116 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
January  30,  19o2. 
plates,  nine  of  them  coloured.  The  points  which  are  most 
forcibly  impressed  upon  us  are  the  enormous  magnitude 
and  variety  of  the  pursuit  of  husbandry  across  the  Atlantic, 
and  the  close  interest  shown  in  it  by  the  United  States 
Government,  as  evidenced  by  the  publication  of  such  an 
exhaustive  work  as  the  Year  Book.  The  contents  comprise 
ninety  headings  or  subjects,  and  include  papers  on  “  Fig 
Uulture,”  “  Forestry,”  “  Pear  Culture,”  “  Date  Palms,” 
“  Practical  Irrigation,”  “  Successful  Wheat  Growing  in 
;Semi-arid  Districts,”  "  Road  Making,”  “  Commercial 
Varieties  of  Vegetables,”  “  The  Use  and  Abuse  of  Food  j 
Preservatives,”  &c.,  &c.,  and  every  kind  of  statistic  which  ' 
the  imagination  can  possibly  connect  with  agriculture.  The 
food  preservative  question  is  one  which  most  nearly  touches 
us  British  farmers,  for  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  ! 
extended  use  of  preservatives  has  done  much  to  aggravate  ' 
the  foreign  competition  from  which  we  suffer.  j 
The  paper  on  this  subject  by  Mr.  W.  D.  Bigelow,  a  Govern¬ 
ment  chemist,  is  remarkable  for  several  statements  which 
are  well  worthy  of  reproduction.  He  urges  strongly,  in  the 
first  instance,  that  no  preservative  should  be  sold  except  in 
bags  or  cases  marked  with  the  exact  constituents  which  it 
contains,  and  that  certain  substances  should  be  proscribed 
altogether.  Those  which  he  condemns  are  "  Formaldehyde,” 
salicylic  acid  and  sulphites.  Borax  and  benzoic  acid,  he 
contends,  should  only  be  used  with  food  which  is  so  marked 
as  to  inform  the  purchaser  of  their  presence.  Considering 
the  very  prevalent  use  of  salicylic  acid  in  this  country,  Mr. 
Bigelow’s  opinion  of  it  is  worth  quoting: — “Since  1880  the 
mass  of  the  evidence  resulting  from  physiological  studies 
with  salicylic  acid  tends  to  condemn  the  addition  of  this  sub¬ 
stance  to  food  under  all  circumstances.  It  is  possible  that 
the  majority  of  persons  in  sound  health  may  suffer  no 
evident  injurv  from  small  amounts  of  salicylic  acid,  but  its 
use  by  aged  and  infirm  persons  in  attended  with  great 
danger.”  Again,  with  regard  to  boric  acid,  he  says  : — “  Both 
boric  acid  and  borax  are  now  extensively  employed  for  the 
preservation  of  meat,  fish  and  dairy  products.  According 
to  the  directions  of  dealers  in  food  preservatives,  chopped 
meat  and  sausage  are  to  receive  an  addition  of  from  loz  to 
4oz  of  boric  acid  to  each  lOOlb  of  meat,  while  to  each 
15  gallons  of  milk  and  each  30lb  of  butter  may  be  added 
about  an  ounce  of  boric  acid.  The  medicinal  dose  of  boric 
acid  is  from  5  to  15  grains  for  an  adult.  An  infant  who  is 
fed  each  day  with  a  quart  of  milk  treated  thus,  will  receive 
8  grains,  or  a  fair  dose  for  an  adult.”  When  will  farmers 
stir  themselves  to  prevent  unfair  competition,  bolstered  up 
by  the  use  of  such  substances  as  these  ? 
