42 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
January  11,  1900. 
W.  E.  Bear  tells  what  Parliament  has  done  and  left  undone  in  the 
past  session  for  the  farmer.  We  have  not  got  a  great  deal  out  of  our 
legislators ;  we  suppose  they  prefer  that  we  work  out  our  own 
salvation.  This  margarine  question  is  still  untouched,  and  though 
the  Bill  to  prevent  the  adulteration  of  foods  is  good  in  itself,  it  by  no 
means  covers  the  ground  it  should.  Poor  old  Ireland  gets  a  Bill 
which  is  intended  to  encourage  agriculture  and  technical  education. 
We  see  that  10,000  of  the  clergy  will  got  relief  to  the  amount  of 
£87,000  per  annum  by  the  working  of  the  Tithe  Rent  Charge  (Rates) 
Act,  and  only  those  who  know  something  of  the  poverty  and  difiS- 
culty  of  the  poor  parsons  who  derive  their  incomes  from  land  can 
tell  what  this  means.  It  will  be  but  a  trifle  apiece,  but  it  will  ease 
the  strain  a  little.  There  is  a  measure  which  is  very  desirable. 
Up  to  now  Parish  Councillors  were  elected  annually ;  now  each 
member  is  to  sit  for  three  years.  This  will  do  away  with  a  good  deal 
of  silly  ferment,  that  was  quite  unnecessary  as  an  annual. 
And  so  separated  milk  has  had  its  day.  “  Machine  skimmed  ”  is 
to  be  the  new  definition.  Professor  Lloyd  tells  us  that  to  some  mind.s 
“separated  ”  conveyed  the  idea  of  something  super-excellent;  and  if 
that  is  the  case  it  is  as  well  to  clear  up  the  matter.  “  Machine 
skimmed ”  sounds  awkward;  but  we  are  old-fashioned.  There  is  a 
future  for  it,  the  Professor  says,  if  only  it  be  Pasteurised  before  sale ; 
it  is  a  wholesome,  excellent  article  of  diet,  and  invaluable  for  the 
preservation  of  infant  life. 
The  management  of  feeding  cattle  is  ably  treated  of  by  T.  P.  F. 
Bell.  He  goes  into  the  question  thoroughly,  giving  sensible 
ideas  as  to  rations,  laying  great  stress  on  cleanliness — i.e.,  cleanliness 
of  body,  freedom  from  barbies  and  lice,  cleanliness  in  byres  and 
feeding  troughs,  stalls,  and  watering  places.  No  doubt  we  should 
hear  far  less  of  tuberculosis  if  all  sheds  and  loose  boxes  were  con¬ 
stantly  whitewashed,  and  so  constructed  that  sun  and  air  could 
have  free  access.  Mr.  Bell  is  of  the  same  opinion  as  ourselves  on  one 
matter  in  particular,  and  that  is  that  there  should  be  as  few  changes 
in  the  attendants  as  possible.  All  stock  have  their  peculiarities,  and 
a  new  man  is  some  time  before  he  gets  to  know  all  about  a  herd ; 
and,  in  the  meantime,  his  very  presence  disquiets  them. 
“  The  jMilk  Trade  ”  is  not  altogether  very  pleasant  reading  to  the 
tenant  farmer.  He  knows  full  well  what  a  business  it  is  to  keep  up 
his  proper  quantity  of  milk,  and  then  to  find  he  rarely  can  make 
his  way,  though  the  town  folks  are  piving  up  well.  P.  McConnell 
says  there  is  no  investment  better  than  a  good  milk  walk.  The  retail 
vendor  gets  the  cream  (we  do  not  mean  a  pun),  and  there  is  nothing 
for  the  farmer  but  co-operation. 
The  home  harvest  in  two  periods,  1872-76,  1892-96,  is  full  of 
facts  and  figures.  Unlawful  poisoning  shows  up  curious  points  of 
law,  and  “centipedes  and  millipedes”  make  us  feel  quite  creepy. 
Every  lover  of  vegetables  should  read  Mr.  Glenny  on  salads.  If 
only  folks  would  consult  their  stomachs  and  purses  by  eating  more 
“greeu  meat,”  how  much  better  they  would  be.  But  English  people 
adore  solid  meats.  Ihe  poultry  paper  might,  with  advantage,  have 
been  longer. 
