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SYSTEMATIC 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
BY MR. R. SCOTT BURN. 
 
 OITTLINES OF MODERN FAEMINa. Comprismg 
 Soils, Manures, and Crops— Farming and Farming Economy — 
 Cattle, Sheep, and Horses— Uanagement of the Dairy, Pigs, and 
 Poultry— Utilisation of Town Sewage, Irrigation, &c. 6thEdition, 
 in One Vol., 1,250 pages, profusely Illustrated. Price 128., 
 strongly half -bound. 
 
 *,* Sold also in separate volumes, as follows: — 
 
 SOILS, MANUEES, and CROPS, 2s. 
 FAEMINa and FARMIN8 ECONOMY, 3s. 
 STOCK, CATTLE, SHEEP, &0., 28. 6d. 
 DAIRY. PIGS, and POULTRY, 2a. 
 UTILISATION OF SEWAQE, IRRIGATION, AND 
 RECLAMATION OF LAND, 2b. 6d. 
 
 OUTLINES OP LANDED ESTATES AND FARM 
 MANAGEMENT. Comprising the General Work of the Farm- 
 Field and Live Stock— Contract Work— Labour, &o— Varieties of 
 Lands— Methods of Farming — ^Farm Buildings — Iirigation, Drain- 
 age, &c., &c. In One Vol., 541 pages, Illustrated, Price 6b., 
 strongly half-bound. 
 
 *«* Sold also in separate volumes, asfolUnat: — 
 
 OUTLINES OP FARM MANAGEMENT, 2s. ed. 
 OUTLINES OF LANDED ESTATES MANAGEMENT, 
 2s. 6d. 
 
 CROSBY LOCKWOOD AND CO., 
 7, STATIONERS' HALL COURT, LONDON, B.C. 
 
Vakieties op "Wheat — Thiiee-poukths actuai, size. 
 (Seep. 167.) 
 
SYSTEMATIC 
 
 SMALL FARMING 
 
 OR 
 
 THE LESSONS OF MY FARM 
 
 BEINO AN INTRODUCTION TO 
 
 Utijkm J'arm fradir^ tax SmElI <farmOT 
 
 IN THE 
 
 CTJLTTJEE OP CROPS; THE FEEDINa OF CATTLE j THE MANAGE- 
 MENT OF THE DAIBY, POULTRY, AND PIGS ; THE KEEPING 
 OF FARM -WORK RECORDS; THE ENSILAGE SYSTEM, 
 CONSTRtrCTION OF SILOS AND OTHER FARM 
 BTHLDINGS; THE IMPROVEMENT OF 
 NEGLECTED FARMS, ETC. 
 
 EGBERT SCOTT BURN 
 
 AUTHOR OF " OUTLINES OP LANDED KSTATBS MANA&EMBNT," AND " OUTLINES OF FABH 
 UANAOBUENT," AND EDITOR OF " THE COMFLBTE GRAZIEB." 
 
 aSith ttumetoas illnstrationa 
 
 LONDON 
 CROSBY LOCKWOOD AND CO. 
 
 7, STATIONERS' HAIi COURT, LUDGATE HILL 
 1886 
 
LONDO:* : 
 
 PBIHTBD BY J. 8- TIBTUB AND CO., LIMITKD, 
 CITT ROAD. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The basis of the present volume is a former one, whidi 
 appeared some years ago under the title of "The 
 Lessons of My Farm." That work was designed to 
 convey to persons interested especially in the subject 
 of smaU. — or as they were frequently termed, amateur 
 farms — a general, yet a sufficiently practical notion of 
 what the work of such farms was. 
 
 This was all the more likely to be, if not more 
 interesting, certainly more suggestively useful, from 
 the fact that the volume was mainly the record of 
 work done, and experience gained by the practical 
 conduct of a small farm, on which the Author spent, if 
 not the most useful, assuredly one of the most pleasant 
 periods of a life which has had many pleasant periods 
 to record and to be grateful for. It was, indeed, the 
 pleasure which the Author derived from the care and 
 cultivation of his " little farm " which led him to 
 embody what he had learned on it in a volume which 
 might induce some to take up what is certainly a healthy 
 hobby, and might also be of some service to them in 
 the realisation of all its pleasures. 
 
 At the same time it is only right to state that the 
 volume had a more directly practical aim, namely, the 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 giving of as much and as varied information as pos- 
 sible on the science and the practice of farming gene-- 
 rally. And this the Author was enabled to do, 
 inasmuch as he did not go to his little farm altogether 
 ignorant of what farming, in its twofold aspect of a 
 science and an art, was. One of the departments of his 
 professional practice gave him many opportunities of 
 knowing much about land, how it is laid out, and how 
 cultivated, and conferred upon him the acquaintance, 
 and in more cases than one the friendship, of assuredly 
 the most eminent of the then living authorities on the 
 science and practice of agriculture. 
 
 " The Lessons of My Farm " possessed a wider scope, 
 and aimed at a more general and practical utility than 
 that which would have been its characteristic had it 
 been a book for popular reading on a popular subject 
 only. And it has been one of the gratifications of the 
 Author's life to know that the volume was found useful 
 by and suggestive to those who were actually engaged 
 in the business of agriculture — those who farmed to live 
 and lived to farm. 
 
 A new edition of the work having been called for, 
 it was deemed desirable to utilise the opportunity by 
 enlarging considerably its scope and scheme, so that 
 these should embrace a more directly practical series 
 of remarks, useful to a much wider class. 
 
 "While this has been done by the addition of new 
 sections and a greater number of illustrations, it is only 
 right to state that nearly the whole of the matter has 
 been retained which originally appeared in the earlier 
 work, much of which, as has been already said, was of 
 
PEEFACE. IX 
 
 a popular nature, calculated to interest many who were 
 not actually engaged in thes business, but who loved to 
 read about the work and might be looking forward 
 to the time when they might share in the pleasure of 
 amateur farming. 
 
 As befits its new title and wider scope, the volume has 
 some chapters devoted to the consideration of the gene- 
 ral subject of small farms. This discussion has been 
 undertaken, not merely because the question has for 
 some time been engrossing the attention of a large part 
 of the public, or because the Author has resolved to do 
 to the best of his ability what he has endeavoured to 
 perform, namely, putting the real facts of the question 
 before the reader, and helping him to come to a common- 
 sense and therefore safe conclusion as to its important 
 issues from a national point of view ; but because its 
 ;points bear in a most direct and most practical way 
 on the work of small farms, showing the character 
 of that work, and what it demands on the part of those 
 who desire to push it on to a successful issue. 
 , To aid him in putting before the reader the chief 
 facts connected with the subject of Small Farming, the 
 Author has taken the benefit of frequent and of some- 
 what long continued practical observation of and con- 
 nection with the work of small farms, not only in this 
 country, but on the Continent, and also, though to a 
 more limited extent, in the United States of America. 
 
 While all the sections of the original work have been 
 revised, altered, or added to, so as to bring them up to 
 the latest date, wholly new sections have been given. 
 Of these, perhaps, the most important needs only to 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 be named here, namely, that which deals with the 
 subject of Ensilage. This is treated of from a directly 
 practical point of view. Practicalness may indeed be 
 said to be the feature of the work which, if it has not 
 been attained as the Author would wish, has certainly 
 been closely aimed at. 
 
 The Author will be abundantly repaid for what little 
 trouble has been thrown upon him if the reader should 
 be able to derive as much practical profit as he himself 
 has derived pleasure in the preparation of the follow- 
 ing pages. None the less will be his pleasure if he 
 should hereafter learn that something in these pages 
 has induced some of those possessed of ample time and 
 abundant means to try to find out what are the healthy 
 and, in more ways than one, delightful pleasures of 
 Small or Amateur Farming. 
 
 Oak Lea, near Stockport, Cheshire, 
 November 26th, 1885. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 rAOB 
 INTEOBITCTOEY 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 BEIEF OI.iN0E AT THE PECT7LL4.E 0HABA0TEEIBTIC3 OE MODEEN FABM- 
 INO. — THE CIECTTMSTANCES 'WHICH LED TO THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 OP SCIENTIFIC AGEIOTJLTUBE. — ITS INFLUENCE ON, AND THE 
 EAPID PEOGKESS IT CEEATED IN, THE AET OF FAEMINO . . 8 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ON VAEIOUS POINTS CONNECTED WITH SHALL FAEMS. — THE CHAEACTEE 
 OF THE LABOUB THEIK CULTIVATION DEMANDS. — THE PE03PECTS 
 THEY AFFOED OF YIELDINO A PAIE KETUEN FOE THE CAPITAL 
 THEY EEQUIEE FOE WOEKIHa THEM WELL, OE OF GIVINa A 
 COMFOETABLE LIVELIHOOD FOE THE LAEOUE THEY DEMAND . 13 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE CONTINENTAL SMALL FAEM SYSTEM. — LESSONS TO BE LEAENED 
 FEOM IT IN CONNECTION WITH SMALL FAEMING AS CAEEIED ON IN 
 THIS COUNTEY. — THE PLANS MOST LIKELY TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN 
 SMALL FAKMINO WITH US . . . .19 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE CHAEACTEE OP THE LABOUB TO BE DONE, AND THE HABITS OF 
 
 THE FAEMEK EEQUISITE TO MAKE SMALL FAEMING SUCCESSFUL . 24 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SOME CONSIDERATIONS CONNECTED WITH POINTS OTHEE THAN THOSE 
 ALEEADY NAMED, AS AI'FECTING THE WOEK OF THE SMALL 
 FABMEB AND HIS SUCCESS IN IT. — THE DISPOSAL OE SELLING OF 
 HIS FABM PEODUCE. — MAEKEIS . . 31 
 
Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PAGK 
 
 SOME SPECIAL CIRCTJMSTANOES CONITEOTED WITH THE ACTUAI 'WOBK 
 OP SMAIi FAEMS, AUD WHAT II DEMANDS ON THE PAET OF 
 THOSE BNaAOEE IN MAKINQ A LITINe BY IT . . . .39 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE PEOSPEOTS OE SMALL FABMINQ AS A SUCCESSFUL CALLINQ FOE 
 CERTAIN CLASSES OF WOEKEES. — PEAOTICAL POINTS CONNECTED 
 WITH THE WOEK OP SMALL FABMS. — CHANGES IN FARM WOEK 
 DEMANDED BY CHANGE OF FARM 0IECUMSTAN0E3 . .51 
 
 CHAPTER IX. ' 
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF SMALL FARMING ON THE PEOOEESSIVE IMPROVE- 
 MENT OF AGEICDLTUEE. — ^LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FROM THE 
 FINE CULTIVATION OF THE SMALL FARMS OF FLANDEES, IN BEL- 
 GIUM. — PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. — MANURING. — ROTATION AND 
 CONTINUAL SUCCESSION OF CROPS. — ^WEEDING AND CLEARING OP 
 THE LAND AND THE OEOPS.^THE RAISING OP A NEW VARIETY OP 
 FEEDING OEOPS FQE DAIEY COWS 61 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SMALL FARMING IN ENGLAND. — ITS GENEEAL FEATURES AND THEIE 
 
 INFLUENCE ON THE PEOGEESS OF AGEICULTUEE . . . .75 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE TAKING OF THE AMATEUR SMALL FARM. — ^AGREEMENT. — BIGHT 
 OE LIBERTY TO CEOP. — DIVEBSITY IN THE STYLE OF CEOPPING, 
 ETC., A FEATUEE OF THE AMATEUR FARM. — EXPERIMENTAL 
 FARMING. — IMPROVEMENT OF THE AMATEUR FAEM WHICH TTAH 
 BEEN NEGLECTED. — FENCES. — GATES. — ROADS. — FOOTPATHS. — 
 CLEARING LAND FROM WEEDS. — IMPLEMENTS . — BUILDINGS . 102 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 , ABOUT SUNDRY MATTERS OF THE SMALL FAEM. — SOIL. — ROTATION OF 
 
 CROPS, ETC., ETC. . .... 142 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CULTURE OF GRAIN CEOPS. — WHEAT. — OATS. — BARLEY. — EYE. — HAE- 
 
 VESTING . 157 
 
CONTENTS. XIU 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 PAGB 
 BOOT OE GEEEN OKOPS . . 185 
 
 CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 HAYWAKTKQ. — ^MANAGEMENT OF MEADOW LAND . . . 203 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 210 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 PEINOIPLES or CATTLE FEEDING 215 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 ENSILAGE — ITS CHABAOTEBISTIO FEATUHES, AND GENEBAIi STATE- 
 MENT AS TO ITS PEACnCAIi USES IN THE PEESEEVATION OF 
 GEEEN-CUT FAEM CEOPS*TO BE USED FOE THE FEEDING OF 
 LIVE STOCK AS A SUBSTITUTE FOE HAT AND OTHEE FEEDING 
 PEODUOE .... ... 232 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE ENSILAGE SYSTEM OF PEESEETING GEEEN-OUT FAEM OEOPS AS 
 FOOD FOE LITE STOCK {continued). — THE "SILO" IN ITS TWO 
 FOEMS, THE PIT OE UNDEEQEOUND, AND THE ABOTE-GEOUND 
 SYSTEMS . 239 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 PEACnCAL NOTES ON THE OONSTEUCTION OF THE SILO. — POETLAND 
 CEMENT OONCEETE CONSTEUOTION AS APPLICABLE TO A WIDE 
 TAEIETY OF FAEM STEUCTUEES OTHEE THAN THE SILO, SUCH AS 
 MANUEE PITS, TANKS, STABLES, SHEDS, PIGOEEIES, AND THE 
 LIKE ... . . . . 248 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE PILLING-IN OE PACKING OP THE SILO WITH THE GEEEN-OUT 
 
 PEODUOE ... . . . 269 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE "load," OE PEEMANENT PEESSUEE TO BE lUT ON THE 
 
 FILLED, OE PACKED SILO . . . . . . 274 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 PAGK 
 CAEE AND FATTENINQ OF STOCK . . . • 288 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 TBEATMEXT OP CALVES AND TOTTNG CATTLE.— VABIETIES AND CHARAC- 
 
 TEBISTICS OP FATTENING CATTLE .... 300 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 DAIBY MANAQEJIENT. — CHOICE OP COWS. — THE FEEDINfl OF COWS. 
 
 CATTLE-SOIMNO . 313 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 BUTTEE-MAKIXa AND SELLING . 328 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 CHEESE AND CHEESE-MAKINO 333 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 CHOPS TO BE CtTLTIVATED BDITABLE FOE DAIET-CATTLE FEEDINO. — 
 
 THE SOILING-IN HOUSE-FEEDING SYSTEM 340 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 UACHINES FOE PEEPAEINQ CATTLE-FOOD. — DAIET I!|[PLE1IENT3 AND 
 
 UTENSILS . 345 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE POULTET OF THE SMALL PAEM 349 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 THE PIG ON THE SMALL FAEM 358 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 BECOESS OF THE WOEK OF A SMALL FAEM 361 
 
 CHAPTER XXXni. 
 
 MONTHLY MEMOEANDA OF FIELD WOEK 371 
 
SYSTEMATIC 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTEODUCTORY. 
 
 Universal, almost, is the desire to know something 
 about farming, and delightful dreams of some future 
 and happy day when they may tread the flowers of 
 their own fields, come pleasantly alike to the rich 
 citizens in "populous city pent," and the well-to-do 
 artisans who spend their days "amid the tainted air 
 and chaos of eternal smoke." 
 
 We are essentially a country-loving people. In the 
 prince, as well as in the peasant, the love of green fields 
 and smiling skies is strongly developed ; and it is the 
 ambition of nearly all to have, at some period of their 
 lives, if not the fortune to possess, at least the pleasure 
 to take and farm, land. 
 
 Farms fitted for the occupation of amateur agricul- 
 turists are necessarily but limited in extent ; indeed, in 
 these days, when gigantic " holdings " have swallowed 
 up the little ones, as Aaron's rod swallowed up the 
 rods of the Egyptian sorcerers, they are scarcely entitled 
 to be called farms at all. They are at best but places 
 fitted for carrying out experiments, afibrding exercise^ 
 ground for showing ofli' the paces of a favourite hobby, 
 or for deriving pleasure or health therefrom ; not at all 
 capable of yielding a living, where the work has to be 
 done — as ours has — by men who consume in the shape 
 of wages no small portion of the proceeds of their daily 
 
4i SMALL FARMING. 
 
 toil. Such little farms nevertheless afford to the amateur 
 a never-ending series of delights, and much practically- 
 useful information. The fields, as he rambles through 
 them, may not only minister to his health, but may 
 teach him lessons in connection with the most interest- 
 ing of arts worth remembering ; and worth paying for, 
 too, even if he does so in the shape of a high rent, or of 
 experiments which are made only to be registered in 
 the Kst of "farm failures." There is, moreover, a 
 positive pleasure, worth paying even somewhat dearly 
 for, in raising one's own produce. As one cracks, at 
 the breakfast- table, the eggs laid by the hens of the 
 farm, spreads the bread with the butter, or enriches the 
 coffee with the cream, obtained from the milk of the 
 cow, one is very apt to think that it is somewhat better 
 than eating stale eggs at high prices, or using butter 
 or milk not always good, and always dear. 
 
 Of course all this pleasure is to be paid for, and, as we 
 have already hinted, paid for at a somewhat high rate. 
 For we are much of the opinion, that while pleasures of 
 no ordinary kind are derivable from the possession of a 
 " play-farm," profits of the highly satisfactory golden- 
 coloured kind, so much written about lately, are not 
 quite so easily extracted from them. The fields of the 
 amateur's farm are somehow or other more remarkable 
 for their absorptive than their productive qualities. If 
 amateur farming, then, has its delights, it is but right 
 to say, at the outset, that it frequently has its losses 
 also. And on this point, the reader making up his 
 mind to "play at farming," as some one has kindly 
 designated the efforts of amateurs, must also make up 
 his mind to stand no small amount of sly innuendoes, if 
 not more open jeers; for it is surprising the delight 
 which non- amateurs take in giving one sly pokes on 
 this tender point. In short, if amateur farming is 
 taken up only with the view of making money by it, 
 it had better be let alone. For as the work of the 
 amateur farm must be done in nine cases out of ten by 
 hired labour, little profit will result. Let it then satisfy 
 the amateur farmer if he makes ends meet ; and do not 
 
TWO WAYS OF PROCEEDING IN SMALL FAllMING. d 
 
 €ven let him grumble if he pays some ten or twenty 
 pounds a-year more for his farm than he would do 
 otherwise for a house alone. The truth is, that the 
 health derivable, and the pleasures, also, from the fields 
 of a pet farm are worth a good deal. Men mil spend 
 money some way, and I know none more productive of 
 Teal satisfaction — moral as well as physical — ^than farm- 
 ing a " wee bit of land." Putting all things together, 
 amateur farming does pay, though not always in the 
 pecuniary sense. 
 
 There are, of course, two ways of proceeding even in 
 amateur farming, the right and the wrong one ; and 
 if the right way is followed, the natural result is, that 
 the losses too often met with are reduced ; a satisfac- 
 tory result, to say the least of it. But how to know 
 the right way is the difficulty with many of those who 
 contemplate amateur farming more for the sake of the 
 health and the pleasure than the profit it brings them. 
 They may be ignorant, to a great extent, of the prac- 
 tice of farming, and are therefore naturally anxious to 
 know, not only what to do, but how to do it. Further, 
 ignorant also, as they possibly are, of the science 
 of agriculture, they may be desirous to know some- 
 what of the principles on which its correct practice is 
 founded. 
 
 To act as a guide in all or most of these directions 
 is the object of this little volume. While much 
 of it is taken up by detailing the mode of work- 
 ing we have adopted on our own little " play -farm," it 
 has been our desire to aid the reader in his practice by 
 explaining, as fully as its limits will allow, the prin- 
 ciples and practice generally of modern agriculture; 
 and further to detail the various experiments, the 
 results of which are now interesting that portion of the 
 practical agricultural world who live to farm and farm 
 to live. Presenting thus a variety of directions in 
 which he may proceed, and of objects with which he 
 may interest himself, it will be for the amateur reader 
 to choose for himself which of these directions he will 
 follow, and with which of the objects he will interest 
 
4 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 himself. Our object will be attained if we be fortunate 
 enough to show the reader how, by a variety of simple 
 expedients, he may add to the interest and pleasure of 
 his farm, and, in some measure, to its economical 
 working. 
 
 Such, and so far only, was the aim of this work when 
 it appeared in its first edition. Then it was a work 
 addressing itself to the amateur farmer ; but while 
 it is still this much, it is now, in its present form, 
 more. For on a due consideration of all the circum- 
 stances in which farming now is, and of others which 
 we may fairly conjecture will in the future come to 
 be, important factors in the problem how to make the 
 best of farming land, it has been deemed right that 
 some portion of the work should be addressed specially 
 to those who, cultivating or likely to cultivate areas 
 of but limited extent as a means of livelihood, are 
 known as small farmers. At the same time it is 
 but proper to state that much of the matter which 
 was designed especially for amateur farmers is still 
 applicable to this class of small farmers ; while the 
 opposite is equally true, that what is now given of a 
 more directly practical and more fully detailed cha- 
 racter for the benefit of the small farmer who farms 
 for the purpose of gaining a livelihood, will be found 
 equally suitable to the amateur who farms only for 
 the pleasure of the thing or for the improvement of 
 his health. 
 
 But that many of the class of those who take up 
 small farming as a business, with a view to gain the 
 maximum of profit with the minimum of labour and 
 cash outlay, find in that which attracts them to it a 
 large element in the love of a rural life, there is not the 
 smallest doubt. This may not be the popular view of 
 the matter, nor do we say that the feeling is held by 
 small farmers as a rule ; but, from experience of the 
 subject, we can aver that not a few in whose outer life 
 there seems to be but little expression of the higher 
 and more cultivated ends, find as much pleasure in the 
 work and have as keen a zest for all its labours, as 
 
PLEASUKES OF SMALL FARMING. 
 
 many an amateur, who devotes no little of his time and 
 much of his money to what is called the "love of the 
 thing." And assuredly, in the case of the small 
 farmer who works to live, it may be said that if he 
 has this " love " of rural work, he will have all the 
 better chance of making a good living out of it. For 
 this wonderfully lightens labour, and tends greatly to 
 make what in others would be the meanest drudgery 
 a labour of love. And beyond all doubt rural life is 
 capable of yielding a very large amount of intellectual 
 pleasure, and has charms amidst all its prosaic pursuits 
 which, if rightly looked at and availed of, go greatly 
 to make those pursuits more easily followed and their 
 necessary burdens lighter to bear. 
 
 Of the ever new and ever changing pleasures of a 
 country life, we know of none indeed so delightful as 
 rambling through your own fields — tiny as they may 
 be thought by the big farmer of the day — watching 
 the progress of the crops which they bear, or sharing 
 in the labour by which these are made to be productive. 
 Even in dreary winter-time the pleasure is not small, 
 for as you stride sharply over the clods which the 
 frost has bound into hardened lumps, and which, under 
 the balmy breezes of spring will crumble into the fine 
 tilth, delighting the farmer's ey^e ; or, as you walk 
 through the grass, or skirt the hedgerows, every blade 
 and branch of which is silver frosted with the most deli- 
 cate of tracery, you feel it to have been worth while to 
 have left the cozy comfort of your fireside for the plea- 
 sure the walk has given you. But it is in the pleasant 
 spring-time that your heart is gladdened and your eye 
 delighted with the thousand sights and sounds around 
 you ; when, with the springing plant, the humming of 
 countless insects, or the music of the flitting bird, you 
 feel the gladness of a new life, and, if your mind is 
 healthy, that gratitude, too, to Him who has made the 
 world such a place of beauty, and who has given you 
 health to enjoy the pure pleasures with which He, let 
 some say what they will to the contrary, has filled its 
 paths. The very air you breathe rejoices you, and 
 
D SMA7.I, FARMING. 
 
 there is a softness in it, the nature of whieli, if asked, 
 you could not explain, but which you know to belong- 
 specially to pleasant and cheery spring-time, which 
 summer, with all her gorgeous beauties, can lay no 
 claim to, and autumn cannot boast of. 
 
 But the pleasures of your field rambles will be 
 enhanced a thousand- fold if you take an interest in the 
 progress of the plants which they bear. We know, 
 indeed, no feeling so peculiarly pleasant as that arising 
 from a close watching of the growth of plants, the 
 seeds of which you have laid in or scattered over the 
 soil with your own hands, or seen done by others. 
 When you place them in the bosom of old mother 
 earth, you wonder the while as to the results of your 
 labours, and look forward through a long vista of sunny 
 and showery days to the harvest-time, when these 
 labours will be repaid. After a while you return and 
 see here and there a green bud bursting through, till 
 by and by lines of green variegate the brown surface of 
 the soil. Day after day you visit the plots, detecting- 
 the effect of untimely frosts and biting blasts, rejoicing 
 in every evidence of healthy and vigorous life, till at 
 last you begin to build up an affection for the object of 
 your labour and care, the nature and the depth of 
 which you would scarcely like to own to any one, but 
 of which, nevertheless, if you are a true man, you must 
 not in any way or anywhere be ashamed. Watching 
 their progress thus, from the first tender shoot which 
 you see bursting through the clod, to their development 
 in the golden grain or the juicy root, you can share 
 somewhat in the enthusiasm which prompted one of 
 the brightest ornaments of agricultural science to say 
 to us one well-remembered day, while descanting on 
 the pleasures of farming, "Agriculture is the noblest of 
 all pursuits ; the farmer, sir, is a creator." 
 
 Nothing is so generous as the soil; nothing repays 
 with such liberal profusion the labour you bestow upon 
 it. You give her of scanty measure, and she flings 
 back to you from her swelling bosom a thousand-fold, 
 till your barns burst with plenty. We could go on 
 
PLEASURES OF SMALL FARMING 7 
 
 long enough dilating upon the pleasures of a country- 
 life till we could communicate to those of our readers 
 who have none, some of the enthusiasm which we are 
 free to confess we feel for a pursuit the oldest and most 
 honourable of all, and of which the pleasures never 
 pall. But we fear that some will deem this an in- 
 trusion upon the space which should be devoted to more 
 practical, if not prosaic, details connected with the 
 doings on our farm, and to the consideration of which 
 we now proceed. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 BEIEI' GLANCE AT THE PECTTLIAE CHAEACTEEISTICS OP MODEEN FAEM- 
 IKa. — THE CIECnMSTANOES WHICH LED TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF 
 SCIENIIFia AGEICULTUEE. — ^ITS INFLUENCE ON, AND THE EAPID 
 PBOOEESS IT CEEATED IN, THE AET OP FAEMINa. 
 
 The more thoroughly the details of the agricultural 
 progress made during the last half-century are ex- 
 amined and understood, the more completely wiU 
 one striking feature be observed — namely, the extent, 
 as well as the diversity, of the operations of modem, 
 or what maybe called scientific, farming. This feature 
 is all the more marked to one who is acquainted with 
 the details of farming as'^it was practised, say, fifty years 
 ago, by the body of farmers as a class ; and is still, we 
 regret to say, carried on by farmers in some districts, 
 who have not allowed themselves to be influenced 
 by the many causes which have made modern farming 
 in its best aspects the comparatively perfect art it now 
 is in the hands of so many, probably the ma,iority, of 
 farmers who are now engaged in it. The old style of 
 farming universally practised some half-century ago — 
 taking ^that as the starting period of a new line of 
 departure, although we might in some few instances 
 put it farther back, as in many more we might bring 
 it more forward — was distinguished by the extreme 
 simplicity of its operations, and by the small number 
 of the helps and appliances which could be brought to 
 aid them. Ploughing, harrowing, and rolling — and 
 of these three the last could not be, nor was, always in 
 use — indeed constituted the three operations of farm- 
 ing, 80 far as the cultivation of crops was concerned. 
 The implements by which these operations were carried 
 
" PRACTICE WITH SCIENCE." 9 
 
 out were comprised in the plough, the harrow, and 
 the roller, and those as rude and rough in design 
 and construction as they were few in number. Of 
 machines, properly so called, the tumip-slicer and the 
 threshing-machine were the only representatives, the 
 latter having place only in the best farms, conducted 
 by men of some capital, its place being taken in the 
 great majority of farms by the flail. Of agricultural 
 science, as the term is now widely Tinderstood and its 
 lessons so extensively adopted, there was then literally 
 none. No doubt it had a place, after a feeble fashion, in 
 books and occasional papers, which found their way 
 into the transactions of the few agricultural societies, 
 and the still fewer journals devoted to or interested in 
 farming, then existing. But that imion, now so strong 
 and so widely represented in all districts of the kingdom, 
 which is so prominent in the motto of the Royal Agri- 
 cultural Society of England, "Practice with Science," 
 did not practically exist. The science of manuring, 
 such as it was shadowed forth — this expression is the 
 only one applicable iere — in a few bool^ and papers, 
 had no place amongst the helps which the farmer 
 could look to. Farmyard dung, or "muck, " as it was 
 not very nicely named by many, was the only manure 
 then used, auxiliary or artificial manures being prac- 
 tically unknown. And this farmyard manure was 
 used in a thoroughly rough and speculative way, little 
 or no attention being paid to making the most of it, 
 either by its treatment before it was added to the soil, 
 or by the methods by which it was applied to it. So 
 far as cattle and sheep were concerned, while farmers 
 such as Bakwell, Colling, and Booth, more by ob- 
 servation than by a knowledge of physiology, estab- 
 lished most valuable "breeds," the science of cattle 
 foods and of feeding had literally no existence. The 
 only foods known, at least used practically, were grass 
 and turnips, straw and hay, and what constituted their 
 true feeding value was not even guessed at ; and what 
 is now used so extensively as artificial foods, or, more 
 generalljr, " cattle foods," were practically unknown. 
 
10 
 
 SMALL I'AliMING. 
 
 But all this is now completely changed since the 
 introduction of the new era in agricultural history. 
 When practice hecame combined with science, in every 
 department the beneiits of this happy union were 
 shown; a more accurate knowledge of soils was 
 obtained, and the relation which these bore to the 
 crops, and both of these to the manures employed, 
 much more definitely ascertained. This gave a power to 
 the farmer of which his predecessors had never dreamed, 
 and its influence was made clearly evident not merely 
 by the higher results obtained in practice, but by the 
 more definite assurance the farmer had that by certain 
 methods of treatment his land and its crops would 
 yield with greater or less precision certain results. 
 And those methods almost necessitated a wider range, 
 and a higher state in the working efficiency of the 
 mechanical appliances by which he could prepare his 
 soil and clear and weed the crops than the old method 
 of working had required. The implements and machines 
 of the farm were thus multiplied to a great extent, and 
 gave rise to a trade known as that of agricultural im- 
 plement making, which demanded establishments or fac- 
 tories so large, and employed "hands " so numerous, that 
 the business soon assumed an importance second almost 
 to none. The same activity of scientific research and 
 discovery and of business enterprise characterized the 
 other departments of farming. In manures the chemist, 
 by his work in the laboratory and his experiments in 
 the field, gave to the farmers a very much wider range 
 of fertilising substances for his crops than had been 
 anticipated by even the most sanguine of scientists. 
 And the supply of these in weight and bulk sufficient 
 to meet the requirements of farmers, who soon became 
 alive to their value as helping them, with an approach 
 to definite certainty of results, to increase the quality as 
 well as the quantity of their crop produce, gave rise to 
 an enormous trade in the making of artificial manures. 
 And with their rapid improvement in the treatment 
 of soils, crops, and manures came a progress no less 
 remarkable in connection with the animals of the farm. 
 
CHANGES IN FAKM PRACl'ICE. 11 
 
 Almost, if not quite, coincident with the researches 
 and discoveries of men of science in connection with 
 those three departments, came those connected with the 
 science of cattle feeding, thus involving, of course, re- 
 searches into the nature of different kinds of food. And 
 as in the department of manures the one kind or class 
 of natural manure which alone the farmer had once at 
 his command was supplemented by numbers of artificial 
 manures, so in the work of feeding his cattle the 
 limited range of foods he had in the old practice was at 
 last increased to a very wide one by the introduction 
 and manufacture on the largest commercial scale of 
 artificial foods. 
 
