590 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Decemter 27,1894, 
THE YEAR AND ITS LESSONS. 
No drought, a big hay crop well saved, an abundant after- 
math, corn crops above the average, root crops of medium 
excellence—very far from a failure. Remunerative prices have 
ruled for hay, straw, and Oats of high quality, dairy produce 
generally continues profitable, and having regard to the low 
price of feeding stuifs sheep have been highly profitable, cattle 
and swine fairly so. The trade for home-raised poultry and 
eggs is fast assuming the importance it merit=', and on many a 
farm, where energetic action is found in conjunction with an 
intelligent grasp of the necessary changes in management, 
prosperity may still be said to be the crown of industry. But 
there is a sadjier contra to all this in the low price of Wheat and 
Barley. Wheat has become so cheap that its profitable cult’- 
vation in this country appears to be only possible where there 
is a good market for straw, and though Barley is quoted as high 
as 40g. a quarter, we know for a certainty that very large 
quantities of malting Barley have passed into the maltsters’ 
hands in East Anglia for only half that price. It is evident 
that maltsters and brewers are simply coining money. It may 
be asked why the farmers play into their hands so readily ? 
Custom, necessity, and a want of combination are the probable 
general causes. Pressure for money induces much premature 
corn-threshing, and in every large market in the great corn¬ 
growing districts the stands of popular maltsters are beseiged 
by eager throngs of Barley sellers, who weekly accept the price 
of the maltster as a fiat against which there is no appeal. In 
common fairness we are bound to say that maltsters can po'nt 
to samples that are sweated, I'ght, steely, or badly screened, and 
in the rush and hurry of the market they have to be cautiou'', 
and to allow themselves plenty of margin. 
Dairy farming has now such special advantages that improve¬ 
ments in managements and details of practice which are so 
possible, desirable, and which so clearly point to profit, should 
have attention. Take for example the recent Cheese Fair at 
Melton Mowbray. The large pitch of Stilton cheese was so 
remarkable for a December fair that we heard much talk of 
over-production. Yet good cheese sold readily enough at 9^d. 
and lOd. per lb., but such cheese was the exception, and inferior 
cheese the rule. Some of it was sold at such low rates that 
the average price was placed at 7d., and very much cheese 
was returned unsold. It is a fact that at every fair Stilton 
cheese is sold as low as 4d. per lb, yet for first-class cheese 
from lOd. to Is per lb. is still the wholesale rate. Surely the 
lesson here is obvious ? The wide range in price should be 
an incentive to every maker of such cheese to master the 
details of possible improvement and apply them to practice. 
There is no mystery; even the necessary scientific tests are 
simplicity itself, but they must be applied, none of the milk 
must be robbed of its cream, due h ed must be given to 
temperature, and there must be good management alike in 
cheese room and dairy. 
A great advantage which tenants of grass farms now have 
is in the cheapness of corn and feeding stuffs. Let them take 
full advantage of this, and let them really cultivate their 
pastures, so that by judicious drainage, and a full annual 
dressing of manure, a full early hay crop, and abundant 
aftergrowth may be a certainty. Another advantage which 
has been emphasised is the having enough land in tillage for 
the growth of Oats, Cabbage, Kale, other green crops, and 
roots for home requirements. 
To the oft-repeated que tion. What is to become of much 
of the corn lands ? the correct answer appears to be in the 
great possibilities which the establishment of co-operative- 
farmers’ dairy factories have. In laying down much m're 
land in temporary pasture, in improvements in the breeding- 
and general management of cattle and dairy cows, in th& 
provision of shelter for stock generally. Local advantages of 
soil, aspect, and situation must be turned to sccount, and a 
mixed system of farming introduced and extended to meet the^^ 
wants of the day so far as is possible. We have seen attempts 
at fruit and vegetable farming that have not always been 
judicious, crude efforts requiring the aid of technical knowledge, 
and a grain or two of common sense. Our advice in such cases 
is invariably caution in the guise of test crops in moderation 
at the outset, and a subsequent extension of the cultivation of 
such crops only as answtr wel', and which can be disposed of 
profitably. Above all things let there be intensive culture, 
thoroughness in everything ; efforts proportionate in earnest¬ 
ness to difficulties in the way; change prompt and thorough 
wherever and whenever it is clearly advantageous. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
The dull damp weather has been so unfavourable for corn-threshing; 
that we have only threshed what was absolutely necessary for home use.. 
