208 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
August  2G,  1897. 
Years  ago  as  a  nation  we  were  dependent  on  ourselves,  we  were 
more  self-supplying;  if  through  any  cause  our  harvest  was  deficient 
in  quality  or  quantity  we  had  to  make  the  best  of  it,  and  do  as  well  as 
we  could.  The  corn  crop  was  the  princijml  crop;  its  well-being  of  the 
most  vivid  importance  alike  to  the  rich  man  in  his  palace  and  the  poor 
man  in  his  cot.  A  bad  English  harvest  meant  a  year  of  indifferent 
food  and  of  great  deprivation.  It  is  only  a  few  of  us  grey  beards  who 
can  remember  the  dark,  damp,  sticky  compound  that,  after  a  wet 
harvest,  went  by  the  )iame  of  bread.  How  numberless  were  the 
recipes  for  making  a  sound  loaf  out  of  unsound  flour.  A  skilful  house¬ 
wife  with  the  addition  of  ricerneal,  a  little  milk,  and  potato  could  turn 
out  something  fairly  eatable  ;  the  less  said  about  the  loaf  of  the  novice 
the  better.  Fancy  what  this  bread  was  for  the  invalid  or  young  child; 
the  strong  and  healthy  might  make  a  shift,  but  to  the  weaklings  it 
meant  a  sore  privation. 
There  was  a  custom  in  our  parish  years  ago  of  holding  an  early, 
very  early,  service  in  the  church  the  first  day  of  harvest  to  ask  for  a 
blessing  on  the  ingathering  of  the  crop,  and  to  offer  petitions  for 
favourable  weather.  How  could  harvest  begin  under  better  auspices  ? 
It  was  a  following  out  of  the  old  Jewish  feast  of  “first  fruih.'’ 
In  the  Wheat-growing  districts  you  see  field  after  field  of  golden 
grain  level  as  a  jjlain,  and  a  man  must  be  very  callous  whose  heart 
is  not  uplifted  by  such  a  sight  in  thanksgiving. 
What  preparation  there  is  before  harvest  fairly  begins  !  Many 
weeks  before  the  master  and  foreman  hold  anxious  consultations  as 
to  the  number  of  outside  hands  that  will  be  required,  and  the  various 
men  are  jxassed  in  strict  review.  As  one  diseased  member  will  affect 
a  whole  community,  so  one  careless,  or  idle,  or  bad  tempered  man  will 
upset  the  equanimity  of  the  whole  gang  of  workers.  “  No,  Tim, 
you’ll  not  do  for  me  this  harvest;  you’ll  never  be  suited  with  the 
b.er  I  find,  and  we  don’t  want  a  quarrel  in  the  throng  of  work.l’ 
And  a  slow  man  sets  the  pace,  and  hinders  and  vexes  the  quicker 
workers. 
All  reapers  are  carefully  inspected,  duplicate  parts  are  provided, 
the  horses  who  have  had  a  season  of  rest  since  Turni])  lime  are  in 
the  best  of  “  fettle ;  ”  the  children  are  set  free  from  the  bondage  of 
school,  and  those  who  are  too  young  to  be  bandmakers  are  still  old 
enough  to  take  out  dinners  and  “’ilowance”  or  “drinkings.”  Time 
was  when  no  harvest  was  complete  without  some  sous  of  Erin. 
Punctually  as  harvest  drew  on  they  appeared  in  their  wonted  haunts. 
A  bed  of  straw  in  the  barn,  milk  and  food  from  the  farmhouse 
kitchen  gave  them  some  insight  into  English  living.  The  best  Irish 
only  came,  and  if  they  could  desist  from  fighting  and  an  oveiqilus  of 
beer,  made  the  most  excellent  of  workers.  Usually  a  little  “opening 
out”  is  done  before  actual  harvest  begins,  then  all  hands  to  the 
work — master  and  a  lad  shepherd.  The  pony  of  the  missus  goes 
ungrooinetl,  and  she  takes  upon  herself  all  the  necessary  watering 
and  odd  jobs  of  the  garden.  The  days  are  all  too  short  for  the 
work  there  is  to  do,  for  in  this  changeable  clime  we  know  not  from 
day  to  day  how  the  weather  may  be,  and  it  behoves  us  to  make  the 
best  of  the  sunny  hours. 
