98 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  .(i^RDENER 
price  cause  him  to  turn  his  attention  to  margerine,  or  some  other 
substitute  ? 
We  heard  it  sa’d  }'ears  ago,  when  trade  was  better  and  the  farmer 
prosperous,  that  butter  at  Is.  6d.  per  pound  left  nothing  for  the  farmer  ; 
we  heard  the  same  fact  stated  only  the  other  day;  and  as  butter 
during  the  last  j’ear  has  with  us  never  reached  Is.  6d.,  we  want  to  know 
what  encouragement  there  is  to  make  butter  at  all  ?  We  cannot  do 
as  isolated  units.  By  that  we  mean  it  is  not  a  bit  of  use  for  each 
individual  farmer  to  mike  his  own  few  pounds  of  butter,  and  expect 
to  sell  them  at  a  profit,  unless  he  lives  quite  near  either  some  large 
and  thickly  populated  centre,  or  can  persuade  the  resident  landowner 
or  parson  to  take  his  produce  at  a  fancy  price,  but  this  latter  is  not 
legitimate  trade. 
We  spoke  of  “co-operation”  as  it  is  found  in  Ireland,  but  we 
had  not  much  data  to  go  upon.  Since  then  a  kind  friend  who  has 
access  to  figures  has  furnished  us  with  some  useful  particulars,  which 
we  gladl}'  place  before  our  readers.  We  must  say,  as  some  editors  do, 
we  are  not  responsible  for  the  accuracy  of  these  figures,  nor  do  we 
altogether  endorse  all  our  friend  says.  The  panacea  for  distressed 
Irish  agriculture  will  not  quite  fit  in  for  English  ideas.  The  scheme 
in  the  main  is  good,  and  parts  of  it,  like  the  curate’s  bad  egg,  are  very 
good. 
Ireland’s  distress  was  Mr.  Horace  Plunkett’s  opportunity.  Being 
an  Irishman  and  member  for  co.  Dublin,  also  Irish  Privy  Councillor, 
he  was  made  a  Commissioner  of  the  Congested  Districts  Board,  and 
his  attention  was  turned  to  find  some  method  to  relieve  and  per¬ 
manently  help  the  crippled  industry.  As  early  as  1889  he  began  to 
promote  agricultural  co-operation,  and  in  1894  he  founded  the  Irish 
Agricultural  Organisation  Society.  He  thought  this  a  better  plan 
than  hammering  away  at  a  scheme  for  lowered  rents.  And  so  it 
is,  and  under  his  management  the  project  appears  to  have  made  a 
really  excellent  start,  'we  were  about  to  say,  but  that  is  hardly 
correct,  as  co-operation  appears  to  have  taken  firm  hold,  and  “  goes  ” 
well. 
These  co-operative  societies  number  243,  having  a  total  member¬ 
ship  of  27,322.  Of  these  136  are  purely  dairying,  seventy-seven 
are  agricultural,  fifteen  credit  societies,  and  thirteen  miscellaneous 
home  industries  and  poultry  societies,  with  two  trade  federations 
for  the  sale  of  produce  and  purchase  of  requirements. 
Now,  as  to  the  cost  of  these  co-operative  dairies — £700.  £1000 
in  £1  shares  are  issued.  A  farmer  pays  10s.  in  cash,  the  other  10s. 
in  milk.  The  milk  is  separated  at  once,  the  separated  milk  being 
returned  to  the  supplier,  and  the  rate  of  payment  is  per  butter  fat. 
It  is  said  the  farmers  are  receiving  material  pecuniary  *  benefit, 
especially  those  who  are  shareholders  as  well  as  milk  sellers.  We 
fancy  these  farmers  must  be  men  in  a  very  small  way  of  business 
if  they  can  only  manage  to  take  shares  in  the  proportion  of  one 
per  cow,  and  can  only  pay  lOs.  per  share  in  cash. 
