368 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER . 
October  17,  1901. 
ciays,  when  his  master  can  perhaps  with  difficulty  find  him 
work  so  that  his  family  may  not  be  docked  of  a  day’s  pay  ? 
He  should  put  that  into  the  scale  against  those  unfinished 
jobs,  and  then  see  how  matters  weigh  out.  We  know  a 
horseman  who  has  lost  several  good  places  simply  because 
no  power  on  earth  could  get  him  out  of  bed  in  the  morning. 
One  employer  made  a  little  investigation,  and  found  that 
this  man  never  retired  to  bed  before  eleven.  Was  it  likely 
he  could  be  up  and  about  his  work  in  good  time  in  the 
morning?  We  employers  of  labour  do  not  stand  watch  in 
hand  and  note  the  exact  time  of  our  servant’s  arrival  on  the 
scene  of  his  labours,  nor  do  we  knock  oft’  pay  for  a  few 
minutes’  lateness,  yet  we  contend  we  ought  to  have  full  time 
for  full  pay.  It  is  a  good  thing  where  the  farmer  every  now 
and  then  makes  an  early  tour  of  his  fields — it  strengthens 
the  authority  of  his  foreman,  and  it  enables  him  to  see  who 
are  the  laggards,  and  by  hoAv  much  they  lag. 
There  is  great  waste  of  time  often  arising  from  badly 
planned  work.  This  is  not  the  fault  of  the  worker  so  much 
as  of  the  executive.  Master  and  foreman  are  not  up  to 
much  if  they  cannot,  the  night  before,  arrange  (barring 
weather)  the  best  plan  of  work  for  the  following  day  ;  how 
the  horses  may  all  be  used,  and  how  the  men  may  have  no 
useless  running  to  and  fro  after  little  tiresome  jobs.  On  a 
farm  the  waste  of  power,  and  also  of  food,  may  be  most 
considerable,  and  it  is  for  men  to  aid  masters  in  the 
suppression  of  this  kind  of  wrong-doing.  It  may  be  tiresome, 
but  it  certainly  is  most  necessary  that  all  horse  corn  be 
kept  under  lock  and  key,  and  only  given  out  by  weight.  In 
olden  days,  when  oats  were  the  staple  horse  food,  it  used  to 
be  the  plan  to  have  two  or  three  days  thrashing  and  then  let 
the  horseman  run  at  the  heap  on  the  granary  floor.  The 
same  applies  to  pig-meal,  and  also  to  hen-corn.  We  could 
tell  sad  tales  of  (over-true,  too)  pigs  being  fattened  on  the 
Corn  that  belonged  of  right  to  the  master’s  fowls,  and  we 
sadly  fear  bits  of  oil-cake  have  gone  the  same  way.  We 
know,  too,  of  Corn  being  taken  and  ground  for  flour  by  the 
very  man  who  was  put  by  the  master  in  charge,  and  his 
confidence  thus  terribly  abused.  It  is  always  well  to  count 
cakes  on  delivery,  for  there  are  plenty  of  unscrupulous  men 
who  would  think  nothing  of  tempting  a  waggoner  to  give 
them  a  cake  or  two  when  returning  with  the  teams  from  the 
local  oil  mill.  These  things  are  done,  and  done  constantly, 
and  lads  are  sometimes  tempted  beyond  their  strength.  The 
same  applies  to  cut  meat  or  chaffed  straws.  Cases  of  this 
kind  have  come  under  our  knowledge,  and  give  us  a  very 
painful  impression  as  to  the  rectitude  of  mankind  in  general. 
We  know  lads  are  often  tempted  to  take  eggs,  not  for  them¬ 
selves  but  for  their  horses,  under  the  mistaken  notion  that 
it  gives  a  fine  lustre  to  the  coats.  The  lustre  should  come 
from  plenty  of  elbow  grease,  not  from  stolen  food. 
How  many  a  cow  has  been  wasted  by  improper  milking. 
A  cow  should  be  milked  dry.  The  last  drops  are  always  the 
richest.  A  cow  should  be  milked  gently,  and  handled  with¬ 
out  harshness.  A  heifer’s  temper  is  easily  made  or  marred, 
and  kicking  cows  are  often  the  outcome  of  bad  usage. 
