470 
JOUmAl  OP  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
November  11,  1897. 
stock  of  “  masses,”  though  some  of  the  “  classes  ”  appear  to  have 
taken  them  up.  They  are  pretty  things,  and  to  our  mind  look  well, 
almost  as  well  in  a  park  as  deer. 
Goats  have  a  class  to  theniselves,  and  as  their  milk  is  so  often 
highly  commended  for  the  delicate  baby,  it  is  well  that  they  should 
be  improved  in  their  degree  as  well  as  cows.  We  should  fancy, 
though,  in  these  (coming)  days  of  Pasteurised  and  humanised  milk 
there  would  not  be  such  a  demand  for  that  of  the  goat.  From  milk 
to  cheese  is  an  easy  transition,  and  now  Scotland  actually  dare  com¬ 
pete  with  England  in  the  making  of  Cheddars.  What  indeed  is  in  a 
name  ?  Nothing,  it  appears.  Cheddar  from  Scotland  !  and  no 
Stilton  from  Mr.  Nuttall.  Echo  answers.  Why?  The  Reading 
Institute,  managed  by  Mr.  Miles  Benson,  sent  a  good  exhibit  of 
Stilton,  Cheddar,  Cheshire,  Wensleydale,  Caerphilly,  and  several 
foreign  varieties.  Much  butter !  and  beautifully  displayed  on  white 
slabs  on  growing  grass  ;  tempting  to  the  eye,  tempting  to  the  taste ; 
all  so  good  and  so  improved  ! 
We  are  not  quite  sure  that  we  do  not  prefer  a  slice  off  the  lb.  to  an 
ornamental  device,  but  we  are  old-fashioned  and  behind  the  times.  The 
artists  (or  should  we  not  rather  say  artistes  ?)  are  most  skilful,  and  we 
wish  their  work  could  be  preserved  in  something  less  perishable  than 
butter.  We  made  a  remark  last  year,  and  we  make  it  again  with 
greater  emphasis,  Why  should  people  still  v^ant  teaching  by  example 
the  excellence  of  skim  milk  bread  ?  It  speaks  for  itself,  and  we  are 
sure  that  in  many  and  many  a  farm  house  it  is  always  to  be  found  ; 
indeed,  we  know  bread  that  if  it  could  speak  could  confess  to 
unskimmed  milk.  W  hat  can  be  more  nutritrious  and  yet  so  cheap  ? 
Cheap  in  fact,  and  cheap  relatively. 
One  writer  rather  cavils  at  the  admission  of  honey  to  a  dairy  show. 
Why,  to  our  thinking,  there  could  be  no  more  suitable  place.  Bible 
and  hymn-book  both  combine  the  two  when  a  Land  of  Promise  is 
mentioned.  One  without  the  other  !  The  idea  is  incongruous. 
Now  we  come  to  man  with  (his  many  inventions — labour  saving, 
health  promoting.  Is  the  day  of  the  milk-cart  over  ?  No  less  than 
three  makers  showed  tricycles  adapted  for  the  milk  delivery  trade — a 
horse  and  his  keep  saved.  That  is  a  step  in  the  right  direction,  d’hen 
a  cheap  apparatus  for  sterilising  milk  in  a  small  way.  We  have  not 
all  good  keeping  cellars  or  dairies,  and  milk  is  such  a  perishable  article 
that  we  must  hail  any  good  method  which  prevents  waste. 
We  mentioned  lately  the  milk  filtering  in  Swedish  creameries, 
where  the  milk  passes  upwards  through  fine  granite.  We  saw  the 
residuum  in  the  granite,  and  gave  an  anxious  thought  to  our  own 
methods  of  straining.  A  new  milk  filter  is  brought  out  where  the 
milk  passes  upwards  through  swansdown  linen  (or  calico  ?).  This 
material  is  easily  cleaned,  easily  renewed,  effective,  and  very  cheap. 
