202 
of  ffORTlGULTURf  AND  COfTAGf  G ARDEN fR. 
irarch  8,  1898. 
of  the  1000  acre  farmer  form  his  safeguard.  A  maa  of  that  standing 
deals  only  with  large,  well-known  firms,  whose  word  is  their  bond, 
and  who  would  scorn  to  sell  anything  on  false  pretences. 
Then  again,  even  should  a  large  order  be  placed  in  the  hands  of 
manufacturers  of  doubtful  reputation,  they  would  hesitate  long  before 
committing  themselves,  judging — and  judging  truly — that  in  case  of 
any  doubt  the  large  farmer  would  not  hesitate  to  avail  himself  of 
analytical  aid,  provided  cheaply  through  his  membership  with  the 
R.S.A.  or  other  kindred  society.  We  say  again,  it  is  to  the  small 
buyer  that  the  Act  should  be  of  the  most  service.  Presumably,  he  is 
a  shrewd  man,  but  not  auite  up  to  all  the  tricks  and  devices  of 
unscrupulous  dealers  ;  he  does  not  quite  know  the  exact  nature  of  the 
action  of  the  tillages  he  buys ;  if  the  cake  does  not  feed  quickly  he  puts 
it  down  to  the  fact  that  his  beasts  are  poor  doers,  or  not  so  well  bred 
as  his  richer  neighbour’s. 
The  agent  was  so  pleasant  and  civil  when  he  went  to  buy — ready 
to  takeoff  discount,  and  there  was  a  capital  glass  of  sherry  in  the  corner 
cupboard,  and  there  was  much  talk  of  the  silver  cups  offered  for  the 
best  root  crops,  and  the  gooil  dinner  and  speeches  at  the  nearest  hotel. 
If  the  man  knew  the  world  as  he  knows  his  fields,  he  would  see  that 
all  these  cups  and  dinners  and  sherry  wine  had  to  be  paid  for  by  some 
one,  and  that  it  was  out  of  his  pocket  and  his  equally  simple  neigh¬ 
bour's  that  the  money  came. 
We  fight  shy  of  “  bonus”  goods,  and  of  those  shops  that  deal  in 
free  gifts,  and  yet  it  has  taken  us  some  years  to  see  through  the 
soft  blandishments  of  the  cheap  cake  and  manure  merchant.  The 
first  step  towards  effecting  a  better  state  of  things  is  the  knowledge  of 
our  need.  As  long  as  we  think  any  sort  of  town  garbage  or  blood 
mixture,  or  patent  Turnip,  Barley,  or  Potato  manure  is  infallible,  so 
long  do  we  rejoice  in  our  ignorance.  Once  we  are  convinced  there  is 
a  better  way,  we  shall  not  be  far  from  the  remedy.  A  clever  farm 
foreman  of  our  acquaintance— a  man  really  who  does  his  work  well — 
was  scandalised  only  the  other  day  by  his  master’s  remarks  on  the 
subject  of  analysis.  “  Tak  t’  air  to  pierces  and  find  out  what  it’s  mad’ 
on  !  Lord  Almighty  niver  meant  us  to  kna ;  its  runnin  id  fearce  oi’ 
Providence.”  Now  it  will  be  a  lengthened  labour  to  persuade  that 
man  that  all  compounds  can  be  disintegratid  and  weighed  to  a  minute 
fraction,  and  to  the  end  of  his  life  he  would  probably  declare  that  the 
substance  tliat  made  the  greatest  stink  was  the  most  perfect  fertiliser. 
We  want  in  the  rural  districts  some  very  elementary  lessons  on 
practical  chemistry,  and  we  hope  and  trust  that  the  rising  generation 
will  not  consider  a  man  either  fool  or  atheist  who  tries  to  know  some¬ 
thing  of  the  internal  structure  ot  compounds  in  constant  use  on  the 
farm.  Now,  we  appeal  to  the  listening  ear  and  open  mind.  Why  not 
protect  yourself  ffom  fraudulent  manufacturers,  when  you  have  the  law 
on  your  side,  and  the  method  is  so  reasonable  ? 
We  begin  with  cake,  and  suppose,  for  argument’s  sake,  we  have  not 
purchased  our  few  tons  from  the  best  known  makers.  Their  price 
list  looked  high,  and  in  the  confidence  that  “  good  wine  needs  no 
bush,”  they  did  not  press  for  our  custom,  nor  hold  before  our  eyes 
glittering  cups  of  silver,  or  the  amber  wine. 