 We do not say that the change from the old style of 
 farming, which we have seen to have been of the most 
 limited character in resources and the range and pro- 
 duce of its work, to the new system with its enor- 
 mously increased range of resources and knowledge, 
 was universal. Neither was it immediately brought 
 about. Yet, as compared with the advance in the prac- 
 tice of other industrial callings, dependent on the in- 
 fluence of a higher range of knowledge, that of farming 
 is well entitled to boast of having shown a remarkable 
 readiness to avail itself of the recent discoveries of 
 science as applicable to its practice. It may, indeed, 
 weH be doubted whether any branch of our national 
 industrial work made strides so rapid and so wide as 
 did farming. One thing was, however, soon made clear 
 by this new era of agricultural history. And this was 
 that henceforth, if the improvements ia the practice of 
 farming were to be continued, and if possible iacreased 
 in number and in value, not merely capital would be 
 required, but intelligence in applying all the helps 
 science afforded, and all those higher business and 
 personal qualifications which are demanded, wherever a 
 calling is one which requires knowledge or ability to de- 
 sign or arrange, as well as skill to execute. The old-style 
 farmer might do his best with what helps he could 
 obtain from his rule-of-thumb practice and the limited 
 range of his materials ; but that at best would give but 
 
12 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 a poor return, when the extent and the quality of his 
 soil were considered, in relation to a higher and more 
 advanced system of working. But, as we have said, the 
 higher and more advanced, or, in other words, the new 
 style of farming, in which the advancement of science 
 was availed of in practice, demanded not merely capital, 
 but an altogether different, because infinitely higher, 
 range &f business and personal qualifications than would 
 satisfy the requirements of farming on the old " rule- 
 of-thumb system." 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 ON TAKIOUS POINTS CONNECTED 'WITH SMALL PAEMg. — THE CHAEACTEE 
 OF THE LABOTTE THEIE CULTIVATION DEMANDS. — THE PEOSPEOTS 
 THEY AFFORD OF YIELDING A FAIE EETUEN FOB THE CAPITAL THEY 
 EEQUIEE FOE WOEEINS THEM WELL, OE OF OrVINO A COMFOETABLE 
 LIVELIHOOD FOE THE LABOUE THEY DEMAND. 
 
 A FAIRLY exhaustive, certainly a practical, consideration 
 of the leading points mentioned in the title of the 
 present chapter is clearly demanded of us. And this, 
 not merely because the scope of our work is very mate- 
 rially altered and its scheme enlarged by taking in a 
 wider class of readers — those who farm to live and live 
 to farm — but because the whole question has now 
 advanced to such a position in public estimation, and is 
 now advocated by many upon grounds which demand 
 in public interests the gravest of consideration and 
 the most honest investigation. For beyond all doubt 
 the points involved in the position which some take 
 up in the matter, possess the most vital interest from a 
 social point of view. The question of the wide — and as 
 some advocate the widest possible — extension of a system 
 of small farming or peasant husbandry, has more than 
 once in our national history been widely, and we may 
 say very wildly, discussed. But such extreme agita- 
 tions have died out without making much impres- 
 sion on the public mind. Of late, and it would be more 
 correct to say very recently, the subject has been again 
 revived, and its points discussed by those who, having 
 more influence than those concerned in the old contro- 
 versies, are likely to impart their views to the public 
 in a more telling way than has yet been done. In view 
 of this, as well as in the interests of such of our readers 
 
14 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 as may either he disposed to advance, and possibly to 
 materially assist, those engaged in small farming or 
 peasant husbandry, or who themselves belong to the 
 class of working men, from whose ranks small farmers 
 are likely to be recruited, we deem it absolutely essen- 
 tial to inquire, as fully as may be, what really are the 
 characteristics of small farm work, and what the pros- 
 pects of those who take to it as a means of gaining a 
 ■comfortable livelihood, and one which does not demand 
 more than the usual extent of hard work. 
 
 In looking back at a period of a few years ago, it 
 "wiU be seen that, so far as the general public was 
 ■concerned, the question of small farms occupied but 
 :a small part of their interest. It was, indeed, a topic 
 which was but seldom heard, still less frequently dis- 
 cussed, in any way approaching to that in which a 
 question is considered to which the term " popular " is 
 attached. If heard of at all it was only in very limited 
 circles, and as one which took the position of the per- 
 sonal whim or hobby of some rich merchant or man 
 of business, who to his residence in the country took 
 the fancy to add the expenses, in the hope of obtaining 
 ■some of the pleasures, of " keeping a little farm." But 
 •as a question which had a pretension to be possessed of 
 national interest, that of small farms had positively no 
 position. 
 
 Matters, however, as we have just alluded to, have 
 assumed in relation to it a totally different aspect of 
 late. For some few years back the public mind has been 
 agitated, whether healthily and usefully or otherwise 
 it is not within our present purpose to say, by a series of 
 discussions so intimately connected with the "land 
 question," that that of small farms has taken a posi- 
 tion which has compelled, so to say, the public to direct 
 their attention to it. So marked, indeed, was the influ- 
 ence of this public discussion, and such the position or 
 character of the legislative enactments which formed 
 its basis, that in place of the small-farms question 
 being a subordinate or incidental feature of the general 
 subject, it became, on the contrary, the leading cha- 
 
THE SMALL FAKM QUESTION. 
 
 15 
 
 racteristic of the discussion to which that subject had 
 given rise. 
 
 It thus came about that for a long series of months 
 the public mind, through the media of press and 
 platform utterances, was super-saturated, so to express 
 it, with matter on the subject of small farms or peasant 
 husbandry. And as seems to be the inevitable con- 
 comitant when any subject, no matter what, takes a 
 hold on the public mind, the information given and the 
 counsel offered are distinguished at times much more by 
 their affluence and energy than by the accuracy of the 
 evidence on which that information should have been 
 based, and the common-sense, business-like prudence 
 with which that counsel should have been offered to the 
 public. And so it was that in this discussion, as in all 
 other pubUc discussions distinguished by the like cha- 
 racteristic of public earnestness, it could with perfect 
 accuracy have been said, that more good would have 
 resulted had less been uttered. And this from the fact, 
 which seems to be an inevitable concomitant of all 
 public questions widely discussed, that many took part 
 in it with an almost, in some cases a perfectly, absolute 
 ignorance of the true conditions of the question. So 
 that one result of this widespread public discussion 
 was, to quote the words of one who really knew its true 
 elements, and who was in more senses than one a 
 " trustworthy authority " in all matters agricultural, 
 ''that so much nonsense had been talked, and so many 
 absurd positions had been taken up on platforms and 
 through the press on the subject of small farms, that it 
 would take long to undo the mischief which had arisen 
 and would yet arise from it." 
 
 Like every question which for a time greatly agitates 
 the public mind, this special discussion has been sup- 
 planted and replaced by other "farming questions," 
 which have been in turn more than warmly — ^hotly — 
 discussed, and an turn given place to others treated 
 in a way equally ardent. Still the whole subject of 
 small farms is essentially one in which the welfare of 
 the nation is concerned, and one the interest of which 
 
16 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 in the public mind is not likely to die away ; and this 
 all the more that closely cognate questions are now 
 being, and are likely to be, shortly discussed with 
 some warmth of earnestness by parties holding what 
 appear to those who know the subject to be wholly 
 unpractical opinions. It will serve, therefore, indi- 
 vidually some useful purpose, while it will have a 
 direct bearing upon our special subject, if we glance at 
 some of the leading points connected with the subject 
 of small farms, fitted for the yeoman and cottar, or 
 crofter class, who farm to live and live to farm. In 
 taking this glance we shall perhaps be able to arrive at 
 a just estimate of the true elements of the question ; 
 and then see upon what the success of small farming 
 as a means of livelihood depends, if carried out on the 
 extensive scale which has of late years been, and is still, 
 advocated, although, as we have seen, in a less pro- 
 nounced and positive way, by some who claim to be 
 authorities on all matters social and political, and there- 
 fore agricultural. Although this' latter inference will 
 not be generally admitted as logical by those who 
 really know practically what farming is as a national 
 industry and source of wealth. And another advan- 
 tage may be obtained from giving the glance we pro- 
 pose. It may, for example, afford the reader something 
 practical in the way of evidence to enable him to decide 
 whether the wide extension of small farming would 
 conduce to the benefit or otherwise of agriculture, 
 and aid or retard the great progress which from one 
 cause or from many causes, art and science — for 
 it is both — have made during the last half-century 
 or more. 
 
 The reader will now see the bearing of what we have, 
 in the preceding chapter, and in this, said upon the gene- 
 ral question of " small farms," admitting — ^and it may 
 be readily and willingly enough admitted — that under 
 its most advanced systems such small farming can, 
 and does, yield good results. The question really is. 
 Can those advanced systems be made applicable to the 
 actual conditions under which those are placed in this 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 17 
 
 country who take to small farming as a means of live- 
 lihood? If facts as they exist are to be reckoned 
 with in answering this question, and not merely as- 
 sumptions or surmises based upon and arising from a 
 desire that things would be as we wish them to be, 
 then we fear this question wiU have to be answered 
 in the negative. What cannot well be denied must 
 be admitted, and it is admitted that the class who 
 will devote themselves to the cultivation of the small 
 farms, the wide establishment of which we have had 
 so warmly advocated of late years, must be the class 
 of working men. We have said that this cannot be 
 denied, for indeed the very agitation for a large increase 
 in the number of small farms in this country is based 
 upon the desire which those agitating for it have to 
 find employment or a means of livelihood of a fixed 
 character for numbers of those who at present live from 
 hand to mouth, as the phrase goes; if, indeed, this 
 style of living is worthy of the name of living at aU in 
 its higher sense. This large increase in the number of 
 small farms thus advocated would of necessity involve 
 the influx to this class of labour of a large number of 
 workmen wholly new to the work of farming. What 
 chances there are that these new-comers to new work 
 would be successful in making that work maintain them, 
 comfortably, we leave the reader who has even but a 
 limited knowledge of what farming is to conjecture. 
 No doubt the popular notion of farming is that any one 
 can carry it on, whether he has had experience of its 
 work or not — a notion which has sent many a one to 
 farm with large ideas as to profit, to find out after much 
 painful experience that loss onlj;- was to be realised. 
 
 That land can be farmed after a fashion — just as we 
 may take up any other business we have not before 
 tried, and carry it on somehow — may be readily enough 
 admitted ; but whether the result will be satisfactory, in 
 the only way it can be so, is quite another thing. One 
 would require to be no great prophet to predict that 
 loss only would be the end of a business so carried on. 
 So far from farming, even on the smallest scale, being 
 
18 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 SO easy that any one can succeed with it by any style of 
 working, the fact is precisely the reverse. It not only 
 requires knowledge and an intelligent capability to 
 apply that to practice, but it demands high and unusual 
 qualities — such as prudence and perseverance — and in 
 the case of small farms the exercise not only of a most 
 rigid economy in all things, but of a self-denial to which 
 comparatively few would care to submit, and which still 
 fewer could truly exercise from day to day in the drudgery 
 of work. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE CONTINENTAIj SMAU. PAEM system. — LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FEOLI 
 IT IN CONNECTION WITH SMALL PAJBHINO AS CABEIED ON IN THIS 
 OOUNTET. — THE PLANS MOST LIKELY TO BE SUOOESSEUL IN SMALL 
 PABMINQ WITH US. 
 
 We are told by the advocates of small farming — we of 
 course allude to that system of small farming which 
 would require for its development the devotion of tracts 
 of land so wide that the vast portion of the land of 
 the country would be taken up with the farms — that 
 there is ample proof of the fact that small farming can 
 be carried on with success ; and when asked where that 
 proof exists, we are told that it is to be found on the 
 Continent. We are pointed to France, and especially 
 to Belgium, two provinces of which, East and West 
 Flanders, may be said to be the home or seat par excel- 
 lence of the small farming, or petite culture, as it is 
 called. It is an admitted truth, denied by no one, that 
 comparisons are only valuable where the conditions on 
 which the comparative observations are made, and 
 facts collected and considered under proper — that is, 
 true — conditions. For example, any scientific inquiry 
 made to test the comparative values of, say, a given 
 material or of two machines, would only be valuable if 
 the materials or machines were of the same class. To 
 take a case closely connected with our subject. Suppose 
 that it was desired to know which of two soils was the 
 most fertile or valuable for farming purposes, what 
 would be said of the value of am inquiry into two 
 qualities of soil, say of clay, if one investigator took a 
 sample of a clayey and another of a sandy soil ? No 
 doubt it would be said that the inquiry would show 
 
20 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 wMch was the best of those two distinctly different 
 soils. But that was not the object of the inquiry. It 
 was to decide which of two kinds of the same soil, 
 that is, a clay soil, was the best. In like manner it 
 would be considered foolish in testing the qualities of 
 two kinds of coal if the experimenter took sawdust 
 and coal, setting the one against the other. This 
 might and could only prove that coal was better than 
 sawdust as a fuel, but it would not in the remotest 
 degree touch the question which of the two classes of 
 coals was the best. This neglect of the true con- 
 dition of objects or subjects which have to be sub- 
 mitted to comparison is but too frequently met with in 
 connection with scientific discussion, and is the cause 
 of many erroneous conclusions being arrived at, and 
 opinions formed on points which have no basis in facts. 
 We are told by those who assert that the farming or 
 agricultural welfare of this country can best — if, indeed, 
 some do not maintain that it can only, be met by the sys- 
 tem of small farming being universally adopted — that it 
 is as sure to be successful as the small farming of the 
 Continent has been. Leaving, for the present, the 
 question as to whether this Continental experience is 
 altogether in favour of the petite culture, we have to 
 put the matter very pointedly thus. Before the same 
 success in small farming can be said to be certain 
 in this country, which for the present we admit it 
 has met with on some parts of the Continent, the ques- 
 tion to be first put and fully answered is this : Are 
 the conditions of the two positions, that existing in 
 this country and that existing on the Continent, alike ? 
 For if conditions which make the continental system a 
 success be wanting in this country, then it is clear that 
 we cannot expect and shall not obtain a like success, 
 do what we will, or risk what we may. Are the 
 conditions then alike in both countries ? Those who 
 know what those conditions are will not be surprised 
 when we say most distinctly that they are not. That 
 many will be surprised to learn this we have no 
 doubt. For it is one of the unfortunate circumstances 
 
CONTINENTAL SMALL FARMING. 21 
 
 attendant upon this discussion, that those who have 
 given the most frequent and most decided exposition 
 of their views have been precisely those who have had 
 no real knowledge of the true facts of the case. They 
 have heard — and no doubt many of them have possibly 
 seen it for themselves — that the small farm system has 
 been, and is, extensively adopted on the Continent; 
 and they have assumed that it has been always suc- 
 cessful, and have therefore jumped to the conclusion 
 that the same system would be successful in this 
 country. In nine cases out of every ten where the 
 adoption of the small farm system in this country has 
 been so warmly advocated, the point has never been 
 looked at, nor the question asked, what really are the 
 conditions under which Continental small farming is 
 carried on. As for making any inquiry as to whether 
 the Continental system, as a whole, was really and 
 truly a success, that was never thought of. 
 
 In looking at the agitation which has been carried 
 on amongst us of late years in favour of a very wide 
 extension, if not absolutely a general adoption, of the 
 small farm system, it is difficult to come to any other 
 conclusion than that agitators, for purposes of their 
 own, wished it to be unhesitatingly accepted that there 
 was no difficulty in the matter; that all was bright 
 and hopeful; and that, so far from there being any 
 points which were calculated to mar or hinder the 
 success of the system in this country, it was con- 
 sidered by them to be but folly to suppose that even 
 the shadow of a doubt could exist. The position was 
 not, what were the facts of the case, which those advo- 
 cates asked themselves ; but simply what they wished 
 or thought them to be. Possibly some good excuse 
 may be made for those who took this optimist view — 
 who concluded that there were no difficulties in the 
 way, no points which might seriously affect the success 
 of the small farm system, not only here but as it 
 existed on the Continent. They have, let us hope, based 
 their opinion upon what has been so long and by so 
 many stated in a very general way as to the wonderful 
 
22 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 cultural eflfects which the small farms of the Continent 
 displayed. This general idea has been floating about 
 for some generations, and had its origin in the writings 
 of not a few travellers who had, as a rule, merely glanced 
 at the extensive evidences presented by the small 
 farmer on the Continent, and had not deemed it to be 
 their duty — as clearly it had not been their inclination 
 — to examine closely into the details of the system, in 
 order to ascertain the means by which and at what 
 cost the conditions of a fine cultivation, and the high 
 fertility of the lands consequent upon it, had been 
 secured. What, in truth, is known generally or popu- 
 larly on the subject of the Continental small farm 
 system, is a series of statements by travellers, of a 
 highly-coloured, flattering kind, as to its wonderful 
 results. What is not at all known popularly are the 
 facts which bear upon the system, and the conditions 
 under which that systeru exists. 
 
 And we consider it to be a most unfortunate circum- 
 stance that, in the long-continued and warmly — too 
 warmly — carried on discussion or agitation on the sub- 
 ject of small farms, as being essential to the well-being 
 of our people and to the future progress of farming, 
 the popular view above alluded to has been alone 
 presented to the public mind. There are many in this 
 country who know what the accurate view or position 
 is, know well the details of the system — know that it 
 has its weaknesses, its difficulties, and conditions which 
 are not at all applicable in this country. Yet, either 
 through indifference, or fear of opposing a popular be- 
 lief, or influenced by motives, political chiefly, inducing 
 them to be silent, they have been literally so, and 
 have refrained from giving the public the true facts of 
 the case — showing, what they knew to be the fact, that 
 the Continental system of small farms is not applicable 
 to this country. And, moreover, that it is only in 
 a very limited sense that the Continental system has 
 been a success even there, and that as a rule it has not 
 conduced to the agricultural prosperity of those Con- 
 tinental countries in which it is largely practised. The 
 
DISCUSSION ON THE SYSTEM. 23 
 
 result then of this which we do not hesitate to call 
 unfortunate method in which the small farm system, 
 has been discussed of late years amongst us, is that 
 most erroneous views have taken possession of the 
 puhlic mind, and for the sweeping away of which some 
 wiser, because truer, influences must come into exis- 
 tence. For the sake of the future of British farming 
 it is to be hoped that if they come they will come 
 speedily. What the ground for this hope is we shall 
 see presently. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE CHAEAOTEE OP THE lABOUE TO BE BONE, AND THE HABITS OP THE 
 EABMEE EEQtnSITE TO MA in; SMALL PAEIIINQ, SUOCESSEUL. 
 
 The first of the conditions relative to small farm 
 extension in this country concerns itself with the 
 personnel of those to whom the care of small farms, 
 when adopted in the extensive way advocated of late, 
 is proposed to be given. This new system, be it re- 
 membered, proposes, if the principle upon which it is 
 based be rigidly and honestly carried out, that the land 
 of this country be henceforth wholly cultivated in small 
 sections, as opposed to the principle of having large 
 and extensive farms cultivated by a comparatively few. 
 And the new system of farming by a series of small 
 sections is advocated for two reasons : not merely 
 upon the ground that it will afford outlets for the 
 labour of a vast number of working men who are at 
 present, through the over- supply of labour in other 
 industrial departments, not fully, or if fully, not profit- 
 ably, employed ; but also because the peculiarities of 
 cultivation on the small scale fall in so completely, so 
 to say, with the necessities of the highest state of cul- 
 tivation on which the land yields vastly more than when 
 placed under the opposite system of large farming, that 
 it is in the interest of the true welfare of the country 
 that small farms should be the rule and not, as at pre- 
 sent, the exception. 
 
 This dual condition of the argument in favour of the 
 wide, or rather the universal extension of small farms, 
 necessitates a consideration of two points, in order to 
 enable us to decide whether the argument in favour of 
 the new system be soundly based or not. And this 
 
THE PERSONNEL OF SMALL FAKMS. 
 
 25 
 
 brings us to the first point — namely, that of the per- 
 sonnel of those who will have the conduct of the small 
 farms of the future, if that future ever becomes part 
 of the history of this country. Although the political 
 motives which prompted this agitation for the universal 
 extension of small farms appear to be the true ones 
 for its existence, we, for obvious reasons, do not here 
 enter into their consideration, remarking only that it 
 would be well if, in all cases of new agitations, those 
 taking part in them would fairly look the true motives 
 in the face, and inform the public what those motives 
 really are. This line of conduct would at least pre- 
 vent the matter being put on false issues, and would 
 go far to obviate those mistakes which have been made 
 more than once in our social and national history. 
 
 Assuming for the present the accuracy of the state- 
 ments of the advocates of the new system of universal 
 small farming (we shall see presently whether they be 
 accurate or not) that it alone is the system by which 
 the highest cultivation — that is the greatest fertility or 
 largest products — can be obtained, it is only fair to 
 presume that this will demand at the very least a 
 large amount of personal care. It is but to repeat a 
 truism to say that no work which has any value at all 
 can be done without labour. The more valuable the 
 results of that labour, the higher its quality and the 
 greater need for its careful exercise. We know of no 
 reason why farming should be an exception to this rule. 
 On the contrary, what we do know of it is — or rather, 
 we should say, whoever really knows what farming is 
 knows well — ^that, so far from being an exception to this 
 rule, it is precisely that calling which demands the 
 exercise of continuous care and constant labour. It is 
 moreover work of that kind, which, if it is to be done 
 well, or rather if it is to be done at all, must be done 
 promptly and at the time. Procrastination is quite 
 incompatible with prosperity in farm work. In almost 
 all other industrial work, what is neglected to-day 
 may be done to-morrow, and a certain amount of 
 time only sacrificed. Opportunities overlooked at one 
 
26 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 time may be observed and taken advantage of at 
 another, without more than partial loss being the 
 result of the carelessness or indifference to what is the 
 best method of carrying on a business. But the case 
 is altogether different with the practice of farming. 
 We have in this to deal with and to depend upon times 
 and seasons. Each of these has its own peculiar work, 
 which must be done then and there, or not done at all, 
 at least for that year. For the time is not repeated in 
 the same year. The man who neglects the time of 
 sowing may be silly enough to expect the time for 
 reaping to come. It will come, but not with any fruits 
 to him ; for those he must wait for another year, in 
 which he may then practise the wisdom his folly had 
 made him overlook or despise. 
 
 And it may here be noticed that singleness of 
 seasons or of opportunities of doing work in farming, is 
 one of the reasons, and a very powerful one, why farm- 
 ing has not made such quick progress as other 
 branches of industrial work. Where improvements 
 depend, as all improvements do, upon trials and expe- 
 riments, time must be devoted to them ; and times or 
 opportunities for them are, as«, rule, to be had or made 
 at 'any time with the great majoritj' of industrials. 
 Experiments and trials can be made continuously if 
 desired ; the defect noticed to-day can be rectified to- 
 morrow; and this may go on till the new work is 
 perfected and completed. It is not so in the case of 
 farming ; indeed very much the opposite. As a rule 
 there is but one period in each season at which a new 
 experiment, or a more extended trial, can be made ; 
 and if there be more than one period in either case, or 
 rather both cases, another season must come round ; 
 that is a whole year must elapse before the result 
 of the trial or experiment can be made known. If 
 there be any defective point in the principle or the 
 practice of the experiment demanding a new trial, 
 that again will take another season ; and patience must 
 be exercised during a whole year before it can be 
 known whether the new modification of the experiment 
 
CONDITIONS AFFECTING ITS PROGRESS. 27 
 
 has been successful or not. While this is true, then, of 
 what are called field experiments connected with crops, 
 their treatment, manurial and otherwise, it is no less 
 true of many other departments of farm- work, of which 
 the following pages will give more than one example. 
 
 Some of our readers may now probably, for the first 
 time, be able to perceive how it is that improvement in 
 farming must of necessity, from the very nature of the 
 conditions under which it everywhere exists, be a slow 
 progress. And on looking at the point we have noticed, 
 and taking an accurate view of the circumstances, the 
 marvel is, not that farming progress has been so small, 
 but that it has been so great. And great that pro- 
 gress has been during the last two generations; and 
 to an extent which, we regret to say, has not as yet 
 been popularly comprehended ; although those engaged 
 in farming, using the term in its widest possible ac- 
 ceptation, can well ofier comparison with those engaged 
 in any other branch of national industry. 
 
 One habit, therefore, required of the small farmer, 
 equally with the one who cultivates land on a scale more 
 or less extensive, is that oi promptitude in the doing of 
 his work. And this, again, demands system in its doing ; 
 for a man may be very prompt in doing work at the 
 wrong time, which would be better left wholly undone. 
 Promptitude in work must, therefore, go along with 
 an accurate system ; the right work done at the right 
 time. 
 
 But however promptly and systematically work may 
 be done, unless it be done in the rigid nay, the practical 
 point aimed at will be altogether lost. A man may be 
 very prompt, and, for the matter of that, very syste- 
 matic in the doing of bad work ; and in this case good 
 results can scarcely be expected. Now in regard to 
 the work of farming it is unfortunately a very wide- 
 spread notion amongst the classes who are wholly occu- 
 pied in other callings, that farming can be taken up, and 
 not only so, but be practised with every success, without 
 any knowledge of what it really is, or indeed without 
 any previous training in the doing of its work. This 
 
28 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 is assuredly the popular notion, and finds an expression 
 in the well-known saying, " Any fool can he a farmer." 
 To this it might be only necessary to reply, that any 
 one who would act upon this and attempt farming, 
 would very quickly find that he was a fool for making 
 the attempt on the basis of this too popular and too 
 widely held "foolish whim." But something more 
 than meeting this silly saying in this way is here 
 essential, not merely because it has a very prejudicial 
 influence on the general question now under considera- 
 tion, but because it has the closest possible bearing on 
 the subject on which we are now writing. 
 
 The practical outcome of this popular notion is this 
 conclusion : that, granted that the system of universal 
 extension of small farms is established, all that is neces- 
 sary to be done is to provide each man who wishes it 
 with a farm, and its proper cultivation will then be 
 insured, and insured in such a way that while he is 
 adding very largely to the general wealth, and minister- 
 ing to the convenience of the community at large, he is 
 also enabled to make much better provision for himself 
 and family than he could do in one or other of the 
 overcrowded, ill-paid callings with which he had been 
 before connected. The question has never been fairly 
 asked, and can never be fairly answered till the prac- 
 tical points which it involves are fully faced and met : 
 Could men of the class above mentioned really carry on 
 farming so that it would be successful in giving them a 
 good living ? For if they could not live comfortably 
 themselves by it, it is quite certain that they would 
 not add much to the means of the general community. 
 And if they did not know how to farm, it is, to 
 say the least, somewhat difiicult to see how the high 
 degree of cultivation could be secured which the advo- 
 cates of the wider extension of the system of small 
 farming persist in telling the nation would be one of 
 the inevitable results of that extension. Whether it be 
 believed or not by those who thus advocate the new 
 system of extended or universal small farming, the fact 
 remains that farming, like all other industrial callings, 
 
CERTAIN FACTS IN SMALL FARMING. 29 
 
 requires a practical training or education — call it what 
 you will — before one can practise it with, that success 
 which alone entitles it to be classed as practical. And 
 this fact, like all other facts, must be dealt with; and 
 it is not possible to have a fact more important than 
 this, for it simply is that on which all the work of 
 successful farming is based, and ignorance or neglect of 
 it has been the cause of immeasurable failures amongst 
 those who have taken to farming as a means of living in 
 defiance of the lessons of warning which it conveys. 
 Our readers may not, in the range of their own expe- 
 rience, know many instances of this, but they abound, 
 and can easily enough be heard of if inquired after. We 
 hear, for example, of the successes of emigrant farmers, 
 and are told again and again that all we have to do is 
 to ship ofi' our unemployed, send them to one or other 
 of our colonies, and make them farmers ; all that is 
 required being but a small — a very small — capital to 
 enable them to purchase their "holding" and stock it. 
 But in practice it is found that something more than 
 capital is required. We hear in this country only of the 
 successes of emigrant farmers ; failures are seldom and 
 only incidentally referred to. But failures exist, never- 
 theless, and on a vastly wider scale than is generally 
 supposed. And these failures, in almost every case, are 
 caused by ignorance of what farming is and what are 
 the ways of farming life. From what we saw, and from 
 the much more numerous cases we heard of, while in 
 North America, it was a matter of easy proof that the 
 truly successful emigrant farmer was he who had, 
 if not a good knowledge of the principles of farming, at 
 least a good training in its practical work ; and the 
 more completely the knowledge of principles and an 
 acquaintance with the practice of the art were com- 
 bined, the more successful was the result. We know 
 several, and have heard of many more, who, having taken 
 to farming as a means of livelihood under the popular 
 impression that any one could farm well, found to their 
 bitter regret that, as in every other kind of work, 
 a knowledge of it is required before it can be practised 
 
30 
 
 SMALIi FAEMiyO. 
 
 with, success. There are, we know, scores of emigrant 
 farmers who are farmers but in name, who merely 
 contrive to drag out a life, barely providing for the 
 necessities of the day, and yet possessed of land and 
 placed under circumstances so favourable to successful 
 farming, that one having a knowledge of the work would 
 make not only a good and comfortable living, but 
 money. There are scores of m.en thus dragging out a 
 dreary and Hopeless life who would only be too glad, if 
 — ^with their dear-bought experience — they had the 
 power to leave their ill-requited farming labours with 
 the money, or only part of it, which they invested at 
 the first in this work : work, be it noted, which they 
 were told " any one could do" and do well, but which 
 they have found they at least cannot do successfully. 
 
CHAPTER' VI. 
 
 SOMi; OONSIEEKATIONS CONNECTED WITH POINTS OTHEE THAN THOSE 
 AlEEADY NAMED, AS APFEOTINQ TIIB WOEK OF THE SMAXL FAEMEE 
 AND HIS SUCCESS IN IT. — THE DISPOSAL OE SELLINO OP HIS PAEM 
 PEODUCE. MAEKETS. 
 
 One not prejudiced by preconceived notions, or so wedded 
 to a theory that facts must be put aside or got rid of in 
 order to keep that theory intact, would naturally con- 
 clude that what we have said as to the fact that to 
 practise farming successfully one must be trained to 
 do its work, is but a common-sense view, after all, of the 
 matter. It does not take much knowledge surely of 
 the every-day working world we live in to see that 
 even the simplest work requires some training, some 
 experience of its peculiarities, before it can be done even 
 moderately well. Digging, for example, is popularly 
 considered to be a work which " any one can do." But 
 there are some who, although thay have been digging 
 for years, cannot, and apparently never will be able to, 
 dig well. What appears by mere looking at it, or 
 hearing it talked about, to be a very simple thing to 
 do, when taken in hand is found to be so far from this 
 that by some it cannot be done at all. Take the " milk- 
 ing of a cow," a very essential part of the dairy work of 
 a small farm ; this appears to be a simple work enough, 
 yet so difficult is it to do, that it takes some practice be- 
 fore it can be done well ; and some have taken years to 
 learn, and after all have been " no great hands at it." 
 And when the reader comes to that department of our 
 work treating upon dairy management, he may be 
 surprised to learn that a very good cow may be spoiled 
 as a "milker" simply by bad and careless milking. 
 Scores of small farmers, emigrant or otherwise, have 
 found this out to their cost. 
 
32 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 If a knowledge of, and practical training in, such arts as 
 digging and milking of cows, which are supposed popu- 
 larly to be so easy that any one can be expert in them, 
 be essential — as assuredly they will in practice be 
 found to be — to the small farmer who aims at being 
 successful in his land, he will find that there are many 
 other things which it is equally necessary that he 
 should know. When we name cropping and manuring 
 the after cultivation of his crops, the feeding of 
 animals and their general management, it may appear 
 that the list of things which the small farmer ought to 
 know is very short, and does not comprise much work. 
 But when he takes up their practice he will find, on the 
 contrary, that each single department is made up of a 
 variety of details, each of which must receive attention, 
 to secure the success of the work as a whole. Now 
 the small farmer on beginning his work, and who is in 
 ignorance of its details, may by experience find out 
 what they are, and may have such an aptitude to learn 
 that he may soon, comparatively, be able to do them. 
 But this at the best is but a slow progress ; and while it 
 may be said that knowledge thus gained by experience 
 is best, much, very much, being learned by " failures," 
 stiU it must not be forgotten, what, however, is too apt 
 to be overlooked, that the small farmer, being, as a 
 rule which has few exceptions, without capital, he may 
 while he is thus learning be in danger of slowly starv- 
 ing. How many even with a good, or fairly good, 
 knowledge of the work of farming, find that at the 
 best their lives on their small farms is but a struggle 
 for existence ! 
 
