492 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICVLTURF  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  9,  1898. 
rookeries  is  a  mistake,  like  the  over-preservation  of  game.  In  districts 
where  the  rook  is  much  in  evidence,  it  stands  to  reason  he  falls  short 
of  natural  insect  food,  and  must,  to  preserve  life,  have  recour.se  to 
that  which  he  has  neither  sown  nor  reaped. 
We  hear,  too,  in  some  neighbourhoods  that  no  pains  are  taken  to 
keep  the  birds  properly  thinned  down ;  it  is  so  easy  a  business  in  May 
to  do  so,  that  for  the  interest  of  the  farmer  it  should  never  be  neglected. 
]\Iost  owners  of  large  rookeries  organise  shooting  parties,  and  give  a 
great  deal  of  pleasure  to  young  folks — for  after  a  certain  time  in  life 
we  old  people  see  no  fun  in  craning  our  necks  and  spending  hours  in 
damp  plantations. 
What  is  it  the  rook  steals  ?  Ilis  enemies  say  everything  that  he 
can  carry.  Last  autumn  we  had  a  field  of  late-sown  Wheat  after 
Potatoes,  and  the  rooks  were  always  thereabouts.  The  weather  was 
very  dry,  and  Wheat  came  up  slowly,  and  despite  a  tenting  boy  we 
feared  the  seed  must  have  been  much  molested.  There  were  places 
all  over  the  field  where  the  land  was  scratched  and  regularly  worked 
about,  as  though  all  the  hens  on  the  place  had  been  dusting. 
However,  the  crop  came  up  well,  with  no  apparent  shortage,  and  we 
believe  now  the  rooks  were  more  intent  on  the  few  remaining  Potatoes 
than  on  the  grain.  He  is  a  destructive  bird  in  a  field  of  newly  set 
Potatoes,  and  has  also  a  nice  taste  for  the  new  ones  as  soon  as  they 
are  formed  ;  possibly  he  is  on  the  look-out  for  wireworms,  and  the 
Potato  is  such  a  temptation — too  strong  to  be  resisted. 
It  has  been  said  that  a  rook  knows  by  instinct  at  which  Swede 
root  lies  a  wireworm,  and  that  he  never  digs  up  any  but  an  infested 
plant.  That  may  be  so  of  an  old  bird,  but  what  of  the  youngsters 
that  are  learning  their  business — do  they  never  make  a  mistake  ? 
We  cannot  help  fancying  they  do,  and  the  Swedes  are  the  innocent 
sufferers.  We  have  seen  a  freshly  hoed  and  singled  piece  of  Swedes 
devastated  in  one  afternoon. 
What  about  standing  corn  ?  Is  the  rook  always  innocent  ?  Is  it 
the  wood  pigeon  alone  who  does  the  damage  ?  Witnesses  aver  they 
they  have  seen  Master  Kook  fly  off  with  ears  of  corn,  which  he  enjoys 
quietly  by  himself  in  some  adjacent  pasture,  and  in  some  neighbour¬ 
hoods  where  he  is  over- preserved  he  becomes  very  bold,  and  will 
actually  draw  out  the  ears  of  corn  from  the  stack  side. 
In  very  severe  weather  visit  a  Swede  field  near  the  haunt  of 
rooks,  and  see  how  the  roots  are  pitted  and  marked  and  mangled 
by  the  iron  bill,  leaving  the  remainder  to  speedy  decay. 
Following  the  plough  in  spring,  there  is  no  more  valuable  bird 
than  the  rook.  He  requires  at  least  1  lb.  per  week  of  food,  and  as 
long  as  that  food  is  principally  wireworms,  crane  fly,  and  beetles 
we  are  his  grateful  friends,  but  when  after  the  Barley  is  drilled  he 
is  afield  ag^in  we  do  not  feel  so  justified  in  defending  him. 
Early  in  March  we  heard  of  a  rook  being  shot,  and  the  contents  of 
his  crop  were  200  grubs  and  one  Oat.  In  May  we  further  read  of  a 
rook’s  crop  which  contained  100  Barley  grains  and  no  insects.  Does 
not  this  rather  point  to  the  fact  that  as  soon  as  there  is  grain  about 
the  rook  prefers  it  to  grubs  and  worms  ?  We  think  the  bodies  of  a 
few  dead  rooks  either  attached  to  sticks  or  laid  with  outspread  wings 
on  the  new  sown  corn  are  a  Avay  out  of  the  difficulty,  and  a  wary 
hand,  spite  of  all  that  is  said,  can  always  manage  to  “  down  ”  a  few 
old  crows  for  the  purpose. 
