118 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
August  1,  1901. 
clothed  with  foreign  wool,  and  our  friends  and  best  customers  fed 
with  Canterbury  pilgrims. 
Now,  then,  what  about  our  hay  and  Clover  ?  Deplorable  drought 
again.  How  many  years  is  this  goiDg  to  last  ?  We  almost  prefer  the 
wet  3 ears,  at  any  rate  then  there  was  plenty  to  eat;  there  was  no 
scanty  pasture,  no  water  deficit.  With  drought  we  stand  surrounded 
by  serious  difficulties.  It  is  early  yet  perhaps  to  speak  of  the  future 
of  the  root  crop;  but  this  we  do  see,  there  will  not  be  a  bite  of  hay 
or  Clover  to  spare,  it  will  be  as  dear  as  Mint,  and  this  when  there  is 
nothing  to  fall  back  upon — a  long,  cold  spring,  when  pastures  would 
not  grow,  exhausted  our  old  supplies.  Truly,  what  has  been  got  is  in 
good  condition,  that  is  something,  but  we  want  bulk.  Taking  100 
as  maximum,  we  find  that  the  Grass  crops  stand  at  65,  as  against 
92*4  last  year.  We  have  seen  ourselves  a  few  good  crops,  but  this 
in  a  neighbourhood  where  the  welcome  rain  has  not  been  totally 
absent,  and  where  the  land  was  fairly  deep.  What  makes  the 
smallness  of  the  forage  crops  such  a  calamity  is  the  fact  that  under 
no  possible  circumstances  can  we  expect  great  length  of  straw  with 
any  of  the  grain  crops.  We  are  not  going  into  the  yield  of  the  Corn 
crops,  for  sometimes  they  finish  in  a  remarkable  manner  and  give  us 
a  pleasant  surprise. 
We  may  have  a  pleasant  surprise  in  the  case  of  Wheat,  but  the 
less  said  about  Barley  and  Oats  the  better.  Some  Barley  and  Oats 
have  found  great  difficulty  to  shoot  at  all,  and  they  have  no  reserve 
strength  to  spend  on  lengthening  straw.  No  one  need  consider  the 
necessity  of  enlarging  stack  yards  this  season.  Even  Wheat  we  see, 
which  likes  a  dry  time,  is  two  points  lower  than  last  year,  87*6  as 
against  89  6.  Last  year  as  a  whole  was  a  good  Barley  year,  907  ; 
this  year  77*3,  and  we  think  this  a  trifle  over-estimated.  Oats  were 
91*2  in  1900 ;  in  1901,  77*1.  Beans,  as  far  as  our  observation  goes, 
have  suffered  much  irom  filth,  an  outcome  of  the  dry  weather.  It  is 
a  trifle  early  to  speak  of  Potatoes,  although  we  know  some  that  were 
very  late  in  getting  away.  This  year,  again,  it  is  the  old  tale,  change 
of  seed  is  most  patent ;  there  is  a  vigour  about  the  plants  that  surely 
must  foretell  a  good  crop  Our  Potato  growers,  too,  have  found  out 
that  it  is  a  crop  that  calls  for  the  best  of  tillage,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
about  it  that  well  tilled  land  will  defy  drought  for  almost  an  indefinite 
period.  What  we  have  most  to  fear  with  regard  to  Potatoes  is  that 
when  the  rain  does  come  it  will  come  accompanied  by  violent 
disturbance,  and  Potatoes  are  like  a  nervous  woman,  very  much 
wrought  upon  for  the  worse  by  the  conditions  that  prevail  during  a 
period  of  severe  thunderstorm.  We  always  seem  to  get  the  rain  the 
wrong  end  of  the  year,  when  things  are  past  praying  lor.  A  farmer’s 
life  is  full  of  disappointments;  he  sees  success  almost  within  his 
grasp,  and,  lo  !  untoward  weather  frustrates  all  his  hopes.  There  is 
oue  bright  spot;  the  Hop  growers  are  to  have  a  good  year.  We  do 
not  grudge  them  this  for  a  moment,  poor  fellows;  as  a  rule  their  life 
and  lot  is  not  a  bed  of  Roses,  but  they  form  so  small  a  part  of  the  noble 
army  of  farmers. 
One  class  of  men  who  must  have  been  hit  Hard  by  this  prolonged 
drought  are  the  dairy  farmers.  A  cow  has  a  large  capacity  ;  she  must 
have  plenty  of  swtet,  rich,  nutritious  food.  Where  is  it  to  come 
from  ?  She  will  not  find  it  in  the  cow  pastures  this  year.  There 
may  be  fodder  crops  to  run  to,  but  even  they  cannot  hold  good  for 
ever  ;  happy  the  man  who  has  tares  and  lucerne  ad  lib.  Even  then 
it  will  be  a  question  of  bought  food — meal,  bran,  and  the  like — and 
the  question  that  many  men  will  be  revolving  in  their  minds  is  this. 
