306 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
April  8,  1897. 
the  mass,  and  it  is  only  by  combination,  and  presenting  a  face  set 
like  a  flint,  that  the  rightful  owners  get  their  due.  Farmers  are 
robbed  on  all  sides  ;  they  have  long  odds  to  contend  with — bad 
seasons,  bad  prices,  and  over-production,  but  the  greatest  obstacle 
to  their  own  advancement  is  to  be  found  in  themselves.  When  a 
man’s  foes  are  those  of  his  own  household,  the  situation  is  at  its 
worst.  There  appears  to  be  no  known  method  or  scheme  that  will 
bring  about  among  farmers  a  spirit  of  co-operation.  Like  the 
revolutionaries  in  Ireland,  there  is  always  a  traitor  to  be  found  in 
the  camp,  and  the  scheme  is  strangled  in  its  very  birth. 
Who  gets  the  profit  accruing  from  the  milk  trade  ?  In  towns 
and  thinly  populated  districts  the  milk  trade  is  brisk,  and  the 
demand  for  the  really  good  article  great.  But  why  is  it  that  the 
B.D.F.  is  brought  almost  to  the  verge  of  ruin  ?  What  are  the 
causes,  and  what,  if  any,  are  the  remedies  suggested  ?  “  Sweet  are 
the  uses  of  adversity,”  and  if  adversity  will  open  the  eyes  and 
enlarge  the  mind  it  has  fulfilled  its  mission  well.  Mr.  Sheldon 
says,  “  The  milk  trade  is  under  no  management  whatever  ;  on  the  pro¬ 
ducer’s  side  that  involves  the  employment  of  a  comprehensive 
system  of  co-operation.  This  is  the  universal  weak  spot  of  the 
milk  trade — the  want  of  regulation.  The  trade  is  like  the  rabble 
of  an  army,  entirely  destitute  of  battalions  and  regiments.  .  .  . 
The  whole  thing  iB  without  cohesion,  regulation,  organisation,  or 
system  ;  it  is,  in  fact,  limp,  loose,  and  invertebrate  to  a  degree — 
a  degree,  however,  that  makes  its  weakness  a  certainty,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  a  constant  source  of  loss.”  It  is  always  hopeless  to 
expect  the  milk  trade  to  become  organised  so  long  as  farmers  had 
no  obvious  leaning  to  co-operation. 
It  is  a  curious  thing,  but  while  a  man  will  freely  tell  his  rent, 
the  amount  of  his  wife’s  fortune,  the  price  received  for  most  of 
his  farm  produce,  he  keeps  a  still  tongue  in  his  head  when  the 
question  of  milk  contract  comes  uppermost  ;  it  is  a  secret  known 
only  to  himself  and  the  dealer.  There  must  be  something  wrong 
when  a  farmer  only  receives  2d.  per  quart,  for  that  milk  which  is 
afterwards  retailed  in  London  at  from  3d.  to  5d.  per  quart — the 
much  larger  quantity  at  the  greater  price.  Are  we  obliged  to 
submit  to  this  ?  Of  course  we  know  that  the  retail  dealer  has 
working  expenses  and  bad  debts,  but  has  the  farmer  never  a  bad 
debt  ?  We  think  we  have  heard  of  a  good  many  dealers  who  have 
failed  to  come  up  to  time,  and  there  was  no  getting  back  the  lost 
milk. 
“  Defence,  not  defiance,”  is  as  good  a  motto  for  the  dairy 
farmer  as  for  our  standing  army,  and  we  are  glad  to  see  that  at 
least  a  section  of  the  profession  are  taking  steps  to  prevent  them¬ 
selves  being  further  mulct  of  their  profits.  We  allude  to  the 
farmers  of  Staffordshire  and  Cheshire.  Naturally  the  Cheshire 
men  will  look  to  their  cheesemaking  to  relieve  them  of  surplus 
milk,  or  rather  to  use  milk  for  that  purpose  when  it  cannot  be  sold 
at  a  decent  profit.  Can  any  other  opening  be  found  for  that  milk 
which  cannot  be  sold  or  turned  into  cheese  or  butter  ?  We  think 
so.  When  we  speak  of  cheese,  we  mean  the  ordinary  hard- 
keeping  cheeses.  Now  there  are  several  soft  cheeses  seen  only 
on  the  tables  of  ne  well-to-do  which  would  make  a  charming 
addition  to  the  bill  of  fare  of  the  million.  They  are  not  difficult 
of  manufacture  ;  they  do  not  require  much  plant,  and  can  be  sold 
at  a  popular  price. 
