92 
July  23,  1903 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE 
The  people  who  write  are  invariably  in  difficulties  with 
their  landlords,  and  as  tPeir  questions  read,  they  appear 
always  as  the  aggrieved  party.  There  is  an  old  proverb 
about  one  tale  being  good  till  the  other  is  heard.  It  seems 
an  astounding  thing  to  us  that  all  these  landlords  should 
figure  as  harpies.  Surely  when  a  man  takes  a  small  hold¬ 
ing  he  should  know  on  what  terms  it  is  taken.  Surely 
there  is  an  agreement  of  some  sort  drawn  up  on  paper  that 
he  reads  and  ought  to  understand.  As  to  tenant  right, 
values,  and  other  matters  of  that  kind,  the  custom  of  the 
country  is,  perhaps,  the  safest  guide,  or  there  must  be 
local  valuers  and  auctioneers  who'  could  impart  the  desired 
information.  A  man  is  always  a  bit  biassed  in  his  own 
favour,  and  it  requires  a  very  impartial,  level-minded  man 
to  state  his  own  case,  and  at  the  same  time  to  be  fair  to 
his  opponent.  There  are  constant  differences  with  neigh¬ 
bours  about  fences,  watercourses,  trespassing  animals,  dis¬ 
puted  sales,  overhanging  trees,  and  a  host  of  other  things, 
that  a  veritable  Daniel  would  feel  uneasy  to  undertake. 
The  law  of  servant  and  master  has  frequently  to  be  ex¬ 
plained,  and  we  fancy  the  servant  is  often  the  master’s 
master. 
A  new  set  of  questions  is  cropping  up  of  late,  questions 
respecting  employer’s  liability  in  case  of  accident.  We  will 
give  a  bit  of  advice  here.  Insure  all  your  servants,  big 
and  little,  and  thus  make  yourself  and  them  secure  for  the 
future.  But  it  is,  perhaps,  in  regard  to  the  ailments  of 
stock  that  the  most  numerous  questions  arise.  From 
pigeons,  through  fowls,  by  way  of  the  pigsty,  the  cow¬ 
house,  the  Shire  and  Hackney  stables,  the  queries  abso¬ 
lutely  pour  in. 
We  have  seen,  and  we  could  not  possibly  think  it  a  case 
of  undesigned  coincidence.  A  query  most  decidedly  from 
the  same  man  appears  in  three  different  papers  in  the  same 
week.  Now,  does  he  suonose  that  in  the  multitude  of 
counsellors  there  is  wisdom  1  or  does  he  prefer  this  cheap 
way  of  getting  advice  to  paying  a  qualified  vet.  from  making 
an  examination  on  the  spot  ?  In  many  cases  the  questions 
asked  relate  to  cases  that  should  be  dealt  with  at  once. 
We  all  know  that  to  facilitate  the  publishing  of  a  weekly 
paper  the  matter  must  be  in  type  (save  that  space  reserved 
for  late  news)  some  day  or  two  before  publication.  All 
this  valuable  time  is  being  lost. 
In  the  case  of  animals  the  progress  of  disease  is  often 
or  more  generally  rapid,  and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  the 
advice  must  come  too  late.  Who  can  these  people  be  who 
thus  put  off  and  dally  with  mortal  illness  1  Either  those 
who  are  very  ignorant  or  very  miserly.  A  case  came  under 
our  notice  only  last  week,  when  a  query  was  addressed  to 
the  editor  on  a  dirty  bit  of  paper,  written  in  faint  pencil, 
respecting  some  stock  that  was  seriously  amiss,  and  asking 
for  his  approval  for  the  administration  (in  a  barbarous 
manner)  of  some  old  wife’s  nostrum.  The  question  that 
arose  in  our  mind  was,  “  Would  the  man  proceed  with  his 
own  remedy,  and  cause  certain  agony,  if  not  death  ?  or 
would  the  wretched  creatures  meet  their  death  through  the 
disease  taking  its  normal  course?  We  might  add  that  this 
particular  paper,  or  rather  the  editor,  is  ready  to  answer 
urgent  inquiries  by  return  of  post  if  a  very  trifling  fee  be 
enclosed.  We  rather  wonder  that  this  system  is  not  more 
fully  carried  out,  but  we  think  at  any  rate  the  fee  should 
bear  some  proportion  to  the  labour  entailed,  and  when 
queries  come  written  in  pencil  that  fee  should  be  doubled. 