 This brings us to the next point in the consideration 
 of the main question. We have seen what are some 
 of the requisites, essential to its practical success, in 
 those proposing to take up small farming as a means 
 of livelihood. These are, a general knowledge of what 
 the points of farming are, at least some fair amount of 
 practical training, and then to these must be added 
 system or order, and promptitude in the actual doing 
 of its work. But these do not exhaust what is necessary 
 
QUALITY OF THE LABOUR DEMANDED. 33 
 
 to secure tte success of the small farmer who farms ia 
 order to live. Taking facts as they exist around us, 
 these tell us that beyond all doubt his life is a very 
 hard one. We have little hesitation in affirming that 
 success can only be secured by continuous, unfailing, 
 unflagging labour ; and not only by this, but by an 
 exercise of rigid prudence and economy in living. We 
 have little doubt what the evidence of poor men who 
 live by small farming under the circumstances which 
 exist as a general rule in this country would be ; those 
 who were even the most successful would we fear be con- 
 strained to confess that " at the best the best was no 
 great shakes ;" and not a few would go further, and say 
 that it " was bad at the best." And this, be it noted, 
 where the work was considered in general terms to be 
 a success. One can judge of what a small farmer's 
 life must be where to its inherent difficulties other great 
 difficulties are to be added of an ignorance of what 
 the work of small farming really is, and a want of that 
 practical training by which alone that work can be done. 
 It will be observed that we have referred to the 
 general circumstancos under which the small farmer 
 is placed in this country. We will not consider here 
 the circumstances under which the colonial or emi- 
 grant farmer is placed. The discussion of that subject 
 comes under another department, which does not 
 concern us here. In so far as it does, its require- 
 ments will be amply met by what we give under 
 the various heads of practical farm work, the details of 
 which win generally be as applicable to the circum- 
 stances of the small farmer in the colonies as it is to 
 those in this country. In the colonies the small farmer 
 is placed under very favourable circumstances as com- 
 pared with those under which his brother works in this 
 country. As a rule, with but few exceptions, he 
 starts by purchasing, or partly purchasing, his land, 
 so that he has not to labour to " pay his rent ; " his 
 expenditure in this department thus gradually decreas- 
 ing in amount as he pays the instalments of his purchase- 
 money. Again, he has in the majority of new localities 
 
 D 
 
34 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 no extraneous expenses to meet in the way of rates and 
 taxes, and he can live just as he pleases. Even with 
 bad farming a man may manage to keep his family, 
 when that family can give him some mutual help, 
 living fairly well so far as food is concerned ; but even 
 here there are exceptions, and cases are by no means 
 unknown in the colonies in which at the best the 
 living is what is known as " but a bare living/' with 
 no prospect of improvement, simply because there is 
 none as regards the style of farming, and the circum- 
 stances under which the farmer is placed. 
 
 But the circumstances of the small farmer in this 
 country are altogether different from those of the 
 colonial or emigrant farmer. Where the emigrant 
 has paid up the purchase money for his land in full, 
 the interest on the amount thus capitalised represents 
 a rent so small that with us it would be looked upon as 
 little more than a "peppercorn," or merely nominal 
 rent. In the great majority of colonial districts the 
 cost of purchasing an acre of land out and out is so 
 small, that if it took the place of a rent it would in this 
 country be so low that a small farmer having to pay it 
 would look upon himself as " sitting rent free," it being 
 but a trifle compared with even the lowest rents charged 
 in this country. 
 
 Simply as producers of food and maintainers of 
 stock, and which, in the first place, would go to keep 
 the family supplied with food for living, the points 
 connected with the selling off of the produce, or the 
 question of markets, will come up for consideration. 
 So far as the raising of produce to maintain fami- 
 lies is concerned, the small farmer with us is, to use 
 a sporting phrase, handicapped in the matter of rent. 
 For every quarter of wheat he raises, every pig he 
 breeds and rears, has to be debited with a sum repre- 
 senting its proportion of the rent of the farm, which 
 while it amounts in his case to shillings, may be 
 represented by so many halfpennies in the case of the 
 colonial or emigrant farmer. But the British small 
 farmer has still some extra charges to meet, however 
 
EMIGRANT AND HOME SMALL FAUMS. 35 
 
 small may be the amount, made on the land or his 
 house — some rates which, low as they may be, come 
 to a large percentage on the amount of his rent. From 
 these the colonial farm is free. But the case is still worse 
 for the British small farmer ; he has manure to provide, 
 and in many cases to purchase, to keep up the fertility 
 of his soil. And although much if not all that he actually 
 uses — for he would use more if he could afford to buy 
 more — is made for him by the stock he keeps, the pigs 
 he breeds, or the cows he milks, still this costs some- 
 thing to purchase, it being quite a mistake to consider 
 that imder those circumstances it costs nothing. The 
 colonial farmer is freed from the necessity of providing 
 manure, for his land as a rule is virgin land, and in the 
 vast majority of instances is so, rich in fertilising con- 
 stituents that it may be cropped for a long succession 
 of years without decreasing in fertility, or to such a 
 small extent that the difference in the produce is not 
 appreciable. Moreover, the colonial farmer has always 
 at command a wide variety of vegetables, and frequentlj'- 
 of fruits, suitable to the soil, and which as articles of 
 food go a very long way in maintaining himself and 
 family, and that healthily. Our small farmers have 
 very few resources of this kind, although we hope 
 to be able to show how, in this direction, in very 
 favourable circumstances, he could add largely to his 
 money gains. 
 
 The primary necessity, alike in the case of the colo- 
 nial emigrant and the small farmer in this country, is 
 that their labours shall keep healthily and well him- 
 self and the family dependent upon him. There are thou- 
 sands in all ranks of working life who congratulate 
 themselves year by year that their labour can keep them- 
 selves and their families. There are thousands more, 
 unfortunately, in this country who would have good 
 reason to rejoice if they could do this. This is to a 
 large extent true of many of our small farmers who, 
 with all their toil, contrive to earn but the very poorest 
 of living for themselves and their families ; and are 
 compelled to be content with the poorest of food, and 
 
36 SMALL FAEMIXG. 
 
 that but too frequently in the scantiest of supplies. If 
 they have milk to sell, or — failing to reach this high 
 position in small farming — have only in the way of 
 " stock " produce a few pigs, some chickens, and eggs 
 to dispose of, they but rarely dream of using those farm 
 products as part of their food ; whereas the colonial 
 farmer has abundance in this way. With our small 
 farmers the rent ever forms a subject of portentous im- 
 portance ; that must be paid, and if it be low, it is always 
 high to them, although in too many cases the rent- 
 charge is at a higher rate than in the case of large 
 farms. And to meet this rent and the other charges 
 we have alluded to, which are as great troubles to 
 him as the rent itself, is the first thing to be done ; 
 then whatever is left, however little it may be, is what 
 the family have to live upon. 
 
 We have heard much lately as to the depressed con- 
 dition of agriculture in this country — a condition which 
 has ruined many farmers, which threatens, if long con- 
 tinued, to ruin many more, and which keeps even the 
 most fortunate of them in that position in which it 
 takes all their skill in farming, all their resources in 
 the way of capital, and all the helps to good farming 
 which that capital secures to them, to enable them even 
 to make a living and pay their way. Even at the best of 
 times farmers who really know what their work is, and 
 how it should be done, and who have, if not large, at 
 least capital enough to enable them to get all the 
 helps to good farming which modern science and re- 
 sources have placed within their command, do not, 
 even as successful farmers, "score any great success." 
 Comfortable competencies have been made by farming, 
 and where money has not been saved — and where it has 
 not been saved it cannot be truly said to have been 
 made — comfortable, nay, in many respects luxurious 
 livings, have been secured. But at the best " fortunes " 
 are rarely made in life by farming — such fortunes as 
 " successful men " in almost every industrial calling 
 hope to make, and very frequently indeed succeed in 
 making. A cotton manufacturer, or an engineer, or a 
 
FARMING AS IT NOW EXISTS. 37 
 
 merchant who gave the same amount of time, of energy, 
 unflagging care and zeal to his work which a good 
 farmer — and our country abounds in farmers who have 
 the best claims to be considered the best farmers in the 
 world — gives to his business, would grumble very much 
 indeed if his labours resulted in the small returns, 
 and the still smaller amount actually taking the form 
 of profit, with which a farmer is compelled to be con- 
 tent. We say compelled, for it is the statement of 
 but a simple fact to say that land and the work con- 
 nected with the cultivation of land yields the lowest or 
 poorest return as an investment of all the forms or 
 ways in which labour and capital can be invested. The 
 only point connected with land investment is its cer- 
 tainty of security and the general stability of its returns. 
 This security or certainty, farming or the cultivation of 
 the land largely shared, and it has only become lessened 
 of late years when, to all the evils resulting from a 
 succession of bad seasons, some so bad that they could 
 not be worse, are added the still greater evils of a 
 system which brings about a foreign competition against 
 which farmers have not been able as yet to stand. 
 
 The losses from bad seasons are those over which no 
 control can be exercised, and,' however large they may 
 be, are such as no one can be taxed with, and are ac- 
 cepted by all as the natural circumstances of the calling 
 or profession. The case is, or at all events it seems to 
 be, different with the evils of that foreign competition of 
 which farmers bitterly and with most abundant reason 
 complain, and which, if it cannot be wholly done away 
 with, can surely in its evil features be somewhat lessened. 
 If it be not a case for commercial legislation, it is diffi- 
 cult to conceive of what practical use legislation is. On 
 all sides the evil done is admitted, and granted that the 
 difficulty of removing or of lessening it be great, 
 surely it cannot be insurmountable. With a high class 
 of mind a difficulty is a thing only to be overcome, and 
 this is generally accomplished where the will to secure it 
 is powerfully present. We have used the words commer- 
 cial legislation with a purpose, as indicative of the fact 
 
38 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 that we do not here refer to what imperial legislative 
 enactments alone could do, but rather to that legisla- 
 tion which may be composed partly of the work of 
 legislation properly so called, and partly of that of the 
 farmers as a body, either alone or acting in conjunction 
 with other bodies who are all — some very directly, others 
 indirectly, but all more or less — interested in the true 
 welfare of the agriculture of the country. 
 
 But be this as it may, the fact remains that even in 
 its best aspects farming does not yield the high profits 
 which an equal amount of labour and gkill in other 
 industrial callings yields. Further, that under the 
 aspects which of late years farming has presented, and 
 which it unfortunately still presents, it is so far from a 
 good paying concern that even with the best of skill, 
 with all the appliances and the aids which modern 
 science gives to its practice, and even with all the help 
 of a fair amount of capital, farmers have a difficulty to 
 make ends meet at the termination of each season. It 
 is not only the opinion of some, not merely the view held 
 by many, but it may be said with all safety that it is the 
 opinion of the vast majority of those whose opinions 
 alone are worth having, that unless the conditions under 
 which farming is carried on be materially changed for 
 the better, the days of good farming are gone — that is, 
 good in the sense of its yielding a moderate return for 
 the labour given to, the skill expended on^ and the capital 
 employed in it. We have said that at the best the 
 profits of farming are not so very good, at least can offer 
 no fair ground of comparison with the profits of other 
 callings in which a like amount of labour, skill, and 
 time is expended. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SOME SPEOIAL CIECUMSTANOES CONNECTED WITH THE iCTtTAL WOEK OF 
 BMAM. FABMS, AND "WHAT IT DEMANDS ON THE PABT OP THOSE 
 ENGAGED IN MAKING A LIVING BY IT. 
 
 If, with, all the advantages which farmers who farm on 
 the large scale possess, the above be the position arrived 
 at — and it will be difficult to dispute its accuracy, how- 
 ever easy to some it may be simply to deny its truth — the 
 reader who has followed us thus far may be able to 
 arrive at some notion of what the chances of success are 
 of small farmers occupying holdings running from two 
 up to ten and twenty, and even thirty acres ; although 
 holdings of the last-named extent can scarcely be said 
 to come under the category of the small farm truly so 
 called, the wide, if not universal extension of which is 
 so warmly advocated by some. "We do not doubt the 
 good intentions of some of those advocates ; they may 
 be actuated by the purest and most philanthropic of 
 motives ; they may really desire to place working men 
 in positions in which they can make a good living, not 
 only more easily, but with more certainty than they make 
 a bare living as they are now occupied, or try to be 
 occupied, in the overcrowded, worked-out trades of in- 
 dustry. All that we maintain is that before causing men 
 to change their conditions of life, it should be made quite 
 clear that that change will be beneficial to them ; and 
 that it is the duty of those advocates of the new or pro- 
 posed system to be as certain as it is given in any case 
 to poor humanity to be, that the conditions of the life of 
 small farming are as they say they are, and not be content 
 with merely supposing that they are highly favourable 
 because they wish them to be. What is then the evidence 
 
40 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 of facts as they exist amongst us in favour or otherwise 
 of this idea that the ordinary classes of working men, 
 accustomed to the discipline and to the hours of labour 
 of ordinary work, will be bettered in their circumstances 
 by taking to " small farming " ? Let us look briefly at 
 this in view of what has been done legislatively, what 
 appears probable may yet be done in pushing forward 
 the extension of " small farming," or, as it is by some 
 termed, "peasant proprietary." The inquiry is of great 
 national importance. This inquiry, for very obvious 
 reasons, cannot be entered fully upon here. All we can do 
 is to give a few statements merely as to what the actual 
 circumstances of the question are, leaving them to sug- 
 gest to the reader what ought to be the conclusion 
 arrived at. 
 
 We are again and again told by the advocates of a 
 wide if not a universal or general extension of small 
 farming in this country, to go to the Continent, espe- 
 cially to France and Belgium, in order to see what the 
 system is and what it is capable of doing. We are 
 told to do this not merely because it is said that the 
 small farmers there are very numerous, but because 
 the system is universally successful in establishing a 
 style of cultivation which leaves nothing to be desired. 
 We feel assured, from our practical knowledge of the 
 circumstances of the general principles and the actual 
 working details of the system, that the advice thus 
 given is founded upon hearsay, and not upon any real 
 knowledge of what the Continental system of small 
 farming is. If those who had thus advised had this 
 real practical acquaintance with it, we shrewdly suspect 
 that they would not so readily and persistently refer 
 us to the Continent for proofs of the great advantages 
 to be obtained by the wide extension of the system in 
 this country. We do not say that all those who thus 
 advise us have no practical acquaintance with the Con- 
 tinental system, but the great majority have not, and 
 of those who have visited the Continental rural dis- 
 tricts comparatively few have examjned the system of 
 small farming, while not a tithe have taken the trouble 
 
SMALL FAEMING OF THE FUTUEE. 41 
 
 to give that patient, unprejudiced inquiry into all the 
 details which alone can justify the giving of an opinion 
 as to what the system really is, and what its working 
 out demands from those who live by it. 
 
 The writer of this work has had more than mere 
 passing opportunities to see what the system is. He has 
 spent considerable periods amongst the small farms, has 
 devoted much time to seeing the actual work done on 
 them, has had opportunities again and again presented 
 to him of ascertaining how the occupiers live, and has 
 come in contact with, and has had put before him the 
 opinions of men living in those countries who were in 
 every way calculated to be considered authorities. He 
 has lived for a considerable period in the very centre of 
 the districts in which it is admitted on all sides the 
 small farming system is to be seen in its most successful 
 aspects ; and has returned after a considerable interval 
 in order again to go through them, and verify or other- 
 wise his first conclusions. To the evidence of others 
 he can therefore add that of his own ; but he prefers to 
 give the following as based on the evidence of much 
 safer and higher authorities than he has any claim to 
 be considered, they being Continental authorities, tho- 
 roughly conversant with the subject in every detail; 
 contenting himself by merely stating that from his 
 own observation, he can heartily endorse everything 
 which those Continental authorities give. 
 
 The first point we concern ourselves with, and to 
 which we specially invite the reader's attention, as 
 ' bearing in the closest manner upon the probable prac- 
 tical outcome of the establishment of an extended 
 system of small farms in this country, is the classes of 
 men to whom it is proposed that the cultivation of 
 the small farms be entrusted, and for whose social 
 interests, well-being, and comfort the extension of the 
 system is advocated. And here it is necessary that 
 the reader should be reminded that one important 
 advantage claimed by those who advocate the wide 
 extension of small farming is this, that it will remove 
 from the overcrowded cities and towns — and, in like 
 
42 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 proportion, release certain trades and industries therein 
 carried on from the pressure of a great number of men 
 who, with their families, will not only be able to make a 
 better, but a much easier living by small farming than 
 they can ever hope to do in their present condition. We 
 have seen, from preceding paragraphs, that before 
 any one can be successful in small farming, he must 
 possess a certain knowledge of its work ; not only what 
 it is, but how to do it. Other qualifications, which 
 come more under the class of what are called moral, 
 are no less requisite. Assuming, for the present, that 
 the class of men who under the proposed system take 
 to small farming possess all those qualifications, let us 
 see at what cost of personal labour success in it can be 
 secured, and what extent of personal comfort can be 
 obtained by its practice. We are told that one of the 
 great social advantages obtained by a life on a small 
 farm is this, that it would get rid of the necessity of 
 that continuous, never-ending toil by which alone a 
 " living " can be secured in the humble and even in 
 some of the more advanced walks of industrial work, 
 carried on ia towns and their suburban districts. 
 
 A very marked social characteristic of the past few 
 years has been the diminution or lessening of the hours 
 of labour. Nearly all the trades connected with what are 
 called the constructive arts, such as building, carpen- 
 tering, machine-making, and the like, give up working 
 at a much earlier period of the day than was the ride not 
 so very many years ago. Factory or mill-hands — such 
 as those of cotton — have a working day much shorter 
 than the wearily long day which was the custom of the 
 trade not long ago. All workers can now get home at 
 a reasonably early hour, and have a long evening before 
 them for the purposes of rest, recreation, or mental 
 improvement ; while, in nearly every district, the 
 Saturday half-holiday is almost universal. And if this 
 shortening of the hours of labour be considered a good 
 thing in the towns and cities, on the ground that it 
 ministers alike to the physical and moral well-being of 
 the working people — at least, it is calculated to do so if 
 
HOURS OF LABOTJK ON SMALL FARMS. 43 
 
 the gained leisure time be rightly used — the same bene- 
 fits should surely flow from a like system in the country 
 districts^ where rural or farming labour is the chief and, 
 over a large area, the only work done. But while in 
 towns and suburban districts the shortening the hours 
 of labour has been carried out to a large extent, and 
 is apparently destined to be carried out farther still, 
 the system has not as yet extended to rural districts ; 
 so that the labourers engaged in farm or rural work 
 of all kinds keep working on for the same long num- 
 ber of hours which has constituted the working day 
 for generations back. But the working day of the 
 farm labourer is not only long, but it is also uncertain 
 in its lengthj especially on farms where much live 
 stock is kept. Odd jobs are perpetually coiiiing up, 
 which must be done without any regard to the hour 
 of the day, be it ever so far advanced. And any extra 
 labour thus given by the labourer does not bring with 
 it the solace of " extra pay," which " overtime " gene- 
 rally carries with it to the working man in towns. If, 
 apart from this feature of farm work, the working-man in 
 town — who grumbles grievously at his long hours, and 
 would " strike " if any attempt was made to make them 
 longer, or to cut off his darling Saturday half-holiday — 
 could be made aware of what length of hard-toiling day 
 his fellow-labourer in the country had to go through ; 
 if he could read the " time-bill " of some farms, which 
 opens the day of the labourer at half-past four o'clock 
 in the morning and closes it at seven, and then only if 
 the work of bedding-up his horses be finished — some 
 faint, glimmering notion might take possession of his 
 mind that, as compared with his fellow-labourer in 
 the country, he, the working man of the town, had, in 
 place of having much to complain of in his labouring 
 lot, much good reason to congratulate himself on 
 the facts of h^ daily work, and also good cause to 
 rejoice at rather than complain of it. 
 
 So far as present circumstances go — and they do not 
 seem likely to be altered — farm and rural work gene- 
 rally would appear to be of that nature which does not 
 
44 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 admit of short days teing the rule ; and while, in some 
 departments of farm work, the Saturday half-holiday 
 could be given without any great difficulty, in others 
 it could not possibly be given. And even if, in some 
 departments, this weekly half-day could be given, it 
 could be given only occasionally. It never could form 
 a regular feature of farm labour. In the work of towns 
 the materials with which the workmen deal cannot, as a 
 rule, suffer deterioration by the work being stopped 
 from the Saturday at noon. Not so in farming, as, for 
 example, in the case of haymaking, a very serious loss 
 indeed in the quality, and in the quantity also, might, 
 and in many instances would, inevitably be the result of 
 giving up work at noon of any day in the week. The 
 farmer, moreover, has to deal, in his calculations, with 
 a factor which gives no concern to the great majority of 
 other industrial workers — namely, the weather. This, 
 with its proverbial uncertainty, must be taken into 
 account, and all its possible contingencies provided ' 
 against, as far as a human foresight and human prudence 
 can provide. Hence, while good weather lasts, every 
 possible minute must be taken advantage of; a rule 
 which finds expression in the well-known proverb or 
 saying of " making hay while the sun shines." Again, 
 each class of work in the cropping of a farm has its own 
 season; and while one, to a certain extent, overlaps 
 another, in no case can one be substituted for another : 
 so that, if the season be lost in any one year, there is no 
 help for it ; but the farmer must simply content him- 
 self by waiting with what patience he may till the 
 following year. And as the extent of each season, or 
 the time during which it lasts, is practically dependent 
 upon the weather, it is obvious that while the weather 
 is good or at all favourable for the work of any special 
 season, every effort must be made to take advantage of 
 every hour of the day, so long as that work lasts. There 
 are some classes of work — as, for example, that of plough- 
 ing — which, if done in bad weather, give such bad results 
 that it had better not be done at all ; so that when fitting 
 weather is found, there must be none of the time frit- 
 
SMALT. FARM LABOUR. 45 
 
 tered away by indifferent work, wMch is bad, or wholly 
 lost by neglect, which is worse. Again, in the depart- 
 ments of live stock, occasions frequently arise when 
 certain, work must be done, whatever be the hour of 
 night or day, otherwise great loss will follow. Prom 
 all this the reader not hitherto acquainted with the 
 peculiarities of farm work will see that of necessity it is 
 characterised by uncertain and changeable features 
 which completely preclude any attempt to lessen the 
 hours of labour as a rule, or to do away with the occa- 
 sion of extra labour or of overtime, or to give a stated 
 or regular half-holiday. 
 
 Farm work, then, considered in relation to the 
 labourer who works for wages, can never, unless a very 
 remarkable change comes over its circumstances, pre- 
 sent the regular features which alone can give or allow 
 to be given the short hours and the frequent holidays 
 which the working men in towns enjoy. In one sense 
 farm work may be said to be continuous, not allowing 
 of any intervals of rest or cessation from labour ; so that, 
 if it were possible for work to be carried on for the four- 
 and-twenty hours, each hour would be found to bring 
 up something to do which could not be so well done at 
 any other time. But if this be the characteristic of the 
 labour of those who work for wages, it is equally, indeed 
 much more strikingly so, of the work of those who 
 cultivate small farms of their own. What a man will 
 grudge to do when tied to do it for wages, he will 
 cheerfully do for himself. This is the law of labouring 
 life, and it is the result of the peculiarities of human 
 nature. And although there are exceptions to the rule, 
 as in the case of men so inherently lazy and so lost to a 
 sense of self-respect that they will condescend to eat 
 the bread of idleness which some one else has to labour 
 for, or prefer to half-starve rather than dig — still it 
 is the rule, that when one has work to do in the results 
 of which he only is interested, he does that work un- 
 grudgingly ; at all events does it, whether he grumbles 
 or not, determined as he is to make the best of it. 
 This rule holds true of every class of labour, and that of 
 small farming is no exception. 
 
46 SMALL FAIiMlNG. 
 
 I 
 
 But we have seen that it is an exception to a rule 
 which is the characteristic of general work, inasmuch 
 as opportunities or occasions for labour which must be 
 done there and then, or, if not then, in many cases, 
 not at all ; so that, in connection with small farm- 
 ing, there is a demand for labour of a much more 
 continuous and, in many cases, of a more harassing or 
 worrying kj.nd than is to be met with in the great 
 majority of industrial callings. It is found then, in 
 practice, that the small farmer is one of the hardest- 
 worked men engaged in any attempt to gain a liveli- 
 hood by labour. If the wish is to be successful, he 
 must, in the words of Scripture, "make haste to rise up 
 early, and to take rest late ; " and also " eat the bread 
 of carefulness." 
 
 If any of our readers be inclined to look upon this 
 as giving an exaggerated view of the position of small 
 farming as an industrial occupation, we have only 
 to invite him to take the evidence presented in the 
 daily lives of small farmers, either at home or abroad. 
 And if he does so, he will, to an absolute certainty, 
 find that, so far from having exaggerated their 
 position, as above pictured in the graphic words of Holy 
 Writ, those words rather undertone it. What, then, is 
 the evidence we can gain by an investigation of the daily 
 lives of small farmers on the Continent? We take 
 those, in the first instance, simply from the fact that 
 they are not only much more numerous than they are 
 in this country, but because we have been and are so 
 persistently told by certain of our public authorities, 
 and those who are public enough but no authorities, to 
 go to the Continent to see what the small farming 
 system is, and what it can do. So bright, according to 
 them, is its future ; so pleasant in social and working 
 aspects is its present ; such an elysium for human 
 labour is a small farm, that they are only anxious to see 
 large farms abolished in this country and their place 
 taken by a lot of small ones. 
 
 What then are the facts of the case so far as regards 
 the labour required on the part of the Continental 
 
SEVERITY OF SMAIJ. FARM LABOUR. 47 
 
 small farmer, contrasting his life, in its working 
 aspects, with that of his fellow-labourers in other 
 departments of industry? If, under this head, we give 
 a plain, bare statement of the details of the work of a 
 farm obliged to be taken up in a continual succession 
 during, say, one season, the reader, accustomed to easier 
 work, would be pretty near the truth if he characterised 
 the life of a Continental small farmer as in reality one 
 but little removed from a condition, if not of slavery, 
 at least of consistent, continuous slaving. And the 
 work is not only made up of a multitude of details, 
 each of which must be attended to as they come up to 
 notice, or not attended to at all, but many of the 
 details involve work of the hardest kind ; not only hard 
 in itself, but undertaken often under conditions of 
 exposure to the weather which intensify the labour 
 and add woefully to the sum total of fatigue. Our 
 working men grumble sore at having to be occupied for 
 nine, or, at the most, ten hours a day. What would 
 they think of a day like that of a Continental farm, which 
 begins, evfenin wintertime, at four or five in the morn- 
 ing, and in the long summer days much earlier than 
 this ? The workman in towns, in many cases, is sheltered 
 from the weather ; and his work also is often so light 
 and, in many of its aspects, so pleasant, that it may be 
 looked upon as a pastime or play. Let him try hard field 
 work, exposed for hours to the nearly vertical rays of 
 an almost tropical sun, or working under a continuous 
 rain, often in Continental countries more like the down- 
 fall of a shower-bath than the gentle rain we know of, 
 and he will, we think, be inclined to " thank his stars " 
 that he is not a small farmer. The Continental small 
 farmer looks upon it as quite an ordinary thing that he 
 be up and about his work before it is actually daylight 
 in summer-time ; and this means beginning a day 
 sometimes between two and three, or between three and 
 four, in the morning ! And we have seen many a time 
 the man working in the fields — or rather have not seen 
 him, but have heard him — bo late that darkness had 
 overtaken him. Those who keep on working near the 
 
48 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 close of day are well aware of the fact that they have 
 light enough to see what they are doing long after it 
 has got so dark that a new-comer to the spot sees 
 nothing — the eye has gradually got accustomed to the 
 necessary darkness. Many an hour of hard farm work 
 is thus done on the Continent in what literally are the 
 dark hours. 
 
 But one does not grudge hard, nay, very hard work, 
 if it pays. If it brings in a good return it is amazing 
 how much a man will do to increase that return. We 
 have said that, in addition to beginning work early and 
 leaving it for rest late, the small farmer on the Con- 
 tinent must, if he wishes to be successful, "eat the bread 
 of carefulness." Literally this is true, for he seldom 
 knows the luxury of butcher's meat. His living gene- 
 rally is of the most penurious character ; so much so, 
 indeed, that if he is successful in laying by some money 
 representative of his saving economy and self-denial of 
 nearly all which ministers to what we English call 
 " comfort," that success is gained at a price which 
 not a few amongst us would think a terrible hardship to 
 pay. Those only who have had ample opportunities to 
 observe know the way in which by far the great 
 majority of Continental small farmers live ; how they 
 are housed, clothed, and fed ; and how few indeed of 
 what are called the comforts and enjoyments of life 
 they enjoy. Theirs is not only a life of incessant and 
 laborious toil, but it is toil which brings to them but 
 few of the rewards which most men like to secure in 
 return for their labour. No doubt the desire to save 
 money, or rather to accumulate what they do save — and 
 those two are quite different things — is very strong 
 indeed amongst the Continental small farmers. It is 
 in truth a passion with them — their life object — to 
 which every day in their daily life is made subservient. 
 And one requires to live amongst them to be able to 
 form a conception as to how they contrive to minister 
 to it, and of the lives they have to lead in order to 
 gratify it. And they can only gratify it by their style 
 of living ; for, beyond all question, the margin of 
 
MAKING A LIVING BY SMALL FARMS. 49 
 
 profit left as the proceeds of their farming is so very 
 narrow that, without the greatest carefulness, they 
 could not indulge in a style of living to which, even in 
 but an indirect way, the title of comfortable could be 
 attached. "What is good living could not, in the great 
 majority of cases, be attained at all ; so that when we 
 know, as we happen to know, how the farming peasantry 
 of the Continent live — and the remark is specially true 
 of those of France — we may have some idea of the 
 sacrifice of personal and household comfort they must 
 make before they can save money. 
 
 The closer, then, the system of Continental small 
 farming is investigated, and the more accurately the 
 facts of the lives of the farmers generally are known, 
 the more clear will the conviction be that such 
 pecuniary results as may arise from the labour they 
 give are obtained, first, by a continuous labour — and 
 that, in many instances, of the hardest, but in all the 
 exercise of the greatest patience — and, secondly, by a 
 style of living to which no Englishman would ever 
 think of applying the word " comfortable." The ques- 
 tion here arises — and it is one which, however its 
 solution may have been shirked by those amongst us 
 who advocate so strongly the establishment of a system 
 of small farming like that of the Continent, must, or 
 at least ought to be answered, namely : In how 
 far is this system suited to the conditions which we 
 find to be those of this country? We do not here 
 refer to the conditions under which land lies as a 
 commodity to be bought and sold. We are well 
 aware of the extent and nature of the controversies 
 which cluster round this point, and deem it necessary 
 only to say, that there is no difficulty in purchasing 
 land suitable for small farms if small farms, on a more 
 extensive scale than is now the rule be demanded. 
 This is simply the fact, whatever some may say is the 
 contrary. That the purchase and transfer of land 
 might be made easier is admitted, we think, on all sides, 
 and that this reform will be carried out, and that before 
 long, is also admitted and wished for by nearly all. 
 
60 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 But the fact then, notwithstanding all this, that small 
 farms are not increasing in number amongst us, or if so, 
 in but a very feeble waj', brings us closely up to the 
 question we have already put : Is the small farm system 
 suited to the conditions in which this country is placed ? 
 It is not a question of conditions connected with the 
 land; for those who advocate the extension, or the 
 universal adoption, of the small farm system assume 
 that, by some species of legislation, land will be 
 had in abundance, as all the cultivated land will be 
 parcelled out into small lots suitable for the Lilli- 
 putian farming which they so desire to see everywhere 
 around us. But the " conditions " we here refer to 
 are those connected with practical points : such as 
 ability to farm well ; markets or outlets for the 
 produce of the farms ; and last, but not least, the 
 habits, peculiarities, and capabilities of the class of 
 working men who are to be drafted from overstocked 
 trades and labour in towns to the small farms of the 
 rural districts, which being under the proposed system 
 so numerous, will absorb a large number of working 
 men. On some of these points, all of them of vital 
 importance in the true consideration of the small-farm 
 system, we have already offered a few remarks. It is 
 to others of them that we now direct the attention of 
 our readers. 
 
CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 THE PEOSPEOTS OP SMALL FABSmia AS A SUCCESSFUL OALLINO FOE CBK- 
 TAIN CLASSES OF WOEKEES. — PEAOTIOAL POINTS CONNECTED WITH 
 THE WOEK OF SMALL FAEMS. — CHANGES IN FAEM "WOEK; DEMANDED 
 BY OHANOE OF FAEM CIKCUMSTAN0E3. 
 
 Apart altogether from such crucial points as in pre- 
 ceding paragraphs we have alluded to, and which beyond 
 all doubt lie at the base of and are essential to success- 
 ful, that is, paying small farms, the questions here arise. 
 Are the classes who are looked to as those who are to 
 yield the small farmers of the future system adapted 
 for the life of a small farmer ? Are the habits of our 
 working classes such, has the training, physical and 
 moral, been such as to fit them for the exercise of a 
 calling which demands what we have seen it impera- 
 tively demands before success can be secured? Are 
 they likely to think that success worth purchasing 
 at the price they will be compelled . to pay for it ? 
 We leave those who really know what our working men 
 are — ^not what, for one purpose or another, they are said 
 to be and highly lauded for being — to answer these 
 questions. We are, and ought to be, the last to say 
 aught against rural life and work. Even at the worst, 
 we believe life in the country is better in every way for 
 a man than life, not at its worst, but in some of its low 
 conditions, in crowded towns. But we do unhesita- 
 tingly say that in the great majority of instances, if we 
 transported a number of working men from such occu- 
 pations as they follow now in towns to the work of 
 small farms it would not be long before they would tell 
 us that their condition was altered in every way for the 
 worse. If they grumble now at the long hours of labour 
 they have in the towns, what would they say, or rather 
 
52 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 not say, at the very much longer hours in the country ? 
 And if they complain — which in pretty strong terms 
 they do — of the hard work they give for little pay, 
 what would their complaints be when they found their 
 labour was longer and harder still in the country, the 
 pay still less in the shape of coin, and a style of living 
 far below that which the work of our artisans, and 
 even the better class of our labourers, can secure ? 
 
