482 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
May  2l,  1896 
appeared  on  the  verge  of  ruin.  As  it  seemed  a  certainty,  for 
some  time  at  least,  that  English  wool  was  to  be  a  drug  on  the 
market,  it  appeared  folly  to  grow  sheep  more  especially  as  wool 
producers,  and  the  farmers  set  to  work  to  evolve  an  animal 
whose  mutton  was  not  too  coarse  and  too  fat,  and  which  came 
to  maturity  in  the  shortest  given  time.  So  far  so  good- 
Lincolns  and  Leicesters  grew  decidedly  out  of  favour,  except  in 
some  markets  A  down  sheep,  or  at  any  rate  a  cross  of  down, 
seemed  the  desideratum,  and  it  was  produced  and  put  on  the 
market  successfully. 
There  seemed  no  prospect  of  the  old  times  returning,  when 
the  wool  buyer’s  visit  was  made  a  sort  of  festival,  and  the 
cheque  he  left  materially  helped  to  swell  the  balance  at  the 
bank.  It  seemed  to  matter  little  what  the  wool  was,  it  could 
but  be  for  inferior  purposes,  so  the  wool  sheets  were  the 
receptacles  of  the  most  curious  fleeces  known  -  all  sorts  and 
conditions,  and  all  much  of  a  price — and  that  a  shocking 
bad  one. 
Fortune’s  wheel  has  turned,  and  we  as  a  nation  were  not 
prepared  for  it.  For  some  years  great  ladies  of  a  philanthropic 
turn  wore  garments  of  English  manufacture,  or  rather,  manu¬ 
factured  of  English  bright  wool ;  but  in  vain  did  they  pipe  to 
the  middle  class  woman;  as  long  as  Paris  said  “soft  clinging 
goods  ”  no  other  voice  prevailed. 
Far-seeing  men  still  had  faith  in  pure  Lincoln  wool,  and 
they  showed  their  faith  by  action  Viewing  with  dismay  these 
mixed  flocks  a  society  was  formed,  and  the  result  has  been  a 
flock  book  with  the  pedigree  only  of  the  purest  blood  admitted. 
These  men  are  in  a  great  measure  those  who  supply  breeding 
stock  to  Australia,  S  America,  and  other  colonies.  The  admix¬ 
ture  of  Lincoln  with  South  Australian  produces  a  wonderful 
wool,  but  climatic  influences  render  it  necessary  to  import 
fresh  sires  constantly  or  the  wool  will  “  hark  back”  to  the  old 
short  growth. 
As,  perhaps,  few  of  our  readers  see  the  excellent  journals 
published  quarterly  by  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  Eng¬ 
land  we  should  like  to  draw  their  attention  to  a  most  exhaustive 
article  in  the  last  issue  on  what  might  be  called  pure  wool 
cultivation  by  Mr  Turner  of  Bradford.  He  speaks  of  the 
time  during  the  American  War,  and,  still  later,  during  the 
Franco  German  war,  when  the  Bradford  goods  were  first  and 
foremost  in  the  markets,  when  the  lustre  English  wool  was 
at  its  top  price,  and  when  it  had  to  be  supplemented  by  colonial 
wools.  In  1865  be  manufactured  141  million  pounds  (lbs.)  of 
English  wool  and  135  million  pounds  (lbs.)  Colonial  In  1895 
we  had  113  mill  on  lbs.  of  our  own  against  395  million  lbs 
Colonial.  Early  in  the  seventies  a  fall  began  — a  demand  arose 
for  soft  goods — goods  manufactured  from  merino  and  half- 
breds  Down  went  our  wool  to  depths  it  can  surely  never 
reach  again.  Mutton,  not  wool,  became  the  cry ;  and  now  that 
fashion  has  agiin  spoken  for  hard  bright  Bradford  goods  we 
have  little  to  offer  of  the  old  fashioned  wool,  only  a  cross  bred, 
inferior  to  that  produced  so  cheaply  in  our  Colonies. 