There  is  one  fact  to  which  we  take  exception.  Speaking  of  the 
creamery  butter,  “  There  is  one  especially  instituted  agency  of  one- 
third  of  these  creameries  that  would  effect  sales  of  over  £150,000 
last  year,  and  therefore  probably  approaching  half  a  million  for  the 
whole  development  so  far  attained^  The  italics  are  our  own.  No. 
This  agency  is  doubtless  the  best.  If  the  others  are  as  good,  why 
are  their  deeds  passed  over  in  silence  ?  It  does  not  in  the  least 
follow  that  the  other  two-thirds  can  make  up  the  rest  of  the  half 
million.  The  argument  is  founded  on  a  false  basis. 
We  thoroughly  believe  in  associations  for  the  purchase  of  manures 
and  feeding  stuffs,  but  these  things  have  been  done  some  time  in 
England,  though  in  perhaps  a  different  way.  We  have  been  inti¬ 
mately  acquainted  for  the  last  thirty-five  years  with  the  working  of 
certain  mills,  registered  as  limited  companies,  the  shares  of  which  are 
almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of  farmers,  and  the  management  in  their 
hands  too.  These  mills  were  built  for  the  sole  purpose  of  supplying 
the  owners  with  pure  feeding  stuffs  and  guaranteed  manures. 
This  course  was  forced  upon  them  by  the  trickery  of  traders,  and 
they  have  no  reason  to  regret  the  step  they  took.  The  shares  certainly 
were,  more  like  £10  than  10s.,  and  the  dividends  have  run  as  high  as 
February  2.  189S. 
£10  per  cent.,  we  believe  once  they  reached  16.  Through  fair  weather 
and  foul  the  average  has  been  6  per  cent.  ;  this  is  a  good  investment, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  benefit  derived  from  unadulterated  cakes  and 
tillages. 
We  know  something,  too,  of  the  Credit  Bank  workings,  as  w^e  have 
one  established  in  our  midst.  Wc  ask  a  trifle  higher  per-centage 
than  these  Irish  banks.  They  are  content  with  5  per  cent.,  we  can 
readily  get  6.  We  do  think  these  banks  ought  to  be  more  general;, 
it  only  wants  a  setting  about,  and  the  thing  is  done.  Our  corre¬ 
spondent  says — “It  is  stated  that  the  saving  by  wholesale  buying  of 
manure,  guaranteed  and  analysed,  has  been  enormous.”  Well,  if  we 
make  it  ourselves,  or  even  buy  it  as  the  Englishman  does  at  so  much 
per  unit,  we  think  the  Irishman  does  not  go  one  better. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
There  is  plenty  of  water  about  now,  and  where  the  land  is  not  abso¬ 
lutely  flooded  it  is  not  in  a  fit  state  for  horses  t  >  walk  on,  much  less  to 
plough  or  work  with  any  probable  benefit.  The  possible  exception  is 
old  lea  not  yet  ploughed  for  spring  corn.  We  have  one  such  field,  and 
the  ploughing  is  finding  occupation  for  the  horses  until,  as  we  hope,  drier 
conditions  shall  make  other  work  possible. 
Whatever  the  weather  may  prove,  there  is  one  job  that  must  be  done 
— muck  must  be  removed  from  the  yards.  4Ve  have  raised  the  cribs 
again  and  again,  and  the  only  next  alternative  is  to  lower  the  manure. 
Should  not  we  rejoice  in  a  week’s  frost? 
Potatoes  keep  up  the  moderate  level  of  price  with  which  they  opened 
the  autumn  campaign  ;  29.  fid.  per  ton  would  cover  the  fluctuation  of 
price.  Large  quantities  have  gone  into  consumption,  especially  of  the 
higher  qualities  from  the  best  districts,  and  there  is  a  distinct  ground  lor 
hope  of  a  rise  if  frost  were  to  step  in  to  check  the  supplies  of  green 
vegetables. 