The  book  is  not  yrt  exhausted.  All  sorts  of  official  information 
lists  of  societies  and  agr  cultural  training  depots,  dairy  schools,  fairs* 
markets,  and  tables,  that  we  shall  only  te  too  glad  to  have  handy 
for  reference,  and  all  within  the  covers  of  a  sixpenny  book. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
The  frost  has  been  of  short  duration,  and  though  one  night  was 
rather  severe,  we  hope  that  the  Turnips  will  not  be  much  the  worse  for  it. 
A  steady  rain  has  well  washed  the  roads,  and  done  the  Wheat  nearly  as 
much  good  as  a  rolling.  Wheat  looks  well  and  is  forward,  but  has 
never  had  too  solid  a  seed  bed  to  grow  in.  There  must  be  danger  from 
wireworm  as  spring  approaches,  unless  the  roll  be  used  whenever 
practicable. 
It  is  a  good  plan  to  take  the  roll  into  the  Wheat  field  soon  after 
Christmas,  and  being  on  the  spot  ready  for  use  many  opportunities 
may  be  found  of  using  it,  if  only  for  a  few  hours.  Suppose  the  horses 
are  ploughing  or  harrowing  in  a  neighbouring  field,  a  brisk  wind 
springs  up,  the  surface  quickly  becomes, dry  enough  for  the  roll;  the 
master  or  foreman  seeing  the  opportunity  diverts  a  pair  of  horses  to 
the  roll,  and  half  a  day’s  work  is  done,  which  must  have  been  left 
altogether,  or  done  at  a  less  useful  period. 
The  poulti-y  raiser  who  wishes  to  realise  good  prices  must  have 
eggs  already  in  a  state  of  incubation.  As  hens  are  perverse  creatures, 
and  will  not  sit  or  lay  simply  when  they  are  ordered,  true  enterprise 
suggests  the  use  of  the  incubator.  We  have  tried  one  very  success- 
fullv,  and  are  sure  that  it  amply  paid  for  the  outlay.  There  are  many 
useful  types.  Ours  was  a  Hearson ;  and  others,  we  are  told,  are 
equally  good,  but  we  have  not  tried  them. 
With  open  weather  we  shall  commence  to  cross-cut  the  fallows. 
Should  frost  again  intervene,  the  land  will  be  all  the  better  for  having 
been  moved  in  the  interim,  as  it  will  be  more  open  to  frost  influence. 
Strong  land,  however,  must  not  be  ploughed  wet,  or  the  benefit  of  the 
preyious  frost  will  have  been  lost.  One  of  the  chief  attractions  of 
light  free- working  soil  to  the  farmer  is  the  possibility  of  keeping  horses 
at  work  upon  it ;  when  on  strong  land  they  must  perforce  remain  idle. 
The  labour  difficulty  gets  worse  day  by  day,  and  we  hear  of  a  land 
agent  backing  up  tenants  in  appealing  to  their  landlord  for  rent  reduc¬ 
tion,  and  chiefly  on  the  grouud  of  the  vastly  increased  labour  bill. 
Unless  there  is  a  radical  change,  and  that  soon,  further  large  tracts  of 
arable  land  will  have  to  be  seeded  down. 
FIELD  EXPERIMENTS  WITH  MANURES. 
Professor  J.  R.  Campbell,  of  the  Yorkshire  College,  writing  in  this 
month’s  “  Land  Magazine,”  warns  farmers  against  placing  too  much 
reliance  upon  the  results  of  field  experiments  in  the  manuring  of  crops. 
For  ten  years  past  various  agricultural  bodies  have  been  conducting 
such  experiments,  and  the  principal  lesson  they  seem  to  have  taught  is 
that  the  whole  question  must  for  a  long  time  remain  in  an  experimental 
stage.  Variations  in  the  soil  and  changes  in  the  weather  make  it 
necessary,  if  experiments  are  to  be  relied  upon  as  a  guide  for  practice, 
that  they  should  be  spread  over  a  wide  area  and  continued  for  a  long 
series  of  years.  At  present,  therefore.  Professor  Campbell  thinks  it 
useless  to  tabulate  the  results  even  of  those  experiments  which  seem  the 
most  conclusive;  he  prefers  to  state  some  of  the  general  principles 
these  experiments  have  established. 
