348 
JOURNAL  OF  HOR'l IG.ULTU RE  ANn  COTTAGE  GARDEN Ek 
October  9,  1902. 
wonder  how  many  self-binders  will  be  turned  into  that 
“  piece  ”  at  harvest  time.  We  are  often  bothered  by  delay 
at  the  stations  for  railway  waggons  to  convey  our  produce 
to  the  purchaser’.  It  is  simply  a  question  of  waiting  a  day 
or  two.  What  should  we  say  at  having  to  burn  our  produce 
because  the  railway  companies  were  unable  to  deal  with 
it?  Mr.  Fraser  has  a  great  deal  to  say  of  James  Wilson,  who, 
from  an  Ayrshire  herd  laddie,  has  risen  to  the  onerous  and 
honourable  position  of  Minister  of  Agriculture.  Here  again 
is  the  Scottish  element.  He,  being  a  practical  farmer,  is  the 
man  in  whom  the  farmers  trust.  We  did  not  know  that  so 
far  back  as  1862  the  American  Agricultural  Department  was 
started,  and  how  far  ahead  of  us  is  Brother  Jonathan.  It 
makes  us  rather  gasp  when  we  read  of  the  work  undertaken 
and  done  by  this  Department.  Evidently  there  is  no 
grudging  of  funds  ;  £100, 0U0  per  annum,  and,  besides  that, 
most  of  the  States  have  each  their  own  colleges,  which  also 
receive  each  £5,000  per  annum. 
There  is  a  college  in  Minnesota  with  between  three  and 
four  thousand  pupils,  and  each  college  has  a  vast  tract  of 
land  for  culture  and  experiment.  There  is  nothing  like 
starting  free  from  prejudice.  Mr.  Fraser  says  the  men  of 
the  Eastern  States  are  not  much  for  scientific  farming  ;  they 
have  too  much  bias  towards  old  ways  and  old  customs.  It  is 
the  new  man,  the  western  man,  who  is  ready  to  listen,  to 
read  and  to  learn.  Happily  he  has  no  end  of  opportunity. 
Here  is  an  example  of  some  of  the  work  done  by  the 
Department  at  W  ashington.  Publications  were  issued,  in 
number,  616,  and  of  these  publications,  8,000,000  copies  were 
distributed.  The  “  Year  Book,  which  is  a  big  volume,  and 
one  we  have  mentioned  in  this  journal,  is  widely  dis¬ 
seminated,  as  each  senator  and  representative  has  15,000 
given  to  distribute  among  his  constituents.  Last  year  this 
office  received  and  answered  something  like  300,000  letters 
which  required  information. 
Unless  the  Englishman,  says  Mr.  Fraser,  is  inclined  to 
forget  England  and  English  ways,  he  will  make  no  headway 
as  a  States  farmer.  He  must  come  prepared  to  work 
hard  and  live  hard,  and  to  move  quickly.  Old  slow  methods 
won’t  do  there.  He  requires  the  nervous  unrest  of  the 
typical  States  farmer,  a  man  who  is  only  a  labourer  once  or 
twice  removed.  A  well  educated  Englishman  of  adaptive 
habits  will  beat  the  Yankee,  for  his  education  soon  begins 
to  tell. 
The  advantages  of  the  1ST.  W.  and  Canadian  farming  lie 
partly  in  the  cheapness  of  the  land  (uncultivated  land  being 
obtainable  for  Is.  8d.  per  acre,  and  cultivated  for  from  £3  to 
£5  per  acre),  and  also  because,  so  far,  there  are  no  difficulties 
m  connection  with  the  squeezing  by  trusts  and  the  railway 
companies.  These  amalgamations  of  buyers  are  a  sore 
trouble  to  the  small  dealer,  as  they  can  dictate  the  price 
ot  grain  for  the  season,  and  also  control  the  railway  coni- 
panies,  and  they  practically  crush  the  small  man  out  of 
existence. 
