394 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
November  2,  1>99. 
been  returned  at  over  10  cwts.,  but  we  think  this  year  we  may  safely 
reckon  on  an  average  of  11  cwts. 
The  quantity  is  assured,  but  we  cannot  speak  so  cheerfully  about 
the  quality.  The  majority  agree  that  the  quality  is  disappointing,  so 
many  samples  that  can  only  be  put  down  as  medium,  or  worse  still, 
inferior.  Of  course  where  the  quality  is  only  medium  it  is  hopeless 
and  indeed  foolish  to  expect  top  prices.  Foreign  Hops  (or  substitutes) 
are  obtainable,  and  the  English  grower  must  be  content  with  fair 
market  value,  trusting  that  the  quantity  he  has  to  sell  will,  in  some 
measure,  recoup  him  for  lower  prices. 
There  has  been  another  factor  in  his  favour  this  year.  We  have 
heard  in  past  years  of  the  terrible  expense  incurred  by  the  frequent 
washings  and  dressing  that  were  obliged  to  be  used  on  the  Hop  vines. 
•Certainly  for  six  years,  if  we  go  back  no  further,  the  outlay  has  been 
enormous,  and  yet  it  was  absolutely  necessary  were  any  crop  to  be 
gathered  at  all.  In  many  cases  these  expensive  processes  had  to  be 
repeated,  and  sulphur  had  to  be  used  in  great  quantities  to  check 
mould.  This  year  we  find  there  has  been  little  or  no  outlay  for  these 
“  extras,”  as  we  may  call  them.  There  has  simply  been  the  ordinary 
working  expense  to  reckon  with,  so  that  after  all,  even  with  only 
moderate  prices,  the  Hop  grower  has  great  reason  for  contentment. 
At  one  time  the  crop  promised  great  things ;  that  promise,  like  many 
another,  failed  of  fulfilment. 
When  on  the  subject  of  the  Hop  crop  we  just  turned  to  the 
Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  for  the  current  quarter. 
Of  course,  as  this  year’s  Show  was  at  Maidstone,  this  great  industry 
of  Hop  growing  receives  comment.  The  writer  says,  “The  difficulties 
and  expenses  of  Hop  growing  have  been  increased  in  recent  years  by 
the  regularly  recurring  attacks  of  aphis  blight,  which  make  it 
necessary  to  *  spray  ’  or  syringe  every  Hop  plant,  every  branch  and 
leaf,  with  quassia  and  softsoap  compounds  three  or  four  times,  and 
frequently  more  often  in  each  season.  .  .  .  The  fear  of  mould  or 
mildew  caused  by  the  fungus  Podosphaero  castagnei  also  entails  the 
application  of  sulphur  twice  or  thrice,  or  even  more  often,  in  July  or 
August.” 
This  must  be  a  serious  business,  and  we  see  there  were  prizes 
offered  and  awarded  for  the  best  machine  calculated  to  thoroughly 
spread  the  spraying  mixture  over  every  part  of  the  plant.  The  fine  dry 
summer  helped  on  the  growth  of  the  Hops.  Like  all  other  vegetation* 
they  are  more  liable  to  attacks  of  disease  when  the  growth  has  been 
slow  and  the  plants  lacking  in  vigour.  Once  let  them  get  fairly  away 
and  escaping  the  late  frosts  they  have  a  much  better  chance  of 
resisting  all  foreign  invasion,  be  it  aphis  or  mould. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
Splendid  autumn  weather  provides  every  opportunity  for  the  farmer 
to  get  forward  with  his  work.  Wheat  sowing,  which  looked  at  one  time 
like  being  very  late,  will  now  be  completed  well  up  to  time,  but  we  fancy 
that  there  will  be  a  decreased  acreage  notwithstanding,  for  Oats  have 
been  selling  better  relatively  than  Wheat,  and  Wheat  straw  is  now  too 
plentiful  and  cheap  to  be  a  factor  worth  considering. 
Potato  lifting  is  nearly  over,  and  though  labour  has  been  dear  it  has 
been  sufficient,  though  we  hear  of  grave  difficulty  in  other  districts. 
Crops  are  lighter  than  was  expected,  and  vary  very  greatly,  even  the 
same  variety  ranging  from  3  tons  to  12  tons  per  acre,  and  on  similar  land. 
The  Up-to-Date  is  distinctly  the  champion  sort. 
Young  sheep  are  healthy  now,  and  appear  to  have  got  over  the  critical 
time,  but  there  are  very  many  small  puny  animals  which  must  be  a  long 
time  in  coming  10  maturity.  They  are  marching  over  the  Turnips  at  a 
most  alarming  rate.  We  hear  of  300  sheep  eating  5  acres  in  a  week. 
