370 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
November  10,  lt>98. 
are  no  trivial  details  ;  everything  to  the  smillest  minutiae  is  of  the 
utmost  importance. 
The  Dairy  Association  strives  to  create  a  spirit  of  emulation  and  a 
spirit  of  good  fellowship  ;  it  also  strives  to  create  a  spirit  of  co-opera¬ 
tion.  In  this  last  it  does  not  quite  succeed.  There  are  so  many  units 
which  ought  to  be  incorporated  into  one  body ;  but  they  are  wilful 
units,  and  prefer  a  solitary  existence. 
Looking  back  during  the  last  twenty  years  we  mark  with  infinite 
satisfaction  the  wonderful  improvement  in  butter  manipulation.  Good 
butter  is  the  rule  now,  not  the  exception,  and  the  difference  between 
good  and  moderate  even  is  very  patent  to  every  cultivated  palate. 
Cheese  manufacture  has  not  increased  or  improved  at  the  same 
ratio,  and  -we  think  we  partly  can  tell  the  reason.  Most  grass  will 
produce  more  or  less  butter  fat,  but  it  is  only  on  certain  pastures  that 
cows  will  really  give  milk  of  that  quality  suitable  for  cheese  making 
on  a  large  scale — the  cheese  may  be  made — but  it  will  not  pass  muster 
with  anyone  who  really  knows  prime  quality.  Then  there  is  another 
cause  in  operation.  Whereas  the  art  of  butter  making  may  soon  be 
learned  r>y  a  diligent  pupil,  that  of  cheese  making  is  not  so  easily 
acquired.  If  once  cheese  is  taken  up  it  means  early  morning  work, 
midday  work,  evening  work;  Sunday  and  week  dry  alike  during  all 
the  summer.  When  butter  is  once  made  up  there  is  rest  for  the  dairy 
maid,  but  the  cheese  maker  does  not  know  what  rest  is  till  the  summer 
is  over  and  the  harvest  past ;  then,  again,  butter  does  not  give  its 
maker  “  away,”  so  to  speak,  as  cheese  does. 
From  little  understood  causes  cheese  is  apt  to  be  found  very 
wanting,”  say  at  the  end  of  six  months,  just  when  it  should  be 
ready  for  the  factor’s  hands.  It  does  not  always  “mature”  as  its 
maker  could  wish,  and  often  keeps  badly.  In  one  of  her  earliest 
novels  George  Eliot  makes  it  a  sad  cause  of  reproach  in  a  farmer’s 
wife  that  her  cheese  never  helped  much  to  pay  the  rent. 
Broadly  speaking,  cows  appear  to  be  divided  into  two  classes — milk 
cows  and  butter  cows.  This  is  an  old  division,  as  old  as  the  hills,  for 
has  not  “  our  auld  poll  been  counted  a  rare  ’un  for  butter  ?  ”  in  contra¬ 
distinction  to  the  Dutch  lady,  which  was  only  celebrated  for  an 
overflowing  pail  of  poor  blue-white  fluid. 
Yes,  indeed;  the  modern  cow  is  subjected  to  very  severe  testing, 
and  this  testing  ought  to  result  in  the  elimination  of  cows  that  do  not 
come  up  to  the  desired  standard.  A  cow’s  first  business  is  to  produce 
a  calf  yearly  (heifer  for  choice),  and  then  to  fill  the  milk  pail  with  a 
rich  fluid  for  almost  an  indefinite  period.  We  can  hardly  expect  such 
a  cow  to  do  credit  on  the  scales  at  the  final  scene,  yet  some  breeds 
manage  to  make  a  fair  record  there  too. 
In  the  case  of  Jerseys  we  find  that  first,  prize  won  for  milk  was 
also  first  prize  for  butter,  but  second  prize  milk  only  got  a  certificate 
of  merit  for  butter,  the  quality  being  poor,  with  a  difference  of 
something  like  sixteen  points  in  quantity  between  it  and  the  first 
prize  winner. 
