198 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
September  8,  1898, 
picturesque,  that  the  sting  is  taken  out  of  it.  If  they  deign  to  take 
fork  or  rake  in  the  hay  meadow,  it  is  at  most  for  an  afternoon,  and 
usually  finishes  up  with  a  picnic  under  a  haycock. 
It  is  somewhat  the  same  with  harvest  work ;  they  do  not  realise 
the  long  day,  beginning  for  the  horsemen  as  early  as  4  a.m.,  and 
ending  only  with  setting  sun.  No,  there  we  are  wrong.  After  the 
sun  has  set  the  horses  still  have  to  he  groomed  and  suppered  up,  and  in 
extreme  cases  we  have  seen  leading  going  on  by  moonlight.  Farm 
work  never  ceases,  and  we  doubt  if  it  ever  even  relaxes  a  little — not 
often.  There  are  days,  of  course,  when  the  weather  forbids  any 
outdoor  work — i.e.,  on  the  land ;  but  all  the  same,  the  stock  requires 
as  much,  if  not  more  attention. 
Before  the  Wheat  crop  of  1898  is  fairly  housed,  active  preparations 
are  being  made  for  the  harvest  of  1899.  The  wise  man  is  always  a 
bit’too  forward  in  his  work,  rather  than  too  backward.  The  calendar 
need  not  be  consulted,  but  the  season  must,  and  the  season  is  as 
variable  as  the  moon.  So  much  depends  on  the  character  of  the 
previous  summer,  and  after  a  dry  time  we  have  known  the  greatest 
difficulty  experienced  in  getting  land  broken  up  and  prepared  for  the 
seed  bed.  Sometimes  heavy  rains,  which  may  delay  harvest  opera¬ 
tions,  prove  of  the  greatest  service  in  making  the  land  workable,  and 
all  hands  to  the  plough  is  not  an  unwise  proceeding  when  there  is  a 
danger  of  being  over-hasty  with  harvest. 
We  have  often  wondered  to  see  old  seeds  left  so  long  unploughed, 
and  we  can  only  surmise  that  the  owner  is  short  of  lamb  keep,  or  not 
alive  to  the  advantages  of  a  solid  seed  bed.  We  hear  a  good  deal  at 
times  about  Wheat  “  going  array  ”  in  winter ;  this,  to  our  way  of 
thinking,  is  in  a  great  measure  a  preventable  complaint. 
If  ploughing  is  left  to  just  the  last  minute,  and  the  seed  is 
committed  to  a  light  bed  it  is  almost  certain  to  go;  but  if,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  land  was  allowed  to  sadden  after  ploughing,  and  to 
meet  the  “  saddening  ”  nothing  beats  a  Cambridge  roller— the  corn 
has  every  chance.  Reverting  to  the  plough,  we  believe  in  doing' 
that  operation  fairly  deep,  say  at  least  7  inches,  except  on  strong 
land  ;  the  deeper  the  ploughing,  the  better  the  tilth.  There  may  be 
still  some  good  folks  who  still  adhere  to  the  practice  of  “  broad¬ 
casting  ”  Wheat  or  of  ploughing  in,  and  of  course  good  crops  are 
obtainable  by  both  methods,  but  we  are  advocates  of  the  drill. 
We  think  the  corn  is  distributed  much  more  evenly,  and  at  a 
regular  depth ;  besides,  too,  any  bit  of  cleaning  in  spring  is  more 
easily  accomplished.  We  have  yet  to  see  the  Wheat  field  in  April 
that  would  not  be  benefited  by  the  hoe.  In  a  case  of  doubt  as  to 
cleanliness  of  the  land  the  seams  should  be  wide,  9  to  10  inches 
from  drill  row  to  drill  row.  On  the  contrary,  if  the  land  be  very 
clean,  and  particularly  if  it  be  of  a  light  or  sandy  character, 
7  inches  will  be  quite  wide  enough.  We  have  found  Wheat  do 
better  on  such  land  when  spread  well  over  the  ground,  but  as  we 
said  before,  we  prefer  narrow  drill  rows  to  broadcasting.  In  fact 
the  only  objection  to  narrow  drilling  is  the  greater  difficulty  of 
properly  hoeing  the  plant  in  spring,  especially  where  it  is  necessary 
to  use  a  horse  hoe,  and  we  fear  scarcity  of  labour  in  too  many 
districts  makes  hand-hoeing  not  only  expensive,  but  in  several  cases 
almost  impossible. 
