544 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  21,  1900. 
Ave  have  known  cases  where  an  accumulation  of  Wheat  straw  was  a 
nuisance,  the  farmers  not  being  allowed  to  sell,  so  they  burnt  it. 
Barley  gained  three-fourths  of  the  area  lost  by  Wheat ;  Oats  gained 
the  remainder,  as  well  as  17,000  acres  lost  by  Rye.  Peas  are  on  the 
decrease,  hut  Beans,  after  two  years’  comparative  neglect,  return  to  their 
normal  acreage. 
Potatoes  do  not  vary  much,  but  Turnips  and  Swedes  once  more  show 
a  loss — viz.,  34,000  acres,  the  area  having  declined  from  over  1,500,000 
acres  in  1875  to  1,203,880  last  season.  Mangolds  have  increased 
20,000  acres,  and  we  are  very  glad  of  this,  for  we  are  convinced  that 
many  farmers  have  falsely  founded  prejudices  against  this  most 
valuable  crop,  which  deserves  a  much  larger  acreage.  Cabbage  also  is 
not  grown  as  largely  as  it  should  be,  and  we  are  glad  to  see  an 
increase  under  the  heading  of  Cabbage,  Kohl  Rabi,  and  Rape,  and 
hope  the  first  is  chiefly  responsible  for  it. 
British  horses  are  stationary  in  numbers,  but  cattle  show  a 
very  satisfactory  increase  of  170,000.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
notwithstanding  this,  the  non-breeding  cattle  over  two  years  of  age 
have  decreased  by  14,000,  and  the  assumption  may  be  made  that 
British  farmers  are  gradually  being  convinced  that  old  bullocks  do  not 
pay  them  so  well  as  they  pay  the  butcher.  There  is  a  large  increase 
in  cows  and  heifers,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  greater  efforts  will  be 
made  to  retain  the  large  sum  of  money  the  nation  pays  for  imported 
milk — last  year  nearly  £1,500,000,  to  say  nothing  of  the  butter,  the 
imports  of  which  reached  the  enormous  sum  of  £17,250,000,  being 
£3,000,000  more  than  in  1895. 
A  noticeable  fact  in  connection  with  the  butter  imports  is  that 
France  sent  us  £500,000  worth  less  butter  in  1899  than  in  1895, 
whilst  Denmark  sent  us  1^  millions  worth  more,  other  countries 
showing  a  large  advance  being  Holland,  the  United  States,  and 
Canada,  the  progress  of  the  latter  being  most  remarkable,  for  she  sent 
us  seven  times  as  much  butter  in  1899  as  in  1895,  and  the  increase 
is  steady  as  well  as  persistent.  It  is  quite  evident  that  the  British 
butter  produce  has  not  yet  seen  the  worst  of  foreign  competition  and 
attention  must  be  chiefly  directed  to  producing  the  very  best  article, 
so  that  he  may  not  have  to  take  7d.  and  8d.  per  lb.,  as  many  f  irmers’ 
wives  are  doing  now,  whilst  foreign  made  stuff  is  selling  at  Is.  in 
their  own  market  town. 
Very  interesting  tables  are  those  giving  the  number  of  fat  animals 
and  quantities  of  dead  meat  sold  in  the  London  markets  during  the 
last  twenty  years.  British  fat  cattle  have  decreased  from  200,000  in 
1879  to  86,000  in  1899,  whilst  foreign  have  increased  from  126,000 
to  168,000.  British  sheep  have  dwindled  from  807,000  to  546,000, 
whilst  foreign  have  gone  down  from  1,556,000  to  844,000.  Taking 
British  and  foreign  together  we  find  a  large  diminution  both  in  live 
■  cattle  and  sheep.  How  has  London  been  ted  ?  The  dead  meat 
statistics  answer  that  question.  The  quantities  for  1899  are  almost 
double  those  for  1879,  being  8,109,000  cwt.  and  4,272,000  cwts. 
