48 
January  9,  1902. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
through  falling  day  with  tired  horses  and  stiffening 
limbs.  There  is  manure  to  be  got  out  of  the  yards  ;  and  we 
have  heard  experienced  men  say  that  is  far  harder  work 
than  any  entailed  in  the  harvest  time.  Only  so  much  can 
be  lifted  at  once — it  is  solid  and  heavy — it  has  to  be  put  into 
the  cart  by  forkful  and  be  removed  the  same  way.  There 
has  been  no  labour-saving  appliance  discovered  for  this 
operation  yet.  As  a  set-off,  the  days  are  short,  and  it  is 
well  when  the  work  is  of  such  a  kind.  This  applies,  of 
course,  more  especially  to  open  yards.  Where  the  yards 
are  covered  in,  the  manure,  though  solid,  is  not  so  heavy, 
but  the  closeness  of  the  atmosphere  is  against  the  worker. 
Backwards  and  forwards  over  the  yards  goes  the  cow¬ 
man — this  is  his  busy  time — stock  on  all  sides  of  him  (it  is 
a  mistake  to  overwork  a  good  man — a  bit  of  timely  help 
pays).  Turnips  here,  pulp  there,  cake  in  this  trough,  water 
everywhere.  There  is  often  a  question,  occasioning  sore¬ 
ness  between  this  man  and  his  master.  Bedding  straw  is 
scarce.  Master  urges  economy ;  man  hangs  for  well-filled 
stalls  and  boxes.  How  comfortable  stock  looks  among  the 
bright  yellow  straw.  No  wonder  the  man  grudges  to  pinch 
in  this  direction. 
If  the  cowman’s  life  is  a  hardish  one  in  bad  weather,  what 
of  the  Turnip  shepherd?  There’s  no  shirking  there.  Snow 
or  rain,  biting  hail,  freezing  wind,  it  is  all  the  same,  the 
roots  must  be  sliced  and  the  trough  filled.  Often,  indeed, 
the  field  is  far  from  the  homestead  ;  too  far  to  allow  of  a 
return  for  a  bit  of  dinner.  A  thoughtful  master  will  provide 
a  hut ;  useful,  insomuch  as  it  gives  a  bit  of  shelter  and 
comfort  to  the  man  and  his  boy  for  their  mid-day  meal,  and 
useful  also  as  a  repository  for  a  bag  of  corn  or  cake,  a  few 
simple  remedies,  and  the  appliances  for  the  dressing  of  a 
sheep  supposing  fatal  symptoms  show  themselves.  N.B. — 
A  shepherd  who  can  dress  a  carcase  well  is  worth  a 
good  deal  to  any  master.  Many  sheep  are  affected  with 
brain  ailments,  which  do  not  affect  the  quality  of  the  meat 
in  the  least,  and  among  the  labourers  and  other  villagers  a 
ready  market  may  be  found  for  such  mutton  provided  it  is 
iwell  and  neatly  dressed. 
Mith  the  Turnip  shepherd  his  work  is  over  at  set  of  sun, 
but  not  so  with  the  work  of  the  lambing  shepherd  ;  he  has 
often  to  face  the  fiercest  weather  that  blows,  and  this,  too, 
during  the  long  dark  night ;  up  and  about  must  he  be,  ever 
on  the  alert,  with  cases  that  call  for  all  his  skill,  and  which 
are  a  great  test  of  his  powers  of  discrimination.  Often  it  is 
rthat  hesitation  would  mean  serious  loss.  He  must  depend 
upon  himself,  and  hold  himself  responsible  for  all  that 
happens.  Of  course,  in  a  measure,  this  applies  to  all  those 
men  on  a  farm  who  have  the  charge  of  live  stock,  and  it  is 
really  marvellous  to  us,  on  calm  reflection,  to  think  how  well 
?they  manage  and  how  seldom  make  a  mistake.  How  often 
night  after  nighty  will  a  careful  man  keep  vigil  for 
ftkr  some  animal  under  his  care  may  n6ed  his  services,  and 
there  is  no  compensating  rest  during  the  day. 
All  this  hard,  cold  work  of  which  we  have  spoken 
does  not  seem  to  have  much  ill-effect,  for  how  seldom  do  we 
find  farm  workers  laid  aside,  and  to  what  great  ages  some 
of  them  attain. 
