368 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
October  18,  1900. 
At  present  prices  the  four-course  system  does  not  produce  sufficient 
to  meet  expenses;  there  is  no  scope  for  higher  farming  in  it,  whereas 
with  other  courses  and  schemes  of  cropping  a  great  increase  in  gross 
production  may  be  shown ;  and  this  is  good  for  the  community,  but, 
better  still,  it  is  good  also  for  the  individual  farmer,  for  the  more  he 
can  produce  and  the  more  money  passes  through  his  hands,  the  more 
likely  is  he  to  make  some  of  it  stick  there,  and  to  reap  a  good  profit 
for  his  labour  and  trouble.  As  this  is  the  time  when  the  farmer  plans 
his  cropping  for  the  coming  year,  we  think  a  few  words  on  courses  will 
be  seasonable. 
Farmyard  manure  is  very  differently  valued  by  different  farmers ; 
some  put  a  high  value  upon  it,  whilst  others  look  upon  its  use  with 
indifference,  and  upon  the  expense  entailed  by  carting  and  spreading 
it  as  a  necessary  evil,  but  one  which  they  would  avoid  if  possible.  No 
doubt  this  difference  has  a  close  relation  to  the  varieties  of  soils.  Some 
farms  grow  such  heavy  crops  of  straw  that  the  production  of  manure 
from  it,  if  all  consumed  on  the  farm,  would  be  far  more  than  could  be 
profitably  applied  to  the  land  under  the  old  system  of  cultivation,  and 
therefore  on  such  farms  the  chief  problem  to  solve  is  how  to  obtain  a 
profitable  return  from,aud  how  best  to  turn  into  cash  the  stores  of  fertility 
contained  in  the  muck.  Then,  again,  there  are  other  holdings  on  which 
the  farmyard  manure  is  not  such  a  great  feature,  but  where  large  flocks 
of  sheep  are  grazed  on  one  or  two-years  seeds,  and  here  the  question  is 
how  to  realise  to  the  best  advantage  the  reeuperated  condition  of  the 
fields  which  have  been  thus  treated.  The  cleverest  farmers  are  those 
who,  whilst  keeping  their  land  in  good  heart,  are  able  to  keep  the  purse 
well  lined  too.  On  the  chalk  wolds  of  the  North  and  East  Eidings  of 
Yorkshire  a  system  of  five  or  six  courses  has  for  a  long  period  extensively 
prevailed,  and  is  now  almost  universal.  Some  parts  lie  too  high  for 
Wheat,  and  on  these  high  wolds  the  following  is  the  course: — 
1,  Turnips;  2,  Barley;  3  and  4,  seeds  grazed  two  years;  5,  Oats  ; 
6,  Barley.  On  the  lower  lying  lands:  1,  Turnips  ;  2,  Barley  or  Oats  ; 
3  and  4,  seeds  grazed  two  years  ;  5,  Wheat;  6,  Barley.  In  some  cases 
a  field  of  seeds  is  mown  Eed  Clover  or  Cow  Crass  and  only  lies  down 
one  year,  thus  reducing  the  course  to  five. 
As  the  high  wolds  are  very  suitable  for  Oats,  this  crop  may  be 
substituted  for  Barley  wherever  the  latter  is  likely  to  find  the  land  in 
too  high  a  condition  for  a  prospect  of  a  profitable  standing  crop,  and 
Barley  almost  always  does  well  as  the  second  of  two  succeeding  white 
crops.  The  expensive  Turnip  crop  is  reduced  to  one- sixth  of  the 
arable  area,  and  the  land  is  so  easy  to  keep  clear  of  twitch  that  every 
sixth  year  is  quite  often  enough  for  the  cleaning  process  of  fallowing 
for  the  roots.  The  same  acreage  of  grain  crops  is  grown  as  would 
prevail  under  the  four-course  rotation,  whilst  they  are  much  more 
under  control  to  accord  with  the  state  of  fertility  of  the  soil.  The 
expensive  crop  is  minimised  in  area,  but  with  heavier  tilling  and  less 
frequent  recurrence  may  be  made  to  produce  an  equal  bulk  of  roots, 
whilst  the  addition  to  the  sheep  pasturage  allows  of  a  30  per  cent, 
increase  in  the  flock  without  murh  appreciable  extra  expenditure, 
except  in  the  items  of  cake  and  corn. 
Another  class  of  land,  in  the  cultivation  of  which  still  greater 
changes  have  occurred,  is  the  red  soil  lying  upon  limestone.  This  land 
is  found  in  several  parts  of  England  and  Scotland,  and  is  very  suitable 
for  the  growth  of  first-class  Potatoes  as  well  as  cereal  crops. 
