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JOURNAL  Of  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER.  December  12,  i&oi 
>  .  -t  i  ' r'  •  •t*r  t  -Sr  j,.  ..  ^ 
of  tillage  farming,  dairying,  poultry  rearing,  fruit  growing, 
bee  keeping,  and  other  agricultural  occupations.  The 
Tyrone  teacher  found  he  was  expected  to  be  at  more  than 
100  centres,  where  he  met  audiences  averaging  100  or  more, 
practical  farmers  striving  for  more  light.  This  must  all  be 
very  encouraging  to  those  who  have  the  real  welfare  of 
Ireland  at  heart. 
We  have  always  argued  that  good  workmen  make  the  best 
of  existing  tools.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  having  too 
elaborate  plant.  We  have  been  at  that  game  here  ;  we  have 
established  expensive  schools  and  colleges  (agricultural),  and 
from  these  places  have  emanated  some  good  scholars,  or 
perhaps,  we  might  venture  to  say  professors.  The  demand 
is  not  (in  England)  equal  to  the  supply,  and  we  have  left 
uneducated  what  Professor  Long  speaks  of  as  the  rank  and 
file  of  farmers.  We  hold  it  quite  practicable  that  our  exist¬ 
ing  elementary  schools  might  be  made  the  vehicles  of  much 
sound  agricultural  teaching  in  the  rural  districts.  Now  any 
and  every  subject  is  taught  but  those  which  would  be  useful 
to  the  country  bred  child.  He  is  kept  at  these  unnecessary 
studies  till  he  loses  all  taste  and  desire  for  agricultural  work, 
and  then  he  makes  for  the  over-crowded  town.  Now,  Mr. 
Plunkett’s  scheme  will  utilise  existing  machinery  ;  will  train 
teachers  to  take  up  the  work,  will  provide  instructors,  one 
of  whose  duties  will  be  to  supervise  the  teaching  in  the 
schools,  and  see  that  the  money  is  not  wasted. 
By  this  means  there  is  a  chance  that  the  right  class  will 
be  reached,  for,  after  all,  the  small  farmer  and  labourer  are 
the  backbone  of  the  agricultural  community.  When  Ireland 
is  ready  for  advanced  schools  and  central  colleges  of  instruc¬ 
tion,  they  will  be  soon  stai’ted  and  fully  equipped.  We  want 
a  Mr.  Plunkett  here.  We  are  too  grand,  too  vast  in  our 
ideas.  However,  our  failures  have  served  as  an  object 
lesson  to  those  at  the  head  of  affairs  in  the  Sister  Isle. 
U  e  are  very  glad  to  notice  a  similar  scheme  is  to  be  set 
on  foot  for  the  girls.  After  all,  on  small  holdings,  we  fancy 
it  is  the  woman  and  daughters  who  contribute  to  make  the 
thing  a  success,  and  they  will  pay  for  a  bit  of  training  quite 
as  well,  if  not  better,  than  the  lads.  There  are  other 
branches  for  them  beside  the  dairy  and  the  poultry  yard,  and 
if  Lady  Warwick’s  ladies  score  successes,  why  not  their 
hardier  sisters,  who  are  more  competent  from  early  associa¬ 
tion  to  do  the  really  rough  work?  We  have  often ‘regretted 
that  the  milking  dairymaid  will  soon  only  be  found  in  the 
pages  of  romance.  There  is  in  England  a  grand  opening  for 
stout-hearted,  willing  milkers.  We  have  lost  the  breed  here, 
and  surely  English  dairies  would  be  better  than  Yankee 
service. 
Now,  to  leave  the  subject  of  actual  teaching,  wTe  come  to 
note  the  desire  for  the  improvement  of  stock.  There  is  no 
good  farming  without  good  stock.  Any  of  us  who  are  con¬ 
versant  with  the  hunting  field  know  how  often  we  come 
acioss  first-rate  Irish  horses.  Ireland  is  a  capital  breeding 
ground  for  good  horses,  and  the  people  are  fully  aware  oi 
their  advantages.  The  Royal  Dublin  Horse  mow  is  a 
grand  exhibition,  and  has  done  much  good  in  offering 
premiums  for  sound,  useful  sires.  This  society,  and  the 
Department  of  Agriculture,  have  joined  hands,  and  are  try¬ 
ing  to  cover  more  ground.  But  they  insist  very  wisely  on  the 
monetary  co-operation  of  the  district  to  be  helped. 
