138 
JOURl^AL  or  tiORTICULTURr  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
February  iO,  1898. 
Pleasant  and  beneficial  as  the  outing  might  be  to  the  stock,  it 
would  by  no  means  be  so  beneficial  to  the  pastures.  Nature  must  have 
a  resting  time,  and  any  herbage  eaten  now  is  sheer  robbery.  Frost 
must  come  sooner  or  later,  and  the  coarser,  tougher  grasses  act  as  pro¬ 
tectors  for  the  finer  growths,  and  the  patient  man  finds  it  pays  him 
better  in  the  long  run  to  wait  a  bit  before  stocking  his  winter  grass. 
Besides,  too,  the  very  verdure  that  pleases  the  eye  betokens  a  certain 
amount  of  moisture  in  the  turf,  and  much  treading  by  stock  is 
anything  but  desirable.  Four  hoofs  make  a  considerable  impression 
when  multiplied  by  twelve  or  fourteen,  and  hoof  marks  destroy  as 
much  embryo  grass  as  the  industrious  mouth. 
Pasture  land  is  often  supposed  to  manure  itself.  All  the  manurial 
energies  of  the  farmer  are  directed  to  his  arable  land.  Of  course  this 
is  perfectly  justifiable  ;  but  if  folks  would  only  stop  to  consider  a  bit 
sometimes,  they  would  come  to  the  conclusion  that  even  grass  land? 
enriched  with  cattle  droppings,  might  be  benefited  by  a  little 
attention.  This  attention  need  not  always  take  the  form  of  expensive 
manures — oh,  no !  We  are  not  advocates  of  always  draining  the 
pocket.  We  do  plead  guilty  to  stealing  a  little  time — a  little  horse 
power.  We  have  often  been  struck  with  the  fact  that  so  few  farmers 
think  it  necessary  to  spread  the  cattle  droppings  in  the  fields.  We  all 
know  how  coarsely  the  crop  grows  in  any  field  where  the  manure 
heap  has  stood.  If  a  corn  crop,  the  straw  is  generally  overgrown  and 
rotten,  having  been  laid  some  weeks  before  harvest ;  if  a  Potato 
crop,  well,  those  particular  tubers  are  by  no  means  a  good  sample 
of  the  field.  And  it  is  just  the  same  with  the  grass.  It  is  almost 
smothered  by  the  concentrated  mass  of  manure,  and  then  after 
recovery,  which  is  a  long  process,  the  herbage  is  coarse  and  rough. 
It  may  seem  a  fad,  but  a  boy  with  a  spade  or  hoe  at  Is.  a  day 
could  effect  a  great  improvement  and  benefit.  At  any  rate  it  would 
bring  about  uniformity.  A  party  of  industrious  hungry  fowls  will  do 
the  work  equally  well,  and  ask  no  Is.  per  day.  The  same  remark 
would  apply  to  molehills,  unsightly  in  themselves,  but  so  valuable  as 
top-dressing.  There  is  another  form  of  cheap  top-dressing  obtainable 
in  many  places  for  leading,  we  refer  to  roadside  scrajyngs.  In  these 
days  of  such  activity  on  the  part  of  road  surveyors  much  good  work 
is  done  on  narrow  roads  by  the  ploughing  out  of  about  two  or  three 
farrows  each  side  of  the  road.  This  material  must  be  carted  some¬ 
where,  and  it  forms  an  excellent  and  cheap  dressing. 
On  most  farms,  too,  are  to  be  found  banks  formed  of  the  deposit 
removed  at  great  labour  from  the  dykes.  It  is  never  carted  away  in 
the  w'et  state  for  obvious  reasons,  but  when  thoroughly  dry  is  w^ell 
worth  carting  away  to  the  nearest  grass  land.  We  were  amused 
lately  in  reading  remarks  by  a  parson  on  the  excellence  of  grass  land 
adjoining  the  homestead  that  is  always  good.  It  is  a  case  of  first 
come  first  served,  and  the  far-off  pastures  are  often  left  to  that  more 
conveniet.t  season  that  never  comes.  In  the  corners  of  many  fields 
will  be  found  heaps  of  decayed  vegetable  matter,  such  as  Potato  tops* 
the  residuum  of  the  Twitch  and  Thorn  burnings,  all  so  good  if  only 
spread  about. 
