304 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
September  27,  1900. 
skinned,  especially  the  best  samples.  Some  maltsters  would  fain  go 
back  to  the  flail.  Influenza  has  appeared  among  horses,  and  many 
are  the  remedies  suggested.  Foreign  Wheat  was  imported  into  this 
country  at  30s.  per  quarter,  including  the  duty.  We  fancy  not  much, 
or  the  prices  of  English  would  not  have  kept  up  so  well.  This  was 
before  the  days  of  fleet  steamers.  There  is  one  thing  about  the  whole 
volume  very  wonderful — so  little  real  grumbling.  Of  course  there  is 
a  trifle,  but  quite  immaterial.  We  should  not  grumble  much  if  Wheat 
ever  reached  60s. ;  but,  alas  !  that  day  is  past  and  done. 
We  close  with  a  quotation  on  the  joys  of  agricultural  life  from  a 
very  old  writer — a  writer  before  England  was.  He  lays  his  scene  in 
Italy,  but  the  spirit  is  the  same.  Few  farmers  ever  turn  to  Virgil’s 
page  for  inspiration  and  yet  he  knew  a  good  deal  about  their  calling. 
The  lines  are  from  the  Georgies  of  Virgil,  book  ii.,  4,  and  we  are 
indebted  for  the  translation  to  Lord  Burghclere. 
these  discussions  now,  we  smile ;  these  matters  have  all  been  settled 
so  long  ago,  we  wonder  there  should  ever  have  been  any  doubt.  So 
will  our  children  read  our  old  books  and  papers  when  we  are  at  rest. 
What  a  time  of  progress  these  sixty  years  have  been  !  Outsiders 
may  think  the  progress  slow,  but  the  experiments  we  make  usually 
take  a  year  to  develop,  and  all  our  best  calculations  may  be  upset  by 
untoward  weather.  We  have  not  a  laboratory  in  a  quiet  room,  our 
laboratory  is  in  the  open  field  or  the  cattle  pen.  Nature’s  processes 
are  all  slow,  and  she  cannot  bear  to  be  hurried.  One  of  the  first  things 
that  took  our  eye  was  a  table  giving  the  quantities  of  malt  used  by 
brewers  in  or  about  London  from  October  10th,  1839,  to  October  10th, 
1840.  We  wonder  how  many  of  the  firms  are  still  extant,  and  how 
their  present  quantities  would  compare  with  those  of  sixty  years  ago  ! 
Barclay  &  Co.  head  the  list  with  115,561  qrs.,  to  be  followed  hy 
Hanbury  &  Co.  with  98,124  qrs.,  Whitbread  &  Co.  next  with  53,622, 
and  the  list  of  140  firms  ends  with  one  Smith  with  a  capacity  for  only 
20  qrs.  He  would  hardly  get  into  a  provincial  list  nowadays. 
Mention  is  made  of  the  veterinary  schools  of  France,  and  the 
immense  value  to  the  country  generally  of  the  horse-breeding 
establishments.  Do  our  Queen’s  premiums  do  the  same  amount  of 
good  ?  Let  the  reader  answer  the  question.  We  want  something 
easier. 
Many  of  the  correspondents  are  much  agitated  by  a  terrible 
disease  that  is  working  sa  1  ravages  among  their  cattle,  sheep,  and 
swine;  it  is  evidently  new  to  them  —  we  have  had  an  example 
lately  in  Flintshire — the  dreaded  “  foot  and  mouth.”  There  is  a 
little  extract  we  should  like  to  make  from  a  speech  of  P.  Pusey, 
president  of  the  Royal  Society;  it  embodies  a  great  truth,  and  is  as 
applicable  to-day  as  it  was  sixty  years  ago.  “The  farmers  are  slow 
to  adopt  Science,  principally  because  scientific  men  are  too  hasty  in 
enforcing  those  principles  which  they  consider  to  be  right.  The  best 
book  a  farmer  could  have  would  be  one  that  would  record  all  his 
prejudices.” 
