140 
JOURN^iL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
August  6,  1903. 
time  in  school.  At  any  rate,  the  birds  have  multiplied  to 
an  alarming  extent,  and  one  has  only  to  visit  any  cornfields 
of  early  variety  or  contiguous  to  a  village  or  homestead  to 
see  the  utter  I'uin  that  sparrows  will  cause  in  a  very  short 
time.  One  farmer  writes  to  the  local  press  urging  that  some 
measures  (stern  ones)  be  taken  for  their  extermination,  but 
considers  this  a  case  for  co-operation ;  all  parishes  in  a 
district  must  unite.  We  are  not  quite  sure  of  this  our¬ 
selves,  as  we  are  doubtful  if  the  sparrow  is  a  migratory 
bird.  We  do  not  mean  by  this  a  summer  visitant.  We 
wonder  if  any  naturalist  can  tell  us  how  far  a  sparrow  will 
go  in  search  of  food  ;  we  have  never  heard  the  question 
raised.  Of  sparrows  in  relation  to  the  small  fruit  crops,  we 
know  of  tw'o  gardens  not  a  mile  apart,  where  in  one  the 
trees,  unprotected  by  wire,  are  absolutely  bare  of  fruit, 
and  in  the  other,  under  an  immense  cage,  the  fruit  can  be 
estimated  by  the  stone.  According  to  some  authorities,  the 
protected  trees  should  be  covered  with  filth,  i.e.,  caterpillars 
and  so  forth.  So  far  from  this  being  the  case  (not  only 
this  year,  but  for  many  past),  the  ^rees  are  as  clean  and 
healthy  and  free  from  insect  pests  as  possible.  This  goes 
a  long  way  to  prove  that  as  insect  eaters  sparrows  are  a 
great  fraud. 
We  are  beginning  to  hope  that  this  year  will  see  us  wuth 
a  plethora  of  straw,  a  most  comfortable  and  pleasing  state 
of  things.  An  old  farmer,  a  man  of  many  acres  and  great 
experience,  was  telling  us  last  week  that  the  lack  of  straw 
was  the  real  reason  of  the  outcry  for  allotments  among  the 
working  men.  It  w'as  not  the  extra  work  they  wanted,  but 
it  was  the  comfort  of  clean  bedding  for  pig  and  possible 
cow,  and  for  the  safe  housing  of  their  Potato  crop.  It  had 
been  his  plan  to  give  straw  freely,  and  his  labourers  were 
not  men  who  were  for  ever  crying  for  a  bit  of  the  moon  or 
its  equivalent  in  the  shape  of  the  best  field  in  the  lordship. 
We  have  just  looked  over  the  returns  (Government)  as 
they  affect  allotments  and  small  holdings.  A  good  many  of 
us  can  remember  w'hat  a  stew  there  was  when  these  Acts 
became  law — how  they  were  going  to  solve  the  great  problem 
of  “back  to  the  land.”  How  no  man  who  was  wishful  for 
an  acre  or  two  should  sigh  in  vain.  How  intensive  agri¬ 
culture  was  to  be  the  fashion,  and  what  a  vast  impetus 
would  be  given  to  the  fruit,  vegetable,  and  poultry  indus¬ 
tries.  There  w'as  also  another  side  to  the  picture,  namely, 
the  discomfiture  of  land-holders  when  compelled  to  “  stand 
and  deliver”  their  best  and  nearest  (to  the  village)  close. 
We  remember  the  situation  was  very  acute  in  our  own 
village,  where  one  John  Hampden  set  his  mind  on  two  par¬ 
ticularly  good  fields,  quite  the  pick  of  the  farm  in  which 
they  were  included.  Party  feeling  ran  high.  That  par¬ 
ticular  farmer  was  not  popular,  and  we  fear  there  was  more 
than  a  latent  hope  that  he  would  have  to  disgorge.  How¬ 
ever,  moderate  counsels  prevailed,  and  a  close  of  school 
land  was  eventually  set  aside  for  the  purpose  of  further 
allotments,  and  the  grumbler  ceased  from  troubling.  We 
may  add,  after  all  the  pother  several  of  the  allotments  were 
for  a  long  time  tenantless,  and  then  were  only  cultivated  by 
pluralists,  just  bringing  about  the  same  wicked  state  of 
aggrandisement  with  which  the  large  farmers  had  been 
charged !  Can  we  accept  five  years  as  a  long  enough  period 
in  •which  to  test  a  movement?  We  think  we  fairly  may  do 
so,  and  when,  therefore,  we  turn  to  the  report  and  learn 
that  during  five  years  about  3,783  acres  have  been  acquired 
for  allotments  out  of  all  the  broad  acres  of  England  and 
Wales,  we  begin  to  wonder  why  all  the  commotion  was 
made. 