Pure  wools  of  the  various  English  breeds  have  each  their 
own  peculiar  place  in  the  manufacturer’s  eye,  and  it  seems  a 
great  oversight  to  do  away  with  what  is  really  good  and  useful 
(and  unobtainable  out  of  England)  for  an  article  that  the 
foreigner  produces  better  than  we.  Mr.  Turner’s  remarks  are 
clear  and  to  the  point  and  he  illustrates  what  he  means  thus  :  — 
Scotch  Black  face  (pure)  is  invaluable  in  the  carpet  trade;  if 
cros  efi,  the  length  and  strength  are  both  reluced,  and  it 
competes  badly  with  East  Indian  wools 
Cotswold  has  sold  letter  during  the  long  depression  than 
any  other  class  of  wool  It  is  used  for  hard  stiff  goods;  crossed 
with  Southdown  it  is  of  no  use  at  all 
Pure  Lustre,  grown  in  Lincolnshire,  Notts,  and  E  R  Yorks, 
and  u-ually  known  as  Lincoln,  is  absolutely  unique  in  character. 
It  can  take  the  place  of  mohair  if  required,  or  used  alone  makes 
a  wonderfully  bright  beautiful  stuff.  Alas  it  is  hard  to  find. 
Mongrel  sheep  cannot  grow  it. 
Then  there  is  the  Leicester,  or  demi-lustre.  This  could  be 
grown  in  the  Midlands  and  Western  counties  ;  but  here,  again, 
more  than  half  the  sheep  are  not  true  to  the  name.  This  wool 
is  finer  than  Lincoln,  but  hardly  so  bright.  Pure,  it  is  excellent; 
crossed,  it  is  nowhere. 
“  Get  the  wool  finer  by  careful  breeding,”  says  Mr.  Turner, 
“by  all  means — that  is,  legitimate  means;  but  don’t  touch 
Southdowns 
Pure  down  wool,  short  and  fine,  is  unequalled  for  hosiery 
goods,  but  let  no  strain  of  long  wool  taint  it. 
Some  farmers  imagine  these  canny  Bradford  buyers  can’t 
detect  a  bit  of  cross  Why,  they  have  handled  wool  all  their 
lives,  and  they  hardly  need  to  see — a  touch  is  sufficient  to 
detect  any  little  “off  breeding,”  if  one  may  be  allowed  such  an 
expression 
We  can  grow  distinctive  wools  here — wools  that  fear  no 
foreign  competition  It  is  of  no  use  trying  to  do  what  the 
distant  Colonies  can  do  far  better  than  we  We  can  never  get 
anything  but  a  third  class  price  for  our  cross-bred  ;  but  for  the 
several  sorts  mentioned  above  we  are  masters  of  the  si  uation 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
The  drought  is  likely  soon  to  become  serious,  and  the  question  to 
most  of  us  will  be,  Is  there  to  be  a  root  crop  ?  When  there  is  moisture 
sufficient  to  start  the  plant,  and  the  seed  bed  is  sufficiently  good,  we 
think  it  best  to  sow  Turnips  at  once.  The  Turnip  will  stand  great  heat 
in  its  early  stages,  and  St.  Swithin  rains  following  a  hot  time  have 
produced  some  of  the  heaviest  crops  on  record,  but  there  must  be  a 
plant  to  work  on,  even  if  it  he  only  a  weakly  one. 
At  any  rate  there  is  a  fine  chance  to  clean  the  land,  and  if  roots  for 
the  present  be  hopeless  we  must  take  advantage  of  the  opportunity  by 
judicious  ploughing  and  working  to  eradicate  noxious  vegetation. 
Mangold  seed  went  in  well,  and  having  received  a  good  rolling  in 
order  to  retain  as  much  moisture  as  possible  we  must  hope  for  the  best, 
but  fear  that  germination  will  be  very  poor  without  a  soaking  rain. 
The  hoe  must  be  kept  constantly  at  work  now  ;  it  means  death  to  every¬ 
thing  it  touches  under  present  conditions,  and  once  over  will  be  enough. 
