110 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
January  29,  1903. 
have  little  idea  of  the  undertaking  it  is.  If  it  is  difficult 
for  the  young  woman  with  a  family  to  get  a  little  change, 
it  is  equally  difficult  for  the  old  folk  whose  walking  powers 
begin  to  fail.  We  don’t  think  they  perhaps  feel  the  dull¬ 
ness  oppressive,  but  they  are  cut  off  from  many  innocent 
pleasures. 
We  saw  the  other  day  the  question  mooted  as  to  what 
would  happen  if  some  of  the  small  schools  in  rural  districts 
were  closed?  How  can  the  poor  children  be  expected  to 
put  in  more  mileage  1  If  we  only  had  to  reckon  on  bad 
weather  in  winter  some  scheme  might  be  managed  but 
there  are  so  many  days  when  the  elements  are  not 
propitious,  and  rain  wets  in  July  equally  as  much  as  in 
December.  Shall  w^e  ever  see  a  time  when  these  little 
waifs  and  strays  will  be  collected  by  some  conveyance  of 
the  motor  class,  and  taken  safely  to  and  from  their  school? 
Nowadays  the  women  who  do  field  work  are  fetched  by  the 
employing  farmers  in  a  light  cart,  and  driven  back  at  night ; 
but  no  provision  has  yet  been  made  for  the  bairns.  Some¬ 
one  will  say  this  is  a  good  training  for  a  hardy  life,  and  so  it 
is,  but  often  the  training  is  unduly  severe. 
There  is  nothing  like  a  practical  illustration  for  driving 
home  stern  truths.  A  year  and  a  half  ago  an  Act  became 
law-  which  closely  affects  the  interests  of  farmer  and  his 
man.  The  Workmen’s  Compensation  Act  is  applied  to  the 
farm  labourer.  Now,  fortunately,  as  a  class  the  farm 
labourer  is  singularly  exempt  from  accident.  We  were 
trying  to  recall  what  accidents  have  befallen  men  in  our 
employ,  and  really  we  cannot  during  a  long  course  of  years 
point  to  more  than  one,  and  that  a  slight  one.  But  that’s 
not  the  point.  The  unexpected  is  always  happening,  and 
an  accident  will  come  sooner  or  later.  What  does  that 
mean  to  the  farmer?  Either  the  payment  in  a  lump  sum 
of  more  than  he  can  possibly  afford,  or  weekly  pensions  to 
the  disabled,  which  may  continue  during  a  long  life,  for 
annuitants  are  proverbially  long  lived. 
The  Act  has  been  in  operation  so  short  a  time  that  the 
average  farmer  has  not  quite  awakened  to  his  responsibili¬ 
ties,  and  it  sometimes  needs  a  big,  sharp  shock  to  rouse 
him.  When  he  is  roused  he  promptly  insures  every  man  in 
his  ernploy.  Our  object  in  mentioning  this  subject  is  to  call 
attention  to  the  desirability  of  being  prepared  for  every  con¬ 
tingency.  We  have  just  had  a  specimen  case  close  at  home. 
Had  it  not  been  for  insurance  a  gentleman  would  have  to 
practically  support  for  life  a  workman  who,  through  pure 
accident,  so  injured  his  right  arm  that  amputation  had  to 
take  place  at  the  elbow.  Nothing  can,  of  course,  compen¬ 
sate  the  man  for  the  loss  of  his  right  hand,  nor  the  master 
for  loss  of  a  valued  servant’s  service  ;  but  the  man  won’t 
starve,  nor  will  the  master  be  mulct  to  any  heavy  extent. 
The  situation  is  intensified  where  there  is  a  wife  and 
family  dependent  upon  a  man’s  earnings.  There  is  a  feeling 
abroad  that  some  accidents  will  not  come  under  the  pro¬ 
visions  of  this  Act  ;  that  some  accidents  are  the  out¬ 
come  of  sheer  carelessness  on  the  part  of  the  man. 