We  do  not  consider  horses  enrich  a  pasture  much  ;  their  manure  is 
among  the  least  valuable,  and  therefore  the  horse  pasture  should 
receive  a  little  extra  attention.  None  of  these  little  “  tonics,”  if  we 
may  so  term  them,  entail  a  heavy  bill ;  they  are  all,  as  it  were,  home 
productions.  Now  w'e  shall  speak  of  a  few  resortatives  that  must  be 
paid  for  in  current  coin. 
0,  e  of  the  signs  of  the  change  of  thought  that  comes  with  passing 
years  we  find  in  the  fact  that  never,  or  hardly  ever,  are  bones  used  as 
dressing  for  grass.  Our  fathers  swore  by  them  (we  mean  §-inch 
bones,  not  the  cooked  varieties),  and  considered  they  were  the  one 
great  need  of  grass  land.  Nous  avons  change  tout  cela.  Basic  slag 
is  the  universal  remedy  recommended  now,  a  substance  which  did  not 
exist  in  our  fathers'  time  and  not  till  lately  in  our  owm.  It  has  the 
merit  of  being  cheap,  and  for  some  classes  of  grass  land  is  most 
valuable,  containing  as  it  does  a  percentage  of  something  like  17  of 
soluble  phosphate.  I^nlike  superphosphate,  the  benefits  of  basic  slag 
are  not  so  quickly  exhausted,  and  on  coarse  rough  grass  the  result  is 
e:^cellent.  The  quantity  applied  should  be  about  5  cwt.  per  acre. 
For  poor  mossy  grass  (the  moss  denoting  a  deficiency  of  lime)  Ave 
recommend  a  good  liming.  Lime  destroys  the  moss  and  renders  sour 
land  sweet.  Where  lime  has  been  applied  a  good  plant  of  White 
Clover  will  generally  make  its  appearance.  For  thin  grass,  liable  to 
dry  out  in  a  hot  season,  a  dressing  of  common  salt  will  be  found  of 
value  as  tending  to  retain  the  moisture.  Of  course  there  are  districts 
where  lime  is  not  very  easily  obtained;  in  cases  of  that  sort  Ave 
should  advise  the  application  of  basic  slag,  as  besides  the  valuable 
phosphoric  qualities  it  also  contains  much  lime.  We  are  fully  aware 
that  Ave  shall  find  many  who  Avill  not  agree  with  our  remarks  on  the 
subject  of  giving  our  pasture  lands  a  Avinter  rest.  Necessity,  we  know, 
is  a  stern  mother,  and  many  farmers  are  almost  compelled  to  keep 
their  stock  out  of  doors  during  winter';  but  two  wrongs  never  yet  made 
a  right,  and  the  only  case  where  we  would  tolerate  Avinter  grazing  is 
the  grazing  of  rough  park  land  by  hardy  Welsh  or  Scottish  cattle. 
The  rough  park  can  never  be  made  really  good  grass,  and  the  little 
Welsh  and  Scottish  cattle  will  live  and  do  well  where  a  belter  class  of 
stock  only  deteriorate. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
Where  are  we  ?  Can  it  be  true  that  we  have  not  yet  left  behind  us 
the  winter  quarter  ?  The  evidence  of  the  morning  paper  is  in  the 
affirmative,  but  our  lawn  is  showing  symptoms  of  the  urgent  need  of  a 
mowing  machine,  and  we  really  do  not  know  where  we  are. 
On  the  whole,  and  looking  back  to  the  lessons  which  experience  has 
taught  us,  we  suppose  the  calendar  is  the  surest  guide,  and  that  we  had 
better  defer  our  sowings  until  the  Ides  of  March,  and  direct  our  attention 
to  spring  cleaning.  Now,  in  the  household  this  is  an  operation  that 
always  involves  an  immense  amount  of  dust,  an  article  with  which  we 
do  not  make  much  acquaintance  out  of  doors  until  March,  but  having  the 
dust  let  us  hie  us  to  the  cleaning. 