We  will  compare  two  systems  as  practised  by  neighbouring 
farmers,  both  very  much  up  to  date.  Both  make  the  Potato  crop 
the  hub  around  which  their  farming  revolves,  but  whereas  one  only 
keeps  and  bretds  ordinary  sheep  and  cattle  of  good  class  and  character 
the  other  owns  a  large  herd  of  dairy  cattle  and  produces  very  consider¬ 
able  quantities  of  milk. 
Mr.  A.’s  course  is :  1,  Potatoes;  2,  Wheat;  3,  Barley;  4,  Turnips  ; 
5,  Barley ;  6,  seeds  followed  in  the  next  rotation  by  Potatoes.  Here 
the  manure  is  practically  all  used  for  the  Potato  crop,  a  little  only 
being  applieii  to  a  small  acreage  of  Mangold,  and  the  Turnip  crop  being 
grown  by  the  aid  of  artificials  alone.  In  addition  to  the  manure, 
artificials  to  the  value  of  £3  per  acre  are  used  for  the  Potatoes,  and  the 
results  are  uniformly  satisfactory.  The  quality  is  such  that  a  sale  is 
always  assured,  and  seldom  does  the  price  fall  below  £3  per  ton  on 
rails  at  the  nearest  station,  so  that  a  7-ton  crop  is  the  only  thing 
requisite  to  a  profitable  return.  Needless  to  say  when  the  crop  reaches 
10  tons  or  the  price  £6  the  balance-sheet  must  be  a  very  satisfactory 
one. 
Wheat  never  fails  when  following  Potatoes  thus  heavily  tilled. 
The  plant  never  fails  and  the  crop  is  always  healthy  and  productive  ; 
the  residuals  left  in  the  land  are  well  equal  to  the  growth  of  a  level 
standing  crop  of  Barley,  not  a  heavy  one  but  of  average  weight  and 
first-class  quality.  Swedes  or  Turnips  grown  with  artificial  manure 
follow,  and  then  another  crop  of  Barley,  or  occasionally  Oats,  with 
which  are  sown  the  young  seeds  for  the  following  year’s  sheep 
pasture.  Under  this  system  we  find  the  full  corn  acreage  as  it  would 
be  under  four-course  treatment,  the  crop  of  Potatoes  is  gained  to 
swell  most  materially  the  credit  side  of  the  balance-sheet,  whilst 
the  only  set-back  is  in  a  20  per  cent,  reduction  in  the  flock.  As  this 
thinner  running  of  sheep  almost  always  results  in  greater  healthiness, 
with  losses  by  disease  reduced  almost  to  a  minimum,  the  lessening 
in  the  production  of  mutton  and  wool  is  not  so  great  as  at  first  sight 
we  might  think. 
The  expenditure  on  a  farm  thus  managed  is,  of  course,  very  much 
greater  than  it  would  be  under  the  old  system  of  grain  and  meat 
growing  pure  and  simple,  but  as  the  income  from  Potatoes  would  be 
all  gain,  whereas  the  corn  should  be  equal  to  that  under  the  old 
system,  there  is  evidently  much  larger  room  for  a  profit. 
The  other  farmer  we  will  call  Mr.  B. :  his  rotation  is — 1,  Potatoes  ; 
2,  Wheat ;  3,  Seeds ;  4,  Oats ;  5,  Barley ;  6,  Turnips.  The  areas 
under  corn.  Potatoes,  and  other  crops,  are  respectively  the  same 
as  on  A.’s  farm,  but  the  order  of  cropping  is  different,  whilst 
Oats  are  substituted  for  Barley  in  one  course  because  Oat  straw  is 
required  for  the  dairy  cattle,  which  we  have  said  are  such  a  feature  on 
this  farm.  Manure  is  applied  for  Swedes  and,  if  it  can  be  spared,  for 
Turnips,  whilst  all  the  Potato  land  receives  a  good  dressing.  Potatoes 
do  not  crop  so  heavily  after  Turnips  as  after  seeds,  but  the  quality  is 
better,  and  there  is  less  damage  from  wireworm.  The  two  years’ 
successive  fallow  is  of  great  value  in  beeping  the  land  clean,  and  the 
Clover  seeds  invariably  do  well  sown  amongst  Wheat,  provided  the 
latter  is  not  too  heavy  a  crop,  for  small  seeds  love  a  stale,  i.e.,  a  firm 
seed-bed.  Mr.  A.  takes  his  Potatoes  from  his  Clover  lea,  all  the 
manure  on  the  farm;  Mr.  B.  takes  his  from  his  sheep  residuals  on 
Turnip  lair,  also  plus  his  manure,  but  his  Clover  lea  is  reserved 
wherewith  to  grow  his  cereals.  Oats  do  well  on  lea,  and  the  Barley 
following  should  be  level  and  equal  in  growth,  showing  good  quality, 
as  stubble  Barley  nearly  always  does.  The  two  farmers  are  examples 
of  successful  attempts  to  attain  the  same  objects  in  similar  but 
widely  varying  ways.  Both  are  large  employers  of  labour,  especially 
B.,  but  we  are  confident  that  both  are  getting  a  good  and  profitable 
return  for  it. 
