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J CUBICAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
November  5,  19033 
Now,  we  hardly  like  to  take  upon  ourselves  to  say  what 
men  should  be  chosen  ;  but  we  think,  without  offence,  we 
should  suggest  that  no  land  agents  are  on  the  roll.  A  land 
agent  is  difficult  to  class.  He  is  supposed  only  to  have  at 
heart  the  interests  of  his  employer,  and  he  is  looked  upon 
with  more  or  less  suspicion  by  the  farmer.  It  is  with  him 
so  many  difficulties  occur,  and  at  the  best  of  times  and  with 
the  best  men  we  can  only  describe  the  situation  as  one  of 
“armed  neutrality.” 
These,  then,  are  not  the  men  to  whom  a  struggling  farmer 
would  come  in  any  difficulty.  We  want  educated  men, 
genial  men,  and  men  with  very  judicial,  even  temperaments. 
A  popular  landlord  might  be  a  most  valuable  auxiliary,  and 
we  know  of  one  or  two  the  very  men.  Then  there  are  some 
large  tenant  farmers  we  could  mention,  only  the  difficulty 
with  them  is  that  their  hands  are  already  very  full ;  it  is, 
however,  just  such  men  who  can  generally  make  time  to  do 
a  little  more  work,  especially  if  it  be  work  for  the  good  of 
others. 
Lord  Onslow  through  his  secretary.  Sir  T.  H.  Elliott, 
makes  several  suggestions  as  to  the  class  of  information  that 
should  be  gathered  and  laid  before  the  Board  at  Whitehall, 
and  we  think  we  cannot  do  better  than  quote  them  verbatim. 
I. — Production. 
I.  Losses  arising  from  the  use  of  unsuitable,  defective,  or 
worthless  seed. 
II.  Difficulties  in  connection  ivith  the  selection  and  use  of 
fertilisers,  and  complaints  as  tO'  their  quality  or  failure. 
III.  Losses  arising  from  the  attacks  of  insects,  and  diseases 
affecting  crops. 
IV.  The  suppression  of  weeds. 
V.  The  partial  or  complete  failure  of  crops  from  exceptional 
cau.ses. 
VI.  The  growth  of  new  crops  and  new  methods  of  cultiva¬ 
tion. 
VII.  The  practical  value  of  new  implements  and  machinery. 
VIII.  Difficulties  in  the  treatment  of  orchards  and  garden 
produce. 
IX.  The  deterioration  and  possible  improvement  of  pasture. 
X.  New  and  special  methods  of  dairying  and  new'  descriptions 
of  produce. 
XI.  Difficulties  in  the  breeding  and  feeding  of  live  stock. 
XII.  Complaints  as  to  the  quality  of  feeding  stuffs. 
Xni.  New  descriptions  of  feeding  stuffs. 
II. — Distribution., 
XIV.  Inadequacy  of  railway  and  other  facilities  for  transit. 
XV.  Complaints  as  to  railway  rates. 
XVI.  Difficulties  at  markets  with  regard  to  tolls  and  accom¬ 
modation  (including  weighbridges). 
XVII.  Loss  of  markets  at  home  or  abroad,  and  exceptional 
decline  in  prices. 
XVIII.  Methods  of  marketing  and  requirements  of  purchasers 
as  to  quality,  packages,  &c. 
We  ask.  Can  this  list  be  improved?  It  is  as  nearly 
perfect  as  anything  human  can  be.  Whether  all  these 
recommendations  can  be  carried  into  effect  is  another  story. 
They  cover  such  a  wide  range  of  subject  there  seems  to  be 
something  to  fit  every  case. 
Take  the  first  two  instances.  What  help  a  clever  farmer 
might  give  to  a  less  educated  neighbour  by  suggestions  as 
to  best  place  from  where  to  procure  suitable,  honest  seed. 
These  men  often  spend  their  money  on  what  is  perfectly 
useless,  simply  because  they  become  the  easy  prey  to  the 
first  unscrupulous  dealer  they  meet,  and  in  case  of  failure  he 
has  a  thousand  specious  arguments,  by  which  he  accounts 
for  that  failure ;  anyone  or  anything  is  to  blame  except  the 
rubbish  he  sold. 
In  the  second  case,  the  happy-go-lucky  admixture  of 
manures  is  something  too  extraordinary  to  contemplate. 
Manure  is  manure,  quite  irrespective  of  the  nature  of  the 
soil,  which  it  may  or  may  not  suit.  At  this  ignorance  we 
need  not  be  surprised,  for  the  best  of  us  are  only  just  learning 
the  A  B  C  of  the  art. 
Take,  again.  No.  IX.  It  is  sad  to  say,  but  only  too  true, 
that  no  land  is  more  robbed  than  pasture  land,  and  no  land 
responds  better  to  generous  treatment.  The  small  farmer, 
cow  keeper,  and  the  like  needs  to  get  very  ounce  of  good  out 
of  his  pasture,  for,  as  a  rule,  he  pays  very  dearly  for  it. 
(N.B. — There  are  others  beside  the  small  farmer  who  neglect 
their  grass  land.) 
No.  X.  has  been  partly  approached  by  the  travelling 
dairjunaid,  but  still  in  many  neighbourhoods  we  find  yet 
only  butter  and  milk  as  the  dairy  produce,  nothing  in  the 
way  of  soft  cheeses,  which  need  only  to  be  known  to  be 
appreciated.  Under  No.  XI.,  we  think,  would  come  hints 
as  to  the  better  breeding  of  the  dairy  cow  ;  that  is,  with  a 
view  to  a  greater  milk  capacitv.  We  fancy  that  few  every¬ 
day  cows  average  440gals  per  annum,  and  that  Professor 
Long  says,  is  less  than  it  should  be.  From  our  acquaintance 
with  the  working  man’s  cow,  we  see  there  is  much  room  for 
improvement.  Does  he  ever  consider  the  question  of  the 
necessity  of  using  a  bull  the  product  of  the  best  milker  of  the 
herd  1  A  bull  is  a  bull,  if  he  has  any  sort  of  size  or  quality  ; 
we  might  say  size  without  quality,  often. 
