462 
/GURN'AL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER 
November  13,  1S02. 
Average  Wholesale  Prices.— Cut  Flowers 
Arums,  doz . 
Asparagus,  Fern,  bnch. 
Bouvardia,  coloured, 
doz.  bunches  . 
Carnations,  12  blooms 
Cattleyas,  doz . 
Chrysanthemums,  doz. 
bun. 
,,  doz.  blooms 
Croton  foliage,  bun.  ... 
C-ycas  leaves,  each 
Cypripediums,  doz.  ... 
Eucharis,  doz . 
Gardenias,  doz . 
Geranium,  scarlet,  doz. 
bnchs . 
Ivy  leaves,  doz.  bun. ... 
Lilium  Harrisi  . 
,,  lancifoliumalb. 
,,  1.  rubrum . 
,,  longiflorum  ... 
s.  d. 
s.  d 
- 
s.  d. 
s.  d 
5  0  to  0  0 
Lily  of  Valley,  12  bnchs 
12  0tol8  0 
1  0 
2  0 
Maidenhair  Fern,  doz. 
bnchs . 
5  0 
6  0 
6  0 
8  0 
Marguerites,  white, 
1  3 
1  9 
doz.  bnchs . 
3  0 
4  0 
9  0 
0  0 
,,  yellow,  doz.  bnchs. 
1  6 
2  0 
Myrtle,  English,  per 
3  0 
4  0 
bunch  . 
0  6 
0  0 
1  0 
4  0 
Odontoglossums . 
4  0 
0  0 
0  9 
1  0 
Orange  blossom,  bunch 
2  0 
0  0 
0  9 
1  6 
Itoses,  Niphetos,  white, 
2  0 
3  0 
doz . 
1  6 
2  6 
3  0 
4  0 
,,  pink,  doz . 
2  0 
3  0 
2  0 
3  0 
,,  yellow, doz.(Perles) 
1  6 
3  0 
,,  Generals . 
0  6 
1  0 
4  0 
5  0 
Smilax,  bunch  . 
2  6 
0  0 
1  6 
0  0 
Stephanotis,  doz.  pips 
0  0 
3  0 
4  0 
5  0 
Tuberoses,  dozen . 
0  6 
0  0 
1  6 
2  0 
Violets,  doz.  bun. 
1  0 
1  6 
2  0 
0  0 
,,  Marie  Louise... 
2  6 
3  0 
4  0 
5  0 
Horse  and  Motor  Power. 
\ 
After  a  succession  of  dry  seasons  and  stunted  crops,  we 
have  been  treated  to  the  other  extreme,  and  although 
personally  we  have  not  much  to  complain  of,  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that  a  great  number  of  farmers  will  have  little 
pleasure  in  looking  back  to  the  season  of  1902.  No  doubt 
farmers  of  grass  land  have  had  a  good  year,  with  an  excel¬ 
lent  prospect- for  the  near  future,  but  the  profit  from  arable 
culture  is  so  meagre  and  uncertain  that  it  is  only  by  con¬ 
centrated  effort  to  keep  the  expenses  of  the  farm  down  that 
a  living  profit  can  be  realised  at  all. 
A  very  large  portion  of  the  arable  land  of  the  country  is 
let  at  20s.  per  acre  or  less,  and  in  many  cas  abour  bill 
on  those  same  farms  exceeds  three  times  that  amount,  and 
farmers  should  see  that  they  are  not  wasting  money  in  a 
lax  manner  on  labour  before  going  to  their  landlords  for 
reduction  of  rent.  In  writing  of  labour  we  are  not  confining 
ourselves  to  manual  labour.  Expensive  and  difficult  to 
obtain  as  hand  labour  is,  it  is  for  many  purposes  quite 
as  cheap  and  more  effectual  than  horse  power.  The  horses 
of  the  farm  cost  us  much  more  than  we  think.  In  reckoning 
the  expenses  of  keeping  horses  we  are  apt  to  allow  too 
little  for  grass,  Clover,  hay,  bedding,  roots,  &c.  These  all 
come  off  the  farm,  and  as  they  are  not  to  pay  for  we  do  not 
bring  them  into  the  balance  sheet.  But  all  the  food  con¬ 
sumed  by  horses  is  of  as  much  value  when  consumed  by 
them  as  it  would  be  if  devoted  to  feeding  cattle,  sheep,  or 
pigs.  In  fact  it  should  be  charged  at  a  higher  rate,  because 
the  manurial  residue  is  of  less  value  from  horses  than  it  is 
from  cattle  or  sheep.  . 
