191 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Febl’uary  26,  1903. 
few  accidents.  To  be  forewarned  is  to  be  forearmed,  and 
there  are  many  losses  which  ought  to  be  quite  preventible. 
There  has  much  been  said  and  written  of  late  about  the 
lack  of  young  labourers  on  the  farm.  The  complaint  is  that 
only  the  middle-aged  and  old  stay  to  work  the  land.  That 
this  is  a  drawback  no  one  doubts  ;  the  young  man  ought  to 
be  more  active  and  more  equal  to  a  long  day’s  work,  but 
there  is  one  department  in  which  we  would  much  rather 
always  find  an  elderly  man,  and  that  is  among  the  stock. 
There  is  not  a  doubt  about  it  that  stockmen  of  middle  age, 
of  the  right  sort,  are  the  most  valuable  men  on  the  farm. 
By  stockmen,  in  this  case,  we  mean  the  shepherd,  cow 
man,  and  head  horse  man.  As  a  rule  no  man  takes  up  this 
work  without  a  real  love  for  it.  It  is  too  exacting  and  too 
trying  unless  the  whole  soul  is  put  into  the  work.  Live 
stock  needs  such  constant  and  such  intelligent  management 
that  it  must  not  be  left  to  the  casual  labourer.  We  are, 
some  of  us,  just  now  in  the  thick  of  the  lambing  season. 
Others  of  us  are  just  preparing  for  the  same,  and  at  this 
critical  time  who  can  say  how  much  depends  upon  the 
shepherd?  We,^are  not  now  going  into  the  question  of  the 
winter  management  of  the  lambing  ewes,  but  just  their 
present  treatment.  It  is  an  old  subject,  and  perhaps  will 
weary  the  old  reader,  but  we  have  to  consider  the  young 
new  reader,  and  the  old  hand  must  have  patience  with  us. 
What  about  the  lambing  pen  ?  Is  it  on  the  same  old  site 
that  has  been  occupied  for  unknown  years  ?  Is  it  that  most 
ghastly  of  all  things,  a  permanent  brick  and  mortar  erection  1 
A  ewe  at  lambing  is  in  a  very  susceptible  condition  to  any 
dirt-loving  bacillus,  and  close  and  unclean  tainted  sur¬ 
roundings  are  a  very  hotbed  for  all  that  is  undesirable. 
There  is  no  disinfectant  like  pure  fresh  air  and  sunlight. 
Shelter  is  w^anted,  but  not  stuffiness.  Fresh,  clean  earth  is 
a  disinfectant  in  itself,  but  not  the  foul  yard  reeking  with 
moisture  and  animal  excreta.  A  shepherd,  too,  must  be 
prompt  in  action,  and  also  know  when  to  be  patient.  A 
careless,  dirty  man  may  be  the  means  of  spreading  disease 
through  a  flock.  In  dealing  with  difficult  cases  of  parturi¬ 
tion,  the  shepherd  should  be  most  careful  in  disinfecting 
his  hands,  and  where  any  dead  or  decayed  substances  have 
to  be  removed,  he  must  see  that  they  are  buried  at  once, 
so  that  they  do  not  become  the  active  source  of  future  mis¬ 
chief.  If  only  “  germs  ”  were  visible,  they  would  be  more 
easily  dealt  with.  All  dirt  contains  germs,  therefore  dirt, 
especially  about  lambing  pens,  is  to  be  avoided. 
We  have  already  this  season  heard  of  many  cases  where 
mares  have  cast  or  “  picked  ”  their  immature  foals. 
This  is  a  serious  loss  ;  first  there  is  the  loss  of  foal,  and 
secondly  the  habit  of  casting  a  foal  once  established,  is 
hard  to  break.  We  do  not  for  a  moment  advocate  that  the 
breeding  mare  be  kept  like  a  princess,  neither  toiling  nor 
spinning — there  is  nothing  so  good  as  a  moderate  amount 
of  work — nothing  conduces  so  much  to  an  easy  delivery  at 
the  time  of  foaling.  A  mare  doing  nothing  easily  gets  over¬ 
fat  and  in  bad  condition  ;  but  work  must  be  adaiDted  to  the 
circumstances.  Nothing  by  wffiich  there  may  come  an  over¬ 
strain — such  as  a  heavy  load  on  a  bad  field  road — no  heavy 
ploughing,  and  no  very  fast  work.  There  are  plenty  of  jdbs 
on  a  fa' >11  exclusive  of  t’^ese,  and  the  mare  and  her 
progeny  a  ’e  valuable.  The  i  again  for  early  foals  it  must  be 
remembertvl  that  one  bright  day  does  not  rnnke  spring;  and 
although  the  bite  of  grass  is  good  for  the  maiO,  a  very  little 
chill  will  set  up  inflammation  in  a  young  foal,  and  soon  that 
chapter  is  closed. 
