434 
JOUkN'AL  OP  POkftCULTUkE  ANT)  COTTAGE  GAkDPKPk. 
Octbber  29,  1891 
wages  are  ready  money  transactions  —no  returns  of  10  per  cent, 
however  bad  times  are  Heaven  forbid  that  we  grudge  the 
labourer  his  hire,  but  often  enough  we  find  great  difficulty  in 
getting  that  hire  ready  fortnight  by  fortnight. 
Michaelmas  brings  another  consideration — hapjiily  not  many 
landlords  demand  their  rents  exactly  at  the  legal  time;  indeed, 
if  they  did  they  would  stand  but  poor  chance  of  getting  them. 
Some  indeed  like  a  November  settlement,  others  defer  the 
festival  till  Christmas  week  (on  the  principle  of  leavening  the 
Christmas  mirth),  and  others  with  great  consideration  defer  the 
dread  day  till  late  in  January.  This  enables  the  farmer  to  turn 
round  a  bit.  Corn  has  had  a  chance  of  getting  into  condition 
(it  will  need  a  good  bit  of  time  this  year).  Some  fat  bullocks 
have  possibly  gone  off  for  Christmas  beef,  and  the  Potato  pie  is 
lessened 
In  the  North  of  England  Martinmas  is  a  period  of  great 
money  disbursement.  The  custom  on  many  farms,  especially 
isolated  ones,  is  to  board  young  farm  servants  with  the  foreman 
They  are  thus  always  on  the  spot  early  and  late,  and  it  does 
away  (in  part)  with  the  necessity  for  so  many  cottages.  On  some 
of  the  large  farms,  in  addition  to  the  horsemen  proper,  will  be 
found  “  seedsmen,”  unmarried  garth  men  and  shepherds,  not  the 
head  professional,  but  the  underlings  whose  work  is  among  the 
Turnip  sheep 
Wages  vary  according  to  age  and  ability. 
Horsemen  ... 
Seedsmen  ... 
Garthmen  ... 
Shepherds  ... 
£8  to  £24  a  year. 
£18  to  £24  „ 
£20  to  £25  ,, 
£20  to  £28  •„ 
These  claims  have  all  to  be  met  early  on  the  morning  of 
November  23rd.  The  foreman,  too,  is  paid  in  many  instances 
by  the  year,  and  there  is  his  bill  for  board  of  men  servants. 
That  is  the  money  part  of  it,  for  he  takes  out  a  certain  moiety 
in  bacon,  milk,  and  Potatoes.  His  wife,  too,  comes  in  for  her 
percentage  on  dairy  produce  and  the  results  of  the  poultry 
yard.  Possibly,  too,  there  is  a  small  sum  for  rearing  calves 
On  a  large  cattle  grazing  farm  we  knew  the  foreman’s  wife 
received  Ss.  for  every  pail  fed  calf  ;  on  another  farm,  where  only 
the  purest  of  pure  blood  was  tolerated,  her  remuneration  was 
10s.  per  head.  All  these  accumulated  payments  make  up  a 
good  round  sum,  to  be  found  somewhere  in  Martinmas  week. 
So  far  for  demands  in  hard  cash  There  are  other  creditors 
at  our  gates,  and  their  claims  have  to  be  met.  How  are  we 
going  to  face  the  hungry  necessities  of  our  live  stock  ?  No 
great  haystacks  adorn  our  yards,  and  the  less  said  about  the 
feeding  qualities  of  the  rain-besoaked  straw  the  better.  Fortu¬ 
nately  there  is  a  good  bite  of  grass  yet,  watery  though  it  may  be ; 
still  there  is  something  on  the  ground — a  something  that  will 
fill  up  space  at  any  rate,  and,  supplemented  by  a  little  dry  food 
will  keep  stock  going  for  some  time  yet  We  like  to  see  a  good 
cover  ng  of  grass  at  this  season';  it  makes  a  little  protection  for 
the  young  blades  against  bitiog  spring  frosts.  Remember, 
however,  that  much  grass  may  be  destroyed  by  being  grazed 
when  too  wet,  or  a  great  percentage  is  trodden  down  and 
utterly  destroyed.  Frost,  too,  on  wet  land  is  very  destructive — 
or,  to  put  it  more  clearly,  each  sheep  and  bullock  then  destroys 
with  its  four  feet  as  much  as  it  consumes  by  its  mouth. 