When  a  labourer  has  finished  work  he  goes  home  and 
feeds  himself.  The  horse  has  to  be  taken  home,  fed,  and 
tended,  both  late  and  early,  and  there  is  great  and 
increasing  difficulty  in  getting  this  necessary  work  done 
punctually  and  in  a  proper  manner.  With  the  great  educa¬ 
tional  progress  that  we  are  promised,  it  is  most  unlikely 
that  village  lads  will  much  longer  consent  to  rise  at  4  a.m., 
feed  the  horses  and  themselves,  and  be  at  work  ploughing 
soon  after  six,  and  this  difficulty  will  lead  to  the  partial 
disuse  of  horses  on  the  land.  Already  we  hear  of  experi¬ 
ments  being  made  in  motor  traction.  Successful  trials  have 
been  made  not  only  in  drawing  reapers  in  the  harvest  field 
but  in  ploughing  and  cultivating  stubbles,  and  it  seems 
quite  within  the  bounds  of  probability  that  motors  may 
become  regular  parts  of  the  farm  machinery.  If,  as  is 
claimed,  the  cost  for  fuel  be  only  Id.  per  horse  power  per 
hour,  there' can  be  no  doubt  that  they  will  prove  cheaper 
to  use  than  horses,  for  Id.  per  hour  for  a  nine  hours’  day 
would  amount  to  no  more  than  4s.  6d.  per  week,  which  is 
not  half  the  cost  of  a  horse. 
There  is  another  point :  The  horse  eats  every  day, 
whether  working  or  not.  The  motor  only  burns  fuel  when 
wanted.  Their  capabilities  to  do  farm  work  may  be  limited 
for  a  time  until  by  experiment  and  improvement  they  are 
adapted  to  land  work  and  farm  requirements,  but  that  oil 
engines  will  be  so  adapted  seems  to  be  a  moral  certainty. 
It  is  surprising  that  steam  traction  has  not  been  more 
used  in  delivering  grain,  especially  during  the  autumn,  when 
so  much  corn  is  marketed,  and  there  is  always  plenty  of 
work  for  the  farm  horses  without  any  waggoning.  On  a 
large  farm  a  traction  engine  might  be  constantly  employed 
in  threshing,  cutting,  grinding,  &c.,  apart  from  any  possi¬ 
bilities  of  work  on  the  lands. 
At  first  motor  power  must  be  limited  to  work  on  farm 
land,  and  they  can  hardly  be  adapted  to  work  amongst 
Potato  and  Turnip  ridges,  but  man’s  power  of  inventiveness 
is  so  wide  that  it  would  be  unwise  to  speak  too  positively  as 
to  that.  What  is  needed  for  farm  work  is  an  engine  which 
can  move  freely  on  the  land  and  drag  a  good-sized  cultivator 
with  ease.  Three  and  four  furrow  ploughs  will  be  used, 
according  to  the  class  of  work  needed.  By  the  use  of  roomy 
deep-sided  rullies  an  engine  might  do  all  the  Mangold  and 
Turnip  carting,  besides  delivering  all  the  com  and  Potatoes. 
There  are  many  farms  in  the  country  which  grow  as  many 
Potatoes  as  would  keep  a  traction  engine  employed  during 
the  great  part  of  the  winter. 