Improved  churns  and  separators  on  every  hand  and  at  all  prices. 
Our  principal  nurserymen  were  there  with  collections  of  grasses, 
roots,  and  seeds  ;  all  the  patent  medicine  makers  and  all  the  special 
food  makers,  and  we  really  owe  them  a  great  debt  of  gratitude.  Few 
of  us  can  afford  to  dispense  with  a  box  of  handy  remedies,  and  all  need 
at  times  supplemental  cattle  food. 
We  should  not  like  to  have  had  to  judge  in  the  butter  making 
contests,  but  the  judging  is  reduced  to  a  science,  and,  if  we  mistake 
not,  is  done  on  the  same  lines  as  Chrysanthemum  judging — viz., 
by  points.  The  Judges  are  guided  thus  ; — 
Condition  of  butter  in  churn 
...  10 
Condition  of  butter  on  worker  ... 
...  10 
Making  up . 
...  20 
Smartness  and  cleanliness... 
...  20 
Colour  of  butter 
5 
Texture  . 
...  20 
Freedom  from  moisture 
...  15 
100 
And  they  cannot  get  very  far  wrong,  but  for  all  that  180  entries  take 
a  good  deal  of  going  through. 
As  is  only  right,  the  champion  butter-making  prize  went  to  a 
lady,  a  member  of  a  talente  1  family,  Miss  Baynes.  Last  year  she 
was  third,  her  sister  and  brother,  respectively,  first  and  second.  Butter 
making  must  run  in  that  family.  Miss  Baynes  looks  young;  she 
possibly  has  a  future  before  her. 
Well,  we  have  only  mentioned  (and  that  very  briefly)  the  leading 
features  of  the  show.  It  is  a  grand  object  lesson,  and  worthy  of  all 
support.  It  has  directly  and  indirectly  put  a  stop  to  much  adultera¬ 
tion,  and  while  condemning  the  dishonest  dealer  by  bringing  his 
malpractices  to  light,  supports  and  upholds  the  man  who  serves  his 
customers  with  the  best  and  purest  articles  possible. 
Flax  Growing. 
The  British  farmer,  to  work  prosperously,  requires  a  good  many 
strings  to  his  bow.  Whether  one  of  the  strings  is  to  be  Flax,  is  a 
question  at  present.  A  little  book  by  Major  Fraser*  contains  clear 
and  lucid  explanations  of  sowing,  pulling,  and  preparing  Flax  for  the 
market.  The  only  question  seems  to  be.  Shall  we  find  a  market  when 
we  have  done  our  part  ?  Those  interested  in  Flax  culture  should 
obtain  a  copy  of  this  pamphlet. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
We  have  secured  the  last  Potato,  and  never  did  we  put  a  crop  away 
in  better  condition  or  have  a  finer  season  for  the  work.  As  far  as  we 
know  not  one  Potato  has  been  touched  by  frost,  which  we  think  must  be 
a  record  occurrence. 
If  farm  horses  could  speak  ours  must  have  been  heard  congratulating 
each  other  on  the  fine  autumn,  for  last  year  we  were  carting  Potatoes  off 
with  the  headland’s  axle  deep  in  mud,  whereas  this  year  they  have  been 
as  firm  and  dry  as  a  high  road. 
Mangold  must  be  taken  up  and  stored  now  without  further  delay. 
The  crop  has  increased  quite  50  per  cent,  the  last  three  weeks,  and  is  now 
above  the  average.  Farmers  who  hurriedly  took  up  their  Mangold  in 
mid-October  must  have  lost  a  very  considerable  weight  by  not  waiting. 
Swedes  and  Turnips  which  came  up  at  the  proper  season  have  increased 
enormously  of  late,  and  are  quite  an  average  crop.  Sheep  are  all  well 
on  Turnips,  and  seem  to  be  very  healthy,  cases  of  loss  being  rare. 
