158 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
August  25,  1898. 
Owing  to  continued  fine  weather,  the  crops  stood  up,  and  were 
very  even  and  regular — just  in  the  very  form  for  manipulation  by 
a  self-binder.  Consequently,  those  who  needed  a  new  machine  to  a 
man  invested  in  a  self-binder. 
The  weather  broke,  down  came  the  rain — If  inch  in  an  after¬ 
noon — strong  winds  prevailed,  heavy  crops  were  laid,  medium  crops 
storm-broken,  and  the  happy  (?)  possessor  of  a  new-fangled  machine 
looked  very  much  out  of  love  with  himself  and  his  purchase. 
Personally,  we  have  never  been  much  in  love  with  the  self- 
binder,  and  now  we  are  chuckling  with  satisfaction  when  we  see 
our  nice  new  reaper  (old  style)  doing  its  work  so  well,  while  our 
neighbour  is  worrying  and  vexing  himself,  and  using  bad  words  over 
the  bungle  of  his  new  and  expensive  treasure. 
It  is  claimed  for  string-binders  that  they  will  cut  and  tie  laid  crops 
better  than  other  machines  will  do  the  cutting  alone,  the  advantage 
lying  in  the  fact  that  the  knife  is  always  kept  clear.  This  is 
quite  true,  and  if  the  crop  be  all  laid  one  way,  so  that  it  can  be 
met  or  throated,  the  cutting  and  binding  may  be  well  performed ;  but 
should  the  crop  be  twisted  about  in  various  directions,  almost  as  if  it 
were  stooked,  the  cutting  may  be  performed,  as  also  the  tying,  but  a 
difficulty  may  afterwards  be  found  in  recognising  the  ear  end  of  the 
sheaf,  and  the  problems  set  the  stooker,  in  his  attempts  to  set  them 
right  end  up,  more  than  come  within  the  powers  of  mortal  man. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  expense  of  ingatheriug  the  present 
harvest  will  be  heavy,  and  far  greater  than  was  expected  a  week  or 
two  ago;  but,  given  fair  average  weather  for  the  work,  what  will 
be  the  result  in  saleable  produce  ?  Long  columns  of  statistics  in  the 
form  of  crop  reports  have  been  recently  published,  and  although  we 
think  that  individual  reports  are  often  far  from  correct,  there  can  be  no 
question  that  as  a  whole  they  give  a  very  fair  idea  of  what  the  results 
are  likely  to  be. 
Wheat,  as  we  expected,  is  said  to  be  the  crop  of  the  year,  and 
better  even  than  1896,  which  had  been  the  best  crop  of  the  decade. 
As  the  crop  was  nearly  approaching  maturity  before  the  recent  rains 
set  in  little  damage  can  have  been  done  by  them,  and  only  fine 
weather  is  needed  to  make  sure  of  a  fine  crop.  Barley,  although 
nothing  approaching  a  record,  is  rather  over  an  average  crop,  and 
although  it  is  relatively  not  so  heavy  and  long  in  the  straw  as  Wheat 
it  is  now  quite  as  much  laid,  and  far  more  exposed  to  the  risk  of 
injury  from  further  wet  weather.  Laid  Barley  takes  so  much  longer 
a  time  to  dry,  that  a  heavy  dew  will  stain  it  quite  as  much  as  rain  will 
do  a  standing  crop.  Then,  again,  laid  Barley  always  ripens  more  or 
less  prematurely ;  so,  taking  all  these  points  into  account,  we  think 
that  a  modification  must  be  made  in  the  favourable  Barley  report,  and 
if  we  say  that  it  is  an  average  in  quantity  as  well  as  quality  we  may 
not  be  far  off  the  mark. 
The  Oat  crop  works  out  as  being  about  an  average,  which  to  us 
is  somewhat  surprising,  our  own  observation,  assisted  by  that  of 
friends  in  other  districts,  having  indicated  a  considerable  shortness  of 
straw,  which  in  the  case  of  Oats  may  be  taken  also  to  denote  a 
•shortage  in  the  quantity  of  grain. 
This  year’s  cereal  crops  then,  on  the  testimony  of  a  representa'ive 
body  of  growers,  may  be  taken  to  be,  on  the  whole,  satisfactory  ; 
and  if  the  prices  which  we  were  being  promised  a  few  months  ago 
could  be  realised,  there  would  seem  every  prospect  of  a  prosperous 
year  for  the  corn  grower ;  but,  alas !  the  “  promise  of  May  ”  is 
hardly  likely  to  be  fulfilled.  Wheat  then  at  50s.  per  quarter, 
has  sunk  now  to  litt’e  more  than  30s.,  and  we  hear  corn  merchants 
prophesying  a  further  reduction  to  20s.  At  any  rate,  there  is 
little  likelihood  of  this  season’s  crop  making  more  than  30s. 
As  to  the  price  of  Barley,  we  hear  widely  divergent  opinions,  first 
that  the  continental  crops  are  very  good  and  of  fine  quality,  and  again 
that  they  are  poor  and  not  likely  to  seriously  affect  the  supplies  in 
our  markets.  Of  course  we  all  know  that  upon  the  foreign  supplies 
of  Barley  the  price  of  that  cereal  greatly  depends,  and  we  fear  that 
there  is  too  much  truth  in  the  first  report,  and  that  we  must  be 
prepared  to  contend  with  very  strong  rivals  in  our  efforts  to  woo  the 
attention  of  the  maltster  and  brewer. 
