326 
October  4,  1900 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Trade  Catalopes  Received. 
T.  Honse  &  Sons,  Westbury-on-Trym. —  Violets. 
Ellwanerer  &  Barry,  Mount  Hope  Nurseries,  Rochester,  N.Z, — Boses  and 
Bulbs. 
Pinehurst  Nurseries,  Pinehurst,  Moore  County,  North  Carolina. —  Woody 
and  Eerhacous  Plants. 
T.  S.  Ware,Ltd.,  Feltham. — Bulbs  and  Plants. 
E.  Webb  &  Sons,  Wordsley,  Stourbridge. — Seed  Corn. 
Forced  ParmiDg  and  Forced  Sales. 
The  price,  or  rather  absence  of  piice,  of  much  English  grown 
fruit  at  the  present  time  leads  us  to  consider  the  helpless  condition  of 
the  growers  thereof  to  make  even  a  working  profit  of  a  record  crop. 
It  is  our  boaft  that  Brit  sh  industries  are  self-supporting  and 
in-  ependent  of  bounty  and  duty  systems  ;  but  there  surely  must  be  a 
limit  which  might  be  put  by  Government  to  imports  ot  (oreign  produce 
at  unnecessary  and  inopportune  seasons,  and  the  strongest  advocate  of 
free  trade  could  hardly  object  to  an  import  duty  on  foreign  fruit  at  a 
season  like  the  present,  when  the  home  supply  is  so  superabundant. 
The  relation  between  fruit  and  sugar  is  so  close  that  we,  perhaps, 
may  be  allowed  the  suggestion  that  with  cheap  bounty -fed  sugar  at 
his  disposal  the  British  consumer  could  well  afford  to  pay  for  his  fruit 
such  a  price  as  would  recompense  the  grower  for  his  labour.  The 
latter  has  to  pay  his  rent  and  rates  whether  his  produce  is  saleable  or 
not.  He  is  forced  lo  pay  the  former,  and  at  present  is  forced  to  take 
for  the  latter  a  price  which  hardly  pays  the  expense  of  gathering. 
Large  quantities  of  Plums  have  fetched  no  more  than  3d.  or  4d. 
per  stone,  and  even  Damsons  are  only  worth  9d.,  and  can  be  purchased 
retail  at  Id.  per  lb.  Mianwhile  thousands  of  tons  of  Fiench  fruit 
have  been  pnt  on  our  markets  and  sold  without  hindrance,  although 
everyoi  e  in  the  trade  bnew  that  la’er  on  the  home  supply  would  be 
mo'e  than  siifficient  for  all  requiren  ents.  What  makts  matters  worse 
is  the  exhausted  state  of  the  trees.  The  weight  of  fruit  has  been  so 
great  that  they  have  made  little  or  no  new  wood,  and  there  is  no 
possibility  of  anything  but  a  poor  crop  next  year. 
The  grower  is  forced  to  sell  in  the  b  me  market,  and  take  what 
the  public  will  give  him  ;  but  is  he  forced  to  allow  his  trees  to  be  so 
over-fiuitlul  as  to  overstock  that  market  ?  Certainly  not  ?  And  goi  d 
will  come  f  om  evil  if  ihis  season’s  experience  teaches  him  to  greatly 
reduce  the  fmit  upon  his  trees  as  soon  as  he  sees  that  the  crop  will  be 
too  heavy.  How  would  it  answer  to  entirely  denude  every  other  tree 
at  an  early  period?  The  stripped  trees  would  at  any  rate  have  a 
chance  of  bearmg  the  following  year,  and  the  eggs  would  noi  be  all  in 
one  basket.  We  cannot  maKe  our  trees  bear  earlier  except  under 
glass,  but  we  may  force  them  to  bear  more  regularly. 
