197 
.  ..  •.  t.'  ■  . 
February  27,  1902.  JOURNAL  0^'^' HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
Averagre  Wholesale  Prices.— Vegetables. 
s.  d. 
s. 
d 
s.  d. 
s.  d 
Artichokes,  green,  doz. 
2  0  to  3 
0 
Mushrooms,  forced,  lb.  0  6  to  0  8 
,,  Jerusalem,  sieve 
1  6 
0 
0 
Mustard  &  Cress,  doz.  1  6 
0  0 
Batavia,  doz . 
2  0 
0 
0 
Parsley,  doz.  bnchs.  ...  2  0 
3  0 
Beans,  French,  per  lb. 
2  0 
0 
0 
Potatoes,  new  French, 
Beet,  red,  doz . 
0  6 
0 
0 
per  lb .  0  3^ 
0  4 
Brussels  Sprouts, ^sieve 
2  0 
3 
0 
Potatoes,  English,  cwt.  4  0 
5  0 
Cabbages,  tally  . 
1  6 
3 
0 
Radishes,  doz.  ...  ...  1  6 
0  0 
Carrots,  doz.  bnch. 
2  0 
2 
6 
,,  long,  doz .  0  9 
010 
Cauliflowers,  doz. 
2  0 
3 
0 
Seakale  ...  ; .  1  0 
1  3 
Corn  Salad,  strike 
1  0 
1 
3 
Shallots,  lb .  0  2 
0  3 
Cucumbers  doz. . 
10  0 
15 
0 
Spinach,  bush .  2  0 
3  0 
Endive,  doz . .  ... 
1  0 
1 
3 
Sprue,  French,  doz.  bn.  8  0 
9  0 
Herbs,  bunch  ...  ... 
0  2 
0 
0 
Tomatoes,  Teneriffe 
Horseradish,  bunch  ... 
1  6 
0 
0 
consignment  .  4  0 
0  0 
Leeks,  bunch  . 
0  11 
2 
0 
Turnips,  doz.  bnch.  ...  2  0 
3  0 
Lettuce,  Cabbage,  doz. 
1  3 
2 
0 
Watercress,  doz .  0  6 
0  0 
Average  Wholesale  Prices.— Plants  in  Pots. 
Most  of  the  undermentioned  plants  are  sold  in  48  and  32-sized  pots. 
s.  d.  s.  d 
Aralias,  doz .  5  0tol2  0 
Araucaria,  doz .  12  0  30  0 
Aspidistra,  doz.  ...  ...  18  0  36  0 
Azaleas,  white  and 
coloured,  doz.  ...  30  0  36  0 
Crotons,  doz .  18  0  30  0 
Cyclamen,  doz.  ...  ...  9  0  10  0 
Cyperus  alternifolius 
per  doz .  4  0  5  0 
Dracaena,  van,  doz.  ...  12  0  30  0 
Dracaena,  viridis,  doz.  9  0  18  0 
Erica  byemalis  .  9  0  10  0 
,,  ,,  alba . 10  0  12  0 
Ferns,  var,  doz .  4  0  18  0 
Ferns,  small,  100 .  10  0  16  0 
s.  d.  s.  d 
Ficus  elastica,  doz.  ...  9  0tol2  0 
Foliage  plants,  var,  each  10  5  0 
Grevilleas,  48’.s,  doz.  ...  4  0  5  0 
Lycopodiums,  doz.  ...  3  0  0  0 
Marguerite  Daisy,  doz.  8  0  10  0 
Myrtles,  doz .  6  0  9  0 
Palms,  in  var.,  doz.  ...  15  0  30  6 
,.  sj  ecimens  ...  21  0  63  0 
Pandanus  Veitchi,  48’s, 
doz .  24  0  30  0 
Primulas  .  3  0  4  0 
Shrubs,  in  pots  .  4  0  6  0 
Solanums  .  8  0  10  0 
Spira‘a  japonica,  48’s, 
doz . 10  0  12  0 
Average  Wholesale  Prices.— Cut  f  lowers 
Acacia  “mimosa,”  pad 
Anemone,  double i^ink, 
per  doz . 
Arums,  doz . 
Asparagus,  Fern,  bnch. 
Azalea  mollis,  per  bun. 
Bouvardia,  white, 
doz.  bunches . 
Bouvardia,  coloured, 
doz.  bunches . 
Camellias,  white . 
Carnations,  12  blooms 
Cattleyas,  doz . 
Croton  foliage,  bun.  ... 
Cycas  leaves,  each 
Cypripediums,  doz.  ... 
Daffodils,  single,  doz.... 
,,  double  ,,  ... 
Eucharis,  doz . 
