464 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
]SIay  22,  1902. 
Permanent  Pastnres. 
Our  idea  of  a  pleasant  state  of  ex'stencii  is  country  life, 
with  occupation.  No  life  is,  or  can  be,  full  without  work  of 
some  sort,  mental  or  physical,  acd  we  hold  that  physical 
work  is  a  necessity,  let  the  mental  be  what  it  may,  or  what 
you  like  to  make  it.  People  find  the  countrv  dull  and  same. 
Looked  at  in  the  right  way,  tnere  is  neither  dulness  nor 
sameness  about  it.  There  is.jjterrible  dulness  in  row  aftsr 
row  of  didl  town  tenements,  and  the  roar  and  turmoil  of  a 
toiling,  sweating  populace,  and  oh  1  the  sadness  of  it  all,  the 
sordidness,  the  greediness,  and  the  hateful  lust  for  wealth 
and  fame!  It  makes  the  heart  bleed.  The  face  of  the  ; 
country  is  as  changing  as  the  hour,  and  she  responds  so  • 
quickly  to  all  influences  of  sun  and  air.  The  people,  too, 
being  fewer,  are  more  easily  approached,  a::  cl  an  ir.timate 
knowledge  of  the  villagers  even  of  a  small  hamlet  will  quite 
dispel  all  dulness.  But  to  be  happy  in  the  country  the  mind 
mrrst  be  attuned,  and  no  one  who  is  not  a  lover  of  nature  can 
ever  hope  to  settle.  An  educated  man  finds  the  country  a 
mine  of  gold,  and  we  think  it  is  this  education  that  makes 
so  man"  of  our  clergy  happy  and  useful.  Given  a  moderate 
income,  and  active  habits,  a  parson  may  in  the  country  fully  ' 
attend  to  the  spiritual  needs  of  his  people,  and  yet  find  time 
for  the  cultivation  of  many  a  pleasant  hobby. 
We  do  not  need  to  cite  instances.  Many  well-known 
names  will  instantly  occur  to  the  reader,  beginning  with 
White,  of  Selborne,  and  ending  with  our  chaplain.  Many 
of  these  men  have  sprung  from  the  landed  interest,  have 
been  bouna  up  in  rural  life  from  their  birth,  and  possibly 
have  an  intimate  knowledge  of  many  things  agricultural. 
What  naturalists  and  botanists  these  men  make,  for  they  can 
take  up  these  pursuits  while  shepherding  their  scattered 
flocks  I  We  have  the  pleasure  of  knowing  a  man  of  this 
description,  a  man  fairly  steeped  in  all  that  appertains  to 
plant  life,  and  he,  with  the  interests  of  his  .  neighbours  at 
heart,  has  been  able  to  counsel  and  advise  to  very  good 
purpose.  When  a  man  spends  every  minute  he  can  spare 
from  his  legitimate  work  to  study  the-  growth  and  habits  - 
of  the  plant  life  in  his  (very  wide)  district,  he  must  know 
pretty  well  what  plants  predominate,  and  how  to  adjust,  by 
judicious  sowing,  whole  areas  to  make  them  most  productive. 
Nature  is  verv  ready  with  her  limits  ;  man  is  often  very  blind 
to  see  her  most  obvious  teachings. 
