22 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
January  4,  1900. 
what  the  farmers  and  inhabitants  would  do  without  that  waterway- 
one  cannot  imagine. 
Marshland  is  a  low-lying  district  not  attractive  to  the  eye  of  the 
lover  of  the  picturesque.  We  are  wrong  perhaps.  The  rivers  have 
charms  of  their  own,  and  the  high  banks  with  the  path  atop  is  at 
least  novel  and  interesting.  We  have  seen  some  wonderful  set  effects 
there ;  but,  better  still,  we  have  seen  some  marvellous  crops.  The 
land  has  all  been  subjected  to  that  peculiar  kind  of  tilling  known 
as  warping — i.e.,  the  rich,  muddy  river  is  allowed  to  overflow  certain 
fields,  and  leaves  on  them  much  alluvial  deposit.  The  result  is 
astonishing. 
There  are  many  things  that  must  be  seen  to  be  believed.  No 
Marshland  dweller  could  grasp  the  idea  of  the  beauties  of  forest 
scenery.  No  stranger  could  fathom  the  loneliness  and  isolation  of  a 
dwelling  on  Exmoor  or  Dartmoor.  Some  of  the  high  wolds  of  York¬ 
shire  and  Lincolnshire  bid  fair  to  equal  the  moors  in  point  of  solitude. 
No  one  unless  he  has  ridden  after  hounds  knows  th«  depth  of  a 
Holderness  drain  nor  the  strength  of  a  Leicestershire  ox  fence,  and  no 
pen  of  ours  can  describe  the  mud  of  Marshland. 
Keclaimed  as  it  has  been  bit  by  bit,  carefully  drained,  carefully 
banked,  it  needs  something  less  than  a  shower  to  make  the 
roads  well  nigh  impassable.  At  the  side  of  every  road  you 
will  notice  a  line  of  single  flag  stones.  Without  that  permanent 
pathway  pedestrians  could  not  stir  a  step.  This  flagged  causeway 
was  originally  intended  for  strings  of  pack  horses,  which  have 
vanished,  as  many  other  things  have  done.  Here  are  several  villages 
quite  ten  miles  from  a  station,  and  a  ten  miles  of  appalling  road. 
When  it  is  considered  that  every  ton  of  Potatoes — and  many  a 
thousand  pounds’  worth  are  grown  there — every  quarter  of  Wheat, 
and  every  ounce  of  tillage  has  to  be  laboriously  drawn  in  heavy 
waggons  by  horses  the  whole  ten  miles,  the  work  and  labour  and 
wear  and  tear  must  be  something  awful.  A  man  with  a  pair  of  horses 
can  only  deliver  one  load  a  day,  and  then  has  well  earned  his  wages. 
Some  of  the  bye  lanes  are  simply  quagmires,  down  which  it  is  all 
six  horses  can  do  to  draw  a  load  of  Potatoes.  The  expense  of  making 
these  bye  roads  decent  would  be  incredible.  There  is  no  foundation 
whatever,  and  any  stones  put  on  would  only  share  the  fate  of  those 
thrown  into  Bunyan’s  Slough  of  Despond ;  they  would  simply 
disappear  and  leave  no  trace.  We  cannot  say  a  great  deal  in  favour 
of  the  main  roads,  although  the  rates  are  tremendously  high  and 
qualified  men  are  employed  freely.  As  in  manufacturing  towns  they 
say  you  cannot  make  money  without  making  muck,  so  you  cannot 
have  rich  alluvial  soil  in  conjunction  with  good  highways.  This  is  as 
it  used  to  be  up  to  this  year  of  grace,  and  now  a  -wondrows  ehcnge 
has  come  over  the  face  of  Marshland. 
This  autumn  has  seen  the  inauguration  of  a  light  railway,  and  the 
boon  it  is  conferring  on  the  agriculturists  is  simply  unspeakable.  It 
has  been  wisely  planned,  and  laps  the  most  congested  district.  It  will 
simply  revolutionise  the  working  time  table.  We  wonder  what  the 
horses  would  say  if  they  could  speak  ;  we  know  what  the  men  say. 