Freesias,  doz.  bunches 
Gardenias,  doz . 
Geranium,  scarlet,  doz. 
bnchs . 
Hyae  i  n  t  h ,  Eoman, 
doz.  bunches . 
Ivy  leaves,  doz.  bun. ... 
Lilac,  French,  white, 
per  bun . 
Lilium  Harrisi  . 
,,  lancifolium  alb. 
Lily  of  the  Valley,  12 
bnchs  . 
s. 
d. 
S. 
d 
s. 
d. 
s. 
d 
6 
0to8 
0 
Lilium  1.  rubrum 
2  0  to  2  6 
,,  longiflorum  ... 
3 
0 
4 
0 
1 
6 
0  0 
Maidenhair  Fern,  doz. 
4 
0 
6 
0 
bnchs . 
0  0 
8 
0 
1 
0 
2 
0 
Marguerites,  white. 
1 
0 
0 
0 
doz.  bnchs . 
4 
0 
0 
0 
,,  yellow,  doz.  bnchs. 
2 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
8 
0 
Myrtle,  English,  per 
bun . 
0  6 
0 
0 
0 
8 
0 
Narcissus,  paper  white. 
2 
0 
2 
6 
doz.  bunches . 
0 
0 
2 
6 
1 
3 
1 
9 
,,  Soleil  d’Or  . 
0 
0 
1 
6 
0 
0 
12 
0 
,,  double  Roman 
1 
6 
2 
0 
0 
9 
1 
0 
Odontoglossums . 
4 
0 
0 
0 
0 
9 
1 
6 
Orange  blossom,  bun. 
2 
0 
3 
0 
2 
0 
0 
0 
Primula,  double  white, 
5 
0 
8 
0 
doz.  bunehes . 
6 
0 
8 
0 
4 
0 
6 
0 
Roses,  Niphetos,  white, 
0 
0 
3 
0 
doz . 
2 
0 
3 
0 
2 
0 
3 
0 
,,  pink,  doz . 
4 
0 
6 
0 
6 
0 
0 
0 
,,  yellow, doz.  (Perles) 
2 
0 
3 
0 
Smilax,  bnch  . 
3 
0 
4 
0 
4 
0 
6 
0 
Tuberoses,  gross . 
0 
0 
12 
0 
Tulips,  white,  single. 
7 
0 
8 
0 
doz.  bun.  ... 
9 
0 
0  0 
1 
6 
0 
0 
,,  ■  coloured,  doz. 
bun . 
9  0 
0 
0 
4 
0 
4 
6 
,,  scarlet,  single, 
4 
0 
6 
0 
doz.  bun.  ... 
4 
0 
5 
0 
2 
0 
2 
6 
Violets,  single,  doz  ... 
1 
6 
0  0 
,,  double,  doz . 
3 
0 
4 
0 
6 
0 
12 
0 
The  Lambing  Season. 
Although  for  two  months  or  more  a  few  lambs  may  have 
been  seen  on  many  farms,  whilst  on  those  where  early  fat 
lambs  are  made  a  speciality,  the  lambing  may  be  nearly 
over,  yet,  taking  the  country  throughout,  the  great  majority 
of  ewes  lamb  during  the  month  of  March.  Tennyson’s 
description  of  this  month  as  “  The  raging  moon  of  Daffodil 
and  Crocus  ”  was  doubtless  prompted  by  the  memory  of 
the  lambing  storms  of  sleet  and  snow  on  his  native  Lincoln¬ 
shire  wolds.  Snow  showers  are  often  spoken  of  by  farmers 
as  lambing  storms.  It  is,  therefore,  not  too  late  to  make  a 
few  suggestions  as  to  the  management  of  ewes  during  this 
critical  period.  Should  a  flock  of  ewes  have  been  allowed 
plenty  of  exercise  on  grass,  whilst,  at  the  same  time,  they 
have  been  well  and  nutritiously  fed  with  roots  and  dry  foods, 
the  owner  need  have  little  fear  as  to  the  general  results. 
The  two  great  dangers  to  be  feared  are  abortion  and  false 
presentation.  The  former  often  causes  a  great  loss  of 
lambs  ;  but  the  latter  may,  in  addition,  cause  great  mortality 
amongst  the  ewes  as  well. 