Why  should  the  cost  of  threshing  mown  Wheat  be  6d.  per  quarter 
more  than  the  threshing  of  reaped  Wheat  ?  Reaped  here  means  c  it 
with  a  sickle,  the  scythe  is  evidently  a  newish  implement.  The  prices 
for  threshing  per  quarter,  we  maj'  add,  are  4s.  to  5s.  In  1839  the 
Wheat  average  was  66s.  5d. ;  in  1840,  59s.  Id.  Butter  adulteration 
is  no  new  thing,  but  we  do  not  expect  to  find  in  it  oatmeal,  yellow 
turnip,  baker’s  soda,  or  weaver’s  dressing.  Ours  sometimes  is  nasty 
enough,  but  we  hardly  reach  such  depths.  A  great  objection  is  raised 
to  the  colouring  of  cheese  by  annatto.  People  will  have  coloured 
cheese,  and  butter  too.  We  can  only  hope  the  colouring  matter  is 
innoxious.  £10,000  per  annum  seem  a  large  sum  to  pay  for  this  drug 
in  1808. 
The  watering  of  stock  in  summer  on  high  grounds  such  as  the 
wolds  is  often  a  difficulty.  Making  ponds  that  will  hold  water  is  a 
great  art.  In  the  neighbourhood  of  Driffield,  B.  Yorks,  could  be  found 
at  one  time — even  to-day — men  whose  main  work  was  pond  making, 
and  very  successful  thev  were  at  the  job.  It  appears  it  is  no  new 
art,  for  as  far  back  as  1840  a  yeoman  of  Kent  calls  attention  to  the 
excellent  ponds  made  at  and  abcut  Kilham,  a  large  village  lying 
about  six  miles  N.  ot  Driffield.  We  should  fancy  he  had  in  view  the 
scarcity  of  water  on  his  own  high  landk 
From  ponds  to  teetotalism  is  not  a  long  step.  A  writer  goes  to 
prove  that  a  teetotaller  is  a  direct  benefit  to  the]|f..rmer.  Of  course 
there  is  first  of  all  his  better  condition  for  work ;  and  it  appears  that, 
leaving  otf  beer,  he  spends  the  money  so  saved  in  a  pig.  This  pig 
will  consume  far  more  value  of  Barley  than  its  master  did  in  the  form 
of  malt.  Le-s  money  spent  at  the  public  house  means  more  for  meat 
and  clothing,  and,  roughly  speakmg,  the  meat  and  clothing  in  1840 
would  come  principally  from  the  farm. 
We  have  olten  advocated  the  rolling  of  land  to  stop  the  ravage  of 
the  wireworm  The  rolling  has  a  solidifying  <  fleet,  and  makes  the  task 
of  the  wireworm  hard,  if  not  impo-ssible.  What  should  we  think  of 
treading  the  land  by  men  or  women  to  accomplish  the  same  purpose  ? 
This  was  done  on  the  Wheat  plant  of  a  Wiltshire  farm  in  1839;  the 
cost  was  2s.  4d.  per  acre.  In  1840  the  “  Royal”  was  held  at  Liverpool, 
and  we  find  a  firm  of  Suffolk  implement  makers  “shipping”  their 
goods  for  exhibition  to  that  port.  April  of  this  year  Wheat  was 
66s.  to  683.  per  quarter;  labourers,  if  very  good,  got  12s.  per  week. 
This  book  is  full  of  reports  of  crops  of  Swedish  Turnips,  and  there  is 
great  divergence  as  to  the  quantity  that  might  be  grown  per  acre. 
One  geniLman  involves  himself  in  endless  correspondence  alter  he  had 
asserted  that  he  grew  50  tons  per  acre. 
On  the  12th  May  we  find  the  first  mention  (in  this  book)  of 
Mr.  John  Bennett,  who  is  proposing  with  Lord  Spencer  to  go  in  for 
some  trial  Swede  experiment.  Another  member  of  the  “  Royal”  gives 
the  interesting  informa'ion  that  two  cargoes  of  the  new  fertiliser 
called  guano  may  be  expected  in  Liverpool  about  July. 
Thra'^hing  machines  being  in  their  infancy,  it  is  reported  great 
damage  is  done  to  malting  Barley ;  it  gets  so  broken  nibbed  or 
Oh  !  happy,  happy,  toiler  in  the  fields. 
Thine  own  rare  happiness  didst  thou  but  know. 
Spoilt  child  of  fortune  ! 
For  thy  simple  wants 
Earth  the  ever  faithful  out  of  a  viilling  lap 
Scatters  her  ready  store. 
And  yet  unbroken  peace,  a  life  that  knows  no  guile. 
With  treasures  manifold  are  thine; 
For  thee,  the  spacious  freedom  of  the  open  fields, 
Caverns  and  living  lakes  and  dewy  dales, 
And  lowing  cattle  and  sweet  slumber  time 
Under  the  forest  trees  and  woodland  glade. 
