204 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
March  7,  1901. 
a  thousand,  nay,  ten  thousand  passing  bells.  If  ever  creature  deserved 
of  its  Creator’s  hands  rest,  she  did.  “  Not  slothful  in  business, 
fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord.”  Yes,  and  for  ever  serving  her 
people,  whose  best  interests  she  had  at  heart. 
She  was  such  a  queenly  woman  and  such  a  womanly  queen.  It 
fairly  makes  you  and  me  gasp  to  think  of  her  multitudinous  cares  and 
interests,  and  to  her  the  cares  and  the  interest  were  so  real.  No 
monarch  has  been  so  deeply  and  truly  mourned,  and  no  monarch  has 
ever  left  so  bright  an  example.  Kings  and  rulers  must  have  their 
relaxations,  and  it  is  a  happy  thing  for  their  people  when  these 
relaxations  take  bodily  shape  in  some  wholesoni3  beneficent  work. 
The  dynasty  of  Hanover  is  at  an  end.  Of  those  rulers,  old  Farmer 
George  was  the  one  who  set  the  fashion  of  kingly  agriculturists,  and 
we  have  kindly  thoughts  of  the  old  man.  He  little  knew  what  an 
eminent  agriculturist  his  granddaughter  would  become.  Ah,  yes  !  we 
trace  here  the  spirit  of  that  noble  and  good  man  the  Prince  Consort. 
Time  has  yet  to  show  how  much  he  did  for  the  benefit  of  his  adopted 
country. 
In  agriculture  as  in  so  many  things  he  was  head  and  shoulders 
above  his  compeers ;  would  that  he  had  been  spared  longer,  he  would 
have  seen  schemes  that  he  advocated,  lessons  he  inculcated,  the 
practice  of  the  day.  He  was  before  his  age,  but  we  who  are  here  see 
how  right  he  was  and  how  true  all  his  deductions  were.  Coming 
among  us  in  1840  he  found  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  England 
a  year  old,  and  almost  immediately  he  became  an  honoured  and  useful 
member,  and  of  the  Smithfield  Show  also.  These  societies  have  made 
wonderful  strides  since  then.  As  early  as  1843  he  began  to  exhibit 
stock  at  Smithfield,  and  we  firnd  that  her  Majesty  visited  that  show  in 
1844,  1850,  and  1860.  We  believe  twice  has  the  “Royal”  held  its 
gatherings  under  the  shadow  of  the  great  castle  of  Windsor  ;  the  first 
occasion  was  in  1851,  when  such  a  happy  family  pavty  visited  it.  It 
was  the  first  appearance  of  the  nine  years  old  Prince  of  Wales  with  his 
brother  and  sisters.  It  was  in  1854,  when  he  was  a  lad  of  twelve, 
that  he  visited  the  Smithfield  exhibition.  But  shows  are  the 
holiday  outings;  what  work  was  going  on?  Practical  work?  A 
holding  of  2000  acres  is  no  light  undertaking  alone,  but  what  is  it 
when  only  an  adjunct,  as  it  were,  to  stately  cares  and  the  demands 
of  the  nation  on  the  Prince’s  time  and  energies  ?  Few  people,  we 
fancy,  have  any  idea  that  at  Windsor  farming  was  on  so  extensive  a 
scale.  We  believe  now  the  land  in  hand  is  about  1000  acres.  The 
best  and  the  most  scientific  means  were  used  to  make  the  land 
profitable.  The  heavy  Flemish  farm  was  thoroughly  well  drained, 
and  this  at  a  time  when  the  draining  of  land  was  not  considered  a 
burning  question. 
The  Prince  Consort  founded  the  three  pedigree  herds  at  Windsor, 
Shorthorns,  Herefoids,  and  Devons  ;  and  he  created  model  farms  on 
the  estate,  which  being  equipped  with  admirable  buildings,  and  in  the 
midst  of  highly  cultured  land,  still  enables  such  large  numbers  of  fat 
animals  to  be  offered  at  the  annual  sales.  Mr.  T.  C.  Morton,  writing 
of  his  Royal  Highness  in  1863,  says :  “  He  stood  alone  as  the  exemplar 
and  exponent  of  a  greater  diversity  of  farm  practice  and  experience 
than  any  other  single  agriculturist.”  This  is  indeed  high  testimony 
from  one  who  knew  of  what  he  was  writing. 