Whether  this  small  duty  on  imported  Wheat  will  do  much 
to  send  up  the  prices  of  English  we  can  hardly  say.  The 
price  is  rising  now,  but  that  is.  because  practically  there  is 
no  Wheat  in  the  country.  But  there  will -always  be  men  who 
are  ready  to  convert  arable  into  pasture  food  if  possible  ;  i 
stock  raising  does  pay  fairly  well.  These  men  do  not  know 
much,  if  anything,  of  plant  lore  themselves,  so  they  naturally 
think  it  wisest  and  best  to  state  their  requirements  to  the 
nearest  seedsman,  and  then  accept  and  sow  the  mixture  he 
advises.  No  doubt  the  seedsman  does  his  best  ;  he  is  honest 
and  withal  anxious  to  secure  a  customer  ;  but  what  of  his 
knowledge  1  Has  he  the  faintest  smattering  of  botany  (we 
are  speaking  of  local  men,  not  the  great  firms)?  He  knows 
certain  grasses  are  good,  and  so  he  compounds  a  mixture 
often  very  disproportionate — disproportionate  because, 
though  good  in  itself,  it  does  not  meet  the  land  half  w’ay.  ' 
Can  we  explain  ourselves  better?  Some  of  the  seeds,  being 
of  a  common,  hardy  sort  (though  not  very  valuable  in  the 
formation  of  pasture),  will  grow  away  at  such  a  rate  as  to 
completely  overwhelm  those  of  a  better  but  shyer  growth  ; 
seeds  that  would  so  thoroughly  make  good  the  whole  piece 
that  they  ought  to  have  every  encouragement.  Then,  aeain. 
it  is  well  to  see  that  the  seeds  sown  are  pure  ;  not  only  free 
from  adulteration,  but  also  free  from  defective  or  abortive 
specimens.  Cheap  seeds,  like  everything,  generally  turn  out 
to  be  both  nasty  and  dear. 
Our  parson  is  of  opinion  that  land,  as  a  rule,  prefers  not 
to  grow  good  grass.  At  any  rate,  we  can  see  how  quickly  ' 
land  will  revert  to  “  rubbish  ”  if  left  to  its  own  devices.  He 
finds  a  bit  ,of  fault  with  ordinary  grass  mixtures  on  the 
ground  that  there  is  generally  too  great  a  variety,  and  also 
far  too  much  Clover.  Keep  back  some  of  the  best  and  most 
delicate  seeds  for  a  time,  till  the  soil  is  better  able  to  grow 
them.  Clover,  good  as  it  is,  is  not  all  in  all,  and  it  sometimes 
proves  too  much  for  sheep  and  beasts.  Clover  is  not  so  early 
as  some  of  our  grasses,  is  more  liable, to  disease,  and  fornns 
a  fine  food,  much  appreciated  by  the  woodpigeon.  Rather 
than  so  much  Clover,  try  a  greater  proportion  of  Perennial 
Rve,  Meadow  Fescue,  Timothy,  and  rough  and  smooth 
Meadow  Grass.  The  seed  bed  must  be  perfectly  clean,  and 
the  best  seed  bed  is  found  among  growing  Wheat.  Wheat, 
being  autumn  sown,  the  land  has  had  a  chance  to  consolidate, 
and  a  harrowing,  perhaps  repeated,  will  make  the  fine  tilth. 
The  Wheat  crop  this  year  must  not  be  considered  ;  it  is  only 
st.inding  to  act  the  part  of  a  foster  mother.  After  the 
harrow  should  come  a  Crosskill’s  roller,  then  half  the  seed 
mixture  should  be  sown  broadcast,  then  the  ground  rolled 
again,  crossways,  then  the  second  half  of  the  seeds  may  be 
sown. 