We  have  heard  much  lately  of  epidemic  abortion  among 
cows.  That  odd  cases  will  occur  in  a  herd  is  certain,  they 
will  arise  from  accidental  causes  ;  but  it  is  only  through 
carelessness  that  abortion  becomes  epidemic.  An  in-calf 
cow  is  an  exceedingly  sensitive  creature,  and  the  sight  of 
another  cow  paining,  or  the  smell  of  any  ejected  substance, 
is  enough  to  bring  on  abortion.  Hence  it  is  well  that  any 
cow  showing  the  slightest  sign  of  coming  abortion  should  be 
at  once  separated  from  the  herd,  kept  in  seclusion,  and 
carefully  disinfected  personally-  and  in  her  surrounebngs. 
At  this  season  of  the  year  we  are  subject  to  very  quick 
sudden  and  violent  changes  of  temiDerature,  the  most  try- 
perhaps,  being  waves  of  unusual  heat.  Calves  and 
other  young  stock  are  still  kept  up  in  boxes  or  warm  sheds, 
and  are  still  on  their  winter  allowance  of  rich,  stimulating 
food.  This  and  the  heat  together  are  too  much  for  the 
blood,  and  young  stock  are  apt  to  be  seized  with  what  in 
man  would  be  classed  as  apoplexy,  and  with  the  same  fatal 
results.  A  change  to  a  yard  not  necessarily  entirely  exposed 
and  a  cutting  down  of  the  richer  parts  of  the  menu  will  keep 
the  blood  in  a  healthy  state.  The  remarks  we  made  about 
young  foals  suffering  from  a  too  premature  turning  out  to 
grass  will  also  apply  in  a  lesser  measure  to  young  stock. 
We  knov^  often  stock  has  to  be  turned  out  early  because 
keep  is  pretty  well  exhausted,  but  if  there  be  an  inter¬ 
mediary  state,  say  a  few  days  in  yards  or  the  taking  up  for 
the  night  for  a  time,  the  change  is  not  felt  so  severely  and 
the  animal  does  not  lose  so  much  headway.  If  the  pasture 
be  some  distance  from  the  homestead  a  covered  shed,  which 
is  not  ah  expensive  item,  is  of  the  greatest  possible  value. 
Even  some  good  old  thorn  hedges  will  afford  a  certain 
amount  of  protection,  and  a  bit  of  extra  cake  will  keep  up 
the  normal  warmth  internally.  Have  our  readers  ever 
observed  the  effect  on  their  hands,  for  instance,  of  long 
submergence  in  soap  and  water,  especially  if  that  soap  is 
helped  out  with  soda  or  other  cleansers  ?  The  skin  on  the 
hands  is  usually  fairly  tough  and  hard,  but  for  all  that  the 
mixture  above  mentioned  will  affect  them  unpleasantly. 