Rheumatism  is  the  chief  ill,  and  bad  enough  it  is.  And  it 
is  difficult  to  know  or  see  how  it  can  be  warded  off.  For¬ 
tunately  during  the  worst  days  of  winter  there  are  many 
jobs  on  and  about  the  homestead  that  call  for  attention. 
The  stock^yard  may  be  much  improved  by  the  use  of  a 
scraper,  either  horse  or  hand.  Of  course  there  is  not  such 
.a  thing  on  the  farm,  but  probably  there  is,  or  ought  to  be,  a 
parish  one,  which  can  be  borrowed  for  the  purpose.  There 
is  many  a  nook  or  dark  corner  which  is  the  better  for  a  turn¬ 
out — heaps  of  waste  wood  to  be  cut  up  into  convenient  fuel, 
hurdles  to  be  repaired,  gateways  filled  in  with  chalk  or 
better  material.  Potatoes  to  sort,  straw  and  roots  to  pulp, 
and  other  food  to  prepare.  Fowl-houses  as  a  rule  get  far  too 
little  attention,  and  the  same  applies  to  many  other  build¬ 
ings,  buildings  that  appear  to  be  adorned  with  the  cobwebs 
of  ages,  all  calculated  to  hold  not  only  flies,  but  any 
errant  bacillus  that  may  happen  to  be  floating  round.  We 
do  believe  in  the  whitewash  brush — light  and  sweetness  are 
the  greatest  possible  purifiers. 
If  there  should  be  such  a  thing  on  the  premises  as  a 
liquid-manure  tank  it  is  less  offensive  when  opened  in  cool 
weather.  Personally  we  don’t  much  like  them;  there  is 
always  a  difiiculty  in  getting  men  to  empty  them,  and  there 
is  always  a  risk  of  leakage — cement  will  crack  at  times,  and 
the  water  supply  may  be  ominously  near.  We  knew  a  case  in 
point  where  the  father  fell  a  victim  to  typhus,  and  three  out 
of  four  children  to  diphtheria,  traceable  to  no  other  source 
than  a  leaking  cesspool  on  a  model  homestead.  On  farms 
where  there  are  big  dykes,  it  is  almost  a  certainty  that  on 
the  side  of  the  dyke  will  be  found  what  really  amounts  to  a 
bank,  the  accumulations  of  the  yearly  clean-out.  This  makes 
fine  dressing  for  the  land,  and  a  slack  time  in  winter 
is  the  farmer’s  opportunity  for  removing  this  soil  and  spread¬ 
ing  it  on  the  land.  It  is  wonderful  how  many  cartloads  will 
come  out  of  a  very  short  piece  of  bank. 
A  fine  heap  for  future  use  may  be  built  up  out  of  road 
scrapings,  and  of  the  turf  which  in  some  parishes  is 
ploughed  up  from  the  sides  of  the  road.  As  a  rule  the  high¬ 
way  surveyor  is  only  too  glad  to  get  rid  of  what,  if  left  about, 
is  sure  to  become  a  nuisance.  Here,  again,  it  is  wonderful 
to  find  how  road  scrapings  accumulate.  On  the  land  the 
value  is  great ;  at  the  side  of  the  road  they  get  in  the  way  of 
proper  drainage,  and  gradually  encroach  on  the  highway. 
Young  stock  will  soon  be  appearing,  and  it  is  a  good 
plan  to  have  the  lambing-pen  ready  in  time,  or  well  before 
time.  Nothing  makes  better  shelter  than  hurdles  well 
thatched  with  straw,  and  they  are  not  done  in  no  time.  The 
calf-house,  too,  should  come  in  for  a  share  of  attention  ;  we 
hold  it  an  established  fact  that  dark,  dirty  hovels  for  young 
calves  are  a  fruitful  source  of  disease,  especially  that  fatal 
complaint  known  as  scour.  It  is  well,  too,  to  give  an  eye 
to  all  the  fences,  and  execute  necessary  repairs.  There  may 
be  some  strong  old  hedges  that  have  to  come  down,  that  are 
getting  weak  at  the  bottom,  affording  convenient  creep- 
holes  for  sheep.  The  art  of  laying  a  hedge  appears  to  be 
dying  out,  and  we  are  glad  to  see  that  in  some  districts 
hedging  classes  are  being  held  under  the  auspices  of  the 
County  Council  technical  scheme.  Hedges  are  the  natural 
fences  of  England,  but  they  won’t  maintain  themselves. 