 But it may be said that small farming may be much 
 better in the life it gives and the profits it yields in 
 this country than on the Continent. And as we are so 
 persistently told to go there, in order to see what a fine 
 system it is, and how well adapted it 'is to give healthy 
 employment and good living, in addition to seeming 
 high cultivation, we are entirely entitled to take the 
 evidence, as it actually exists, which the Continental 
 system of small farming afibrds. We have distinctly 
 stated the character of that evidence, but we shall 
 accept the position above indicated, and in doing so 
 we have little hesitation in saying that small farming 
 in this country yields little satisfaction to those who 
 carry it on, either in the kind and amount of personal 
 labour it demands and absolutely requires, or in the 
 amo"nt of personal comfort its style of living gives, 
 or that of the profits which flow from it. When we 
 glance at the influence the ordinary — or what we may 
 call popular — small farming has upon the progress of 
 agriculture — that is, its tendency to improve it in all its 
 departments, we shall then have incidentally evidence 
 enough to show that the condition of small farms in 
 this country is such as to make it no very desirable 
 occupation to follow by those who, like most of our 
 working men, who desire — and the feeling is quite na- 
 tural, and pretty generally diffused amongst us all — to 
 give as little labour for as much pay as possible. The 
 reader will therefore not be surprised to learn that an 
 authority who knows the subject well has said that 
 those are no friends to the working-classes who desire to 
 change their position as labourers in towns for that of 
 small farmers in the country. And this opinion is en- 
 
DIFFICULTIES OF SMALL FAKMING. 53 
 
 dorsed by all who know what small farming is. For 
 beyond all question it can only be followed with such 
 success as can be attained by the exercise of habits of 
 patient industry, prudent, careful, and highly econo- 
 mical living and conduct, and by the giving a great deal 
 of hard and wearying labour. Such habits are by no 
 means so widely spread amongst the classes who are 
 proposed to form the small farmers of the future, ac- 
 cording to the system so persistently advocated by some. 
 We have alluded to that feature of modern farming 
 in this country which is but too sadly and widely known 
 amongst those who practise it, namely, the difficulties 
 which now stand in the way of making it a profitable 
 calling. However numerous and diverse the opinions 
 held on the subject as to the causes of the conditions 
 under which farming has to be now carried on in this 
 country may b?, there is but one opinion as to the 
 fact that it is exceedingly difficult to farm with a 
 profit. No doubt the position has in its worst features 
 been greatly aggravated of late years in consequence 
 of unusually bad seasons, which have run over not 
 one or two, but a long series of years. But even with 
 all the advantages good seasons carry with them, 
 the general conditions under which the farmer is 
 now placed makes it a difficult matter for him to 
 secure a balance at all favourable on the right side. 
 So far as corn-growing is concerned, he has to com- 
 pete with foreign countries which possess advantages 
 that even the most favoured districts of this country 
 do not possess ; and corn-growing was at one time and 
 for long the mainstay of the British farmer. And if 
 we turn to the next great resource of farmers, namely, 
 the breeding, rearing, and feeding of live stock for the 
 purposes of the butcher, we find that although it pos- 
 sesses features which will always give the British farmer 
 a commanding position, even here he has to face a com- 
 petition which, if it be not already very great or suc- 
 cessful, has with it such capabilities of extension that it 
 may — not a few entitled to give an opinion maintain 
 that it will — reach a point as serious in its effects upon 
 
54 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 our farmers as has been the competition in corn and 
 bread-stuffs, with which they have, to their great loss, 
 had of late years to contend. And if so, " after this 
 — the deluge." 
 
 One large source of profit being thus cut off from the 
 farmer, and another already in some degree and to a 
 large extent threatened to be still more lessened, 
 farmers in this country have been, so to say, at their 
 wits' end in what direction to turn and what style 
 of farming to pursue in order to make their lands pro- 
 fitable. 
 
 In farming on the old system the products in 
 reality come under three classes only, namety, the 
 growing of corn and of feeding-crops, the keeping of 
 live stock, and the production of milk, butter, and 
 cheese. But now it is admitted on all sides that farm- 
 ing on these, the old lines, is no longer possible, where 
 profit as a source of living is looked to. Hence the 
 necessity of discovering, if that be possible, some modi- 
 fication of the old, or some altogether new system, or 
 some new sources of supply for which there will be a 
 paying demand. Hence also the varying advice given 
 to the farmers by those outside to take up new 
 branches, or to develop old branches in a new way, by 
 which their land could be made profitable. But out- 
 siders are not alwaj^s the best of advisers, for the simplest 
 of reasons, that they do not know all the circumstances, 
 and are as a rule ignorant of the conditions of and the 
 way in which farm work is done. Hence, the most 
 flattering prospects have been held out to farmers that 
 if they would only concentrate their attention upon 
 certain branches, such as fruit-growing, market- garden- 
 ing, and the like, they would find such a demand for 
 their new products that a prosperity as great, if not 
 indeed greater, than that of the olden times would 
 once more shine on the path of the farmers. But how- 
 ever brilliant the prospects of such changes in styles of 
 farming appear at first sight, especially to those who 
 have no practical knowledge of the conditions under 
 which land lies, and the circumstances under which 
 
PEACriCAL FACrORS IN FARMING. 55 
 
 farmers have to cultivate it, or make it in some way or 
 another profitable, it is found by those who really know 
 to be by no means the easy thing which so many think 
 it is to make changes in the style of farming. 
 
 The changes may be made in some instances easy 
 enough, but it is quite another thing to make them so 
 that they will be profitable. Even in the case of what ap- 
 pears to be a simple change, and which promises, simple 
 though it be, great results, the conditions necessary to 
 secure such success may be practically nearly, in some 
 instances almost wholly, lacking. And it should always 
 be remembered — what is by but too many always for- 
 gotten, and by many more still not at all known — that 
 the working factors in farming are very different indeed 
 from those of other industrial callings. In many instances 
 a totally new manufacture of style of goods may be gone 
 into without involving any great loss, or necessitating 
 any complete doing away with old appliances and 
 machinery, and changes can be made, and are made, 
 with comparative rapidity. Not so in farming. The 
 farmer has to deal with the factors of soil, climate, and 
 locality, which vary in various districts, and the pecu- 
 liarities of each may be such as to render the adapta- 
 tion of a new system of working, which maybe strongly 
 recommended to him, practically impossible. Aiid 
 although all may not be unfavourable, one may be, and 
 it requires all the factors to be present to make the 
 calculation complete. Many, too many, talk and write 
 as if the farmer could do as he liked, when and how he 
 liked with his land ; they do not know that the land 
 may be more truly said to do as it likes with the farmer. 
 And what of the locality and its character ? these at all 
 events the farmer cannot change or control. Another 
 point is quite ignored by outsiders who are so eager and 
 ready to recommend new systems in farming, and yet it 
 is perhaps one of the most powerful with which the far- 
 mer has to deal : in carrying out improved — or new, 
 which are expected to be improved systems — in other 
 callings the necessary changes can be made with com- 
 ■paratively great rapidity. Not so in farming. Changes 
 
56 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 cannot be made quickly; and while the effects of a 
 change can be at once, or almost immediately, made 
 clear in other industrial work, the results of changes in 
 farming have to be waited for over a period of generally 
 not less than twelve months, and in some classes of 
 farm work it takes a much longer period to test properly 
 any change made. The reader will perceive that all 
 these circumstances and conditions make it by no means 
 the easy thing which some tell us it is, to introduce 
 changes in the style of farming more or less essentially 
 different from the old methods. And others might be 
 named which, although minor, yet exercise an influence 
 proportionately powerful in modifying the results. 
 
 We have a very striking and suggestive illustration 
 of this in the leading change which has been advocated 
 by so many, and by farmers to a large extent adopted. 
 The change here alluded to is that of converting 
 arable land into pastures or meadows — that is, from 
 corn and food crop-growing into grass-growing land. 
 This conversion seems simple enough in principle, but 
 in practice it involves not a few important points. 
 These will in their proper place be gone into ; mean- 
 while we state the case in order to illustrate what we 
 have said above. Assuming that beyond all doubt 
 corn-growing is not profitable, and never will again 
 be profitable in this country, and that stock-keeping, 
 or dairying, must henceforth be the direction in which 
 farmers are to work, then it appears to be a good 
 thing — indeed the only thing to do — to convert the 
 arable oi corn-growing land into grass-land for pas- 
 tures or meadow for haymakifig. But some of our 
 readers will perhaps be surprised to learn that some 
 farmers, however anxious they may be to make the 
 change, cannot make it. Simply for this reason, that 
 the conditions of soil and climate in his farm are such 
 that he cannot produce good, that is paying, grass- 
 crops. No more cogent reason could be given than 
 ihiB, and yet it is ignored or overlooked by so many. 
 When we read, as we have had too many opportunities 
 of late to read, some journalists advising our farmers 
 
FALLACY OF CERTAIN ADVICE. 57 
 
 to turn all their arable land into grass-land — aa if it were 
 as easy a thing to do as the stocking of a retail shop 
 with a new class of goods, or easier — we may rest assured 
 that they are giving advice upon a point on which they 
 are wittingly or uhwittingly ignorant. Even in cases 
 where the conditions are such that this conversion of 
 arable into grass-land can be made, such writers who 
 are so ready with their advice do not seem to be aware 
 that the work is one which to do well requires time. 
 In nearly all cases it takes some years to form a good 
 grass-field, and in some many years go by before there 
 is formed what is technically called a " good bottom " 
 or a good bite of grass. And as the necessities of the 
 farihers who are advised to make this decided change 
 in their style of farming in order to save them from 
 further loss, or what is worse, bankruptcy, are imme- 
 diate and more or less clamorous, what are they to do in 
 the meanwhile, during the period when the conversion 
 is being made ? The proverb, " While the grass grows 
 the steed starves," is, we fear, that which best would 
 indicate their position. 
 
 We shall see when we come to discuss the details of 
 grass-land management, that there are some points 
 other than those we have just named which must be 
 taken into account in considering this conversion of 
 arable into grass-land, which so many journalists and 
 platform orators seem to think is the one and the only 
 remedy for getting rid of all the difficulties of the farm. 
 We may refer to one point only as indicative of the 
 want of practical knowledge of farming which such 
 writers have. Thus, when we find them writing of 
 arable land as of that which is perfectly synonymous 
 with corn-growing land, we rightly conclude that they 
 do not know what farming is. For even if farmers 
 generally turned to stock-keeping or dairying as the 
 only way of getting out of their difficulties, every one 
 who is acquainted with farming as it is, knows well 
 enough that some of their Jand must be arable — that is, 
 under successional cropping — in order to grow the pro- 
 duce which a good system of stock-keeping and dairying 
 
58 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 demands. And sucli assumed authorities would be very 
 mucli surprised to learn that in the opinion of the most 
 advanced authorities, in place of no arable land being 
 required, that if dairying, for example, be brought to a 
 much higher condition of paying efficiency than it now 
 possesses, or has ever in this "country possessed, a very 
 much greater breadth of land must be made arable in 
 order to grow the much greater variety and the greater 
 quantity of crops which the good system of dairying 
 will demand. It would be easy for us now to show 
 that if corn-growing is to be practically given over, 
 or at least practised to a much less extent than it is 
 even now, the future success of farming in this countrj' 
 will depend chiefly upon the way in which this greatly 
 extended cropping of arable land is carried out in con- 
 junction with the systems of stock-keeping and dairy- 
 ing so as to efficiently help them. 
 
 Lea;ving for the present further considerations con- 
 nected with such changes in the style and in the details 
 of farming as the depressed conditions of the calling 
 would seem to demand, we have the fact, acknowledged 
 on all sides, that this depression can scarcely well be 
 worse. A brief digest of each case, showing the strug- 
 gles which had been made to avoid a pecuniary catas- 
 trophe which involved such powerful personal sacrifices, 
 along with a list of those who had been compelled of 
 late years to give up farming as a business from its 
 failing to be profitable, would form a very painful 
 chapter in the social history of this country. Nor would 
 the chapter be the less, but all the more dolorous, if it 
 included also a brief detail of the struggles many are 
 now making to retain that position the loss of which 
 seems every day more and more inevitable. 
 
 If, then, such has been the struggling position 
 of farmers to maintain their business — and if such 
 a struggle is still being carried on by many, with 
 whom the issue is very doubtful, the question may 
 well be asked, What chance of success will small 
 farmers have who belong to the class or classes of those 
 to whom small farms on the most extended scale are 
 
INCREASE OF EAEMING DIFFICULTIES. 59 
 
 proposed to be given ? If men possessing a knowledge 
 of practical farming, and knowing the way of making 
 the best of circumstances, have not been able to 
 succeed, what chances are left to those who are quite 
 ignorant of what farming is ? And if, with some capital 
 to carry on with and to fall back upon, farmers bred to 
 the business have not succeeded, what hope seems open 
 to those who may reasonably be presumed to have no 
 capital at all ? — men who literally live from hand to 
 mouth, and when from sickness or other causes they 
 have to cease working for a time, have simply to suffer 
 from the lack of those necessaries of life which they 
 could obtain only from their work, and have no little 
 stock to fall back upon during " rainy days." 
 
 If the difficulties in the way of farmers who know 
 their business well to making it a paying one be so great 
 that even the possession of capital will not enable them 
 to overcome them, and that a complete change in the 
 style of farming be advised, even though there be a 
 doubt in the minds of high practical authorities whether 
 even that change will meet the necessities of the case, it 
 is, we confess, difficult to see what is to be gained by the 
 proposition which we know to be by many so warmly 
 advocated — namely, to enormously multiply the number 
 of farmers. It does seem, to say the least of it, a singu- 
 larly odd way of getting out of a social difficulty by 
 simply adding to the number of those who have them- 
 selves made the difficulty, or, if they have not made it, 
 are assuredly beyond all controversy the victims of it. If 
 farming be a bad business to follow as a means of live- 
 lihood; if, to use an ordinary phrase, it is a "losing 
 concern," it seems to be a grotesque proposition to 
 reverse it, and make it a paying business, by increasing 
 the number of those who follow it. This is equivalent 
 to saying, that if you have only a small amount of 
 gain to divide amongst a given number of applicants, 
 you have but to increase the number of those who are 
 to share in it in order to increase, and greatly to 
 increase, the amount of each individual's share. You 
 have twenty shillings to divide equally amongst twenty 
 
60 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 people : each gets a shilling in. the one case ; but to make 
 the amount five shillings, all you have to do is to 
 increase the number sharing five, or six, or even ten- 
 fold. Such reasoping may suffice for some who have a 
 purpose to secure in so reasoning — if the term can, 
 indeed, be applied to a process in which reason has no 
 place at all ; but it will not satisfy those who take a 
 common-sense view of the matter. But the points con- 
 nected with this matter of vital importance to the 
 subject are not yet exhausted ; in the next chapter we 
 have to follow them up. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF SI TWAT.T. FAIIMIN& ON THE PEOGBESSrVE IMPEOTE- 
 IIENT OF AGEIOULTUKE. — LESSONS TO BE LEABNED FKOM THE FINE 
 CULTIVATION OF THE SMALL FABMS OF FLANBEES, IN BELGItTM. — • 
 PBEPAEATION OF THE SOIL. — MANUEINO. — ROTATION AND CONTINUAL 
 SUCCESSION OF OEOPS. — ■WEEDINO AND CLEAEING OF THE LAND AND 
 THE OEOPS. — THE EAISINS OF A NEW TABIETT OF FEEDINO CEOPS 
 FOE DAIBT CO'WS. 
 
 Taking the view of the subject named at the end of last 
 chapter, apart altogether from the question as to 
 whether it would be humane to put a great 'num- 
 ber of those who have at the best to make a struggle 
 for existence ia a position where not only this 
 struggle would be greater, but carried on under 
 circumstances and by surroundings which aU their 
 previous life and habits would make a paia and trouble 
 to them, it is but fair to inquire whether there be 
 not amongst those who so warmly advocate the general 
 extension of a farmiag peasantry — or of small farms 
 — some reason held or argimients advanced for their 
 advocacy of this system, other than the absurd and 
 grotesque one we have named at the end of last chap- 
 ter, and which we have seen to be no reason at aU. 
 And this inquiry brings with it several poiats which 
 have the closest possible bearing upon the subject. 
 And here we are face to face with one of the most 
 sing^ar phases of the discussion which has been of 
 late and is still being carried on so warmly and 
 widely with reference to the extension of the system 
 of smaU farming in this country. In all the dis- 
 cussions on the subject, through press and platform 
 agencies alike, in the legislature and out of it, while the 
 extension of the system of peasant farming has been 
 warmly advocated — as if this were synonymous with the 
 
62 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 extension, or rather the progress, of farming per se, 
 that is, as promotive of the improvement of agricul- 
 ture — the question, so far as we are aware, has never 
 even been hinted at, far less broached : Is this system 
 of peasant husbaridry or small farms likely to be for the 
 benefit of agriculture ? We have been and are still all 
 assuming that it will be so — in point of fact, the public 
 has held it to be understood as a mere matter of course, 
 that if we increase the number of peasant farmers we in 
 like proportion increase the prosperity of farming as a 
 calling, and promote the progress alike of the science 
 and the art of agriculture. But it has never occurred, 
 apparently, to any one engaged so warmly in the discus- 
 sion of the question that it would be only right to 
 inquire " if these things are so," if this position be 
 accurate. Again, it seems to have been always assumed 
 that in increasing the number of peasant farmers we 
 were doing that which would best increase their pros- 
 perity as individuals, and add greatly to their social 
 comfort and well-being. It may after all be found, if 
 we -push our inquiry in that direction also, that we are 
 proposing to do that which, in place of adding to the 
 number of those who were making a fair living by the 
 exercise of only a fair amount of hard work, we should 
 be simply increasing the number of those to whom 
 existence would be " aperpetual struggle." We confess 
 that we have frequently been struck with the fact that 
 this common-sense view of such an important question 
 has never been taken. The matter of surprise is that 
 business men, alike in the legislature and out of it, do 
 not take a purely business view of the whole question. 
 If any had proposed a change in the way of con- 
 ducting their own business, on the ground that it would 
 give employment to a greater number of people — ^that 
 in fact, to use the ordinary phrase, the new system would 
 give rise to emploj'ment for a " greater number of 
 hands " — ^would not they as business men have at the 
 very first inquired — nay, have thoroughly investigated 
 — the conditions of this proposed change, to see beyond 
 all doubt whether their business — that is, their profits 
 
COMMON-SENSE VIEW OF THE SYSTEM. 63 
 
 or gains — would be increased by tbe change ? If hu- 
 mane men, would they not also have pushed their 
 inquiries further, and have at the least tried to discern 
 whether this increased number of hands would have 
 their position in Hfe bettered by taking up the work 
 necessitated by this proposed change ? And if all this 
 inquiry resulted in showing, first, that their business 
 would not be improved by the change, and secondly, 
 that it would not benefit the increased number of hands 
 employed by it, we feel sure that the decision would be 
 in one direction only, namely, to have nothing to do 
 with the proposed change, which had clearly been put 
 before them by people who really did not know what 
 the business was which they offered to improve, as they 
 called it. 
 
 Had this conmion- sense, business-like way of con- 
 sidering the subject been adopted, we should have had 
 fewer absurd statements made in connection with the 
 small farm question than we have had. " Oh, but," 
 say some, " we maintain that the wide extension of 
 peasant or small farming icill be for the benefit of 
 farming ; that the progress of agriculture will be 
 enormously promoted by it." This may be maintaiaed, 
 and every one has a right to maintain his views ; 
 we have a right to expect, however, that facts be 
 brought forward in support of the view — facts, not 
 assimiptions. We have shown certain facts as being 
 inextricably mixed up with, and as bearing upon, of 
 necessity from their condition, the question of small 
 farming. Those facts relate to the personnel of the 
 question. Let us see how facts bear on the proposition 
 or opinion of some who hold that, peasant or small 
 farming being extensively adopted, the progress of agri- 
 culture itself will be promoted. 
 
 In the first instance, let us look at the condition of 
 matters on the Continent ; for, as we have seen, it is to 
 the experience of the Continental small farming that 
 we are continually referred, as affording such ample 
 proofs of the beneficial influences which the system 
 all round or in every aspect presents. And in truth 
 
64 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 the uncompromising advocates of the small farming or 
 peasant husbandry system had very good reasons in 
 which to go on the Continent for facts in favour of 
 it. Such facts were assuredly found in one or two 
 districts there ; it would be a very difficult matter to 
 find many districts ia this country in which small 
 farms of the true class could be met with, in which 
 high class or good farming would be met with as well 
 as a comfortable living or competence secured. Good 
 reason there is for the advocates of the system to go on 
 the Continent for favourable examples of the system,; 
 they cannot find many here. 
 
 And here we would point out a fallacy there is con- 
 nected with the reference so frequently and so con- 
 fidently made to the wonderful agricultural results of 
 Continental small farming. We have referred, in a 
 preceding chapter, to a part of Belgium ia which there 
 is specially fine and successful farming to be met 
 with ; that part is comprised within the two provinces 
 of East and "West Flanders. Those provinces were 
 specially the home of the Flemings, of whom every 
 student of history has read so much, and who, in every 
 department of trade, and also in many branches of com- 
 merce, were at one time the leaders in Europe. Every 
 yoimg student has read of the famous cities of Bruges, 
 Antwerp, Ghent, &c., and of how their rich citizens 
 engaged in all the trades, and became rich and luxurious 
 through the success with which those were carried on, 
 and the products of which, through their pushing 
 commerce, were known to and valued by the whole of 
 Europe. The "Flemings" — for by this name were 
 known the inhabitants of the two provinces of modern 
 Belgium called East and West Flanders, and in olden 
 times, and for long, "The Low Countries" — were, in 
 truth, the pioneers of nearly all our industrial trades, 
 and were the first who may be said to have become 
 rich and powerful through the success by which they 
 prosecuted them. There is scarcely one of our own 
 industrial trades but what has, in its early stages, been 
 greatly indebted to the experience and, not seldom, to 
 
FLEMISH INDUSTRY AND SKILL. 65 
 
 the personal help of Flemish ■workmen ; and, in some 
 instances, certain branches of industry owe their intro- 
 duction and establishment amongst us wholly to the 
 Flemish. Nor did this industrial and ever-actiye 
 people confine their labours to the pursuit and to the 
 improYement of trades and to certain branches of com- 
 merce. Agriculture was early taken up by them ; and 
 such was the attention they paid to the practical work 
 of farming, tliat they not only introduced a field practice 
 which rapidly became, and stiU continues to be, the 
 finest and most produotiYe in the world; they also 
 gaYe special attention to the introduction of new crops. 
 And it is scarcely an exaggeration to say that to the 
 cidtivators of the Low Countries this land of ours owes 
 nearly, if not all, its vegetables and some of those foreign 
 crops which are now the most highly estimated pro- 
 ducts of English farms for cattle -feeding and for dairy 
 purposes. And it was these cultiYators who founded 
 what has for long and is now so well known to all 
 educated agriculturists as " Flemish husbandry." This 
 is not the place to enter into any full or, indeed, 
 even a partial description of the celebrated and highly 
 esteemed system of farming ; it will be sufficient for 
 our purposes to give in a sentence or two its leading 
 characteristics, referring the reader interested in its 
 further and fuller study to works specially devoted to 
 the subject — of which, however, there are but very few 
 published in this country — taking the liberty to note 
 our own work, entitled, " Notes of an Agricultural Tour 
 in Belgiiim, Holland, and on the Rhine," in which there 
 is a full description of Flemish farming in nearly all its 
 departments. 
 
 In one sense Flemish husbandry may be defined to 
 be an application of the principles and practice of 
 gardening to the production of the vegetable products 
 which are generally classed as those of. the farm. As 
 in gardening, so in Flemish farming, the extent or 
 surface of land devoted to any one particular crop is 
 comparatively small, and in many of the small farms 
 actually small ; and, as in gardening, the number of crops 
 
 F 
 
66 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 cultivated is considerable. These embrace not merely 
 the crops known as cereal, such as wheat, barley, and 
 oats, which form the staple crops of English farming, 
 but others which are but seldom grown with us, such as 
 rye and buckwheat, which may be said to be practically 
 ujiknown to our farmers. But it is in the department 
 of green and foreign crops that the pecidiarities of the 
 Flemish farming is best seen, and this chiefly in the 
 much wider range of plants which the Flemish farmer 
 has at his command. While we have comparatively few 
 the Flemish farmers have many, some of which, while 
 occupying with them a highly useful place in cattle feed- 
 ing and in dairying, are almost wholly unknown to our 
 farmers, and indeed are absolutely so to the great ma- 
 jority of them. But numerous as are the crops which 
 the Flemish farmer has at his command, it is one of the 
 features of his practice that he cultivates the great 
 majority of them. He has thus a wide range of food 
 of different qualities, being a practical believer in the 
 benefits of change of food to live stock, though he may 
 not be able, nor indeed is it at all likely to be able, to 
 state the scientific reasons on which this wise practice 
 is based. And as the periods of growth of those varying 
 crops are different, he is able to have at nearly all 
 seasons of the year some crop within his reach. 
 The number of crops which the Flemish farmer is 
 in the regular habit of growing is best shown in the 
 period over which his system of rotation extends. Thus, 
 while in many of our districts, as in those in which 
 heavy soils predominate, our rotations embrace but four 
 crops — that is, forming a " four-course (or year) rotation 
 or system," and in our best and more easily cultivated 
 loamy soils but five or six crops are cultivated — that is, 
 forming a " five or six-course rotation : " in Flanders a 
 rotation takes in many more crops, so many in some 
 instances that it embraces ten, twelve, and even four- 
 teen different crops. 
 
 As in gardening, so in Flemish farming in its best 
 forms, the land is never idle ; as soon as one crop is taken 
 off, the soil is prepared and another crop is soon down. 
 
THE ■WORK OF THE I'LEMISH FAEMEK. 67 
 
 And the observant traveller will frequently see one part 
 of a " break" or " strip " of land ■which, has contaiaed a 
 certain crop, being reaped while the part cut is at once 
 being turned over for the seed-bed of a succeeding crop. 
 To such an extent is this rapid fiUing up of land which 
 has been cleared of a crop carried, that, as in the case of 
 a break of some forage plant which is being cut for 
 the horse-feeding or soiliag of stock dairy cows, while 
 the greater part of the breali still remains covered with 
 the crop, the part on which the crop has been cut is at 
 once turned over and sown do^wn. And as the cutting 
 goes on from day to day, so also frequently the turning 
 over of the land and its sowing do^wn is effected. The 
 industrious Flemish cultivator does not always wait 
 tUl the whole extent of the break is reaped or cut 
 before he begins to prepare the soil for a new crop ; he 
 follows up the cuttiag by sowing, so that when the last 
 portion of the old crop is cut, a few yards only remaiu 
 to be sown down, and thus the whole break is seeded 
 for a new and a succeeding crop. 
 
 But it is not only in the way in which he keeps his 
 land under a continual succession of crops that the prac- 
 tice of the true Flemish husbandman is noteworthy. 
 He gives the most anxious care to the stirring and 
 tillage of his soU, so that he secures the deepest possible 
 seed-bed for the resulting plants. And when the 
 plants appear and take possession of the soil, the 
 Flemish farmer, in order to give them all the advan- 
 tages of that soil, and that its fertilising constituents 
 shall not be taken up by alien plants, wages such 
 a war with the weeds that in the Flemish districts 
 proper it is a difficult matter to find a weed in a field. 
 Certainly some districts might be traversed all over 
 without meeting a field where weeds could be found. 
 Practically it is true that the fields are weedless. We 
 have heard a Flemish farmer say that if he gave a 
 centime for every weed which could be found in one 
 of his fields, he would not have many centimes to 
 give. Nor in the use of a wide range of manurial 
 substances, markedly of town refuse in its richest if 
 
68 SMALL FAEMING. 
 
 not its most odorous or inviting of forms, nor in 
 their general management Lefore and after application 
 to the land, is the Flemish farmer less marked for his 
 painstaking care. Though in no sense a man of science, 
 he has succeeded in reducing his work in manure to 
 a science, and is infinitely in advance of the prac- 
 tice of his corresponding brethren in this country. 
 And to all this care he adds such a complete system 
 of cattle-feeding in the housing or permanent build- 
 ing principle, that while he gets the highest economy 
 in the consumption of food — ^none being wasted, as in 
 our almost universally adopted system of open pasturage 
 — ^he receives in return the largest possible supplies of 
 nutriment for his fields. The Flemish husbandman 
 proper — that is, in the true Flanders districts — works 
 thus in a perpetual circle of operations which ever returns 
 into itself. And it is to be specially noted here that the 
 soil he has to deal with nearly all over this district is of 
 the poorest. At one time fields now bearing the richest 
 of crops were but tracts of sterile sand ; and what the 
 nature of the process of change is may be seen in some 
 districts in which the work of m.aking fertile fields out 
 of sandy tracts, as, for example, in the dreary desert 
 known as the Campinas. 
 
 This giving back to the land what is taken from it is 
 the feature of Flemish farming proper ; and it is a duty, 
 so to say, so palpably and forcibly made clear, and the 
 method of restoration so obviously thrust, so to call it, 
 upon one's notice, that there seems but little common- 
 sense is required to urge one to its adoption. Food 
 is produced by the soil ; this is consumed and eaten by 
 man and the cattle he keeps ; the consumption in time 
 yields substances which, in turn, if restored to the soil, 
 give back to it the elements of fertility of which the 
 food crops deprived it. And if carelessness, indiffer- 
 ence, or ignorance prompts the farmer to neglect this 
 restoration, he is sure to suffer loss ; and this compen- 
 sating characteristic of nature in farming is just as 
 clearly displayed in the case of poor soils. The land is, 
 so to say, the most grateful of all recipients : you give 
 
SUCCESSFUL FARMING. 69 
 
 her a little, and she returns much. — gives back a 
 hundredfold ; and the more deficient it is in those con- 
 stituents •whi9h are necessary to the production of rich 
 crops, the more you give the more you get, and always 
 in a greatly higher proportion than what you bestow. 
 It is literally true that nothing in nature is so grateful 
 as the soil for all you give her of your labour and the 
 result of your intelligent thought. And it is equally 
 true in regard to the plants the soil produces : the more 
 care you bestow upon their culture, the greater the 
 number of helps you give to them in overcoming the 
 difficulties which beset them, the more they increase and 
 flourish ; and this in a far higher ratio of productive- 
 ness than would seem justified by the care bestowed. 
 Considerations such as these-^-indeed the very points 
 named — lie at the root of all successful farming. They 
 have not been neglected or overlooked by the Flemish 
 farmer. And in the districts in which he has had to 
 contend with poor soil, in many cases over large dis- 
 tricts of the very poorest, it is by careful attention to 
 these points that he has been enabled to change what 
 were at one time but sandy deserts into tracts of highly 
 cultivated country, bearing the richest of crops. The 
 Flemish farmer has made, indeed, his farming the 
 synonym of all that is worthy of imitation in the art. 
 
 But the reader must not go away with the notion 
 that the splendid style of farming to be met with in 
 some, constitutes the actual agricultural condition of 
 all, parts of Flanders. We have just had occasion inci- 
 dentally to note that the style of farming in the Polder 
 districts is poor ; in some — it would be more correct to 
 say in many — parts it is of the poorest. The area in 
 which the highest farming is prevalent is compara- 
 tively limited ; and over a large part of the districts 
 which are generally considered in this country to be the 
 home of the Flemish husbandry, which is so highly and 
 so justly praised, the farming, although good, and in- 
 finitely superior to the general farming of Belgium, has 
 still some directions in which improvement is necessary, 
 and which is strongly urged upon the notice of the far- 
 
70 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 mer by the leading agricultural societies and advanced 
 farming authorities of this flourishing kingdom. 
 
 This rapid survey of the peculiarities of Flemish 
 farming in its best, and what we venture to maintain to 
 be its true aspects, affords, as we have seen, many 
 suggestions of practical value to the reader interested 
 in the progress of English farming. But much as can 
 be gathered from it in favour of the system of small 
 farming, it is altogether an erroneous conclusion to 
 come to, that it is to be taken as an example of the 
 system as carried on throughout the Continent. When 
 our public speakers and writers, who advocate the wide 
 extension of small farming in our own country, refer to 
 the success of the system abroad, and, poiating to the 
 known excellence of the Flemish husbandry — which no 
 one disputes — give it as a specimen of what small farm- 
 ing is throughout the Continent, they make a grave error. 
 