And  haunt  of  birds  and  beast  and  rustic  youth. 
Patient  to  labour,  bred  to  scanty  fare. 
Meanwhile  our  simple  farmer  tills  the  land 
With  the  curved  plough,  his  task  year  after  year 
The  mainstay  of  his  country  and  his  home, 
His  children’s  children  and  his  faithful  steers 
And  droves  of  kine. 
Nor  ever  does  the  year 
Slacken  its  yield,  but  teems  with  copious  fruit, 
With  young  of  cattle,  and  with  sheaves  of  corn, 
And  heaps  the  harvest  in  the  furrowing  fields 
Till  the  barns  burst. 
Then  comes  the  winter  time. 
His  Olive  mills  are  busy  with  the  grist 
Of  Sicyous  berries,  and  his  swine  troop  home 
Sleek  and  well  liking  from  their  fill  of  mast. 
His  cows  around 
With  pendulous  udders  promise  stores  of  milk. 
Anil  fat,kids  tussle  on  the  merry  turf 
With  combatant  horns. 
And  he,  the  lord  of  all,  keeps  holiday. 
Work  on  tlje  Home  Farm. 
The  autumn  cleaning  has  been  suspended  for  a  time ;  a  couple  of 
heavy  thunderstorms  have  soddened  the  surface,  and  dull  misty  weather 
to  follow  is  not  favourable  to  drying,  so  we  may  as  well  commence 
ploughing  lea  for  Wheat ;  there  is  almost  too  good  a  pasture  to  turn 
down,  but  it  can  be  spared,  and  the  land  will  be  all  the  better  for  it  in 
the  future,  if  not  immediately.  If  ploughed  a  good  5|  to  6  inches, 
and  not  too  wide,  a  skim  coulter  also  being  used,  there  should  be  no 
difficulty  in  putting  the  6-inch  high  pasture  well  out  of  sight. 
The  land  is  in  beautifully  moist  condition,  and  the  ploughs  work 
smoothly  and  well.  The  Potatoes  are  not  yet  ready  to  lift ;  though 
there  is  not  a  green  leaf  to  be  seen,  the  stems  are  still  green  and  sappy, 
so  we  must  continue  to  follow  the  plough  on  the  lea. 
There  truly  is  an  abundance  of  green  food.  We  can  only  wonder  at 
the  uniformly  good  appearance  of  the  young  Clovers,  and  we  have  this 
week  seen  the  best  piece  of  new  seeds  we  can  remember  in  a  thirty-two 
years’  experience,  and  we  doubt  whether  we  shall  ever  see  a  better. 
They  have  grown  amongst  Wheat,  the  latter  following  Potatoes.  This 
is  a  capital  course  for  the  Clover  plant,  which  loves  a  firm  seed  bed,  and 
always  does  well  amongst  autumn-sown  Wheat. 
As  September  nears  its  end  the  eye  of  the  farmer  must  be  turned 
attentively  to  his  cattle.  In  these  days  of  foreign  competition  he 
cannot  afford  to  let  his  animals  lose  flesh  before  being  brought  up  in 
autumn.  Grass,  though  plentiful,  is  now  rather  watery,  and  must  be 
supplemented  by  cake  to  keep  the  beasts  movin»  in  the  right  direction. 
The  best  time  or  age  at  which  to  sell  a  beast  is  the  earliest  after 
fifteen  months  of  age,  at  which  it  can  be  put  on  the  market  in  prime 
condition.  Those  which  have  never  really  lost  their  calf  fat  always 
pass  the  block  test  satisfactorily,  as  butchers  know  well.  Besides  this 
there  is  the  size  of  the  joints  to  consider,  and  those  from  a  twenty- 
month-old  bullock  will  be  far  more  saleable  than  from  a  three-year- 
old  ox. 
A  word  of  warning  as  to  the  health  of  stock.  That  the  dreaded 
“  foot  and  mouth  ”  is  among  us  again  there  can  be  no  doubt.  The 
Board  of  Agriculture  are  quite  alive  to  the  extreme  gravity  of  the 
situation,  but  their  efforts  are  of  little  avail  without  the  co-operation  of 
stock  owners.  It  is  the  custom  in  many  parts  to  buy  in  lean  stock 
for  winter  feeding.  By  all  means  put  such  stock  into  the  strictest 
quarantine  for  some  time.  A  stitch  in  time,  &c. 
