64 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
January  18,  1900. 
some  part  of  the  educational  code,  and  a  substitution  of  agricultural 
classes.  The  change  will  be  attended  with  many  and  serious  difficul¬ 
ties,  and  there  will  be  a  great  many  mistakes  made  at  first.  We  shall 
want  to  teach  too  much  and  go  too  far. 
He  is  a  bold  man  who  will  venture  to  discuss  the  subject  ot  land 
tenure.  Sir  James  thinks  and  advocates  that  occupying  owners  of 
small  holdings  will  do  better  for  themselves  and  better  for  the  public 
than  tenants  of  larger  farms.  He  prophesies  that  this  new  century 
will  early  see  large  occupations  of  200  to  400  acres  cut  up  into  small 
plots  of  10  or  50  acres,  thus  finding  employment  for  a  man  and  his 
family.  Men  of  this  class  have  the  hardest  lives  of  any  in  the  United 
Ivingdom — their  work  is  never  done,  and  unless  prices  rise  materially 
their  profits  are  infinitesimal. 
On  the  other  hand  we  are  to  have  large  co-operative  farms  of 
5000  or  even  10,000  acres,  where  everything  is  to  be  done  in  a 
purely  commercial  manner.  All  new  labour-saving  appliances,  best 
of  machinery,  and  everything  first-class.  This,  says  Sir  James,  would 
solve  the  problem  of  scarce  labour ;  only  a  small  force  would  be 
needed,  they  would  be  of  the  best  class,  and  highly  paid.  We  think 
that  here  Sir  James  strikes  a  true  note.  Why  should  agriculture  be 
the  only  industry  which  cannot  be  worked  on  a  large  scale  ?  We 
see  everywhere  around  us  huge  business  firms,  and  the  larger  and 
more  extensive  they  are  the  greater  their  success.  Apply  the  same 
process  to  farming,  but  of  course  in  the  same  practical  manner.  If 
buying  and  selling  for  10,000  acres  could  easily  be  done  by  one 
person  of  reasonable  competence  and  energy,  eight  or  ten  practical 
bailiffs  would  relieve  him  of  all  responsibility  as  to  the  carrying 
out  of  general  orders,  and  he  would  be  able  to  devote  his  time,  apart 
from  the  market  days  in  each  week,  to  casual  inspection  of  the  various 
sub-departments,  and  the  formulation  of  new  enterprises. 
On  a  farm  of  such  extent  the  shepherd  would  be  a  man  of  the 
highest  experience  and  character,  and  would  be  responsible  for  the 
well-being  of  the  entire  flock,  as  well  as  for  the  management  of  the 
staff  of  assistants  who  would  carry  out  the  work  under  his  direction. 
The  same  system  would  apply  to  the  cattle,  horses,  &c.,  and  the 
whole  could  be  attended  in  emergency  by  a  properly  qualified 
veterinary  surgeon,  who  would  be  specially  retained. 
The  blacksmith’s  and  wheelwright’s  work  would  all  be  done  on 
the  premises,  and  middleman’s  profit  saved,  but  great  strictness  would 
have  to  be  exercised  to  prevent  leakage  in  the  way  of  commissions, 
but  if  the  superintendent  had  a  sufficient  salary,  and  were  worthy  of 
it,  there  should  not  be  much  difficulty  in  preventing  it. 
We  have  great  doubt  as  to  the  likelihood  of  a  large  increase  in  the 
number  of  peasant  proprietors,  or  rather  we  might  say  proprietors  of 
50  acres,  such  as  the  old  yeomen,  unless  a  great  advantage  be  given 
to  small  farmers  (by  the  Government)  in  the  purchase  of  their  farms 
by  very  favourable  terms  in  connection  with  the  sinking  fund. 
After  the  present  war  is  over  we  may  not  hear  much  of  the 
sinking  fund  for  a  while. 
WOEK  ON  THE  HOME  FAEM. 
We  have  had  more  heavy  rain,  and  flood  water  is  visible  in  many 
parts.  The  land  generally  is  too  wet  to  take  horses  upon,  and  there  is 
little  carting  to  be  done.  For  a  few  days,  until  the  land  dries  again, 
we  had  better  have  a  general  cleaning  up.  The  stackyard  may 
receive  extra  attention,  and  refuse  from  every  nook  and  corner  taken 
to  the  compost  heap. 