Shall  I  get  adequate  return  for  my  outlay  ?  We  do  not  offer  to 
answer  this,  we  ask  for  an  easier  riddle. 
The  milk  makers,  too,  have  been  uneasy  iu  their  minds  as  to  what 
Mr.  Han  bury  would  do  respecting  the  milk  standard.  It  is  not  a 
pleasant  thing  for  a  respectable  man  to  be  branded  as  a  fraudulent 
dealer  because  the  morning’s  milk  is  a  point  or  two  below  standard. 
Mr  Hanbury  being  strong  has  also  been  merciful,  and  our  minds  are 
at  ease.  We  feel  fairly  safe,  and  we  shall  not  dream  of  heavy  fine 
or  its  alternative,  the  treadmill,  with  a  milk  can  hung  lound  our  neck. 
At  any  rate  July  finds  us  clear  of  £‘  foot  and  mouth,”  and  that  means 
a  good  deal  to  some  of  us  during  the  autumn  months.  Of  course  we 
are  all  glad  and  thankful  to  be  clear  of  a  horrid  disease  which 
appare  tly  attacks  all  sorts  and  kinds  of  farm  stock.  But  some  of  us 
got  a  nasty  knock  down  blow  last  autumn.  We  were  ready  with  our 
best  rams  for  the  Argentine  and  the  colonies.  Maybe  some  of  us 
had  sheep  on  the  high  seas,  when,  without  a  moment’s  warning,  the 
crder  went  forth,  “All  stock  is  to  be  kept  at  home.”  Our  friends 
across  the  sea  oid  not  intend  to  run  any  risk  of  importing  through  us 
something  more  than  our  rams.  They  were  clear  of  disease,  and 
wisely  meant  to  keep  clear,  and  then  we  were  left  with  our  best  sheep 
on  our  hanrs.  Well,  it’s  an  ill  wind,  &c.,  and  some  of  the  tenant 
farmers  near  home  were  abls  to  get  a  first-rate  sire  for  a  very  modest 
price. 
We  do  not  think  the  graz  er  sung  a  jsean  of  praise  th  s  season. 
Not  much  stock  will  go  off  to  the  butcher  purely  fed  on  grass;  there 
will  be  a  big  account  for  cake  somewhere.  Whether  it  will  ever  get 
paid  is  another  question  ;  there  will  not  be  much  profit  to  meet  it 
with.  But  as  far  as  we  can  see  or  hear  this  eminently  dry  time  has 
not  extended  to  the  northern  counties,  nor  over  the  border.  Those 
good  folks  who  went  a  touring  with  the  B.D.F.  saw  strange  sights  in 
the  land  o’  cakes,  tremendous  crops  of  all  sorts  of  forage,  grand 
prospects  all  round.  Of  course  they  were  in  picked  districts  and  saw 
the  cream  of  the  farms,  but  yet  in  these  favoured  places  they  cannot 
entirely  get  along  without  rain.  The  sight  of  so  much  good  provision 
had  the  effect  of  sending  many  of  us  home  disconte  ted  to  our  bare 
pastures  and  stuuted  crops. 
There  is  another  phase  of  our  condition  which  does  not  look  very 
promising,  we  mean  our  labour  supply.  It  neither  improves  in 
quantity  or  quality,  and  here  we  are  practically  helpless.  We  cannot 
in  justice  to  ourselves  and  families  afford  higher  wages.  Whether  the 
landlord  can  afford  to  build  more  ornate  cottages  and  cut  up  more 
fields  (the  very  pick  of  the  parish)  is  a  question  we  have  to  leave  to 
him.  We  do  not  think  cottages  and  lands  are  altogether  a  remedy, 
for  we  see  men  leaving  parishes  that  afford  them  everything  they  can 
ask — good  wages,  good  houses,  and  good  allotments.  We  do  not  want 
to  see  bad  trade  in  towns,  but  a  slack  time  in  the  great  centres  of 
industry  would  have  a  great  effect  in  repopulating  our  country  villages. 
We  fancy  a  man  wou  d  rather  come  back  to  the  old  home  than  try  his 
fortunes  further  afield,  especially  if  he  has  a  family. 
Work  on  tlie  Home  Farm. 