 "We have seen that, even in connection with Flemish 
 farming itself, some have promulgated altogether erro- 
 neous statements. They have stated that the Continental 
 small or peasant farming system throughout is charac- 
 terized by the excellence of the Flemish husbandry. 
 Those who know what Continental farming is, know 
 how very far from the truth this statement is. Peasant 
 husbandry on the Continent is so far from being first-rate 
 in its practice, that, as a rule, it might with safety be said 
 that it is not good, often mediocre, in very many instances 
 exceedingly bad. Let Continental authorities them- 
 selves be the judges on this matter. They know better 
 than we who are on this side of the Channel ; they live 
 amongst the peasant farmers, and have therefore abun- 
 dant oppbrtunities to know what [their lives and their 
 work are, while we can only guess. We have seen 
 that there are those amongst us who have, for some 
 years back, been persistently praising up the Conti- 
 nental system of peasant farming, as embodying in its 
 practice all that is desirable, and poiating to what it 
 has done as the best evidence attainable of its enormous 
 value to us, if only we introduced it in this country. 
 Those out-and-out advocates of the system would there- 
 
CONTINKNTAL FARMING. 71 
 
 fore have been very much surprised indeed if they had 
 listened to all we have heard, as given by men abroad 
 who know what the Continental system of peasant 
 iarming largely is in its daily practice. Still more 
 would they be surprised if they read all that has been 
 written — all the speeches which have been made at 
 Continental agricultural gatherings on the subject. 
 These state, in no uncertain or vague terms, the opinions 
 of men whose position and whose practice give them an 
 authority which can in no wise be gainsaid. Their state- 
 ments cannot be refuted, for they are founded upon facts. 
 And, beyond all doubt, those facts give such a view of the 
 faults and shortcomings of Continental peasant farmers, 
 as farmers, that those who have hitherto been praising 
 up the system as everything to be desired, and as one in 
 every way worthy to be copied by us, ;nust, if open to 
 the stern logic of facts, pause in their warm advocacy of 
 the system, and conclude that they have been basing 
 that advocacy upon surmises — upon statements which, 
 though not made in wilful perversion, are stiU, we hope, 
 made in absolute ignorance of the facts of the case. 
 
 The writer of these lines does not wish to be mis- 
 understood. No one can possess a higher opinion than 
 he possesses of what the system of peasant farming, as 
 practised in some districts of the Continent, can do in 
 maintaining and, in some cases, largely increasing the 
 fertility of land under culture, and in making sterile 
 soils fruitful and fertile ; and of such districts, of which 
 there are more than one, that part of Belgium in 
 which Flemish farming, in its best or true aspect 
 exists, may be taken as the type. No one can have a 
 more thorough appreciation than he has of the value 
 of the good features of this typical system, nor a 
 more earnest and anxious desire to see those fea- 
 tures introduced into this country, under those cir- 
 cumstances in which this introduction could most 
 advantageously be made. In years gone by, through 
 the medium of the agricultural journals, and in more 
 special and permanent channels, he has done his little 
 best to point out what those valuable features of the 
 
72 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 highest type of Continental agriculture are, and how 
 they could, with great advantage to English farmers, 
 be introduced into our system. No one can have a 
 higher admiration of the patient spirit with which 
 through life the peasant farmers of the Continent carry 
 out the hard labour of what is practically a perpetual 
 toil ; of the sober, prudent, and, in reality, self-denying 
 life they ,lead. All this, as seen in its natural aspects, 
 has not seldom pleased and delighted him. But although 
 all this be true, and earnestly as he wishes that the 
 same habits of industrious and, in many aspects, blame- 
 less lives, could be largely introduced amongst the classes 
 in our own country with whom such habits at present, 
 at least, exist but sparingly, and which certainly do not 
 form a striking feature of their lives ; nevertheless, the 
 stern logic of facts, of things as they exist — not as some 
 would wish them to be, and others, in spite of all truth, 
 insist that they are — compels the writer to say that if 
 the advancement of agriculture be the one object, and 
 the easy attainment of a life of social and material 
 comfort be the other end in view of those who so per- 
 sistently advocate the general introduction of the Con- 
 tinental system of small or peasant farming into this 
 country, then he cannot, with facts as they are before 
 him, see how either the one or the other of these objects, 
 in every way desirable in themselves, can be secured by 
 this introduction. 
 
 In concluding this department of our subject, one 
 question arises which bears on a point of vast im- 
 portance in a social and material consideration of the 
 whole matter, and it is this. Is the wide extension 
 of peasant husbandry — ^the now fashionable name for 
 small farming when practised as a means of liveli- 
 hood, not as the hobby of the rich amateur — ^Hkely 
 to improve the art and science of agriculture, to increase 
 the fertility of our soils? We have glanced at the 
 causes, many and diverse in character, which have 
 made British farming what it is, at once a science and 
 an art, demanding, because requiring, all the aids which 
 a wide range of other sciences, such as those oi chemis- 
 
BRITISH SMALL FARMS. 73 
 
 try, physiology, and mechanics, can give to them ; and 
 those in turn demanding from the jarmer a high degree 
 of knowledge, skill, energy, business capacity, and, 
 above all, abundance of capital. It is all this which 
 has created new trades of literally gigantic propor- 
 tions, such as our manufacturers of manures and our 
 makers of agricultural implements and machines. 
 
 A very striking commentary upon all this, and the 
 general relation which small farming bears, and which, 
 we venture to say, will continue to bear, upon the 
 progressive improvement of agriculture, was afforded a 
 short time ago. In one of the annual reports presented 
 to the members of the Royal Agricultural Society of 
 England by the Cotmcil, a very decided expression of 
 regret had a place. This was to the effect that the small 
 farmers of England have taken little interest in certain 
 movements which the society had inaugurated calcu- 
 lated to promote the welfare and to stimxdate the progress 
 of the work of farmers generally — that they had not in 
 any way shown a desire to adopt in their practice on their 
 small holdings an improved system of cultivation, the 
 careful treatment of manures, the wise management of 
 live stock ; in short, all those aids to farming success 
 which the practice of advanced farmers and the teachings 
 of men of science had abundantly proved lay open for the 
 acceptance of those engaged in agrictdture. In reading 
 this reported "regret" of the Council of the Royal Agri- 
 cultural Society of England, any one who knows what 
 the circumstances of small farming are wiU be greatly 
 surprised to learn that the regret was expressed at all. 
 The true matter for surprise would have been, if it could 
 have been stated that the small farmers of England • 
 had shown even a desire to avail themselves of even 
 one of the improvements of the scientific farming of 
 modern times. Another matter of surprise will be to 
 those who know what small farming is and what small 
 farmers are in this country, how the Council could have 
 forgotten — for they must have known — ^what these 
 circumstances are ; for if they had remembered them, 
 they certainly would never have deemed it necessary to 
 
74 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 express their regret that our small farmers were so 
 indifEerent to what modern scientific farming offered 
 them. The truth is, as our readers — if they have 
 perused what has gone before this will clearly see — ^that 
 small farmers acting merely under the exigencies of their 
 farming, which demand the closest attention and the 
 raost severe and continuous personal labour, have no 
 time to devote themselves to the study or make them- 
 selves acquainted with the facts of what scientific farm- 
 ing can do for them ; and knowledge must precede 
 practice. But even if they had the wish they have not 
 the means to avail themselves of all the improvements 
 which science offers them. And if the small farmers 
 of the present — who may be taken as the best repre- 
 sentatives of the class, inasmuch as it may be fairly 
 assumed that they have chosen their caUing as a means 
 of livelihood — cannot so avail themselves of all the ad- 
 vantages which modern scientific farming offers them, 
 what hope is there that the men who, so to say, would 
 be compelled — certainly to a large extent forced — to 
 the calling, would follow small farming on that system 
 which proposes to make peasant husbandry universal, 
 giving over to their cares, or rather carelessness, the 
 lands which are now in nearly all cases, undeniably in 
 very many, scientifically cultivated, would do better 
 than the small farmers of the present day ? If only the 
 facts of daily life and the circumstances by which we 
 are surrounded are taken into account — ^not surmises, 
 baseless conjectures, nor vague assumptions — we can 
 only see one answer to this pregnant question — ^pregnant 
 with the gravest of considerations — that answer is 
 entirely in the negative. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 SMALL FAEMINS IS ENGLAJTD. — ^ITS GENERAL FEATUBES AND THEIE 
 INFLUENCE ON THE PEOGEESS OF AGEIUULTUJiE. 
 
 We have seen how even the best type of Continental 
 peasant farming can only be successfully carried on by 
 a system of patient toil and by the exercise of habits 
 of prudence and economy, amounting to what, with us, 
 would be deemed painful self-denial. And those who 
 know best those classes of our population from which 
 would of necessity come the peasant farmers in that sys- 
 tem which is the dream of the future of some of our 
 politicians, know well enough that it would, even from 
 the most hopeful view of the case, take some generations 
 to educate them into such habits, if many would even care 
 to be educated at all. We have seen, moreover, that 
 the highest results of the best system of Continental 
 peasant farming have been attained by methods of 
 farming many of them unknown to our system^all, 
 therefore, yet to be learned. And those who know 
 how difficult it is to overcome old-established customs, 
 and even to introduce improvements to which no objec- 
 tion can be or is made, may well doubt whether our 
 peasant farmers, on the extended scale dreamt of by 
 some, would be likely to adopt a system so foreign to 
 the circumstances of English farming. 
 
 It is unnecessary to enter into any of the details of 
 what really is the position of Continental peasant 
 farming as evidenced by the opinions of authorities which 
 have been made public, and the media we have but 
 just alluded to. We here, of course, refer to the system 
 as it exists generally, not as found in the districts 
 where the best and highest types exist. And it may 
 
76 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 surprise some who show themselves such earnest advo- 
 cates of the Continental system of small farms, to be 
 informed that even those high types of farming practice 
 which as we have seen have features which are well 
 worthy of introduction into our farming system, have 
 faults both of theory and practice which it is in every 
 sense desirable to amend, and which the leading agri- 
 cultural authorities and societies of the very districts in 
 which the best types exist are doing their utmost to do 
 away with. 
 
 But although it is for the system as practised so 
 largely abroad that the advocates of a wider extension 
 of the system of peasant farming in this country contend 
 — how far the arguments in favour of it are based on 
 the actual facts we have seen — it will be necessary for 
 the purpose we have in view to glance at what the 
 practical position of small farmers in this country is, 
 and what the features of the system are in relation to 
 the progress of improvement in agriculture. From the 
 way in which the system has been discussed in certain 
 quarters, it might be supposed, and has, indeed, been by 
 some distinctly affirmed, that small or peasant farming 
 had scarcely [a practical existence amongst us. The truth, 
 however, is that small farmers constitute a much more 
 numerous class than is generally supposed, and form, 
 indeed, a really numerous body. We do not care here 
 to inquire whether the term " peasant " farmers should 
 be applied to this class or not. It is enough that the 
 farms they cultivate or hold are small per se, and 
 certainly very small in area when compared with the 
 farms of those who m^ake up the distinct, numerous, and 
 powerful body known as English farmers. It has also 
 been stated as the reason why there are so few small 
 farms in this country — which, as we have said above, is 
 a mere assumption which facts will not bear out — ^that 
 there is almost an insuperable difficulty in getting plots 
 of land so limited in area as to form what would in fact 
 be small farms. On this point we believe we are but 
 echoing the statement of those who are in the best posi- 
 tion to give an authoritative opinion on the subject. 
 
SMALL FARMING AND SMALL FARMS. 77 
 
 that while there are certain difficulties in the way of 
 acquiring small farms, it is comparatively an easy 
 matter to get land suitable for the purpose. Indeed, it 
 is stated — and the statement has never been contra- 
 dicted — that the supply exceeds the demand. The 
 chief, if not the only, difficulty lies in the direction 
 of the legal expenses connected with the transfer 
 of land from one hand to another. If the purchase of 
 land were as easily and as cheaply effected in this country 
 as it is in other countries (to wit, the United States of 
 America, and Australia) there would then exist no real 
 practical difficulty in getting land suitable for small 
 farms. And we are of those who think that this easy 
 and cheap transferring of land, this capability of pur- 
 chasing it in a simple ready way, should be secured by 
 legislative means. 
 
 If it were so, those who have a right to express an 
 opinion upon the general subject assure us that there 
 would then be no difficulty in at least making the sys- 
 tem of small farming much more widely and extensively 
 adopted than it is now. 
 
 Whether small farming is a means of securing a 
 comfortable livelihood with a less painful amount of the 
 hard labour from which the advocates of the system are 
 so anxious to secure large bodies of the working classes, 
 is quite another question. So also is it whether the ex- 
 tension of the small farming system amongst us would 
 be likely to promote that progress in agriculture which 
 the advocates of the system assert that it would. It 
 will take up no great amount of space — and to its con- 
 sideration space could not in the present work be more 
 usefully devoted — to glance at these two aspects of the 
 question. We have seen, what no one who knows the 
 facts of the case will, we think, venture to dispute, that 
 small farming on the Continent demands an amoimt of 
 constant care, of necessary personal toil, and a prudent, 
 almost — ^indeed, quite — a self-denying, personal, and 
 household management which we incline to think would 
 be grudged by the majority of our working men, and 
 which, we venture to say, would be looked upon as by 
 
78 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 no means the easy, comfortable life which, the advocates 
 of small farming say it would give them. We have 
 some practical experience of what is the daily work and 
 life of a small farmer in this country. And that life 
 in its working aspect is not, even at its best, an easy- 
 going life. In truth it is the reverse of this. "We do 
 not say that our small farmers give such constant and 
 long-continued labour as we have seen is given by his 
 Continental compeer. If he did, we believe that he 
 would secure a greater pecuniary success than he does. 
 But in order to " make both ends meet " and to secure 
 himself from absolute pecuniary loss which is, after all, 
 only a negative kind of success, labour of an arduous 
 kind is necessary. And it is labour very different in its 
 kind from that which ordinary labourers, and especi- 
 ally handicraftsmen, are required to give. To those 
 each day brings a positive termination to work at 
 which an interval of absolute cessation from it com- 
 mences, which continues for a good many hours, and 
 the work of the day ends at an early hour and does not 
 begin till a not very early hour on the day succeeding. 
 But those who know what small farming practically is, 
 know well that the condition of its daily work is quite 
 different from this. Its work may be said, in one sense, 
 never to end, for certain work must be done at what- 
 ever time the necessity for doing it recurs. The hours ' 
 of labour, moreover, are so long that any one accus- 
 tomed to those of the new and almost universally 
 adopted regime under which ordinary labourers and 
 handicraftsmen work, who might take to small farming, 
 would, we fear, grumble grievously under the yoke of 
 the long hours of its rigime. The work, in many 
 of its departments, is, moreover, very severe, as all 
 know who have had it to do — especially in the work- 
 ing of heavy clay lands — and the work has to be 
 done very frequently while exposed to all weathers, 
 whether under the sweltering heat of summer, or 
 the dashing rains and boisterous cold winds of winter. 
 And if to the physical labour which the requirements 
 of small farming demand be added all the mental 
 
LOCALITY OF SMALL FARMS. 79 
 
 anxiety arising from the possession of but a very 
 limited amount of capital, or, to put it more correctly, 
 of a supply of ready money — infinitely increased when 
 one has none, or has it but seldom, and which is but too 
 frequently the case with the small farmer — his posi- 
 tion as a mere worker for a living would not be thought 
 an enviable one by a handicraftsman accustomed to 
 be in the receipt of a fair wage. The latter has, if he be 
 prudent and careful, not only the chance of saving 
 a little money, but is practically free from all those 
 harassing anxieties which the carrying on of all busi- 
 ness for one's self brings of necessity with it. That it is 
 "not the work, but the worry" which kills, the small 
 farmer knows but too frequently and but too well. 
 
 In cases where the position of his farm is such that 
 he can find a ready sale for the produce he can com- 
 mand, he requires to have no small knowledge of the 
 necessities of the market, and it takes great "nous" 
 or tact on his part to meet them. But even with all 
 the advantages arising from his possessing a good locale, 
 his labour is made all the more severe and continu- 
 ous, and the very extra intelligence in the cropping 
 and management of his little farm gives him cares and 
 anxieties which it is not within the capability of every 
 man to cope with successfully. The case is very difierent 
 and altogether less satisfactory in relation to its pecuni- 
 ary success, when the small farmer is located a long or 
 even a comparatively short distance from a good and 
 ready market. The produce which meets with the 
 readiest sale is that suited to the requirements of large 
 towns and populous villages or neighbourhoods. But 
 this produce is precisely of that character which 
 necessitates an immediate sale for it ; and this cannot 
 be had if the small farmer has to carry his produce 
 long, or comparatively long, distances before that sale 
 can be efiected. And the mere time taken up by the 
 transport of produce to the market, and the return from 
 it, represents a heavy tax upon the money which it 
 yields. 
 
 But this by no means exhausts the possible difficulties 
 
80 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 against which the small farmer may have to contend. 
 The locale of the small farm, for example, may be most 
 favourably situated with reference to the demand for 
 such kinds of produce as small farms conducted wisely 
 yield ; but what if the soil of the farm be not fitted 
 for this kind of produce ? What if it be of such a 
 quality that no amount of labour given to its cultiva- 
 tion could make it pay by its yielding the produce in 
 demand ? For the amount of manual labour which can 
 be given to the cultivation is limited, and its limit is 
 soon reached ; but if this objection be met, as no doubt 
 it is likely to be met by some of the warm advocates of 
 national peasant farming, with the statement that the 
 manual labour thus incurred may be economically 
 supplemented by machines or implements, our reply is 
 simply this : No ; this cannot be. Manual or mere 
 bodily physical labour must always be the only resource 
 of the small or peasant-farmer, for this reason, that there 
 is a natural, or what may be called a mechanical, law which 
 absolutely precludes all chance of employing with suc- 
 cess machines or implements in the cultivation of small 
 farms. We shall presently see what this law is ; mean- 
 while we name it as an example of what is sometimes 
 experien ced by advocates of a one- sided system when some 
 natural law, with its inexorable demands, makes their 
 theoretical requirements anything but a success. The 
 position above noticed, in which the land of the small 
 farm, however favourably placed as regards demand 
 for farm produce, cannot yet give that produce with 
 paying results, is one not seldom met with. And it 
 involves a point which somehow the uncompromising 
 advocates of an extended system of small farming per- 
 sistently overlook, namely, the question of the suit- 
 ability of the soil for the purposes of small farms. 
 Perhaps they overlook it from the fact that they do 
 not even suspect its existence. And yet this very ques- 
 tion of quality of soil carries with it issues of the 
 utmost importance in considering the general question 
 of small ' farms. By some warm advocates of the sys- 
 tem it seems to be always assumed that all the small 
 
SOIL AN ESSENTIAL FACTOR. 81 
 
 farms are somehow or other to be provided with soil 
 which, when cultivated, will give the best results with 
 , the least labour ; in other words, that if soil can only 
 be had, crops will be obtained from it at the least so 
 good as to pay for the labour with, a margin of profit 
 over. Such uncompromising advocates of the small 
 farm system forget or are ignorant of the fact that soils, 
 like almost every other substance, vary in quality and 
 value, and that by consequence, while some soils will 
 give good, others better, and some the best results, 
 there are other soils which come under the opposite 
 degrees of comparison, bad, worse, and the worst ; and 
 other soils again so utterly bad that by no known 
 method of cultivation can they be made productive. 
 
 This, by the way, bears in the closest manner upon 
 that other question of agriculture — namely, the 
 reclamation of waste lands — ^with which the question 
 of small farms is more or less intimately bound up. 
 On the reclamation of waste lands there has been 
 and still is much loose and useless talk. It would be 
 less Loose if some of those who do talk knew at least 
 something, however little it might be, of what they are 
 talking about. It is all very well to give utterance to 
 some commonplace platitude as to the national duty of 
 reclaiming waste lands ; but what of the waste lands 
 which cannot be. reclaimed ? "Let us," said Boswell 
 to the great lexicographer, Samuel Johnson — great also 
 in other noble points of character — "let us play at 
 chuck-farthing." "But," replied Johnson in his sono- 
 rous style, " but what, sir, if we have not a farthing 
 to chuck ? " The application of this to the point 
 now under discussion is obvious; and it bears upon 
 another question in which small farming is closely con- 
 cerned. We hear much of what could be done not only 
 to improve the position of the large farmers, but to 
 open up a splendid prospect for the small farmer of the 
 future by turning arable land into grass, not only for 
 the feeding of cattle, but for the wonderfully increased 
 production — so it is said — of milk, butter, and cheese ; 
 for every one or all of which it is further said that there 
 
82 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 will be a ready market everywhere and an unlimited 
 demand. But here again the farming fact is ignored 
 or wilfully set aside, that there are arable lands which 
 cannot be converted into paying grass lands. And of 
 course a stiU higher and more advanced farming fact 
 is never thought of, and is never named by those who 
 write and talk about the matter, namely, that there is a 
 method of cropping arable land which wiU answer in an 
 infinitely more successful way, not only for the fatten- 
 ing of cattle for the supply of butcher's meat, but for 
 dairy produce, than that of feeding off the grass of the 
 poor quality which certain lands can only produce. 
 And the question in an economical sense becomes much 
 more complicated when we take into consideration what 
 constitutes one very important feature in the solution 
 of the problem, namely, the great length of time which 
 it takes to make good grass out of arable lands, during 
 which they yield the minimum of food ; in some cases 
 for a time none, to say nothing of the great cost of the 
 conversion ; in such cases there is more than ordinary 
 truth in the saying that " Time is money." 
 
 One great writer has given utterance to the state- 
 ment that if you set a man down upon a rock, he will 
 produce from its arid and barren surface crops which 
 will make him a living, the only point essential being 
 that the rock is to be absolutely his own property. No 
 doubt he could cover it with good productive soil, or 
 with materials which in time would form a soil; but 
 what if he had not the soil to put upon it ? and what 
 is he to live upon while he is engaged in putting it on, 
 or waiting till the materials which are to form the soil 
 get settled down as well ? The assumption here is that 
 possession is the only element necessary to secure suc- 
 cess in small farming ; and it has therefore been dwelt 
 upon and flaunted forth by those who are its uncom- 
 promising advocates as if it decided the whole 
 question. But its fallacy is obvious, and it will con- 
 tinue a fallacy so long as poor human nature remains 
 as it is ; and, as yet at least, we have heard of no 
 wonderful legislation or political panacea for getting 
 
HOW TO ATTAIN SUCCESS. 83 
 
 rid of the weakness and follies of this same human 
 nature. The proofs that the assumption is most falla- 
 cious abound so enormously, and possess peculiarities 
 unfortunately so common, that one example is as good 
 as a thousand. The writer of these lines knows of a 
 farmer who in this country " tried his hand," as the 
 phrase is, on more than one farm. In each case the 
 " land was good land ; " others had done well upon 
 it, but he, somehow or other, could not do so. The 
 causes were, or rather we should say the cause 
 was, obvious to others ; but the farmer himseK 
 could easily point out other causes which were great 
 grievances to him. These at last so operated upon 
 him that he emigrated to happier lands where they did 
 not exist. He bought land of his own, and so far at 
 least he had gained one thing — the great authority 
 above cited names it as the one thing necessary in 
 success — possession. But somehow success did not come, 
 nor up to now is there prospect of its ever coming 
 to him ; the causes which in his opinion operate against 
 this success are as patent as ever any causes here were 
 said to be. Only they go under other names, that is all. 
 It is the same old story over again ; it is not what a 
 man has to work upon, but hoio he works it, which 
 decides for him the point of success or of failure. 
 
 Put some men upon the best land, and under the most 
 favourable circumstances as regards disposing of its 
 produce, and they will so treat it that its results are 
 precisely as if it was the worst land and most unfavour- 
 ably situated. Place other men under conditions the 
 reverse of the above and they will change barrenness 
 to fertility, will live and live well where the others 
 would have starved, or have dragged out a kind of living 
 death. But how much more easy the task of making 
 land pay to those who do their work well, when their 
 land is not only good but favourably placed in relation 
 to good markets, the reader does not require to be told. 
 And presuming as we do that he has had some fair 
 amount of experience of what manner of men many of 
 those are from whom the great class of our future 
 
84 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 small farmers is to be recruited, lie will be able to 
 see what elements of new success exist, and these 
 are the more difficult to find when the farming facts 
 we have named are taken into consideration. The 
 truth is that this "great and burning question" of 
 peasant farming, of which we hear so much, is not 
 to be decided by assumption or yague statements, 
 however eloquent the declamations may be in which 
 they are recommended to those who do not think for 
 themselves. Assumptions are easily made, but it is 
 fortunate for the future progress of farming in this 
 country that they are not facts. We may say what we 
 like, try to believe and to make others believe that 
 things are what we would wish them to be or say they 
 are, but the facts remain nevertheless ; and while we 
 are holding forth as if they had no bearing, they quietly, 
 persistently, and peacefully assert themselves, and we 
 have, whether we will or not, to give way to them and 
 their logic, which admits of no dispute. Facts are — or 
 to give them another name — truth is great, and must 
 and ever does prevail, however much we may assert 
 that truth is a lie, that facts do not exist. And the 
 facts of farming are such that they will assert their 
 power, and influence the question of small farming in a 
 way which some carefully keep out of view in its public 
 discussion, if indeed they know of their existence. And 
 in this last place it seems only a fair thing to expect of 
 them that while professing to expound a subject, they 
 should at least know pretty well something of all its 
 parts. 
 
 The best examples of small farms and the most 
 pecuniarily successful are to be met with in England 
 and in Scotland. And this arises not merely from the 
 superior intelligence and the higher class of industrial 
 habits possessed by those devoted to the work, but from 
 the fact that the area of each farm, though compared 
 with ordinary farms is very small indeed, is not mini- 
 mised to an extent ,which makes a living even shorn of 
 many of its usual comforts an almost impossible thing. 
 If we wish to know what small farming, carried out on 
 
SMALL FARMING IN IRELAND. 85 
 
 the scale and in the complete way advocated by some, 
 really is,, we have to leave England and Scotland and 
 cross to that in every way " debatable land " of Ireland. 
 A thoroughly full and an honestly carried out investi- 
 gation of what small farming is there would disclose 
 a condition of circumstances which would give pain to 
 even the inost sanguine advocates of an extended or uni- 
 versal system of small farming. We say this advisedly, 
 knowing something of what those circumstances are. 
 We prefer to give evidence other than our own on this 
 head, and the trustworthiness of which will ijot be dis- 
 puted. So abundant is the evidence, however, that the 
 difficulty is not to get striking and salient points, but 
 those which will be the most striking in a brief space. 
 What we give will therefore be mere typical and sug- 
 gestive of what could be given — exhaustive in no sense 
 it is. It wUl, however, be sufficient for our purposes, 
 and these will perhaps be best met by repeating here 
 what forms a part of the chapter on the subject of 
 small farms in our large work, "The Directory for 
 the Improvement of Landed Property," published by 
 William Paterson, Edinburgh. Two vols. 4to. 
 
 In a paper by Professor Baldwin, of the Agricultural 
 School at Glasnevin, Dublin — than whom no one has 
 had better opportunities to know what farming in Ire- 
 land is — published in the " Journal of the Royal Agri- 
 cultural Society of England," are given a series of facts 
 as to the farming of small farmers and their living condi- 
 tions. " These facts," we remark in the work above 
 referred to, " are very suggestive, and indeed melan- 
 choly, as showing the wretchedly low condition of 
 small farms as a whole." Mr. Baldwin, at the very out- 
 set of his article, says that the agricultural practices of 
 the small farmers in Ireland are very defective. " In 
 some places," he says, " they are quite primitive. Vast 
 numbers of the occupiers are very poor, while wide 
 areas of land are not yielding a fourth of the produce 
 which could be obtained from them. While many 
 large farmers and graziers partake of the general pro- 
 gress of the kingdom, little or no improvement has been 
 
86 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 effected in the condition of vast numbers of the small 
 holdings." He shows, also, that while they have 
 received lately increased prices for their store cattle, 
 and their dairy produce, which have enabled them to 
 pay their way better, their dwellings and social condi- 
 tion have not improved in like proportion. The 
 reader, who may be acquainted with the worst of the 
 bad kinds of cottages and small farm-houses in Eng- 
 land and Scotland, will find it difficult, we should say 
 impossible, to find a parallel to the class which Mr. 
 Baldwin says he has seen more than once, where 
 the manure heap was in the middle of the apartment, 
 while very many were found in which the cattle 
 and pigs lived on amicable terms with the families. 
 In every department of farming the defective practices 
 named by Mr. Baldwin are observed. The grass lands 
 are in the very worst possible condition, little or no 
 attention being paid to them. In nearly all but a trifling 
 degree of attention would increase their produce 
 largely. Nor is the condition of the land under arable 
 culture a whit more satisfactory. Good, deep, and 
 early tillage, which alone would increase the produce 
 largely, is almost wholly neglected, and even the inferior 
 work with which the farmer is contented is done in the 
 most slovenly fashion. Weeds grow apace and to such 
 an extent that it is no uncommon thing to see ten tons 
 of weeds in a single acre of potato land. We might 
 run through every department as pictured by Mr. 
 Baldwin, and each and all would show the same piti- 
 able state of matters. 
 
 From what we have thus said, we do not wish the 
 reader to infer that the condition of the small farms of 
 England and Scotland is similar ; but while here and 
 there in every district examples of moderately well 
 cultivated small holdings are met with, it may be 
 accepted as a fact that the small farms, taken as a whole, 
 are far below what may be called the lowest grade or 
 class of high farming ; nor need this be wondered at, 
 when one considers the circumstances we have already 
 named. The truth is, that from simply want of means 
 
WHAT SUCCESSFUL FAllMING DEMAND!?. 87 
 
 the' small farmer has no chance of doing justice to his 
 land, however willing he may be to do so. But even 
 willingness would not meet the case, inasmuch as we 
 fear that his antecedents and present condition would 
 not admit of his gaining the knowledge necessary to 
 enable him to carry out the improvements which modern 
 science has indicated. We fear, therefore, that however 
 much it might be, and as some hold is, desirable that 
 small farms should increase over the kingdom, as long 
 as farming goes in the same direction as it is now 
 taking, this increase will not take place ; and if it did, 
 unless the circumstances of the small farmers themselves 
 are materially changed, the condition of agriculture 
 throughout the kingdom would not by them be materially 
 improved. That we are not singular in this opinion, 
 which, in truth, is that of most practical men, we may 
 cite here the very decided and indeed remarkable ex- 
 pression used by one not at all likely to take an un- 
 favourable view of the interests of the small holders. 
 This expression is to be found in a paper drawing 
 attention to " the statistics of the question," which, he 
 says, " goes to prove that, if the object be to employ the 
 people in agriculture, and thus produce dear food, that 
 object will be accomplished with small holdings with 
 small capitals." And surely that is not the object of 
 those who go in for the wide extension of small or 
 peasant farming. 
 
 If the farming of the future is to be successful only 
 by the application of a sound and a high-class know- 
 ledge of scientific and natural facts ; by the giving of 
 tact, energy, and determination to the actual business of 
 farming; by the employment of all the aids of science 
 and mechanics, and by the possession of sufficient 
 capital; to advise farmers of this class, for example, 
 to use all the mechanical helps now open to the farmer 
 is simply to give them advice which they cannot follow, 
 or which, if they do follow, will land them in loss and 
 difficulty. 
 
 There are some who advocate the general establish- 
 ment of small farms as a national duty in national 
 
SMALL FARMIXG. 
 
 interests, who seem to assume as a matter of course that 
 those interests would be promoted by a greater exten- 
 sion of cultivation than they assume exists at present, 
 and this in consequence, as they assert, of the wide 
 area of land which would be reclaimed by the new army 
 of industrious, plodding, and prudent workers, and 
 which would be made to yield produce where it now, 
 under the present system which they so denounce, yields 
 none. We have seen what are the natural and prac- 
 tical difficulties in the way of making this so much 
 talked of " reclamation of waste lands " a realised fact 
 — difficulties which with the resources, or rather the 
 lack of them, in the case of small farmers, we do not 
 hesitate to say would in the great majority of cases be 
 insuperable; and those resources involve, be it noted, not 
 only the possession of capital, but of a wide range of 
 knowledge, skill, business habits, and personal qualities, 
 which he would be a very bold man indeed who would 
 say are now possessed, or likely to be possessed for some 
 generations, by the classes who are, we presume, to be 
 taken in thousands from town employments and rele- 
 gated to the work of rural districts and a style of living 
 with which not one out of ten have even in the slightest 
 degree been acquainted, and for which, as a rule, the 
 great majority by their training and acquired habits are 
 utterly unfitted. But the uncompromising advocates of 
 the " National Small Farm System " assume, or appear 
 to assume, and quite as a matter of course also, that the 
 numerous class who would work under it would, as an 
 apparent necessity of their position, avail themselves of 
 all the helps which our agricultural implement makers 
 have of late years placed at the command of our farmers. 
 These have freely and largely availed themselves of all 
 the aids to economical and efficient working of soils and 
 harvesting, &c., of crops which such mechanical con- 
 trivances are so well calculated to give. But these out- 
 and-out advocates of the new small farm system forget, 
 or do not choose to remember, that the circumstances 
 of the small farmers are not merely widely, but alto- 
 gether diffisrent from those farmers above alluded to. 
 