It  is  not  all  toil  even  in  the  harvest  field;  there  are  the  pleasant 
meals  behind  the  stooks,  wdien  the  children,  or  possibly  the  wife  and 
babyg  participate  with  the  father  in  the  good  things  contained  in  the 
dinner-basket. 
An  effort  is  always  made  to  get  “father”  some  tasty  nourishing 
food,  for  this  month  at  least.  Possibly  our  south  country  labourers 
would  be  surprised  if  they  saw  how  excellent  is  the  food  all  the  year 
round  found  on  the  tables  of  the  northern  farm  labourers.  Wages  are 
perhaps  better,  and  certainly  food  is  cheap.  It  is  a  pleasant  sight  to 
see  the  father,  sat  under  a  stook  with  his  little  ones  intent  on  helping 
him  out  with  the  liberal  allowance  of  food  mother  has  sent. 
What  a  comfort  it  is  to  see  loading  fairly  begun,  and  with  what 
energy  all  work  !  Never  mind  daylight  going,  if  there  is  a  good 
harvest  moon  it  makes  a  substitute  lor  the  sun.  A  wise  foreman 
will  see  that  the  last  waggons  that  have  come  in  in  the  d:yk  are 
carefully  covered  over,  to  be  ready  for  an  early  morning  start.  If  a 
master  s  eye  is  necessary  in  the  reaping  field,  it  is  ten  times  more 
necessary  when  leading  begins.  Corn  in  the  same  field  varies  so 
much,  and  it  is  sorry  look-out  at  threshing  day  if  all  good,  bad,  and 
indifferent  liave  been  stacked  together.  Nothing  is  much  more 
difficult  to  deal  with  than  Barley  which  is  full  of  rank  green  Clover. 
The  Barley  is  fit  long  before  the  Clover  loses  its  nature,  and  unless 
the  weather  be  very  fine  such  corn  is  a  great  trial  of  patience. 
“Festina  lente — hasten  slowly,”  is  a  proverb  that  may  well  be  borne 
in  mind.  Nothing  is  so  provoking  as  heated  stacks,  and  nothing  may 
be  more  easily  avoided.  Corn  crops  are  often  very  deceptive.  It  is 
not  always  that  the  greatest  weight  of  straw  proves  the  fullest  of 
grain.  A  fair  guess  may  be  arrived  at  as  to  yield  by  the  way  a  sheaf 
“dips”  when  lifted  up  by  a  fors.  We  do  not  like  to  see  it  reach  the 
waggon  nearly  level,  and  we  like,  too,  to  see  a  fair  sprinkling  of  grain 
on  the  waggon  body. 
What  a  time  for  the  poultry  in  the  stackyard  !  what  feasting  they 
have  by  the  stack  sides  !  It  is  an  old  axiom  that  no  ducks  are  really 
good  till  they  have  tasted  new  corn  ;  certainly  they  manage  to  put 
flesh  on  then.  The  fields  are  bare  save  for  bands  of  busy  gleaners, 
who  sweeten  their  toil  with  the  luscious  bramble.  The  sheep  follow 
apace  to  pick  up  stray  ears  and  weeds  and  hedge-side  grass,  the 
plough  has  turned  its  even  furrow,  and  the  land  is  again  tvady  for  the 
sower’s  hand. 
WOKK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
Harvest  in  fall  swing,  and  we  are  longing  for  rain ;  of  such  are  the 
vicissitudes  of  the  farmer’s  life  made  up  !  We  have  had  a  few  slight 
showers,  but  nothing  to  do  material  good.  Turnips  and  Potatoes  pre¬ 
serve  their  green  appearance  ;  but  unless  we  have  copious  rainfall  before 
the  end  of  the  month  these  crops  must,  comjaaratively  speaking,  be  a 
failure. 
Harvest  is  progressing  well  ;  the  later  crops  have  ripened  cpiickly, 
and  have  had  to  wait  for  the  reaper'.  Fortunatelj',  there  has  been  little 
wind  until  to-day,  and  nearly  all  is  cut  down.  The  gale  has  shaken  out 
a  few  grains  in  a  backward  piece  of  Wheat,  but  nothing  worth  speaking 
of.  Stooks  have  been  blown  in  ail  directions,  and  men  have  found  tying 
a  work  of  great  dilHcidty,  as  also  have  the  difficulties  of  stacking  been 
great.  We  should  have  been  very  thankful  for  the  wind  after  a  heavy 
rain,  but  just  now  the  corn  is  dry  enough,  and  such  a  gale  as  this  could 
well  be  dispensed  with.  What  a  blessing  such  an  one  would  have  been 
last  September. 