We  sadly  want  a  little  sunshine  to  dry  and  mellow  our  root 
crops.  In  the  state  they  are  at  present  a  severe  winter  must 
have  serious  results.  It  is  best  always  to  be  prepared  for  the 
worst  and  we  sleep  easier  for  knowing  the  Swedes  are  in  pies, 
and  the  common  Turnips  earthed  up.  The  pies  should  contain 
about  two  loads  each,  and  the  Turnips  are  easily  earthed  up  with 
a  plough.  Here  pieing  Swedes  is  done  by  “take  ”  or  piecework, 
at  Ss  per  acre.  Even  musty  cut  straw  may  be  made  tasty  by 
an  admixture  of  boiled  linseed,  wheat,  or  barley  meal.  We  also 
like  to  add  some  pulped  roots,  and  prefer  that  this  mixture 
be  made  some  little  time  before  being  used. 
If  this  wet  continues  much  longer  there  is  a  great  possibility 
of  fluke  rot  showing  itself  among  the  sheep,  sheep  being  essenti¬ 
ally  animals  that  need  a  dry  layer. 
We  never  think,  too,  we  have  so  good  a  crop  of  lambs  after 
a  wet  autumn — certainly  the  ewes  are  not  in  so  good  condition. 
Remember  now  is  the  time  to  prepare  for  a  fall  of  healthy 
lambs  in  the  spring.  It  is  but  poor  false  economy  to  consider, 
as  so  many  do,  that  anything  will  do  for  “  auld  youghs,”  and 
often  that  “  anything  ”  means  little  or  nothing. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
“  How  do  the  waters  come  down  at  Lodore  ?  ’’  Not  having  seen  the 
waterfall  we  cannot  say  ;  but  if  the  description  of  it  in  Southey’s  poem 
is  a  correct  one,  we  think  we  have  seen  something  very  much  like  it, 
but  nearer  home,  during  the  past  two  monthi.  At  any  rate,  the  final 
lines,  “  And  so  never  ending,  but  always  descending,’’  are  most  applicable 
to  the  rain  of  which  we  have  had,  and  are  having,  such  sad  experience. 
Week  by  week  passes  away,  and  the  goal  of  completion  of  autumn  work 
seems  almost  as  far  off  as  ever.  Nearly  half  the  Potato  crop  is  still  to 
be  lifted  ;  much  Wheat  remains  to  be  drilled,  and  the  Mangolds  waiting 
to  be  stored  will  have,  under  the  most  favourable  circumstances,  to  wait 
long  into  November.  The  labour  which  was  so  plentiful  in  August  has 
become  gradually  scarcer,  as  time  has  been  lost,  and  farmers,  in  a  scared 
hurry,  have  anxiously  competed  for  the  few  hands  available.  Very  little 
threshing  can  be  done  ;  perhaps  a  good  thing,  as  it  helps  to  increase  the 
firmness  of  the  corn  markets. 
The  value  of  good  stacking  is  this  year  very  manifest.  Stacks 
properly  roofed  have  taken  very  little  harm,  though  but  lately  thatched, 
whilst  others  have  been  soaked  halfway  through.  The  full  damage 
caused  by  the  wet  will  not  indeed  be  thoroughly  known  until  the  whole 
of  the  stacks  have  been  threshed. 
Cattle  are  now  entirely  in  the  yards,  and  will  most  likely  remain 
there.  Now  is  the  time  to  test  the  qualities  of  the  cowman.  Cattle  will 
thrive  anyhow  in  February  and  March,  but  not  so  in  the  shortening  days 
before  Christmas.  The  food  at  this  period  must  be  sound  and  good ; 
but  besides  that  it  is  most  desirable  that  the  mangers  and  tumbrils 
should  be  kept  clean,  and  that  the  meals  should  be  regular  and 
punctual.  If  animals  are  fed  punctually  they  do  not  fidget  about, 
and  they  rest  better.  It  is  a  bad  plan  to  give  cattle  more  than  they 
csn  clean  up,  and  the  feeder  should  make  it  his  business  to  know 
exactly  how  much  each  lot  can  consume,  and  give  them  just  that  and 
no  more. 
