JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTA  IE  GARDENER. 
October  23,  1902. 
304 
Of  course,  there  are  light  lands  that  won’t  retain  water  at 
all,  but  we  are  now  speaking  of  the  generality  of  soils.  There 
is  just  now  so  much  to  be  done  and  so  little  time  in  which  to 
do  it.  We  have  spoken  of  those  whose  harvest  is  not  yet 
finished  (a  neighbour  has  fifty  acres  of  white  Oats  out  to-day). 
He  certainly  has  no  men  or  horses  to  spare.  It  was  an  old 
practice  to  have  the  seeds  ploughed  before  harvest,  and  this 
went  far  to  ensure  a  good  seed  bed,  not  too  fresh  or  light, 
but  this  also  was  in  the  good  times  when  the  Wheat  crop  was 
the  great  stand-by.  Now  we  grudge  giving  up  the  seeds  so 
long  as  there  is  a  bite  of  any  sort,  and  certainly  many  of  us 
are  busy  with  our  seed  pastures  when  we  should  be  turning 
our  attention  to  those  Wheat  stubbles  which  wre  intend  for 
Barley,  or  which  need  preparation  for  next  year’s  roots. 
Then  there  is  the  land  that  was  occupied  by  the  Mangold 
plot,  and  in  many  districts  the  great  area  that  was  under 
Potatoes.  We  are  somewhat  afraid  there  is  a  growing  ten¬ 
dency  to  slip  ploughing  Potato  land  ;  it  is  a  mistake  ;  but 
we  expect  often  time  presses,  and,  at  any  rate,  there  is  not 
much  rubbish  left  after  a  good  crop  of  Potatoes. 
Land,  too,  intended  for  next  year’s  Potatoes  must  be 
worked  so  soon  as  possible.  One  neighbour,  who  has  a  good 
many  irons  in  the  fire,  has  much  of  his  ploughing  done  by 
steam  power.  It  certainly  sets  his  forces  free  for  other  work, 
but  he  is  a  man  with  a  long  pocket.  We  spoke  of  the  harm 
done  by  ploughing  when  the  land  was  very  wet  ;  this  refers 
especially  to  strong,  tenacious  land.  Land  of  this  descrip¬ 
tion  is  fully  stored  with  plant  nutrition.  Water  and  air 
liberate  this,  and  make  it  active  ;  but  unless  the  land  is  fairly 
dug  at  the  time  of  ploughing,  you  defeat  your  own  object. 
Strong  land  ploughed  wet  turns  up  like  a  piece  of  liver,  and 
is  perfectly  impervious  to  water  or  air.  Nothing  will  do  it 
good  till  frost  comes,  and  often  by  that  time  the  proper  seed 
season  is  far  past.  The  earlier  seeds  are  ploughed  up  the 
greater  chance  there  is  of  the  destruction  of  insects  and  grubs 
and  wireworm  by  the  birds  ;  they  are  then  nearer  the  surface 
of  the  soil-;  cold  weather  sends  them  quickly  down. 
Some  farmers  in  their  anxiety  to  gather  up  and  use 
every  morsel  of  green  stuff,  allow  their  ewes  to  feed  on  the 
green  tops  of  the  field  Mangolds.  This  is  poor  keep  for  ewes, 
and  they  do  not  return  to  the  land  the  value  that  would 
accrue  to  it  were  the  green  leaves  ploughed  in.  The  leaves, 
in  other  words,  are  a  better  manure  in  a  raw  state  than  when 
they  have  been  passed  through  a  sheep.  It  is  always  poor 
economy  to  underfeed  the  breeding  ewes. 