The  number  of  local  authorities  who  took  action  for  pro¬ 
viding  allotments  Aves  324 ;  the  claims  were  allocated 
thus  :  Bedfordshire,  56  ;  Berks,  4 ;  Bucks,  178  ;  Cambridge, 
30  ;  Cornwall,  27  ;  Cumberland,  5  ;  Devon,  77  ;  Dorset,  123  ■, 
Ely,  165 ;  Essex,  51  ;  Gloucester,  40  ;  Hereford,  4  ;  Hert¬ 
ford,  103  ;  Kent,  61  ;  Leicester,  24  ;  Lincoln,  234  ;  Middle¬ 
sex,  82  I  Norfolk,  783  ;  Northampton,  16;  Oxford,  41; 
Shropshire,  9  ;  Somerset,  88  ;  Southampton,  122 ;  Suffolk, 
E.,  112;  Suffolk,  W.,  7;  Surrey,  57;  Sussex,  E.,  20; 
Sussex,  W.,  24;  Warwuck,  52;  Wilts,  119;  Worcester,  131; 
Yorks,  212.  We  are  surprised  at  the  place  Norfolk  takes 
on  the  list  as  first.  Possibly  this  is  owing  to  the  fact  that 
the  land  is  really  most  suitable  for  small  cultivators,  fairly 
light,  and  easily  worked.  We  are  surprised  to  see  so  small 
an  acreage  in  Cambridge  and  Cornwall,  for  we  thought 
both  these  counties  were  peculiarly  adapted  for  the  culti¬ 
vation  of  Potatoes  and  flowering  bulbs,  both  of  which  meet 
with  ready  sales.  The  land  acquired  for  small  holdings 
during  the  same  five  years  is  just  100’  acres  ( !),  of  which 
Lincoln  (Holland  division)  takes  46 ;  Sussex,  42 ;  Plum- 
stead,  8  ;  Bristol,  4. 
Local  authorities  have  also  acquired  land  for  burial 
grounds,  recreation  grounds,  and  sewage  farms  up  to  710 
acres.  We  do  not  for  a  moment  say  the  Act  is  unnecessary, 
but  we  do  say  we  expected  to  see  greater  results.  We 
heard  only  to-day  of  certain  allotments  belonging  to  the 
Dean  and  Chapter  of  - ,  which  for  years  and  years  have 
been  entirely  devoted  to  the  cultivation  of  Leeks.  The 
rivalry  is  something  tremendous,  and  so  are  the  Leeks,  and 
the  growers  are  kept  up  to  the  mark  by  annual  exhibitions, 
w'here  honours  are  dearly  sought. 
Just  in  this  immediate  neighbourhood  our  allotment 
holders  are  more  for  Potatoes  than  any  other  product,  and 
are  most  enterprising  in  their  endeavours  to  get  good  new 
varieties,  and  they  expect  to  pay,  and  do  pay,  some  very 
stiff  prices  for  a  novelty.  One  novelty,  an  expensive  one, 
has  proved  its  value  in  rather  an  unexpected  way.  On 
June  29  a  very  sharp  frost  visited  this  district,  and  all 
Potatoes  save  this  one  were  blackened.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
we  shall  not  often  have  a  frost  so  late  as  the  end  of  June, 
but  really  nowadays  the  most  unexpected  things  do  happen. 
The  mercury  in  the  thermometer  jumps  up  and  down  the 
tube  as  if  bewitched.  We  had  far  warmer  days  last 
January  than  we  had  in' April  and  May,  and  the  frost  that 
failed  us  at  Christmas  comes  to  us  in  June. 