There  was  the  Windsor  Dairy,  too,  planned  and  built  by  his  Royal 
Highness,  a  temple  dedicated  to  milky  rites,  perfect  in  itself  and  its 
appointments.  From  the  love  she  bore  her  husband,  and  from  a  desire 
to  see  the  work  he  loved  still  carried  on,  her  Majesty  has  ever  taken 
a  lively  interest  in  everything  pertaining  to  her  farms,  both  in  the 
south  and  at  her  northern  h:me.  Many  of  us  will  remember  the 
wonderiul  meeting  of  the  “  Royal  ”  in  the  Great  Park  at  Windsor 
when  it  hi  Id  its  Jubilee;  what  a  gathering  of  the  greatest  agricul¬ 
turists  of  the  century  were  there,  under  the  auspices  of  royalty. 
What  a  record  of  prizes  there  is  !  and  her  Majesty  the  Queen  heads 
the  list  so  often.  We  have  only  space  to  note  the  successes  of  the  last 
two  yea's.  The  royal  Hereford  steer  of  1899  carried  off  the  champion 
prizes  at  Norwich,  Birmingham,  and  Smithfield,  sweeping  the  boards 
of  everything  of  highest  account,  while  in  1900  the  Shorthorn  heifer 
Cicely,  after  winning  two  champion  prizes  as  a  breeding  animal,  won 
at  Birmingham  the  Elkington  and  the  two  100-guinea  cups  offered  by 
Messrs.  Webb  &  Sons  and  Mr.  Joseph  Thorley,  and  also  her 
Majesty’s  own  lUO-guinea  cup  as  the  best  heifer. 
But,  perhaps,  the  greatest  exploit  of  the  past  year  were  the  triumphs 
of  the  Shorthorn  bull  Royal  Duke  which  took  the  first  at  Royal 
Dublin,  Royal  Agricultuial  Show  at  York,  and  at  the  Highland 
Society’s  exhibition.  We  wonder  how  many  times  the  King  has 
honoured  with  his  presence  the  show  grounds  of  this  kingdom  ?  How 
many  times  f  as  he  sat  in  council  with  his  fellow  agriculturists  ?  He 
has  never  spared  himself,  but  has  always  taken  a  most  lively  interest 
in  the  most  minute  details,  and  we  believe  it  has  been  a  real  pleasure 
to  him.  His  own  tastes,  pet  haps,  lie  more  in  the  direction  of  the 
horse,  and  the  Sandringham  Studs  are  far  famed.  Shirts  and  hackneys 
have  made  themselves  a  name,  as  well  as  the  flock  of  Southdowns,  for 
which  we  fancy  the  soil  of  Norfolk  is  eminently  suited.  We  need 
have  no  fear  that  even  with  kingly  duties  pressing  heavily  the  interests 
of  the  farms  will  be  neglected.  Ther^  is  a  son  who  already  shows 
signs  of  the  farmer  spirit,  and  who  will  now  no  doubt  have  a  wider 
scope. 
What  a  happy  royal  party  visited  "the  show  at  York  only  last 
year,  and  we  see  that  for  this  year  the  Bath  and  West  of  England 
Society  are  most  highly  honoured  ;  president  and  prtron,  the  King  of 
England  and  his  heir.  Her  Majesty  must  have  often  wished  that  her 
beloved  Consort  could  have  lived  to  see  the  time  when  his  wise 
schemes  and  plans  were  fully  matured.  He  was  in  advance  of  his 
day,  and  he  would  have  rejoiced  to  see  how  with  giant  steps  the 
science  of  agriculture  has  moved. 
We  may  fairly  claim  to  have  a  farmer1  King  on  the  throne  ;  and 
what  of  his  dear  Queen  ?  Well,  she  hails  from  the  mist  pluckv  little 
country  in  the  whole  world.  Fifty  years  ago  the  agrcuit  ire  of 
Denmark  was  practically  in  a  state  of  bankruptcy  ;  to-day  she  Is  the 
foremost  of  dairy  states,  and  her  butter  and  other  dairy  products  are 
synonymous  for  what  is  of  fir-t-cliss  quality.  In  dairy  work  Queen 
Alexandra  has  always  taken  the  warmest  iuterest,  and  we  have  a  hope 
that  the  work  in  this  country,  which  is  in  a  backward  state,  may 
receive  an  impetus  from  her  patronage.  It  is  wonderful  what  a  little 
encouragement  from  royalty  will  do,  and  we  are  perfectly  certain 
there  is  a  great  future  before  us  as  dairy  workers.  We  have  neglected 
too  long  that  branch  of  our  business,  and  allowed  the  trade  to  get 
into  other  hands.  No  class  of  men  will  mourn  more  trulv  for  her 
Gracious  Majesty,  and  no  class  will  greet  more  warmly  our  King  than 
the  farmers  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 
N.B. — We  have  it  on  the  authority  of  the  “  AgricuRural  Gaz9tte” 
that  her  Majesty  never  allowed  any  animal  to  be  exhibited  that  had 
not  been  bred  by  herself.  We  only  wish  more  exhibitors  would  do 
the  same ;  it  is  the  man  with  the  longest  purse  that  goes  about 
picking  up  and  exhibiting  priza  stock,  not  the  man  wh  >  by 
patient  perseverance  produces  the  stock.  Showing  at  our  principal 
yards  is  getting  quite  a  business,  and  every  year  is  in  fewer  hands. 