Sheep  pastures  are  failing  fast,  and  happy  is  the  man  who  has  a  long 
pie  of  Mangolds  to  fall  back  upon.  The  sheep  look  fairly  well  and  healthy, 
and  that  is  usually  the  case  in  a  dry  season  ;  the  ewes  would  be  better 
now  without  their  wool,  and  should  be  washed  at  once.  The  wool  only 
overheats  them,  and  may  itself  decrease  in  weight  if  not  removed 
shortly.  We  are  sorry  to  say  that  the  market  for  it  is  not  in  as  healthy 
a  state  as  last  year. 
With  pastures  looking  barer  every  day  it  is  tempting  to  see  the 
Mangold  heap  and  to  take  a  few  loads  to  the  ewes  and  lambs,  but 
poor  as  pastures  may  be  now  a  long  drought  may  make  them  infinitely 
worse,  and  then  the  roots  will  be  a  necessity,  not  a  luxury  as  they  may 
be  called  now.  Fencing  must  be  carefully  attended  to ;  it  is  much 
easier  to  keep  sheep  in  a  satisfied  condition  than  to  eradicate  the  rest¬ 
lessness  caused  by  once  having  broken  fence.  There  is  always  difficulty 
about  fencing  when  pastures  are  bare. 
Whilst  waiting  for  a  Turnip  rain  we  may  usefully  employ  the  time 
in  thrashing  out  any  grain  left  in  stack.  This  is  a  great  year  for  mice, 
and  they  will  consume  a  large  quantity  per  week.  It  is  advisable,  too 
to  tie  up  the  wheat  straw  when  being  thrashed,  as  it  is  handier  to  use  as 
thatch  and  there  will  be  less  waste. 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Oamden  Square,  London. 
Lat.51°  32' 40"  N. :  Long.  0°  8/0"  W.:  Altitude  111  feet 
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. 
May. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Wind. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun. 
On 
Grass. 
Sunday  ..  10 
Inchs. 
30-211 
leg. 
58-1 
deg. 
52-6 
N.E. 
deg. 
65-3 
deg. 
73*) 
deg 
44-3 
deg. 
117-7 
deg 
36-2 
Inchs. 
Monday  . .  11 
30-305 
56-2 
51-4 
N.E. 
56"2 
74-9 
44-2 
118-9 
37  2 
— 
Tuesday  ..  12 
30-420 
63*2 
54-7 
N.E. 
57  3 
78-4 
4i,o 
117-4 
38-9 
— 
Wednesday  13 
30-377 
54-9 
49-9 
N. 
58-8 
71-9 
48-4 
108-9 
44-9 
— 
Thursday..  14 
Friday  ..  15 
30-207 
57-6 
53-1 
N. 
59-0 
76-3 
45-9 
118-2 
37-8 
— 
30-100 
66-0 
5ST 
N.W. 
59-1 
719 
48-4 
113-9 
38-1 
— 
Saturday  ..  16 
30-236 
52-7 
46-8 
N. 
58-9 
62-5 
44-8 
105-9 
37T 
— 
30-265 
58-4 
521 
57  8 
72-7 
461 
1!4'4 
38-6 
— 
10th. -Bright  sunshine  throughout. 
11th.— Brilliant  from  sunrise  to  suDset. 
12th.  Almost  cloudless  day  ;  threatening  rain  in  evening. 
13tb. — Bright  sunshine  all  day. 
14th. — Sunshine  all  day,  hut  hazy  at  times  ;  clear  night. 
15th.— Frequently  sunny,  but  not  clear,  and  cloudy  at  times. 
16th.— Generally  cloudy,  but  frequently  sunny  in  afternoon. 
Another  rainless  week.  There  has  been  no  rain  since  April  16th  (except  0-08  inch 
on  the  29th),  and  there  has  been  no  single  fall  amounting  to  0T0  inch  since  M  irch  28th. 
The  temperature  of  the  past  week  has  also  been  high,  about  that  usual  in  the  middle  of 
June.— G.  J.  Symons. 
