116 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTIGULTURF  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
February  B,  1898. 
if  we  wish  to  keep  up  a  profitable  dairy  herd.  Never  mind  if  he  is  a 
bit  light  in  the  neck  and  tliighs,  the  daughters  of  the  next  generation 
ai'e  what  we  must  keep  in  mind,  and  milk-making  properties  rather 
than  flesh. 
To  keep  four  cows  in  regular  milk,  and  at  the  same  time  to  rear 
calves  and  keep  up  the  stock,  at  least  eight  females  must  be  kept  for 
breeding,  and  to  allow  for  cases  of  barrenness  even  ten  might  not  be  too 
many.  lu  such  a  case  ihe  bull  calves  would  be  fed  and  sold  as  veal,  or 
the  larm  would  soon  be  overstocked  ;  the  heifer  calves  would  be  reared 
and  bred  from  until  found  to  be  barren,  or  not  worth  keeping  for  dairy 
purposes,  ^ye  will  take  ten  as  the  number  of  cows  kept  in  stock, 
two  and  a  half  yjiits  old  and  upwards,  and  we  will  suppose  that  they 
produce  nine  calves — five  heifers  and  four  bulls.  Four  cows  will  be 
kept  for  the  dairy,  four  will  be  engaged  in  feeding  off  the  four  bull 
calves  and  rearing  the  five  heifers,  the  other  two  will  be  resting  or 
filling  up  gaps.  The  calves  up  to  six  mouths  would  not  be  counted, 
as  they  would  run  with  their  mothers  or  foster-mothers ;  there  would 
be  five  heifers  between  six  months  and  eighteen  months  old,  and  five 
between  eighteen  and  thirty  months. 
There  would  thus  be  twenty  head  of  cattle  not  counting  calves, 
and  these  would  be  quite  as  many  as  the  farm  would  carry.  The 
heifers  should  commence  to  calve  at  twenty-seven  to  thirty  months  ; 
those  not  in  calf  at  two  years  old  would  be  fed  off  at  once.  Of  the 
five  heifers  due  to  calve  down  annually  sometimes  two  might  be 
barren ;  but  in  any  case  the  three  would  be  ample  to  keep  up  the 
milking  herd.  Heifers  not  showiog  good  milking  promise  would  be 
sold,  either  fat  to  the  butcher  or  in  store  condition  to  the  grazier. 
Those  promising  well  would  be  kept  on,  drafts  from  the  cows  being 
sold  to  make  room  for  them  when  found  desirable.  If  the  cows  breed 
regularly  it  will  be  most  profitable  to  sell  the  older  ones  just  before 
cpJving,  and  if  managed  as  Ave  suggest  it  will  not  often  be  found 
necessary  to  retain  a  cow  after  the  fourth  calf ;  she  will  then  be  still 
in  her  prime,  and  make  a  good  price.  Cows,  like  horses,  should, 
except  in  the  case  of  a  very  exceptionally  good  animal,  be  sold  before 
they  begin  to  show  signs  of  age.  A  farmer  should  never  have  either 
a  mare  or  a  cow  over  the  age  of  seven. 
A  properly  built  and  well  ventilated  dairy  would  be  an  absolute 
necessity,  and  the  same  might  be  said  as  to  the  cowhouse.  Clean¬ 
liness  to  the  end  is  absolutely  essential  when  dealing  with  milk,  and 
it  is  no  use  to  have  marble  slabs  and  purity  in  the  dah'y  if  the 
animals  are  kept  and  milked  in  a  reeking  filth  hole.  The  summer 
food  of  milk  cattle  is  the  natural  one  of  grass,  with  the  addition  of 
cotton  cake.  If  the  land  be  good  and  deep,  and  not  subject  to 
drought,  nothing  else  would  be  needed  ;  but  where  the  land  is  dry, 
and  of  such  we  have  experience,  we  find  it  necessary  to  grow  a  few 
Tares  to  mow  green  for  the  cows  w'hen  the  pasture  is  running  off,  and 
the  effect  is  seen  in  the  diminishing  supply  of  milk.  A  plentiful 
supply  of  pure  water  must  be  always  available  both  winter  and 
summer,  and  there  must  be  no  mistake  about  the  animals  getting  as 
much  of  it  as  they  care  to  drink.  A  cow  will  soon  run  dry  if  she  does 
not  have  a  sulficicnt  supply  of  water. 
