« 
362 
Journal  of  horticulture  and  cottage  gardener. 
April  16,  188& 
strange  calves  without  hesitation.  For  her  own  comfort  she 
may  induce  the  calves  to  suck.  This  will  cause  a  new  flow 
of  milk,  and  should  she  or  the  calves  he  separated  again  there 
will  be  great  danger  from  the  sudden  stoppage  of  milking,  and 
downfall  may  again  ensue. 
The  last  year  or  two  plenty  of  calves  could  be  bought  a  few 
days  o’d  for  10s.  or  15s.  each  These  might  appear  cheap,  but 
a  Shornhorn-bred  ca'f  bought  for  £2  would  in  the  long  run 
prove  infinitely  better  worth  the  extra  money  At  the  age  of 
two  or  two-and  a-half  years  the  better  bred  calf  would  be  worth 
very  much  more  than  the  25s.  or  30s.  difference  in  original  price, 
and  the  difference  in  cost  of  keep  would  be  nothing  There  is 
as  much  difference  in  the  thriving  capabilities  of  stock  as  there 
is  in  the  capabilities  of  ancient  and  modern  machinery. 
Animals  are  only  meat  and  milk  making  machines,  and  should 
be  treated  as  such  The  best  animal  is  that  which  arrives  at 
maturity  with  the  least  possible  expenditure  The  best  machine 
is  that  which  does  the  greatest  amount  of  work  in  the  least 
time,  and  with  the  smallest  amount  of  fuel. 
A  manufacturer  when  putting  down  new  machinery  does 
not  count  present  cost  alone — that  is  very  immaterial  in  com- 
parison  with  the  work  achieved.  That  there  has  been  great 
improvement  in  cattle  breeding  no  one  disputes,  but  there  is 
still  a  very  wide  field  for  further  advances.  See  what  has  been 
done  in  certain  districts  of  Ireland  by  the  introduction  and 
establishment  of  herds  of  high  -  class  Shorthorns.  This  is 
private  enterprise.  Irish  beasts  that  come  over  now  are  much 
better  in  type  than  formerly.  There  is  room  here  for  acti  n 
by  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  espe  ially  if  it  were  possible  for 
the  owners  of  small  holdings  to  secure  the  services  of  good  bulls 
bred  of  milling  strain  for  small  or  nominal  fees.  As  it  appears 
probable  that  the  farming  of  the  future  will  be  farming  of  the 
many  not  the  few,  no  doubt  Queen’s  premiums  will  be  given  for 
bulls  of  such  a  description,  and  the  production  of  milk  will  thus 
be  greatly  increased. 
The  great  objection  to  a  dairy  herd  entirely  of  Jerseys  or  a 
li-te  strain  is  the  difficulty  in  the  disposal  of  bull  calves,  other 
than  those  needed  for  sires,  for  no  power  on  earth  can  make 
them  into  butcher’s  beef.  Neither  has  a  market  yet  been  found 
for  the  lean  old  cows  past  their  mdkmg  days.  Possibly  someone 
may  say,  “But  are  not  most  o'  the  calv<  s  heifers?”  By  no 
means,  and  the  chances  are  that  if  you  have  a  cow  you  value 
the  most  she  is  usually  terribly  disappointing,  and  prefers  sons 
to  daughters. 
Now,  with  a  good  Shorthorn  herd  all  are  feedable,  and  thus 
all  can  be  turned  into  money.  We  again  reiterate  our  former 
advice.  In  beginning  stock-breeding  buy  the  best  cows  you  can 
get  hold  of,  and  go  to  the  expense  of  a  hlue-blooded  “  Royaj 
Duke”  as  s  re  The  expense  need  not  be  ruinous  if  you  buy  a 
yearling,  and  if  you  are  in  any  doubt  yourself  as  to  your  own 
judgment,  one  of  the  great  Shorthorn  auctioneers  will  gladly 
execute  a  commission  for  you  at  some  forthcoming  sale. 