To  the  buyer  cake  is  cake,  and  he  supposes  of  necessity  it  must  be 
pure.  Has  he  ever  looked  at  his  invoice  ?  Is  the  class  of  cake  specified 
on  it  ?  If  it  be  linseed  cake  have  the  matter  in  black  and  white_ 
The  Act  compels  the  vendor  to  furnish  a  true  description.  A  mixed 
cake  must  be  sold  as  such  ;  pure  must  mean  pure.  There  must  be  no 
quibbling  about  commercially  pure.  A  pure  cake  contains  95  per 
cent,  of  linseed,  and  no  farmer  who  respects  himself  or  the  stomachs 
of  his  stock  should  be  content  with  Itss. 
The  district  analyst  is  always  within  reach.  The  fees  may  differ 
a  trifle  in  various  parts,  but  it  is  not  large,  and  is  often  money  well 
spent.  Ilalf-a-crown  is  about  the  figure,  not  a  very  killing  matter. 
You  doubt  your  cake  just  delivered  does  not  correspond  with  the 
invoice  description.  The  analysis  must  be  made  within  ten  days  of 
receipt  of  invoice.  The  seller  must  have  three  days’  notice  of  your 
intention  that  he  or  his  representative  may  be  present  when  samples 
are  taken  for  analysis.  Three  samples  are  necessary — one  retained  by 
buyer,  one  by  seller,  and  one  sent  to  the  analyst.  That  to  the  latter 
must  be  accompanied  by  invoice  or  any  other  particulars  bearing  on 
the  subject. 
In  the  case  of  cake,  where  the  purchase  amounts  to  a  ton,  three 
must  be  selected — ground  or  crushed,  and  well  mixed ;  any  mouldy 
or  unsuitable  portions  must  be  included  in  the  sample,  and  from  this 
bulk  the  three  samples  should  be  drawn,  not  less  than  1  lb.  in  each 
lot.  For  feeding  meals  or  grains,  or  manures  in  bags,  three  bags  at 
least  should  be  thoroughly  mixed  on  a  clean  floor,  and  from  that  bulk 
the  samples  taken.  In  case  the  seller  be  not  present,  a  competent 
witness  must  be  there  to  see  fair  play,  and  to  initial  the  bag  or 
package  containing  his  sample.  All  this  may  seem  a  bit  tedious  and 
red-tapey  to  the  average  farmer,  but  once  let  it  be  known  that  he  only 
buys  cakes,  feeding  stuffs,  and  manures  on  guaranteed  analysis,  and 
he  may  rest  assured  that  for  the  future  he  gets  the  full  value  of  his 
money.  The  ten  days’  practice  may  seem  but  a  short  time,  but  the 
Act  is  for  the  benefit  of  the  vendor  as  well  as  the  buyer,  and  we  have* 
seen  cakes  and  feeding  stuffs  kept  in  such  dog-holes,  that  there  was  no 
help  for  anything  but  quick  deterioration,  and  it  is  not  fair  to  saddle 
the  seller  with  faults  arising  from  the  culpable  purchaser’s  neglect. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
Showers  of  snow  and  12°  of  frost  on  two  successive  nights  remind  us 
that  it  is  yet  but  February  and  not  April  or  May.  ^Ye  can  do  without  the 
frost  now,  but  in  default  of  rain  a  little  snow  would  be  beneficial  to  help 
the  Turnip  land  to  harrow  down  better.  Some  of  it  has  ploughed  up 
rather  knotty,  and  as  it  is  very  dry  a  nice  soaking  would  make  it  fall  like 
lime.  Not  much  spring  corn  has  yet  been  drilled,  but  March  is  con¬ 
sidered  early  with  us.  We  intend  getting  as  much  sown  as  possible 
during  the  next  fortnight^  as  good  a  seed  bed  may  not  be  available 
later  on. 
Wheats  are  stronger  than  ever,  and  during  a  long  drive  we  saw  many 
fields  that  we  could  hardly  believe  to  be  Wheat,  so  big  were  they,  and  we 
thought  how  much  they  would  bene  "it  from  a  good  harrowing. 