The  first  is  the  very  elementary  discovery  that  farmyard  manure  is 
the  best.  The  farmer  who  uses  it  “  can  make  no  mistake.”  It  contains 
nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid,  and  potash,  and  these  constituents  must  be 
blended  in  any  artificial  manure  that  is  to  take  the  place  of  the  natural 
product.  No  experiments  were  needed  to  establish  this  fact.  But  the 
question  of  how  manure  should  be  used  is  one  upon  which  farmers  are 
not  agreed.  Practice  varies  in  different  counties.  Professor  Campbell 
lays  it  down  as  an  axiom  that  the  system  of  manuring  the  root  crop 
heavily  and  using  no  manures  for  the  rest  of  the  rotation  is  not  so 
profitable  as  that  of  distributing  the  manures  over  the  rotation.  The 
contrary  practice  is  sometimes  recommended,  but  the  Professor’s  advice 
is  the  fruit  of  study  and  experience,  and  to  farmers  he  says  urgently, 
“  In  all-round  manuring  you  know  you  are  safe.  Leave  these  problems 
to  experts.  For  yourselves,  run  no  risks.” 
In  the  second  place  Professor  Campbell  recommends  more  frequent 
use  of  artificial  manures  to  the  grain  crop.  It  is  indirectly  profitable, 
even  with  oats  at  2s.  a  bushel  ;  it  produces  a  large  crop,  which  loosens 
the  soil  and  keeps  down  weeds,  and  a  plentiful  yield  of  straw  increases 
next  year’s  stock  of  manure.  In  many  counties  this  system  is  extend¬ 
ing,  but  Professor  Campbell  urges  more  care  in  the  selection  of  the 
manuies.  “No  result,”  he  says,  “has  been  more  striking  than  the 
certainty  with  which  an  increase  in  the  yield  of  the  corn  or  grass  crops 
has  been  secured  by  the  use  of  nitrogenous  manures,  particularly  quick¬ 
acting  manures,  such  as  nitrate  of  soda  or  sulphate  of  ammonia.”  It  is 
a  mistake  to  suppose  that  these  are  exhausting  to  the  soil ;  on  the 
contrary,  they  increase  its  fertility.  Artificial  mixtures  often  contain 
excessive  quantities  of  phosphoric  acid  and  are  harmful,  but  plenty  of 
nitrogen  produces  bulk,  and  bulk  will  produce  a  fine  manure.  Finally, 
experiments  conducted  by  Professor  Campbell  in  Yorkshire  and  in 
Scotland  show  that  for  arable  crops  a  quick-acting  manure,  and  for 
pasture  a  more  lasting  one,  are  best. — (“  Yorkshire  Post.”) 
Poultry  a\d  Eggs  —Almost  everybody  who  has  a  little  spare 
space,  and  a  good  many  who  really  hav^e  not,  manage  to  keep  a  few 
hens,  and  oh,  how  anxiously  they  look  for  a  new-laid  egg  or  two  every 
morning  now  ;  and  the  look  is  ape  mostly  to  be  in  vain.  Two  things 
are  too  often  overlooked  in  regard  to  feeding,  and  that  is  not  to  supply 
plenty  of  green  uncooked  vegetables  and  enough  grit.  Without  these 
neither  health  nor  free  laying  need  be  expected.  The  green  vegetables 
may  consist  of  turnip  tops,  canbage  leaves,  and  such  like,  aud  the  grit 
be  obmined  by  breaking  up  all  old  crocks  and  glass  bottles  on  the 
premises  into  bits  not  larger  than  grains  of  wheat.  As  a  rule  the  birds 
are  really  overcrammed  with  corn  and  meal.  Of  course,  it  is  desirable 
that  a  wide  outrun  be  given  ;  then  the  birds  look  after  both  green 
vegetable  food  aud  grit,  but  they  cannot  find  it  in  the  small  homes 
many  of  them  have  to  live  in.  Dampness  and  draughts,  too,  in  any 
form  are  bad  for  fowls.  They  stop  laying,  bring  about  disease,  and 
hinder  free  growth  in  the  young  birds. — Rural  World.”) 