No  more  long  hard  days  to  Goole  or  Keadby  stations ;  days  when- 
there  is  so  little  to  show  for  wear  and  tear  to  man  and  beast ;  days 
that  are  ai)t  to  take  off  all  the  gilt  from  the  farmer’s  gingerbread. 
This  is  one  of  the  best  districts  where  the  experiment  could  be  made. 
We  are  speaking  just  of  the  beginning  of  the  scheme.  The  Isle  of 
Axholme  is  to  have  a  line,  and  other  outlying  townships  of  Marsh¬ 
land,  such  as  Garthorpe  and  Luddington,  are  to  be  touched  by  another 
branch. 
Whether  this  opening  out  of  Marshland  will  have  any  effect  on 
the  Flax-growing  industry  we  are  hardly  in  a  position  to  say.  There 
used  to  be  a  time,  when  we  were  in  our  youth,  that  we  saw  field  after 
field  of  the  bright  blue  flower.  One  would  almost  think  that,  with 
plant  erected  at  Goole,  this  industry  might  be  worked  again  on  a 
co-operative  scheme;  but  there  are  wise  men  in  Marshland,  and 
enterprising  men,  so  if  there  is  anything  in  it  they  will  soon  know. 
There  are  two  other  isolated  districts  where  a  similar  scheme  of 
light  railways  is  about  to  he  tried.  There  are  some  isolated  villages 
in  North  Holderness  which  have  suffered  long  from  their  isolation. 
We  once  had  the  privilege  of  conveying  all  the  produce  of  a  600-acre 
farm  ten  miles  to  the  nearest  station,  and  carting  back  every  atom  of 
artificial  manure  and  cake.  Now  that  required  some  horse  power. 
There  is  another  district  in  South  Yorks  and  North  Notts,  just 
on  the  confines  of  a  teeming  population,  and  yet  without  any  means 
of  transport  but  carts  and  horses ;  a  market  in  view,  but  difficult  of 
access.  The  railway  is  only  a  question  of  time.  Let  us  hope  the 
promoters  will  make  all  possible  speed  in  getting  the  thing  into 
working  order. 
WORK  ON  THE  FARM. 
We  are  once  again  commencing  the  work  of  the  new  year  and 
trust  that  it  may  be  got  through  in  a  satisfactory  manner.  Work  on 
arable  farms  generally  is  likely  to  be  much  less  formidable  in  itself 
during  the  next  four  years,  as  the  series  of  good  fallowing  seasons  we 
have  just  passed  through  should  have  left  no  legacy  of  twitch  behind 
them.  It  is  a  good  thing  that  work  is  likely  to  be  light,  for  the  labour 
difficulty  is  more  severe  than  ever. 
The  calling  out  of  the  reserves,  militia  and  volunteers,  has  strained 
to  an  extreme  an  already  tight  labour  market.  An  ironmaster  told  us 
a  week  ago  that  he  wanted  100  more  men  and  could  not  get  any.  A 
state  of  affairs  like  this  is  sure  to  further  drain  the  resources  of  the 
villages. 
We  have  had  frost,  then  a  decided  thaw  with  heavy  rain,  and  now  a 
sharp  frost  again,  with  no  snow  protection  for  the  roots,  which  are 
likely  to  suffer,  as  they  never  looked  like  standing  much  frost,  for 
though  small  they  have  grown  very  much  out  of  the  ground. 
Ploughing  is  well  forward,  so  that  a  stoppage  will  be  of  little 
account,  and  muok  leading  will  seon  be  tlaished.  Many  farmers  are 
again  threshing  freely,  in  some  cases  perhaps  in  order  to  find  employ¬ 
ment  for  the  hands,  in  others  to  get  the  work  done  whilst  the  horses 
are  unemployed  and  the  ploughmen  can  be  made  use  of  in  the  stack- 
yard,  for  extra  hands  can  hardly  be  obtained.  It  is  a  long  time  since 
the  casual  labourer  has  had  such  regular  employm'snt. 