Some  of  these  cheeses  have  been  made  most  successfully  at  the 
local  technical  classes  ;  indeed,  we  fancy  there  is  hardly  now  a 
district  in  England  where  the  “  soft  cheese  ”  teacher  has  not  been* 
Three  cheeses  here  mentioned  are  made  of  new  milk,  and  all  are 
ready  to  use  within  the  week.  We  refer  now  to  “  the  Cambridge,” 
“  Coulommiers,”  and  Gervaii  cheeses.  Then,  again,  we  have  known 
a  good  trade  done  in  the  old-fashioned  cream  cheese,  an  article 
most  easy  of  manufacture,  and  which  leaves  a  nice  living  profit. 
Let  the  million  have  these  cheeses  set  before  them,  and  we  guarantee 
there  will  be  a  market  for  them.  How  many  a  tired-out  housewife 
will  find  in  them  an  excellent  substitute  for  the  everlasting  pudding. 
Which  is  nicer  in  warm  weather,  a  piece  of  sweet  mild  cheese  or 
some  of  the  “  stickjaw  ”  compositions  seen  on  the  middle-class 
table,  and  dignified  by  the  name  of  the  “sweet  course  ? ” 
All  this  time  we  seem  to  have  lost  sight  of  the  real  owners  of 
the  milk.  Well,  says  one,  has  not  this  article  been  all  about  the 
dairy  farmer  ?  Soft  and  fairly,  my  friends,  not  so  quite.  What 
business  have  we  to  take  away  the  birthright  of  the  calf  ?  We 
do  not  hold  with  substitutes  for  milk — we  know  by  experience  that 
our  best  stock  is  that  we  have  reared  ourselves  on  good  wholesome 
milk  supplied  directly  from  the  mother  to  her  offspring,  but  here 
we  go  one  better  than  Nature.  We  give  our  cows  two  calves  to 
rear — sometimes  three.  We  give  the  cow  the  best  of  all  good  food, 
and  she  repays  us  in  this  way,  by  bringing  the  calves  to  first-rate 
condition  and  keeping  in  good  condition  herself.  Breeding  stock 
has  paid  and  will  pay  in  more  ways  than  one. 
There  is  nothing  that  beats  good  pure-bred  stock,  and  how  can 
any  trust  to  pick  up  what  he  wants  in  the  market?  We  still  find,  bad 
as  times  are,  that  our  butter  meets  with  a  ready  sale,  and  we  know 
our  pigs  are  capital  machines  for  turning  the  old  milk  into  prime 
bacon  and  ham.  Good  meal,  a  few  “  taties,”  and  all  the  old  milk 
the  dairymaid  can  be  induced  to  spare,  will,  if  put  into  a  growing 
pig’s  skin,  make  a  good  profit  and  quick  return. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
The  past  week  has  been  a  favourable  one  for  farm  work.  We  have 
had  only  one  wet  day,  and  that  has  done  more  good  than  harm  for  the 
sodden  ground  so  suddenly  drying  was  working  up  rather  rough,  and  the 
rain  has  had  a  good  effect  on  the  hardening  clods.  Sow,  drill,  or  plant 
have  been  the  order  of  each  and  every  day,  and  good  progress  has  been 
made.  We  are  not  sure  that  the  present  is  not  the  busiest  time  of  the 
farm  year.  The  drilling  of  grain  and  planting  of  Potatoes,  the  sowing 
of  small  seeds  and  preparation  of  land  for  Mangold  operations,  all  con¬ 
densed  into  four  or  five  weeks,  at  a  time  when  sheep  and  cattle  are 
requiring  more  labour  and  attention  than  at  any  other  period  of  the 
year,  make  the  seedtime  a  very  anxious  one  for  the  tiller  of  the  soil. 
