438 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AUD  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
May  14,  1903. 
all  this  time  the  fields  were  ready  and  waiting  to  be  set, 
the  fanners  more  than  impatient,  and  the  Potato  merchant 
pretty  nearly  frantic,  as  he  began  to  fear  that  the  greater 
part  of  the  cargo  would  be  thrown  on  his  hands.  The 
difference  of  carriage  per  ton  stands  thus :  by  rail  these 
Potatoes  would  have  cost  25s.  ;  by  boat  12s.,  distance  from 
station  and  distance  from  riverside  practically  the  same. 
Had  the  sea  voyage  been  made  in  reasonable  time  the 
saving  would  have  been  great ;  as  it  is,  that  captain  lost 
so  much  time  over  the  job  that  he  vows  he  will  never 
more  tempt  Providence  by  venturing  north  of  Spurn 
Point. 
There  is  another  curious  fact  about  water  carnage  which 
is  worthy  of  note.  The  carriage  of  Potatoes  from  Hull  or 
Goole  to  New  York  is  practically  the  same,  i.e.,  12s.  or  13s. 
per  ton,  as  from  Hull  to  London.  We  suppose  in  the  longer 
voyage  they  must  take  the  place  of  ballast,  hence  the  low¬ 
ness  of  the  rate. 
There  is  another  farm  crop  of  rather  a  bulky  nature, 
and  a  crop  very  much  sought  after  in  towns — Carrots. 
Now,  Carrots,  like  Potatoes,  are  often  all  muck  or  all 
money.  Like  Potatoes,  too,  there  are  certain  soils 
eminently  suited  for  their  culture,  and  we  should  just 
like  to  give  the  history  of  a  few  tons  grown  at  Messingham, 
North  Lincolnshire,  and  sold  to  a  commission  agent  in 
Birmingham.  The  weight  was  7  tons  6cwt,  the  produce  of 
half  an  acre  of  land.  It  must  be  allowed  that  the  yield 
was  a  fair  good  average,  and  the  quality  of  the  roots  was 
above  rather  than  under  the  mark.  We  will  try  to  make 
out  the  account  clearly,  because  it  is  rather  a  pretty  object 
lesson. 
Sixty  bags  of  Carrots,  3  tons  at  Is.  9d.  per  bag,  equals 
£5  5s. 
Loose  Carrots,  4  tons  at  22s.  6d.  per  ton,  equals 
£4  16s.  9d.,  totalling  up  to  £l0  Is.  9d. 
Out  of  this  sum  the  railway  company  required 
£6  16s.  lid.,  the  commission  agent  £l  16s.  3d.,  which 
brought  the  expenses  to  £8  13s.  2d.,  so  that  the  grower 
pocketed  the  handsome  sum  of  £l  8s.  7d. 
But  stay  ;  we  have  still  other  deductions  to  make,  and 
they  mount  up  in  rather  an  alarming  manner : 
Rent  of  ^-acre  . 
...  £3  10 
0 
Seeds  . 
...  0  3 
0 
Drilling 
0  0 
6 
Cleaning  . 
0  15 
0 
Digging  . 
* . . 
1  0 
0 
Gathering  . ,. 
0  11 
Is- 
Carting  to  Station . 
0  11 
0 
6  10 
7-L 
•  2 
And  as  this  has  to  be  set  against  £l  8s.  7d.,  the  Carrot 
transaction  resulted  in  a  clear  loss  of  £5  2s.  We  dispute 
none  of  the  figures  except  the  rent,  which  we  think  is 
certainly  too  high.  Years  ago  we  knew  something  of  the 
parish,  but  we  certainly  never  saw  any  land  that  was  worth 
a  £7  rent  per  acre. 
Going  back  to  Potatoes  for  a  moment,  there  is  no  cloud 
without  a  silver  lining,  and  the  sharp  and  severe  frosts  of 
Easter  time  have  sent  up  the  price  of  very  ordinary 
Potatoes  with  a  rattle  ;  Potatoes  that  in  other  years  would 
never  have  paid  for  sorting  and  carting  to  the  station,  let 
alone  any,  even  the  smallest,  railway  charge. 
