364 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Octo:ber  8,  1896. 
Alas  !  now  tlie  years  that  the  locust  hath  eaten  are  upon  him, 
and  this  year  of  ruined  harvest  will  in  many  cases  be  the  end 
of  the  struggle  maintained  so  gallantly  for  so  long.  The  dry 
spring,  so  favourable  to  the  Wheat  crop  generally,  caused  great 
delay  in  the  sowing  of  Barley  and  Oats,  and  the  consequence 
has  been  that  whei*e  from  its  early  maturity  the  Wheat  was 
ready  to  cut  in  good  time  and  was  safely  stacked,  the  other  two 
crops  were  later  in  ripening,  and  thus  have  had  to  endure  the 
constant  drenchings  which  in  many  instances  have  completely 
ruined  not  only  the  corn  but  the  straw  as  well.  On 
-September  2Gth  a  leading  Xorth  Country  paper  pub'ished 
reports  of  the  harvest  generally,  as  found  in  North  Lincolnshire* 
Notts,  Yorkshire,  and  other  northern  counties.  It  is  the  saddest 
account  we  have  read  for  years,  and  we  were  told  on  Saturday 
by  an  eye-witness  that  the  state  of  things  in  Warwickshire  was 
■equally  bad — hundreds  of  acres  ungathered  and  practically 
destroyed. 
In  other  years  the  maltsters  have  looked  for  and  found  some 
of  their  best  examples  of  Barley  from  the  Wold  districts  of 
Lincolnshire  and  Yorks.  These  parts  from  their  altitude  are 
usually  more  backward  than  the  lowlands.  .  It  is  essential  that 
Barley  should  be  of  fine  quality  and  good  colour.  How  about 
those  acres,  not  odd  fields  but  whole  parishes,  where  the  crops 
have  been  cut  four,  five,  or  even  eight  weeks?  What  can  the 
outlook  be  ?  What  can  be  the  value  of  such  stuff?  We  heard 
last  market  of  well-got  samples  making  303.  per  quarter;  we 
heard,  too,  of  others  at  l-5s. 
No  difference  in  the  manner  of  tilling,  no  difference  in  the 
■<ccst  of  growing  and  harvesting,  and  yet  this  difference  in  the 
price.  Thousands  of  quarters  will  never  come  to  market  at  all 
and  this  was  the  crop  on  which  the  farmer  was  building  his  hopes. 
Alas !  for  the  uncertainty  of  human  hopes  To  all  appearance 
in  August  the  Barley  crop  would  be  above  the  average  in 
■  quantity  and  quality.  At  the  end  of  September  the  farmer 
rides  round  his  fields  only  to  see  blackened  sheaves  and  rotted 
■corn.  Even  in  those  parishes  where  the  corn  was  got  in  fair 
condition  the  weather  broke  so  suddenly  and  the  rain  came  down 
so  persistently  that  only  a  small  portion  of  the  stacks  got 
properly  covered  down.  We  are  not  quite  sure  if  in  some  cases 
the  farmer  and  his  men  are  quite  alive  to  the  necessity  of  having 
a  supply  of  straw  at  hand  in  the  form  of  “  bats,”  with  which  to 
make  each  stack  fairly  secure  as  soon  as  built  A  good  workman 
will  so  arrange  these  “  bats  ”  as  to  make  his  work  almost  water¬ 
proof.  We  were  talking  with  an  old  foreman  to-day  who  said 
when  he  first  began  stacking  no  one  ever  dreamed  of  leaving  a 
stack  unless  well  “  batted  ”  down  by  the  most  capable  mau  on 
the  premises 
Not  only  are  the  grain  crops  in  many  places  partially 
or  utterly  destroyed,  but  rumours  are  abroad  touching  the 
Potatoes.  Up  to  the  time  of  writing  there  has  not  been  much 
wholesale  lifting,  but  those  fields  which  have  been  sampled  prove 
there  is  mischief  abroad. 
Reports  of  truckloads  returned  on  the  growers*  hands  have 
come  in  from  various  neighbourhoods,  and  where  there  is  not 
Actual  disease  a  second  growth  induced  by  the  wet  has  spoilt 
the  quality  of  what  should  have  taken  top  price  in  Covent 
Garden. 
Early  sown  white  Turnips,  too,  appea,r  affected,  water  having 
lodged  in  the  top  has  caused  decay.  We  trust  this  is  partial, 
but  reports  to  this  effect  have  reached  us  from  Cumberland  and 
L  ncolushire. 
It  is  wonderful  how  the  pastures  have  mended,  but  watery, 
sodden  green  meat  is  not  very  comforting  to  the  stomach  of 
wet,  starved  cattle.  We  see  that  this  year  the  corn  which 
has  suffered  most  is  that  tied  by  the  self-binder.  Is  it  because 
it  is  bound  up  so  neatly  and  tightly?  Yes,  the  heads  are 
aU  so  compact  and  level  that  there  is  no  natural  slope  as 
in  hand-tied  sheaves  for  the  rain  to  run  off,  therefore  much, 
moisture  lodges. 
