
Lat.51°32'40''N.: Long. 0° 8'0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
Date. 
9 A.M. 
In tub Day. 
.9 
A 
(4 
1894. 
September 
and 
October. 
1 Barometer 
at32‘',and 
1 Sea Level. 
Hygrometer. 
Direc¬ 
tion of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of soil 
at 
1 loot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun. 
On 
Grass. 
Inchs. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg^ 
deg. 
deg. 
Inchsc 
Sunday .. 
30 
30*454 
51 8 
48-7 
N.E. 
52 2 
61-3 
44 5 
101-0 
36-7 
— 
Monday .. 
1 
30 515 
51-1 
49-2 
N. 
52-1 
61-6 
43*1 
93 4 
35-2 
— 
Tuesday .. 
2 
30-472 
54-0 
49 6 
N. 
52-2 
62-1 
48 8 
101-9 
42*2 
— 
W ednesday 
3 
30-272 
5fl 
49 3 
N.E. 
52-4 
61-2 
48-1 
87-3 
42-3 
— 
Thursday .. 
4 
30-114 
51 9 
49-2 
N. 
52*3 
61-7 
48 7 
101-9 
46-0 
0-032* 
Friday 
5 
30 047 
54 9 
52-9 
N.E. 
53-1 
59 6 
5 -1 
78-0 
46-0 
0-165- 
Saturday .. 
6 
29 948 
53-6 
52-9 
N.E. 
53 2 
59-0 
49.8 
71 4 
48-0 
0-052. 
30 2G5 
53-1 
50-3 
52G 
60 9 
47-6 
9 -7 
42 3 
0-249* 
REMARKS. 
30th.—Frequently sunny in morning, generally cloudy in afternoon, clear again iru 
evening. 
Ist.—Overcast early, frequent sunshine after 10 A.M. 
2nd.—Overcast early, bright sunshine from 9.30 A.ll. 
3rd.—Generally sunny in morning, occasional sun in afternoon. 
4th.—Overcast, with occasional drizzle till 10.30 A.M., and after 3 r.M., bright sun¬ 
shine at times between. 
5th.—Generally overcast, with a slight shower at 11.30 A M., and heavy rain at 3 p.m. 
Gih,—Rain in small hours, drizzle in the morning, overcast afternoon, and rain again, 
at night. 
A dull week with average temperature, and less than the average rainfall,— 
G. J. Symoxs. 