The  ravages  of  the  caterpillar  of  the  diamond-backed  moth  are  much 
more  widespread  and  serious  than  we  had  supposed.  The  moth  itself 
had  not  been  so  generally  observed,  but  no  one  can  fail  to  notice  the 
work  done  by  the  larvae.  All  kinds  of  nostrums  are  put  forward  for 
dealing  with  the  pest,  but  we  believe  nitrate  of  soda,  combined  with 
showery  weather,  to  be  the  only  possible  antidote.  The  caterpillar 
during  its  growth  requires  a  certain  amount  of  food.  If  the  leaves  of 
the  Turnip  are  large  enough  to  supply  that  food,  and  a  little  to  spare, 
the  crop  may  be  saved,  but  if  the  leafstalks  are  eaten  down  to  the  heart 
the  plant  is  ruined.  Scuffling  does  good,  as  many  caterpillars  are 
shakeD  to  the  ground  and  buried,  but  towards  the  end  of  the  visitation 
the  plants  may  become  so  weakly  that  very  little  will  uproot  them,  and 
scuffling  mnst  then  be  very  carefully  done.  Would  a  good  dressing  of 
soot,  applied  immediately  after  rain,  do  any  good  ?  It  is  a  good  thing 
for  warding  off  slugs,  and  perhaps  might  be  useful  in  this  case.  The 
difficulty  might  be  in  the  “  after  rain,”  for,  in  spite  of  one  good  shower, 
the  drought  is  practioally  unshaken,  and  the  renewal  of  the  heat  wave 
in  the  States  dees  not  promise  well  for  us  as  regards  the  longed-for 
rain.  A  large  flock  of  ducks  might  do  much  good  in  eating  up  the 
caterpillars,  but  they  will  hardly  be  available  in  numbers  sufficient  to 
deal  with  any  large  area.  Apart  from  the  diamond-back  attack,  the 
Turnips  are  doing  well,  and,  given  a  fair  amount  of  moisture  in  the 
future,  will  be  good  crops. 
Potatoes  are  suffering  terribly  from  the  drought  ;  second  earlies  are 
almost  dead,  and  will  do  no  more  good,  the  yield  being  very  small. 
Maincrop  varieties  need  an  immediate  and  copiouB  rain,  or  they  will  also 
be  a  failure. 
Pastures  are  browner  and,  if  possible,  more  bare,  and  the  outlook 
for  owners  of  live  stock  is  very  gloomy.  Sheep  are  down  10s.  per  head; 
cattle,  both  fat  and  lean,  are  almost  unsaleable,  whilst  the  uncertainty 
about  the  root  crops  must  have  a  depressing  effect  on  the  rapidly 
approaching  lamb  fairs. 
The  grain  crops  are  drying  up  rather  than  ripening,  and  harvest 
will  commence  in  a  few  days.  Wheat  may  yield  well,  the  ears  being 
well  set  with  Corn,  but  Barley  has  a  great  many  badly  developed  ears, 
and  will  certainly  lack  weight,  though  the  colour  may  be  good. 
U.S.  Wheat  Crops. — Repoits  from  the  United  States  say  that  the 
spring  Wheat  crop  has  been  seriously  injured  by  drought  and  intense 
heat ;  but,  even  allowing  for  a  large  reduction  from  early  estimates,  the 
total  of  winter  and  spring  grain  is  still  put  at  about  700,000,000  bushels, 
a  quantity  equalled  or  exceeded  only  once  before — namely,  in  1898,  when* 
the  commercial  reckoning  after  the  crop  had  been  distributed  was 
710,000,000  bushels. 
Grouse  Prospects. — Reports  as  to  the  prospects  for  “The 
Twefth  ”  from  correspondents  in  different  parts  of  Scotland  state  that 
the  outlook  for  sportsmen  is  very  bright,  the  season  having  been  a  most 
favourable  one  for  all  classes  of  game.  Grouse  are  reported  to  be 
plentiful,  though  not  quite  so  abundant  as  last  year,  whioh  was  a  record 
year.  Disease  among  the  birds  is  mentioned  as  having  occurred  in  one 
or  two  counties,  but,  generally  speaking,  that  is  not  regarded  as  of 
much  importance. 
Trade  Catalogues  Received. 
Wm.  Cutbush  &  Son,  Highgate,  London,  N,,  and  Barnet,  Herts. — 
Hyacinths,  Tulips,  for  1901. 
T.  Hethven  &  Sons,  15,  Princes  Street,  and  Leith  Walk,  Edinburgh. — 
Bulb  List. 
Ant.  Van  Velsen  &  Co.,  Wilhelmina  Park,  Haarlem,  Holland. — 
Descriptive  Catalogue  of  Flowering  Bulbs. 
