Febi'uary  12,  1903. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
153 
and  troubles,  and,  like  a  wise  friend,  tries  to  make  us  see 
that  even  the  dark  cloud  that  hangs  over  us  now  has  a 
silver  lining  somewhere  if  we  coidd  but  see  it. 
He  is  wise,  too,  in  not  leading  us  to  expect  the 
impossible,  nor  does  he  hold  out  promise  of  extraordinary 
relief.  If  we  may  saj^  it  without  levity,  he  would  prefer 
that  we  get  our  help  from  ourselves  ;  that  is,  work  out  our 
own  salvation,  and  is  not  that  perhaps  the  wisest  plan  1 
We  never  value  that  which  costs  us  little  ;  the  hard  sought 
benefit  is  always  the  most  lasting.  If  Mr.  Hanbury  can 
stir  us  up  a  bit,  and  get  us  out  of  the  ruts,  he  will  have 
accomplished  no  little. 
As  we  see,  and  hear  of,  and  have  to  do  with  much  cattle 
raising  and  feeding,  we  were  struck  with  some  remarks  of 
his  made  the  other  day  at  Stafford.  He  was  speaking  of  our 
meat  supply,  and  he  gave  a  few  facts  which  may  not  be 
known  to  all.  Of  the  present  meat  supply  of  this  country 
71  per  cent,  was  home  grown,  29  per  cent,  came  from 
abroad,  11  per  cent,  came  alive,  18  per  cent,  was  dead  meat, 
and  that  traffic  was  growing.  There  is  a  demand  for  it  in 
our  large  centres  of  population.  There  is  need  for  it,  as  it 
can  be  sold  cheaper  than  English  grown,  and  from  its 
cheapness  it  is  within  reach  of  our  working  classes,  the 
maintenance  of  whose  health  depends  upon  a  liberal  dietary. 
The  meat  that  does  our  trade  harm  is  the  living  animal  that 
gets  here  in  good  condition,  is  kept  for  a  few  days, 
slaughtered,  and  then  sold  as  home  produced.  That  is 
where  the  unfairness  to  our  producers  comes  in. 
We  are  glad  to  see  Mr.  Hanbury  is  quite  firm  in  his 
determination  to  keep  out  store  cattle.  We  ought  not  to 
need  them ;  we  do  not  need  them  if  only  we  would  be  at  a 
little  pains  in  rearing  more  calves.  The  slaughter  yearly  of 
20,000  prime  cows  in  Edinburgh  alone  is  one  fact  in  proof 
(and  a  very  big  one)  that  we  are  not  sufficiently  alive  to  our 
duties  as  producers  and  rearers.  That  we  could  rear  many 
nrore  than  we  do  is  certain,  and  once  open  the  doors  to 
foreign  stores  we  not  only  let  them  in,  but  with  them  the 
risk  of  countless  terrible  diseases  that  would  soon  make  us 
cry  out  for  closed  ports.  It  has  been  done  before,  and  the 
older  ones  among  us  have  vivid  recollections  of  the  result. 
It  is  the  old  story — the  young  men  cannot  see  that  in  this 
particular  case  the  wisdom  that  their  fathers  dearly  bought 
should  be  guide  enough  for  them. 
America,  Canada,  and  Argentina  are  the  countries  that 
contribute  to  our  dinner  table.  They  send  us  of  their 
surplus.  Why  ?  Because  their  population  had  not  yet  once 
taken  the  meat  supply.  This  applies  to  the  two  last  named 
countries.  America  now  is  drawing  on  Canada  ;  her  popu¬ 
lation  is  growing.  Ours  is  growing ;  and,  indeed,  the  same 
applies  to  the  world  in  general.  Are  the  sources  of  supply 
growing  in  the  same  ratio?  No;  emphatically  no.  There¬ 
fore  it  behoves  us  to  look  at  home  and  prepare  for  the  day 
of  small  things,  or,  rather,  the  day  of  scarcity.  There  will 
come  a  time  when  we  shall  have  to  depend  more  on  our 
own  resources,  and  the  sooner  we  get  into  line  the  better. 