If  cattle  are  being  fed  off  on  cut  straw  and  pulped  rcots,  with  cake 
and  hay,  it  is  difficult  to  get  them  to  clean  all  up.  In  such  cases  we 
have  removed  the  leavings  to  another  yard  occupied  by  growing  stock  or 
incalvers,  who  have  readily  consumed  it,  particularly  if  a  few  handfuls 
of  malt'Culms  have  been  added  as  a  flavouring. 
Pig  should  now  be  feeding  rapidly,  and  potatoes,  with  barleymeal  or 
sharps,  their  sole  food.  Here,  again,  little  and  often,  with  as  much 
regularity  as  possible,  should  be  the  watchword  ;  and  when  pigs  are 
geUing  very  fat  and  eating  badly,  a  day’s  penning  may  do  more  good 
tUan  harm. 
OUR  LETTER  BOX. 
I,ate-cat  Grass  (^Reader'). — 1,  If  the  grass  were  left  on  the  land 
it  would  be  impossible  to  cut  it  next  year  ;  2,  Twelve  cartloads  of  good 
manure  may  be  applied  ;  3,  The  grass  may  be  made  into  silage  by  very 
heavily  weighting.  As  it  must  be  led  off  this  would  be  the  best  plan. 
It  might  not  be  a  snceess,  but  it  is  the  only  cbance.  It  would  not  fire, 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS, 
OAMDKN  SQUARB,  l40:UD0M. 
Lat.SlosaMO"  N. :  Long.  0°  8/ 0"  W.;  Altitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  thb  Day. 
1896 
Sag 
S  c8  > 
ao;,S 
Hygrometer. 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot. 
Shade  Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Rnln. 
October. 
u  cQ  es 
OB  49  0) 
CO 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Wind. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun. 
On 
Grass. 
Sunday  ..  18 
Inohs. 
29'385 
leg. 
41-1 
deg. 
40  3 
W. 
deg. 
50-0 
deg. 
49-4 
deg. 
40-2 
deg. 
84-4 
deg. 
36-3 
Inohs. 
0-010 
Monday  ..  19 
29-225 
41-2 
39-2 
S. 
47-9 
45-6 
31-4 
63-8 
25-9 
0187 
Tuesday  . .  20 
29-242 
40-0 
38-8 
W. 
47-1 
48-8 
38-1 
67-4 
33  3 
0-040 
Wednesday  21 
-29-404 
40-9 
40  0 
N.E. 
46-2 
50-4 
36-3 
78-4 
30-0 
0-012 
Thursday..  22 
29-667 
41-1 
38-9 
N. 
45-9 
48-3 
33-6 
78-1 
27-3 
— 
Friday  . .  23 
29-940 
41-2 
39-7 
N. 
46-0 
60-4 
35-1 
88-9 
27-6 
— 
Saturday  . .  24 
29-669 
45-6 
42-9 
S.W. 
44-4 
63-2 
35-7 
61-4 
27-9 
0-110 
29-605 
41-9 
40  0 
46 ‘6 
49-2 
35-8 
71-5 
29-8 
0-359 
REMARKS . 
18tU.— Bright  siia  with  occasioual  olond  ;  clear,  cold  night. 
19th.— Peggy  till  8.30  A.M.,  then  rain  till  10.45  a.m..  and  dull  and  showery  after. 
8Cth. — Rain  in  small  hours ;  showery  day,  with  faint  sunshine  at  times. 
21st.— Overcast  early  ;  almost  continuous  bright  sunshine  after  10  A  M. 
22nd.— Sun  early  ;  rain  from  8  A.M.  to  9  A.U. ;  bright  sun  all  afternoon. 
23rd.— Sunny  throughout;  fine  night. 
I  24th.— Overcast  early  ;  rain  occasionally,  rather  heavy  abont  8  p.M. 
A  cold  week,  with  frost  on  the  grass  every  night  but  two.— G.  J.  SYMOW8, 