MACHINEKY NOT SUITABLE. 89 
 
 who constitute the class, as a rule, of large and e£B.cient 
 cultivators of the soil and breeders and feeders of cattle. 
 
 Blameworthy as the advocates of the new system are 
 in thus wilfully or carelessly neglecting to take this 
 important factor in the calculation into account, they are 
 8till more so when they assume that the small farming 
 of the proposed future is to be helped forward by the 
 powerful aids which farm mechanism and implements 
 are so well calculated to give ; blameworthy, we ven- 
 ture to say, in no small degree, inasmuch as it seems to 
 us to be but a reasonable thing to demand from those 
 who advocate a new departure, and more especially 
 when that is so revolutionary in the general acceptation 
 of the term as that of the national small farming or 
 peasant husbandry system is, that they shall at the 
 very least have some fair degree of accurate knowledge 
 of all the factors which are essential to the successful 
 solution of the problem. Now if they had cared to in- 
 quire, the advocates of the new system might have 
 been made aware that there is an economical or techni- 
 cal law which so operates that agricultural mechanism, 
 can only pay for its employment when farms go above a 
 certain acreage, and which, will not and cannot possibly 
 do so when the acreage' falls below that point ; and it 
 is scarcely necessary to say that the great majority of 
 the proposed small farms of the future are far below 
 the paying point at which agricultural mechanics can 
 be employed. Certain it is that if this be the condition 
 of the farming of the future, the home trade of agricul- 
 tural implement making will cease to exist, and our 
 agricultural engineers may indeed even be compelled to 
 close or greatly limit the output of work done in those 
 large establishments which have for so many years 
 found ready employment for thousands, which will then 
 be wholly for foreign and colonial customers. So will 
 all the other departments of practice. 
 
 Small farmers may be advised to avail themselves in 
 their practice of all the aids which science offers in the 
 way of improved methods of treating soils, of manuring 
 them, of breeding and of feeding stock, &c., &c. But 
 
90 
 
 SMALL FAEMING. 
 
 all this requires money, and money is what not many, 
 if indeed any, of the class possess, and even if they had, 
 it is so very doubtful that one may decide that it is 
 almost certain that they would not spend it in those 
 directions of advanced farming. For it must be re- 
 membered what, indeed, is but too frequently forgotten, 
 that the very first step to be taken in the adaptation of 
 requirements in the conduct of a business, is to be con- 
 vinced that such requirements are worth the cost which 
 they incur. This conviction of the pecuniary value of im- 
 provements in work, which must precede their practical 
 adoption, is precisely the conviction which small farmers 
 lack. And its possession presupposes a previous educa- 
 tion which they have not had, and so far as present cir- 
 cumstances indicate are not likely, as a body, to have. 
 We find a parallel case in the general run of industrial 
 work. Years and years have been devoted to discussion 
 on the pre-eminent value of technical knowledge as the 
 thing wanted to improve practical work, and to enable 
 the workmen to meet successfully the competition with 
 which they are on all sides surrounded and which is car- 
 ried on so vigorously by other countries. Schools, col- 
 leges, and classes for the imparting of this technical 
 knowledge or science have been established, butnumerous 
 as they, in the aggregate, are, the teaching power which 
 they supply is far below what the demand would or 
 should be. But this demand does not exist — and 
 lauded as all the means of imparting technical science 
 are, they are not even fully availed of by the very class 
 for whom they have been instituted. And this for 
 the most easily understood of all reasons. Our indus- 
 trial workers, as a body, are not yet convinced of the 
 truth that technical knowledge is of a real, direct pecu- 
 niary advantage to them. Convince them generally of 
 this, and the dozens of techiiical classes now existing 
 would have to be supplemented till they became hun- 
 dreds. In spite of all that has been done in behalf of 
 technical education, we are apparently far from the 
 period when our workmen will, as a body — not here and 
 there as now — see that they must have it. 
 
DIFFICULTIES WITH THE WOKKMEX. 91 
 
 Those only who have a practical every-day knowledge 
 of working men as they are, know how difficult it is to 
 persuade them that their pecuniary interests would, be 
 promoted by knowing and doing something which is 
 apparently extraneous to their daily work, something 
 extra or which has to be added. We say, apparently, 
 but the truth is that they persist in seeing that it is 
 actually extraneous or added, not inherently connected, 
 with or forming a part of their work as it is. So com- 
 pletely are their minds dominated by the concrete, the 
 actual form, shape, and modes of manipulating the 
 materials used in the objects they make, that not a tithe 
 of them ever think that there is absolutely a certain 
 principle or principles underlying that work and giving 
 a material help to it, some knowledge of which 
 would, enable them to do that work better. It is quite 
 in vain to tell the great majority of them that the 
 lessened demand for their labour, or the lessened 
 wages which it brings, or the competition of foreign 
 nations, would be prevented by a better capability of 
 doing higher class work through a knowledge of the 
 principles upon which that work is based. It is enough 
 for them to decide, and with their decision they are 
 quite content, that some other cause is that which brings 
 lower wages and lessened demand for their labour. 
 And those who know what the working men are know 
 well enough how ready they are to attribute to others 
 the causes of bad trade or low wages, and how seldom 
 they think, almost never admit, that these causes have 
 anything to do with their own conduct in the matter. 
 
 All this is, perhaps, more especially true of those 
 engaged in rural work than of any other class, and it 
 would not be the less true if the class of small farmers 
 was increased as greatly in numbers as some wish to 
 see it increased. Those who are now engaged in the 
 calling of small farming are precisely those who will not 
 avail themselves of all the advantages which modern 
 scientific agriculture offers. Very recently, in one of the 
 annual reports of a leading agricultural society, expres- 
 sion was given to the surprise of the Council that the 
 
92 
 
 SMALL I'AliMTNG. 
 
 body of small farmers throughout the country had shown 
 no disposition to avail themselves of all the aids which the 
 Society — all its work being based on scientific principles 
 — offered them. Had the Council thoroughly known 
 the class of men who are small farmers, and the cir- 
 cumstances under which they are placed, their true 
 matter for surprise would have been if they, the small 
 farmers, had shown even a disposition to avail them- 
 selves of all the influential help which the Society 
 offered. Still greater the surprise would have been had 
 even but a few of them actually gone the length of ac- 
 cepting it. It is, in fact, in vain to hope that farming 
 on the small scale will be benefited in anything like 
 the proportion in which farming on the large scale is 
 benefited by the adoption of scientific principles and 
 aids to its practice. From the very fact that it is 
 farming on the small scale, we have seen that it is at 
 once shut out hopelessly from any participation of the 
 current advantages which have been bestowed upon 
 farming on the large scale by mechanical aids or helps ; 
 and it is, to say the least, very doubtful whether all the 
 improvements in other departments can be availed of 
 in its practice. , 
 
 The real strength of our technical workers in other 
 branches of industrial art lies in the precision and 
 accuracy with which their work is done, and in the 
 higher class of the workman himself. It is this 
 thoroughly practical character in the doing of the work 
 which has given us the pre-eminence as workers, while 
 we enjoy more largely the monopoly of every branch 
 of trade. So it is with the small farmer — his chances 
 of success depend almost wholly on the completeness 
 with which his work is done. And of what the nature 
 and character of his work is, the Flemish farmer gives 
 him the highest of examples. The Flemish farmer 
 makes no pretension to be a scientific agriculturist — 
 the very phrase is to the great majority unknown ; and 
 if they know what it means it is a sealed book to them. 
 But their practice is scientific in many of its aspects 
 nevertheless, and it has interpreted and illustrated 
 
ErjFECTS OF EXTENSION. 93 
 
 many of the principles which science has propounded. 
 If our small farmers would imitate carefully the practice 
 in every direction of the Flemish farmer — we have 
 briefly described what the practice is — they would have 
 the best chance of becoming successful. They would at 
 least make the very most out of their land, but whether 
 that would meet the somewhat exaggerated expectations 
 of the new school of political economists is quite another 
 thing. 
 
 The reader will now be able to decide whether the 
 " extraordinary " extension — the term under our 
 national circumstances is certainly allowable — of small 
 or peasant farming, so earnestly advocated by some as 
 the " panacea " for all the social evils our present sys- 
 tem is said by them to be the cause of, is likely or 
 otherwise to do either one or other of two things, or 
 both, which the advocates of the new system assert 
 most strenuously that it will. Those two things are, 
 first, ministering to the well-being of working men, by 
 giving them a means of securing not only a comfort- 
 able living, but one easily carried out — more easily, 
 indeed, than other branches of work — that, in fact, 
 small farming is an easy way of making a good living. 
 The second is, that it will be for the benefit of the 
 nation if small farming were the rule, the land being 
 then so much better cultivated, farming would be more 
 satisfactorily conducted than it is now, or ever can be 
 by our present system ; and, being better cultivated, 
 the nation will be all the richer through the increased 
 amount of food products. It may be that both of these 
 exceedingly desirable objects will be secured by the new 
 system ; we confess to seeing nothing in the present 
 conditions with which we are surrounded to justify 
 this belief; and there is little hope that those condi- 
 tions will ever be obtained, and that simply because 
 they are natural, not artificial or of man's making. 
 
 One thing is very certain, and it has been commonly 
 overlooked in the discussion of the whole question, and 
 it is this — that under what is proposed to be the new 
 regime, all the successful improvements connected with 
 
94 
 
 SMALL FAEMING. 
 
 the soil and its farming, wliich we have witnessed, could 
 not have been made as they have been. We hear often 
 the saying quoted, that " he who makes two blades of 
 grass grow where but one grew before," is the greatest 
 of benefactors of his kind. "What then shall be said 
 of him who. has made hundreds of acres of land capable 
 of growing crops out of places where no growing soil 
 previously existed? Broad tracts of land, now of the 
 highest fertility, are being rapidly brought into that 
 condition which a few years ago were simply wide, 
 dreary -looking sea margins, over which the tide at 
 times partially, at other periods wholly, flowed. Hun- 
 dreds of acres along the banks of tidal rivers which 
 practically served no useful purpose, have been taken 
 in, and now prove some of the richest lands in the 
 kingdom. While this work of reclaiming land from 
 sea and river margin has been going on steadily during 
 a long course of years, in inland districts, vast tracts 
 of moorland, marshes, bogs, and sandy heaths have 
 been reclaimed, and are now bearing crops yearly 
 increasing in value. All this has been done in indi- 
 vidual cases at great expense, and in the aggregate 
 involving an expenditure which can only be designated 
 enormous. One ducal house has spent over a number 
 of years no less a sum than two millions, and it is 
 spending still ; and an outlay of tens of thousands in 
 other cases has been by no means a rare thing in the 
 history of land reclamation. All that has been done 
 has been done by private enterprise, and has been done, 
 moreover, under circumstances by no means encourag- 
 ing. For it must be remembered that the money 
 invested in such improvements in landed property is 
 an investment which yields a return slowly; and even 
 at the best, and when the finest results are obtained, 
 the return for capital invested is but poor; so poor 
 indeed, that no manufacturer or tradesman would think 
 it worth his while to lay out capital and give his time, 
 knowledge, and skill in work which yielded profits so 
 small. Like the planting of trees on an estate, the 
 reclamation of land can in no sense be said to be a 
 
INTELLIGENT PEIVATE ENTEKPKISE. 95 
 
 work which will immediately selfishly benefit him who 
 now cari'ies it out. It comes more under the category 
 of work done the full benefit of which will be received 
 by the generation which succeeds rather than that in 
 which the work was done. It takes a higher class of far- 
 seeing business prudence to enable a man to undertake 
 all the work and the worry — and there is plenty of both 
 in connection with it — involved in land reclamation. 
 
 All this is known but to a very few, and nothing, 
 probably, would surprise the general public more than 
 to have all the facts connected with this truly national 
 subject made fully and clearly known. The public 
 would then have some notion of the wealth which has 
 been, so to say, given to the nation by numerous indi- 
 viduals, for every addition to the means of raising food 
 for our teeming population is literally so much added 
 to the wealth of the nation. Work of this kind, the 
 national value of which no sane man would dispute, 
 can obviously be done, and only be done, by those who 
 possess capital, and so much of it that they can wait 
 for years till returns are yielded for the money laid out. 
 And although it be quite true that the small holder 
 can, by patient and long-continued industry, reclaim 
 land and make poor land fruitful, still there are many 
 cases where the highest engineering skill is necessary 
 in order to make the work of reclamation of land 
 possible. And in cases of this kind the small holder 
 is powerless to efiiect any good. This may, indeed, be 
 said to be his position invariably in relation to the 
 reclamation of land, for he has of necessity to live. 
 And if to make a fair living out of soil of ordinary or 
 average quality, he has to work very hard indeed, he 
 cannot be expected to do much in the way of reclaiming 
 land, should he have land requiring to be reclaimed 
 lying near or forming part of his holding. And it 
 should be remembered that the land which has been so 
 largely reclaimed has been so locally situated that far- 
 niers wishing for small holdings would never have gone 
 near them. 
 
 And when we turn from the consideration of this 
 
96 
 
 SMALL fAEMIKG. 
 
 source of increased national wealth gained by what has 
 been done in the reclaiming of land by experience and 
 skill, and that of the highly improved style of cultiva- 
 tion introduced by modern farmers, we find that all the 
 improvements in farming have been effected by men 
 possessed not only of capital, but of the far-seeing busi- 
 ness prudence and skill which promote the spirited 
 laying out of capital in the application of new methods 
 and of new appliances, which alone can give the 
 highest results. Apart from the possession of capital, 
 what is demanded from the farmer is an educated and 
 trained intelligence, without which capital would only 
 be uselessly expended, if expended at all. We have 
 seen how small the chances are that the class to whom 
 we are told to look for our farmers of the future 
 are likely to possess either the capital or the educated 
 intelligence which all authorities combine, without a 
 single exception of which we know, in telling us must 
 be possessed by those who hereafter devote themselves 
 to farming as a means of living. And such authorities 
 alone have a real right to give an opinion upon the 
 general subject, for they know all about it ; and they 
 do not hesitate to express that conviction which is based 
 upon facts, that with the proposed wide or national 
 establishment of peasant or small farming the progress 
 in agriculture is, if not doomed, certain to be so greatly 
 retarded as to amount to a national calamity. 
 
 In concluding our remarks on this subject of vital 
 importance to the best interests of our people, and in so 
 decidedly giving expression to an opinion so hostile 
 to the universal, at least, extensively wide, adoption 
 of small farming or peasant husbandry so warmly advo- 
 cated by some, let us not be misunderstood. To the 
 further and wider extension of small farms than at 
 present, if they are occupied and cultivated by agri- 
 cultural labourers, there can be no objection ; so far 
 from this, we go with those who believe that for sonie 
 wise and sound social reasons, it would be well if this 
 kind of extension was realised to a considerable ex- 
 tent. That, however, we venture to say, would not 
 
THE SMALL FARM NOT A PARADISE. 97 
 
 be quite so wide as some may, under the influence 
 of the wave of somewhat wild talk about peasant hus- 
 bandry which has passed, or, rather, we should say, is 
 as we write, passing over the country. For those 
 who are truly peasants — otherwise, as they are called, 
 agricultural labourers — know well enough that a small 
 farm is not the paradise which they are told by some 
 that it is. There are not a few peasant or small farmers, 
 and those, moreover, in the districts best calculated to 
 give small farming the best chances of success, whose 
 social condition, so far as regards mere living, is little 
 better — in many cases it is not so good — as that of agri- 
 cultural labourers. While, in addition, they have all the 
 carking cares of a business the whole expenses of which 
 they must meet, and not a few have the further cares 
 attendant upon the having to find the money to pay 
 interest on borrowed capital. It is a simple truth 
 that many small farmers can, with all their toil and 
 privations, but pay their interest and do no more. 
 
 Still, notwithstanding all this, with the advent of better 
 times, possibly with only a comparatively small im- 
 provement in those which have for some years ruled — 
 there are many agricultural labourers — the true peasants 
 — who would gladly take small farms if greater facilities 
 were thrown in their way to get them. Facilities such 
 as the cheaper transfer of land and others of a kind 
 which will suggest themselves on consideration, and 
 chiefly of a social character, it would be wise to give. 
 And although we still maintain that even with this 
 class of agricultural labourer, acting as small farmers, 
 the progress of sound scientific and therefore the highest 
 and most economical agriculture, would — and from the 
 very nature of the circumstances in which the peasants 
 would be placed — could not be advanced ; still we admit 
 that the class, the agricultural labourers, would have 
 the best chance of succeeding as small farmers so far as 
 making a mere living for themselves was concerned. 
 They, at least, know what the kind of work is which 
 has to be done on small farms, and for the most part — 
 not, however, always or of necessity — how to do it. 
 
 H 
 
98 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 While, therefore, we should he glad to see a limited 
 extension — and which we believe would for natural 
 reasons, after all, be indeed but limited — of small farm- 
 ing, with true peasants or agricultural labourers as the 
 farmers, we must unhesitatingly deprecate any exten- 
 sion based upon the system we have heard so persis- 
 tently propounded by certain politicians through the 
 medium of platform or press, and this we do, if for no 
 other reason than in the true interests of the nation. 
 
 For we have brought facts in abundance, and if space 
 permitted we could add largely to their number, 
 which prove, we think beyond dispute, that a general 
 or widespread extension of small farming, replacing the 
 present system, would be to the great detriment of 
 agriculture, and would certainly for long put a stop to 
 all true farming progress. Those systems so ardently 
 advocated by some have as one of their main objects, if, 
 indeed, it be not their only purpose, the putting of 
 handicraftsmen chiefly accustomed to town work into 
 the small farms created, as well as the agricultural 
 labourers who are better entitled to the name of rural 
 workers than any class of townsmen can be. What are 
 the chances of this class of handicraftsmen or small 
 tradesmen becoming prosperous farmers, not only in 
 securing a good living but in aiding the progress of 
 sound and economical farming, we have in preceding 
 pages endeavoured to show. 
 
 Up to the present we have made no allusion to 
 the way in which the land is to be obtained for the 
 vast number of men who under those new systems 
 would be transformed into what are called peasant 
 husbandmen. In truth, the methods gravely proposed 
 are so wild and altogether so subversive not only 
 of what is just, but what is common- sense and fair 
 play, that a mere passing allusion to them is all the 
 notice they deserve here. We leave it to other pens 
 than ours to expose the utter absurdity of the proposals 
 made, to say nothing of the way in which they set aside 
 all those laws which form the very bonds which bind 
 society together in the tie of a common interest. Take 
 
FUTURE OF SMALIi FAKMING. 99 
 
 the least wild of the plans proposed by whicli land is 
 to be obtained for the extension of small farming, 
 workpeople to be the small farmers. By this scheme it 
 is proposed that corporate — that is town or borough — 
 bodies shall have the power to buy up lands in their 
 neighbourhood, which are, under the most favourable 
 circumstances, to be parcelled out amongst the work- 
 people. Of this we have only to remark that the very 
 nature of the scheme indicates on the part of those who 
 have proposed it a strange lack not only of human 
 nature, but a still stronger lack, if that be possible, 
 of knowledge of what the classes are with whom the 
 scheme proposes to deal. It takes but a very small 
 modicum of acquaintance with the class of men who 
 compose corporations to know beyond all doubt that 
 if it were the object of the scheme or system 
 to get a class of men the least fitted for carrying 
 out any plan connected with agriculture, the ob- 
 ject could not be better attained. Such men would 
 ruin even the most feasible scheme ; what could be the 
 result when even the system committed to their care is, 
 as proposed, one wholly unworkable, at least in an agri- 
 cultural sense ? As to what is to be expected of the 
 other class with which the scheme proposes to work, 
 namely, the workpeople, we need say nothing here. 
 We have endeavoured in preceding pages to show how 
 ill fitted they are to gain a good or an easy living out 
 of farms, how little they could help in the progress of 
 sound farming. As to the other scheme proposed, 
 by which land is to be obtained for the general adop- 
 tion of small farming or peasant husbandry, and 
 to which the fine phrase denationalisation of land 
 is given, what can, what need here be said ? Putting 
 altogether out of sight or consideration all the points 
 we have tried to make clear which bear upon the ques- 
 tion as to how far and in what waj'' small farming is to 
 influence the future production of food for our popula- 
 tion, points which prove we think very clearly that it 
 would be strongly against aU improvement — have, we 
 may ask, the proposers of this utterly wild and revolu- 
 
100 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 tionary scheme thought of two difficulties with which 
 they would have to deal ? What of the allotment of 
 the lands taken from the landlords ? "Who is to allot 
 them ? We presume the task would be given to com- 
 missioners, so-called. Unhappy men ! However would 
 they stand against the storm with which they would be 
 inevitably assailed ? In unison with the very principle 
 upon which they had taken the lands, all partici- 
 pating in the spoil would of necessity have an equal 
 right to the land — it belonged to the nation, and they 
 belonged to it, or rather made it. Each would thus 
 have a right to the best land, and the best land each 
 would naturally demand. But nature would be stronger 
 than even the people's commissioners, and what would 
 they do in cases where nature not only refused to give 
 much good land, but positively refused to give good 
 land at all ? What of the barren, what of the inacces- 
 sible spots ? Tom Jones would scarcely be expected to 
 be pleased with the commissioners if they gave him an 
 allotment of bog or marsh or utterly barren land, or a 
 plot on the top of a hill almost or perhaps quite inacces- 
 sible in itself, and certainly far from market. Tom 
 would, we fear, be somewhat strong in his language to 
 the commissioners and if he were strong enough 
 would be very apt to dispossess his former crony, Bill 
 Sykes, who happened to have for his allotment from the 
 commissioners one altogether good and fertile, and 
 in a very favourably located district. 
 
 But the propounders of this scheme have another diffi- 
 culty to meet, and as it concerns some of them personally 
 it is possible they may give a little heed to the warn- 
 ings which it gives before they proceed much farther in 
 the direction they have taken at present. It appears 
 it is proposed that only the landlords' lands shall be 
 taken by the nation so called — ^the landlords, it is 
 presumed, having ho right to consider themselves as 
 part of it. But do those of the new school who propose 
 this method of dealing with the property of a disliked 
 class, and who happen to have lands of their own, con- 
 clude for a moment that those who had shared in the 
 
A WILD AND KEVOLUTIONEARY SCHEME. 101 
 
 spoils of the landlords would stop there ? Those who 
 think they would little know them. If the working 
 classes hate, as is said — though we do not believe it, 
 the landlords, i.e. the aristocracy, much, they hate and 
 detest the capitalists more. They will make no fine- 
 drawn distinction between the land belonging to a 
 lord or a squire which has been laid out into large farms, 
 and the lands which belong to rich manufacturers or 
 tradesmen, and which are laid out in extensive pleasure 
 grounds and costly gardens, carrying all the costly 
 structures which a lavish expenditure of wealth can 
 secure. These are no less land than the other, and if 
 Dick, Tom, and Harry once taste the delights of the plun- 
 der of landlords, they will not long hesitate to share in 
 those which come from the plunder of their more 
 immediate masters. This scheme of land denational- 
 isation is, indeed, scarcely worthy of being noticed 
 here at all, so wild and visionary is it, nor would we 
 have even alluded to it had not some reference to it 
 been necessary in order to complete our subject. 
 
 In conclusion, if the wide extension of small farming 
 or peasant husbandry — to quote the favourite phrase — 
 is to depend upon the realisation of either one or other 
 of the land schemes proposed by those who are called 
 "men of advanced opinions," we fear the extension 
 will be postponed for many a day, Nor, if wjiat we 
 have advanced in preceding pages be sound 'jn the 
 main — and it is based upon facts as they are, and ntft upon 
 what some would like them to be — the nation will have 
 little room to regret that this is likely to be so. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE TAEINO OF THE AMATEUR SMALL PAEM. — 'AaEEEMENT. — KIOHT OK 
 IIBEETY TO CEOP. — DITEESITY IN THE STYLE OP GEOPPINO, ETC., A 
 PBATUEE OP THE AMATEUE PAEM. — ^EXPEEIMENTAL FAEMINa. — m- 
 PEOTEStENT OP THE AMATEUE EAEM WHICH HAS BEEN NEGLECTED. 
 — PENCES. — GATES. — EOABS. — FOOTPATHS. — OLEAEING LAND PEOK 
 WEEDS. — IMPLEMENTS. — BUILDINGS. 
 
 The existing small farms — that is, those which are 
 already laid out — which offer themselves to the notice of 
 the amateur farmer, or of him who desires to become one, 
 are divisible into two classes : first, those which are 
 in good condition ; and secondly, those which have been 
 allowed to " run down," as the phrase is — that is, which 
 have been neglected or farmed very badly. The good 
 condition here named refers to the land, but it does not 
 follow that in other respects the farm will therefore 
 possess all the features which characterize what is called 
 a well laid-out farm. The fields may be awkward in 
 shape or outline, which for certain work may be bad 
 enough. But they may also, as regards extent or size, 
 and in direct relation to each other, be such that the 
 different purposes of the small farming operations may 
 not be easily carried out. The relation also of the 
 buildings, such as they are, may also be bad; while 
 the nature and extent of the acconamodation afforded by 
 these may be anything but conducive to economical 
 working. A desirable farm, then, involves two things : 
 first, the land in good condition, or "heart," as the 
 phrase goes ; secondly, that the whole be well laid out ; 
 this last involving again the secondary points named 
 above, such as convenient division of the fields, and con- 
 venient position of and appropriate accommodation in 
 . the buildings. 
 
SMALL FARM AGREEMENTS. 103 
 
 So many of the small farms open to amateur farmers 
 have, as it were, been formed by chance, that it is not 
 many in which the happy combination of features just 
 named is displayed. Sometimes they are formed by 
 cutting off a comer, part of a larger extent of land. 
 More frequently they consist of small, or comparatively 
 small, patches or plots of land which lies between and 
 is surrounded by large, or larger, properties or estates. 
 Those patches have been held by generation after gene- 
 ration of proprietors, who have pertinaciously kept to 
 their land, resisting all offers of purchase made by their 
 wealthier neighbours whose property surrounds theirs, 
 and who have also for generations coveted to have the 
 small patches in their possession, in order to " round off " 
 their bigger properties. But however formed, the 
 " chance " element has been so predominant, as a rule, 
 that small farms suitable for amateur farmers, so far as 
 extent or acreage goes, are not always suitable in other 
 respects. There are very few amateur farms which have 
 been laid out purposely for this class of work. At the 
 same time many of those which have existed for gene- 
 rations in their present form are so held by their pro- 
 prietors that arrangements can frequently be made with 
 them by which the tenants can greatly modify the form 
 of the farm, its fields, and its buildings, so as to bring 
 them more in unison with a good system of working." 
 In such cases, where the tenant may have the right 
 given to him to make alterations in the mode of 
 setting out the fields, he should be very careful to see 
 that in his written agreement this point is specially 
 stated. The landlord may give the tenant very wide 
 range of liberty in this respect, leaving him, to use 
 the popular phrase, to "do as he Hkes;" or, on the 
 other hand, the landlord may allow the tenant to do 
 only certain things. But in all cases it will be only 
 prudence — whatever be the extent of the liberty the 
 tenant has in the way of making alterations, or as he 
 will esteem them, improvements — on his part, to have 
 all the points clearly expressed in the agreement. 
 
 At the first blush of an arrangement between land- 
 
104 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 lord and tenant, botli are somewhat apt to take a rose- 
 coloured view of the relation of each to the other, and 
 statements may be made as to what the tenant may be 
 permitted to do and what the landlord is wiUing should be 
 done, which may afterwards be disputed. In all honesty 
 and integrity they may state that certain agreements 
 were positively made at the time, and yet those state- 
 ments may be anything but correct. Both have trusted 
 only to memory, but memory is too well known to be 
 treacherous ; so that what one believes iu all good faith 
 to be true is not so. But if memory be not absolutely 
 treacherous, and statements be remembered, these state- 
 ments may be misxmderstood — one may take his neigh- 
 bour to mean what he had by no means intended to 
 convey. All such circumstances often give rise to 
 disputes, which may easily be avoided if agreements 
 personally made at the time of negotiation be imme- 
 diately committed to writing. If oral statements be 
 misunderstood or misapprehended, they wiU be sure to be 
 corrected when the draft of agreement is read in which 
 they find a place. It is nothing derogatory, as some 
 seem to think it is, to either party to a negotiation 
 that one should ask that its terms be committed to 
 writing. It does not follow that one who asks this has 
 any doubt of the integrity of the other ; it is simply a 
 common- sense precaution taken to prevent contingen- 
 cies which may be disagreeable arising through lack of 
 memory or a failure to understand what has been said. 
 A large number of disagreeable disputes would have 
 been avoided in business transactions had the simple 
 precaution here strongly recommended been adopted. 
 It is not necessary in all cases that the written agree- 
 ment should take the form of a legal document, with its 
 possible loopholes and its inevitable cost. It may take 
 the form of a letter written by one party and acknow- 
 ledged by the other " as in conformity ; " all that is 
 required "being to record what really was agreed upon, 
 and thus prevent what might otherwise have given 
 rise to a dispute, had memory— or, " I understood you 
 to say " — alone been trusted to. 
 
KESTRICTIONS AS TO CROPPING. 105 
 
 As a rule, amateur farmers are not burdened by 
 restrictions as to cropping. Almost the only point 
 reserved, and this only in exceptional cases, is where 
 certain fields are laid down to permanent pasture or for 
 meadow land. In some districts, especially in those in 
 which pasturing or grazing is carried on largely, some 
 proprietors have such a love for the " green fields," or 
 such an exaggerated notion of their value, that they 
 will on no account allow them to be turned over and 
 put under arable culture. In such cases the value of an 
 agreement will be well understood, for we have known 
 the tenant of the amateur farm to land himself in an 
 awkwardly legal position by turning over the grass-land, 
 which had probably been under grass for many genera- 
 tions, without having obtained the consent of, or indeed 
 having thought it worth while to consult, the landlord. 
 A clearly understood agreement wiU cover all risks and 
 prevent disagreeable disputes of this kind. 
 
 So far, however, from any restrictions as to the crop- 
 ping of amateur farms being general, the rule is rather 
 that the amateur may crop and manage the land in what- 
 ever way he deems best. And this is in reality quite 
 in consonance with what may be called the principle of 
 amateur farming, which, if not carried on for the pur- 
 poses of some systematic experimenting in various styles 
 of culture and stock management, at least is generally 
 taken to for the purpose, more or less distiuctly avowed, 
 of carrying out some "fad" or notion, if not more 
 than one "fad " or " hobby.' ' 
 
 This diversity in the style of farming constitutes one 
 of the great features of amateur farming. The amateur, 
 as a rule, has for his main object the gratification of a 
 desire to be engaged in work of the kind, with probably 
 some notion, more or less vague, that if he does not 
 make it pay he will be able so cleverly to manage its 
 details that the loss will not be great ; possibly he may 
 be able to "make both ends meet." While there always 
 remains a solid fact to reconcile him to a method of 
 conducting this mode of farming, which in its chief 
 characteristic may be, and is usually, quite antagonistic 
 
106 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 to the stern principle with -which his ovm business — if 
 he be a business man — is conducted, and in which profit 
 must be looked after, this namely, that if his own health 
 be not improved by the open-air exercise, which even 
 the most happy-go-lucky style of farming necessitates, 
 that of his "family will almost certainly be, living as 
 they will do at the farm and breathing its air, which 
 will be purer, even in the least favourable locality, than 
 that of the city or its suburbs in which paterfamilias 
 may carry on their calling. Further, there is always 
 another fact which tends to reconcile the amateur 
 farmer in carrying on a business by which he " gains a 
 loss" — that his own dreams and those of his family 
 wiU be realised in a wealth of pure milk, rich golden 
 butter, smelling, as good butter does, "like a posy," 
 fresh eggs, tender chickens, and possibly home-cured 
 hams and bacon, crowned with no end of vegetables 
 from the amateur farm- garden proper, which always 
 forms or ought to form one of its carefully conducted 
 features. 
 
