83 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
January  28,  19C4. 
What  to  Sow, 
After  such  a  season  as  that  of  1903,  a  good  year  to  a  few, 
but  disastrous  to  the  many,  it  is  but  natural  that  farmers 
should  be  anxious  about  the  varieties  of  seed  corn  which 
they  will  require  for  sowing  in  the  coming  spring.  We 
fear  that  in  too  many  cases  the  possession  of  damaged  oats 
or  barley,  unsaleable  except  at  very  low  prices,  may  tempt 
farmers  to  use  it  as  seed,  and  so  run  a  great  risk  of  further 
loss. 
On  the  other  hand,  others,  hearing  of  high  prices  for 
barley  being  realised  in  especially  favoured  districts,  may 
hastily  adopt  the  opinion  that  the  earliness  and  fine  quality 
are  due  to  the  particular  variety  of  barley  instead  of  the  soil, 
climate,  or  system  of  cultivation,  and  throw  money  away 
in  giving  high  prices  for  grain  which  is  more  valuable  for 
malting  than  for  seed  purposes.  Do  not  suppose  fot  an 
instant  that  we  are  disparaging  the  importance  of  sound 
seed.  Soundness,  by  which  is  meant  good  germinating 
power,  is  the  first  consideration ;  the  second,  which  is 
almost  as  important,  is  the  change  from  a  suitable  soil. 
The  third,  and  least  important,  factor  is  the  choice  of  a 
variety,  unless  of  course  the  intention  is  to  grow  seed  grain, 
when  it  may  have  to  take  the  first  place. 
A  change  of  seed  from  suitable  soil  is  of  the  greatest 
importance,  for  the  finest  malting  qualities  of  barley  are 
often  the  most  disappointing  when  used  for  seed  pur¬ 
poses.  They  are  grown  on  early  and  warm  soils,  and 
produced  perhaps  almost  to  absolute  perfection ;  but  if 
sown  on  later,  colder,  and  stronger  soil  will  produce  samples 
quite  unrecognisable  from  the  original  stock.  So  long  as 
the  seed  be  of  good  germinating  power  and  true  to  cha¬ 
racter,  its  appearance  is  quite  immaterial.  For  use  on 
medium  soil  over  limestone  we  have  purchased  seed  which 
was  both  dark  in  colour  and  thin  of  body  ;  but  it  was  pedi¬ 
gree  barley,  grown  on  fen  land,  and  of  guaranteed  germina¬ 
tion.  The  results  were  always  satisfactory,  both  as  to 
quality  and  quantity. 
Fen  land  seed  is  suitable  to  all  other  soils,  but  especi- 
aly  to  those  with  a  limestone  or  chalk  subsoil.  It  does 
well  on  sandy  soil,  but  no  better  than  seed  from  limestone 
would,  so  we  should  recommend  a  change  from  fen  to 
limestone  and  then  to  sand. 
But  who  is  to  buy  seed  from  the  sand?  Well,  no  one! 
It  should  all  go  for  malting  except  what  is  used  for  the 
pigs.  Strong  land  seed  does  best  on  the  fen  land.  Its 
growth  is  more  robust,  and  the  crop  is  less  liable  to  lodge, 
a  most  important  matter  in  fen-farming.  We  will  repeat 
the  changes  we  recommend,  viz.,  fen  seed  for  all  soils  ; 
limestone  and  chalk  seed  for  sand  ;  and  strong  land  seed 
for  fen. 
Having  chosen  the  soil  from  which  you  will  purchase 
yoiir  seed,  the  next  question  is  the  choice  of  a  variety,  of 
which  you  can  procure  a  sound  sample.  As  this  may  be  a 
matter  of  difficulty  this  season,  you  had  better  not  be  too 
particular  as  to  the  kind  if  you  can  get  a  sound  lot  from  the 
right  soil. 
As  regards  varieties,  there  are  only  two  classes  of 
barley,  one  being  represented  by  sub-varieties  of  Chevalier 
and  the  other  by  Standwell  and  Goldthorpe.  Of  the 
Chevalier  types.  Wrench’s  Prolific  and  Major  Hallett’s 
Selected  are  the  best,  and  of  the  others  we  much  prefer 
Standwell.  This  barley  has  a  fault  wdiich,  properly  used, 
may  be  turned  into  a  virtue.  It  is  very  liable  to  neck  off 
in  high  winds,  but  it  does  not  neck  until  it  is  nearly  ripe. 
To  prevent  necking  it  must  be  cut  a  little  green,  and  that 
is  where  the  virtue  lies.  The  farmer  anxious  for  the  safety 
of  his  crops  makes  an  early  start  with  the  reaper,  and  the 
result  is  good  colour  and  early  finish. 
We  have  good  reason  for  recommending  Standwell 
barley,  but  only  if  you  cut  it  early.  It  will  stand  cutting 
early,  and  you  need  not  fear  that  the  maltster  will  not  buy 
it.  We  have  seen  very  excellent  crops  of  Wrench’s  Prolific 
last  season,  and  the  yield  was  most  satisfactory.  Seventy 
quarters  were  easily  threshed  in  a  day,  and  the  price  was 
rvell  over  30s.  £l00  for  a  day’s  threshing  is  more  like  old 
times.  The  best  varieties  of  oats  are  not  so  easy  to  recom¬ 
mend,  for  so .  much  depends  on  the  soil  and  situation. 