We  notice  some  wise  man  has  been  suggesting  that  the 
Scottish  deer  forests  should,  in  the  face  of  our  gro'wing 
demands  for  meat,  be  again  devoted  to  sheep  and  cattle. 
We  fear  if  every  deer  forest  w^ere  at  once  stocked  with 
sheep  there  would  be  no  very  perceptible  fall  in  the  price 
of  mutton.  As  deer  forests,  we  are  inclined  to  believe 
these  practically  sterile  tracts  of  country  are  the  cause  of  a 
very  much  larger  circulation  of  the  current  coin  of  the  realm 
than  ever  they  were  under  the  old  regime. 
There  is  just  one  other  point;  the  Board  of  Agriculture 
is  in  the  habit  of  publishing  from  time  to  time  leaflets  that 
treat  of  matters  of  moment.  These  leaflets  are  gratuitously 
distributed,  but  who  gets  them?  We  fear  not  the  people 
who  most  need  them.  We  doubt  if  the  average  srnall 
farmer  knows  of  their  very  existence.  Occasional  mention 
is  made  of  them  in  the  columns  of  the  local  weekly  paper, 
but  we  never  see  them  in  the  homes  of  small  occupiers. 
Could  not  some  better  means  of  distribution  be  devised  ? 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
We  have  been  very  fortunate  to  have  got  all  our  hay  so 
for  the  weather  is  now  thoroughly  broken,  hea-vy  rain  falling 
every  day.  Already  the  mown  fields  have  assumed  a  green  hue, 
and  in  many  of  them  the  aftermath  has  made  considerable 
^  The  root  crops  are  romping  away  so  quickly  that  the  ho ^ 
can  hardly  keep  pace  with  them.  Weeds  have  been  very  mmcult 
to  kill,  the  land  is  so  moist,  and  both  weeds  and  small  Turmps 
are  far  too  numerous  between  the  rows.  Tliere  will  be  a  good 
deal  of  horsehoeing  before  they  can  all  be  wiped  out.  Big  weeds 
and  Turnips,  too,  are  very  tenacious  of  life  in  showery  -R'eather. 
The  rain  is  favourable  to  Turnips  and  Potatoes,  but  the  best 
crops  of  corn  are  having  sadly  too  much  of  it.  Tip  to  a  a  week  ago 
very  little  laid  corn  was  to  be  seen,  and  the  string  binders  were 
promised  an  easy  task,  but  there  has  been  a  gr^a-t  alteration, 
and  much  Barley,  as  well  as  Wheat,  is  laid  flat.  Fortunately, 
it  is  not  twisted  about,  but  is  laid  nearly  all  one  way,  which  will 
make  reaping  easier. 
We  are  glad  to  see  that  the  Sheep  Scab  Bill  has  passed 
through  committee.  A  systematic  and  compulsory  system  of 
dipping  is  the  only  means  whereby  we  can  get  rid  of  the  scab. 
Outbreaks  almost  invariably  originate  where  farmers  are  too 
shortsighted,  and  mean  to  spend  money  on  reasonable 
guards.  This  is  a  sheep  district,  and  dipping  is  seldom 
neglected.  At  the  present  date  sheep  Avhich  have  not  been 
recently  dipped  would  be  very  difficult  to  find  in  farmers  hands. 
Not  so  with  butchers  and  cattle  dealers,  who  are  very  negligent. 
We  know  a  butcher  who  leaves  his  sheep  unseen  for  a  week 
together.  Such  a  man  would  never  think  of  dipping. 
As  calving  cows  are  not  desirable  articles  about  May  day,  the 
bull  which  has  been  grazing  with  the  cows  and  heifers  should 
now  be  brought  up,  and  put  in  a  small  yard  or  loose  box.  lliere 
are  plenty  of  Tares  and  Clover  for  liinij  and  he  will  be  red.  on 
those  green  foods  for  the  present. 
Harvest  will  be  very  near  in  a  fortnight,  but  there  is  plenty 
of  time  to  get  the  harness  and  gearing  looked  over  and  repairs 
made  good.  Saddles,  pads,  and  collars  should  be  attended  to, 
for  it  is  bad  management  to  have  a  necessary  repair  pointed  out 
by  a  sore  shoulder  or  back. 