Wheats  are  bulking  up  rather  light,  and  Barley  is  decidedly  the  straw 
crop  of  the  year.  As  to  yield  of  grain,  however,  we  expect  the  threshing 
machine  to  give  the  verdict  to  the  Wheat.  Barley  straw,  like  that  of 
Wheat,  is  very  yellow  and  bright,  and  will  make  good  Ibdder  if  well 
saved.  There  is  very  little  Clover  in  the  sheaves  this  year.  This  is  in 
favour  of  good  harvesting,  but  against  the  straw  as  food. 
The  young  seeds  have  stood  the  drought  better  than  we  expected,  and 
are  not  only  a  full  plant,  but  look  fairly  lively  under  difficulties.  This  is 
a  very  satisfactory  feature  of  this  dry  season,  for  from  such  a  year  we 
often  have  a  legacy  of  deficiency  in  the  young  seeds  which  is  not  fully 
realised  until  the  full  course  of  four  years  has  been  run. 
Streams  are  dried  up,  but  springs  stand  well,  and  there  is  no  scarcity 
of  water.  Should  no  rain  fall  at  present  there  is  little  prospect  of  the 
land  working  after  harvest ;  the  hands  not  employed  in  thatching  could 
then  be  well  employed  in  cleansing  water  courses  not  usually  dry  in 
ordinary  seasons. 
MSTBOROLOGHOAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Oamdbx  Squarb,  London. 
Lat.  61°  12' 40"  N. :  Long.  O''  8/  0"  W.;  Altitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.M 
In  the  Day. 
1897, 
S  rt  £ 
OJ  03  > 
a  -  ® 
PO  J 
Hygrometer. 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot. 
Shade  Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
d 
'3 
August. 
CO  oS 
as  ^  4^ 
CQ  cQ 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Wind. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun. 
On 
Grass. 
Sunday  ..  .15 
Inchs. 
29-855 
deg. 
66-7 
deg. 
59-8 
N.E. 
deg 
64-7 
deg. 
68-9 
deg 
55-2 
deg. 
101-6 
deg 
49-3 
Inch.. 
0-042 
Monday  ....  it 
29-901 
63  4 
58-3 
W. 
63-1 
73-9 
51-8 
126-6 
480 
Tuesday....  17 
29-808 
65-2 
59'9 
W. 
63-9 
71-1 
56-9 
103  4 
61-2 
Wednesday  18 
29-708 
65  4 
59-8 
w. 
63-7 
73-8 
55  9 
117-9 
49-9 
0-377 
Thursday  ..  la 
29  799 
60-8 
66-2 
N. 
62-9 
70-7 
54-0 
1196 
49  7 
0-010 
Friday  ....  20 
29-724 
62-1 
58-8 
s.w. 
62-3 
69  7 
538 
98-3 
48-2 
0-093 
Saturday  . .  21 
29-559 
61-4 
57  9 
w. 
62-2 
71-7 
59  3 
122-6 
651 
—  ■ 
29-765 
63  6 
68-6 
63  3 
71  4 
55  3 
112  9 
50-2 
0-522 
KB  MARKS. 
16th  — Bright  early  ;  cloudy  morning ;  freqaent  ram  after  1.30  P.M. 
16th. — Breezy  and  pleisant,  but  cloudy  at  times. 
17th  —Overcast  morning,  ■with  frequent  drizzle  :  sunny  at  times  in  afternoon. 
18th. — Frequently  sunny,  but  spots  of  rain  nowand  again,  liU  3  P.M  ,  then  generally 
rainy,  and  heavy  rain,  with  thunder  at  4.30  P.M. 
19th. — Steady  rain  from  4  A.M.  to  6  A.M.;  generally  sunny  after  7  A.M.,  but  a  slight 
shower  at  3  P.M  ;  bright  night. 
20th.— Overcast,  with  occasional  slight  showers,  and  rain  from  9.15  a.m.  to  10.15  A  M. 
Slst. — Sunshine  and  showers  in  morning  ;  bright  afternoon  ;  high  wind  throughout. 
An  unsettled  week,  with  temperature  very  near  the  average,— G.  J.  Symons. 