It  is  not  legitimate  whu r  and  tear  that  so  runs  up  items  in 
the  tradesmen’s  bills.  We  all  know  things  wear  out,  but 
how  is  their  end  hastened  by  rough,  careless  usage.  Some 
men  have  no  idea  of  order ;  forks,  rakes,  buckets,  chaff 
baskets,  and  bags  are  just  tossed  down  anywhere,  to  be 
trampled  on  or  run  over,  or  possibly  lost  altogether,  and  a 
foreman  or  master  has  no  business  to  be  continually  on  the 
outlook  to  prevent  leakage  in  this  form.  Some  men  are  very 
handy,  and  can  do  many  little  repairs  themselves,  and  others 
are  just  as  useless — always  ready  to  run  to  the  wheelwright  or 
blacksmith,  forgetting  that  each  item  means  so  much  hard 
cash.  This  habit  of  carelessness  follows  a  man  into  the 
stable  and  the  field,  makes  him  neglectful  of  his  horses,  of 
their  careful  and  proper  feeding,  and  hurries  him  over  their 
cleaning  and  grooming.  Good  food  and  pure  water, 
administered  at  suitable  intervals,  and  with  '  clock-like 
regularity,  are  the  best  preservatives  of  health,  and  the 
whole  system  responds  most  readily  to  a  carefully  groomed 
coat.  We  know  one  effect  of  a  good  rough  towel  on  our  own 
backs,  so  we  can  judge  of  the  pleasant  sensations  to  a 
horse  when  his  body  is  well  rubbed  down.  Nothing  is  more 
aggravating  to  a  master  than  a  crookedly  drilled  piece  of 
Corn,  or  worse,  wdiere  one  spout  has  been  stopped  up  and  no 
Corn  drilled  at  all ! 
A  careless  lad  oftentimes  grows  into  a  careless  man,  and 
there  is  now  a  great  difficulty  in  finding  a  youth  who  will 
take  a  well  deserved  rebuke  in  silence.  It  generally  is  “  gie 
me  ma  bit  o’  brass  and  I’ll  go,”  and  parents  are  only  too 
foolish  when  they  encourage  such  behaviour  by  taking  the 
lad’s  part.  We  live  in  strange  times,  my  masters. 
Solomon’s  rod  appears  to  have  been  put  away  for  good  and 
all,  and  the  youngest  lad  who  tends  birds  knows  more  than 
his  grandfather,  and  expects  more  consideration. 
[It  is  not  often  we  allow  our  pens  to  convey  our  thoughts 
by  characters  on  questions  which  our  very  able  correspon¬ 
dent  on  this  page  weekly  ventilates.  This  week,  however, 
we  cannot  help  ourselves  from  expressing  our  sincerest 
approval  of  the  sentiments  conveyed  in  the  last  few  lines  of 
the  above  article.  The  manners  of  children  of  the  lower 
classes  at  the  present  day  are  simply  outrageous,  and  nearly 
the  whole  blame  attaches  to  the  lax  ruling  of  their  parents 
or  guardians.  The  question  is  not  one  for  the  Journal  of 
Horticulture  to  discuss,  yet  we  take  this  opportunity  to  sup¬ 
port  the  expressions  that  have  been  advanced  on  the  ques¬ 
tion. — Ed.] 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
We  have  had  more  rain  and  in  larger  quantity,  so  the 
ploughing  is  now  going  more  satisfactorily.  Our  Potato-growing 
neighbours  are  not  so  well  pleased,  for  very  little  more  moisture 
will  spoil  the  hitherto  ideal  conditions  under  which  the  gatherers 
were  wmrking.  The  pits  or  pies  are  growing  rapidly,  and  give 
the  best  of  evidence  that  in  bulk  at  least  the  crops  are  no  common 
ones.  Up-to-Date  is  quite  unapproachable.  The  British  Lion 
is  disappointing  as  a  cropper,  although  the  haulm  was  so 
vigorous.  The  quality  is  good,  but  no  better  than  Up-to-Date. 
We  have  seen  a  well  shaped  specimen  of  the  latter  weighing 
48^oz. 