Milk  cows  should  be  brought  up  early  into  the  yard  in  autumn; 
warmth  is  a  great  point,  and  people  are  apt  to  leave  their  cows  out  at 
grass  after  sharp  Irost  has  warned  them  that  summer  is  past.  They 
may  save  a  little  food  for  a  week  or  two,  but  it  is  more  than  likely 
that  nothing  is  really  gained,  and  they  had  much  better  take  the  coio 
by  the  horns  and  house  her  before  her  supply  of  milk  has  sensibly 
diminished. 
A  good  thing  to  use  if  you  wish  to  dry  a  cow  is  Barley  straw; 
therefore  we  should  very  strongly  advise  that  Barley  straw  should  be 
reserved  for  the  cart  horses,  and.  that  Oat  straw  should  be  given  to  the 
cows.  Hay  is  considered  by  many  to  be  the  staple  food  for  dairy 
cattle  in  winter,  but  hay  is  expensive,  and  though  a  little  in  mixture 
may  be,  and  probably  is,  a  good  thing,  we  should  not  make  hay  the 
sheet  anchor. 
We  would  prefer  to  give  chaffed  hay  and  Oat  straw  in  equal  parts 
as  a  foundation  with  jmlped  Carrots  or  Mangolds  mixed  amongst  it- 
Dried  grains,  malt  culms,  and  bran,  2  lbs.  per  day  of  each,  for  each 
animal,  with  5  lbs.  per  day  of  cotton  cake,  should  make  a  good  ration 
of  artificial  food.  The  cake  would  be  best  given  at  milking  time  in 
the  morning,  the  grains  and  bran  scalded  and  given  at  the  correspond¬ 
ing  period  in  the  afternoon;  the  culms  if -mixed  with  the  pulped 
roots  and  chaff  would  encourage  the  cows  to  clear  out  the  mangei  of 
those  particular  foods. 
■WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
The  combined  mildness  and  dryness  of  the  present  month  are  testing 
the  memories  of  our  oldest  inhabitants.  We  suppose  there  has  been  such 
January  weather  before,  for  did  not  Solomon  say  that  there  was  nothing 
new  under  the  sun  I  but  no  one  living  appears  able  to  remember  such  a 
wiuter. 
We  have  not  yet  seen  a  drill  at  work,  but  so  many  farmers  are  taming 
of  making  a  commencement,  that  with  a  continuation  of  present  weather, 
the  sowing  of  Lent  corn  will  no  doubt  soon  be  in  actual  progress.  ith 
such  a  dry  tilth,  no  doubt  such  is  a  wise  proceduie  on  all  soils  of  more 
than  medium  richness  and  condition  ;  but  on  light  land,  or  low-lying  and 
badly  drained  soils,  we  should  advise  caution,  for  we  have  seen  March 
winds  make  sad  havoc  of  early  Oats  and  Barley  on  such  land.  Spring 
Wheat,  on  the  contrary,  may  be  sown  now  onwards  until  the  end  of 
February  ;  but,  having  had  considerable  experience  w  ith  spring  Wheat,  we 
should  not  recommend  sowing  later  than  that.  White  Wheats,  such  as 
Hunter’s,  Stanhope,  or  Cole  Ambrose,  are  the  most  successful  for  February 
sowing.  1  -f  1 
Stock  generally  are  doing  well,  and  keeping  is  now  very  plentiful. 
Turnips  are,  however,  beginning  to  run  to  seed,  and  will  deteriorate 
rapidly,  unless  w'e  have  frost  to  check  them. 
Lambing  has  not  commenced  yet,  but  the  ewes  are  healthy,  abortion 
very  rare,  and  the  outlook  of  the  season  is  very  promising. 
A  week  ago  we  were  busy  sorting  and  delivering  Fotatoes  at  satisfac¬ 
tory  prices  ;  since  then,  foreign  sujiplies  have  put  a  damper  on  the  trade, 
and  buyers  hold  aloof.  We  have  not  so  many  left  as  to  make  us  in  the 
least  anxious  as  to  be  in  a  hurry.  It  is  a  long  cry  to  midsummer,  and  the 
German  supplies  are,  we  hear,  very  limited.  , 
The  horses  have  been  well  employed  working  fallows,  and  one  field  is 
so  clean  and  satisfactory  that  we  shall  take  a  crop  ot  Barley  instead  of 
Turnips.  3  cwt.  of  slag  and  2  cwt.  of  kainit  per  acre  will  be  sown  at  once, 
and  the  seed  drilled  in  March. 
The  labourers  have  been  kept  busy  at  the  fences,  which,  in  another 
fortnight,  will  be  completed  for  the  season. 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Camdbx  Square,  London. 