Possibly  some  of  our  readers  have  seen  pictures  of  the 
giain  elevators  in  the  great  Wheat-growing  districts.  Talk 
about  national  granaries!  Here  we  have  the  very  thing, 
though  really  made  for  another  purpose.  Imagine  a  store 
that  will  hold  3,000,000  bushels  of  grain.  The  corn  can  be 
taken  from  the  trains  into  these  store-houses  at  the  rate  of 
10,000  bushels  an  hour,  and  the  big  cranes  can  load  the 
gram  into  vessels  at  the  rate  of  25,000  bushels  per  hour! 
ouch  is  American  contrivance. 
To  go  oack  to  Mr.  Wilson.  He  has  not  at  present  the 
opening  or  closing  of  Argentine  ports  or  Canadian  live-stock 
on  his  brain,  nor  the  nnlk  and  butter  standard.  He  wants 
to  do  something  for  the  schoolboy,  the  farmer  of  the 
future.  He  wants  to  start  the  lads  at  gardening,  thinking 
u  ^  01?ce  them  interested  in  the  cultivation 
ot  the  soil,  they  will  want  a  wider  area  than  is  afforded  by 
a  small  garden.  He  will  see  that  seeds  and  plants  and  trees 
are  found.  Ihe  experimental  farms  will  come  after,  and  we 
rather  thank  they  have  been  pushed  too  much  to  the  fore 
and  the  simple  method  ignored.  There  has  been  the  effort 
to  run  before  the  pupil  could  walk. 
There  is  a  strong  veterinary  side  in  this  Agricultural 
Department,  and  a  strict  watch  is  kept  to  try  and  ensure  a 
clean  bill  of  health,  and  only  last  year  a  Bureau  of  Plant 
Industry  was  created,  and  investigations  started  with  respect 
to  disease  in  cotton,  fruit,  timber,  and  in  the  evolving  of  new 
varieties  which  will  be  disease  proof  (at  least  for  a  time) — 
the  brackets  are  ours.  How  often  have  we  been  assured 
that  a  new  Potato  has  arisen  which  is  perfectly  disease 
proof  ?  But,  sooner  or  later,  in  spite  of  all  asseverations  to 
the  contrary,  do  we  find  it  go  the  way  of  all  Potatoes.  And 
thus  our  savants  will  always  find  their  work  cut  out ;  they 
may  cross,  and  breed,  and  hybridise,  but  they  will  never 
reach  absolute  perfection.  New  complaints,  and  new  pests 
seem  to  arise,  the  result,  shall '  we  say,  of  our  ovei’- 
civilisation  1 
The  American  farmer  has  one  gi'eat  pull  over  us :  it  is  a 
point  that  touches  us  much  at  present.  Under  usual  circum¬ 
stances  he  can  thresh  his  crops  from  the  field.  There  is  no 
intermediate  process  of  stacking  and  thatching.  This  means 
much  saving  of  time  and  labour.  It  is  only  during  the  most 
exceptional  season  we  dare  venture  on  such  a  process  here. 
We  think,  too.  we  can  grow  a  little  more  weight  per  acre, 
but  we  cannot  boast  much  of  betterness  of  price. 
We  wish  Mr.  Fraser  would  give  us  another  article  on 
American  stock-raisers,  we  do  not  live  by  bread  alone.  He 
might  leave  out  the  pigs,  but  remarks  on  well  known  shire 
studs  or  shorthorn  and  Hereford  herds,  -would  be  most 
welcome. 
Mr.  Fraser  makes  one  statement  that  obliges  us  to  stand 
still  and  stare.  He  says,  “We  had  no  Minister  of  Agriculture 
here  until  we  had  ceased  to  need  one.  England  had  then 
ended  her  career  as  an  agricultural  country.”  We  had  still 
a  sort  of  feeling  that  we  as  a  nation  were  to  the  forefront  in 
agriculture,  but  it  appears  that  our  sun  has  already  set. 
Where,  we  should  like  to  know,  will  be  found  better  farming 
than  here  ? .  Where  such  pure-bred  stock  of  all  descriptions  ? 
Why !  we  are  the  pedigree  stock  breeders  for  the  woi’ld  ;  and 
Mr.  Fraser  admits  himself,  that  our  farmers  are  a  very 
different  class  of  men  from  their  prototype  in  the  States. 