It  is  very  desirable  in  ploughing  ley  for  Wheat  that  the  ploughs 
should  be  good  ones,  and  of  the  kind  generally  in  request  for  prize- 
ploughing  matches;  on  no  account  should  chilled  ploughs  be  used. 
Seven  inches  sounds  deep  for  ley,  but  at  any  rate  we  should  advo¬ 
cate  6  inches  as  a  necessary  depth,  and  if  there  be  anything  more 
than  2  inches  of  green  growth  to  bury  skim  coulters  must  be  used. 
To  get  a  good  seed-bed  there  should  be  3  inches  of  soil  at  the  top 
quite  free  from  sod  ;  then  the  harrows  work  well,  a  good  tilth  is 
acquired,  the  seed  should  be  well  covered,  and  if  proper  attention  be 
paid  to  rolling,  a  good  plant  will  be  assured.  Six  weeks  tietween 
ploughing  and  drilling  is  not  at  all  too  long  an  interval,  and  two 
months  would  be  better. 
^  hen  the  land  has  lain  quiet  for  some  time  after  ploughing, 
especially  if  there  has  been  heavy  rain  and  the  land  has  attained 
the  firmness  and  solidity  which  is  so  desirable,  drastic  measures  have 
to  be  taken  in  breaking  and  working  down  the  surface  ridges;  a 
set  of  heavy  chisel  harrows  is  the  best  implement  for  this  purpose, 
and  can  be  depended  on  to  do  the  work  thoroughly.  A  set  of  heavy 
ordinary  harrows  with  a  large  number  of  teeth  will  complete  the  work 
ready  for  the  drill. 
The  use  of  newly  selected  seed  has  tended  to  make  the  farmer 
careless  about  dressing  his  Wheat  (before  drilling)  with  anti-smut 
mixture  ;  but  whether  it  be  from  carelessness  or  from  the  recent 
conditions  favouring  the  propagation  of  smut,  or  to  use  a  more 
scientific  name  “  bunt,"  true  it  is  that  this  pest  has  been  much  on 
the  increase,  and  is  now  more  general  than  it  has  been  for  thirty 
years.  Chemists  generally  recommend  their  own  preparations  for 
dressing  seed  Wheat,  and  some  may  no  doubt  be  very  good  ;  but 
when  we  consider  that  the  useful  jirinciple  in  all  these  mixtures  is 
blue  vitriol,  which  can  be  bought  powdered  in  a  pure  form  for  a  low 
price,  it  would  seem  to  be  more  sensible  to  buy  the  real  thing  at  first¬ 
hand — 1  lb.  of  the  vitriol  will  dress  6  bushels  of  Wheat. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
The  weather  has  been  very  unsettled,  and  slow  progress  has  been 
made  with  harvest  during  the  past  week.  In  some  parishes  a  good  breadth 
of  grain  has  been  secured,  whilst  in  others  the  stackyards  are  compara¬ 
tively  empty.  Wheat  is  bulking  up  well,  but  as  a  rule  Barleys  are  going 
together  in  a  small  compass. 
We  have  heard  the  hum  of  the  threshing  machine,  but  have  heard 
little  of  the  threshing  result ;  29s.  per  quarter  has  been  made  of  good, 
sound,  but  not  overdry  Wheat.  If  the  yield  had  been  good  probably 
we  should  have  heard  of  it,  for  if  farmers  themselves  do  not  boast  of  their 
big  crops,  the  men  or  the  neighbours  generally  do  enough  in  that  line 
when  there  is  anything  to  taik  about. 