Notwithstanding  all  the  reports  of  townsmen  out  of  work,  we 
are  very  short  of  labour  in  the  country.  A  big  shooting  party 
this  wTeek  requires  a  large  number  of  beaters,  and  the  men  from 
the  farm  and  woods  have  to  be  pressed  into  service  for  lack  of 
the  usual  catch  hands.  The  pay — 3s.  per  day,  besides  pork  pie 
luncheon  and  liberal  allowance  of  beer — would  attract  the  men 
if  they  were  within  call,  but  they  are  not.  There  could  be  no 
objection  to  lending  the  men  from  the  land,  but  there  is  more 
than  enough  employment  for  them  on  the  farms,  and  we  suspect 
the  same  tiling  applies  to  the  woodmen.  Agriculture  will  not 
allow  of  night  work  and  overtime,  which  is  such  a  help  to  the  manu¬ 
facturer.  We  cannot  make  our  waggoners  plough  for  thirty  hours 
at  a  stretch,  barring  meal  times ;  but  we  hear  of  engineering 
apprentices  having  to  work  as  long.  If  we  had  electric  light  to 
plough  by  we  could  not  afford  the  overtime  price,  or  the  overtime 
limited  quantity  of  work. 
The  Mustard  has  been  gathered  home  at  last.  Perhaps  it  is 
owing  to  the  fact  that  the  solving  was  a  little  late  ;  but  the 
anxiety  has  been  wearing,  and  it  may  be  some  time  before  we 
try  the  experiment  of  a  catch  crop  again.  If  this  one  should 
bring  a  small  fortune.  which*we  doubt,  the  art  of  Mustard  growing 
will  be  zealously  studied. 
Sheep  are  well  on  Turnips,  but  in  one  way  are  getting  on  too 
well,  i.e.,  going  over  the  ground  too  quickly.  Swedes  may 
improve,  for  they  are  responding  well  to  the  rains,  and  the  tops 
now  look  clean  and  healthy.  A  recurrence  of  last  autumn’s 
mildness  is  very  desirable. 
What  a  splendid  tool  a  good  chilled  digging  plough  is !  A 
field  that  was  very  foul,  having  been  well  worked  and  surface 
cleaned,  has  been  ploughed  with  the  digger.  The  thorough 
cutting  of  the  subsoil  and  summer’s  cutting  of  the  upper  soil  has 
resulted  in  the  bringing  of  the  last  remnants  of  the  twitch  to 
the  surface,  where  only  one  harrowing  is  needed  to  entirely 
eradicate  them.  An  old  fashioned  plough  would  have  left  them 
half  buried,  and  no  drag  or  harrow  could  then  have  made  such  a 
perfect  finish. 
- <.#•> - 
THE  DAIRY  SHOW. — In  the  large  open  competition  of  the 
British  Dairy  Farmers’  Association,  held  in  the  Agricultural  Hall, 
London,  last  week,  the  whole  of  the  first  prizes  for  roots  were 
won  by  the  produce  of  Webbs’  seed,  viz.,  first  and  second  prizes, 
Webbs’  Mammoth  Long  Red  Mangold  ;  first  prize,  Webbs’  Smith- 
field  Yellow  Globe  Mangold  ;  first  prize,  Webbs’  Imperial  Swede  ; 
and  first  prize,  Collection  of  Webbs’  roots,  &c.  There  were  149 
entries  for  these  prizes,  and  the  remarkable  success  of  Messrs. 
Webbs’  seeds  must  be  gratifying  to  this  firm. 
FRENCH  CROPS. — The  approximate  return  of  the  yield  of 
Wheat,  Wheat-Rye,  and  Rye  in  France,  which  has  been  compiled 
from  the  reports  of  the  Departmental  Professors  of  Agriculture, 
is  published  in  a  recent  issue  of  the  “  Official  Journal.”  The 
'figures  are  as  follows  :  — Wheat :  Area  under  cultivation,  6,789,527 
hectares;  estimated  yield,  107,203,036  hectolitres,  or  82,744,423 
metric  quintals.  Wheat-Rye :  Area  under  cultivation,  197,387 
hectares;  yield,  2,384,470  metric  quintals.  Rye:  Area  under 
cultivation,  1,393,818  hectares;  yield,  15,957,693  metric  quintals. 
This  return  shows  an  increase  as  compared  with  last  year  in 
Wheat-Rye  and  a  decrease  in  Rye  and  Wheat. 