The  Oat  market  has  held  its  own  well,  and  good  old  Oats  are  both 
scarce  and  dear  ;  this  should  help  new  Oats  to  command  a  fair  price 
when  they  come  to  hand.  The  crop  also  is  not  likely  to  glut  the 
market,  so  there  should  be  a  prospect  for  Oats  to  make  a  fair  price 
throughout  the  season. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
We  have  begun  harvest  with  a  piece  of  early  sown  Barley.  It  was 
hardly  as  ripe  as  we  should  have  liked,  but  we  dare  not  let  it  stand 
longer,  as  a  neighbour  has  lost  6  or  8  bushels  per  acre  of  the  same 
variety  (Standwell)  by  necking.  This  kind  seems  liable  to  neck  off 
with  very  little  wind,  and  must  be  cut  much  greener  than  the  Chevalier 
varieties. 
We  shall  make  a  fair  start  in  two  or  three  days,  and  are  anxious  to 
get  on  as  soon  as  the  crops  are  ready,  the  weather  being  so  fine. 
Meantime  we  are  again  running  over  the  Turnips  with  both  horse  and 
hand  hoes.  The  heavier  land  has  not  had  too  much  rain,  and  the 
cracks  soon  open  again  ;  to  prevent  this  and  help  the  soil  to  retain  its 
moisture  the  horse  hoe  must  be  kept  at  work  and  the  surface  as  loose 
and  fine  as  possible. 
We  are  sowing  Mustard  where  second  early  Potatoes  have  been  dug. 
A  good  harrowing  is  all  that  is  needed  before  sowing  the  seed.  The 
latter  should  be  sown  broadcast  and  lightly  harrowed  in.  It  is  a  mistake 
to  be  grudging  in  the  matter  of  seed  ;  20  lbs.  per  acre  is  not  at  all  too 
much,  and  we  know  farmers  who  sow  28. 
Lambs  require  careful  attention  now ;  they  must  have  change  of 
pasture  as  soon  as  they  require  it,  the  chief  danger  lying  in  the  difficulty 
of  ascertaining  this  point  early  enough.  A  healthy  lamb  shows  its  well¬ 
being  in  the  bright  appearance  of  the  wool,  as  well  as  in  its  full-bodied, 
thrifty  appearance  ;  but  when  the  lamb  loses  its  body,  becomes  tucked 
up,  and  the  wool  dark  and  dull-looking,  it  is  time  to  give  a  change  of  food 
as  well  as  an  alterative  medicine. 
Our  opinion  is  that  a  small  quantity  of  sulphur  mixed  amongst  the 
hand  food  is  a  great  safeguard  against  lamb  complaints,  which  almost 
always  arise  from  an  impure  state  of  the  blood. 
The  pastures  will  now  be  more  or  less  flushed,  and  lambs  may  show  a 
tendency  to  scour.  The  best  remedy  for  scour  is  castor  oil,  which,  whilst 
clearing  the  stomach  and  bowels,  is  very  soothing  to  any  irritated  surface  ; 
but  oil  to  be  most  successful  must  be  administered  before  the  animal  has 
become  seriously  ill,  for  it  will  not  cure  inflammation  of  the  bowels. 
Shepherding  during  the  busy  time  of  harvest  is  sometimes  hurried 
over,  but  this  is  very  foolish  policy,  the  shepherd  requiring  more  time 
than  usual  at  this  period  if  the  work  is  to  be  thoroughly  performed. 
METEOROLOGICAL  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. 
August. 
Barometer 
at  32°,  and 
Sea  Level 
Hygrometer 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
Shade Tern, 
perature. 
Radiation 
Tempera¬ 
ture. 
Rain. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
1  foot 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun 
On 
Grass 
Sunday  ....  14 
inchs 
30-025 
deg. 
69-6 
deg. 
65-1 
N.W. 
deg. 
65-2 
deg. 
85-0 
deg. 
61  -8 
deg. 
119-2 
deg. 
57-4 
inchs. 
Monday  ....  15 
30-017 
75T 
66-1 
N.E. 
66-1 
87-5 
65-1 
124-9 
60-8 
0-198 
Tuesday  ....  16 
29-945 
70-8 
65  "9 
S.E. 
66-9 
81-9 
60-8 
118-2 
58  -9 
— 
Wednesday  17 
30-129 
62-9 
59-9 
N. 
66-6 
79-8 
60-0 
116-9 
58-3 
0-059 
Thursday  . .  18 
30-145 
68-4 
61-2 
E. 
66-0 
78-2 
55-1 
118-3 
62-0 
Friday .  19 
30-066 
68-9 
65-3 
N.E. 
65-9 
81-7 
59-1 
117-9 
57-0 
— 
Saturday ....  20 
30-158 
64-9 
61-2 
W. 
65*7 
81-0 
57-8 
121-3 
53-8 
““ 
30-069 
68  "7 
63-5 
66T 
82-2 
60-0 
119-5 
56-9 
0-257 
REMARKS. 
14th.— Sunny  and  hot  throughout,  but  not  very  bright. 
15th.— Cloudy  early  ;  bright  day.  with  the  highest  temperature  of  the  year  up  to 
date  ;  distant  thunder  at  night. 
16th.— Thunderstorm  with  heavy  rain  between  2.30  and  4  A.M.,  thunder  and  large 
spots  of  rain  between  10  and  11  A.M.,  but  generally  sunny  day. 
17th. — Overcast  morning  ;  bright  afternoon  and  evening. 
18th. — Cloudy  early  ;  bright  sun  from  8  a.m.  ;  distant  lightning  at  night,  and 
heavy  rain  at  9.30  p.m. 
19th.— Overcast  till  11  a.m.  ;  generally  sunny  after. 
20th.— Bright  and  warm  throughout. 
A  fine  hot  week,  especially  noticeable  as  following  at  so  short  an  interval  the 
very  cold  days  at  the  beginning  of  the  month.  No  severe  thunderstorms. — 
G.  J.  Symons. 