XV.  suggests  another  feature.  What  poor  man  has  any 
chance  of  combatting  an  excessive  railway  rate  1  In  this 
case  he  does  want  a  friend  at  court  just  to  show  what  his 
rights  are  and  what  he  can  fairly  insist  on.  We  feel  acutely 
in  this  neighbourhood  (Doncaster)  on  the  subject  of  transport 
facilities,  and  the  long  promised  light  railway  is  still,  we 
fear,  in  the  far  future. 
No.  XVIII.  People  have  yet  much  to  learn  as  to  grading 
and  sorting.  We  heard  of  Barley,  the  produce  of  a  labourer’s 
two  or  three  acres,  going  off  to-day  to  the  buyer  just  as  it 
came  from  the  machine  tail.  It  does  not  require  the  gift  of 
prophecy  to  predict  that  in  about  two  or  three  days’  time 
that  old  man  will  come  to  us  asking  for  advice,  as  the  corn 
merchant  is  inclined  to  throw  up  the  lot.  Another  old  man 
was  grumbling  sadly  yesterday  because  he  might  not  send 
off  Potatoes  just  touched.  He  could  not,  or  would  not,  see 
that  before  those  Potatoes  got  to  the  consumer  there  would 
be  considerably  more  disease  than  was  desirable.  We  give 
this  scheme  our  hearty  welcome,  and  only  hope  it  may  fall 
into  the  hands  of  good  men  who  will  make  it  go. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
Tlierei  is  nothing  of  an  agreeable  nature  to  chronicle  this 
week,  for  the  rainy  weather  continues,  and  the  whole  country 
is  a  perfect  slough  of  despond.  The  corn  remaining  in  the  fields 
may  be  w'ritten  off  as  lost,  for  neither  grain  nor  straw  can  now 
be  of  any  value  except  as  manure. 
The  work  of  the  past  week  has  been  two  days  Potato  lifting, 
and  the  other  four  wasted.  Even  the  lighter  soils  are  too  wet 
for  drilling  with  Wheat,  even  if  the  weather  were  fit  to  turn 
horses  and  men  out  in.  On  one  day  we  had  a  thunderstorm 
and  rain,  the  weight  of  which  we  have  only  once  seen  equalled. 
A  neighbour  who  sold  a  quantity  of  Potatoes  for  forward 
delivery  is  sorting  them  and  getting  them  away.  Tbey  are 
Up-to-Dates,  and  about  one-third  are  diseased,  and  they  are 
getting  worse  in  the  pie.  As  soon  as  the  Potatoes  are  all  up  ' 
no  doubt  farmers  will  make  a  great  effort  to  put  some  Wheat 
in  on  the  Potato  land.  If  the  land  could  be  sown  unploughed 
the  work  would  proceed  better,  as  the  seed  might  be  sown 
broadcast  and  harrowed  in ;  but  there  are  unfortunately  so 
many  Potatoes  left  in  the  soil  that  a  careful  ploughing  is  a 
necessity.  There  is  one  comfort  ;  Wheat  may  be  sown  very  late 
on  a  Potato  fallow,  so  we  have  another  month  yet.  There'  is  one 
thing  we  must  again  impress  on  our  readers,  viz.,  the  necassity 
of  sowing  dry  seed.  Where  the  land  is  verv  wet  it  is  inadvisable 
to  SOW'  very  bold,  w'ell  filled  Wheat.  Small,  immature,  but  dry 
seed  is  safe  for  sowing  on  sodden  land.  It  would  pay  to  gently 
kiln-dry  seed  Wheat  which  is  in  bad  condition. 
As  may  be  imagined,  sheep  on  Turnips  are  in  a  very  dirty 
state;  but,  as  a  fact,  they  have  been  taken  off  to  the  grass  a 
good  deal  lateljq  as  there  has  been  a  labour  difficulty  about 
etting  the  roots  trimmed  and  cut  for  them,  in  addition  to'  the 
adne.ss  of  the  lair. 
We  have  seen  one  heap  of  Mangolds  stored.  The  owner 
seemed  pleased  at  having  beaten  his  neighbours,  but  we  question 
whether  the  roots  were  ripe  for  putting  away.  It  has  been  too 
wet  for  big  Mangolds,  but  they  may  swell  a  great  deal  in  two  or 
three  weeks  yet,  arid  as  the  crop  is  much  below  the  average  we 
should  certainly  give  them  a  chance  to  do  so.  It  is  easy  to  write 
like  this,  however,  w'hen  w'e  have  too  many  other  irons  in  the 
fire.  Very  few  cattle  have  been  brought  up,  but  a  good  many  fat 
and  half  fat  ones  have  gone  to  market,  for  farmers  want  money 
badly.  The  result  of  full  markets  has  been  a  very  bad  trade, 
and  butchers  are  getting  good  cattle  at  their  own  price. 
WiRRAL  AND  BiRKENHEAD  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETY  (INCORPO¬ 
RATED). — In  consequence  of  complaint  having  been  made  re¬ 
specting  the  charge  for  admission  to  the  horse  ring  enclosure 
during  the  society’s  show,  the  council  has  now  decided  that 
visitors  tO'  the  next  show',  which  wall  take  place  on  June  14,  15, 
and  16,  1904,  will  be  admitted  to  a  portion  of  the  ring  enclosure 
free  of  charge. 