The  most  fruitful  cause  of  the  latter  trouble  is  dogging  ^ 
during  the  early  stages  of  pregnancy.  A  sudden  fright  and 
stampede  of  a  flock  of  ewes,  owing  to  the  sudden  appear¬ 
ance  by  night  of  poachers’  dogs,  has  in  thousands  of  cases 
been  the  mysterious  cause  of  dire  trouble  and  loss  to  the 
farmer.  Such  occurrences  are  difficult  to  guard  against ; 
but  shepherds  owning  young  and  badly  broken  collies  should 
surely  know  better  than  to  practise  breaking  them  on  a. 
flock  of  ewes  during  autumn  ;  yet  many  shepherds  thought¬ 
lessly  do  so,  quite  forgetting,  or  perhaps  it  may  be  in 
blissful  ignorance  of  the  fact,  that  upon  the  quietness  and 
tranquillity  of  his  ewes  during  the  autumn  months  depends 
much  of  his  chance  of  a  successful  and  easy  lambing.  Int 
the  “Royal  Agricultural  Society’s  Journal”  for  1901 
Professor  MacFadyean,  in  speaking  of  abortion,  says  that 
serious  outbreaks,  where  as  many  as^  50  per  cent,  of  ewes; 
have  aborted,  have  almost  always  taken  place  within  ten 
days  of  lambing  time.  If  that  be  the  case,  the  anxiety  of; 
the  sheep  breeder  must  be  sustained  until  a  very  large 
proportion  of  his  ewes  have  lambed  before  he  can  consider 
himself  entirely  out  of  the  wood  of  his  difficulties.  Our 
own  experience  goes  to  show  that  a  period  about  six  weeks 
to  two  months  before  parturition  is  a  critical  time  with 
the  breeding  ewe,  and  we  have  known  many  instances  of 
outbreaks  of  abortion  about  that  period.  They  have 
generally  occurred  during  severe  winters,  when  during  the 
short  days  it  has  not  been  easy  to  keep  the  animals  on  a. 
comfortable  lair,  and  provide  them  with  a  sufficiency  of 
unfrozen  and  nourishing  food. 
There  are,  however,  many  cases  which  occur  after  the- 
regular  lambing  has  commenced,  and  which  are  cases  of 
abortion  pure  and  simple,  though  they  are  not  so  termed 
by  farmers  and  shepherds.  It  is  the  frequent  occurrence  of 
such  cases  which  should  warn  those  persons  most  interested, 
that  something  is  wrong,  and  the  very  fact  that  they  occur 
at  a  time  when,  instead  of  being  out  in  the  open  fields,  the 
ewes  are  being  penned  up  at  night  in  confined  spaces,, 
makes  it  all  the  more  necessary  that  no  precaution  which 
sanitary  science  may  suggest  should  be  neglected.  An  ewe 
will  sometimes  produce  a  pair  of  lambs — one  dead,  the 
other  alive,  but  weakly,  neither  of  them  having  as  much 
wool  on  them  as  a  newly-born  lamb  should  have.  An  old 
shepherd  of  ours  termed  such  lambs  “  paper  skinned  ones.” 
The  papery  skin  with  little  wool  on  it  denotes  premature 
birth,  and,  in  most  instances,  a  case  of  abortion.  Yet  these 
cases  occur  generally  in  confined  yards,  with  a  large  number 
of  pregnant  animals  in  close  proximity,  and  if  there  is  any 
infection  to  spread  there  is  every  chance  that  it  will  do- 
so.  We  have  before  urged  the  expediency  of  a  change  of 
sleeping  quarters  half-way  through  lambing  time,  because 
a  flock  of  ewes  so  often  becomes  unhealthy  after  occupying 
the  same  yard  for  fifteen  or  twenty  nights.  If,  however, 
the  farmer  would  provide  his  shepherd  with  a  drum  of' 
phenyle  disinfectant,  and  the  shepherd  would  take  the 
'trouble  to  use  it  freely  in  the  yard,  as  well  as  in  the  small 
pens,  especially  where  and  when  suspicious  cases  occur,  it 
might  prove  to  be  a  most  profitable  investment.  It  is  of 
little  use  disinfecting  yards  and  pens  freely  if  dead  lambs 
or  afterbirths  are  allowed  to  lie  about  in  corners  or  on 
the  thatched  roofs  of  the  pens  for  a  few  days,  as  may  often 
be  seen  in  lambing  yards.  The  rapid  removal  and  burial  of 
all  such  unwholesome. objects  is  a  necessity  if  a  clean  bill  of 
health  is  to  be  secured. 
In  cases  of  difficult  lambing,  where  there  is  much  displace¬ 
ment  of  the  lambs  in  the  womb,  and  consequent  delay  in 
delivery,  the  subsequent  use  of  antiseptic  fluid  as  a  wash 
to  the  bruised  and  irritated  parts  is  essential  ;  whilst  the 
choice  of  a  sedative  to  be  administered  immediately  to  the 
ewe  to  prevent  after-paining  is  also  very  important.  We 
have  used  the  Gaseodyne,  prepared  and  sold  by  Messrs.. 
