552 
JotlRKAL  OF  iJOnflCtyLfUM  AND  OOTI'AGF  OARDMM. 
December  3, 
cowboys,  and  we  may  be  sure  they  did  not  keep  a  French  cook  or 
enjoy  a  very  elaborate  bill  of  fare.  In  these  golden  days  a  bullocks’ 
keep  was  estimated  at  about  43.  per  aniiam. 
Things  are  changing  now — tax  collectors  go  into  these  distant 
districts,  and  other  expenses  increase,  and  with  these  disadvantages 
the  ranch  owner  has  still  to  contend  with  heavy  losses  from  dearth 
of  food,  and  cold  in  winter  and  drought  in  summer,  as  well  as  from 
the  attacks  of  wild  animals.  Up  till  1885  the  business  grew,  then 
the  tide  turned.  More  settlers  turned  their  steps  westward,  and  in 
Kansas,  Nebraska,  and  Colorado  the  “free  ranches”  are  things  of 
the  past.  There  are  some  still  in  Texas,  and  only  in  Wyoming, 
Montana,  and  N.  Dakota  do  we  find  large  ranch  holders.  There 
was  a  great  increase  in  American  cattle  between  the  years  1870  and 
1885,  an  increase  from  15,000,000  to  .85,000,000  ;  then  in  1892  the 
numbers  were  37,500,000,  and  now  in  1896  the  numbers  have  sunk 
to  32,000,000. 
Now  we  find  the  case  somewhat  thus.  A  larger  home  popula¬ 
tion  needing  beef  supplies,  a  system  of  distribution  which  takes 
the  beef  to  their  very  doors,  and  thus  creates  a  demand  and  a 
lessening  of  the  number  of  cattle.  This  must  affect  the  importa¬ 
tions  to  England. 
If  prices  rise  in  England,  can  the  American  producer  also  rise 
to  the  occasion  ?  Has  he  still  unexhausted  resources  ?  It  is 
wonderful  what  people  can  do  if  they  see  a  chance  of  getting  a  fair 
return  for  their  outlay.  If  the  States  can  afford  to  pay  a  trifle 
more  per  pound,  naturally  they  will  get  the  first  chance  of  the  best 
meat.  There  is  not  a  great  margin  of  profit  to  be  got  by  sending 
to  English  markets. 
Should  beef  get  too  dear  for  English  purses  the  mutton  trade 
must  receive  a  great  stimulus.  Mutton  can  be  successfully  brought 
from  New  Zealand  and  Australia,  and  the  Argentine  Eepublic  can 
do  a  good  deal  towards  supplying  us  with  meat.  Beef  is  still  the 
standard  di«h  of  the  world,  and  there  seems  great  probability  now 
that  unless  the  American  cattle  feeder  can  advance  with  the  times 
he  will  have  little  or  no  surplus  for  John  Bull.  At  the  present 
prices  the  English  farmer  can,  without  being  accused  of  undue 
greediness,  ask  for  a  slight  advance  ;  indeed,  how  to  keep  beasts 
going  at  all  this  winter,  let  alone  make  them  ready  for  the  butcher* 
is  a  problem  that  needs  a  wiser  head  than  ouri  to  solve. 
Natural  food  is  extremely  scarce  and  lacking  in  nutritive 
qualities,  and  all  “  artificials  ”  are  daily  becoming  dearer,  and  that 
they  are  likely  to  become  dearer  still  is  more  than  probable.  A 
straw  will  show  the  set  of  the  wind,  and  a  well-known  seed 
crusher,  who  usually  is  most  importunate  in  his  desire  to  effect 
contracts  with  farmers  for  forward  deliveries  of  cake,  has  of  late 
most  carefully  absented  himself  from  those  places  where  farmers 
moit  do  congregate. 
We  have  urged  in  former  papers  the  desirability  of  more  stock 
raising  ;  we  do  it  again.  If  the  consumer  insists  on  beef  let  him 
have  it  by  all  means,  and  let  the  supply  come  from  our  own  home¬ 
steads.  We  do  not  say  it  is  possible  to  meet  the  whole  demand, 
but  we  are  perfectly  certain  that  jmuch  more  might  be  done  than 
is,  and  the  money  would  be  far  better  in  our  own  pockets  than  in 
that  even  of  our  Brother  Jonathan. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
Rain  keeps  off,  though  the  weather  is  dull  and  foggy.  We  are 
having  very  little  frost,  and  it  is  now  so  mild  that  early-sown  Wheats 
are  rapidly  covering  the  ground  with  a  carpet  of  green,  whilst  the  later- 
sown  look  like  having  a  chance  of  getting  away  before  Christmas. 