There  must  be  few  roots  to  spare  for  the  cattle,  and  substitutes  must  be 
found.  We  heard  a  shrewd  farmer  declare  the  other  day  that  he  would 
rather  have  1  cwt.  of  treacle  than  2  tons  of  Mangold,  which  would  be 
putting  the  value  of  the  latter  at  less  than  3s.  6d.  per  ton. 
If  this  view  be  correct,  treacle  is  the  article  to  buy.  It  should  be  used 
to  flavour  chaffed  straw,  and  should  be  mixed  first  with  boiling  water  and 
then  with  a  larger  quantity  of  cold.  The  ration  for  each  day  is  better 
mixed  the  day  before.  Dried  grains  and  malt  culms  will  be  valuable  to 
use  for  a  similar  purpose,  but  they  should  either  be  steamed  or  steeped  in 
a  large  tub  overnight,  and  mixed  with  the  cut  straw  to-day  for  use 
to-morrow.  These  processes  require  appliances,  space,  and  trouble,  but 
they  must  be  provided. 
There  are  people  who  look  upon  the  root  crop  as  a  superfluity  and  as 
non-progressive.  Well  !  there  must  be  many  thousanls  of  fools  amongst 
farmers,  to  take  so  much  to  heart  the  loss  of  so  little — if  it  is  little. 
The  advertisement  of  the  first  of  the  local  ploughing  matches  reminds 
us  of  the  necessity  to  see  that  the  ploughing  down  of  fallows  is  done 
properly.  No  operation  on  a  farm  requires  more  careful  attention. 
We  are  glad  to  see  that  plashing  and  scotching  competitions  are  being 
added  to  the  ploughing ;  as  instruction  classes  have  been  a  failure 
perhaps  prizes  may  be  more  attractive.  There  should  be  competitions 
restricted  to  men  under  thirty. 
How  to  Detect  Formaline  in  Milk.  —  Formaline  has  of  late 
been  somewhat  extensively  used  as  a  preservative  both  for  milk  and 
butter.  Like  boracic  acid  it  is  objected  to  by  many  on  the  ground 
that  it  acts  as  an  irritant.  When  there  is  reason  to  suspect  its  existence  in 
milk,  it  presence  can,  says  a  contemporary,  be  readily  detected  by  the 
addition  of  a  little  sulphuric  acid  and  ferric  chloride  ;  if  there  is  any 
formaline  present  this  mixture  will  give  the  milk  a  purplish  violet  colour. 
'  Barley  Competition. — Messrs.  Webb  &  Sons,  Wordsley,  Stour¬ 
bridge,  offered  valuable  prizes  for  the  best  bushel  of  their  varieties  of 
Barley,  grown  with  the  aid  of  their  special  manure.  The  competition 
was  keen,  whilst  the  samples  exhibited  were  of  very  high  quality,  and 
testified  not  only  to  the  value  of  seed  and  manure,  but  also  to  good  culti¬ 
vation.  List  of  awards :  Class  1,  for  Barley  grown  in  any  part  of  the 
United  Kingdom  :  Champion  prize,  cash  or  plate,  value  £25 — Mr.  J.  E. 
Kimber,  Southmoor  House,  Abingdon  (Webbs’  Golden  Grain)  ;  Reserve — 
Mr.  William  Shears,  Lees  Farm,  Pyrford,  Woking  (Webbs’  Burton 
Malting).  Class  2,  for  Barley  grown  in  the  counties  of  Salop,  Stafford, 
Hereford,  Worcester,  Gloucester,  or  Warwick  :  First  prize,  cash  or  plate, 
value  £15 — Mr.  Frank  Horne,  Bobbington,  Stourbridge  (Webbs’  Kinver 
Chevalier);  second  prize,  cash  or  plate,  value  £10 — Mr.  A.  Ernest  Day, 
Orchard  Hill,  Stratford-on-Avon  (Webbs’  Kinver  Chevalier)  ;  third 
prize,  cash  or  plate,  value  £5 — Mr.  Albert  E.  Day,  Clifford  Bank, 
Stratford-on-Avon  (Webbs’  Kinver  Chevalier). 
Goldfinches  and  Thistles. — In  many  parts  of  the  country, 
just  at  this  season,  when  Thistle  seed  ripens  and  is  spread  by  the 
breeze  to  reproduce  its  kind  far  and  near,  the  bird-catcher  may  be  seen 
practising  his  nefarious  craft.  The  beautiful  goldfinch  is  his  game, 
although  a  bullfinch  does  not  come  amiss.  With  his  twigs,  thiokly 
dressed  with  birdlime,  fixed  on  the  top  of  some  fence,  and  a  decoy  bird 
caged  to  lure  its  wild  fellows  to  the  twigs,  the  stock-in-trade  is  complete. 