In  connection  with  his  advocacy  of  the  sufficient  marking 
of  these  preservatives,  Mr.  Bigelow'  makes  the  following  very 
interesting  statement : — “  The  States  which  use  large 
amounts  of  commercial  fertilizers  have  found  it  necessary 
to  enact  laws  requiring  that  fertilizers  be  sold  only  in  bags 
on  which  the  composition  of  the  contents  is  marked.  Such 
legislation  has  been  found  equally  advantageous  to  con¬ 
sumers  and  reliable  manufacturers,  and  has  changed  a  busi¬ 
ness  in  which  honesty  once  seemed  impossible  into  one  in 
which  misrepresentation  and  deceit  are  relatively  rare.  Such 
law's  work  no  hardship  to  anyone.  They  encourage  trade, 
and  restrict  fraud.  They  receive  practically  the  unanimous 
support  of  all  reputable  citizens  who  have  opportunity  to 
observe  their  working.”  Legislators  who  are  anxious  to 
benefit  agriculture  might  take  a  useful  hint  from  the  above 
quotation.  The  artificial  manure  trade  of  this  country  is 
vastly  improved  on  w'hat  it  used  to  be,  but  there  is  abundant 
room  for  further  advance.  If  Messrs.  A  or  Mr.  B  like  to  sell 
a  special  manure  with  a  fancy  name,  let  them  call  it  what 
they  like,  but  on  each  bag  should  be  marked  the  percentages 
of  uitroyeu,  [)liospliate,  and  potasli  which  it  contains.'''  We 
get  many'  good  notions  from  America,  and  think  this  one  of 
the  best.  Altogether  this  book,  which  is  issued  gratis  b'''  a 
benevolent  Government  to  half  a  million  farmers,  is  a  marvel 
of  completeness,  and  though,  as  we  said  before,  a  copy  is 
anything  but  easy  to  obtain,  we  think  that  British  farmers 
with  a  thirst  for  information  will  find  satisfaction  in  it  when 
possession  is  attained. 
We  cannot  help  comparing  it  with  its  English  counter¬ 
part,  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  which, 
excellent  and  useful  as  it  is,  cannot  be  compared  with  the 
Vendors  of  fertilizer.s  in  our  own  country,  bj' Act  of  Parliament, 
are  under  the  necessity  of  providing;  a  statement,  \va  believe,  of  the 
percentiigcs  of  the  element.s  or  com])Ounds  contained  in  their 
manures.  This,  we  l)elieve,  can  be  demanded  when  huj'ing  quantities 
•over  31  h  in  weight. 
other  in  comprehensiveness,  and,  unaided  by  the  State,  only 
reaches  those  who  see  in  it  money’s  worth  in  exchange  for 
half-a-guinea.  When  will  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society 
become  really  national?  The  machinery  is  there,  why  can¬ 
not  the  State  work  it  ? 
Potatoes  as  Food  for  Stock. 
Notwithstanding  that  we  have  been  exnorting  consider¬ 
able  quantities  of  Potatoes  to  America,  there  is  no  life  in 
the  trade  on  this  side,  and  it  is  every  day  becoming  more 
evident  that  a  market  cannot  be  found  for  the  whole  of  the 
home  supply.  The  latest  reports  state  that  the  trade  in 
New  York  is  much  depressed,  so  that  even  that  outlet  may 
fail  us.  When  markets  are  glutted,  low-class  qualities  are 
naturally  neglected,  and  at  the  present  time  quantities  of 
sound  Potatoes  are  not  bringing  more  than  25s.  or  30s.  per 
ton  to  the  producer’s  pocket.  The  latter  will  be  much  to 
blame  if  he  continues  to  sell  at  such  a  price.  Every  farmer 
knows  the  usefulness  of  Potatoes  as  food  for  pigs,  but 
hundreds  who  have  but  recently  taken  up  the  cultivation 
of  the  tuber  are  quite  unaware  of  its  value  as  food  for  cattle. 
At  the  nresent  time,  with  hay  and  straw  almost  approaching 
prohibitive  prices,  and  good  sound  Turnips  very  scarce,  the 
plethora  of  Potatoes,  intelligently  used,  may  with  much 
greater  advantage  be  consumed  than  sold.  It  is  very 
generally  supposed  that  there  is  danger  in  feeding  uncooked 
Potatoes  to  cattle,  but  this  is  quite  a  mistake,  the  only 
danger  lying  in  their  too  free  use  before  the  stomachs  of  the 
animals  have  become  inured  to  them.  Many  cattle  are  slow 
in  taking  to  them,  and  if  a  moderate  quantity  be  given  to  a 
dozen  or  more  beasts,  and  only  one  or  two  take  an  early 
liking  to  them,  there  will  be  great  danger  of  colic  to  those 
individual  beasts,  for  they  may  get  a  much  greater  quantity 
than  was  ever  intended  for  them.  At  first  every  care  must 
be  taken  that  no  beast  gets  more  than  ]4lb  per  day,  but  this 
quantity  may  be  rapidly  but  "radually  extended  to  60lb  or 
80lb.  Needless  to  say  the  Potatoes  must  always  be  well 
washed,  and  we  should  not  use  them  for  animals  under 
fourteen  or  fifteen  months  of  age.  There  is  as  much  feeding 
matter  in  3lb  of  Potatoes  as  in  lib  of  mixed  grain  food. 