It  is  this  irregularity  in  the  home  supply  which  enables  the 
foreigner  so  often  to  canture  our  mark.  ts.  For  instance,  there  is  the 
Potato  raaiket.  Crops  of  the  tuber  will  be,  nay  are,  very  light; 
dealers  are  now  giving  as  much  as  70s.  per  ton  for  delivery  this  year, 
and  the  maikeis  will  be  filled  with  G.  tman  and  Belgian  Potatoes  to 
make  up  for  the  drficiency  in  the  ht  me  supplies.  If  oiir  ciop  next 
year  be  a  good  one  the  foreign  supply  will  nevertheless  continue,  and 
it  will  take  months  of  ruinously  1  w  prices  to  drive  it  away  again. 
Steady  markets  at  fair  prices  are  what  the  British  farmer  wants. 
Great  and  wide  fluctuations  simply  enable  the  middleman  and 
speculator  to  absorb  more  than  their  share  of  the  gross  proceeds. 
The  nece.«8ity  for  qu’cker  and  easier  means  of  communication 
between  gr.  wer  and  consumer  is  as  gr  at  as  ever  it  was.  Will  t'  e 
motor  car  movement  do  anything  towaids  so.ving  the  problem  ?  We 
hope  so.  In  any  case  the  motors  should  give  a  much  needed  spurring 
to  the  railway  comf  anies,  whose  managers  complain  loudly  of  reduced 
traffic  and  increased  expenses,  but  do  little  to  encourage  or  fos'er  the 
mt'Vement  of  home  productior.s,  whi  st  they  will  carry  foreign 
produce  for  a  mere  trifle.  We  have  tried  sending  fruit'  and  other 
farm  produce  by  rail,  but  find  the  charges  too  high  to  pay.  Parcels  post 
would  be  the  cheapest  if  there  were  no  I  mit  of  weight,  but  Id.  per  lb. 
is  a  fatal  charge  for  the  carriage  of  produce  worth  less  than  that  at  its 
destination.  A  really  easy  rate  for  parcels  or  cases  of  ^  or  1  cwt.  for 
any  distance  would  soon  create  a  big  traffic  in  farm  products.  Most 
town  dwellers  hav  *  friends  in  the  country  ready  and  willing  to  supply 
them  with  fresh  vegetables  and  fruit  if  reasonable  means  of  transfer 
were  available.  There  is  an  opportunity  for  rural  electors  to  make 
their  influence  felt,  and  instead  of  being  the  forced  party  cannot  we 
bring  some  pressure  to  bear  on  candidates  to,  in  their  turn,  foice  the 
hands  of  the  railway  magnates  ? 
Farmers  complain  very  much  of  the  increase  in  their  all-round 
expenditure.  In  almost  every  particular  have  their  outgoing- increased. 
Even  rents  are  inclined  to  rise,  and  competition  for  farms  is  very  keen. 
For  one  farm  shortly  to  be  given  up  we  know  there  are  more 
than  sixty  applicants.  Can  we  blame  the  landlord  it  he  asks  for 
an  increased  rent  ?  The  labourer  can  now  command  any  reasonable 
terms  fr  m  bis  employer,  and  the  latter  is  forced  to  accede  to  his 
demands  or  be  left  to  do  the  wi.rk  himself.  To  stand  any  chance 
of  paying  his  way  the  tenant  must  keep  first-class  stock  and  force 
them  to  early  maturity,  he  must  be  a  free  purchaser  both  of  artificial 
foods  and  manures,  for  which  he  is  forced  to  pay  enhanced  t  rices. 
When  his  sb  ck  are  fit  for  market  he  finds  the  butchers  in  strongly 
organised  combination  against  giving  him  a  fair  price,  and  too  often  at 
the  public  auctions  is  he  entirely  at  their  mercy. 
Is  it  necessary  that  the  average  farmer  should  so  continually  be, 
as  it  were,  at  a  force-put?  How  can  he  best  emancipate  himself 
from  the  thraldom  of  so  many  petty  factions  which  in  the  aggregate  are 
so  overwhelming  ?  Combination  and  closer  union  with  his  neighbours 
is  the  only  remedy.  Much  has  been  done  in  Yorkshire  by  farmers’ 
clubs,  which  have  developed,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  into  co-ope¬ 
rative  societies. 