We  know,  as  corn  raisers  we  are  taking  somewhat  of  a  back 
seat,  but  the  majority  of  people  don’t  clearly  see  how  this 
is.  We  still  can  grow  more  bushels  per  acre  than  any  other 
country,  and  it  is  not  our  fault  that  the  acreage  is  limited. 
We  are  girt  in  by  our  sea-walls,  and  ploughing  the  sea¬ 
shore  has  never  been  a  profitable  pursuit,  even  if  it  were 
feasible.  We  can  still  teach  our  Yankee  friends  a  thing  or 
two. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
Another  fine  week  lias  seen  the  harvest  completed,  and  a 
capital  finish  it  has  been.  The  belated  ones  have  been  the  most 
fortunate,  and  have  a  large  portion  of  their  Corn  in  fine 
threshing  condition,  whilst  the  “hurriers”  have  little  that  they 
can  knock  out  for  some  time- — a  case  of  the  hare  and  the 
tortoise. 
Threshing  is  being  very  heavily  prosecuted,  and  markets  are 
glutted  ;  27s.  is  the  top  price  for  Wheat,  and  fair  samples  may 
be  bought  at  26s.  There  are  plenty  of  Oats  at  17s.,  and  29s.  6d. 
is  so  far  the  top  price  for  Barley.  Though  prices  are  so  dis¬ 
appointing,  the  yield  still  compensates  by  showing  a  bright  lining 
to  the  cloud.  One  farmer  has  threshed  180qrs  of  Oats  in  one 
day  and  a  half,  and  another  66qrs  of  Wheat  in  one  day.  Not 
bad,  those! 
Farmers  seem  more  inclined  to  thresh  than  thatch, 
and  where  they  are  thatching  the  work  is  frequently  done  in 
a  very  inartistic  manner ;  the  pegs  are  put  in  with  little 
care  for  regularity,  and  much  more  thatch  than  necessary 
appears  to  be  the  rule  to  be  followed  ;  but  many  of  the  stacks 
are  so  unsymmetrical  that  no  thatching,  even  of  the  neatest, 
could  make  them  look  well.  Some  must  have  been  put  up  by 
moonlight,  as  there  is  no  other  way  of  accounting  for  their 
peculiar  shape.  A  farmer  who  can  have  six  stacks  in  his  yard 
all  differing  greatly  both  in  form  and  size  must  have  an 
intentional  bias  against  uniformity.  We  do  like  to  see  some 
sense  of  proportion  between  height  and  width,  and  would  never 
imitate  either  Mushrooms  or  mill  chimneys. 
It  has  been  fine  for  dragging  fallows,  but  too  dry  for 
ploughing  lea.  It  is  curious  that  after  what  has  been  considered 
a  oold  and  wet  season  we  have  difficulty  in  ploughing  for  Wheat. 
The  land  is  certainly  surprisingly  hard  and  dry.  Very  few 
Potatoes  have  yet  been  lifted,  and  they  have  gone  direct  to 
market.  Farmers  have  no  straw  for  Potato  storing  until  they 
thresh.  The  fields  show  every  appearance  of  having  attained 
ripeness.  We  are  retaining  the  services  of  our  Irish  labourers 
tq  do  the  necessary  picking,  and  we  must  now  go  ahead. 
October  is  late  for  hay  making,  but  we  yesterday  saw  a  fine 
second  crop  of  Alsyke  and  Rye  Grass  being  mown  down.  The 
tenant  of  the  field  must  be  a  bold  man,  but  there  certainly  is 
a  prospect  that  success  may  justify  his  temerity. 
Black  faced  rams,  especially  Hampshire  downs,  are  greatly 
in  request,  and  those  breeders  who  still  require  them  are  in  a 
quandary,  for  the  supply  has  altogether  ceased  as  regards  their 
own  stock  markets,  and  they  are  anxiously  wiring  to  auctioneers 
at  likely  places,  giving  them  almost  unlimited  commissions. 
The  much  to  be  desired  improvement  in  English  mutton  will 
soon  be  an  established  fact ;  but  why  could  not  farmers  be  more 
ready  to  see  what  was  coming. 
