288 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
Sepff-mber  19,  1895. 
TRADE  CATALOGUES  RECEIVED. 
Dobbie  &  Co.,  Rothesay. — awl  Plant  Catalogue. 
Kitten  Flares,  Luxembourg. — Roses. 
O’Leary  Bros.,  Queen  St.,  Auckland,  New  Zealand. — Seeds  and  Plants. 
C.  Turner,  Royal  Nurseries.  Slough. — Roses  and  Fruit  Trees. 
A.  Woodroffe,  4,  Grafton  Rd.,  Auckland,  New  Zealand. — Fruit  Trees. 
A  NOTE  OF  WARNING. 
Not  only  in  Europe,  but  throughout  Australia,  America,  and 
Canada  every  effort  is  being  made  to  take  advantage  of  the 
neglect  of  English  agriculturists,  who  make  no  combined  attempt 
to  check  the  exodus  of  £36,000,000,  which  is  going  every  year 
into  the  pockets  of  foreign  farmers,  said  Mr.  Wilson  Fox,  of  the 
Royal  Commission  on  Agriculture,  in  his  report  on  the  county 
of  Cambridgeshire.  Entirely  do  we  agree  with  the  Commissioner 
that  it  is  precisely  a  want  of  mutual  trust,  of  combination,  co¬ 
operation,  or  united  effort  to  meet  the  times  that  is  ruining  the 
British  farmer. 
Well,  too,  does  the  Commissioner  say,  “There  is,  as  far  as  I 
have  been  able  to  ascertain,  no  peculiar  advantages  in  favour  of 
France  or  Denmark  that  have  enabled  them  to  eliminate  the 
British  farmers  from  their  own  butter  markets.  And  the  success 
of  Danish  and  French  farmers  in  English  markets  are  encourag¬ 
ing  nearly  every  other  European  Government  to  educate  and 
train  their  agriculturists  into  the  best  methods  of  feeding  stock, 
of  making  butter,  and  of  packing  it,  in  order  that  they  too  may 
enter  into  competition.” 
Such  statements  naturally  enough  cause  the  inquiry,  “What 
has  our  Government  done  ?  ”  So  far,  it  has  made  a  liberal  grant 
to  County  Councils  for  purposes  of  technical  education,  which 
in  relation  to  agriculture  has  taken  the  form  of  lectures,  dairy 
schools,  trial  farms,  and  agricultural  colleges  or  institutes.  For 
the  results,  this  educational  work  points  to  the  future  rather 
than  the  present  generation,  and  it  only  intensifies  our  conviction 
that  any  radical  change,  any  real  improvement  in  the  agricultural 
situation  now  must  come  from  co-operation  by  the  farmers 
themselves. 
Take  butter,  for  example,  here  clearly  individual  effort  has 
no  chance  in  the  contest.  Hear  the  Commission  on  this : — 
“With  reference  to  butter-making,  Cambridgeshire,  like  other 
eastern  counties,  has  not  a  high  reputation,  and  a  great  deal  of 
foreign  butter  is  sold  in  towns  in  the  county.  Every  witness  I 
have  interviewed  has  stated  that  the  reason  why  English  butter 
is  not  bought  by  our  merchants  is  not  because  a  good  sample 
cannot  be  obtained  but  because  a  uniform  quantity  of  good 
quality  is  not  produced.  No  doubt  in  many  districts  the  quality 
of  butter  has  improved  in  recent  years  owing  to  technical 
education  provided  by  the  County  Council,  but  I  understand 
that  there  is  but  little  hope  of  successful  competition  with 
foreign  butter  ma'-ers  until  there  is  uniformity  in  the  quantity. 
“  As  an  example  of  this,  the  Secretary  of  the  Akenham  Dairy 
Company  at  Ipswich,  Mr.  J.  A.  Smith,  informed  me  that  some 
time  ago  he  took  up  a  sample  of  butter  to  a  large  London 
merchant,  who  purchased  from  abroad.  The  sample  was 
pronounced  excellent,  and  Mr.  Smith  was  asked  if  he  could 
supply  700  lbs.  daily  of  similar  quality.  Mr.  Smith  replied  that 
it  was  out  of  his  power  to  supply  anything  like  the  quantity 
asked  for.  Hence  he  lost  the  contract,  and  the  merchant 
continued  to  get  his  supply  from  abroad.” 
We  ask  once  more.  Does  not  the  remedy  rest  with  British 
farmers?  What  is  there  to  prevent  them  from  combining  to 
establish  co  operative  butter  factories  ?  Nothing  but  their 
own  lack  of  enterprise.  We  hear  much  of  their  efforts  being 
crippled  for  want  of  capital.  That  argument  does  not  apply 
here,  or  rather  should  be  an  incentive  to  action  Fully 
paid  up  shares  in  the  flourishing  farmers’  co-operative 
creameries  in  the  south  of  Ireland  are  £1  per  share,  per  cow, 
not  paid  in  full  at  once,  but  a  few  shillings  at  a  time,  at  intervals 
in  response  to  calls  as  money  is  required  in  the  provision  of 
buildings  and  working  plant,  nor  can  the  cry  of  no  market  be 
a  hindrance  when  the  requirements  of  even  a  single  merchant 
cannot  be  met  with  home  produce. 