We  read  in  one  of  the  daily  newspapers  that  when  the 
announcement  was  made  by  Mr.  Ritchie  that  the  Is.  duty 
on  corn  was  to  be  remitted,  several  of  the  country  members 
(great  agriculturists)  went  out  and  wept  bitterly.  We 
rather  fancy,  had  we  been  in  their  exalted  position,  w'e 
should  have  done  the  same.  The  tax  has  not  increased  the 
price  of  bread  by  even  a  fraction,  and  at  the  same  time  it 
has  produced  a  goodly  sum  (£2,500,000)  for  national  pur¬ 
poses.  It  seems  to  us  a  good  bit  like  playing  to  the 
gallery. 
This  is  only  one  of  the  many  instances  that  go  to  prove 
how  little  our  rulers  have  at  heaii;  anything  for  the  welfare 
of  the  farming  community  ;  that  community  which  is  the 
backbone  of  the  nation,  and  from  whence  is  drawn  the  bone 
and  muscle  that  make  our  strong,  stalwart  men.  We 
should  like  to  quote  a  portion  of  a  letter  published  by  Mr. 
Chaplin,  which  he  has  received,  not  from  a  constituent, 
but  from  quite  an  outsider ;  and  Mr  Chaplin  says  it  is  only 
one  of  scores  he  receives  daily.  The  letter  runs  thus  : 
“  I  sincerely  hope  that  your  efforts  will  be  successful  in 
getting  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  to  retain  the  corn 
duty.  We  farm  about  1,100  acres,  growing  corn,  vegetables. 
fruit,  and  stock.  As  stock  feeders  the  reduction  in  the 
price  of  mill  offal  is  a  decided  help.  I  am  also  a  miller 
grinding  about  2,000  quarters  of  Wheat  per  week.  Since 
the  duty  was  put  on  last  year  I  have  had  my  plant 
enlai’ged  at  a  cost  of  about  £2,000.  This  sum  went  to  the 
benefit  of  the  mechanics  who  made  and  fixed  the  machinery. 
I  have  ground  considerably  more  Wheat,  and  consequently 
paid  more  wages.  I  have  used  more  coal  to  generate 
steam  power,  which  means  more  w’ork  for  the  colliers.  The 
importation  of  Wheat  has  increased,  and  the  importation 
of  flour  decreased,  consequent  on  the  duty  on  flour  being  so 
much  per  sack  more  than  on  Wheat.  When  the  corn  duty 
was  imposed  we  were  told  it  had  come  to  stay.  But  now 
our  hopes  are  dashed  to  the  ground,  unless  Parliament 
agrees  to  retain  the  corn  duty  and  reduce  the  duty  on  tea 
and  sugar  instead.” 
We  think  this  letter  speaks  for  itself,  and  it  is  the  exact 
echo  of  our  own  views.  We  cannot  see  ourselves  why  Mr. 
Ritchie  should  speak  of  the  com  duty  as  a  tax  on  a  neces¬ 
sary  of  life,  and  make  no  mention  of  tea  and  sugar,  which 
are  equally  necessaries.  We  want  the  milling  done  in 
England,  to  bring  back  in  a  measure  work  for  the  village 
mills  and  to  cheapen  the  valuable  offals.  There  is  much 
talk  about  bringing  the  people  back  to  the  country,  but 
when  we  get  them  there,  they  need  work,  and  of  that  there 
must  be  a  diversity. 
By-the-bye,  Mr.  Rider  Haggard  had  a  w'ord  or  two  to  say 
the  other  day  on  the  subject  of  workers  for  the  land.  He 
does  not  believe  for  one  moment  that  the  unemployed 
Cockney  would  be  of  the  slightest  use  as  an  agricultural 
labourer,  but  he  does  strongly  advocate  that  the  wastrel 
lad,  the  guttersnipe,  should  be  taught  young,  brought  into 
the  country  and  trained  to  country  ways  and  country  works. 