There  is  one  point  to  which  Mr.  Hanbury  refers,  and  it  is 
the  fact  that  landlords  have  less  difficulty  in  letting  their 
farms  than  they  had.  This  doubtless  refers  principally  to 
Essex,  for  we  heard  the  other  day  of  a  landlord  who  had 
received  a  round  robin  for  reduction  in  rent  from  the  occu¬ 
piers  of  16,000  acres,  and  they  mean  what  the^  say.  And  in 
other  cases  where  tenairts  are  refusing  to  bind  themselves 
to  any  terms  for  more  than  six  months.  We  can  remember 
when  the  possession  of  a  long  lease  was  the  “  summum 
bonum  ”  the  farmer  desired ;  but  now,  alas !  a  lease  is 
dreaded,  not  desired. 
But  just  back  again  to  the  meat  question.  Shall  we  say 
Ave  fear  the  supplies  of  fat  cattle  from  the  Argentine  are 
practically  unlimited?  And  also  if  Australia  should  be 
favoured  with  fine  growing  seasons,  in  contradistinction  to 
drought,  she  can,  and  will  doubtless,  be  ready  to  supply  us 
Avith  (perhaps)  more  dead  meat  than  Ave  desire. 
There  is  another  little  point,  or  rather  a  great  one,  that 
Mr.  Hanbury  would  like  to  see  altered.  We  all  echo  “  Hear, 
hear  !  ”  He  says  :  “  A  bigger  duty  upon  flour  would  have  met 
Avith  his  approval,  for  he  Avas  unAvilling  to  believe  its  effect 
Avould  have  been  to  raise  the  price  of  the  food  of  the  people 
by  a  single  farthing.  On  the  other  hand,  it  Avould  have 
brought  about  a  revival  of  the  milling  industry  in  the 
country,  and,  furthermore,  farmers  Avould  have  been  able, 
as  a  result,  to  obtain  an  adequate  supply  of  offals.” 
Now  there  are  people  aaEo  at  first  sight  do  not  quite 
grasp  the  significance  of  the  facts  to  Avhich  Ave  refer.  They 
may  say.  Wheat  is  such  a  price,  flour  ditto  ;  flour  is  the 
most  valuable,  and  it  is  cheap  enough.  Therefore  the  offals 
must  be  cheap  in  proportion.  Ol'fals,  the  Avaste  parts, 
therefore  of  no  A'alue.  Why  this  outcry?  Softly,  my  friend, 
that’s  Avhere  you  make  the  mistake.  The  offals  of  Wheat  are 
Avrongly  named.  It  is  for  lack  of  them  the  farmer,  the  horse¬ 
man,  and  the  cottager  cry  out.  We  will  just  put  doAvn  a 
feAV  figures  that  Ave  find  in  Transactions  of  the  WarAvick 
Earmers’  Association. 
August  31,  1902,  ended  the  official  year’s  record  of 
imported  flour,  9,557,814  sacks  of  14'st  each.  Wheat  is  Avorth 
from  £4  17s.  6d.  to  £5  14s.  6d.  per  ton,  and  the  offals,  bran, 
sharps,  and  thirds  maintain  their  prices  at  £5  to  £5  10s.  per 
ton,  actually  Avithin  4s.  6d.  of  the  best  Wheat  price.  This 
for  offals !  The  Wheat  is  groirnd,  sent  here  ready  for  use. 
The  offals  (of  greater  value  as  a  Avhole)  are  kept  at  home  to 
be  used  in  stock  feeding  in  flooding  our  markets  AA’ith  cheap 
pork  and  bacon. 
We  are  at  a  great  loss  to  find  substitutes  ;  indeed,  we 
cannot  supply  the  place,  and  the  empty  stomachs  that 
should  be  filled  AAuth  these  so-called  waste  products.  There 
is  no  stock  but  AA^hat  is  better  for  them  ;  but  hoAv  if  the  price 
be  prohibitive  ?  Let  the  Wheat  come  in  by  all  means  ;  but 
let  the  flour  pay  dearly  for  the  privilege.  We  have  not  lost 
the  art  of  grinding  ;  Ave  can  find  plenty  of  men  and  machines 
for  that,  and  think  Avhat  a  fillip  the  machinery  trade  would 
get,  and  think  Avhat  a  boon  it  Avould  be  to  do  the  adultera¬ 
tion  of  flour  ourselves  (if  necessary),  and  to  bring  doAvn 
offals  to  a  reasonable  price,  so  that  the  farmer  might  use 
Avithout  stint,  and  the  cottager  might  have  cheaper  bacon, 
and  the  horse  breeder  and  OAA’ner  a  perfect  food  in  the  form 
of  bran. 
