388 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
October  22,  1303. 
a  heavy  one,  from  the  fold-yard,  in  the  shape  of  well-rotted 
manure.  It  must  be  remembered  that  a  heavy  crop  is  ex¬ 
pected,  therefore  it  must  be  well  fed :  this  must  be  ploughed 
in,  and  then  the  land  is  ready  for  sowing.  In  sowing  Tares 
or  Vetches,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that,  should  the  winter 
be  a  severe  one,  some  plants  will  probably  perish  ;  hence  it 
is  of  importance  to  put  on  plenty  of  seed,  say  thcee  bushels 
to  the  acre :  to  this  add  one  bushel  of  winter  Oats.  On 
really  good  soil,  generously  treated,  the  crop  will  be  fit  to 
cut  by  the  second  week  in  May,  or  perhaps  even  earlier. 
As  a  rule  in  May,  green  keep  is  not  very  abundant,  and 
therefore  the  Tare  crop  is  of  immense  value.  There  is  no 
stock  on  a  farm  which  will  not  eat  Tares  with  avidity,  and 
also  with  great  benefit  to  themselves.  Tares  are  eminently 
suited  for  horse-feeding,  in  shed  or  stall  ;  and  they  greatly 
improve  the  quality  of  milk,  i.e.,  add  to  its  butter-fat.  We 
are  not  sure  whether,  during  exceedingly  hot  weather,  cows 
are  not  as  w^ell  kept  in  their  byre  during  the  day  and  turned 
out  to  graze  at  night  ;  and  they  will  pass  their  time  profitably 
indoors  if  supplied  with  Tares  and  plenty  of  water.  They 
will  enjoy  their  nights  out  and  benefit  much  more  from  the 
grass  than  they  possibly  could  do  under  a  blazing  sky. 
We  have  most  of  us  experienced  the  difficulties  of  “  finish- 
inging  off  ”  what  ought  to  be  fat  stock  in  the  early  summer 
months.  Roots  are  done,  and  grass  far  from  abundant  (grass 
has  a  w'ay  of  running  off  when  least  expected)  •,  and  hand 
food  alone  is  too  expensive.  A  little  hand  food,  however 
(cake  and  crushed  corn),  with  liberal  rations  of  Tares,  wdll 
bring  beasts  to  that  point  of  perfection  that  the  butcher 
desires.  It  is  iDossible — easily  possible — with  good  manage¬ 
ment  to  get  bumper  crops,  and  the  farmer  should  not  be 
satisfied  unless  he  gets  out  of  the  land  up  to  the  last  ounce. 
We  used  the  word  “  management  ”  a  line  or  two  back. 
Now,  to  a  Yorkshireman’s  mind  that  would  convey  a  rather 
different  idea  than  to  the  outsider.  The  old-fashioned,  old- 
world  farmer,  when  he  spoke  of  management,  meant 
“  muck  ”  ;  and  really,  perhaps  he  was  right  ;  in  this  case 
certainly,  for  muck  seems  to  be  the  great  factor  for  success. 
Rural  Districts  and  Milk  Supply. 
We  have  met  with  an  indictment  against  the  rural  dis¬ 
tricts.  We  have  touched  on  the  subject  before,  but  it  looms 
largely  before  us  again — the  country  districts  are  supposed 
to  be  superior  to  the  towns  on  account  of  the  fresher  air, 
fresh  milk,  fresh  eggs.  The  air  is  still  in  its  pristine  purity  ; 
but  milk  is  often  terribly  scarce.  There  are  good  dairy  cows 
in  every  pasture  ;  plenty  of  milk  is  produced,  but  it  is  not 
for  home  consumption.  There  is  such  a  call  from  the  towns 
for  milk  that  they  literally  drain  the  country.  The  milk  is 
cooled  in  the  sheds,  canned,  and  sent  off  to  the  nearest 
station,  and  little  or  none  is  left  at  home.  We  know  many 
farmers  who  never  make  a  pound  of  butter,  and  who,  if  an 
extra  supply  of  cream  is  needed  in  the  house,  have  to  pro¬ 
cure  it  from  some  small  dairy,  where  the  quantity  of  milk 
produced  is  not  sufficient  to  be  worth  sending  far  afield, 
unfortunately  these  small  people  are  rather,  if  anything,  on 
the  decrease  ;  or  the  little  they  have  of  milk  is  converted  into 
butter. 
