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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER .  September  26,  woi. 
To  every  question  there  are  two  sides,  and  each  side  seems  the 
right  one  to  the  prejudiced  onlooker.  He  is  a  cowardly  man  who  will 
not  dare  or  perhaps  trouble  to  take  a  look  at  a  matter  from  his 
neighbour’s  standpoint.  Well,  there  are  a  good  many  of  us  prejudiced 
and  narrow,  to  our  shame  be  it  spoken.  There  has  been  a  great 
clamour  lately  about  two  questions  relating  to  the  milk  traffic.  The 
first  question  touched  the  composition  of  the  milk ;  the  second,  the 
price.  There  have  been  many  complaints  from  time  to  time  as  to  the 
value  of  milk — i.e.,  as  a  food,  and  its  value  depended  upon  its  con¬ 
stituents.  There  is  milk  and  milk,  and  perhaps  the  casual  buyer  has 
little  idea  of  the  points  of  difference.  If  he  had  to  analyse  the  milk 
he  would  soon  find  out,  or  even  if  he  undertook  to  churn  some,  he 
would  not  be  long  in  determining  which  was  the  richer  of  two  or 
more  “  brands.”  The  new  regulations  regarding  milk  are  to  act  as 
safeguards  for  the  unwary  and  ignorant  buyer.  When  you  ask  for 
milk,  see  that  you  get  it,  get  it  free  from  taint  or  germ,  get  it  fresh 
and  pure,  get  it  with  its  proper  proportions  of  butter  fat  and  solids. 
If  the  law  is  cairied  out  in  its  integrity  the  consumer  may  have  great 
cause  for  thankfulness,  for  he  is  getting  a  capital  food  at  a  very 
reasonable  rate.  How  valuable  the  food  is  we  cannot  at  present  enter 
into,  merely  saying  that  honest  milk  is  a  perfect  food  in  itself, 
requiring  no  other  adjuncts  of  any  kind.  The  next  question  is  the 
question  of  price.  There  is  a  law  known  as  that  of  supply,  and 
demand.  Last  year,  owing  to  various  causes,  our  coal  bills  were 
nearly  doubled,  not  because  the  winter  was  severe,  but  because  there 
had  been  an  artificial  demand  created,  and  prices  went  up  at  a  bound. 
What  did  we  do  ?  Did  we  boycott  the  coal  owners  ?  Did  we  send 
abroad  for  the  black  diamond?  No!  we  just  had  to  pay  and  look 
pleasant.  The  same  about  our  tea  ;  the  extra  2d.  of  duty  was  added, 
and  we  dare  not  rebel.  Sugar,  too,  had  to  stand  the  extra  ^d.  Do 
we  use  other  sweetening  agents  ?  we  fancy  not.  And  so  on  with 
many  other  necessaries  of  file — none  of  these  things  are  luxuries,  they 
are  needed  daily  in  cottage  or  palace.  We  five  in  hope  that  the 
causes  which  have  made  these  higher  prices  will  be  removed,  and  that 
we  shall  in  time  have  things  at  a  normal  figure. 
Now,  then,  lor  our  argument.  We  are  food  producers  for  the 
multitude,  and  while  giving  them  their  milk  we  are  trying  to  make  a 
living  for  ourselves,  and  a  mighty  poor  one  it  is  sometimes.  A  great 
many  of  our  customers  quite  ovtrlook  the  point  of  our  living — i.e.,  our 
profits;  of  course,  it  is  no  concern  of  theirs,  but  do  thev  <xpect  us  to 
pose  as  philanthropists  of  the  highest  order  ?  Do  they  expect  us  to 
be  so  forgetful  of  self  as  to  let  tl  em  enjoy  the  fruit  of  our  labour 
without  adequate  return  ?  Frcm  their  attitude  at  present  it  looks 
it.  Just  now  trade  is  very  good,  wages  high,  and  money  plentiful, 
and  yet  there  is  this  petty  squabble  over  the  milk  jug.  A  fair 
minded  man  would  make  a  few  inquiries  before  condemning  the 
farmer  wholesale.  He  w^uld  say,  “  Why  is  it  that  I  am  called  upon  to 
pay  more  for  my  milk  ?  There  is  no  plague  among  cows  ;  is  there  a 
shortage,  and  why  ?”  We  know  we  are  on  this  question  dealing  with 
townfolk,  and  they  are  bad  to  convince.  The  first  question  we  might 
ask  is  this,  “You  expect  milk  to  be  cheaper  and  more  plentiful  in 
summer  than  winter,  and  why  ?  ”  Because  it  is  the  season  for  milk 
generally,  and  because  grass  feed  is  cheaper  than  hand  feed.  Yes,  so 
it  is  when  there  is  grass  ;  but  how  few  townspeople  have  thought  of 
the  weeks  and  the  months  of  drought;  we  do  not  say  he 't,  because 
drought  and  heat  do  not  always  go  together.  We  may  have  long 
periods  ol  cold,  drying  cast  winds  that  are  anything  but  warm. 