We  should  not  grumble  if  Ave  coidd  buy  offals  at  50s.  to 
60s.  per  ton.  What  Avill  be  their  price  if  in  the  future  the 
Wheat  trade  should  from  some  unforeseen  circumstance 
make  sudden  leaps  and  bounds  and  reach  the  prices  known 
in  the  sixties  ? 
Nor  for  a  change  of  topic.  Just  a  Avord  or  tAvo  about 
“  Vinton’s  Almanac  for  1903  ”  (Ludgate  Circus),  a  year  book 
for  farmers  and  landowners.  It  is  a  good  Avork,  and  more 
than  that ;  the  matter  is  equally  good  ;  and  the  price  is 
so-  modest,  only  sixpenn’orth  of  coppers.  We  keep  it  on 
hand  for  constant  reference,  and  we  shall  hope  in  the  near* 
future  to  comment  at  length  on  several  of  the  papers.  ’They 
are  all  by  good  AATiters  ;  but  some  seem  to  come  home,  and, 
like  Homocea,  “  touch  the  spot.” 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
The'  past  Aveek  has  been  very  favourable  to  farm  Avork. 
Though  there  has  been  little  sunshine,  and  the  land  is  not  warm 
enough  to  make  us  pi’epare  for  spring  soAving,  yet  the  Avinds 
haA’C  dried  it  very  nicely,  and  it  is  noAv  in  excellent  condition 
for  either  ploughing  or  cultivation. 
We  cross-plough  one  falloAV  field,  and  are  noAA’  using  the 
cultivator.  We  had  no  chance  to  clean  this  field’  in 
autumn,  and  though  there  is  not  much  tAvitch  it  has  spread,  and 
Avould  soon  havm  increased  rapidly.  We  are  Avorking  the  spring 
cultivator  fully  as  deep  as  the  ploughing.  It  brings  the  tAvitch 
to  the  surface  beautifully,  and  if  the  Aveather  will  a.UoAv  us  to 
harroAV  and  get  it  off  at  once,  Ave  shall  have  little  more  dressing 
to  do  before  we  soav  the  Turnips. 
The  land  is  in  good  heart,  and  the  tAvitch  is  thick  and  strong, 
and  so  more  easily  dealt  with.  On  weak,  hungry  soil  the  small 
needle-like  twitch  is  most  difficult  to  eradicate.  As  the  horses 
have  been  fully  employed  on  the  falloAvs  the  labourers  have  had 
a  good  turn  amongst  the  fences.  They  have  laid  the  big  hedges 
that  Ave  liave  spoken  of  before,  and  sufficient  thorns  have  been 
carted  to  make  good  all  gaps.  They  are  iioaa-  driving  pales  into 
the  Aveak  places  of  the  roadside  fences.  With  constant  close 
trimming  year  by  year  portions  become  Aveakly  and  die  aAvay. 
If  these  weak  pfaces  are  not  strengthened  or  filled  up  Avith 
palings,  a  wide  gap  Avill  not  be  long  in  forming.  It  Avould  not 
present  such  a  neat  appearance,  but  if  a  roadside  hedge  Avere 
trimmed  on  either  side;  in  alternate  years  it  Avould  keep  more 
healthy  and  vigorous.  Constant  and  close  trimming  is  contrary 
to  the  laAvs  of  nature. 
Lambs  are  noAv  fairly  numerous  for  the  time  of  year,  and  they 
are  doing  Avell.  The  CAves,  fob.  arc  healthy  and  full  of  milk. 
Feeding  sheep  haA^e  a  beautifully  dry  lair,  and  as  the  days 
lengthen  the  Turnips  disappear  more  rapidly. 
Farmers  should  noAV  be  preparing  to  insure  their  in-foal 
mares.  As  the  companies  insure  them  for  a  considerable  time 
previous  to  and  including  foaling,  a  farmer  avIio  neglects  insur¬ 
ance  until  the  last  moment  is  accepting  a  portion  of  the  risk 
him.self  instead  of  taking  the  full  adA’antage  of  the  premium 
Avhich  he  Avill  haA*e  to  pay.  Farmers  Avho  Avfsh  to  use  good 
sires  should  be  interesting  themselves  as  to  Avhat  stallions  Avill 
visit  them,  and  exercise  pressure  Avhere  needed. 