Nq  ourselves  thoroughly  believe  in  dressing  corn  with  coal  tar 
before  sowing.  A  pint  of  tar  carefully  mixed  with  half  a  gallon  of  hot 
water  till  the  tar  is  dissolved,  then  more  cold  added,  sprinkled  over 
the  heap  of  corn,  and  this  well  turned  about,  will  prove  a  deterrent 
to  rooks  or  any  other  birds.  This  quantity  of  mixture  will  dress 
4  bushels.  Of  course  where  rooks  have  been  so  encouraged  as  to 
become  a  perfect  pest  a  raid  should  be  made  on  rookeries  at  breeding 
time — that  is,  if  permission  can  be  obtained. 
Never  have  we  personally  been  overrun  with  these  birds,  but  we 
can  quite  enter  into  the  feelings  of  those  farmers  whose  crops  are 
constantly  ravaged,  and  we  know  unless  the  osvners  of  mokeries  will 
co-operate  the  case  for  the  farmer  is  almost  hopeless. 
[We  wonder  if  our  correspondent’s  dog  would  eat  his  “  rook  pie 
delicacy.”  We  have  known  a  man  with  a  generally  good  appetite 
refuse  it  because,  as  he  said,  “  hungry  dogs  would  not  touch  it.” 
Is  this  so  ?  ] 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
More  rain  and  cold  weather  !  Work  will  soon  be  in  a  backward  state,, 
for  we  can  seldom  take  horses  on  the  land  with  any  prospect  of  doing 
useful  work.  Already  we  have  lost  all  the  advantage  gained  by  a  most 
favourable  winter. 
We  keep  all  hands  at  work  with  the  hoe,  but  weeds  kill  badly  and 
spring  corn  hardly  grows  at  all  ;  there  can  be  little  hope  of  Barley  being 
ready  to  cut  in  August,  and  this  crop  now  looks  worse  than  we  can  ever 
recollect.  Oats  are  nearly  as  bad.  Wheat  stands  the  cold  fairly  well, 
and  being  forward  and  strong  may  come  to  harvest  by  mid-August  ;  it  is 
quite  the  best  crop  of  the  year. 
Potatoes  are  well  up  in  rows,  and  we  are  keeping  the  horse-hoe  hard 
at  work  whenever  the  land  is  sufficiently  dry,  but  we  have  to  be  careful, 
for  horses’  feet  do  much  harm  amongst  Potatoes  when  the  land  is  wet. 
There  will  be  none  to  earth  up  yet  awhile.  A  few  were  tinged  brown 
with  frost  one  night,  but  there  has  been  no  material  injury,  and  we  hope 
that  frost  is  done  with  for  the  present. 
We  are  applying  sulphate  of  ammonia  to  the  late  Potatoes  now  at  the 
rate  of  from  1  to  2  cwts.  per  acre  according  as  we  think  the  crop  will  pay 
for  it.  To  the  second  earlies  we  are  giving  nitrate  of  soda,  as  being 
quicker  in  its  action.  Care  must  be  taken  only  to  sow  these  manures 
when  the  haulm  is  quite  dry  ;  a  heavy  dew  will  sometimes  be  enough  to 
prevent  sowing  till  the  afternoon. 
It  is  time  to  drill  Swedes,  but  much  too  cold  and  wet  f  r  the  operation. 
We  must  possess  our  souls  in  patience  and  wait  for  more  sunshine.  For 
Turnips  to  do  well  the  soil  should  be  warm  to  the  hand  ;  the  small  plants 
will,  under  such  conditions,  soon  make  up  for  lost  lime. 
If  hands  can  be  spared  the  grass  and  rubbish  should  be  cut  with  hooks 
from  the  bottoms  of  hedges  recently  taken  down,  or  the  young  growths 
may  be  smothered  and  revival  of  the  fences  much  delayed.  Old  sickles 
are  capital  instruments  for  this  work. 
Mangold  mu.st  be  kept  clear  of  weeds,  and  as  growth  is  slow  this  cold 
season  a  top-dressing  of  nitrate  of  soda  will  be  beneficial,  1  cwt.  per  aero 
now,  and  another  after  singling. 
Farmers  in  China. — The  following  account  of  the  agricultural 
population  of  China,  from  Rev.  James  Johnstone’s  “Story  of  a  Successful 
Mission”  (Hazell,  Watson,  and  Viney),  is  interesting: — “By  far  the 
largest  number  of  the  population  among  whom  the  missionaries  have  to 
work  are  agricultural — the  farmers  and  farm  labourers  with  their  families 
— all,  young  and  old,  being  less  or  more  engaged  in  the  work  of  the  field. 