The  saving  of  the  harvest  is  now,  of  course,  our  first  thought,  but  if 
wet  weather  should  intervene  to  postpone  the  work  we  must  turn  our 
attention  to  the  Wheat  stubbles  already  cleared,  or  the  lea  intended  for 
Wheat.  The  ploughing  of  the  latter  has  been  dealt  with  above,  but  as 
regards  the  stubbles  we  might  point  out  that  the  rains  have  made  dragging 
possible,  and  that  the  cultivator,  spring-tooth  or  otherwise,  should  be 
put  through  the  soil  whilst  the  opportunity  offers,  for  September  is  often 
very  hot  and  dry,  in  fact  it  is  one  of  the  driest  months,  and  if  the  surface 
can  be  well  broken  up  at  once  it  would  be  ready  for  further  dragging 
and  harrowing  when  the  St.  Michael’s  summer  arrives,  which  it  invariably 
does  sooner  or  later. 
The  showers  have  been  a  great  benefit  to  the  Turnip  crop,  which 
promises  to  be  an  exceedingly  good  one.  It  is,  however,  rather  back¬ 
ward,  and  does  not  look  like  being  ready  when  wanted  in  October,  but  a 
fine  September  may  do  much  to  ripen  it.  Lambs  are  doing  well  and  are 
giving  little  cause  for  anxiety  at  present,  but  the  showery  forcing  weather 
is  flushing  all  kinds  of  food  so  much  that  there  may  be  difficulty  near  at 
hand,  and  a  sharp  look  out  must  be  kept,  so  that  any  outbreak  of  disease 
may  be  nipped  in  the  bud. 
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. 
Rain. 
1898. 
August 
and 
September.  • 
,  3  S3  © 
f 
foVI 
Hygrometer 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot 
Shade Tern, 
perature. 
Radiation 
Tempera¬ 
ture 
4  CO  -X 
l  ci  _  u 
a-S® 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun 
On 
Grass 
linchs 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
inchs. 
Sunday  .... 
28 
!30'000 
60-7 
54-0 
S.W. 
63  0 
71-3 
50-4 
116-9 
46-4 
0-024 
Monday-  .... 
29 
|30'071 
57-7 
53-2 
W. 
61  -9 
65-2 
49T 
104-3 
44-1 
0-053 
Tuesday  .... 
30 
129-905 
04-6 
57-3 
W. 
61-3 
76-9 
56-3 
117-4 
51-9 
— 
Wednesday 
31 
i  30  -065 
59-7 
52-6 
N. 
62-7 
68-9 
54-8 
113-9 
49-0 
— 
Thursday  . . 
1 
30-378 
59-1 
52-9 
W. 
61-3 
71-2 
44-9 
117-9 
40-4 
— 
Friday . 
2 
130-383 
61-1 
53-2 
W. 
60-9 
75‘8 
46-1 
114-7 
41-7 
— 
Saturday. . . . 
3 
30-403 
66-1 
60-1 
N.W. 
62-0 
83-3 
54T 
122-2 
501 
' - 
30  172 
61-3 
54*8 
61-9 
73-2 
50-8 
115-3 
46-2 
0-077 
REMARKS. 
28fch.— Alternate  sunshine  and  cloud.  Spots  of  rain  at  11  a.m.  and  a  heavy  shower 
at  7  P.  M. 
29tli.—  Bright  early  ;  overcast  from  10.30  A.M.  and  showery  after  4  p.m.,  especially 
between  6  and  8  P.M. 
30th.— Breezy  and  generally  sunny,  but  cloudy  at  times. 
31st. — Bright  sunshine  generally,  but  heavy  cloud  at  times. 
1st. — Generally  bright,  but  intervals  of  cloud. 
2nd. — Cloudy  early  ;  bright  warm  day. 
3rd. — Sunny  and  warm  throughout. 
The  earlier  part  of  the  week  cooler  than  usual,  the  latter  part  much  above  the 
average  temperature.  It  is  now  twelve  months  since  we  have  had  a  week  in 
which  the  rainfall  has  amounted  to  1  inch. — G.  J.  Symons. 