With  the  Shorthorns  we  find  neither  first  nor  second  prize  milker 
get  anything  for  butter  save  a  certificate  of  merit.  There  is  a 
remark  on  the  great  improvement  of  Jerseys,  especially  among  those 
which  have  been  bred  in  England.  Naturally  these  must  be  hardier 
than  the  imported  stock,  and  will  be  less  difficult  to  keep  in  thriving 
condition.  The  champion  milking  prize  went  to  a  cow  by  a  Guernsey 
bull  out  of  a  Shorthorn. 
When  Sir  W.  Broadbent,  the  great  doctor,  was  speaking  the  other 
day  on  consumption  as  a  preventable  disease,  he  was  strong  on  the 
point  of  the  danger  of  milk  from  cows  suspected  of  tuberculosis.  He 
said  wise  doctors  of  old  insisted  on  delicate  children  being  fed  on 
asses  or  goat’s  milk.  A\  by  ?  Because  those  animals  were  perfectly 
free  from  any  suspicion  of  such  disease,  hence  the  goat  class  at  the 
Show,  eh ! 
It  must  be  a  most  trying  ordeal  to  make  butter  before  the 
assembled  multitude  which  daily  flock  to  the  exhibition  hall,  and 
great  credit  should  be  given  to  those  who  so  cleverly  perform 
this  work,  as  coolly  as  though  they  were  in  their  own  dairies 
at  home.  Personally  we  like  butter  not  much  ornamented,  but  it 
appears  fashion  rather  runs  into  cert  tin  elaboration  of  detail. 
“  Punch”  hit  off  this  smart  butter  only  a  week  or  two  back.  Some 
of  our  readers  will  remember  the  toilet  instrument  mentioned  as  being 
used  as  a  decorator.  To  those  who  did  not  see  the  picture,  we  will 
leave  their  imaginations  to  supply  details. 
We  do  not  know  what  these  new  separators  may  be  like  ;  but  he 
who  invents  one  simple  in  working,  and  simpler  still  in  cleaning,  will 
confer  a  boon  on  mankind.  A  word  of  praise  should  be  given  to 
the  judges,  stewards,  and  other  officials,  who  so  willingly  give  both 
time  and  attention  to  make  the  whole  thing  such  a  grand  success  as 
it  is.  Possibly  they  have  the  reward  of  a  satisfied  conscience,  that 
they  have  done  their  best  to  improve  what  should  be  one  ot  the 
greatest  agricultural  industries  of  this  dear  old  land  of  ours. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
We  have  now  had  rain  with  a  vengeance  ;  two  days  out  of  three 
the  rain  came  down,  and  in  no  half-hearted  manner,  with  the  result  that 
now  the  lea  is  at  la9t  ploughed  the  Wheat  cannot  be  drilled  till  the  land 
is  drier. 
There  is  still  plenty  of  time  for  the  Wheat  to  grow  and  do  well  if  the 
larks  could  be  kept  off  it,  but  these  little  pests  always  make  bad  work 
with  late-sown  corn.  Not  many  larks  breed  near,  but  they  arrive  from 
somewhere  in  large  flocks  about  the  end  of  October. 
We  have  got  all  the  Potatoes  safe,  and  are  now  busy  with  Mangold  ; 
they  are  hardly  ripe,  and  Are  still  growing.  We  have  finished  storing  one 
piece,  and  are  thinking  of  leaving  the  others  to  grow  a  little  more;  they 
are  on  dry  land,  where  the  risk  from  frost  is  not  great.  The  crops  are 
good,  those  taken  up  having  produced  about  30  tons  per  acre,  which 
is  very  satisfactory  for  thin,  sandy  soil,  unsuitable  for  this  crop. 
In  connection  with  this  plot,  we  have  to  record  the  result  of  a  rough 
experiment.  In  the  spring  we  had  several  loads  of  dry  hen  manure 
mixed  with  shed  sweepings.  This  we  applied  for  the  Mangold  at  the 
rate  of  three  loads  per  acre.  Tho  remainder  of  the  plot  was  mucked  from 
the  covered  yard,  ten  loads  per  acre,  added  to  which  were  used  2  cwt.  of 
mineral  superphosphate  and  3  cwt.  of  dissolved  bones.  The  hen  manure 
gave  tho  best  results,  but  the  difference  is  not  very  marked,  except  as 
regards  quality,  which  is  much  in  favour  of  the  hen  manure.  It  is  evident 
that  guano  would  be  a  great  boon  to  the  farmer  if  he  could  get  it,  and 
that  the  use  of  a  grass  field  as  a  fowl  run  must  tend  to  greater  fertility. 