There  is  another  thing  that  strikes  us.  There  are 
certain,  what  we  might  term,  standard  ailments,  such  as 
scour  in  calves,  abortion  in  cows,  milk  fever,  and  several 
others  equally  common.  We  dare  undertake  that  not  a 
week  passes  but  these  cases  are  cited  and  remedies  asked. 
This  implies  gross  carelessness  and  inattention.  In  the  case 
of  a  new  and  infectious  disease  we  could  well  understand  a 
desire  for  information,  but  for  ordinary  everyday  ailments 
we  should  be  much  inclined  to  refer  “  Anxious  Inquirer  ” 
to  vol.  00,  No.  00,  page  00,  and  see  that  he  did  not  get  a 
copy  without  adequate  stamps.  These  are  people  who  never 
stop  to  consider  how  little  trouble,  not  how  much  they  can 
give  to  the  long  suffering  editor. 
Then  again,  so  many  apparently  think  that  the  most 
vague  description  of  ailment  in  most  untechnical  terms,  is 
all  that  is  needed  to  describe  an  obscure  disease.  The  age 
and  sex  of  the  patient  is  often  left  unmentioned,  the  manner 
of  feeding,  housing,  and  general  surrounding  is  left  to  the 
imagination,  and  they  will  often  ask  for  a  prescription  for 
an  animal  after  two,  if  not  more  vets.,  have  declared  the 
case  “  incurable.” 
ANL  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
The  simple  faith  that  prompts  the  unsuccessful  farmer 
to  ask  the  editor  for  a  scheme  of  management  by  which  he 
may  obtain  a  comfortable  competence  would  be  amusing 
but  for  the  tragic  side.  Here  is  another  case ; — A  widow 
lady  of  sixty,  suddenly  deprived  of  the  greater  part  of  a 
good  income,  has  an  idea  that  she  may  recoup  herself  by 
poultry  breeding,  and  thus  be  enabled  to  live  in  her 
accustomed  style.  The  kindest  thing  is  to  answer  decidedly 
in  the  negative,  but  she  expects  to  have  the  why  and  the 
wherefore  carefully  considered. 
.  As  to  the  questions  on  dairy  management  they  seem  "to 
us  utterly  superfluous,  as  such  excellent  manuals  can  be 
purchased  for  a  few  pence  that  reveal  every  secret  and 
m3^stery  connected  with  this  art.  People  want  royal  roads 
to  everything  and  everywhere,  and  there  is  but  one  royal 
road — diligent  and  intelligent  application.  With  respect 
also  to  dairy  difficulties,  if  they  are  very  acute  why  do  not 
the  searchers  after  truth  attend  a  course  of  dairy  classes  ? 
Schools  and  teachers  are  pretty  well  scattered  broadcast 
over  the  United  Kingdom,  and  a  good  thing  should  always 
be  worth  a  little  trouble  in  attainment. 
There  are  earnest  people  who  regard  the  death  of  fowls 
as  a  great  calamity,  and  are  more  inclined  to  search  for 
remote  causes  than  to  put  down  the  mortality  to  the 
ordinary  course  of  Nature.  As  for  a  post-mortem,  we  can 
conduct  that  ourselves.  It  does  not  take  great  discrimina¬ 
tion  to  discover  a  diseased  liver,  or  super-abundant  fat,  or 
a  distended  crop.  Liver  disease  can  be  set  down  as  pre- 
ventible.  As  in  the  human  race,  too  rich  food  is  account¬ 
able  for  that,  but  the  owners,  not  the  fowls,  are  to  blame. 