The  grain  markets,  unlike  those  of  fat  cattle,  have  been  very  dull, 
and  are  likely  to  be  so,  for  no  doubt  the  high  bank  rate  has  caused  a 
certain  amoiint  of  unloading  of  stocks  in  warehouse,  so  those  who  can 
keep  their  holdings  until  summer  may  reap  much  advantage.  Of 
coarse  new  political  developments  might  cause  an  earlier  reaction. 
Exportation  of  Stock. — ^The  exportation  of  live  stock  for  breeding 
and  other  purposes  from  this  country  goes  steadily  on  at  all  times. 
During  the  present  year  such  stock  amounted  to  the  value  of  £828,422. 
This,  we  learn,  includes  horses,  many  of  which  are  exported  nob  for 
breeding  but  working  purposes,  as  well  as  racing.  Their  total  value 
amounted  to  £622,110. 
Roots  for  Pigs. — In  some  Danish  experiments  to  determine  the 
value  of  Turnips  and  Mangold  Wurtzels  as  feed  for  hogs,  it  was  shown 
that  these  roots  may  be  fed  as  a  part  of  a  pig’s  ration  with  satisfactory 
results.  The  feeding  value  of  roots  was  shown  to  correspond,  says  a 
contemporary,  very  nearly  with  their  dry  matter  content.  Roots  rich 
in  sugar  produced  better  results  than  those  light  in  sugar.  The  increase 
in  live  weight,  however,  followed  more  closely  the  dry  matter  content 
than  the  sugar  of  the  roots.  The  hogs  were  fed  a  ration  which  contained 
three-fourths  grain  and  one-fourth  roots.  In  addition,  the  pigs  received 
buttermilk,  skim  milk,  and  whey,  either  alone  or  mixed. 
Old  Times. — There  are  many  grey-headed  farmers  who  remember 
the  good  old  days  of  single  ploughs,  hand  planting,  grain  cradles,  and 
threshing  floors  and  flails,  when  it  was  necessary  to  get  out  of  bed 
before  daybreak,  feed  the  cows  and  teams  so  as  to  be  at  work  by  the 
time  it  was  light  enough  to  see ;  to  work  until  the  dinner  horn 
sounded,  feed  and  water  the  team,  eat  dinner  and  return  to  the  fleld 
and  work  until  dark,  after  which  feeding,  and  chopping  wood  occupied 
the  time  until  nine  o’clock,  when  all  hands  would  hurry  to  bed,  hurry 
to  sleep,  and  be  ready  for  the  early  crowing  of  the  cock,  and  to  repeat 
the  programme  six  days  in  every  week,  unless  it  rained,  in  which  case 
the  time  was  spent  over  some  labour  that  could  be  performed  under 
cover.  Farmers  in  those  days  were,  or  seemed  to  be,  contented  and 
happy,  simply  because  they  had  enough  to  live  on  and  no  debts  to 
pay.  Now,  we  can  do  our  ploughing  while  riding  on  a  spi'ing  seat, 
and  under  an  umbrella  if  we  so  desire ;  plant  10  acres  a  day  instead 
of  two ;  have  all  our  grain  cut  in  a  day,  and  threshed  during  the 
forenoon.  All  our  work  may  be  done  with  time-saving  and  labonr- 
saving  machines,  but  we  cannot  help  grumbling  more  than  our  fathers 
did  when  working  from  twelve  to  fourteen  hours  a  day.  Labour-saving 
inventions  and  improved  processes  are  of  little  use  unless  they  really 
save  labour.  Labour  was  inflicted  on  man  as  a  curse,  and  in  the 
present  and  past  conditions  of  society  became  a  necessity.  But,  like 
convicts  in  prison,  our  punishment  is  being  relaxed  on  account  of 
good  behaviour,  though  we  may  never  regain  the  lost  liberty  to  live 
without  labour.  Let  us  make  the  most  of  our  opportunities  by 
spending  the  difference  between  the  old  hours  of  labour  and  the  new 
in  self-improvement  and  wholesome  recreation,  otherwise  we  are  none 
the  better  for  modern  improvements. — (“  Rural  World.”) 