This  winter  will  prove  disastrous  to  another  class  of  men 
whose  interests  are  closely  bound  up  with  the  farmer— we  mean 
the  manufacturer  of  various  feeding  cakes  and  meal.  With 
unmarketable  corn  on  his  hands  the  farmer  will  do  his  utmost 
to  convert  it  by  grinding  or  steaming  into  suitable  food  for  his 
stock,  and  by  this  means  try  to  curtail  his  cake  bill,  and 
we  fancy  whatever  else  is  dear.  Fat  bacon  will  become  a 
drug  in  the  market — good  for  the  consumer,  but  how  about 
the  poor  producer  ?  As  to  the  value  of  damaged  corn  for 
stock  we  may  treat  in  the  future,  but  the  farmer,  like  many 
others,  has  to  make  the  best  of  a  bad  job  and  say,  “  My 
poverty  and  not  my  will  compels.” 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
More  time  lost  1  The  weather,  though  less  wet,  has  been  anything 
but  good  ;  and  though  the  high  winds  have  assisted  in  the  gathering  of 
the  miserable  remains  of  the  harvest,  otherwise  work  has  been  almost  at 
a  standstill.  Autumn  work  is  now  hardly  more  forward  than  is  usually 
the  case  after  a  cold  backward  summer.  The  anticipated  advantage  to  be 
gained  by  a  good  autumn  fallow  has  disappeared  like  a  will-o’-the-wisp, 
and  we  can  do  nothing  now  but  hope  for  a  dry  spring.  Surely  there  can 
be  no  scarcity  of  water. 
Thatching  has  been  completed  under  difficulties,  but  thrashing  has 
been  almost  impossible — ie..  without  spoiling  the  grain;  so  few  days 
have  there  been  without  rain  and  dry  weather  for  thrashing  is  most 
necessary,  the  stacks  have  dried  so  badly.  Wheats  are  coming  out  fairly, 
but  Barley  and  Oats  are  very  variable,  and  are  likely  to  remain  so  ;  40s. 
and  18i.  for  Barley  in  the  same  market  show  the  great  difference  between 
samples,  but  large  quantities  lately  got  would  not  fetch  even  the  lowest 
of  these  figures,  but  are  practically  unsaleable. 
We  are  at  last  able  to  roll  the  land  ploughed  for  Wheat,  and  drilling 
will  commence  about  the  10th.  Every  season  shows  the  gain  of  an  early 
seeding.  We  insure  an  earlier  harvest,  besides  saving  seed  and  cost  of 
tenting.  Nine  pecks  of  seed  early  in  October  are  ample,  wait  three 
weeks  longer  and  eleven  pecks  will  not  be  too  many. 
Land  still  to  plough  for  this  crop  we  should  think  should  be  turned 
over  pretty  deeply,  say  7  inches  ;  deeper  ploughing,  except  on  strong 
lands,  generally  means  a  better  tilth  as  well  as  a  deeper  one,  and  for 
drilling  late  the  seed  must  be  thoroughly  well  covered  to  protect  it  from 
the  birds  big  and  little,  we  say  little  advisedly,  for  larks  can  do  untold 
damage  to  Wheat  badly  covered.  They  dig  up  the  grain  just  after  the 
green  shoot  appears  above  the  soil,  and  the  finer  and  plumper  the  sample 
of  seed  used  the  greater  inducement  have  the  birds  to  dig  it  up.  Being 
very  much  overrun  with  larks  we  always  prefer  a  thin  badly  filled  Wheat 
for  late  sowing  for  the  reason  just  mentioned. 
Heige-trimming  is  work  that  can  be  easily  done  now  if  hands  can  be 
spared.  The  fences  of  the  fields  coming  fallows  should  be  sided  up,  and 
the  land  ploughed  as  close  up  as  possible.  Scotching  and  plashing  may 
be  left  uitil  more  pressing  work  is  completed. 
Pastures  are  full  of  meat,  but  it  is  very  washy,  and  milk  cows  and 
young  stock  must  be  helped  with  a  judicious  allow?.nce  of  cake  and  bay 
or  both. 
MBTEOROLOGHOAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
OAUDUK  SqUARJB,  LONDON. 
Lat.  510  ja/40»  N. ;  Long.  0°  8/  0"  W.;  Altitude  HI  teet. 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  the  Day. 
1896. 
September 
M  17^  • 
Sag 
Hygrometer. 
Direo- 
tiou  of 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot. 
Shade  Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
d 
iS 
and 
October. 
5  w  ce 
ofi  40  a> 
30  CO 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Wind. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun. 
Ou 
Graaa. 
Sunday  ..  27 
luohs. 
29-786 
deg. 
58-3 
deg. 
56-9 
S.W. 
■leg. 
54-3 
deg. 
65-1 
deg. 
49-7 
deg. 
81-0 
deg 
45-2 
Inchs 
0T20 
Monday  . .  28 
2!)-87» 
50-4 
4S-1 
N. 
64-2 
5S-3 
44-0 
101-7 
398 
Tuesday  . .  29 
30-116 
50  6 
47-3 
S. 
63-2 
53-7 
42-9 
89-7 
37-3 
Wednesday  30 
30-417 
64-6 
5-2-3 
N. 
53-3 
65-8 
44-8 
102-0 
38-4 
Thursday..  1 
Friday  . ,  2 
30-493 
43-3 
48-3 
N.E. 
53-1 
57  9 
40-7 
63-6 
35-3 
— 
30172 
54-.3 
62-9 
8.W. 
63-0 
62-4 
43-2 
82-9 
44-2 
0-050 
Saturday  . .  3 
29-976 
58-3 
57-J 
S.W. 
54-9 
62-8 
54-2 
69-7 
53-2 
0-010 
3:,-120 
63-6 
51-6 
53-6 
61-7 
46-4 
84-4 
41-9 
0-180 
REMARKS. 
27th.— Overcast  morning ;  rain  from  4  P.M.  to  7  p.ji.;  clear  cold  night. 
28th. — Almost  unbroken  sunshine. 
29th.— Fine,  with  much  faint  sunshine. 
30th.— Foggy  early  ;  bright  sunny  day. 
1st.— Fog  till  10  A.ii.;  fair  after,  with  occasional  sun  in  morning. 
2nd.— Fine,  with  occasional  sunshine  in  morning. 
3rd. — Rain  in  small  hours ;  overcast  and  mild  day. 
An  average  autumn  week.— Q.  J.  Symons. 