He  also  specially  commends  all  attempts  to  give  more 
in^rest  to  the  country  life,  and  suggested  that  the  boys  in 
school  should  be  taught  something  of  the  attractions  of 
rural  life  and  natural  history.  We  wonder  very  much  if 
Mr.  Rider  Haggard  is  a  member  of  the  education  committee 
of  his  section  of  the  country,  for  we  hear  many  complaints 
as  to  the  lack  of  funds  for  the  ordinary  school  subjects,  and 
Ihis  makes  us  feel  that  any  new  schemes  for  a  series  of 
nature  studies  will  still  have  to  remahi  in  abeyance.  We 
regret  the  fact  more  than  we  can  say.  We  fear  there  is  not 
going  to  be  much  reform,  at  least  not  for  the  present. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
We  were  very  thankful  for  the  rain  to  wash  away  the  effects 
of  the  frost,  but  except  for  one  day  it  has  rained  ever  since,  and 
we  should  like  to  stop  the  tap  now,  please!  For  pastures  and 
meadows  generally  perhaps  there  has  been  none  too  much  mois¬ 
ture,  and  all  the  Corn  has  grown  well  lately,  but  strong  lands 
soon  show  .signs  of  being  waterlogged. 
Manure-carting  has  been  possible,  and  but  little  else  except 
the  delivery  of  Potatoes,  of  which  there  are  now  only  very  few 
holders.  The  tubers  have  grown  through  the  pies,  which  are 
green  over,  and  there  must  be  a  great  loss  of  weight.  A  neigh¬ 
bour  wlio  is  delivering  at  100s.  per  ton,  regrets  that  he  did 
not  sell  for  70s.  at  Christmas  time.  He  declares  it  would  have 
paid  him  better. 
We  have  some  Turnip  land  to  plough  over,  but  it  would  be 
madness  to  touchdt  now.  It  is  clean,  so  we  must  wait,  and  if  we 
cannot  do  It  soon  must  dispense  with  ploughing,  and  leave  the 
ridging  and  splitting  to  be  sufficient  movement. 
Here  and  there  is  a  patch  of  Barley  still  unsown.  Ten  days 
ago  the  land  wanted  a  good  rain  ;  now  it  has  got  too  much,  but 
that  is  all  the  farmer’s  fault,  we  suppose? 
Many  Clovers  remain  to  be  sown,  and  farmers  are  anxious  to 
get  them  in,  but  it  has  been  impossible  to  use  harrows  to  cover 
them.  It  has  been  difficult  to  find  profitable  employment  for  the 
men.'  Manure  filling  and  leading  of  course  occupy  some,  but 
others  have  been  employed  in  the  granaries  mending  corn  and 
Potato  sacks,  and  we  have  been  washing  manure  bags  in  a  large 
tub,  the  water  being  saved  for  garden  use.  These  bags  are  useful 
to  weigh  up  offal  Potatoes  in,  and  save  better  ones. 
All  live  stock  looks  well.  Sheep,  both  old  and  young,  are 
very  healthy,  and  there  is  abundance  of  keep.  Lambs  are  par¬ 
ticularly  good  for  the  time  of  year,  and  June  4  should  record  a 
considerable  increase  in  lambs  over  1902.  Small  pigs  are  as  dear 
as  ever,  but  pork  is  cheaper.  It  could  not  sustain  the  high  price 
on  the  approach  of  summer.  Litters  of  pigs  are  rather  small,  and 
there  have  been  fatalities  with  sows,  so  the  autumn  supply  of 
stores  does  not  promise  to  be  large  in  this  district. 
We  hear  of  thistles  in  plenty  both  amongst  Wheat  and  Barley, 
and  as  long  as  farmers  neglect  ploughing  and  depend  on  spring 
cultivators  thistles  will  increase.  It  has  not  been  fit  lately  for 
women  to  go  weeding,  and  men  object  to  getting  their  legs  wet 
nowadays. 