Of  course,  if  that  can  be  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
judge  all  may  be  well  with  the  master’s  pocket;  but  we 
believe  it  rests  with  the  master  to  substantiate  the  charge 
of  wilful  negligence,  and  that  is  sometimes  a  very  difficult 
thing  to  do.  We  fancy  the  insurance  offices  are  seeing  it  in 
that  light,  for  they  are  raising  their  premiums  all  round. 
We  leave  our  readers  to  digest  these  few  very  solid  facts. 
We  often  hear  that  in  the  country  the  cottage  accom¬ 
modation  is  bad  and  insanitary.  The  chief  fault  we  have  to 
find  is  oftenest  with  the  water  supply.  These  is  a  real  diffi¬ 
culty  in  villages  in  this  respect.  There  are  no  public  water¬ 
works,  and  no  money  wherewith  to  provide  such,  and  each 
householder  is  entirely  dependent  on  his  own  particular 
pump  ^and  soft  water  butt.  We  said  “his  own  particular 
pump,”  but  that  is  hardly  correct,  for  in  many  instances  that 
pump  has  to  serve  a  whole  row  of  houses,  and  we  know 
by  experience  how  often  there  is  a  shortage.  That  is  not 
pei’haps  the  worst  of  all  evils,  for  a  good  supply  may  be 
anything  but  a  safe  one. 
Progress  is  slow  here.  It  seems  as  though  the  water 
must  be  proved  to  be  actively  bad  before  any  steps  wall  be 
taken  to  ensure  a  wholesome  supply.  A  year  ago  suspicion 
was  cast  upon  a  certain  well  wathin  a  stone’s  throw  of  our 
premises,  but  not  on  our  farm.  We  have  a  Sanitary  Com¬ 
mittee,  and  they  went  iri  a  body  to  inspect  and  consult  upon 
the  suspected  water.  With  becoming  gravity  they  drew  and 
drank,  and  reported  that  the  water  was  good  and  wffiole- 
some,  and  tasted  all  right !  And  that  was  actually  enough  ; 
there  the  matter  rested.  Now  for  the  sequel.  This  autumn 
in  one  of  the  cottages  that  use  this  .supply  was  a  case  of 
imported  typhoid.  The  patient  was  the  mother  of  a  large 
family,  and  got  nursed  indifferently  by  her  household. 
That  there  must  have  been  a  leakage  from  the  drains  into 
the  well  somewffiere  appears  pretty  evident,  or  why  should 
one  after  another  be  taken  ill  with  something  that  so  closely 
resembles  typhoid  as  to  be  hardly  distinguishable  from  it? 
What  will  happen  next?  Will  the  well  be  again  suspected? 
We  fancy  it  wall  take  a  good  deal  to  persuade  the  committee 
to  test  that  water  in  their  own  systems.  We  have  had  no 
deaths,  so  probably  the  lesson  won’t  be  taken  to  heart  this 
time.  • 
.We  said  that  an  adequate  water  supply  was  sometimes 
an  insurmountable  difficulty  in  a  village  ;  but  we  have  seen 
the  problem  solved,  and  at  practically  small  expense  ;  that 
is,  where,  the  village  was  not  too  large  and  the  houses  not 
too  far  apart.  Water  is  to  be  found  in  most  vicinities  if  one 
only  goes  deep  enough,  and  then  comes  the  question  of 
raising  the  water'.  This  seems  to  be  pretty  well  solved  by 
those  pumps  which  are  used  in  conjunction  with  wind 
engines.  While  w'e  sleep  the  water  is  being  brought  to  the 
surface,  and  the  wind  blows  oftener  than  we  imagine,  or 
at  least  there  is  sufficient  of  it  for  the  purpose.  If  the 
supply  required  is  a  large  one,  expense  wall  be  incurred  by 
some  provision  for  storage  ;  but  w'e  do  not  think  the 
expense  will  be  a  very  terrible  one  even  then.  We  fancy 
we  shall  live  to  see  these  wind  engine  pumps  as  plentiful 
as  were  ever  the  old  flour  and  grist  mills. 