And  so  thousands  of  the  most  useful  and  beautiful  of  our  feathered 
friends  are  ruthlessly  captured  to  spend  their  days  in  cruel  imprisonment. 
There  are  no  other  birds  in  our  land  that  eat  so  much  Thistle  seed  as 
goldfinches,  which  may  be  seen  in  broods  flying  from  plant  to  plant, 
eating  away  at  the  seed  quite  freely  from  the  time  the  first  down-like 
thistle  heads  are  seen  until  the  approach  of  winter,  when  the  down  has 
all  been  scattered  or  devoured.  Thistles  are  becoming  a  plague  of 
magnitude  in  the  land.  And  ought  there  not  to  be  a  law  made  pre¬ 
venting  the  taking  in  any  way  or  at  any  season  the  bright  little 
goldfinch,  that  in  no  way  does  harm,  yet  does  infinite  good,  not  only  in 
consuming  weed  seeds,  but  in  beautifying  our  landscape  with  its  charming 
colour  and  sweet  notes  ? — (“Rural  World.”) 
Determining  the  Age  of  a  Horse. — Before  we  can  determine  the 
age  of  a  horse  by  the  teeth  it  is  necessary  that  we  have  a  general  under¬ 
standing  of  the  form  and  structure  of  the  teeth.  The  horse  has  two  sets, 
the  temporary  and  the  permanent.  The  temporary  teeth  of  both  upper 
and  lower  jaws  begin  to  fall  out  at  about  the  age  of  three  years  ;  first, 
the  two  centre  incisors  of  the  lower  aud  upper  jaws,  the  next  adjoining 
one  on  each  side  come  out  at  about  four,  and  the  corner  incisors  fall  out 
at  five.  Now,  the  permanent  teeth  fill  these  places  as  fast  as  made  vacant. 
These  permanent  teeth  in  the  crown  have  a  depression  or  cup  three  lines 
deep,  or  one-fourth  of  an  inch.  But  the  cups  of  the  upper  incisors  are 
six  lines,  or  one-half  an  inch  deep.  The  teeth  wear  off  with  a  certain 
rate  or  regularity,  one-twelfth  of  an  inch  per  year,  therefore  the  lower 
two  middle  would  be  worn  smooth  at  the  age  of  six,  the  next  two  at  the 
age  of  seven,  and  the  lower  corner  ones  at  the  age  of  eight.  The  upper 
incisors  are  six  lines  deep,  and  therefore  the  upper  two  middle  incisors 
would  be  worn  off  smooth  at  the  age  of  nine,  the  next  adjoining  one  at 
ten,  and  the  upper  corner  ones  at  the  age  of  eleven.  Thus  all  are  smooth 
at  the  age  of  twelve.  After  the  age  of  twelve  there  is  no  certain  rule  that 
will  apply. — A.  T.  KlNSLY  (in  “  American  Agriculturist  ”). 
Ropy  Milk. — Our  friends,  the  bacteria,  have  to  bear  the  blame  for 
everything  uow-a-days.  Years  ago  nearly  all  the  leading  dairy  authorities 
agreed  in  attributing  the  peculiar  viscous  condition  sometimes  assumed  by 
milk,  and  known  by  the  popular  name  of  ropiness,  to  the  ill-health  of  the 
cows,  or  to  the  consumption  of  some  injurious  herb.  Recent  research, 
however,  has  gone  to  show  that  this  ropiness  is  due,  not  to  either  of 
these  causes,  but  to  the  presence  of  a  bacillus,  to  which  the  name  of 
Bacillus  lactis  viscosus  has  been  given.  Like  most  other  disorders  caused 
by  bacteria  it  is  very  liable  to  communication  to  fresh  milk — so  much 
so,  that  if  cans  in  which  milk  has  once  become  ropy  are  used  for  the  convey¬ 
ance  or  storage  of  other  milk,  the  latter  is  liable  to  become  affected.  The 
only  safe  preventive  in  a  case  of  this  kind  is  a  thorough  scalding  of  the 
vessels  and  their  exposure  to  the  sun  for  several  days  if  they  can  be 
conveniently  spared  from  use  in  the  dairy  for  that  length  of  time. 
Investigations  into  this  subject  were  carried  out  some  time  ago  at  one 
of  the  American  Agricultural  Experiment  Stations,  and  the  researches 
there  made  went  to  show  that  the  bacteria  was  also  liable  to  get  into 
the  milk  through  the  medium  of  water.  In  some  cases  it  was  found 
that  the  bacteria  gained  access  to  the  milk  from  ponds  in  which  water 
was  allowed  to  stagnate,  and  from  which  the  bacteria  got  transferred 
to  the  milk  through  the  medium  of  mud  attached  to  the  cows’  udders. — 
(“  Farmers’  Gazette.”) 