We  are  writing  on  the  threshold  of  a  new  year — we  know 
not  what  may  be  before  us.  The  farmer’s  life  is  one  long 
course  of  contention  with  adverse  conditions,  but  it  is  a 
natural  life,  and  one  full  of  pleasures  of  a  simple  kind — of  a 
kind  that  appear  very  trivial  to  the  city  man.  We  would 
wish  our  friends,  for  so  we  call  our  patient  readers,  a  happy 
and  prosperous  New  Year,  with  good  prices  and  bumper 
crops. 
Work  on  the  Homs  Farm. 
We  seem  to  be  getting  rain  when  fine  weather  with  frost 
would  suit  us  better.  Three  very  heavy  downfalls  at  very  short 
intervals  have  converted  low-lying  land  into  a  succession  of  lakes. 
Yesterday  we  counted  eleven  fields  more  or  less  submerged  which 
are  not  in  a  position  usually  liable  to  flood.  We  were  beaten  off 
the  land  before,  but  could  make  headway  with  manure  leading. 
Now  we  can  gst  Mpng  the  roads  al]  right,  but  taking  a  heavy 
load  of  muck  through  a  swampy  gateway,  and  to  the  hill,  even 
if  it  be  only  a  few  yards,  is  not  worch  distressing  the  horses  with. 
As  we  are  not  allowed  to  make  dunghills  on  the  roadside,  nowa¬ 
days,  the  horses  must  have  a  rest. 
.There  has  been  a  juil  in  the  sortmgj  and  the  men 
have  returned  to  the  fencing  work,  which  is  now  somewhat  in 
ai’rears.  Some  rough,  big  hedges  are  being  taken  down  and 
laid,  so  there  is  work  for  one  or  two  horses  in  carting  spare 
thorns  to  other  weak  fences  likely  to  require  them  for  filling  up 
gaps,  &c. 
When  we  shall  get  on  the  land  aga'ii  is  very  uncertain,  and 
farmers  will  be  well  advised  to  exercise  all  the  patience  they  are 
possessed  of.  Great  mischief,  entailing  much  unnecessary  ivork 
in  spring  or  summer,  may  follow  ploughing  recklessly  at  the 
present  time.  Even  though  we  recommend  keeping  the  Turnip 
folds  closely  ploughed  up,  as  a  rule,  we  must  have  patience  now 
to  let  the  water  soak  well  away  from  the  surface.  For  every 
farm  purpose,  except  in  some  cases  preparation  for  Wheat,  it  is 
essential  to  avoid  touching  the  soil  when  it  is  waterlogged. 
The  Turnip  fold  is  a  quagmire,  and  all  the  sheep  are  on 
grass.  It  will  save  Turnips;  but  we  should  have  preferred  to 
keep  the  bite  of  old  fog  for  later  use.  Where  there  is  a  con¬ 
siderable  number  of  breeding  ewes,  every  bite  of  grass  is  precious, 
particularly  if  Mangold  is  largely  used,  for  a  due  proportion  of 
dry  old  fog,  eaten  with  these  succulent  sugary  roots,  is, essential 
to  the  production  of  a  cheap  whilst  perfect  diet. 
As  usual,  after  a  dry  summer  and  autumn,  with  springs  almost 
dryq  a  sudden  change  in  these  matters  has  found  some  of  us 
unprepared  for  flood  water.  It  is  our  own  fault  if  we  are  caught 
napping.  Yesterday  we  saw  a  waterfall,  having  heard  it  first  at 
100yds  distance,  pouring  in  volume  through  a  fence  from  a 
Wheat  field  into  a  piece  of  plough.  The  proper  fall  had  been 
neglected,  and  to  relieve  his  Wheat  of  the  water  the  tenant  cut 
a  trench  and  flooded  a  field  in  preparation  for  roots.  It  will 
require  much  labour,  as  well  as  frost,  to  make  a  Turnip  mould 
where  water  has  been. 