We  always  rather  run  into  extremes.  There  was  a  time 
when  all  milk  was  utilised  at  home :  there  is  a  time  (the 
present)  when  the  idea  seems  to  hold  that  it  is  best  to  send 
all  away,  and  the  farther  off  the  better  !  This  falls  very  hard 
on  the  villager,  other  than  the  farmer,  and  really  many 
country  children  get  less  milk  than  their  town  relatives. 
Many  farmers  will  let  their  own  men  have  milk  on  easy 
terms,  and  this  is  as  it  should  be  ;  but  what  of  those  house¬ 
holds  that  are  not  immediately  connected  with  the  farms  % 
Some  idea  of  the  growth  of  the  milk  traffic  will  be  arrived  at 
when  we  quote  some  facts  given  at  the  Frome  agricultural 
dinner  a  fortnight  ago,  by  the  Marquis  of  Bath.  He  instanced 
one  station,  that  of  Frome.  In  1892  the  export  (if  we  may  so 
express  it)  of  milk  was  161,791  gallons  ;  in  1903  the  export 
was  734,586  gallons.  What  makes  this  more  remarkable  is 
that  Frome  is  the  centre  of  a  large  cheese-making  district, 
and  we  do  not  hear  there  is  any  serious  diminution  in  the 
cheese  output. 
Somerset,  as  some  people  may  know,  has  a  school  for 
cheese-making  in  connection  with  the  Bath  and  West  of 
England  Counties  Society,  under  the  immediate  manage¬ 
ment  of  the  C.C.  The  school  is  at  Manor  Farm,  Woolston, 
and  the  second  draft  of  cheese  (74cwts)  has  just  been  sold  at 
65s.  per  cwt  of  112lbs.  The  milk  used  was  8,875  gallons,  and 
the  green  cheese  amounted  to  8,903lbs.  When  sold  at  the 
end  of  fourteen  weeks,  there  was  a  shrinkage  of  nearly  seven 
per  cent.  AVe  have  often  wondered  that  more  girls  do  not 
study  foi'  cheese-making,  as  the  field  is  not  so  well  stocked  as 
that  of  dairy  work  (ordinary).  There  is  certainly  only  employ¬ 
ment  during  the  summer  months,  but  the  pay  is  good  ;  and 
as  the  sunmier  work  is  arduous,  the  cheese-maker  is  not 
averse  to  the  winter’s  rest. 
The  London  Dairy  Show. 
The  Dairy  Show  at  the  Agricultural  Hall  is  again  a  thing 
of  the  past.  Its  popularity  does  not  decrease,  and  our  own 
opinion  is  that  this  show  is,  perhaps,  from  a  practical  point  of 
view,  the  most  useful  of  any  agricultural  exhibition.  It  is  a 
sign  of  winter  when  we  read  that  entries  for  the  Smithfield 
Fat  Stock  Show  will  close  in  about  ten  days:  truly,  the 
seasons  do  succeed  one  another  with  great  rapidity. 
Those  of  us  who  are  milk  producers  will  either  have  made 
or  be  just  on  the  point  of  making,  contracts  for  the  whole  of 
one  winter  delivery.  Happily,  most  of  us  are  well  fixed  in 
the  matter  of  hay,  roots,  and  straw  for  bedding.  We  fancy 
a  good  deal  of  home-grown  corn  will  never  see  the  market 
except  in  the  forms  of  milk  and  beef.  How  far  this  is  a  wise 
policy  is  a  matter  of  argument  in  every  class  paper  one  takes 
UP.  We  know  it  is  very  often  the  case  that  the  home  stock 
is  made  to  eat  up  what  is  little  better  than  rubbish  :  the  idea 
seems  to  be  rather  filling  than  feeding  ;  and  the  digestive 
organs  are  sadly  overloaded  and  overworked  without  any 
proportionate  benefit.  We  have  heard  of  cats  and  dogs 
being  spoken  of  as  sanitary  dustbins  ;  and  we  greatly  suspect 
if  our  horses  and  bullocks  had  the  gift  of  speech  they  could 
tell  of  many  unsatisfactory  rations  of  fusty  hay  and  corn  that 
was  all  husk  or  sprout ! 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
Deluge  upon  deluge!  Two  fine  days  out  of  seven,  and  on 
those  threshing  was  the  only  thing  possible.  Such  is  the  record 
of  another  week.  October  is  fast  passing  away,  and  no  October 
work  is  done.  Happily,  we  have  no  corn  out,  but  how  hapless 
is  the  case  of  those  unfortunates  who  have.  We  had  not  to  leave 
home  very  far  the  other  day  to  see  Oats  standing  green,  in  sheets 
of  water,  and  sheaves  floating  about.  Whole  districts  of  Potatoes 
are  under  water  and  practically  worthless,  and  very  few  have 
yet  been  lifted.  It  is  not  pleasant  either  to  write  or  think  of. 