Lambs  are  better  without  too  much  forcing  food  until  Christmas  is 
turned,  linseed  cake  and  a  bit  of  hay  or  Clover  being  the  best  foods  to 
give  with  Turnips  in  the  autumn. 
Wheat  will  continue  to  be  sown  until  December  comes  in,  and  this 
later  sown  often  beats  the  earlier  on  weak  soil,  but  it  is  very  much  more 
liable  to  damage  by  birds,  especially  larks.  The  best  preventive  is  to  use 
small  seed,  for  this  more  quickly  loses,  or  rather  uses  up,  the  store  of 
starch  it  contains  when  sown,  and  it  is  that  which  tempts  the  lark  to 
dig  it  up. 
Large  flocks  of  larks  have  lately  arrived  from  abroad,  and  it  is  these 
foreign  immigrants  which  do  us  the  damage,  home-bred  birds  not  being 
sufficiently  numerous.  Some  people  dip  torches  in  paraffin,  and  when 
lighted  wave  them  about  near  the  ground  just  before  dark,  and  this  is 
said  to  act  very  well  in  keeping  the  birds  off  during  the  night. 
We  hear  further  accounts  of  damage  to  stack  roofs.  It  is  surely 
penny  wise  and  pound  foolish  to  make  haste  to  save  the  corn,  and  then 
not  to  take  proper  care  of  it  when  the  goal  has  been  reached. 
METEOROLOaiCAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden  Square,  London. 
Lat.  51°  32'  40”  N. ;  Long.  0°  8'  0"  W. ;  Altitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  the  Day. 
Rain. 
1897.  ■ 
October 
and 
November. 
Barometer 
at  32=,  and 
Sea  Level. 
Hygrometer. 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Wind. 
Temp 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot. 
Shade  Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun. 
On 
Grass. 
Inchs. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Inclis. 
Sunday  .... 
31 
30-287 
44-7 
44-6 
N. 
46-0 
56-1 
38-8 
67-0 
32-0 
0-01  1 
Mondav  .... 
1 
30-390 
44-1 
44-1 
N.E. 
46-0 
56-4 
40-9 
76-2 
32- 0 
0-010 
Tuesday  .... 
2 
30-3-28 
44-8 
42-7 
E. 
46-4 
61-0 
43-4 
75-1 
39-3 
_ 
Wednesday.. 
3 
30-268 
45-9 
43-  * 
N.E. 
■I6-2; 
51-1 
44-6 
75-9 
37-1 
— 
Thursday. . . . 
4 
30-218 
43-7 
41-6 
N.E. 
46-1 
45-1 
42-7 
5  )-2 
38-6 
_ 
Friday . 
5 
30-322 
41-2 
38-6 
N. 
46-8 
46-1 
39-9 
50-1 
39-8 
_ 
Saturday  . . 
6 
3  -366 
46-1 
45-1 
N. 
45-6 
48-3 
41-3 
65-6 
40-4 
0-013 
3J-311 
44-4 
42-3 
46-0 
50-6 
41-7 
65-7 
37-0 
0-033 
REMARKS. 
31  St.—  Foggy  morning ;  sunny  for  two  or  three  hours  at  midday  ;  fair  night. 
1st. —  Fog  till  in  a.m. ;  sunny  from  10.16  a.ra.  to  sunset;  overcast  night. 
2nd.—  Cloudy  early  ;  bright  sun  from  11.15  a.m.  to  sunset ;  clear  night. 
3rd.— Fair  day,  with  much  bright  sunshine. 
■4th.— Fair,  but  sunle.'^s 
5th. — Fair,  but  sunless. 
6th. — Fair  early,  occasional  faint  sun  from  11  a.m.  to  4  p.m. 
Another  dry  week,  temperature  near  the  average. — G.  J.  SVMONS. 
*  Published  at  the  “  Cable  ”  Office,  30,  Fleet  Street,  3d. 