We  just  would  like  to  say  another  word  about  the  school 
children.  We  did  not  know  when  we  wrote  that  some  of 
ours  travel  three  and  A  half  miles — seven  per  diem.  We 
thought  a  little  over  two  was  the  outside.  These  children 
have  a  school  nearer,  two  miles  away ;  but  it  is  not  their 
parish,  and  as  the  accotnmodation  is  limited  the  parish 
boundary  is  insisted  on.  Moreover  the  road  to  the  nearer 
school  is  for  some  considerable  distance  a  mere  track  across 
fields,  with  a  canal  on  one  side  and  a  deep  cutting  on  the 
other — not  an  ideal  walk  for  a  dark  winter’s  evening. 
There  seems  to  be  a  prospect  that  in  the  future,  accom¬ 
modation  must  be  provided  for  all,  or  any  children  that  may 
wish  to  attend  the  nearest  school,  be  it  their  parish  or  no. 
• 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
The  frost  has  been  of  but  short  duration,  and  we  are  now  (not 
enjoying)  suffering  from  a  visitation  of  mild  fogginess.  The  frost 
must  have  done  great  good  to  all  land  which  was  in  a  ploughed 
state  ;  it  would  open  the  pores  and  assist  drainage,  but  until  the 
surface  moisture  has  had  time  to  drain  away  it  would  be  most 
advisable  to  keep  all  horses  from  the  land.  During  the  frost 
much  manure  was  carted  out,  and  some  of  it  was  spread  on  the 
land  ready  to  be  ploughed  in,  but  now,  if  the  horses  could  draw 
the  laden  carts  intO'  the  fields,  their  feet  and  the  wheels  would 
leave  legacies  of  work  for  future  days.  And  the  same  with 
ploughing.  Turnip  folds  are  masses  of  glue,  and  not  fit  for  a 
horse  to  walk  over.  The  only  ploughing  now  possible  is  of  seed 
land  intended  for  Oats  and  Barley,  and  which  has  been  kept  for 
change  of  food  for  the  lambing  ewes.  It  is  now  high  time  that 
such  land  were  ploughed,  so  as  to  give  the  sod  time  to  rot  before 
drilling  time.  Corn  does  not  like  its  manure  too  green. 
In  default  of  other  woi’k,  farmers  have  been  delivering  Pota¬ 
toes.  Few  have  been  bought,  the  bulk  having  been  sent  to  com¬ 
mission  salesmen.  It  is  a  bad  sign  when  farmers  are  obliged  to 
patronise  these  commission  men,  for  many  of  them  must  know 
that  they  are  cutting  their  own  throats  by  so  doing.  We  have 
just  had  evidence  of  the  uncertain  nature  of  dealing  with  such 
men.  A  farmer  sent  two  vraggons  of  Potatoes  (both  alike)  to  two 
London  salesmen.  One  returned  60s.  per  ton  free  on  rails  at  the 
sender’s  station,  the  other  50s.  with  a  considerable  reduction  for 
demurrage  on  railway  waggons. 
The  meat  markets  are  very  slow,  and  lower  by  ^d.  per  lb  all 
round.  This  is  very  disappointing  to  those  who  have  been  using 
dear  cake  freely  and  saving  Turnips.  The  latter  are  unsaleable, 
and  still  farmers  keep  selling  stock  and  overdoing  the  markets. 
It  is  very  probable  that  certain  sheep-scab  regulations  are  help¬ 
ing  to  disorganise  the  mutton  trade.  Certainly,  the  butchers 
have  done  pretty  well  as  they  liked  with  the  sheep  supplies 
during  the  past  fortnight. 
It  is  not  very  good  weather  for  young  lambs  ;  we  have  not  seen 
any  yet,  but  there  are  plenty.  The  frost. would  have  suited 
them,  but  wet  weather  will  not.  To  get  good  Easter  lamb  the 
ewes  must  have  plenty  of  Oats  and  cotton  cake  ground  fine.  When 
the  lambs  start  picking  at  the.  trough  they  will  give  more  atten¬ 
tion  to  the  Oats  than  to  the  cake,  and  the  latter  is  important  if 
the  ewes  are  to  milk  well.  Whatever  the  weather  be  do  not  keep 
the  lambs  housed  too  long. 