There  is  no  reason  why  farmers  cannot  combine  and  co-operate 
any  more  than  <  ther  classes  do  if  they  will  only  make  up  their  minds 
to  put  away  all  the  petty  jeah  us  es  which  now  do  so  much  to  make 
them  antagonistic  and  divided.  A  good  farmer  appreciates  a  good 
neighbour,  and  there  is  no  reason  why  his  ne  ghbonrs  shouhi  only  be 
these  of  his  own  parish.  In  union  is  s'rength,  and  we  most  firmly 
believe  that  in  closer  combination  and  co-operation  between  individuals 
lies  the  only  means  of  salvation  for  the  farmers  of  to-day. 
Work  on  tlie  Rome  Farm, 
Farmers  who  are  not  ploughing  for  Wheat  are  busy  lifting  Potatoes. 
The  latter,  though  not  quite  as  ripe  as  we  like  to  see  th‘m,  are  just 
ready,  and  a  round  with  our  neighbours  has  found  them  all  at  work. 
As  one  remarked,  the  weather  is  fine  now,  and  we  do  not  know  what  we 
may  have  next  week.  The  crops  vary  very  much.  One  patch  of  British 
Queen  was  taking  up  small,  but  very  numerous,  as  also,  we  are  sorry  to 
relate,  were  the  diseased  tubers.  Up-to-Dates,  the  chief  variety,  also 
vary  much,  some  crops  being  double  the  size  and  weight  of  others.  One 
field  which  had  been  well  sprayed  is  a  very  fine  sample,  too  big,  if 
anything,  and  very  free  frem  disease  at  present,  but  they  are  not  yet 
fit  to  lift,  as  an  examination  of  them  in  the  heap  shows  many  ruffled 
skins. 
Irishmen  do  the  picking  up  at  218.  an  acre,  and  the  rows  are 
ploughed  nut  with  an  ordinary  Potato  plough.  There  is  a  prejudice, 
unf(  unded  we  think,  against  the  machine  or  revolving  digger  as  being 
apt  to  bruise  the  tubers.  In  time  no  doubt  the  diggers  will  prevail. 
We  hear  rumours  of  a  very  successf  1  new  Potato  lifter,  with  lifting  as 
distinguished  from  revolving  action,  but  do  not  know  the  name  of  the 
maker.  The  retult  of  further  inquiries  we  will  give  our  readers  on 
a  future  occasion. 
Growers  are  making  their  pits  or  pies  narrower  than  usual  owing 
to  the  presence  of  the  disease,  but  we  measured  one  nearly  8  feet  wide, 
and  which  would  contain  nearly  1  ton  to  the  yard  run. 
Thieshing  machines  are  kept  well  employed,  and  the  more  we  know 
about  this  year’s  crops  the  poorer  do  we  find  the  results,  which  are  in 
most  cases  far  below  the  most  pessimistic  estimates. 
The  black-faced  rams  are  with  the  ewes,  and  it  will  soon  be  time 
for  all  breeds  to  be  in  use.  The  ewes  are  well  and  full  of  condition, 
pastures  are  abundant,  especially  young  seeds,  which  make  capital  food 
for  ewes  at  this  season,  and  it  will  be  the  farmer’s  own  fault  if  he  has 
not  a  good  fall  of  lambs.  To  prevent  any  chance  of  failure  it  is  well 
to  change  the  rams  at  the  end  of  each  fortnight.  Lambs  are  well  on 
Turnips,  and  are  beginning  to  make  headway  with  the  crop,  which  is 
very  different  from  last  year’s. 
Another  outbreak  of  foot  and  mouth  disease  makes  ns  nervous. 
Sutely  we  are  not  going  back  to  the  old  vexatious  times  of  rules  and 
restrictions.  It  is  bad  enough  to  have  a  chronic  epidemic  of  swine 
fever  without  foot  and  mouth  as  well. 
Pigs  for  bacon  purposes  aie  being  pnt  up  to  fatten.  Many  of  them 
are  fat  now,  but  they  are  too  big  to  be  saleable  yet,  and  if  sold  their 
places  w(  uld  be  difficult  to  fill,  for  strong  stores  are  decidedly  scarce. 
ISmall  pigs  are  plentiful  and  cheap. 