 All this makes the diversity in style of farming 
 which we have alluded to almost one of the necessary 
 features or compelled concomitants of the amateur farm. 
 And we shall proceed to explain in treating of the prac- 
 tical details of farm work, that this diversity of prac- 
 tice — which " regular farmers," as they are called, not 
 seldom smile at, and for which some of them express 
 supreme contempt — overlies or is dependent upon a 
 principle calculated to secure great success in amateur 
 farming. Important as we shall see this principle to be, it 
 is, to say the least, rather suggestive that its application 
 to farms of the ordinary or business kind should have 
 been so completely, certainly so generally, overlooked. 
 And this more especially when we consider the excep- 
 tionally bad times through which farming has passed 
 of late years, and the poor paying future which, accord- 
 ing to manj', seems to lie before it. 
 
 This feature of diversity in the style of amateur 
 farming, while it undoubtedly adds to the interest of 
 its practice, may, as we have just hinted, in accordance 
 
DlVERSITi' TN CROPPING. 107 
 
 •with, a principle yet to be explained, be worked out in 
 sucb a wa^ that amateur farms may be made to be 
 more tban merely health, or j)leasure-giving — that is, 
 be made to pay. But apart from this point, to which 
 a wealthy amateur may be profoundly indifferent, 
 there is another direction in which this diversity in 
 style of practice may be made to serve a purpose which 
 carries with it practical results of great importance in 
 the progress of scientific farming. To an explanation 
 of this a few sentences may be very usefully devoted. 
 
 For some years past the agricultural world has been 
 more or less agitated with a thorough discussion as to 
 the practical value of " experimental farms." These 
 are proposed to be established in different parts of the 
 country on the model, and carried on after the fashion, 
 of the experimental farms on the Continent, specially 
 those of Germany. Of those Continental experimental 
 farms we have heard much, but a somewhat closer in- 
 spection of their number, extent, and especially of the 
 work done in them, would, we suspect, reveal the fact 
 that a much higher rank both in conception of plan or 
 system, and in work they actually do, has been given 
 to them than the facts of the case actually warrant. 
 This praise of high efficiency has been given to them, 
 or has been the result of circumstances which are 
 obvious enough to those who know the subject, but 
 which it is unnecessary here to detail. It is enough 
 for our purpose to say that while beyond all doubt they 
 have done good service in elementary points of great 
 value in scientific agriculture, it is very clearly open 
 to doubt whether they havp shown to any great extent 
 very practically how science can be applied directly to 
 the details of ordinary farm practice. We have a 
 parallel position of affairs in the schools established on 
 the Continent for the purpose of giving technical edu- 
 cation in connection with various branches of indus- 
 trial w6rk other than that of farming. Those schools, 
 numerous as they are — -though by the way we may re- 
 mark they are not to be met with in numbers quite so 
 large as some enthusiasts in praise of what Conti- 
 
^^^ SMALL FARMING, 
 
 nental people have done in this direction appear to 
 suppose— are efficient up to a certain point, but are not 
 so efficient as is popularly supposed in implanting know- 
 ledge directly applicable to the requirements of workshop 
 and manufacturing practice. The truth is, that in those 
 schools more attention, as a rule, is given to the higher 
 branches of scientific inquiry than to those broad out- 
 lines of important principles which have at once a direct 
 bearing upon actual work. Eefinements in scientific 
 investigation, and the pursuit of the higher branches 
 of scientific knowledge, are acquired by but a very 
 few; and there are in truth but a very few competent to 
 grasp and master them, and perhaps fewer still who 
 occupy the social position and possess the wealth and 
 means necessary before this close study can be given. 
 These remarks apply in the highest degree to many of 
 the experimental farms established on the Continent, to 
 which indeed the title of Schools of Agricultural Chemis- 
 try would be more appropriately and accurately given. 
 What the advanced agriculturists in this country 
 now advocate is not experimental farms so limited in 
 extent and so narrow in the limits of their work that the 
 term farm can scarcely, at least with little practical 
 accuracy, be given to them at all, but farms which in 
 the character of their work are practically ordinary 
 farms. Those, therefore, would perhaps have their 
 aims and objects best indicated in the title of " ordinary 
 farms experimentally conducted." The great difficulty 
 to be encountered is that of finding funds ample enough 
 to do justice to the working of such farms. This diffi- 
 culty is so great that with the present adverse circum- 
 stances under which farming is placed in all districts of 
 the kingdom, there seems no reasonable hope that it wiU 
 be overcome. In view of this it has been suggested, 
 that if all the advantages of special farms experimen- 
 tally conducted could not be f uUy, they might at least 
 be partially, and yet quite practically, secured if 
 farmers in different parts of the kingdom would devote 
 a certain portion of their live stock to the purposes of 
 certain experiments conducted imder the auspices and 
 
TRIALS AND EXPERIMENTS ON SMALL FARMS. 109 
 
 scientific direction of leading agricultural societies. 
 Those scientific directors, as they might be termed, 
 might thus belong either to the leading agricultural so- 
 cieties already established, or to a new central associa- 
 tion, having branches throughout the kingdom specially 
 founded and supported by subscription for the purpose. 
 
 Such work as is here indicated, so far as experiments 
 on actual every-day business farms are concerned, has, 
 in fact, been carried out largely during the last thirty, 
 we might almost say fifty, years ; so largely and effi- 
 ciently, that by far the most practical examples of what 
 science has done for farming are to be found recorded 
 in the pages of our leading agricultural societies as 
 having been done by practical farmers on their own 
 farms and at their own expense. What wealth of 
 practical knowledge is lying enshrined, so to say, in 
 a host of " papers " known only to those who have had 
 the duty imposed on them to become acquainted with 
 all that has been made public from time to time, or whose 
 inclination and leisure have permitted them to keep au 
 courant with all the advances of scientific practical farm- 
 ing ! Those papers are all in one way or another more 
 or less valuable, many specially so, while a few have 
 carried with them such points of high practical worth 
 that they have revolutionised in some departments our 
 practice, or have indicated new methods of working. 
 
 But while this has to a large extent been done, and 
 is still being done, and although such valuable points in 
 practice have resulted from it, the system scarcely meets 
 the necessities of the case ; otherwise we should not find 
 that proposals are now being made to establish experi- 
 mental farms in the way we have noted. 
 
 And it can scarcely be expected that those who are 
 engaged in the daily work of farming should be will- 
 ing, even if they are able, to devote much of their time 
 and go to great expense in carrying out experiments. 
 For in times such as those we have passed through of 
 late years, and are now passing through, and in pro- 
 spect of those which, ia the opinion of so many, are not 
 to be brighter in the future, farmers as a rule have 
 
110 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 enough to do to hold their own, and have difficulties in 
 the doing of this quite enough to engage their atten- 
 tion, and have neither the time nor the money to spare 
 to devote to experimental work. For it must be remem- 
 bered that if experiments succeed and pay in more 
 senses than one, giving an immediate and fair pecu- 
 niary return for the money they cost and the time they 
 demand, they oft^n also fail. And even when they do 
 not directly fail may sometimes take a long period 
 before they show results which are satisfactory and 
 trustworthy. But it must be imderstood that the 
 lessons to be derived from failures may be just as valu- 
 able as those from successes. 
 
 And even when farmers under ordinary circumstances 
 are willing to devote time and money to carry out ex- 
 periments, while they do this readily enough when they 
 do it of their own accord, they may not do it so readily 
 when asked to do it by some public body. That body hav- 
 ing certain objects in view, would of necessitj'' demand 
 or require a certain definite course to be taken ; and he 
 who to please himself would tie himself to conditions 
 of his own, would be likely to take a very different 
 view of the matter when the conditions under which 
 he would experiment were dictated by others. At the 
 same time, if the general circumstances of farming 
 were more prosperous and encouraging than they are, 
 or are for" some time at least likely to be, we have no 
 doubt that many farmers would gladly lend themselves 
 to the purposes of scientific agricultural societies or 
 committees, who had in view the determining of certaia 
 important points in agricultural economy by certain 
 well-devised experiments. 
 
 But if assistance of this kind is not under the cir- 
 cumstances of farming persevered in as a business likely 
 to be given so heartily and widely as the importance of 
 experimenting demands, the same objections do not 
 hold in the case of amateur farmers, who farm notto 
 live by it, but to please themselves or gratify a desire 
 for rural life and work. It would add greatly to the 
 interest of their " toy f aims " ii they devoted part of 
 
AMATETJK FARMING EXPERIMENTS. Ill 
 
 their time to the carrying out of such experiments as 
 might be recommended to them by such bodies as we 
 have alluded to. Some amateur farmers have indeed 
 done good service to the science of agriculture by 
 conducting carefully-considered experiments. And that 
 many more will yet be disposed to do this work none 
 need doubt. But much time and money may be 
 thrown away in work of this kind simply through 
 lack of a knowledge — first, of what kinds of experi- 
 ments are most likely to be useful, and secondly, from 
 an ignorance of the best method of conducting them. 
 For while some amateur farmers possess not only a 
 fair scientific knowledge, but a really good practical 
 notion of what farming is, and can, therefore, not only 
 initiate, but well carry out, agricultural experiments ; 
 it can scarcely be expected that the majority, connected 
 as they are with callings the work of which is quite 
 foreign to farming, can be capable either to decide what 
 kind or class of experiments woiild be useful, or how 
 such could be successfully conducted. 
 
 We have some hope, therefore, that if the experi- 
 mental committees of agricultural associations could 
 formulate some scheme for experiments of a useful 
 kind, they would find a goodly area opened up to them 
 by the amateur farmers of the kingdom ; and manv of 
 them have such a general scientific, though not a special 
 farming knowledge, as to give them a lively interest 
 in the carrying out of such experiments. We are 
 inclined to favour the opinion that, by taking advan- 
 tage of those facilities which already exist in this 
 direction — possibly also in that of general farms — ^the 
 benefits derivable from special experimental farms would 
 to a large extent be valuable, and these farms would be 
 more easily obtained than the special farms, to purchase 
 or secure which would involve expenditure, the amount 
 of which is not likely to be subscribed now by farmers 
 generally. And there are no signs of the times visible 
 from which we can derive the hope that Grovemment 
 would see its way to the providing of funds to establish 
 experimental farms on a wide and useful scale. We 
 
112 
 
 SMALIi FAEMING. 
 
 may, in the following chapters, under the different 
 departments of farming, be able to point out some 
 directions in which the amateur farmer may experi- 
 ment with a result which may be of more than interest 
 to himself. One thing is pretty certain, that by thus 
 going out of the mere ordinary routine of farm work, a 
 much higher degree of interest will be given to the 
 amateur farmer. 
 
 And this interest, although in some respects of 
 another character, will be gained should the amateur 
 farmer take up a farm which has been allowed to " run 
 down," as the phrase is — that is, one in which good 
 cultivation has been neglected, or of the work of which 
 the farmer was ignorant; For defective farming is not 
 always the result of pure ignorance of what its work is, 
 or how it should be done. The amateur farmer may 
 begin and, for some time, carry on well. But there are 
 some men so constituted that they are most enthusiastic 
 over everything new which offers a fresh excitement. 
 The " new brooms " of such men always sweep clean. 
 But the feeling of novelty dies out ; the enthusiasm is 
 no longer felt which was in fact the only inducement 
 for them to do the work at all ; they, sooner or later, 
 get tired of the work, and the land itself is " allowed 
 to rest." The circumstances of some amateur farmers 
 may change so that the " means " which they pos- 
 sessed at the time they took the farm no longer exist, 
 or in such a feeble way that with pecuniary di£B.culties 
 comes almost a necessity to stop all further outlay in 
 connection with the farm. "We have known instances 
 where, either from the operation of the one case or the 
 other, or of both combined, the good farming which 
 was commenced soon ceased. 
 
 To a man of a different kind from that just named, 
 and placed under easy circumstances as regards money, 
 the taking of an amateur farm which has been allowed 
 to " run down " — ^in other words, to become deteriorated 
 — ^will give more real pleasure than one entered upon 
 in high condition. To "improve" is work which is 
 pleasing to the majority of people ; and the work of 
 
EXTENT OF LAND OF THE AMATEUR FARM. 113 
 
 improTemeiit, even where it may not be the best to be 
 adopted, gives a large amount of pleasure to him who 
 carries it on. Although the work of improvement be 
 slow, as compared with that of other industries ia 
 which what is begun to-day may be finished to-morrow, 
 stm the result is quickly enough developed. And each 
 step so leads to the other, that the amateiir, if he has 
 any taste at all for rural matters, will soon take such a 
 lively interest in the work of improvement that he wiU 
 find a degree of fascination about it which wUl enable 
 him to understand something of the enthusiasm which 
 the true farmer has for his work. If the amateur does 
 not realise all this, nevertheless, when the work of 
 improvement is fairly finished, he will at all events 
 have a degree of solid satisfaction in looking at his 
 farm and in comparing its condition with what it was 
 when he first entered upon it. One caution we deem it 
 essentially necessary to give to the amateur farmer 
 under this head, and it is this : — ^Assimiiag that the 
 whole of the farm acreage has been allowed to "go 
 down " — ^and this may be fairly assumed, as he who 
 neglects one part is fikely to neglect the whole — ^the 
 amateur should take up the work of improvement in 
 detail ; that is, he should devote his attention to one, 
 and that a limited part, doing the work of this 
 thoroughly before he takes up another part. When we 
 say one part, this is not meant to be taken literally ; for 
 while gfiving his principal efforts to one area, when he 
 has got this iato fair condition, there are, so to say, 
 resting-places ia the work of which he should avail 
 hunself to commence the preliminary operations required 
 to bring another area within the range of improvement. 
 Although in one sense those two may form distinct 
 classes of improving work, they may, in another way, 
 be looked upon as one. 
 
 No matter what the plan of improving work may be, 
 let the one point be avoided of taking too much in hand 
 at one time. We confess that a beginner not ex- 
 perienced in farm work is apt to be' carried away with 
 the notion that the more he imdertakes to do at once 
 
114 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 the more quickly it seems to him that he will finish the 
 whole. But this is a mistake. When all, or nearly all, 
 the work of improyement to be done is taken in hand 
 at once, such an indefinite variety of details crop up, 
 that one gets confused with them, and the desire to get 
 rid of as many of them, and as quickly as possible, leads 
 to hurried and careless work. By taking but a limited 
 or comparatively limited area in hand at a time, all this 
 is avoided, and the part is thoroughly weU done ; and, 
 when once in high condition, it is easy to keep it so. 
 For it is not so easy to work land which is in bad con- 
 dition, while the ultimate results are, of course, alto- 
 gether in favour of the improved land. 
 
 The same rule of taking in detail the work of im- 
 provement of the land applies also, and with equal force, 
 to that connected with what may be called the struc- 
 tures of the farm. Using this term in its widest ac- 
 ceptation, it includes the outlying work of the farm, 
 such as fences, gates, roads, or footpaths, as well as the 
 more important department to which the name of struc- 
 tures is more specially applicable — ^namely, the build- 
 ings of the farm, such as stables, cow-house, piggeries, 
 and the like. If his predecessor in the farm was so 
 careless, so ignorant, or in such difficulties that he 
 allowed his land to go down in condition, the amateur 
 succeeding him. need not be surprised to find all the 
 buildings and outlying structures in the same condition 
 of neglect with all its unsatisfactory concomitants as 
 the result. 
 
 In such a case almost the very first work of improve- 
 ment the amateur has to do is to look to his fences and 
 gates, and get them into the efficient condition, neces- 
 sary to the careful style of farming which we, of course, 
 here assume he is most anxious to carry out. It is 
 imperative that the fences be at once put into good 
 order ; for, as we shall hereafter see, a very important 
 part of amateur farming carried on in the way most 
 likely to be successful, is the number of separate fields. 
 Apart from this, however, the work is no less essential, 
 for there is nothing which gives such a forlorn, broken- 
 
THE FENCES OF THE SMALL FARM. 115 
 
 down, bankrupt-like look to a farm as decajang fences 
 with gaps here and there, with gates equally decayiag, 
 •and in anything but that condition which is so satis- 
 factory every way, and which is indicated by the term 
 " trim." This broken-down state of fences and of gates 
 can be seen hf any one at a glance, while it is onily to 
 experienced observers that the deteriorated condition of 
 the land itself is known, imless it is overgrown with 
 weeds, and has in a marked manner that deplorably 
 melancholy look which farmers describe as " dirty." 
 
 Should the fences display at frequent intervals ugly 
 gaps and broken parts throughout their length, it wiU 
 be necessary to restore some degree of working effici- 
 ency to them by making good the gaps, at least the 
 worst of them, through which stock could make their 
 way, with greater or less ease. And they very quickly 
 make their way through some gaps, which they 
 speedily enlarge. Some, if not all, cows, for example, 
 have a ready way of finding out the weak point of a 
 fence, and a no less ready one for making it into an 
 exit for themselves in search of the " fresh fields and 
 pastures new," which at least some cows seem ever 
 yearning for. Those who study their habits well 
 know that cows are, in more ways than one, very 
 "curious" animals. But this patching-up of unmis- 
 takable " gaps " in neglected fences must not be looked 
 upon as the true work to be done. Nor will the amateur 
 farmer — ^whom we suppose to be one who is proud of 
 his work, and determined to have good evidences of this 
 "pride" — be at all likely to be satisfied with this 
 patching-up of bad work. He will have to do it so 
 that he may get his stock on his land at^s early a 
 period of his tenancy as he can ; but the patching 
 having this end only in view will give place to, or 
 rather precede, the true work of improvement in this 
 department. This will consist in "beginning at one 
 end" cf the work and going regularly on till all the 
 fences show stretches of unbroken lengths, every yard 
 of which is " trim " and " workmanlike," or what saalors 
 would call " ship-shape." 
 
116 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 The above reference to fences, althougli applicable in 
 principle to all kinds, has obviously from the terms 
 used a special reference to timber fences. Where the 
 fences are of iron, if they have been neglected they 
 present the same broken-down, bankrupt aspect which 
 timber fences have under like circumstances. On the 
 whole, indeed, they are even shabbier, and have, in their 
 straining-posts leaning in all directions, with their bent 
 and broken-down stretches of intermediate wires, a 
 specially " hang-dog " appearance when nearly viewed. 
 The amateur farmer proud of his place will not rest 
 satisfied till, "beginning at the beginning" and finish- 
 ing at the end, he has all his iron fences " taut and 
 trim." 
 
 So also with his "quickset" or thorn fences. If 
 he is a " stern reformer," one of those who deem no 
 improvement a thing of fact tiU the object is so far 
 improved that it has no longer an existence, being 
 " improved ofE the face of the earth," he wiU, of course 
 presuming that he has legal liberty to do so, not 
 tolerate the fine old-fashioned fence, with its great bed- 
 wide base, which, as he wiU be ready to prove, is only 
 a waste of land from the space which it occupies, and a 
 nest for all kinds of vermin — vegetable, insect, and 
 animal — ^which it harbours. But if the amateur have 
 a taste for rural beauties, and all the charms of a 
 fine old fence, with its picturesque look and its rough- 
 and-tumble base or "bottom," ever the nestling-place 
 of the loveliest wild flowers and the most graceful of 
 weeds, he will think twice before issuing the fiat for its 
 final and complete destruction. Let him keep at least 
 one stretch of this kind of grand old fence, if he be 
 lucky enough to have stretches of it on his farm — and 
 we venture to say that if so he will indeed, in an artistic 
 sense, be lucky. And if he be not himself well pleased 
 at sparing it, which he wiU be if a man of true rural 
 taste, of this we are sure, that his wife and daughters — 
 if he be blessed with these — wiU be thoroughly well 
 pleased that such a "thing of beauty" has been spared. 
 
 And although it be true that these old fences, with 
 
THE FIELD GATES OF THE SMALL FARM. 
 
 117 
 
 their broad and higli bases, do take up mucli groimd 
 valuable in arable or crop culture, and are harbours for 
 weeds and vermin, and cast shadows or make shade 
 under which vegetable growth is scanty, sometimes 
 
 Fig. 1. 
 
 altogether absent, or nearly so ; still, where they skirt or 
 enclose fields devoted to permanent pasture they have 
 a great value of their own, as they afford snug shelter 
 
 
 
 Kg. 2. 
 
 to outlying cattle from cold and cutting winds, and 
 from driving clouds of rain or sleet, and the farmer is 
 abundantly repaid by the benefit the stock derive from 
 it. The same shelter, especially those fences bounding 
 
118 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 the nortk and east sides of a field, benefits the ground 
 of early and succulent " bites " of pasture grass. 
 
 In the case of quickset or thorn fences — and the 
 remark applies equally to those of beech or hornbeam, 
 those two varieties of timber-trees used as fences are so 
 alike in foliage and general habits of growth that it is 
 only experts which can tell the one from the other — 
 which spring at once from the level of the ground, and 
 not from the old-fashioned "hedge-bottom" of soil, 
 nothing looks worse than great, or for the matter of 
 that, a number of small, gaps. Those gaps should be 
 carefully filled up, not with stuffings of thorn, or of 
 gorse or whin branches, but with young plants or quick- 
 sets. Here, as in the case of the other fences, gaps may 
 be filled up by such stuffings as above noted. But this 
 should only be for a time. The young plants put in 
 should be carefully guarded on either side of the fence 
 by strong stakes driven so deeply into the soil, and at 
 such a distance from the plants, that cattle may not be 
 able to eat, and finally do away with, the plants, thus 
 practically rendering the gaps still open. 
 
 In Fig. 1 on the previous page we give an illustration 
 showing the effect of the well-kept gates and fences 
 of the small farmer who takes as much pride in having 
 everything on his farm in a "ship-shape," orderly 
 condition as he has in cidtivating carefully his fields, 
 or attending to the health of his live stock. Fig. 2 
 gives a contrast to Fig. 1, and we venture to say that 
 the farm on which such a gate or such a fence is seen 
 will be badly cultivated and the stock neglected. In 
 Fig. 3 we give a group of styles of easily constructed 
 strong timber fences, such as are usual on American 
 farms, from which the reader may glean a hint or two 
 of some practical value. 
 
 In the case of " stone fences," used in some districts, 
 the style of construction adopted is that known as " dry 
 stone "walling," no mortar being used. From the mere 
 length of walls required to divide fields from each other 
 the usual method of constructio;n, in which mortar is 
 used, would be too expensive to admit of this style of 
 
VARIETIES OF FENCES FOll THE SMALL FAEM. 119 
 
 fence being adopted ; hence the simpler mode of dry 
 stone construction is usual. This is very quickly 
 carried out by skilful workmen, but is not so easily done 
 by those unaccustomed to it ; long practice seems alone 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 to give the ready habit of choosing at a glance the kind 
 of stone to be used, and which -will fit in or dovetail, so 
 to say, -with others in the wall. For it is on this dove- 
 tailing, or interlocking of the stones one with another, 
 that the strength and stability of the dry stone wall 
 
120 
 
 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 depends. But tlie work of the small or amateur farmer 
 in respect to fences of this kind will be confined, as a 
 rule, to repairiag; and as the gaps or breakdowns 
 wiU be generally small in extent, he should have no 
 great difficulty in getting them "made good" either 
 by the ordinary workmen of the farm or by his own 
 skill. The amateur farmer may not have much of 
 this to begin with ; but if he possesses even but a 
 little of the spirit of the true amateur who does his 
 work for health or for a hobby, we can promise him 
 some amusement in his endeavours to fill up a gap in 
 a dry stone wall in a ship-shape style. He will find 
 the work as interesting to himself as his young son 
 finds it interesting to put together his toy puzzle. 
 So that he takes care not to work in wet weather, and 
 in all cases to be provided with thick- soled shoes 
 or boots and leggings, we should indeed counsel the 
 amateur farmer, as a mere matter of healthy exercise, to 
 take a good deal in hand himself in connection with the 
 repairing of fences and gates. Some have a handy way 
 at carpentering, and plenty of outlet for this will be 
 found on the small farm. Buildiag construction comes 
 imder another category, and although quite as inte- 
 resting in its details as carpentering and joinery work, 
 it is not of the cleanly character which befits the ama- 
 teur farmer ; he who farms for a living must not be so 
 nice, and he may economically and usefully fill up a 
 few odd hours by doing work in repairing all sorts of 
 things which would cost a " good bit " of money if 
 regular tradesmen were called in to do them. For 
 " odd jobs " are always the dearest, and open the door, 
 so to say, for tradesmen to " clap on the little extras," 
 which together make a feature in the account anything 
 but trifling. 
 
 As to the roads and footpaths of the small farm, 
 comparatively little has to be said. As to the direc- 
 tions in which they are laid down, and the crooks and 
 bends they should take, the small or amateur farmer 
 must take them as they are, however inconvenient they 
 may be. Very often it happens that one — happy for 
 
ROADS OF THE SMALL FARM. 121 
 
 the fanner if tliere be no more than one — of the roads 
 or footpaths is a public one ; at least, gives the " right 
 of way " to any one who chooses to exercise it. Such 
 cases give, as a rule, a good deal of trouble to the 
 farmer. This does not arise from people who honestly 
 use the road for proper purposes, but from those who, 
 while using it, take the opportunity, often out of a pure 
 love of mischief, to do a good deal of damage to the 
 farm or to give a good deal of annoyance to the 
 farmer, which is not honest. Such roads give thus not 
 merely a right of way, but, practically, a right of entrance 
 to a man's property which ought, for the sake of its 
 business, to admit none but those who have business with 
 it. The annoyance is all the greater when the road or 
 path giving a public right of way lies through or 
 divides the buildings of the farm into two sections. As 
 tramps and scamps have as good a right to the way as 
 honest people, one of this fraternity but too often takes 
 or makes the opportunity to "help himself to what isn't 
 his'n ;" or, if he can't do that, he may not hesitate to do 
 some wanton mischief. And he is all the more likely to 
 do this if he has not had " assistance " at the house at 
 which, no doubt, he has called with his pressing claims 
 on charity. 
 
 In such a case, so great is the annoyance, and so 
 completely disturbed the quiet and seclusion essential 
 to a farm-house, that the tenant is well entitled to ask 
 his landlord to turn or divert the road or path so that 
 it shall go outside of the buildings. And should the 
 landlord not be inclined to do this on the score of 
 expense, if the amateur farmer happens to have taken 
 a long lease of the farm, we should be inclined to 
 counsel him to do the work of diverting at his own 
 cost. As the landlord finds the land, so to say, the 
 cost will not be so very great, and the amount thus laid 
 out will be a good investment. 
 
 As small and amateur farms are not extensive, the 
 communication from one part to another is to be had 
 by footpaths chiefly ; and if there be what may, from 
 its greater breadth, be dignified by the name of a road, 
 
122 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 it will likely be only of the simple character known as 
 an " accommodation road." It is scarcely necessary 
 to say that, whatever be the means of communication 
 he possesses, the amateur farmer should take a pride 
 in keeping them in good order. Apart from the incon- 
 veniences arising from them, nothing looks worse than 
 to see paths puddled all over in time of wet weather, 
 which, even in dry weather, only get dried enough 
 to keep them in a muddy, spatteringly soft condition ; 
 and to walk through mud is perhaps more annoying 
 than to splash through water. And as paths are gene- 
 rally, or at least very often, bounded on each side by 
 hedge fences, and as they are sometimes very narrow, 
 high, and old, the result is that the ground or path 
 surface between them is never so thoroughly dry — save 
 only in exceptionally long- continued dry weather-^as 
 to give comfortable and cleanly walking. Puddles, if 
 allowed to form, are liable to extend, so that what at 
 first may be but a small affair in the centre of the path, 
 which admits of being stepped over or flanked, and 
 thus avoided, comes in time, if neglected, to fill the 
 whole width between the fences, so that one has no 
 alternative but to splash through its tiny lake of water 
 or its sea of mud. 
 
 No well-kept amateur farm should ever show a con- 
 dition of things like this. Puddle-holes should not be 
 allowed to form, or if formed before the farmer takes 
 possession, should be filled up. There are various 
 ways of repairing the surface of foot-paths. Much 
 depends upon the way in which the " bottoming," or 
 foundation, of the road or path has been originally 
 made. If good, the keeping of the surface sound is 
 comparatively simple, and consists chiefly in laying 
 down a " surface dressing " of road or path-making 
 materials. Those consist of various substances; but 
 generally for the small path of the amateur farm, if good 
 hard cinders, or what is better, smithy clinkers, can be 
 had, scarcely anything can give so good and dry a sur- 
 face. In order to the economical repairing or keeping 
 in good condition the paths, the farmer should bear in 
 
KEPAIKS OF KOADS AND FOOTPATHS. 
 
 123 
 
 mind the lesson taught by the proverb, " One stitch in 
 time saves nine." A narrow and shallow rut or a 
 puddle-hole of small diameter may be filled up and the 
 surface made thoroughly good by the application of a 
 small amount of cinders or other road metal. _ But they 
 will not be made good and sound, either easily or tho- 
 roughly, even by the employment of a large amount of 
 material, if they are allowed to get deeper, or broader, 
 and larger. If hard cinders or clinkers cannot be had 
 easily and cheaply, the amateur farmer may have to exer- 
 cise his wits in hitting upon some other kind of " metal " 
 for road or path repairing. A gravel-pit may be near 
 his farm, or perhaps be on it ; and ii in the former case 
 it may be had cheap enough, it is scarcely necessary 
 to say' that it should be used, and its use would be 
 thoroughly satisfactory. Almost any hard substance — 
 or substance which in itself may be soft, but which may 
 become hard by converting or being battered down, such 
 as ashes — wiU give a surface much better even at its 
 worst than one which is allowed to get into and remain 
 in an " eruption of puddles " at its very best. Lacking 
 other materials, if the amateur farmer has a clay soil, or 
 marly clay deposit on part of his farm, he can produce 
 a lot of excellent road-repairing material by burning 
 the clay. Clay, when burnt by means of coal in a clump 
 or heap, forms into a series of small and exceedingly hard 
 nodules, or nut-like pieces ; these the farmer will find 
 useful for his roads or paths. But if he be " blessed " 
 -. — or the other thing — with a clay farm he will find 
 those nodules applied to his arable fields a fairly good 
 thing to use in lightening or opening up his heavy 
 retentive soils, and in helping him, along with his 
 careful selection of crops, to bring it into a state of 
 good tilth, and in time convert it into one of the 
 richest, if not in all respects the best, of soils, known as 
 a loamy clay. 
 
 While engaged in repairing his roads or paths lead- 
 ing to the fields of his little farm, we should counsel 
 the amateur farmer to think over what he might do in 
 relation to the entrance to his pasture fields — or field, if 
 
124 
 
 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 he has but one — devoted to the outlying or feeding o£ 
 his cows. There are hut few who have not seen in wet 
 weather the wretched condition of the ground surface 
 in immediate contiguity to the gate. This is bad 
 enough on its road side", but on its field side it is so 
 much worse that we have often felt surprised that any 
 one with a fair notion of order could permit it to exist. 
 The cows knowing as well as — ^better we should say, as 
 they never seem to forget — their attendant the hour at 
 which they ought to be taken out of the field and led 
 to the shippen or house, begin for some time before this 
 to eat their way towards the gate. Arriving at this 
 •considerably before the time at which the attendant 
 comes for them, they keep walking or standing and 
 poaching over the surface of the field near it, till it 
 becomes a woeful mass of mud, which often extends 
 far into the field. There is not only thus a loss of grass, 
 but the animals do not gain anything in being allowed 
 to stand ankle-deep in watery mud. 
 
 The courtyards of the farm building are generally 
 paved with square or round sets of stone, such as 
 granite, trap, or greenstone, or other hard stone most 
 conveniently to be had in the neighbourhood. Eoimd 
 sets of a small surface, or large pebbles, are also very 
 frequently used for the floors of stables, cow-houses, and 
 stock buildings generally. They are durable enough, 
 but they give a very inconvenient and uncomfortable 
 form of floor when animals are housed in the apart- 
 ments. They not only give a very treacherous footing, 
 especially when damp or wet, but they afEord spaces be- 
 tween them in which dirt easily and quickly accumu- 
 lates, and which can only be dislodged by a care which 
 most farm labourers grudge, and do not think it neces- 
 sary to give. We have rarely seen a stable or shippen 
 (cow-house) of this kind as clean as it ought to be ; and 
 when it was, we discovered that the cleanliness had been 
 secured only by a drOling of the men, which few masters 
 care to have the trouble to do, or from an inherent love 
 of order and cleanliness in the servants, of which very 
 few are possessed. 
 
FLOORS OF THE BUILDINGS. 125 
 
 The smoother — in the sense of being free from hollow 
 spaces or depressions and awkward corners — the floor 
 of the stock-house is, the more easy it is to he kept 
 clean, and the less absorbent the surface is of liquid the 
 more healthy is it likely to be. As a material giving 
 both of these floor essentials we know of none equal to 
 — or in fact at all approaching it in value — Portland 
 cement concrete. It is equally valuable for the open 
 courts and for the side paths surrounding the buildings 
 of the farm-house, or those leading from one part to 
 another. And in all cases it is so readily available that 
 the work of laying down floor and path surfaces with it, 
 or giving a waterproof floor and sides to liquid manure 
 or to rain-water tanks, can be done by any common 
 farm labourer with very little in the way of instructions, 
 and that little within the comprehension of an ordinary 
 intelligence. The reader interested in the uses of this 
 Portland cement concrete, and how they can be practi- 
 cally worked out, will find various points discussed in 
 one of the chapters connected with the " ensilage" pro- 
 cess of preserving green-cut farm crops as food for live 
 stock. 
 