They,  poor  things,  eat  what  is  set  before  them  or  they 
would  starve.  Let  them  follow  their  own  inclinations  and 
have  a  free  run,  and  they  will  take  care  to  get  plenty  of 
green  food  to  counteract  the  too  heavy  diet.  There  again, 
as  in  dairy  work,  practical  manuals  are  to  be  found,  both 
good  and  cheap,  and  easy  of  comprehension.  Sixpence  will 
go  a  long  way  in  providing  adequate  knowledge,  and  a  book 
on  the  shelf  is  better  than  an  editor  in  London. 
We  do  not  want  these  notes  to  discourage  anyone  in  the 
reading  of  the  many  good  paoers  that  are  published ; 
indeed,  we  would  wish  them  to  be  studied  more  closely  and 
read  more  attentively.  There  is  always  something  to  be 
found  of  value,  of  interest,  and  of  amusement.  Some  of 
the  best  writers  of  the  day  contributing.  All  we  ask  is 
that  they  may  have  more  appreciative  readers. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
The  rain  which  we  desired  in  the  interests  of  all  the  root  crops 
has  been  forthcoming,  and  already  a  great  difference  is  manifest. 
Potatoes  are  covering  in  and  will  be  difficult  to  spray,  but  with 
the  moist  weather  conditions  we  have  at  present  it  is  most  essen¬ 
tial  that  the  spraying  should  be  done.  Turnips  under  the  influ¬ 
ence  of  humid  warmth  are  romping  away,  and  wuth  their  annual 
weeds  require  every  possible  attention.  A  day  or  two  ago  we 
heard  two  farmers  discussing  the  value  of  hoeing  an  acre  of 
common  Turnips.  One  farmer  was  giving  5s.  -per  acre  with  a 
strict  stipulation  for  the  work  being  thoroughly  done.  The  other 
was  getting  his  Turnips  hoed  for  4s.  3d.,  and  he  said  that  the 
work  was  being  done  as  well  as  he  desired.  As  he  is  very 
thoroughgoing  it  has  probably  been  done  w'ell,  and  he  has  saved 
9d.  per  acre  in  comparison  with  his  friend  from  the  next  parish. 
Labourers  are  always  ready  to  take  a  special  price  for  doing  fancy 
work,  but  the  work  does  seldom  much  excel  the  ordinary,  and  we 
fancy  that  the  farmer  wdio  lets  his  work  on  ordinary  terms  and 
looks  closely  after  the  men  is  the  most  practical. 
The  Clover  and  hay  stacks  having  had  time  to  settle  must 
soon  be  thatched,  and  the  thrashing  of  Wheat  and  batting  of  the 
straw  for  thatching  purposes  after  harvest  must  be  proceeded 
with.  Machines  have  been  heard  humming  in  several  directions 
lately,  and  there  are  grave  reports  as  to  damage  done  by  mice. 
One  farmer  declares  he  will  never  again  keep  Wheat  long  into 
the  new'  year,  but  probably  he  has  made  the  same  vow  before. 
It  certainly  is  a  losing  game  unle.ss  the  mice  are  poisoned,  which 
may  easily  be  done.  There  is  generally  an  expert  at  the  business 
in  every  neighbourhood. 
Hedgerows  are  growing  well  under  the  influence  of  the  rain, 
and  will  soon  be  ready  for  the  annual  trimming,  which  we  do 
before  harvest  if  possible.  There  may  be  no  opportunity  this 
year. 
There  is  a  little  more  inquiry  in  the  wool  trade,  and  several 
clips  are  being  bought  up.  It  is  rather  difficult  to  ascertain  exact 
values,  but  15s.  per  281b,  half  hog  and  half  ewe  will  not  be  far 
from  the  mark. 
We  are  about  to  lay  in  the  annual  supply  of  coal.  House  coal 
is  the  same  price  as  last  year.  Steam  coal  is  6d.  cheaper.  Has 
the  coal  tax  any  effect  on  home  prices,  we  wmnder? 