Work  on  the  Honu  Farm- 
We  are  doing  a  little  ploughing,  but  ^though  the  week  ha* 
been  fairly  dry,  with  slight  frosts,  there  is  still  a  great  deal  of 
moisture  near  the  surface,  and  land  which  has  been  previously 
moved  is  better  let  alone  for  the  present.  To-day  we  have  seen 
a  solitary  plough  at  work  on  strong  land  stubble,  a  boy,  basket 
in  hand,  following  the  plough  to  gather  up  twitch  practically 
by  the  heels.  There  was  little  twitch  in  the  land,  and  we  could 
not  but  applaud  the  idea  to  pull  out  any  clumps  there  might 
be.  But  surely  the  whole  operation  was  somewhat  belated.  Had 
the  ploughing  been  done  before,  there  has  been  sufficient  frost 
recently  to  pulverise  a  moderate  plough  depth,  whereas  we  inay 
have  little  more,  and  the  experience  of  recent  seasons  certainly 
I  does  not  give  much  encouragement  to  the  contrary. 
!  The  one  thing  we  can  proceed  with  is  Turnip  land  ploughing ; 
the  surface  has  dried  nicely  and  carries  the  horses  well.  W* 
use  the  chilled  plough  for  this  purpose.  A  pair  of  horses  will 
turn  over  a  lOin  to  12in  furrow  5in  deep  with  ease.  Using  a 
wide  share,  the  whole  ground  is  cut  and  no  Thistles  missed,  w'hich 
is  a  point  in  a  Thistle  country  ;  the  soil,  too,  is  well  turned,  and 
left  light.  No  doubt  the  two  and  three  furrow  shallow  working 
ploughs  so  much  in  vogue  may  appear  economical,  but  we  doubt 
their  superiority  to  the  chilled  plough  for  the  above  purpose. 
Wheat  looks  fairly  well,  some  very  well,  but  there  are  sign* 
of  wireworm.  The  crop  generally  is  nothing  nearly  so  forward 
as  last  year  at  this  time,  and  we  think  the  prospect  all  the 
better  for  it ;  but  there  is  strong  necessity  for  using  the  roller 
at  the  earliest  opportunity.  With  a  continuance  of  fine 
weather,  rolling  Wheat  might  be  possible  early  in  February. 
When  that  opportunity  comes  we  must  also  not  neglect  the 
use  of  the  harrow.  We  have  already  detected  the  presence  of 
a  great  number  of  seedling  weeds  in  finst  leaf,  which  may  easily 
be  destroyed  if  attacked  at  once. 
We  have  seen  several  fields  of  winter  Beans,  which  look 
wonderfully  well,  but  they  also  are  rather  choked  with  young 
twitch  and  weeds.  The  horse  hoe  will  do  infinite  good  her© 
as  soon  as  it  can  be  used,  whilst  a  dressing  of  superphosphate 
and  muriate  of  potash  would  help  to  bring  to  perfection  » 
promising  and  profitable  crop. 
Lambs  are  becoming  quite  an  everyday  sight.  We  saw  four 
ewes  with  their  lambs  grazing  the  lawn  in  front  of  a  farm¬ 
house  the  other  day.  With  a  shrubberj'  on  each  side,  and  open 
to  the  south,  it  made  a  beautifully  warm  nook.  The  flower  bed* 
appeared  to  be  empty ;  perhaps  the  sheep  had  cleared  them  of 
their  contents.  That  farmer  evidently  does  not  believe  much 
in  gardening,  and  probably  never  heard  of  this  Journal. 