Now  it  is  often  suggested  that  a  fine  adjunct  to  the  pig 
pail  would  be  the  greasy  washing  up  water  from  large  (el¬ 
even  small)  kitchens.  We  do  not  for  a  moment  doubt  it, 
for  the  fat  is  often  of  the  best  and  purest ;  but  in  the  process 
of  washing  up  we  find  most  servants  are  exceedingly  lavish 
in  their  use  not  only  of  household  soap,  which  is  generally 
pretty  well  impregnated  with  common  soda,  but  that  much 
soda  is  used  too,  in  a  pure  state  ;  or  if  not  soda,  washing  and 
cleansing  powders,  almost  pure  alkalies.  The  introduction 
of  this  element  into  the  pig  pail,  from  its  great  injurious¬ 
ness,  entirely  does  aw-ay  with  any  good  that  may  be 
obtained  from  the  fatty  residuum.  Imagine  the  effect  of  such 
strong  irritants  on  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  stomach, 
and  on  the  intestinal  canal !  A  well-known  vet.  says  the 
symptoms  of  poisoning  by  salts  and  soda  simulate  swine 
fever,  and  may  easily  be  mistaken  for  it ;  and  also  the  post 
mortem  examination  wdll  give  no  indications  suggesting 
otherwise.  We  are  afraid  these  strong  alkalies  are  often 
used  just  because  the  maids  are  too  lazy  to  have  boiling 
water  in  sufficient  quantities  to  do  the  washing  up 
thoroughly  and  effectively.  The  use  (not  abuse)  of  such 
things  can  only  be  condoned  when  the  water  for  domestic 
purposes  is  unusually  hard.  We  wonder  if  it  is  a  well- 
known  fact  that  pigs  are  among  the  few  animals  w-ho  do  not 
require,  and  are,  indeed,  the  worse  for  salt.  To  most 
animals  it  is  a  necessity,  but  certainly  not  to  the  pig  w-hile 
he  remains  in  life  ;  afterwards  give  him  practically  as  much 
as  you  like !  You  see  he  is  bound  to  have  it  sooner  or 
later ! 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
The  dry  weather  is  somewhat  alarming  to  tliose  whose  wells 
are  low,  but  it  is  grand  for  spring  work,  and  all  the  legacies  of 
work  left  by  a  late  harvest  will  soon  be  paid.  An  old  stager  re¬ 
marked  the  other  day  that  he  had  not  seen  so  much  Wheat  rolled 
in  February  for  inany  a  year.  Since  we  rolled  ours  we  had  a 
gentle  rain,  just  a  nice  syringing,  and  the  crops  now  look  most 
healthy  and  promising.  We  shall  roll  our  young  seeds  ais  soon  as 
possible,  as  we  can  find  many  dead  stools,  and  the  land  is  very 
light  ;  but  everything  cannot  bei  done  at  once,  and  in  its  present 
condition  the  land  is  crying  out  to  be  sown  with  Oats  and  Barley. 
A  neighbour’s  foreman  says  he  should  like  a  week’s  sharp  frost; 
his  -master  is  driving  both  horsej  and  men  so  hard  that  they  could 
do  with  a.  respite.  Potato  planting  has  commenced  in  earnest. 
Tire  sets  are  going  intO’  a  dhy  furrow,  which  means  a  warm  one, 
and  it  will  ensure  a  good  start. 
We  are  putting  fir  a  field  of  Oats  after  Wheat.  The  Wheat 
stubble  was  fairly  clean  when  ploughed,  but  it  iia-  .;d  a  good 
dragging  and  harrowing ;  though  nothing  has  been  got  off  it  is 
cleaner  than  many  a  field  is  at  Turnip  time.  A  good  dressing  of 
mixed  artificials — nitrogen,  potash,  and  phosphate^ — is  being  sown 
and  harrowed  in  before  the  drill  (cost  of  mixture  20s.  per  acre),  so 
there  should  be  a  good  crop. 
Wrench’s  Prolific,  9-  type  of  Chevalier,  is  the  favourite  Barley 
hereabouts,  its  chief  rival  being  Standwell.  Besides  these  two 
little  else  is  sown.  Hallett’s  Chevalier  is  seldom  seen  ;  not  nearly 
as  often  as  it  ought  to  be,  for^we  believe  that  it  is  bigger  in  the 
fruit  than  other  kinds,  and  though  it  may  be  a  little  more 
liable  to  go  down  before  harvest,'  there  are  some  other  new 
kinds  quite  as  bad  in  that  respect.  We  shall  soon  be  jourchasing 
our  Clovei’s.  The  prices  are  very  similar  to  those  of  recent 
seasons,  rather  lower  if  anything,  and  good  stocks  can  be  had 
for,  9s.  to  10s.  6d.  per  141b.  There  will  be  plenty  on  the  market 
much  lower  than  this,  but  be  advised  and  buy  a  good  article.  The 
fine  weather  suits  autumn  .sown  tares,  and  they  are  forwarder  in 
growth  than  usual.  If  more  are  sown  for  successional  cutting  they 
should  be  put  in  scon  if  the  autumn  variety  of  seed  is  to  be  used. 
We  prefer  them  to  spring  Vetches,  except  for  late  sowing,  when 
rapid  growth  is  desirable. 