Thire  has  been  practically  no  pasturage  this  summer  ;  fields  have 
been  accomodation  out  of  doors,  and  no  more.  There  has  been  as  much 
hand  feeding  as  during  winter,  and  this  at  the  season  when  the  farmer 
hopes  to  recoup  himself  for  his  past  winter’s  outlay.  He  will  still 
have  the  rent  of  the  grass  land  to  pay,  bare  as  it  has  been,  and  there 
is  worse  in  view.  What  about  the  hay  and  Clover  crops  ?  Where  are 
the  fodder  stacks  ?  Oh,  they  are  there,  but  wcefully  small,  and  the 
Turnips  have  taken  a  backward  step  under  the  cold  east  winds  and 
dryness  that  have  been  prevailing  of  late.  We  appear  now  to  be  in 
the  middle  of  October  lather  than  the  middle  of  September.  As  we 
write  now  a  gentle  rain  (ails,  but  it  is  too  late  to  do  much  for  autumn 
grass,  which  wifi  be  but  innutritious  at  best. 
Even  with  all  the  helps  to  milk  making  in  the  shape  of  cake,  meal, 
and  other  things,  the  supply  has  fal  en  off  woefully,  and  milk 
masters  have  been  at  their  wit’s  end  to  make  up  the  necessary  gallons. 
The  dry  summer,  we  say,  town  people  might  see  and  understand,  but 
there  are  two  or  three  other  little  points  that  we  do  not  expect  them 
to  take  into  consideration.  They  do  not  appreciate  the  fact  that  bought 
food  is  very  costly,  and  they  possibly  have  no  idea  as  to  the  rise  in 
price  of  all  food  stuffs  (cattle  food).  Would  it  surprise  them  to  hear 
that  many  commodities  have  risen  in  price  from  20  to  25  per  cent,  r 
Who  is  going  to  pay  the  difference  ?  it  must  come  out  of  the  milk. 
Then  there  is  the  question  of  labour.  When  we  hear  of  farmers  who 
cannot,  at  any  price,  get  suitable  milkers,  and  have  to  do  the  whole  of 
the  milking  themselves,  with  the  help  of  their  families,  things  have 
come  to  a  nice  pass,  and  where  the  milkers  can  be  got,  they  are  asking, 
and  getting,  at  least  20  per  cent,  more  wage.  This,  too,  has  to  come 
out  of  the  milk.  How  will  the  buyer  propose  a  remedy  ?  What  can 
he  suggest  ?  The  labour  of  attending  to  cattle  cannot  be  done  by 
machinery,  and  the  distribution  of  milk  is  of  itself  a  most  costly 
process.  There  will  be,  in  the  first  instance,  the  conveyance  of 
properly  cooled  milk  to  the  station  twice  a  day — man,  cart  and  horse. 
There  will  be  the  railway  journey — so  much  per  mile  per  gallon. 
There  wifi  be  the  man,  horse  and  cart,  at  the  other  end.  .  Twice  a  day 
must  he  go  his  rounds  ;  at  some  houses  the  supply  is  limited  to  a  pint, 
but  it  has  to  be  served  out  with  as  much  regularity  as  the  gallon.  Do 
people  consider  the  labour  so  entailed  ?  Storm  or  fine,  wet  or  cold,  the 
farm  man  plods  to  the  station;  wet  or  cold  the  milkman  goeB  his 
rounds,  and  is  as  civil  to  the  pint  customer  as  to  the  large  consumer. 
The  wage  question  has  touched  that  man,  too.  He  asks  more ;  all 
other  workers  find  their  pay  on  the  up-grade,  and  he  must  not  be 
behindhand.  And  yet  the  customer  grumbles  at  the  extra  Jd., 
and  says  we  are  asking  a  fancy  price  for  one  of  the  necessaries  of 
li  e  !  It  is  quite  as  necessary  that  we  should  live. 
Then  there  is  still  another  point.  On  and  after  September  1st, 
1901,  all  milk  sold  must  reach  a-certaia  standard  of  richness — quite 
right,  too.  But  there  are  times  that  the  farmer  will  find  the  extra 
food  the  cow  requires  to  bring  up  the  butter  to  Hanbury’s  standard  will 
be  a  great  tax  on  his  revenues.  For  instance,  all  during  this  droughty 
summer  how  exceedingly  onerous  and  expensive  it  would  be  with  cows 
that  are  getting  past  their  first  youth,  and  nearmg  their  calving  again. 