Drilling  still  prevails,  and  the  increase  in  the  Wheat  acreage  will 
probably  be  a  large  one.  We  have  had  the  ewes  on  old  seeds  lately,  and 
have  grazed  them  pretty  close.  There  will  be  nothing  more  to  be  gained 
by  further  grazing,  and  we  shall  now  turn  our  attention  to  ploughing 
them  down.  Two  fields  are  intended  for  Potatoes  ;  these  will  be  ploughed 
with  chilled  ploughs  (each  with  three  horses),  10  inches  deep,  having 
been  previously  manured  as  far  as  manure  shall  be  available.  The 
third  field  we  have  planned  for  Oats,  and  will  be  ploughed  after  the 
other  two  are  completed  with  the  same  ploughs,  but  7  inches  instead  of 
10.  These  fields  are  good  free- working  laud  ;  if  they  were  strong  we 
should  not  plough  so  deeply  for  Oats,  and  should  not  plant  Potatoes  at 
all.  Skimmers  will  have  to  be  used  to  turn  the  sod  well  into  the  furrow  ; 
it  is  very  essential  to  have  the  furrow  well  turned  and  all  vegetation 
thoroughly  buried,  or  complete  decomposition  will  not  take  place  before 
the  land  is  required  in  spring. 
Pences  have  not  yet  had  the  attention  they  should  ;  very  little  has 
been  done  as  yet,  but  every  spare  man  will  now  have  to  be  sent  to  make 
up  for  lost  time.  We  are  sending  a  few  Potatoes  to  market,  but  prices 
are  not  very  encouraging.  They  are  coming  out  of  the  pies  so  dirty  that 
sorting  is  a  work  of  difficulty  ;  the  riddles  soon  clog  up  with  dirt,  and 
every  Potato  has  to  be  examined.  Disease  does  not  seem  to  have 
developed  much  since  lifting,  which  is  a  satisfactory  feature.  The 
heavy  rains  have  in  some  places  gone  quite  through  both  soil  and  straw  ; 
where  this  has  occurred  there  will  be  great  danger  from  extreme  frost 
if  such  should  occur.  To  make  the  Potatoes  safe  for  a  lengthened  period 
restrawing  will  be  necessary. 
Sheep  are  doing  well  on  Turnips,  but  the  latter  are  not  carrying  the 
number  per  acre  we  expected.  Complaints  on  this  head  are  very 
genera!. 
CONVEYANCE  OF  AGRICULTURAL,  FARM,  AND 
DAIRY  PRODUCE. 
The  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Great  Western  Railway  Company 
have  issued  to  the  public,  in  a  concise  and  handy  form,  a  pamphlet 
embodying  particulars  of  scales  of  reduced  rates  recently  adopted  by 
the  Company  for  agricultural,  farm,  and  dairy  produce  carried  by 
passenger  and  goods  trains  respectively. 
The  rates  applicable  by  passenger  trains  have  been  specially  provided 
for  small  consignments  of  farm  and  dairy  produce,  such  as  eggs,  butter, 
cream,  poultry,  game,  fruit,  and  vegetables,  with  the  view  of  enabling 
the  farmer  to  supply  his  products  direct  to  the  consumer,  and  will  no 
doubt  be  much  appreciated  by  those  who  require  a  rapid  service. 
The  scales  of  reduced  rates  granted  for  traffic  sent  by  goods  trains 
embrace  fresh  meat,  dead  poultry,  dead  rabbits,  eggs,  butter,  fruit,  and 
vegetables,  and  apply  to  quantities  of  10  cwt.,  1  ton,  2  ton,  and  3  ton 
lots  respectively.  One  important  advantage  in  connection  with  these 
rates  is  that  they  will  cover  mixed  consignments  of  any  or  all  of  the 
articles  named,  so  that  farmers  may  combine  to  send  away  varying  small 
quantities  (exceeding  3  cwt.)  amounting  in  the  aggregate  to  3  tone, 
2  tons,  1  ton,  or  10  cwt.,  and  have  the  whole  of  the  separate  lots  charged 
at  the  rates  applicable  to  those  quantities,  the  only  stipulation  being  that 
the  traffic  must  be  sent  at  one  time  from  one  station  to  another  station  ; 
and  that  the  carriage  must  be  paid  by  one  sender,  or  by  one  consignee. 