There  is  nothing  that  looks  better  than  good  even  plough¬ 
ing  ;  but  this,  like  many  other  agricultural  arts,  is  much 
neglected.  The  young  men  won’t  learn,  and  the  old  ones 
are  dying  off.  We  hear  much,  too,  nowadays  of  the  digging 
plough ;  it  perhaps  does  better  more  satisfactory  work,  but 
with  less  neatness  to  the  eye.  To  make  a  good  job,  good 
weather  is  needed,  also  a  sensible  man  and  a  pair  of  good 
horses.  We  wonder  how  many  of  our  readers  saw  that 
cartoon  in  “  Punch  ”  depicting  Lord  Salisbury  as  a  plough¬ 
man  leaving  the  completed  field  after  having  finished  his  last 
furrow.  How  people  praised  it,  it  quite  took  the  popular 
fancy,  but — the  artist  forgot  one  thing.  There  was  the  field, 
thei  plough  lay  idle,  and  the  weary  ploughman  was  homeward 
bent;  but  where  were  the  horses'?  He  would  have  looked 
more  true  to  life  had  he  been  sat  sideways  on  the  near  side' 
horse  ;  but  we  can’t  expect  artists  to  know  every  little  detail 
of  farm  life ! 
On  the  subject  of  the  horses,  it  is  well  to  remember  that 
October  often  finds  them  a  good  deal  out  of  condition.  They 
have  had  heavy  harvest  work,  and  possibly  with  it  high 
living,  and  now  they  have  still  heavier  work  under  unpleasant 
atmospheric  conditions.  We  know  it  is  the  custom  on  some 
farms  where  the  arable  land  is  far  off  to  make  what  is  called 
“  one  yoke,”  i.e.,  not  coming  home  at  dinner  time,  or,  at 
least,  not  till  a  three  o’clock  dinner.  The  horses  then  are 
often  over-tired  and  overheated,  and  don’t  clear  out  their 
mangers  as  they  should.  We  do  not  think  it  altogether  a 
wise  policy. 
We  saw  some  ploughing  (?)  only  to-day,  the  aim  and 
object  of  which  we  could  not  divine  ;  or,  rather,  we  guessed 
at  the  reason.  We  saw  some  perfect  clean  stubbles  being 
ploughed  with  a  three-furrow  plough,  drawn  by  three  horses  ; 
depth  of  the  furrow,  3in.  We  suppose  this  was  done  so  that 
the  owner  could  say  the  land  had  been  ploughed  ;  but  the 
benefit  could  be  but  a  mere  nothing.  We  think  had  an 
American  cultivator  been  used  instead  (which  would  have 
taken  a  breadth  of  5ft  and  penetrated  Sin)  the  result  would 
have  been  much  better.  Of  course,  should  that  land  be 
reploughed  in  the  spring,  the  position  will  be  altered  ;  but 
we  doubt  much  if  that  field  will  see  a  plough  for  a  long  time 
to  come.  To  destroy  Thistles  and  rubbish  the  ploughing 
must  be  deep,  and  the  sods  must  be  buried. 
Where  fields  are  being  ploughed  for  Potatoes,  it  is  a 
question  of  very  deep  work,  and  no  furrow  is  good  enough 
unless  8in  to  lOin  deep  ;  that  is,  if  the  soil  will  allow  of  it. 
If  it  does  not,  well,  then,  all  we  can  say  is  that  that  land  is 
not  for  Potatoes.  It  is  well  to  consider  what  grand  work 
the  frost,  rain,  wind,  and  sun  will  make  of  a  field  thus 
ploughed.  There  is  another  point  about  ploughing  which  it 
is  well  not  to  lose  sight  of.  Nowadays  every  lad  is  as  good  as 
his  master,  and  can  make  every  bit  as  perfect  work  ;  and  so 
these  young  ploughmen  look  down  with  contempt  on  ploughs 
with  wheels  ;  they  can  plough  without  them,  and  much  prefer 
it.  Of  course,  it  is  better  style,  and  would  gain  them  points 
in  a  ploughing  match,  but  we  very  much  doubt  if  the  inno¬ 
vation  is  a  good  one  for  the  land  or  the  master’s  interest. 
“  Why  ?  ”  you  will  ask.  Ploughing  is  hard  work,  that  is, 
if  properly  done,  and  slow  work,  and  there  is  much  of  it,  and 
human  nature  would  not  be  human  nature  if  the  lads  did  not 
try  in  some  way  to  ease  themselves  ;  therefore,  if  left  to  them¬ 
selves  with  a  wheelless  plough  they  may  make  excellent  work 
while  the  master  or  the  foreman  is  on  the  look  out,  but 
directly  their  backs  are  turned  up  comes  the  share,  and  the 
work  gets  to  be  very  superficial  and  light.  They  ease  them¬ 
selves  and  their  horses  at  the  expense  of  good  tillage,  and  get 
gaily  over  the  ground.  There  is  more  robbery  done  in  this 
way  than  the  casual  observer  would  detect. 