Grass  sown  with  spring  com  does  not  do  well,  as  the 
ground  is  too  light  and  friable,  and  the  seed  is  apt  to  get 
buried  too  deep.  Wheat,  too,  makes  the  best  cover  for  the 
young  seed  plant,  and  is  not  so  apt  to  get  “  laid  ”  as  either 
Oats  or  Bai’ley.  When  the  Wheat  is  cut,  care  should  be 
taken  to  leave  the  stubble  as  long  as  possible,  for  the  little 
plants  need  quite  as  much  shelter  from  winter  frosts  as  they 
did  from  summer  drought.  If  from  any  cause  there  are 
places  in  the  plot  where  the  seed  has  missed,  or  where  it  is 
too  thin,  a  man  should  be  sent  wnth  bag  and  rake  to  attend 
to  these  places,  as  soon  as  ever  there  is  a  chance  that  the 
seed  will  germinate.  Nothing  looks  worse  than  a  patchy 
piece,  and  if  proper  seed  is  not  sowm,  be  sure  by  some  means 
or  another  improper  plants  will  soon  fill  up  the  gaps.  It  is 
nob  to  be  expected  that  the  protecting  Wheat  crop  will  he  a 
heavy  one  ;  probably  too  much  will  have  been  harrow'ed  out 
in  the  spring  ;  but  if  quantity  be  lacking,  quality  will  be 
good,  and,  after  all,  it  was  the  permanent  pasture  that  was 
the  crop  in  view,  the  Wheat  simply  serving  as  good  cover. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
A  small  breadth  of  Swedes  for  early  bullock  feeding  has  been 
sown,  but  it  is  somewhat  more  of  a  lottery  than  farming  matters 
usually. are,  whether  it  is  a  success  or  not.  If  the  crop  doe.s 
well  it  is  invai'iably  a  very  large  and  valuable  one,  for  there  is 
nothing  like  a  well  matured  Swede  to  produce  good  beef  for 
Christmas.  There  is  one  thing  in  favour  of  trying  a  few  early 
ones.  The  result  of  the  experiment  is  generally  decided  in 
time  to  reoccupy  tlie  ground  with  common  Turnips.  As  it  is 
much  too  cold  for  general  Turnip  sowing,  all  available  hands  are 
weeding  the  corn.  The  thinly  planted  Wheat  must  be  kept 
clean,  and  Thistles  are  rather  plentiful  in  the  Barley  and  Oat 
fields.  Tliere  are  some  complaints  of  Barley  grubbing  away, 
but,  as  a  rule,  it  looks  very  well,  and  is  standing  the  cold  frosty 
winds  as  well  as,  or  better,  than  the  Wheat. 
Potatoes  which  have  been  harrowed  and  not  earthed  up 
again  are  showing  regularly  in  the  rows,  but  are  in  danger  from 
frost,  although  we  are  nearing  the  end  of  May.  They  are  best 
kept  out  of  sight  yet  awhile,  for,  although  it  is  invisible,  pro¬ 
gressive  growth  is  being  made.  If  it  were  not  for  the  danger 
of  frost,  we  should  like  to  be  seeing  them  up  in  rows,  so  that 
the  horsehoe  may  go  over  them.  There  is  rather  more  green 
sod  between  the  rows  this  year  than  we  like  to  see.  It  must  be 
broken  up  and  killed  before  the  Potatoes  are  earthed  up,  or 
we  shall  find  it  growing  out  of  the  ridges  and  competing  with 
the  crop. 
Lambs  are  still  doing  well.  We  should  like  to  get  the  ewes 
washed  and  clipped,  but  the  weather 'is -too  cold.  Many  cows 
are  calving,  and  there  is  a  great  demand  for  the  calves  for 
rearing  purposes.  Farmers  are  inquiring  for  them  in  all  direc¬ 
tions.  The  rise  in  the  price  of  jneat  has  quickly  had  its  effect 
in  stimulating  the  rearing  of  young  cattle.  We  have  always 
advocated  this  industry  as  a  paying  one,  and  one  to  be  followed 
by  all  farmers  who  grow  hay  and  straw.  The  profit  is  the  most 
certain  and  stable  of  any  except  the  breeding  of  sheep. 
Sows  are  being  gradually  weaned  from  tkeir  offspring,  and 
are  being  again  put  to  the  boar.  With  good  luck  they  will  have 
weaned  other  litters  by  Martinmas,  and  may  then  be  fed  off 
before  killing  time  is  over.  Pigs  are  as  dear  as  ever,  but  pork 
is  a  little  easier.  A  great  many  people  are  now  breeding,  so 
perhaps  the  inevitable  reaction  is  not  far  off.  Newly  weaned 
pigs  must  be  well  fed,  and  must  have  skim  milk  if  possible.  At 
all  costs  they  must  be  kept  in  a  thi'iving  condition.  The  least 
drawback  means  loss  of  time  and  of  profit. 