What  are  the  Americans  doing  in  this  matter'?  Informa¬ 
tion  on  that  point  would  be  valuable.  They  generally  lead 
the  van  in  economic  progress,  and  they  have  the  necessary 
fuel  in  the  shape  of  petroleum.  The  substitution  of  the 
engine  for  the  horse  would  remove  one  of  the  interesting 
features  of  country7  life,  but  we  do  not  suggest  that  the 
horse  will  be  banished  altogether,  and  admirers  of  the 
animal  need  not  fear  that  such  will  be  the  case,  but  we  do 
think  that  he  will  lose  to  a  great  extent  the  prominent 
position  he  now  ocupies.  Some  people  will  raise  objections 
to  the  discarding  of  horse  power  because  it  would  have  a 
tendency  to  restrict  the  demand  for  Oats  and  other  forms 
of  horse  corn,  and  the  farmer  would  lose  as  much  as  he 
would  gain.  Well !  cycles  and  motor  cars  have  not  prevented 
Oats  reaching  a  high  price  during  the  past  year,  and  we 
fancy  that  a  foreign  product  called  Maize  is  more  in  use 
amongst  farm  horses  than  any  form  of  home  produce. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
Another  grand  week,  almost  summer-like,  and  we  hope  our 
belated  friends  have  finished  harvest  at  last.  For  ourselves  we 
have  been  laying  the  foundation  of  another  by  getting  our  Wheat 
in,  and  if  the  finish  is  as  good  as  the  start  we  shall  be  fortunate. 
We  are  pulling  and  storing  Mangolds  now,  and  find  them 
smaller  than  last  year.  The  heap  will  certainly  be  a  less  one, 
but,  fortunately,  other  roots  are  plentiful.  We  shall  pie  a  good 
lot  of  Swedes  after  Martinmas.  The  weather  prophets  are 
promising  us  a  severe  winter,  not  that  we  have  the  slightest 
faith  in  their  knowledge,  but  Swedes  are  big  this  year,  and  stand 
well  out  of  the  ground,  so  are  more  liable  to  frost  injury  than 
usual. 
Those  we  store  for  cattle  use  we  shall  top  as  we  do  the 
Mangolds.  Those  for  sheep  food  will  be  pulled  up  and  thrown 
into  heaps,  tops  and  all,  and  then  covered  with  soil.  Good 
Potatoes  are  now  making  60s.  on  rails,  and  fair  quantities  are 
being  moved.  There  is  an  idea  amongst  growers  that  the  tuber 
is  going  to  reach  a  high  price.  We  do  not  agree  with  them,  and 
fancy  the  crop  will  prove  ample  for  all  requirements.  There  is 
very  little  disease,  and  60s.  for  immediate  delivery  is  a  handy 
price. 
On  mixed  farms  the  cattle  should  be  all  in  the  yards,  or  at 
any  rate  receiving  good  rations  of  dry  food. 
We  saw  a  number  of  beasts  the  other  day  on  a  bare  pasture; 
there  were  no  troughs  or  tumbrils  visible,  and  they  looked  very 
thin  and  empty.  There  is  no  economy  in  starving  meat-producing 
animals.  The  most  successful  farmers  are  those  who  keep  all 
their  stock  in  good  condition.  It  is  the  same  with  all  farm 
animals.  Pork  keeps  very  dear,  and  never  did  pigs  pay  better 
for  good  food.  At  6d.  and  6Jd.  per  lb.  there  is  excellent  profit  on 
the  value  of  pig  food,  and  as  we  said  last  week,  sound  food  is 
better  than  offals. 
Of  course  on  a  farm  there  is  a  good  deal  of  tail  corn  to 
consume  by  pigs  or  poultry,  but  when  the  corn  or  meal  is  poor 
in  quality  an  extra  allowance  should  be  given.  If  farmers  fed 
their  poultry  better  they  would  get  a  vast  increase  of  eggs.  As  a 
rule  the  master  takes  no  practical  interest  in  the  egg  basket,  and 
in  many  cases  when  he  does  it  is  an  antagonistic  one.  The  feeding 
is  too  often  left  in  undesirable  hands,  and  the  corn  which  is 
debited  to  the  poultry  finds  its  way  to  other  mouths.  Cart  horses 
get  a  good  deal  of  hen  corn,  the  hens  lay  badly,  the  mistress 
grumbles,  and  the  master  says  poultry  keeping  is  unprofitable. 
But  whose  fault  is  it  ? 