The  fowl  houses  will  do  with  a  good  cleansing  and  whitewashing, 
the  manure  being  put  in  a  heap  in  the  tillage  shed,  ready  for  turning 
and  eventual  mixing  with  superphosphate  for  the  Mangold  crop.  The 
super  might  with  advantage  be  bought  now  and  stored ;  the  price  is 
likely  to  rise,  and  it  could  never  be  more  conveniently  fetched  from 
the  station  or  manure  works. 
Labour  difliculties  are  becoming  still  greater.  We  hear  of  eight 
farm  servants  having  enlisted  from  one  parish,  and  our  informant 
fears  he  is  likely  to  lose  the  ninth.  Fully  one-third  of  the  ploughmen 
will  have  left,  and  there  are  no  spare  labourers  to  take  their  places. 
To  bring  men  back  from  the  towns  much  higher  wages  are  required ; 
but  farming  can  find  no  more  cash — prices  of  produce  will  not  allow 
of  it.  We  hear  farmers  declare  that  this  will  be  the  worst  year  of 
their  experience. 
Turnips  are  about  finished,  and  farmers  are  loth  to  begin  con¬ 
suming  their  Swedes ;  they  are  shy  of  realising  how  bad  they  are. 
Many  sheep  are  being  marketed  and  killed  that  should  have  been  on 
Swedes  until  May,  and  this  accounts  for  the  slackness  in  the  mutton 
trade.  Beef,  too,  after  being  dearer  at  Christmas,  is  a  little  cheaper 
again,  and  this  may  also  be  due  to  the  same  cause  that  has  affected 
mutton. 
Potato  markets  are  very  firm,  another  rise  having  taken  place 
since  Christmas.  They  are  relatively  dearer  in  the  country  than  in 
the  markets,  which  is  a  very  good  omen  for  the  future.  Sorting  and 
delivery  is  general  amongst  growers,  and  stocks  are  very  small  for 
the  time  of  year.  There  are  many  bad  ones,  the  yield  is  disappointing, 
and  only  a  good  price  can  produce  a  fair  return  per  acre. 
KINDNESS  TO  ANIMALS. 
As  I  imagine  “  our  Journal  ”  desires  to  encourage  this,  as  well  as 
every  other  good  horticultural  and  agricultural  tendency,  I  propose 
to  mention  two  instances,  much  to  be  admired,  which  have  lately  come 
under  my  own  observation.  In  the  large  county  town  in  which  I  reside, 
in  one  of  its  principal  streets,  a  fine  Hampshire  hog,  or  Berkshire  pig, 
might  have  been  observed  just  before  Christmas  progressing  with  much 
difficulty — presumably  he  had  been  overdriven.  Presently  he  rolled 
over  on  his  side,  and  lay  there,  declining  to  get  up.  Perhaps  he  held 
with  John  Banyan,  “  He  that  is  down  need  fear  no  fall.”  His  owner 
went  off  to  obtain  a  cart;  and  poor  piggy  was  left  to  the  tender 
mercies  of  the  street  boys,  who  at  once  swarmed  round  him  like  flies, 
the  least  of  their  cruelties  being  jumping  up  and  down  on  him. 
Just  then  two  rather  young  ladies  passed  by  on  their  way  to  their 
drawing  lesson — or  rather  did  not  pass  by.  With  flashing  eyes  and 
imperial  gestures,  they  ordered  the  boys  off,  who,  strange  to  say,  slunk 
away.  The  next  thing  was  a  careful  diagnosis  of  the  patient,  with  a 
prompt  decision  that  it  was  water  that  was  wanted.  This  they  darted 
off  at  once  to  get.  The  first  shop  refused ;  the  next  granted  an 
abundant  supply.  Mr.  Pig  at  once  plunged  in  his  snout,  drank  off  a 
whole  bucketful,  then  rose  up  of  his  own  accord,  and  sauntered  off  to 
his  destination,  amid  the  cheers  of  the  bystanders,  no  doubt  grunting 
out  his  gratitude  to  his  charming  benefactresses. 