“  What  to  sow  ?  ”  is  a  difficult  question  to  answer,  but  a  decision  must 
be  come  to.  As  to  Barleys,  Standwell  and  Goldthorpe  did  best  last  season, 
and  there  is  a  run  on  them  for  seed,  but  we  do  not  like  to  desert  our  well- 
tried  friend  Chevalier,  especially  for  later  sowings  ;  the  other  two  varieties 
must  be  sown  early  if  at  all.  We  find  Black  Tartarian  Oats  difficult  to 
beat.  We  are  convinced  they  are  still  the  best  for  yield,  and  they  always 
command  a  fair  price.  The  Garton  White  Oats  that  promised  so  w’ell 
seem  to  have  deteriorated  very  rapidly  ;  last  season  a  large  number  of 
grains  did  not  property  develop,  and  they  seem  very  liable  to  the  attacks 
of  insect  pests.  They  are  much  finer  in  quality  than  previously,  being 
thinner  in  the  skin. 
Until  this  frost  we  were  getting  on  capitally  with  fallows.  We  had 
been  able  to  burn  a  crop  of  twitch  and  get  another  one  (we  hope  the  last), 
worked  to  the  top.  Now  we  shall  have  to  wait  a  litt'e.  Potatoes  are  a 
very  slow  trade  at  present,  and  few  are  being  sent  off ;  the  markets  are 
full  of  foreign,  which,  though  of  poor  quality,  fill  up  a  gap.  This  frost 
may  check  arrivals  and  harden  prices  again. 
We  are  preparing  land  for  again  planting,  and  shall  commence  ridging 
immediately,  weather  permitting.  The  sets  are  sprouting  in  the  pies,  and 
they  would  be  better  placed  in  the  ground  to  be  getting  root-hold  before 
the  time  comes  for  the  top  to  make  its  appearance  above  ground.  We  are 
sowing  kainit  now  and  harrowing  it  in  before  the  ridging  process,  it  will 
thus  become  well  mixed  with  the  soil. 
METEOHOLOaiCAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Camdek  Square,  London. 
Lat.  51°  32'  40"  N.;  Long.  a°  8'  0"  W.;  Altitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  the  Day. 
Rain. 
1898. 
February. 
S  c 
p  ^  ^ 
Hygrometer 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Wind. 
Temp 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot 
shade  Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Tempera¬ 
ture. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun 
On 
Grass 
Sunday  ....  20 
Monday  ....  21 
Tuesday  ....  22 
Wednesday  23 
Thursday  . .  24 
Friday .  25 
Saturday....  26 
inchs 
29 -sot 
29- 199 
-29-370 
-29-774 
30- 114 
30-138 
30-046 
deg. 
43-2 
29-2 
33-7 
36- 2 
33-6 
33-1 
37- 8 
deg. 
41-5 
29-2 
3-2-4 
34- 9 
31  -9 
31-6 
35- 6 
W. 
N.E. 
N.E. 
N. 
N. 
N.w. 
w. 
deg. 
40-2 
39-5 
38-2 
38-0 
38-0 
37- 4 
38- 0 
deg. 
45- 9 
36-0 
42-9 
44-9 
44-1 
46- 8 
48-4 
deg. 
33-3 
24-3 
‘28-9 
32-1 
30-1 
‘26-9 
32-9 
deg. 
81- 9 
42-8 
69-0 
82- 1 
80-0 
72-0 
86-1 
deg. 
28-4 
‘22-9 
28-1 
27-1 
-25-8 
-22-6 
-29-0 
inchs. 
0-044 
0-021 
0-109 
29-706 
35-3 
33-9 
38-5 
44-1 
-29-8 
73-4 
26-3 
0-174 
20th.— Dull,  with  frequent  rain  in  morning  ;  intervals  of  hright  sun  in  afternoon. 
21st.— Fog  till  about  11  a.m.  ;  then  fair,  with  gleams  of  sun  between  2  and  3  p.m. 
22nd.— A  sprinkle  of  fine  snow  between  7  and  8  a.m.  ;  generally  sunny  from 
10.30  A.M. 
23rd. — Bright  sun  from  9.30  A.M.  to  3.30  P.M.,  but  slight  showers  at  4  p.m.  and 
10.30  P.M. 
24th. — Generally  bright  and  sunny,  but  occasional  cloud. 
25th.— Generally  sunny,  but  overcast  in  evening. 
26th. — Rain  from  midnight  to  2  a.m.  ;  brilliant  day  and  night. 
Weather  still  very  dry,  and  colder  than  any  other  week  this  year. — 
G.  J.  Symons. 