respectively.  This  increase  of  4,000,000  cwts.  is  equivalent  to 
300,000  cattle  and  3,000,000  sheep.  Accepting  the  latter  figures  as 
being  about  correct,  and  adding  together  the  supplies  live  and  dead, 
we  find  that  the  dead  meat  has  made  up  the  deficiency  in  the  live 
animals  and  increased  the  general  supply  by  qumtities  equivalent  to 
220,000  cattle  and  2,000,000  sheep.  It  is  obvious  that  the 
consumption  of  meat  has  much  increased,  as  prices  have  come  more 
within  reach  of  the  working  classes,  and  that  the  imports  of  chilled 
and  frozen  meat  are  likely  to  increase,  for  of  the  increase  of 
4,000,000  cwts.  of  dead  meat  imports  3,000,00(5  are  accounted  for  by 
American  and  Australian  killed  meat,  i.e.,  chilled  or  frozen. 
If  we  look  at  the  statistics  of  foreign  flocks  and  herds  we  find  that 
Australasia  owns  12  million  cattle  and  100  million  sheep,  whilst  the 
two  South  American  States,  Argentina  and  LTruguay,  own  between 
them  26  million  cattle  and  90  million  sheep.  Here  are  almost 
unlimited  possibilities  for  extension  of  the  frozen  meat  trade,  and  the 
price  of  second-class  meat  must,  at  any  rate  in  our  time,  be  kept  down 
to  a  low  fijuie  by  the  c  im petition  from  these  countries.  All  this 
points  yet  again  and  m^re  strongly  to  the  breeding  of  animals  with  a 
view  to  the  butcher’s  requirements  to  meet  the  first-class  trade,  for  it 
is  such  stock  which  are  now  very  dear  and  likely  to  remain  so. 
Supplies  of  the  best  British  meat  must  get  proportionately  smaller  as 
the  population  increases. 
It  is  also  very  unlikely  that  this  trade  will  be  affected  by  Conti¬ 
nental  competition,  for  the  statistics  of  live  animals  belonging  to 
our  Continental  neighbours  show  diminutions  which  may  be  considered 
qu’te  alarming,  and  should  be  so  to  the  authorities  of  those  countries. 
For  whilst  (Lreat  Britain  has  not  only  fully  maintained  her  flocks  and 
herds  but  increased  them,  how  can  we  account  for  the  following 
figures  ?  Austria  and  Hungary  together  have  increased  their  cattle 
from  12^  millions  to  15  millions,  but  their  sheep  have  fallen  from 
20  millions  to  11  millions.  France  is  stationary  as  regards  cattle,  but 
has  lost  1|^  million  sheep.  Germ  my  has  increased  her  cattle  by 
21  millions,  but  has  reduced  her  flock  of  sheep  from  25  millions  to 
something  under  11  millions.  The  smaller  countries,  Holland,  Bel¬ 
gium,  and  Denmark,  tell  much  the  same  tale,  and  the  lesson  the 
farmer  may  learn  if  he  will  is,  that  however  the  trade  for  good  fresh 
beef  may  fluctuate,  he  has  the  trade  for  the  best  home  killed  mutton  in 
his  own  hands. 
One  table  which  rather  took  our  fancy  is  one  giving  the  average 
prices  of  the  various  kinds  of  grain  sold  in  each  of  the  principal 
markets  during  1899.  At  the  first  glance  the  comparison  of  prices 
between  one  market  and  another  promised  to  be  interesting,  but  really 
only  bears  out  what  should  be  foregone  conclusions — viz.,  that  Wheat  is 
dearest  near  the  great  centres  of  population,  but  does  not  vary  much, 
whilst  that  Barley  on  big  exchanges  is  much  affected  by  the  proportion 
of  grinding  qualities  and  makes  the  highest  price  in  the  neighbour- 
hoo  1  of  large  raalthouses.  Probably  the  good  quality  of  the  Barley 
induced  the  building  of  maltkilns. 