They  are  generally  poor,  but  are,  on  the  whole,  a  healthy,  honest,  kindly 
and  most  industrious  and  frugal  race.  ...  In  Chinese  society  the 
farmer  stands  second  in  the  social  scale,  next  to  the  scholar  in  point  of 
respectability,  and  the  scholar  stands  next  to  the  Emperor.  .  .  .  What 
makes  the  Chinese  farmer,  even  the  smallest,  a  self-respecting  and 
independent  man  is  that  he  holds  his  land  by  what  is  practically  a 
permanent  tenure.  The  Emperor  is  the  owner  of  all  the  land  in  that  vast 
empire,  larger  than  the  whole  of  Europe  — the  largest  landowner  in  the 
world.  The  farmer  of  a  few  acres  who  holds  his  farm  by  direct  title  from 
the  Emperor,  if  his  title  is  what  is  called  a  red  title — that  is,  not  a 
transferred  one — cannot  be  legally  deprived  of  his  land  so  long  as  he  pays 
the  rent.  Even  if  he  is  obliged  to  part  with  his  lease  from  failure  of 
payment,  like  the  .Jews  of  old,  he  or  his  heirs  can  claim  it  back  any  time 
within  thirty  years,  if  he  or  they  can  pay  the  back  rents  with  ordinary 
interest  thereon.  The  rents  are  not  high,  for  the  average  quality  of 
land  the  price  is  about  6s.  per  acre  per  annum,  inferior  kinds  can  be  had 
for  Is.  or  2s.  the  acre,  and  the  best  for  8s.  or  10s.” 
METEOROLOaiCAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden  Square,  London. 
Lat.  51°  32'  40"  N.;  Long.  0°  8'  0"  W.;  Altitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  the  Day. 
1898. 
May 
and 
.7  line. 
■ 
Barometer! 
at  32°,  and 
Sea  I.evel 
Hygrometer 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Wind. 
Temp 
of  soil 
at 
Shade  Tern 
perature. 
Radiation 
Tempera¬ 
ture 
Rain. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
1  foot 
Max. 
Min. 
Ill 
Sun 
On 
Grass 
Sunday  . . . . 
Monday  . . . . 
29 
iiichs 
30-128 
deg. 
55-0 
deg. 
48-8 
S. 
deg. 
54-0 
deg. 
64  T 
deg. 
46-2 
deg. 
103-6 
deg. 
42-8 
inchs 
0-108 
30 
29-9-23 
56-8 
50-6 
N. 
54-5 
62-1 
49-4 
114-9 
49-2 
0-025 
Tuesday  . . . 
31 
-29-623 
58-8 
53-4 
W. 
54-8 
60-8 
62-0 
92-3 
50-7 
0-213 
W  ednestjay 
Thursday  . 
1 
•29-595 
53-9 
47-4 
tv. 
52-8 
57-2 
40-1 
104-4 
38-0 
0-134 
2 
-29-700 
51 '3 
46-8 
w. 
52-1 
61-9 
44-2 
108-9 
4-2-4 
0-116 
Friday  ..... 
Saturday . . . 
3 
30-0-25 
57 -G 
50-0 
w. 
52-1 
65-6 
41-1 
110-8 
40-0 
— 
4 
-29-960 
57-2 
51-4 
s.w. 
52-9 
64-3 
48-7 
101-6 
46-1 
— 
29 -851 1  55-8 
49-8 
53-3 
62-3 
46-0 
105-2 
44-2 
0-596 
REMARKS. 
29th.— Generallv  cloudy,  buu  occasional  sunshine  ;  rain  from  11  p.m. 
30th.— Rainy  till  4  A.M.  ;  sunny  ao  times  in  morning  ;  freiiuent  drizzle  after 
o  ir.iu.  _ 
31st. — Alternate  sunshine,  cloud,  and  storm  rains  ;  hail  at  11.15  a.m.  ,  and 
thunder  in  afternoon  ;  cloudless  night. 
Ist. — Sunny  early  ;  occasional  sunshine  and  frequent  heavy  showers  during 
the  day.  . 
2nd. — Dull,  gloomy,  and  showery  morning  ;  frequent  sun  in  afternoon,  hut 
Jiunder  at  l45  and  3.43  P.M.,  and  storm  rains  at  11.30  a.m.  and  4  p.m. 
3rd.— Rrilliant  early,  and  sunny  morning  ;  generally  cloudy  after  noon. 
4th.  — Generally  overcast,  tuit  a  little  sun  in  late  afternoon. 
An  average  week,  with  rather  more  rain  than  for  some  months  past. — 
G.  J.  Symons. 