There  is  such  a  thing  as  fashion  in  colour,  but  for  the 
purposes  of  the  average  farmer  and  breeder  that  need  not  be 
considered.  We  remember  what  wonderfully  good  stock  was 
got  by  a  white  bull,  whose  pedigree  was  as  pure  as  his  hide,  and 
he  quite  disproved  the  theory  that  obtains  in  some  communities 
as  to  the  delicacy  of  white  cattle.  Of  course,  there  is  white 
and  white  A  dead  chalky  white  may,  and  possibly  does, 
indicate  certain  delicacy ;  but  if  you  see  a  white  bull  with 
plenty  of  yellow  hair  on  his  neck,  you  may  rest  assured  there 
is  no  inherent  delicacy  there. 
It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  not  to  leave  calves  out 
too  late  in  the  season  By  the  end  of  September  calves  should 
be  brought  up  at  night,  and  should  an  early  winter  set  in  let 
them  be  taken  up  altogether  ;  certainly  none  should  be  found 
in  the  fields  n  November,  however  mild  it  may  be.  A  few  cold 
nights  will  take  off  more  from  the  value  o'  young  stock  than 
many  weeks’  care  will  put  back.  To  the  casual  observer  this  is 
not  apparent,  and  it  is  only  when  after  being  up  for  some  weeks 
that  the  slow  growth  and  improvement  show  that  there  has 
been  some  hidden  mischief  somewhere. 
Happily  calves  (ar*er  the  first  fortnight  or  so)  are  liable  to 
very  few  diseases.  There  are  districts  where  calf  rearing  seems 
a  difficult,  nay  impossible  thing,  owing  to  the  prevalence  of 
what  is  known  as  “black  leg.”  Cure  it  you  cannot  ;  prevent  it 
you  may.  It  is  found  that  only  calv  s  that  are  doing  too  well 
fall  victims  For  calves  that  are  in  boxe<  the  remedy  is  easy, 
In  warm  weather  (unnatural  weather  early  in  the  spring)  be 
careful  to  lessen  the  supply  of  rich  stimulating  food,  and  keep 
the  blood  cool.  There  is  some  pasturage  totally  unfitted  for 
growing  calves,  and  common  sense  will  teach  breeders  which  to 
avoid  You  cannot  well  curb  a  calf’s  appetite  when  on  grass, 
but  you  can  keep  it  off  rich  succulent  pasture,  such  as  would 
be  found  in  low  lying  meadows  The  use  of  the  seton  too  i» 
strongly  recommended  by  some  authorities. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
The  weather  is  still  showery,  and  though  there  have  been  one  or  two 
sunny  warm  days,  on  the  whole  it  may  be  put  down  as  cold,  and  with  the 
wind  steadily  blowing  from  the  north,  likely  to  remain  so.  Work  has 
been  accumulating  the  last  week  or  two,  and  cannot  now  be  said  to  be 
as  forward  relatively  as  it  was  six  weeks  ago.  A  really  fine  spell  of 
weather  is  now  urgently  needed. 
Spring  or  Lent  corn  is  all  in,  except  where  sheep  are  still  on  Swedes. 
Present  prices  of  mutton  do  not  encourage  any  wasteful  hurry  in  dis¬ 
posing  of  the  roots  still  on  hand :  96  lbs.  of  shearling  mutton  for  37s. 
must  represent  the  lowest  depth,  so  he  must  hold  on  as  long  as  possible  ; 
5s.  per  held  on  the  fat  sheep  would  pay  for  many  acres  of  late  Barley, 
so  the  corn  this  time  must  take  its  chance. 
The  cold  weather  is  beginning  to  take  effect  on  the  forward  Wheats, 
which  show  signs  of  aisuming  prematurely  golden  tints,  if  present  con¬ 
ditions  are  long  continued.  Nitrate  of  soda  is  a  good  antidote,  but 
should  be  used  sparingly  ;  60  lbs.  per  acre,  mixed  with  a  little  salt  to 
assist  in  a  more  even  distribution,  being  generally  as  much  as  it  would 
pay  to  apply. 
Cabbages  will  want  horse-hoeing  now,  where  large  enough,  and  after 
being  hand-hoed  in  the  rows  will  be  better  for  having  a  little  earth  put 
to  them  with  an  earthing  plough.  Top-dressings  should  have  been 
applied  previously,  of  course  ;  and,  in  this  connection  the  Cabbage  can 
hardly  be  treated  too  generously.  There  is  an  erroneous  idea  that  light 
soils  are  always  the  easiest  to  work,  and  strong  land  vice  versa,  but  that 
thi*  is  not  an  infallible  rule  we  have  learned  by  experience.  Light  land, 
with  plenty  of  stone  in  it  is  easy  to  work  and  clean,  though  not  always 
to  plough,  but  such  without  stone  in  it,  generally  known  as  “  blowing 
sand,”  is  impossible  to  clear  with  hoi’se  implements,  nothing  but  a  hand 
fork  is  of  any  use. 