If  a  lad  is  set  to  work  with  a  wheel  plough,  and  care  is 
taken  that  he  does  not  alter  the  wheels,  he  is  bound  to 
make  the  furrow  of  uniform  depth.  There  will  always  be  a 
fight  over  the  matter,  wheels  or  no  wheels  ;  but  the  master 
should  be  very  firm,  except  in  those  cases  where  the  plough¬ 
man  is  an  old  and  trusted  servant,  one  who  really  takes  an 
honest  pride  in  his  work.  It  is  not  Wheat  sowing  just  yet, 
or  there  might  be  some  very  unsatisfactory  seed  beds. 
Wheat  must  have  a  firm,  solid  foundation  to  do  well,  whereas 
Barley  requires  something  light  and  friable.  It  is  well  so 
soon  as  ploughing  is  done  to  sadden  the  land  with  the 
presser. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
It  has  been  a  dreadful  week  :  rain !  rain  ! !  rain ! ! !  The  horses 
have  been  usefully  employed  in  ploughing,  but  it  has  been  any¬ 
thing  but  pleasant  for  them  and  the  ploughmen.  We  never 
saw  ploughing  better  done;  and  if  it  had  been  September  and 
not  October,  the  prospect  for  Wheat  sowing  would  have  been 
good.  As  it  is,  we  must  sow  soon,  though  the  ploughing  be  only 
just  finished,  and  unless  we  can  use  the  roll  freely,  which  seems 
very  unlikely  at  present,  the  seed  bed  cannot  be  firm  enough 
to  prove  satisfactory.  We  have  noticed  a  field  or  two  harrowed 
down  for  drilling,  but  not  seen  a  drill  working  yet.  Truly,  one 
late  season  begets  another. 
Potato  lifting  is  at  a  standstill.  One  day’s  work  in  a  week 
makes  poor  progress,  and  our  Irish  hands  are  becoming  impatient 
with  the  delay.  We  saw  to-day  a  party  of  them  amusing  them¬ 
selves  by  ratting  in  a  hedgerow.  Possibly  they  were  tired  of 
vegetating  in  the  granary ;  perhaps  they  had  hopes  of  finding 
a  rabbit  and  having  a  pie. 
Notwithstanding  the  wet  weather,  there  are  few  diseased 
Potatoes  as  yet.  The  crops  are  not  as  heavy  as  last  year,  but 
quite  up  to  the  average,  and  with  less  disease,  that  is  so  far  as 
our  observation  goes,  and  it  has  extended  over  some  500  acres 
on  ten  farms  during  the  past  week.  Professor  Maerker  is  very 
good,  but  new  Scotch  Up-to-Date  seed  from  Dunbar  beats  all. 
If  the  new  kind,  “King  Edward  VII.,”  proves  superior,  it  will, 
indeed,  be  a  “  Champion.” 
Our  good  report  of  live  stock  has  at  last  to  be  modified. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  trouble  amongst  lambs.  They  have 
been  suffering  from  a  cough  for  two  or  three  weeks,  but  that 
is  very  usual  at  this  season.  Events  prove  that  the  cough  was 
caused  by  worm  in  the  throat,  and  those  farmers  who  did  not 
drink  their  lambs  when  they  were  well  as  a  preventive  measure, 
are  suffering  losses,  and  drinking  them  now.  Another  case  of 
locking  the  empty  stable. 
The  best  lambs  we  have  seen  were  on  a  piece  of  very  fine 
Thousand-headed  Kale,  waist  high.  The  shepherd  reported  a 
clean  bill  of  health.  The  sheep  had  been  on  the  Kale  a  fortnight, 
and  appeared  in  excellent  form  to  take  to  the  Turnips  adjoining, 
when  they  are  ripe,  but  they  keep  on  growing,  and  there  is 
hardly  a  yellow  leaf.  With  green  food  so  unripe  and  watery,  a 
good  supply  of  dry  food  is  most  essential. 