Work  on  tlie  Home  Farm. 
Since  the  fine  rain  of  last  week  we  have  had  a  continuance  of  the 
fine  weather  which  characterised  September.  As  yet  there  has  been  no 
frost,  or  at  any  rate  so  slight  a  one  as  to  be  imperceptible,  and  both 
Swedes  and  Turnips  are  swelling  into  huge  crops.  It  is  a  great  many 
years  since  there  was  such  a  great  crop  of  roots,  and  if  they  keep  sound 
it  is  difficult  to  see  how  they  are  to  be  consumed.  There  will  be  no 
necessity  for  keeping  cattle  out  at  grass  longer  than  is  desirable  when 
there  is  such  a  big  supply  of  winter  keep. 
The  weather  is  so  summer-like  now  that  young  cattle  such  as 
reared  calves  and  others  under  twelve  months  are  doing  as  well  as 
possible  out  at  grass,  but  the  first  feeling  of  chilliness  that  suggests 
the  use  of  a  greatcoat  must  also  warn  us  to  bring  up  the  young 
things  at  night  to  a  little  cake  and  this  season’s  excellent  hay.  As 
soon  as  the  labour  supply  will  allow  a  few  Turnips  pulped  and  mixed 
with  well  cut  Barley  straw,  and  dusted  over  with  barleymeal,  will  be 
added  to  the  dietary,  the  ration  being  increased  as  the  animals  clean 
it  up,  and  the  proportion  of  Turnip  to  straw  may  also  be  increased  as 
they  advance  in  age. 
Threshing  shows  straw  to  be  scarcer  even  than  grain,  and  as  old 
stocks  had  been  much  drawn  on  owing  to  the  Turnip  failure  last 
winter,  a  check  will  have  to  be  kept  on  the  too  free  use  of  the  straw 
stack  and  every  possible  use  made  of  the  roots  which  we  are  fortunate 
enough  to  have  in  such  plenty.  Milk  cows  are  still  running  out  night 
and  day,  and  they  keep  up  the  milk  supply  well.  Grass  is  good  for 
the  time  of  year,  but  cotton  cake  must  be  supplied,  5  to  7  lbs.  per  cow 
per  diem  if  we  mean  to  keep  them  in  good  milking  condition. 
Winter  Beans  are  now  little  grown,  but  we  see  a  field  being  put 
in  here  and  there.  In  the  old  days  they  were  dibbled  by  hand  in  the 
furrows  after  the  ploughs,  now  they  are  drilled  with  a  press  drill,  or 
sown  broadcast  on  the  press  rows.  The  latter  method  will  do  if  wo 
have  a  first-class  sower,  but  such  men  are  now  so  very  scarce  as  to  be 
almost  unobtainable. 
Strong  land  farmers  may  be  congratulated  on  having  such  a  fine 
time  for  Wheat  sowing.  The  seed  is  indeed  going  in  grandly  and  must 
make  a  good  start.  In  this  Potato  district  Wheat  is  sown  after  the 
tuber.  The  end  of  this  month  is  soon  enough  to  sow  Wheat  in  this 
course,  so  Potato  lifting  is  still  the  order  of  things.  Diseased  tubers 
are  plentiful.  Elephants,  which  should  have  been  marketed  earlier, 
are  very  bad  and  useless,  even  as  pig  food.  Later  sorts  are  fairly 
satisfactory  as  to  bulk,  but  a  great  many  Potatoes  are  touched  so 
slightly  as  to  be  hardly  discernible.  Much  depends  on  how  they  stand 
the  sweating  process  of  the  next  month.  The  pies  must  be  kept  open 
longer  than  usual  at  the  top  or  disaster  must  follow. 