Such  land  has  always  depth  of  soil  (such  as  it  is),  and  it  is  this  very 
depth  combined  with  looseness  that  creates  the  difficulty.  Couch  Grass 
revels  in  such  stuff,  and  drags  and  harrows  are  only  like  brushes  and 
combs,  they  pull  out  a  small  quantity  and  bury  the  remainder.  Wheat  at 
£5  per  quarter,  we  suppose,  was  responsible  for  rescuing  this  “room  out 
of  doors,”  from  its  original  state  of  common,  and  it  seems  little  less  than 
a  miracle  that  it  has  not  all  relapsed  to  that  state  long  ago.  We  have 
tried  it  with  the  three  or  four  years’  sheep  pasture  system  thoroughly, 
but  the  herbage  after  the  second  year  alwa}s  became  mossy,  except  in 
hot  seasons,  when  there  would  be  no  herbage  at  all  to  speak  of ;  and  the 
worst  point  was,  that  clean  it  as  you  would  before  sowing  down,  it  had 
always  developed  a  grand  plant  of  twitch  in  the  three  years. 
We  have  known  many  cases  of  farmers  leaving  strong  land  in  disgust, 
and  eager  for  something  ea9y  to  plough,  taking  light  land  of  this  descrip¬ 
tion,  and  finding  that  the  fire  was  no  better  than  the  frying  pan.  JExperto 
crede ,  leave  such  stuff  alone. 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Oamdbn  Square,  London. 
Lat.51°  32' 40"  N. ;  Long.  0°  S' 0"  W.;  Altitude  111  foet. 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  the  Day. 
1896 
|  Barometer 
at  32°, and 
|  Sea  Level. 
Hygrometer. 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot. 
Shade  Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Rain. 
April 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Wind. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun. 
On 
Grass. 
Sunday  .. 
5 
Inchs. 
30-197 
deg. 
50-2 
deg. 
49-1 
N.E. 
deg. 
44-2 
deg 
55-4 
deg 
43-8 
deg. 
68-1 
deg. 
44-7 
Inchs. 
o-ou 
Monday  .. 
6 
30-230 
52-4 
4-rO 
N.W. 
45-1 
56-2 
45-8 
K9-9 
38-4 
— 
Tuesday  . . 
7 
30-276 
55  1 
4->-9 
N.W. 
460 
63-0 
48-3 
S9-4 
— 
Wednesday 
8 
30-285 
56-9 
51  2 
N.W. 
47-9 
65-4 
49-2 
102-8 
4  1-9 
— 
Thursday  . . 
8 
30-262 
53-6 
47-4 
N.W. 
49-0 
58-8 
49  9 
100-4 
38-9 
— 
Friday  . . 
10 
30  231 
54-3 
48  0 
W. 
48-9 
59  2 
41-6 
98-9 
34-1 
0-021 
Saturday  .. 
11 
29-916 
47-3 
46-2 
N. 
48-0 
55-4 
40-8 
92-8 
35-4 
U-018 
30-207 
52-8 
48  5 
47  0 
59-3 
45-6 
94-0 
38-8 
0-050 
REMARKS. 
5th. — Small  rain  til'  about  noon,  fair  afterwards. 
6th. — Dull  day,  with  occasional  sunshine. 
7th. — Sunny  morning  ;  generally  cloudy  after  noon. 
8th. — Sunny  almost  throughout ;  solar  halo  10  to  11  A.M. 
9th. — Fine  and  mild,  wi’h  frequent  intervals  of  sunshine. 
10th. — Generally  overcast  in  morning  ;  slight  shower  at  1  P.M. ;  much  sun  in  afternoon. 
11th. — Gale,  with  alternate  cloud  and  sunshine,  and  occasional  showers;  solar  halo 
at  10  A.M. 
'  A  fine,  warm,  dry  week — no  frost.— G.  J,  SYMONS. 