Sheep  are  coming  off  Turnips,  and  will  have  Mangolds  on  grass 
until  clipped  and  sold.  They  will  not  bear  to  be  too  closely  penned  up 
when  eating  Mangold,  as  they  are  better  for  a  little  exercise,  which  pre¬ 
vents  the  excess  of  sugar  in  the  Mangold  from  bringing  on  urinary 
complaints. 
Grass  has  grown  very  fast,  and  pastures  are  now  giving  a  nice  bite. 
Stockowners  did  not  require  much  reminding  that  it  was  time  to  turn 
their  cattle  out,  and  many  fields  are  now  stocked. 
Fallows  are  turning  up  very  rough,  and  require  the  drag  harrow 
and  roll  very  closely  after  the  plough  if  a  fine  tilth  is  to  be  secured.  If 
the  land  is  clean,  we  prefer  ploughing  again  after  a  few  days’  exposure 
to  the  sun  and  wind.  This  only  applies  to  the  medium  and  heavy  soils  ; 
for  light  ones  there  is  nothing  better  than  a  repetition  of  drag,  harrow, 
and  roll  until  the  land  is  clean  or  wanted  for  Turnips. 
Mangolds  should  be  drilled  at  once  on  warm  and  dry  soils  where 
they  will  be  safe  from  frost.  The  soil  must  be  in  fine  condition,  or  the 
seed  will  not  germinate  ;  but  to  make  safe  of  it  growing  it  may  be 
steeped  in  water  for  twenty-four  hours,  then  drilled,  with  the  help  of  a 
few  fine  dry  ashes  to  keep  it  from  clogging  in  the  drill  ;  6  lbs.  per  acre 
is  a  good  quantity,  some  sow  less,  but  we  think  it  is  risky,  and  the 
Mangold  crop  is  too  valuable  to  play  tricks  with. 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Oamdkn  Squabb,  London. 
Lafc.61°*2'40"  N. ;  Long.  0°  8'  0"  W.;  Altitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  thb  Day. 
Rain. 
1897. 
March 
and 
April. 
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. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Inch?. 
Sunday  ...  28 
29*332 
50-2 
48-0 
S.W. 
47-2 
66-1 
45-7 
76-9 
40-3 
0113 
Monday  ..  29 
29-446 
42-2 
36-7 
N.W. 
45-9 
49-3 
3s-l 
94-3 
30-9 
— 
Tuesday  ..  30 
29-634 
35-1 
33  6 
S.W. 
44-7 
51-6 
26-8 
83-1 
206 
— 
Wednesday  31 
29-37i 
46-6 
43-8 
S.W. 
43-1 
63-1 
34  7 
74-3 
30-1 
0-413 
Thursday  . .  1 
22-009 
34-8 
34-4 
N.E. 
43-3 
45  1 
33-9 
741 
31-4 
0-0i0 
Friday  . .  2 
29-675 
39-2 
36-7 
N. 
42-2 
47-3 
34-9 
971 
31-7 
— 
Saturday  . .  3 
29-561 
40-4 
38-9 
E. 
42-1 
45-6 
36-4 
68-8 
24-7 
— 
29-434 
41-2 
38-9 
44-1 
49-7 
35-6 
81-2 
29  9 
0-536 
REMARKS. 
28th.— Rain  from  3  a.m.  to  6  A.M.,  and  10  a.m.  to  11  A.M.,  and  storm  rain  at  7  p.m.  ; 
overcast  and  windy  day,  but  gleams  of  sun. 
29th.— Brilliant  early  ;  alternate  sunshine  and  cloud  during  day. 
30th. — Fog  early  with  sun  visible,  clearing  gradually,  but  hazy  all  morning ;  bright 
afternoon. 
31st.— Overcast,  with  frequent  spots  of  rain  in  morning ;  alternate  showers  and 
sunshine  in  afternoon. 
1st. — Wet  snow  till  about  10  A.M.,  and  damp  all  morning  ;  bright  sun  from  3.80  P.M. 
2nd. — Fine  with  frequent  spells  of  sunshine. 
3rd.— Overcast  day,  with  spots  of  rain  at  times. 
An  average  week  for  the  season,  with  sharp  grass  frosts  on  several  nights.— 
Q.  J.  SYMONS. 