In  addition  to  the  reductions  thus  announced,  rates  for  the  same 
descriptions  of  traffic  have  been  specially  arranged  to  London,  in  no  case 
exceeding  the  scales  above  referred  to  ;  and  rates  have  also  been  given 
for  consignments  of  less  than  10  cwt.  by  goods  train  in  order  to  supple¬ 
ment  the  facilities  offered  by  passenger  train  for  small  quantities  going 
to  the  London  markets. 
The  Company  have  also  revised  and  largely  reduced  the  rates  for 
cider  and  perry  from  the  producing  districts  of  Devonshire,  Somerset¬ 
shire,  Herefordshire,  and  Gloucestershire,  and  are  making  numerous  and 
important  reductions  in  the  charges  for  other  articles  of  agricultural 
traffic,  such  as  Potatoes,  Turnips,  Parsnips,  Carrots,  Mangold  Wurtzel, 
feeding  stuffs,  and  manures. 
It  will  be  observed  that  the  Great  Western  Company  are  evincing  an 
earnest  desire  to  assist  the  agriculturist ;  and  it  now  remains  for  the 
farmers  to  see  how  they  can  best  obtain  (by  combination  or  otherwise) 
the  fullest  advantage  of  the  concessions  given,  and  justify  the  experiment 
that  is  being  made  by  bringing  about  such  a  development  in  the 
quantities  of  home  produce  forwarded  by  railway  as  will  compensate  for 
the  loss  of  revenue  that  will  otherwise  result  from  the  reduction  in  the 
charges. 
BiRMiKaHAM  Show. — Messrs.  Webb  &  Sons  desire  us  to  state 
that  although  the  past  season  has  been  unfavourable  for  root  crops, 
their  stand  at  the  above  show  contains  remarkable  examples  with  various 
other  specialties.  We  publish  this  intimation  in  order  that  those  of  our 
readers  who  happen  to  be  visiting  Birmingham  may  inspect  the  exhibits 
of  the  Wordsley  firm. 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Oamdsn  SqUABa,  Lo:?dok. 
Iiat.61°  J2'40"  N.;  l4On(?.0°  8/0"  W.;  Attitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  the  Day. 
1896. 
M  rrj  * 
S  £ 
®  fl8  ► 
fl  ® 
J 
Hygn^ometer. 
Direo- 
tion  of 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot. 
Shade  Tem¬ 
perature, 
Radiation 
Temperature 
a 
£ 
November. 
S  M  ca 
CO  cQ 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Wind, 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun. 
On 
Grass. 
Sunday  ..  32 
Inehs. 
30-607 
leg. 
45-4 
deg. 
44-7 
N.W. 
deg. 
41-7 
deg. 
49-2 
deg. 
36-7 
deg. 
5 1-7 
deg. 
33  0 
Inohs. 
Monday  ..  23 
60  603 
40-8 
40-7 
N.B. 
42-1 
43-1 
37-6 
44-6 
31-9 
—• 
Tuesday  . .  24 
30-643 
39-8 
38-0 
N. 
43-J 
41-9 
38-2 
44-3 
31-3 
— 
Wednesday  25 
30-564 
40-0 
37-8 
N. 
41-9 
42-0 
39-0 
48-1 
38-1 
— 
Thursday , ,  26 
30-347 
38-8 
36-2 
N.B. 
41-6 
39-7 
38-1 
41-4 
36-4 
0-010 
Friday  . .  27 
30-137 
35-1 
34-1 
N.B. 
40-9 
44-1 
33  7 
67-3 
27-2 
Saturday  ..  28 
29-986 
32-3 
31-6 
E. 
40-1 
89-0 
31-1 
45-8 
25-9 
30-411 
38-8 
37-8 
41-5 
42-7 
36  3 
43-6 
31-7 
0-0 10 
.REMARKS. 
2?nd. — Overjaat  moruinif  ;  smoke  fog  in  afternoon  and  evening. 
23rd. — Fog  alt  morning  and  in  evening  ;  overcast  afternoon. 
34th.— Overcast,  but  fair  throughout. 
25th.  Overcast  but  fair. 
26th. — Fair,  bnt  sunless. 
27th. — Bright  sunshine  from  sunrise  to  sunset ;  overcast  evening  with  slight  drizzle. 
28th.— Generally  overcast,  but  occasional  sunshine  at  midday. 
An  almost  rainless  week,  with  little  tog  and  one  day  of  bright  sunshine.  Pressure 
high,  and  temperature  about  4*  below  the  average. — G.  J.  SYMONS. 