Thus  we  find  that  in  a  few  months  410  stallions  have  been 
oitered  for  registration  and  there  is  little  doubt  that  they 
will  leave  a  mark  behind  them.  We  only  hope  the  breeders 
wont  be  tempted  by  high  prices  to  part  with  their  best 
brood  mares  Me  want  quality  on  both  sides,  and  we  have 
heard  persistent  rumours  of  how  the  best  blood  is  ^oing  out 
establishments.*0  °nrICh  ^  breeding  Studs  ot  G“t!n“tal 
Attend  any  of  the  great  northern  cattle  markets,  which 
™  fi?  nmf  °f  t:  t6  •Yeaii  are  f,u11  of  young  stock.  The  greatei 
]  <  1  hails  from  Ireland  ;  indeed,  we  do  not  quite  know  how 
we  should  fill  our  yards  without  this  Irish  help.  And  it  L 
with  great  interest  we  read  that  steps  are  being  taken  to  pro- 
vide  bulls  of  pure  strain,  which  at  small  fees  will  be  avail¬ 
able  lor  the  man  who  cannot  afford  to  keep  a  bull  for  his 
own  use. 
.  The  sheep  breeding  and  pig  industry  are  not  going  to  be 
4  °fUV?  ®?ld’  aPPears  that  Drogheda  is  peculiarly 
adapted  for  fruit  growing,  and  therefore  the  Department  has 
been  asked  for  advice  as  to  the  best  kind  of  trees  to  nlant 
their  cultivation,  and  the  management  of  the  fruit  when 
grown.  Jam  making  and  fruit  drying  are  to  be  started 
Co-operative  creameries  are  being  started  all  over  the 
country,  and  the  Irish  egg  is  no  longer  to  be  a  disgrace  to 
the  Irish  hen. 
We  have  heard  of  the  excellence  of  Irish  linen  all  our 
lives  ;  but  even  this  is  to  be  improved.  Experts  are  being 
imported  from  Holland  to  teach  better  methods  of  growing 
and  dressing  the  flax,  and  this  seems  to  us  to  open  out 
another  way  for  the  employment  of  the  women  at  home. 
The  whole  country  seems  to  be  waking  up  and  really  try¬ 
ing  to  “  better  ”  itself.  Where  there  is  work  there  is  plenty  ; 
where  there  is  plenty  there  is  contentment,  and  contentment 
is  a  better  panacea  for  Ireland’s  wrongs  than  Home  Rule. 
We  perhaps  are  a  little  too  previous  here.  We  almost  fancy 
this  new  development  has  a  bit  of  Home  Rule  about  it.  It 
is  their  own  Irish  Board  that  is  doing  this  good  work  ;  no 
connection  with  England.  Well,  all  we  can  say  is,  this  kind 
of  Home  Rule  is  most  excellent,  and  if  this  is  a  sample  of 
what  our  neighbours  want,  pray  let  them  have  it,  by  all 
means. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
The  weather  has  taken  another  favourable  turn,  and  the 
plough  is  again  at  work.  We  never  saw  land  ploughed  for  winter 
under  more  favourable  conditions.  It  works  well  and  freely,  yet 
there  is  sufficient  moisture  in  it  to  make  it  lie  rough  and  open  to 
winter  frost.  For  this  last  autumn  ploughing  we  favour  the  old 
style  of  plough,  though  it  is  not  so  economical  in  working  as  the 
chilled  plough.  The  latter  certainly  turns  the  land  right  over, 
but  leaves  it  too  flat  to  get  the  full  benefit  of  the  winter  weather, 
which  to  most  soils  is  so  valuable. 