For household flour we are still dependent on the Wheat of last year, 
which was so exceptionally hard that it has kept well. The keeping of 
it so long is only possible in a thoroughly dry vermin-proof granary so 
constructed that no condensation of moisture upon the interior is possible. 
Substantial walls and a thatched roof answer best. Corrugated iron 
sheeting for sides or roofs will not do at all, as this substance is so 
susceptible to changes of temperature that a cold change invariably 
causes the moisture in the warm interior air to condense, and drip from, 
the sheeting upon the corn. We mention this because corrugated 
sheeting is now used so extensively for farm buildings that a word of 
caution is necessary. We are using this sheeting in the construction of 
more open hovels in pasture enclosures, a stout framework of rough 
timber being all that is necessary to fasten the sheeting to. Some of the 
larger pieces of pasture are also being divided by iron hurdles to enable- 
tenants to afford their stock more frequent change, which is good for 
both stock and pasture. 
Much gravel carting is now being done from a pit on the estate for 
new -walks and roads, and to harden gateways, and drinking places on 
the margins of ponds and pools. At farms recently purchased we have 
much work of this sort requiring prompt attention, all the gateways 
being soft and so muddy as to be almost impassable. Some of the yards, 
too, though enclosed by really good buildings, have the bottoms so 
irregular and full of hollows as to be quite unfit for stock in winter, as 
water accumulates in the hollows to the serious risk of harm to any 
animal shut in there. To enclose space for a yard and not make the- 
bottom sound, and lay drains, may appear preposterous, but this is by 
no means the first instance of such negligence we have met with. At 
one farm rats had become so rampant that some paved floors were- 
undermined and unsafe. Eats are migratory, and are best kept out of 
buildings by opening a trench close to the outside and filling it with fine- 
gravel mixed with tar. 
MBTBOROLOaiCAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Oamdbn SguARB, London. 
Lat.Sl® 32' 40" N.: Long. 0° 8' 0" W.: Altitude. Ill feet 
Date. 
9 A.M. 
In the Day. 
& 
1894. 
December. 
Barometer 
at 32°,and 
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. 
leg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Inoha 
Sunday .. 
16 
29-869 
48 6 
47-2 
S.W. 
43-7 
80-2 
38 7 
68-1 
33-8 
0-010. 
Monday ,. 
17 
30 141 
41-3 
40 3 
S. 
43 0 
5-2-1 
36-2 
62-0 
31-6 
0-031 
Tuesday .. 
18 
29 538 
60-9 
49-2 
s.w. 
440 
52-1 
40-9 
64-3 
40-1 
0-178 
W ednesday 
19 
29-496 
41-0 
39 4 
w. 
43-4 
46-2 
39 6 
60-2 
35-2 
0-010 
Thursday,. 
20 
29-978 
39-9 
36-1 
w. 
42-4 
44-7 
38-2 
64 2 
33 8 
— 
Friday 
21 
80 172 
40-9 
31-1 
w. 
41 9 
51-3 
31-2 
51-4 
58-3 
0-268 
Saturday ., 
22 
29 398 
46-3 
41-4 
w. 
42-8 
48-2 
35-2 
65-9 
34 4 
-x9-793 
44-1 
41-1 
43-0 
49-3 
37-1 
67-6 
33 9 
0-488. 
REMARKS. 
16th.—Rain from 2 A.M. to 5 A.M. ; drizzly and threatening morning; fair afternoon and 
cvcuing. j It 1 
17th.—Drizzle and slight fog all morning: light rain from noon to 2 P.M. ; dull, damp 
afternoon and evening. 
18th.—Windy and rainy till 11.30 A.M. ; -with heavy rain at 10.30 A.M. ; bright sunihma 
from noon to sunset, and bright night. 
19th.—Alternate cloud and sunshine and occasional slight showers. 
20th.—Bright sunshine till 2 P.M. ; spots of rain at 3 P.M., and slight rain about 8 P.M. 
21st.—Overcast early; almost continuous slight drizzle from 10 A.M. to 11 P.M., ana 
slightly foggy in afternoon. [11 A.M. : fine evening 
22nd.—Gale and heavy rain from 4.15 A.M. to 6.15 A.M. ; sunshine from sunrise to about 
A much drier week than the previous one, the temperature, however, much the; 
same.—G. J. Symons. 