The  same  two  young  ladies  shortly  after  met  a  dog  in  the  park.  It 
was  a  very  dirty  dog,  and  a  much  neglected  one,  a  big  rough  mongrel, 
half  starved,  who  had  strayed  off  to  die  there.  At  once  the  eldest  girl 
posted  off  home,  leaving  her  sister  to  watch  over  it.  She  brought  back 
her  mother’s  best  macintosh,  which  had  been  readily  lent  for  the 
purpose.  Then  the  two  girls  struggled  back,  carrying  in  their  arms' 
the  poor  beast.  It  was  tenderly  received,  sat  up  with  all  night,  fed 
with  bread  and  milk  and  other  restoratives,  but  it  died  in  a  fit  the  next 
morning,  and  had  to  be  buried  in  the  garden,  where  it  is  to  be  hoped  it 
will  show  its  gratitude  next  summer  by  promoting  an  extra  supply  of 
fine  Eose  blossoms.  Such  good  Samaritan  maidens  deserve  much 
admiration. —  A.  C. 
Pkoper  Form  of  a  Dairy  Cow. — She  should  possess  a  long,  thin 
head,  large  nostrils  for  plenty  of  air,  great  breadth  between  the  eyes, 
high  forehead,  a  bright  clear  eye,  sound  teeth,  thin  neck,  deep  through 
the  chest  with  large  lung  capacity,  long  and  large  backbone  for  plenty 
of  nervous  force,  broad  hips,  high  pelvic  aich,  thin  thighs,  well  apart, 
giving  plenty  of  room  for  a  good  udder.  She  should  be  deep  through 
the  flanks,  with  plenty  of  store  room  for  food.  The  udder  should  be 
well  developed,  running  well  up  behind  and  well  forward  on  the  body, 
with  large  milk  veins,  teats  set  evenly  on  the  four  quarters  and  of  good 
size.  A  cow  with  these  points  well  developed  indicates  that  she  is 
descended  from  a  line  of  dairy  cows  and  will  rarely  prove  a  failure  if 
properly  handled — A.  G.  Judd  (in  “American  Agriculturist.”). 
Where  the  Strain  is  Felt.— Where  is  the  greatest  strain  to  a 
horse  whilst  moving  a  heavy  weight  ?  Is  it  not  his  hocks  and  hind  legs  ? 
Do  we  not  have  this  question  answered  at  every  sale  we  attend  ?  If 
one  animal  has  a  better  hock  and  hind  leg  than  its  neighbour  with 
other  points  equally  good,  do  not  we  see  it  invariably  makes  the  most 
money  ?  Yes  ;  the  hock  is  the  great  propelling  agent  of  the  horse,  and 
I  think  the  readers  of  this  note  will  agree  that  if  we  have  not  quite 
the  same  coarse  appearance  in  the  draft  horse  of  to-day,  we  have  a 
more  evenly  balanced  animal,  with  just  as  much  size  and  far  better 
feet  and  legs  than  in  the  olden  times  ;  consequently,  a  horse  possessing 
far  better  wearing  material,  which  is,  after  all,  what  our  brewers  and 
other  large  buyers  want.  They  do  not  mind  paying  the  money,  but 
they  want  a  horse  that  can  stand  the  work  for  years,  thus  getting 
remunerated  for  their  outlay.—  (“  Farmer  and  Stock-breeder.”) 
Handling  Butter. — It  is  marvellous  how  hard  old  customs  die, 
and  that  is  much  to  be  regretted  as  far  as  handling  butter  and  milk 
is  concerned.  As  regards  butter  the  hand  need  never  come  in 
contact  with  it,  as  we  have  often  before  said.  There  are  the  “  Scotch 
hands”  to  take  it  from  the  churn,  the  “dairymaid”  to  press  out 
buttermilk,  rolling  boards  to  bring  it  into  shape,  and  beaters  to 
make  up  the  pounds,  half-pounds,  or  pats.  And  then  either  the 
“  Scotch  hands  ”  or  beaters  may  lift  the  butter  to  the  scales  or  else- 
where,  so  that  it  is  easily  enough  seen  that  no  human  hands  need 
come  into  immediate  contact  with  the  commodity.  But,  to-day,  not 
one  dairy  in  twenty  throughout  the  country  makes  use  of  the  appli¬ 
ances,  but  handles  the  butter  to  a  most  undesirable  extent,  and  in 
the  West  of  England  actually  beats  the  cream  about  with  the  naked 
hand  until  butter  comes,  using  no  churn  at  all. — (“  Eural  World.”) 