This  is  not  what  was  anticipated  when  agricultural  exhibitions  were 
first  started. 
Work  on  tlie  Home  Farm. 
At  last  there  are  signs  of  springlike  weather.  After  a  few  days  of 
northerly  winds  we  have  a  night’s  heavy  rain  from  the  south,  and 
to-day  bright  sunshine.  The  land  was  beginning  to  get  workable,  and 
with  a  consignment  of  Scotch  seed  Potatoes  at  the  station  waiting  to 
be  unloaded  there  should,  in  spite  of  the  rain,  be  no  reason  to  defer 
planting  them  until  a  later  date.  Scotch  seed  is  dear  this  year,  being 
worth  20s.  per  ton  more  to  the  grower  than  Ware  is.  Trade  in  eating 
Potatoes  has  been  very  slow  lately,  and  no  wonder  when  we  see  in  the 
paper  that  last  week’s  imports  were  more  than  double  those  of  the 
corresponding  week  last  year.  A  farmer  told  us  yesterday  that  he  was 
willing  to  take  10s.  per  ton  less  than  was  offered  him  a  month  ago,  but 
his  are  second  quality  stuff,  and  will  deteriorate  rapidly.  Best  Potatoes, 
though  a  dull  trade,  have  not  lost  much  in  price,  and  we  still  consider 
they  are  worth  holding. 
Given  fine  weather,  the  horses  will  now  have  a  busy  time,  and  with 
hard  work  must  be  well  kept.  For  the  next  few  months  the  ration  of 
corn  should  contain  a  proportion,  say  one-third,  of  split  Beans.  Mares 
in  foal  will  be  all  the  healthier  for  being  regularly  worked,  but  they 
must  be  kept  out  of  the  cart  shafts,  and  should  not  be  put  in  teams 
which  work  three  or  four  abreast,  as  under  such  conditions  horses 
jostle  each  other  a  good  deal  in  turning  again  on  the  headland.  We 
shall  defer  Barley  drilling  a  little  longer ;  the  season  is  young  yet,  and 
we  should  like  to  see  the  dust  blow  first. 
Very  good  is  the  report  still  as  to  the  lambing,  and  we  hope  it  may 
so  continue.  With  plenty  of  Turnips  for  the  single  lambs,  and  record 
seeds  for  the  doubles,  the  flock  master  will  find  everything  plain  sailing 
this  season,  and  he  will  not  need  so  much  cake.  The  latter  is  still  dear, 
but  merchants  are  very  anxiously  pushing  sales,  which  is  a  safe  forecast 
of  lower  prices. 
As  the  sun  gains  power  attention  must  be  given  to  young  cattle 
which  are  closely  confined.  Exercise  in  an  open  yard  is  desirable,  and 
a  change  to  a  plainer  diet  is  a  safeguard.  Cake  should  be  reduced  to  a 
minimum,  as  they  will  now  thrive  quickly  enough  without  it,  and  what 
is  saved  now  may  be  given  to  them  with  great  benefit  after  they  get  cut 
to  grass.  The  plethora  of  roots  is  having  its  effect  in  putting  back  the 
spring  sales.  We  have  none  about  here  before  March  20th,  and  many 
are  in  April,  which  very  rarely  occurs. 
Dairy  Produce. — Our  imports  of  dairy  produce  during  January 
amounted  to  323,230  owts.  of  butter,  valued  at  £1,753,070 ;  and 
71,229  cwts.  of  margarine,  of  the  value  of  £192,038  ;  and  cheese 
142,954  cwts.,  of  the  value  of  £369,810. 