Recent  threshings  have  been  more  unsatisfactory  than  ever. 
The  sides  of  stacks  have  no  chance  to  get  dry,  and  the  condition 
of  the  grain  is  worse  than  it  was  when  stacked.  Wheat  is  as 
bad  as  Barley,  and  very  little  of  it  is  dry  enough  for  seed  purposes. 
We  urge  our  friends  to  procure  dry  seed  if  possible;  the  seed 
bed  must  be  a  wet  one  now,  and  damp  seed  will  be  more  likely 
to  swell  and  burst  than  germinate.  We  fear  much  Barley  is 
heated  in  the  stacks.  Barley  stacks  have  dropped  in  height  in 
a  very  ominous  manner.  We  have  seen  one  sample  of  Barley 
at  34s.,  and  another  at  16s.,  grown  in  an  adjacent  field,  but  badly 
got  and  heated.  Good  Barley  must  pay  for  keeping,  if  the  owner 
can  hold  it. 
There  has  been  a  little  occupation  for  the  men  in  the  granary, 
dressing  and  weighing  up  Wheat.  There  has  also  been  some 
work  at  opening  grips  and  letting  surface  water  into  the  dikes. 
Tlie  land  is  so  sodden,  and  the  rainfall  so  heavy,  that  the  water 
could  not  possibly  get  away  by  drainage  in  the  ordinary  way. 
Sheep  have  been  very  uncomfortable  on  Turnips,  even  on 
fairly  dry  land,  and  they  have  been  changed  to  grass,  of  which 
there  is  too  much.  Fat  cattle  are  doing  no  good  even  with  cake, 
and  would  be  better  up ;  but  it  is  not  yet  convenient  to  find 
the  labour  needed  for  stall-feeding.  The  reared  calves — in  fact, 
all  those  under  twelve  months — are  now  up  at  night  and  eating 
hay  ;  the  grass  now  is  not  suitable  food  for  young  things,  as  a 
sole  diet. 
Potato  disease  has  had  the  expected  effect  on  the  pig  ma,rket. 
All  store  pigs  of  any  age  or  size  are  dearer,  and  the  sunplies  of 
pork  have  decreased  sufficiently  to  raise  the  price  of  small  weight 
to  6d.  per  lb.  Although  it  has  been  warm  enough,  the  wet  has 
been  bad  for  laying  hens,  and  the  fresh  egg  supply  is  almost  nil. 
The  breeding  ewes  are  on  new  seeds,  as  we  have  no  rape  for 
them,  but  the  seeds  are  full  of  good  meat,  and  there  are  a  few 
ears  of  Barley  to  be  picked  up.  We  saw  some  pigs  being  tented 
in  a  field  quite  lately: — a  rare  sight,  nowadays,  but  especially 
in  October. 
Prolific  Farrowing. — Cases  of  prolific  farrowing  are  reported 
from  time  to  time,  but  an  experience  of  Mr.  J.  E._  B.  Cowper, 
Gogar  House,  Edinburgh,  in  the  pig-rearing  line  will  be  bad  to 
beat.  Last  week,  Mr.  Cowper  had  a  cross-bred  large  Yorkshire 
sow  which  gave  birth  to  no-  fewer  than  twenty-one  pigs.  The 
pigs  were  all  born  alive,  and  although  naturally  not  of  the 
biggest  class,  were  all  healthy  looking  and  vigorous.  It  is 
quite  expected  that  the  bulk  of  them,  with  a  little  artificial 
help  in  nursing,  wdll  be  easily  brought  on  to  the  stage  when  they 
can  find  for  themselves.  On  the  following  morning  Mr.  Cowper 
had  another  sow  which  farroAved  fourteen  pigs,  both  litters  being 
by  a  pure-bred  large  Yorkshire  boar. 