Tartar  King  has  been  very  successful  on  medium  and  light 
soil,  and  Carton’s  Abundance  is  still  a  favourite  with 
many.  Amongst  black  varieties,  we  do  not  think  anj’-- 
thing  has  been  found  to  beat  Major  Hallett’s  selected  black 
Tartarian. 
It  should  be  remembered  that  heavy  oats  such  as  the 
Abundance  should  be  sown  thickly.  A  good  crop  cannot 
be  expected  unless  there  is  sufficient  plant,  and  no  less 
than  four  bushels  should  be  sown.  Few  drills  will  put 
such  a  quantity  on,  but  two  bushels  may  be  drilled  each 
way,  and  a  full,  even  plant  assured.  Some  growers  of 
Green  Peas  put  their  early  seed  in  during  October,  but  the 
majority  sow  in  February.  The  old  kinds,  such  as 
Sangster’s,  are  not  much  grown  now,  for  there  are  many 
superior  kinds  on  the  market.  We  believe  that  Daisy  will 
prove  a  good  market  Pea,  especially  on  good  soils  ;  but 
Prince  of  Wales,  Telegraph  and  Stratagem  are  still  indis¬ 
pensable  in  their  season,  and  that  old  variety,  Prizetaker, 
is  difficult  to  beat  on  light  and  hot  land. 
Another  new  Pea  which  promises  well  for  field  culture 
is  Laxton’s  Gradus.  The  straw  is  just  the  right  length  to 
prevent  overcrowding,  and  both  crop  and  quality  are  most 
excellent.  The  majority  of  field  Peas  are  grown  on  wheat 
or  barley  stubble,  and  require  in  that  course  a  fair  dressing 
of  spit  dung.  We  should  prefer  to  grow  Peas  after 
Potatoes  which  have  been  well  grown.  The  remains  of  the 
dung  and  artificials,  with  the  aid  of  a  light  dressing  of 
nitrate  of  soda,  will  grow  this  crop  to  loerfection. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
We  have  been  writing  of  spring  corn  sowing,  but  much  of 
the  land  will  be  unfit  as  a  seed  bed  for  a  long  time  to  come. 
So  much  of  the  turnip  land  was  ploughed  wet,  and  the  little 
frost  we  have  had  exerted  little  influence  on  it.  Yesterday  we 
saw  two  pairs  of  horses  ploughing/ turnip  land  in  single  file  to 
avoid  treading  the  surface.  The  soil  was  like  glue,  and  nothing 
but  the  most  favourable  alteration  of  weather  can  make-  it  into 
an  even  moderate  seed  bed.  Wheat  even  could  not  be  sown  on 
such  land  in  its  present  state. 
The  mention  of  wheat  reminds  us  that  we  still  have  a  plot 
of  it  to  sow,  and  if  the  weather  will  hold  up  for  another  ten 
days  we  shall  be  able  to  get  the  seed  in.  WM  have  not  got  the 
Potato  ground  ridged  out  yet,  but  hope  to  do  so  next  week. 
It  will  be  rough  work,  for  the  sod  has  decayed  very  little,  and 
the  soil  has  run  together  a  little;  but  the  work  will  tend  to 
keep  the  land  open  to  the  weather,  and  that  is  everytliing  in 
preparing  for  a  Potato  crop. 
If  kainit  is  to  be  used  it  should  be  got  on  as  soon  as  the 
land  is  ridged.  It  is  dearer  to  buy  now  than  it  would  be  in 
April,  but  would  do  a  vast  deal  more  good. 
It  is  a  great  puzzle  to  farmers  what  to  do  for  the  best  as 
regards  the  use  of  feeding  stuffs.  So  many  of  us  have  one  or 
more  stacks  of  corn  useless  except  for  feeding  ijurposes,  and 
if  cakes  had  remained  dear  we  should  have  used  this  damaged 
grain  as  scon  as  it  might  be  threshable.  But  cakes  and  other 
competing  foods  are  all  now  at  -such  reasonable  prioe-s  that  we 
are  bound  to  pause  and  consider  whether  it  will  be  wise  to  drop 
the  use  of  cake,  if  we  can  realise  our  damaged  grain  at  all.  At 
any  late,  if  we  have  not  too  large  a  quantity  of  it,  the  pigs  will 
consume  it. 
It  i.s  almost  amusing  to  see  the  energy  with  which  some 
farmers  are  deepening  their  hedgerow  grips  and  cleansing  drains 
which  have  not  seen  a  spade  for  years.  It  is  more  than  guard¬ 
ing  the  lost  horse  in  this  case,  however,  for  there  will  be 
ancther  to  lose  next  summer  unless  they  lock  the  door.  If  a 
thoroughly  wet  season  is  disastrous  in  other  ways,  we  farmers 
learn  many  useful  lessons  from  it,  and  we  should  make  such 
note  of  those  lessons  that  they  may  never  be  forgotten.  A 
diary  of  striking  agricultural  idienomena  is  often  very  insti’uc- 
tive  reading  in  after  years. 
- ^ - 
The  New  Potato  Bug. — In  conversing  with  an  old  friend 
recently  anent  the  new  Potato  craze  and  fabulous  prices 
obtained,  the  ancient  scare  raised  by  the  Colorado  Potato  bug 
cropped  up.  However,  he  said  this  new  bug,  which  is  now 
affecting  the  noble  tuber,  eclipses  the  other  by  far.  “  New 
bug?”  I  innociently  c|uerie-cl.  “Yes;  the  Hum  bug!”  said  he. 
Ir  does,  uudoubteclly,  for  it  has  made  things  hum  in  Potato- 
dom. — K. 