Considering  the  much  greater  advantage  to  which  offal  Potatoes  can  be 
put  in  autumn,  and  the  loss  ol  weight  and  waste  of  the  ware  incidental  to 
holding  them  over  until  spring,  it  is  really  almost  surprising  that  growers 
can  be  found  who  will  thus  accommodate  the  consumers  ;  but  a  rise  of 
£2  or  £3  per  ton  once  in  four  or  five  years  is  sufficient  to  keep  alive  the 
speculative  spirit,  even  in  the  matter-of-fact  and  cautious  farmer.  The 
Potato  grower  is  now  quite  the  speculator  of  the  agricultural  world,  for 
the  dead  level  of  grain  prices  has  long  ago  knocked  out  of  it  all  hoarding- 
up  of  old  Wheat. 
Notwithstanding  the  open  weather  stock  markets  are  very  much 
depressed.  The  light  Turnip  crop  is  the  only  possible  reason  to  account 
for  this,  but  as  young  Clovers  are  a  good  plant  there  should  be  plenty  of 
summer  food,  and  the  approach  cf  spring  will  give  graziers  confidence  to 
buy  as  soon  as  they  can  realise  that  winter  is  past.  But  is  it  past  2 
Hardly  ;  for  there  has  been  none.  Is  it  still  to  come  ?  Perhaps  ;  but 
farmers  generally  will  benefit  most  by  its  absence. 
Springs  are  now  ample,  and  we  trust  that  water  difficulties  are 
settled. 
OUR  LETTER  BOX. 
Bacon.  Curing  (P.  H.'). — You  will  find  the  information  you  require  on 
this  subject  on  page  430  of  our  issue  of  December  1st,  1898.  This  you 
may  procure  from  the  publisher,  12,  Mitre  Court  Chambers,  Fleet  Street, 
London,  for  3|d.,  post  tree. 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden  Square,  London. 
Lat.  51°  32’  40"  N.;  Long.  0°  8'  0"  W.;  Altitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  the  Day. 
Rain. 
1899. 
January. 
Barometer 
at  32°,  and 
Sea  Level 
Hygrometer 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot 
Shade  Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Tempera¬ 
ture. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun 
On 
Grass 
inchs 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
inchs. 
Snnrlay  .... 
22 
29-418 
50-5 
45-8 
AV. 
45-9 
53-2 
50-0 
71-2 
44-8 
0-028 
Monday  .... 
23 
29-736 
42-2 
41-2 
AV. 
44-9 
42-7 
41-7 
48-1 
37-3 
0-032 
Tiiftsflay  .... 
24 
30-380 
35-4 
34-4 
N. 
43-1 
42-9 
34-1 
68-1 
30-1 
— 
Wednesday 
25 
30-643 
30-8 
29-1 
N.E. 
41-1 
39-1 
28-1 
65-9 
22-4 
— 
Thursday  . . 
26 
30-683 
.32-1 
31-8 
N.E. 
39-3 
41-9 
30-1 
71-2 
24-1 
— 
Friday . 
27 
30-474 
33-1 
32-1 
N.E. 
38-2 
42-4 
31  -9 
69-8 
24-2 
— 
Saturday.... 
28 
30-322 
31-9 
31-7 
N.E. 
37-7 
40-2 
29-2 
69-3 
24-0 
0-027 
30-237 
36-6 
36-2 
41-5 
43-2 
35-0 
66-2 
29-6 
0-087 
REMARKS. 
22n(l.— Windy,  with  alternate  cloud  and  sun  ;  brilliant  night. 
23rd.— Overcast  and  rainy  till  noon  ;  tine  and  dry  after,  with  a  gleam  of  sun  about 
3  PM. 
24th. — Fine  and  colder,  with  generally  clear  skies. 
25th. — Almost  cloudless  day  and  night. 
26th. — Almost  unbroken  sunshine  by  day,  and  bright  night. 
27  th. — Almost  cloudless  throughout. 
28th.— Bright  almost  all  morning  ;  occasional  cloud  after  nco 
A  tine  week  with  average  temperature. — G.  J.  Symons. 