There  will  always  be  the  terror  of  “  3  per  cent,  butter  fat”  before  his 
eyes.  If  the  farmer  supplies  a  good  article  he  must  be  adequately 
paid  for  it. 
Work  on  tlie  Home  Farm. 
A  good  twenty-four  hours  rain  has  fallen,  and  it  is  possible  to  make 
a  start  at  ploughing  up  seeds  again.  Another  downfall  is  needed  to 
make  the  ploughing  go  really  well ;  still,  “  Half  a  loaf  is  l  etter  than 
no  bread.”  The  rain  had  been  badly  needed  by  Turnips,  but  we  fear  it 
has  come  too  late.  Never  have  we  seen  fine  looking  orops  of  roots  go 
to  the  bad  so  quickly.  Over  large  areas  the  leaves  are  flat  on  the  ground. 
If  they  recover  the  revival  can  hardly  be  to  a  normal  state  of  vigour, 
and  the  ultimate  crop  must  be  deficient  both  in  quantity  and  quali'y. 
Mangolds  are  in  direct  contrast  to  Turnips,  and  doing  splendidly.  There 
has  just  been  rain  enough  for  them,  and  they  do  revel  in  sunshine.  A 
great  crop  of  these  most  useful  roots  will  do  much  to  supply  other 
deficiencies,  but  why  do  not  farmers  insure  their  roots  more  heavily 
than  they  do  by  further  extending  the  Mangold  plot  ?  We  saw  the  last 
load  carted  from  a  Mangold  heap  to  a  yard  full  of  pigs  but  two  weekB 
ago.  Swedes  had  been  finished  more  than  four  months. 
A  field  of  Mustard  sown  about  July  1st,  after  Trifolium,  grew  so 
well  that  it  flowered  and  ran  to  seed  before  the  sheep  were  ready  for  it. 
It  has  been  allowed  to  mature  for  a  crop  of  seed,  and  was  cut  with  a 
string  binder  a  day  or  two  ago.  This  is  not  a  Mustard  country,  and  we 
feel  somewhat  out  of  our  reckonings,  but  hope,  with  good  weather,  to 
get  a  fair  crop.  The  straw  is  well  corned,  bub  the  birds  are  very 
tiresome;  there  are  thousands  of  sparrows  around  it. 
The  promise  of  a  double  crop  of  Potatoes  will  hardly  be  realised. 
The  dreaded  spot  has  appeared  on  leaves  and  stems,  and  in  another 
week  lifting  will  be  in  full  swing.  Many  growers  are  thankful  to  be 
able  to  start,  for  labour  is  so  scarce  that  a  late  Potato  harvest  might 
have  landed  them  amongst  some  severe  frost  before  all  is  made  safe. 
Lambs  are  not  doiDg  so  well,  and  we  hear  of  one  or  two  cases  of 
heavy  loss,  whilst  our  friend  the  vet.  is  run  off  his  legs  by  applications 
for  drerching.  One  owner,  when  his  lambs  began  to  go  wrong,  had 
them  dipped  immediately,  with  disastrous  results  from  chills  thereby 
contracted  acting  on  an  already  feverish  system.  Many  farmers  are 
dipping  their  lambs  a  second  time  now,  the  first  dipping  having  taken 
place  in  July.  The  second  dip  would  have  been  more  effective  had  it 
taken  place  within  fourteen  days  of  the  first,  and  nothing  would  have 
been  necessary  now,  when  lambs  are  much  more  easily  thrown  wrong 
than  they  are  at  midsummer. 
Sheep  Dips,  in  which  lime  and  sulphur  enter  in  making,  have 
been  given  a  death  blow  by  the  American  Wool  Company  of  Boston, 
more  effectual  than  a  statutory  enactment.  This  spring  it  instructed 
its  buyers  to  refuse  all  wool  that  had  been  dipped  in  a  lime  and  sulphur 
mixture.  As  this  trust  or  company  controls  upwards  of  thirty  of  the 
largest  woolen  mills  of  the  country,  its  orders  in  this  respect  will  have 
commanding  influence.  A  strong  decoction  of  tobacco  is  fully  as 
effective  as  the  ill-smelling  lime  and  sulphur  dips,  while  there  are  several 
proprietary  dips  on  the  market  that  are  safe  and  good  for  scab  and  ticks. 