We  fear  that  the  great  failure  of  1901  will  prove  to  be  that 
of  the  young  Clover  plant.  Complaints  are  rife  on  every  hand, 
and  already  we  note  fields  being  plastered  over  with  manure  pre¬ 
paratory  to  ploughing  for  Potatoes  or  a  second  Corn  crop,  which 
in  the  ordinary  course  of  things  would  have  lain  recuperating 
for  a  year,  or  perhaps  two.  The  net  loss  will  be  great,  for, 
cheap  as  artificial  manures  are  nowadays,  there  is  nothing  to 
equal  a  good  Clover  crop  in  restoring  fertility  to  the  soil.  It  is 
curious  that,  under  such  similar  conditions  of  weather,  last  year 
should  have  produced  such  a  good  plant  of  Clover  and  this  year 
such  a  bad  one.  It  shows  how  little  may  be  needed  to  upset  the 
farmers’  calculations. 
After  a  period  of  inactivity,  everyone  is  now  busy  sorting  and 
sending  away  Potatoes.  A  sudden  demand  has  sprung  up  for 
good  quality  stuff  for  exportation  to  America.  The  price  is  only 
a  moderate  one ;  but  farmers  are  wise  to  take  it,  and  so  relieve 
the  home  markets  of  a  small  portion  of  the  superabundant  supply. 
As  most  of  these  Potatoes  are  loaded  on  keels  in  the  waterways 
for  transhipping  at  the  nearest  port,  our  railway  companies  will 
get  little  profit  out  of  the  trade. 
How  conservative  all  creatures  are!  We  have  brought  up 
some  fowls  in  an  orchard,  and  they  have  learnt  to  perch  in  the 
Apple  trees.  On  the  approach  of  winter  we  have  provided  them 
with  a  comfortable  hut,  fitted  with  perches,  &c.  They  pay  visits 
of  inspection  to  it,  but  continue  to  sleep  in  the  trees,  and  will 
probably  continue  to  do  so  until  we  use  more  forcible  persuasion. 
We  once  had  some  sleeping  out  through  30deg  of  frost.  They 
were  very  healthy,  but  must  require  more  food  to  keep  up  body 
heat  under  such  circumstances. 
EXPORTATION  OF  AGRICULTURAL  PRODUCE  FROM 
MISSOURI. — During  the  last  twelve  months  the  total  shipment 
of  poultry  and  eggs  from  Missouri  has  been  12,571,467.83  dols. 
This  is  an  increase  of  almost  500,000  dols  over  the  previous  year. 
The  State  Labour  Bureau  has  made  some  comparisons  with  these 
figures  as  a  basis.  Aggregating  the  shipments  of  Wheat,  Coni, 
Oats,  Flax  Seed,  Rye,  Barley,  Timothy  Seed,  Clover  Seed, 
Millet  Seed,  Cane  Seed,  Castor  Beans,  Broomcorn,  Hay,  Straw, 
and  Apples,  and  the  Missouri  hen  beats  the  aggregation 
75,000  dols. 
LONDON  CATTLE  SHOW.— Messrs.  Webb  and  Sons,  of 
Wordsley,  Stourbridge,  made  a  most  imposing  exhibit  at  the 
Smithfield  Cattle  Show.  They  erected  an  entirely  new  stand  on 
which  was  shown  what  may  be  justly  termed  the  champion  roots 
and  cereals  of  the  year,  since  they  were  selected  from  the  crops 
which  have  won  the  principal  honours  in  the  open  competitions  of 
the  kingdom.  Webbs’  New  Smithfield  Yellow  Globe,  Webbs’  Mam¬ 
moth  Long  Red,  and  Webbs’  New  Lion  Yellow  Intermediate 
Mangolds  were  particularly  noticeable.  Webbs’  Imperial  Swede, 
too,  was  well  represented.  It  holds  the  record  as  a  heavy 
cropper,  56  tons  per  acre  having  been  grown  of  this  variety, 
whilst  as  a  prizewinner  it  stands  pre-eminent.  Webbs’  Invincible 
and  Webbs’  Green  Globe  Turnips  are  grand  varieties.  Webbs’ 
new  Wheats,  Barley,  and  Oats  showed  up  prominently  by  reason 
of  the  large  size  of  the  ear,  length  and  stoutness  of  straw,  and 
the  beautiful  quality  of  the  grain.  A  very  fine  collection  of 
Webbs’  leading  varieties  of  Potatoes  was  another  feature. 