A  feamre  of  the  returns  is  the  exceedingly  bad  Turnip  crop  of 
1899,  bat  we  have  all  seen  enough  of  that,  and  it  needs  no  further 
discussion. 
Work  oil  the  flome  Farm. 
The  tropical  weather  of  the  past  few  days  is  doing  an  immense 
amount  of  good,  and  will  give  a  very  much  needed  fillip  to  many 
backward  crops.  More  rain,  however,  is  needed,  the  thunderstorms  have 
been  very  partial,  and  a  good  general  rain  earning  at  once  would 
improve  prospects  more  than  anything. 
Wheat  is  running  fast  towards  the  ear,  but  few  heads  will  be  visible 
until  July.  Barley  is  improving  in  colour  and  is  growing  well,  but 
some  fields  will  be  short  in  the  straw  unless  we  get  the  rain. 
Mangold  are  much  improved ;  weeds,  however,  have  been 
troublesome,  and  although  the  young  Mangold  are  rather  small  for 
singling,  they  will  be  best  hoed  at  once  so  as  to  get  rid  of  the  weeds. 
There  should  be  little  more  trouble  now  with  the  Turnip  fly,  for  small 
Turnips  love  hot  weather,  and  Swedes  will  soon  be  ready  for  hoeing. 
The  main  crop  of  common  Turnips  are  going  into  a  perfect  hotbed, 
and  must  do  well.  We  think  this  year’s  Turnip  crop  must  be  secure. 
The  horse  hoe  must  be  made  use  of  whenever  possible,  leaving  as 
little  work  for  the  hand  hoe  as  can  be  managed.  .  Some  farmers,  as  we 
have  mentioned  in  a  previous  article,  run  a  set  of  harrows  across  the 
Turnip  rows  when  labour  is  not  available,  thus  thinning  the  plants  until 
men  can  be  found  to  finish  the  process.  A  horse  hoe  for  corn  crops  is 
also  sometimes  useful  to  run  across  Turnip  rows,  but  it  requires  careful 
manipulation,  being  somewhat  drastic  in  its  effects.  It  acts  better 
amongst;  Turnips  grown  on  the  flat  than  amongst  those  on  ridges.  The 
plant  also  must  be  a  very  good  one — i  e  ,  very  even  and  regular,  but  not 
loo  thick.  Field  Potatoes  look  very  well,  and  the  earthing  plough  is  at 
work  in  some  cases  for  the  second  time.  The  land  is  rather  dry  between 
the  ridges,  having  been  knocked  about  a  good  deal,  and  is  much  inclined 
to  fall  back  into  the  furrow.  A  nice  rain  would  do  good  here. 
Buyers  of  wool  are  hovering  round,  and  though  they  cry  down  the 
prospects  of  the  trade  we  fancy  prices  will  be  a  little  higher  than  they 
have  been  recently.  Prices  of  wool  often  vary  much  in  the  same  place, 
the  stapler  bidding  freely  for  a  good  clip,  and  badly  for  one  in  which 
he  expects,  from  old  experience,  to  find  much  dirt  and  badly  washed 
wool.  We  still  think  the  man  who  washes  his  sheep  well  gets  paid  the 
best  in  the  long  run. 
Xlve  Stock  reeding  In  Yorkshire. — The  authorities  of  the 
Yorkshire  College,  Leeds,  in  conjunction  with  the  East  and  West 
Ridings  Joint  Agricultural  Council,  have  issued  a  report  on  the  pig¬ 
feeding  experiments  made  at  Garforth.  They  conclude  that  a  mixture 
of  barleymeal  and  sharps  is  better  than  barleymeal  and  maize,  and 
that  the  latter  mixture  may  be  somewhat  improved  by  the  addition 
of  a  highly  nitrogenous  meal.  A  report  has  also  been  issued  on 
cod  liver  oil  as  a  substitute  for  cream  and  for  meal  in  calf  rearing. — 
(“  Yorkshire  Post.”) 