Young  cattle  must  be  kept  up  under  cover  now  ;  the  constant  rain, 
combined  with  a  falling  temperature,  must  have  a  bad  effect  on  them,  and 
shelter  they  must  have. 
Frost  is  still  absent,  and  a  sharp  night  or  two  would  do  good  in 
stopping  the  spread  of  fever,  which  is  alarmingly  prevalent.  Several  men 
are  laid  up  in  our  village  with  symptoms  suspiciously  like  those  of  typhoid 
fever. 
OUR  LETTER  BOX. 
Salting  Chaffed  Straw  ( Constant  Reader). — From  56  to  81  lbs.  of  salt 
should  be  used  per  ton.  If  the  straw  is  very  dry  1  cwt.  might  not 
prove  too  much  for  the  purpose. 
A  Fortune  in  Fowls.— In  a  local  market  last  week,  fowls  per 
couple  (live  weight^  11J  lbs.,  were  only  making  4s.  per  couple— where  does 
the  profit  come  in? — H.  F.  [From  the  egg9  they  produced  (if  any)  of 
course]. 
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. 
October 
and 
November. 
g  ®  5 
P  <N  ^ 
Hygrometer 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
Shade  Tern, 
perature. 
Radiation 
Tempera¬ 
ture. 
.5 
c3 
P3 
MS® 
Dry. 
Wet. 
1  foot 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun 
On 
Grass 
Sunday  .... 
Monday  .... 
Tuesday  .... 
Wednesday 
Thursday  . . 
Friday . 
Saturday. . . . 
30 
inchs 
29-372 
deg. 
50-1 
deg. 
47-3 
w.s.w. 
deg. 
54  0 
deg. 
56“2 
deg. 
47  *6 
deg. 
81-3 
deg. 
43-9 
inchs. 
0-261 
31 
29-611 
49-1 
46-4 
w. 
52-2 
56'5 
46  -9 
88-9 
41T 
— T 
1 
29-999 
38’V 
38-6 
w. 
49-9 
53-9 
36-4 
76'9 
30-9 
— 
2 
29-909 
53-8 
50-6 
s.w. 
48-7 
60-0 
40-0 
61T 
35-4 
0-273 
3 
26  -681 
59-1 
57  -2 
s.w. 
50-9 
60-6 
52-8 
65-2 
50-8 
0  060 
4 
,29-951 
44-3 
41-6 
s.w. 
49-9 
54-9 
38 -1 
81-4 
32-3 
— 
5 
29-796 
49-9 
47-2 
w. 
49-2 
56-8 
44  -9 
89-8 
39-9 
— 
29-760 
49-3 
47-0 
50-7 
57-0 
43-8 
77-8 
39-2 
0-594 
REMARKS. 
30th.— Rain  from  1.30  a.m.  to  4  a.m.  ; ‘almost  cloudless  from  7  a.m.  to  noon,  then 
cloudy ;  showery  from  3  p.m.  ;  storm  rain  at  5  P.M.,  and  almost  cloudless 
night. 
31st. — Bright  sun  almost  throughout. 
1st. — White  frost  early  ;  almost  cloudless  day,  but  foggy  in  evening. 
2nd. — Clear  early  ;  overcast  from  8  a.m.  ;  heavy  rain  from  11  a.m.  to  2  p.m.,  and 
showery  and  damp  after. 
3rd. — Overcast  and  drizzly  early,  and  rainy  from  11  a.m.  to  1  p.m.  ;  sunny  from 
3.30  p.m. .  and  clear  cold  night. 
4th.— Brilliant  till  1  p.m.  ,  cloudy  at  times  after. 
5th— Fair  early  ;  bright  sun  all  day,  stormy-looking  sunset,  and  brilliant 
night. 
A  variable  week,  with  a  good  deal  of  sunshine  and  free  from  fog.  Mean 
temperature  3°  above  the  average.  — G.  J.  Symons. 