Spring  cultivators  are  making  splendid  work,  and  seem  to  be  a  greater 
boon  than  tying-reapers — at  any  rate,  they  have  become  universal  in  a 
much  shorter  time.  Old-fashioned  drags  and  cultivators  are  now  almost 
unsaleable,  and  it  is  not  surprising,  for  the  new  cultivators  are  useful  for 
so  many  purposes,  and  for  dragging  out  twitch  they  are  unapproachable, 
the  lifting  action  having  such  a  wonderful  effect  in  leaving  everything 
light  on  or  near  the  surface  ;  a  set  of  light  harrows  and  a  chain  harrow 
to  follow  then  soon  complete  the  operation  so  well  begun,  and  as  much 
is  done  towards  cleaning  the  land  at  one  operation  as  under  the  old 
conditions  often  required  three  dressings  to  satisfactorily  perform. 
We  have  rolled  our  Wheat,  but  not  harrowed  it  as  yet ;  we  have  the 
kainit  in  the  shed,  and  shall  sow  immediately,  and  then  harrow  the  Wheat 
at  the  first  dry  opportunity.  Larks  did  their  worst,  but  the  late-sown 
Wheat,  thanks  to  the  mild  weather,  pulled  through,  and  now  looks  well. 
Woodpigeons  are  now  the  pest,  and  they  are  eating  off  the  young  Clover 
as  fast  as  it  grows.  A  raid  has  been  organised,  and  every  Wednesday 
afternoon  for  a  month  every  plantation  in  the  county  will  contain  a  loaded 
gun  in  the  hands  of  a  farmer  sworn  to  exterminate  as  many  wild  pigeons 
as  possible.  Last  year  1500  were  killed,  not  a  large  number  for  a  county, 
but  much  good  resulted. 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden  Square,  London. 
Lat.  .51°  32'  40"  N.;  Long.  0°  8'  0"  W.;  Altitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  the  Daa'. 
1898. 
January 
Barometer 
at  32°,  and 
Sea  Level 
Hygrometer 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
AVind. 
Temp 
jf  soil 
at 
Shade  Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Tempera¬ 
ture. 
and 
Eebruary. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
1  foot 
Max. 
Min. 
in 
Sun 
On 
Grass 
Sunday  ....  30 
Monday  ....  31 
Tuesday  ....  1 
AVednesdav  2 
inchs 
30-390 
deg. 
51-1 
deg. 
49-7 
S.AV. 
deg. 
4-2-9 
deg. 
55-0 
deg. 
37-6 
deg. 
57-1 
deg. 
37-1 
inchs. 
0-011 
30-387 
47-2 
42-3 
N.  W. 
44-9 
52-2 
56-2 
46-9 
75-1 
41-1 
0-0,56 
30 --239 
52-2 
51-1 
W. 
44-4 
45-3 
66-9 
37-6 
— 
29-807 
44-1 
39-1 
AV. 
45-9 
47  -4 
43-7 
76-4 
39-2 
— 
Thursday  ' . .  3 
Friday .  4 
Saturday....  5 
30-055 
39-2 
36-6 
AV. 
43-1 
46-2 
36-1 
54-0 
35-7 
0-154 
29-357 
35-9 
35-9 
N. 
42-8 
38-1 
35-9 
53-6 
35*0 
0-036 
29-840 
32-3 
31  -8 
N.  AV. 
40-9 
43-1 
30-6 
70-1, 
27-4 
0-148 
30-012 
43-1 
40-9 
43-6 
48-3 
39-4 
64-7 
35-5 
0-405 
REMARKS. 
30th.— Mild,  with  high  wind  and  a  gale  atniglit ;  slight  slowers  early  and  between 
11  A. M.  and  noon. 
31st. — Almost  cloudless  till  11  A.M.,  and  brilliant  throughout. 
1st.— Rain  from  2  to  3  A. M. ;  fair  early,  bright  sun  from  9.30  to  10.30  a.  Ai.,  then 
cloudy,  and  faint  sun  in  afternoon. 
2ud. — Bright  sun  almost  all  morning,  with  high  wind,  but  occasionally  cloudy. 
3rd. — Mild,  with  Mternate  sun  and  cloud  in  morning  ;  frequent  drizzle  in  after¬ 
noon  and  rain  at  times  ;  lunar  halo  in  evening. 
4th. — Almost  continuous  light  rain  mixed  with  wet  snow  till  noon  ;  frequent  sun 
in  afternoon  ;  clear  night. 
5th.— Almost  cloudless  morning  ;  sunny  afternoon  ;  fine  night. 
Temperature  still  very  high,  but  barometer  lower  and  rather  more  rain  — 
G.  J.  Symons. 