If,  as  we  have  so  frequently  suggested,  milk  outside  a 
given  ladius  of  each  large  centre  of  population  were  sent  to 
local  co-operative  factories,  it  would  be  better  for  those  who 
continued  sending  milk  to  the  towns  in  the  light  rates  for 
carriage  by  rail,  and  the  higher  price  which  must  come  from 
lesser  competition,  while  those  supplying  the  factories  would 
not  only  receive  prompt  payment  by  quality  as  well  as 
quantity,  but  they  would  also  share  in  the  profits.  The  thing 
is  so  self  evident  that  such  factories  are  bound  to  come 
sooner  or  later;  the  pity  of  it  is  that  those  whose  interests 
such  a  change  would  influence  so  beneficially  are  so  slow  to 
move,  so  difficult  to  convince. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
Hot  showery  weather  has  certainly  been  as  beneficial  as  remarkable 
so  far  this  September.  Instead  of  the  too  familiar  autumn  drought  and 
bare  pasture  we  see  positively  rampant  growth  of  herbage  on  pastures, 
which  will  keep  stock  off  hayricks  well  into  winter.  Moat  favourable, 
too,  has  the  weather  been  for  autumn  work  on  the  land,  for  tillage  and 
sowing  alike.  Seeds  and  corn  must  all  germinate  and  show  plant 
quickly,  and  the  sowing  of  autumn  crops  is  approaching  completion. 
There  will  be  a  sowing  of  Tares  in  the  last  week  of  September,  and 
again  in  a  fortnight  to  come  in  next  May  and  June.  With  seed  Tares 
at  8s.  per  bushel  it  is  rather  costly  work  when  seed  has  to  be  purchased, 
and  a  stroke  of  luck  where  home-grown  seed  could  be  used,  with  a 
surplus  for  sale.  The  outlay  may  be  avoided  on  farms  where  there  are 
good  clean  layers  of  Sainfoin  or  Lucerne,  or  both  by  preference.  Failing 
these  excellent  green  crops  we  hold  Tares  to  be  indispensable  as  sound, 
wholesome,  nutritious  food,  both  for  fiock  and  herd. 
We  have  heard  much  complaint  of  money  wasted  on  chemical 
manure  for  the  hay  crop,  which  fell  so  short  in  many  a  district  owing 
to  drought.  It  is  true  it  failed  the  hay  in  some  instances.  Why  will 
farmers  persist  in  applying  it  so  late  ?  The  proverbial  April  showers 
may  serve  our  purpose  if  they  come  freely  enough,  which  they  often  fail 
to  do,  but  by  applying  the  manure  about  the  last  week  in  February 
we  hardly  ever  fail  in  having  suflScient  rain  to  dissolve  and  wash  it  into 
the  surface  soil . 
This  is  a  word  to  the  wise  for  another  season.  Soon  will  it  be  here, 
and  it  will  be  well  to  be  ready  for  it  in  time,  and  avoid  vexatious 
failures  next  year.  But  if  the  manure  did  not  tell  on  the  hay  crop 
it  undoubtedly  has  made  its  mark  on  the  aftermath  wherever  mowing 
was  done  in  season,  and  both  the  dairy  herd  and  store  cattle  have 
thriven  in  the  enjoyment  of  this  timely  abundance.  Profit  comes  from 
it  in  the  admirably  sustained  milk  yield,  and  the  fresh,  fleshy  condition 
of  the  beasts,  ■ 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATION'S. 
Oamdbn  Squarb,  London. 
Lat.61°  32' 40"  N. ;  Long.  0°  8'  0"  W.;  Altitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  the  Day. 
s. 
'S’ 
1895. 
September. 
1  Barometer  i 
1  at  32", and 
1  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  . .  8 
30-224 
64-4 
58-2 
N.B. 
630 
73-4 
64-3 
105-7 
48-4 
— 
Monday  . .  9 
30-164 
63-9 
61-0 
N.B. 
620 
78-7 
52-9 
107-1 
47-0 
_ 
Tuesday  . .  10 
29-902 
65  7 
62-3 
W. 
62-1 
73-9 
58-1 
108-7 
53-3 
C-042- 
Wednesday  11 
29-802 
61-6 
56-2 
w. 
61-9 
68-9 
53-3 
113-1 
48-0 
— 
Thursday..  12 
30-056 
57-6 
53-3 
w. 
60-7 
68-3 
49-3 
108-9 
44-4 
— 
Friday  . .  13 
30-223 
57-4 
51-7 
N. 
59-7 
66-9 
47-3 
111-1 
41-6 
— 
Saturday  . .  14 
30-267 
55-4 
51-3 
N. 
58-9 
68-3 
44-3 
99-4 
38  0 
— 
30-091 
60-9 
56-3 
6 1-2 
70-9 
51-3 
107-7 
45-8 
0-0421 
REMARKS. 
8th.— Bright  throughout,  with  pleasant  breeze. 
9th.— Miscy  early,  and  a  little  hazy  all  morning ;  bright  afternoon. 
10th. — Pair,  but  almost  sunless  day  ;  showers  in  evening. 
11th. — Generally  overcast  morning,  with  occasionai  spots  of  rain  ;  sunny  afternoon. 
12th.— Generally  overcast,  but  gleams  of  sun  at  midday. 
13th. — Bright  sunshine  almost  throughout,  but  cooler. 
14th. — Sunny  throughout. 
A  warm,  sunny,  and  almost  rainless  week,  but  with  a  steady  decrease  of  tempera¬ 
ture  after  the  beginning. — G.  J.  Symons. 