Lat.  51°  32'  40"  N.;  Long.  0°  8'  0"  AV.;  Altitude  HI  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.AI.  j 
In  the  Day. 
K 
1898. 
January. 
2  o 
5  o"*-- 
? 
3  ”  5 
inchs 
!0-6;F 
i0'4S7 
;o-4o; 
iO'3.5; 
;o-37; 
in-47-. 
;o-44f 
JO -45; 
Ilygrometei'l 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
AViml. 
1 
Temp 
of  soil 
clt 
1  foot 
Shade  Tem¬ 
perature. 
Riidiation 
Temijera- 
ture. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max.  j  Min. 
in  1  On 
Sun  1  Grass 
deg.  1  deg. 
40-2  32-2 
40-8  1  33-5 
04-8  1  31-9 
55-2  43-0 
55-9  1  43-9 
63-2  '  49-1 
77-8  44-9 
Sunday  . . . . 
Monday  . . . . 
Tuesday  . . . . 
AVednesday 
Thursday  . 
Friday . 
Saturday. . . 
10 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
deg. 
30-3 
33-1 
45-4 
50-2 
50- 9 
51- 7 
49-2 
deg. 
36-1 
33-1 
44-5 
48-2 
.50-1 
51-1 
48-2 
E. 
S.  W. 
S.  VV. 
s.  \v. 
AV. 
\V. 
AV. 
deg. 
41-0 
40-4 
40- 0 
41- 9 
43-4 
45- 3 
46- 1 
deg.  i  deg. 
i  BO ’2 
44-4  i  B2'y 
52-0  !  32-8 
52-2  i  45-1 
.53-2  :  48-9 
.54-4  '  50-8 
.54-2  48-0 
inchs. 
0-049 
0-05-2 
0-101 
45-3 
44-5 
42-0 
49-9  1  42-2 
57-7  i  39-8 
j 
Sunday  . . . . 
23 
;j0-055 
3.5-5 
35-2 
Ciihn. 
44-0 
40-1  :J4-o 
51-9  '  -28-4 
__ 
Mondav  . . . . 
24 
;50-.5.59 
44-8 
4-2-4 
AV. 
4:3-1 
40-3  ;J4-i 
48-8  i  :J1-9 
— 
Tnesd.av  •  •  •  • 
25 
:J0-519 
43-2 
89-9 
\V. 
43 -0 
44-0  41-0 
47-8  '  39-8 
Wednesday 
20 
:J0-4-23 
44-3 
41-3 
s.  w. 
42-9 
45-9  '  4-2-1 
48-1  ,  40-1 
— 
Tlmrsday  . 
27 
:JO-401 
4;i-o 
40-7 
AV. 
42-8 
40-1  41-9 
49-9  1  40-4 
Fridav . 
28 
;J0-037 
41-2 
37-9 
\v. 
42-0 
43-1  ■  40-9 
46-4  i  39-1 
Saturday  . 
29 
30-081 
38-7 
30-7 
w. 
42-0 
51-2  :  58-3 
52 1 
0.010 
:J0-502 
41-5 
39-2 
43-0 
1 
40-2  39-0 
1  1 
49-3  30-5 
0-010 
REMARKS. 
loth. — Overcast  and  dull  tliroughout. 
17tli.— Fog  almost  all  day,  thick  till  10  a.m.  ;  sun  visible  after,  and  bright  for 
a  little  while  at  1  i>.m. 
18th.— Mild  and  tine,  with  intervals  of  bright  sunshine. 
19th. — Fine,  but  sunless. 
2nth.— Damp  and  rainy  almost  throughout. 
21st. — Very  mild;  daiiip  and  rainy  till  10  A.v.,  fine  after,  with  faint  sun  from 
11  A.M. 
22nd. — Bright  sun  ail  morning,  fair  afternoon,  and  tine  uiglit. 
Barometric  pressure  and  air  temperature  very  higli ;  rainfall  very  slight. 
23rd. — Dense  fog  early,  and  more  or  less  fog  almost  throiigliout. 
24th.— Fair,  hut  sunless. 
25th. — Overcast  all  day. 
2()th. — ( ivercast  throughout. 
27th. — Fair,  hut  suuless. 
28th.— Fair,  hut  .sunless. 
29th. — Overcast  moniiiig,  line  after  noon,  hut  no  sun. 
Barometer  remarkahly  high,  temperature  much  above  the  average,  and 
rainfall  extremely  small. — G.  J.  Symons. 