 "We have now run over the principal points to be 
 attended to in putting a neglected amateur or small 
 farm into good working condition, so far as what may 
 be called the mechanical or constructive features of 
 arrangement. What the farmer will have to do in the 
 way of bringing the fields into good cultural condition 
 comes under quite another department of work. What 
 the details of this are wiU be best discussed under the 
 different heads or classes of remarks in which the cha- 
 racteristics of ordinary farm crops and cropping are 
 named and treated of. What has had to be said here 
 refers only to what may be called the preliminary work 
 to be done in the case of neglected fields. 
 
 The most obvious, and to the incoming tenant of a 
 small or amateur farm the most distracting, result of the 
 neglect of his predecessor is what, in the technical 
 language of agriculture, is called the dirty state or 
 condition of the land ; in other words, the weeds of all 
 
126 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 kinds with wliicli it is infested. And those will be 
 found not merely in the meadow or pasture land, 
 but in the arable crops. Indeed, all over the farm 
 wherever a weed can find soil to grow in, it will 
 be almost sure to be met with. For the farmer who 
 is careless to get rid of weeds in the case of his crops 
 to which they do so much damage, is not likely to 
 get rid of them in places where there is no apparent 
 damage to be done. "We say apparent, for although 
 weeds in those outlying places do no direct injury, they 
 do it iadirectly, and that persistently and powerfully ; 
 for weeds have a wonderful power of propagation, and 
 those which are allowed to grow in fences and along 
 the sides of roads and pathways will soon spread to 
 the fields. It is difficult, indeed, to over-estimate the 
 loss sustained by agriculture through the weeds which 
 are allowed to grow by the wayside, in odd nooks and 
 corners, or in the more open space of the farm. And it 
 ■ is certainly a matter for serious consideration that a good 
 farmer who has his fields clean and free from weeds, 
 will sometimes allow the weeds to grow freely else- 
 where, the seeds of which are scattered by various 
 means broadcast over his fields or in their vicinity, and 
 the evil results of those which propagate themselves by 
 the roots are spread far and wide. 
 
 With weeds the amateur farmer must wage a per- 
 petual warfare. They never cease from aggressing, and 
 not the least surprising thing to him, will be the ease 
 with which weeds are, so to say, cultivated as com- 
 pared with the difficulty he finds in raising his 
 crops. After all, we may some day find a use for the 
 weeds which grow so freely, and see in this only an 
 exemplification of the fact that weeds are simply things 
 in the wrong place, and not in themselves worthless 
 or bad. All weeds which are propagated by seeds are 
 remarkable for the number of flowers they produce, and 
 the great number of the seeds which are carried in the 
 ultimate seed-pods. Hence the origin of the proverb, 
 which conveys a pregnant lesson to the amateur farmer, 
 " One year's seeding is seven years' weeding." This 
 
WEEDING OF THE SMALL FARM. 127 
 
 is only another way of saying that if j'^ou allow a weed 
 to grow till its seeds ripen, those of the one year will be 
 sufficient to give plants, or weeds, so numerous that it 
 will take seven years' weeding work to get them out 
 of the land. 
 
 There is no better evidence of the utter incapacity of 
 a farmer to understand the first essential elements of 
 his busiaess, than his allowing weeds to grow freely. 
 And while many farms are models of what clean culti- 
 vation shoidd be, it is, we fear, but only the literal truth 
 to say that the great majority of farms of the kingdom 
 are so cultivated — or not cultivated, in the proper sense 
 of the term — ^that a very large loss of crop is experi- 
 enced every year. If this were shown in a clear 
 statement of the pecuniary loss incurred by it, the 
 general public might conclude that possibly by atten- 
 tion to this matter of clean cultivation — this war with 
 and against weeds — the losses of farmers, of which 
 they have heard so much, might have been at least some- 
 what lessened. If then the annual loss, which beyond 
 doubt is caused through weeds taking possession of the 
 soil which should grow crops, could only be stated in 
 figures, the amount would be somewhat startling. The 
 mere fact that weeds are abundant seeders shows that 
 they rob the land freely of that which should go to pro- 
 duce crops, for it is the seed which exhausts the soil of 
 its fertilising constituents. 
 
 And in proportion' to the extent to which they rob 
 the land of its fertilising constituents — ^whether these be 
 naturally present in the soil or be added to it in the 
 form of farmyard or artificial manures, they take 
 from this supply that which ought to go to iacrease 
 the yield of the crop proper. Some fields may be 
 found to have been so wretchedly ill cultivated 
 or so completely neglected, that when the amateur 
 farmer takes possession of his little farm he may find 
 them in such a condition as regards weeds that they 
 would seem to have taken possession of the soil instead 
 of the crops, which they ought properly to bear. We 
 have seen a field of wheat so infested with the red 
 
128 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 poppy weed — tlie " rose-a-ruby," of our forefathers — 
 tliat the field presented the appearance of a complete 
 carpet or covering of red, the wheat or crop proper 
 appearing only as patches at intervals. The red poppy 
 (papaver rhosus) is such a free seeder — each plant 
 bearing on an average one hundred ilowers, and each 
 flower producing no fewer than five hundred seeds, or 
 fifty thousand for each plant — that when it once has 
 complete possession of the soil in the way mentioned, 
 it increases each season so enormously that the crop 
 proper has no chance of yielding what it ought, with 
 good cultivation, to give. 
 
 The "rose-a-ruby," which, however beautiful as a 
 flower, is not precisely the crop the farmer wishes to 
 cultivate, although in very truth it would appear to be 
 so, judging from the number of the poppies which 
 flaunt their bright colours in the summer air. The 
 only way of dealing with a field infested with it is 
 to put it under a succession of what is called cleaning 
 crops, which admit of hoeing and stirring the soil be- 
 tween the plants, thus giving an opportunity to get rid 
 of the weeds. Or, if the land should happen to come 
 under a wheat or grain crop, in the regular rotation or 
 course, the amateur farmer, instead of sowing the seed 
 broadcast, should sow it in drills. And so long as the 
 height of the corn-plants admit of it, the hoeing and 
 clearing process should go on, thus getting rid of the 
 weeds as fast as they come up. Even after the plants 
 proper attain a height too great to admit of hoeing, we 
 should recommend the amateur farmer to send in hand 
 weeders to pull up all the poppy-plants about to flower 
 and thereafter seed, even at the risk of injuring the 
 plants proper. For, in truth, no injury done ia this way 
 by the weeders can equal that done by the weeds they 
 should be so careful to puU up. The great point is to 
 prevent the weeds from reaching the stage of seeding ; 
 for this ,not only largely robs the soil directly of its 
 fertilising' constituents, but by the plants shedding 
 their seeds adds infinitely to the very mischief which 
 the weeding is designed to get rid of. A good plan of 
 
"WEEDS OF THE SMALL FARM. 129 
 
 cropping a field so thoroughly infested with weeds as 
 we have indicated, would be to sow the land down in 
 autumn with winter rye, or rye and vetches, allowing 
 this to grow sufficiently high ia the spring, so that a 
 good cutting of green food could he had for soiling or 
 stall-feeding of stock, or for the ensUage process (see 
 succeeding chapters for a description of this food-pre- 
 serving system). When this is taken off,'the land should 
 be ploughed, burying all the green-stuff, weeds in- 
 cluded, thus giving the soil what wiU be a " green 
 manuriag." The weeds wiU, after a short time, appear 
 ia great numbers ; the surface should then be well 
 harrowed, and a seed sown down either of summer rape 
 or mustard, which, being quick-growing crops, wiU 
 give a cuttiag, or even cuttings, of green food which will 
 afford an abundant supply of green stock at a season 
 when food supply is sometimes short. Or a crop of 
 white turnips maj"" be taken, which, if sown in drills, 
 will allow of the warfare against weeds to be kept up 
 till the autumn, when the field wiU be occupied or 
 treated according to the rotation or course. 
 
 In strong sous especially, the weed which is the 
 scourge of the fields is that known popularly as the 
 "couch," or "twitch," or "dog" grass {triticum rep- 
 cus). This does not, like the poppy, propagate itself 
 by seed, but by each root sending out lateral shoots or 
 rootlets, in the same way as the strawberry sheds out 
 its shoots and extends over and through the soil ; each 
 shoot becomes a new plant, it agaia sending out its 
 rootlets ; and this is so rapidly done, that it does not 
 take long for a field to be quite overrun with this 
 weed. It is exceedingly difficult to eradicate it from the 
 soil, as, Hke the wheat-plant, which belongs to the same 
 family or group of plants, it sends its roots very deeply 
 into the soil ; and being a reticulated or jointed-rooted 
 plant, it imfortunately happens that the cuttiag or 
 severing of a root or rootlet by either the plough or the 
 spade, ia turning over the soil, in place of killing the 
 plant, only serves to increase its propagatiag power, 
 inasmuch as each divided root gives for each new part 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 a new plant ; so that the more the roots are divided or 
 cut up, and left thereafter in the soil, the more nume- 
 rous do the ultimate plants become; and those roots, 
 sending up shoots, appear as the too -well-known " dog " 
 or twitch grass, which, in many cases, so take pos- 
 session of the soil, that it may be said practically to 
 so overpower the crop propfer, that the yield of this is 
 reduced to a minimum. The only way, therefore, to 
 deal with the " twitch," after it is cut up by the plough 
 or the spade used in turning over and preparing the 
 soil for a seed-bed, is to get the roots and rootlets out 
 of the soil. To allow them to remain in is simply to 
 increase the number of the plants. And on this point 
 it is surprising what an amount of ignorance exists 
 amongst farmers, and even gardeners, where the latter 
 is presumed to be the best cultivator of the soU. It 
 might be said, indeed, that the great majority believe 
 that, if in ploughing or digging the land, and thus 
 turning up or dividing the weed roots, they can only 
 " turn in " and bury them in the soil, or cover them up, 
 that they will be killed ; at all events that they are 
 practically disposed of, and, being out of sight, are out 
 of the way of doing mischief. How erroneous this view 
 is we have seen. So far as gardening is concerned, we 
 can always gauge the actual knowledge, or per contra 
 the ignorance, of a gardener of the true principles of 
 his art by the way he deals with his weeds. A 
 thoroughly good gardener never buries or covers up the 
 weeds brought up or divided by his spade. He invari- 
 ably takes them up and throws them aside, to be care- 
 fully removed afterwards, and either burnt or put into 
 the manure-heap. This may appear a tedious and un- 
 necessary process to some ; but the time apparently 
 lost is in reality gained, for there will be an infinitely 
 less amount of after-weeding to be done, while the 
 garden crops will be just so much the richer. 
 
 This principle or this system also holds good in the 
 preparation of a soil for a seed-bed under the ordinary 
 process of farming. In practice the mode of carrying 
 it out is of necessity different, as in ploughing the 
 
PASTURE AND MEADOW GRASS FIELDS. 131 
 
 weeds cannot be lifted up and thrown aside. But in 
 spade husbandry they can, and we believa that the 
 highest value is given to this mode of preparing the 
 soil, simply through the facilities it afEords of getting 
 rid completely of such weeds as are turned up by the 
 spade. When the plough, is used the harrow miust be 
 carefully and patiently used also, going over the ground 
 repeatedly till aU the weeds turned up by the plough 
 are dragged up by the harrow, collected together, and 
 taken ofi: the ground to be burned. They should never 
 be added to the dung-pit or manure-heap, as is too 
 often done. There they simply keep as a rule fresh, 
 ready to be started into vigorous life when put into or 
 under soil along with the manure. The great rival of 
 the plough is the grubber or cultivator ; and it is just 
 one of the great arguments in favour of the latter imple- 
 ment that it brings the weeds to the surface in place of 
 burying them in the soil as the plough does. So infested 
 are some fields with the " twitch " or " couch grass " — 
 and this is most frequently the case in strong and heavy 
 soils, which are most congenial to its growth — that the 
 only way to get rid of them is to place the field in a 
 naked or summer fallow ; that is, not to grow any crop 
 upon it, but, during the summer months, to keep up a 
 perpetual warfare against the weeds by harrowing or 
 grubbing at intervals. This clearing of the soil has 
 also this great advantage, that it helps to bring the 
 close and heavy soil into a condition of fine mould or 
 " tilth " so congenial to the growth of crops. 
 
 Turning now to the condition of his pasture and 
 meadow fields, or his " grass-land," the amateur farmer 
 will not seldom find, to his surprise and disappointment, 
 that he is taking possession of fields which, although 
 called " grass " might, with a nearer approach to accu- 
 racy of description, be termed " weed " land — so nume- 
 rous are the latter and so completely do they dominate. 
 This wiU be most generally observable in the case of the 
 meadow-lands, inasmuch as those, unlike the pastures, 
 are not entered upon, but are left undisturbed to grow 
 as they will. 
 
132 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 Of the weeds wMcli infest grass-lands the chief, and 
 those which assume the greatest prominence if allowed 
 to grow freely, are the dock and the thistle. It is 
 difficult to say which is the worst in point of injuring 
 the grass crop — that is, in reducing its value— or which 
 is the most difficult to extirpate. To do this effectually 
 and in the quickest way there is nothing left for it but 
 to pull each plant fairly out of the ground. But this 
 quickness is only relative after all, for it is actually a 
 very slow process ; and this not only because each plant 
 has to be dealt with individually, but so effectually and 
 effectively dealt with that the whole of the root shall be 
 taken out of the ground. This will appear to be an 
 easy thiag to do to those who associate with the dock 
 and the thistle the characteristics of the common 
 weeds of the garden — as tufts of grass, of groundsel, 
 chickweed, dandelion, &c., which, if the soil be ia any- 
 thing like good condition, may be pulled bodily up 
 " root and branch " with ready ease. But the dock and 
 the thistle are weeds of quite another habit of growth ; 
 they are tap-rooted like a carrot ; but a carrot is an easy 
 thing to extract from the soil compared with the dock 
 or the thistle, for their tap-roots descend much farther 
 into the soil, and take a much firmer hold in it ; so firm 
 is the " grip " it takes that a powerful arm, even if the 
 hand could take a grip of the prickly thistle fiim 
 enough, will fail to bring the whole root up. So 
 difficult, indeed, is the puUiag up alike of dock and 
 thistle by hand, that an implement known as the " dock 
 spade" is used where the operation has to be done 
 effectually. 
 
 When one considers the extent or area of a small 
 field, and also the number of those weed-plants which 
 infest some fields, an idea of the labour thrown upon the 
 small or amateur farmer who is determined to get rid of 
 them may be guessed at. But in this, as in all other cases, 
 if the work is to be done labour must not be grudged. 
 And every true farmer will be ashamed to see his 
 lands greatly infested with the dock or thistle, or both 
 of them— and both are met with in all neglected fields. 
 
■WEEDS IN MEADOW GRASS FIELDS. 133 
 
 One can scarcely suppose that tliere are many fanners 
 like the " old Cheshire blade " whose geese were so in- 
 variably swans that nothing was in his farm but what 
 was of the very best, and whose thistles even — and they 
 were in forests in his fields — were like those of no one 
 else ; so good of their kind were they that, as with evi- 
 dent pride in having such thistles, he remarked, " dang 
 'em, they growed like trees." 
 
 T]»e labour of getting rid of these pests, especially in 
 the case of the dock, is made much more easy — ^for- 
 tunately for the small farmer who has not much labour 
 to give or time to spare if he gives it himself — ^by the 
 method of completely extracting or pulling out the 
 whole plant, tap-root and aU. It so happens that all 
 broad-leaved weeds are supported by, or " fed," so to say, 
 through the medium of the leaves. Hence the efficiency 
 of the method of getting rid of them by " mowing them 
 down." If this mowing down of the upper growing 
 part of the plant be done persistently, that is frequently, 
 so that as soon as any growth appears it is done away 
 with, the roots will gradually lose their vitality and 
 ultimately die out ; and what that vitality is, those only 
 know who have had much to do with weeds of the 
 kiud we are now writing of. This mowing down 
 may be done with a small and light garden scythe or by 
 a sickle, the last-named implement being perhaps the 
 most readily used in the case of thistles ; or a bOl-hook 
 may be employed. But whatever be the appliance used 
 to effect the cutting-down, it must be, as before stated, 
 persistently carried out. It is only by repeated attacks 
 that the enemy wiU. be conquered, and this it must be 
 if the farmer wishes to make the most of his grass- 
 lands. 
 
 It is surprising to what extent some farmers will 
 allow their lands to be infested with weeds, and of the 
 two we have named, perhaps the dock is that which is 
 the most frequently met with ; and they are allowed to 
 keep such quiet possession of the land, that having in- 
 vaded a meadow, about haymaking time, great patches 
 of dull red will indicate their presence. Fortunately 
 
134 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 for the small or amateur farmer, good general cultiva- 
 tion will greatly tend to keep down ^C^eeds; and in 
 this direction the power of judicious manuring is very 
 great. There are some artificial manures which seem 
 to have a most salutary effect in getting rid of the dock. 
 To those we shall in proper place duly allude. 
 
 But even shotdd the amateur farmer have the good 
 fortune to get possession of his grass-lands in a good 
 " clean " condition, that is, free from weeds, it by 
 no means follows that either his pasture fields or his 
 meadow-land will be worth much in yielding what he 
 requires in the way of nutritious or valuable food. In 
 this, as in other departments of work, the principle in- 
 volved in the well-known French proverb — "There are 
 faggots and faggots " — applies. For there are grass- 
 lands and grass-lands ; that is to say, some are made 
 up almost wholly of " grasses " of the poorest or least 
 nutritious varieties ; the good grasses being very few and 
 kept down by the poor ones, which will somehow assert 
 themselves vrith the power and persistency for which 
 moral evils are at times distinguished. The only 
 remedy in this case is to have the fields sown down with 
 a mixture of good grasses. These " renovating mixtures" 
 require to be supplied with great care and good judg- 
 ment. For certain grasses, however good in some 
 soils, wiU not be equally good in others ; while the 
 character of the field — that is, whether it is used as 
 a pasture or as a meadow for haymaking grasses — ^must 
 also be taken into account. The best thing for the 
 amateur farmer is to get an " expert," or some 
 neighbouring farmer who really knows the subject, to 
 examine the fields. If this be done at the proper season 
 he will be able to tell at once in what condition the 
 fields are as to the character — the feeding value — of the 
 grasses which are growing upon them. And if the ama- 
 teur farmer is thus made aware — ^which is much more 
 likely to be the case than not — that his grasses are, if 
 not positively the worst, certainly not the best, he cannot 
 in such a case do better than put himself in the hands of 
 one or other of our first seedsmen, who will supply him 
 
PLOUGHS OF THE AMATEUR FAEM. 135 
 
 with, a renovating mixture ; care being taken on the part 
 of the amateur farmer that he supplies them with the 
 fullest information as to the soil and general circum- 
 stances of the fields he wishes to be improved. 
 
 We come noAV to the Implements for the amateur and 
 small farm. 
 
 As before stated, I thiak that for small farms the 
 spade culture gives the best results, and is, on the 
 whole, the most easily carried out. The implements of 
 such farms, therefore, will be comprehended under the 
 brief list of spades, forks, hoes, and dibblers ; but 
 in. many farms, in which, although stiU classed as ama- 
 teur farms, the extent of land is very considerable, a 
 wider range and more pretentious class of implements 
 and machines will be required. It will be well here, 
 then, to illustrate some of the best-known and most 
 highly esteemed. 
 
 Ploughs. — Ploughs are divided into two classes, 
 " wheel ploughs " and " swiag ploughs," of the first of 
 which we give an illustration iuFig. 4. Each kind 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 has its advocates. The wheel plough is used generally 
 in England, the swing in Scotland — although in the 
 latter country the wheel plough is daily becoming more 
 used. To those desiring io study the question of plough- 
 ing, and the respective merits of the different kinds of 
 ploughs, we may be permitted to refer the reader to the 
 undermentioned work,* where the whole subject is fully 
 
 * " The Book of Farm Implements and Machines." By James 
 Slight and Robert Scott Burn, Engineers. Edited by Henry Stephens, 
 F.E.S.E., author of the " Book of the Farm." Blackwood and Sons, 
 Edinburgh and London. 
 
136 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 gone into, and most profusely illustrated. The illus- 
 tration, Fig. 4, now given, represents the plough 
 manufactured by the very celebrated makers, Messrs. J. 
 and F. Howard, of Bedford. 
 
 An exceedingly useful implement for a small farm is 
 that invented by the well-known " Sigma," and intro- 
 duced by him under the name of the "Multum in 
 Parvo." This implement is constructed on the principle 
 of having a number of implements attachable to one 
 frame. There are five implements, so to speak, in 
 one. Fig. 5 gives a general view of the implement, 
 
 Fig. 5. 
 
 with all its fittings. In Fig. 6, the arrangement of 
 the upper drawing in the diagram shows how the 
 implement can be made into a " subsoil plough." The 
 lower figure illustrates the form of " expanding broad- 
 share." In Fig. 7, the upper drawing shows how the 
 
 Fig. 6. 
 
 Fig. 7. 
 
 implement can be transformed into a " double mould- 
 board or ridge plough ; " the lower drawing illustrates 
 the form of " horse-hoe, or deep stirrer." ' The mode of 
 using these implements will be described in the 
 Calendar of Farm Operations, forming the last chapter 
 
HAEEOWS. 
 
 137 
 
 of this work. The agent for their sale is Mr. Powell, 
 Ticehurst, Sussex. 
 
 Harrows. — The forms of harrows are, it may be 
 said, iamimerable. I select for illustration that 
 manufactured by Messrs. Howard (Fig. 8), known as 
 the Simplex harrow. A form known as the steel chain 
 harrow, iavented also by Messrs. Howard, will be found 
 useful in brushing ia top-dressings, employed on meadow 
 land, for coYeriag grass- seeds, and for preparing wheat- 
 land previous to rolling. The office of the Simplex 
 
 Kg. 8. 
 
 harrow, Fig. 8, is to reduce the clods and inequali- 
 ties of the soU, and to make a finer surface ; to bring 
 out and collect the weeds, and to cover the seeds. For 
 many of the purposes of the small farm, a "bush 
 harrow " wiU be found useful. The farm man, if he have 
 any nous, will easily make one with two battens and a 
 few branches of thorn from an old fence. The length 
 of the battens forming the head of the harrow should be 
 about four feet, and the thorn branches the same. A 
 rope should be nailed to each end, the two ropes being 
 
138 
 
 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 joined in tlie middle, forming tlie means of dragging 
 tte bush harrow over the surface. 
 
 CuLTivATOES, Grubbees, Scaetfiers. — ^A very useful 
 class of implements is introduced into modern agricul- 
 ture and known under these three designations. Their 
 object is to open and pulverise the soil, and eradicate 
 the weeds. The best-known form is that manufactured 
 by Mr. Coleman, of Chelmsford. 
 
 HoESE-HOE. — In another department of field- labour, 
 namely, the cleaning of and freeing from weeds the 
 land between the rows of drilled corn, &c., this imple- 
 ment has created as great a revolution as the clod- 
 crusher has in the heavy clay soils ia reducing them to 
 a fine tilth. The horse-hoe owes its introduction to the 
 mechanical genius of the well-known firm of Messrs. 
 Garrett and Son, of Saxmimdham, Suffolk. 
 
 Sowing-machines. — I have already adverted to the 
 use of the hand dibbling machine invented by Sigma. 
 Of this an illustration is given in Fig. 9. The manu- 
 
 Pig. 9. 
 
 facturer of this, Mr. Powell, of Ticehurst, Sussex, gives 
 with each machine purchased a description of the mode 
 of using it. In Fig. 10 an illustration is given of a 
 turnip and seed-drill, which will be found very useful 
 in sowing seed in dJriUs, imiformly and expeditiously. 
 This implement may be obtained from Messrs. ^^"^- 
 mond and Chandler, Salford, near Manchester. 
 
 Eich- 
 
HAYMAKING IMPLEMENTS TURNIP DEILL. 
 
 139 
 
 Hey-tedbing Machine, and Hand-bake. — ^Where 
 tlie extent of land uiider meadow is considerable, it will 
 pay to tave a tedding-macliine ; the tay by this will 
 be " got " very much more quickly, and in better con- 
 
 dition than when got by hand alone. A weU-known 
 form is that manufactured by Mr. W. N. Mcholson, of 
 Newark-upon-Trent. ^ 
 
 A useful implement in the hay-field will be the hand 
 hay-rake, manufactured by many implement makers. 
 
 Fig. 11. 
 
140 
 
 SMALL FAEMING. 
 
 Buildings. — As a rule these will be alreadj' existing 
 "when the farm is taken, and all that the amateur can 
 do is to insist upon their being in good repair, however 
 faulty their arrangement may be. As re-arranging on 
 more conveniently working lines involves pulling down 
 and re-building a building de novo, there is compara- 
 tively little chance of the ingoing tenant having his 
 wishes in this respect gratified. If the farm becomes 
 the absolute property of the amateur he may then carry 
 out his "hobby" to its fullest extent, in which case 
 
 Fig. 12. 
 
 we should counsel him to try to erect buildings which 
 wiU be at the least " pretty and pleasant to look 
 upon," if they should have no great pretension to 
 architectural design. The sketch we give in Fig. 13 
 on the following page may yield him a hint as 
 to how easily pleasing efEects are to be obtained in 
 buildings for our live stock at no great expenditure of 
 costly building materials. 
 
 As regards cottages which may be on the farm, occu- 
 pied by the servants of the amateur farmer or by other 
 
FAKM BUILDINGS. 
 
 141 
 
 tenants, however poor these may be in design, he can 
 at least insist upon them being kept, with all their sur- 
 roundings, in the best of order. In respect of the house 
 of the small farmer, the same attention to order should 
 be observable in it and in all which surrounds it. And 
 just as we can predict with the utmost certainty that 
 we should be right in concluding that a small farmer 
 who keeps his gates and fences in the condition indi- 
 cated by the sketch in Fig. 1 is a bad and unsuc- 
 
 cessful farmer, so also may the same conclusion be 
 arrived at if one sees his house in something like the 
 condition indicated in Fig. 11. Contrast this with the 
 sketch in Fig. 12. 
 
 Fig. 13 is a view showing how the whole of the build- 
 ings necessary for the amateur small farm may be con- 
 centrated under one roof, with a design which, while it is 
 not too pretentious (xc too ornate, still gives in its tout 
 ensemble what would be an ornamental feature in the 
 grounds. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ABOUT SUNDET MATTEES OF THE SMAIL FAEM. — SOIL. — EOTATION OP 
 CBOPS, ETC., ETC. 
 
 Let me, at the outset, warn tkose of my readers who 
 contemplate taking a small farm to avoid having any- 
 thing to do with a tenacious clay, of the hird-limy in 
 rainy, and of the " btick-bricky " character in warm 
 sunny weather. It is unfit, in my opinion, for the ex- 
 perimental character which should be the prevailing 
 feature of an amateur farm ; for its working will always 
 be attended with a series of vexatious difiiculties quite 
 sufficient to disgust one who follows farming for the 
 love of the thing, or the gratification of a whim or 
 hobby. For a graphic account of the difficulties atten- 
 dant upon the cultivation of a tenacious soil, I would 
 advise the reader to consult Talpa's* " Chronicles of a 
 Clay Farm " (Longmans). For sparkling epigrammatic 
 writing there is nothing like it in the whole range of 
 agricultural literature, and it shows what genius can do 
 to throw around what is generally considered a dull and 
 dreary subject all the charms of style and interest. It 
 read? like a novel, and the racy illustrations of Cruik- 
 shank add to the zest with which it is perused. 
 
 Let the amateur, then, if possible, get possession of a 
 soil of a rich loamy character, in which, by the exercise 
 of ordinary care, all the usualf arm crops can be cultivated. 
 It will add wonderfully to the interest of his "wee 
 farm " if a wide variety of crops are raised; and it will 
 be a disastrous season indeed which causes all crops 
 capable of being grown on the farm to be failures. 
 
 * The nom de plume of Chandos Wren Hoskyns, Esq., a name well 
 and favourably known to agriculturists. 
 
HOTATION OF CROPS. 14tJ 
 
 After deciding upon the soil, the next point to be ar- 
 ranged is rotation, to which I beg no w to direct the attention 
 of the reader uninitiated in the mysteries of agricultural 
 science. This subject it is essential for the amateur 
 farmer to know about, at all events, in a general way. 
 If we grow year after year, in the same soil, a succes- 
 sion of the same seed or crop, the produce, which at 
 first was good, gradually deteriorates, tdl at last the 
 soil refuses to bear the plants longer, or at least it pro- 
 duces them only in a most degenerated and worthless 
 condition. Hence we find in farming the necessity 
 for securing a perpetual succession of crops, never 
 growing the same crop on the, same land two years in 
 succession. Several theories of rotations have been 
 promtdgated, but the last expoim^ded, that which is 
 most generally received, I shall alone describe. Each 
 plant, it is assumed — for the whole subject is in any- 
 thing but a well-defined condition — extracts from the 
 soil the "food," so to speak, which is best fitted for its 
 growth; leaving other foods for which, if I may so ex- 
 press it, it has no use remaining in the soil. Repeated 
 growths, then, of the same plant upon the same soil 
 would ultimately exhaust the supply of the food which 
 it requires to insure its healthy and productive growth. 
 By changing the crops, the " food " which is left in the 
 soil by one is taken up and used by another. This 
 change consists, in practice, in having green crops to 
 follow grain crops ; broad-leaved root-plants following 
 narrow-leaved cereals. By this means all the consti- 
 tuents supplied to the soil by the manuring agents 
 applied to it are taken up by the succession of roots and 
 cereals grown on it. The fertility of the soil might be 
 maintained to raise a perpetual series of crops of the 
 same plant by the judicious and regular application of 
 manure to it ; but if the theory of rotation be accepted 
 as above stated, it is evident that this mode would 
 assuredly result in loss ; inasmuch as the plant, always 
 drawing one set, so to speak, of constituents from the 
 soil, would leave aU others supplied by the manure in 
 the soil ; so that, in process of time, an accumulation 
 
144 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 of fertilising matter would be tlie result, costing a con- 
 siderable amount. 
 
 " The necessity for a rotation," says Professor Ander- 
 son, in the " Transactions of the Highland Society," 
 " has been usually attributed to different crops removing 
 different inorganic constituents from the soU. Thus 
 certain plants require for their luxuriant growth a large 
 quantity of potash, and they must be followed in the 
 rotation by some other plant which does not extract 
 that element from the soil, or at least only in a compa^ 
 ratively small quantity ; and each individual crop can 
 only be successfully repeated when, by the lapse of 
 time, a sufficient quantity of its characteristic consti- 
 tuents has been liberated from some inert form of com- 
 bination, in which it exists in the soil," and I may add, 
 or supplied in the form of manure, as " farm-yard," 
 which contains all the constituents of plants ; or of 
 "artificial" manure, which is designed to supply a 
 special fertilizer to the soil. As already stated, how- 
 ever, nothing very definite is known on the subject of 
 rotations, much conjecture and assumption being mixed 
 up with its consideration. As suggestive that the 
 notion that " different plants remove different inorganic 
 constituents from the soil " is not quite correct, it is 
 worth stating that no great difference between the ashes 
 of the various plants is shown by analyses. Again, 
 some maintain that the soil contains such an exhaust- 
 less supply of the food of plants, that there is sufficient 
 in it for a constant succession of crops. 
 
 Rotations of different kinds are found to be practised 
 in different parts of the country, modified according to 
 circumstances of soil and locality. They may be 
 divided, however, into two classes — 1, " Rotations for 
 the light ; " and 2, " For the heavy land." A rota- 
 tion for light land, known as the "four-course," or 
 Norfolk, is as follows: — 1st year, green crops; 2nd 
 year, barley (with which is sown clover) ; 3rd year, 
 clover or grasses ; 4th year, wheat or oats. An arrange- 
 ment followed will be exemplified by the following 
 simple tables : — 
 
PLANS rOK CROPPING- ROTATION. 
 
 145 
 
 FIRST YEAR. 
 
 Plot No. 1. 
 
 Green or Root 
 Crops'. 
 
 Plot No. 2. 
 
 Barley with 
 
 Clover or 
 Grass Seeds. 
 
 Plot No. 3. 
 
 Clover or 
 Grass. 
 
 Plot No. 4. 
 Wheat. 
 
 Table 1. 
 SECOND YEAR. 
 
 Plot No. 1. 
 
 Barley with 
 
 Clover or 
 Grass Seeds. 
 
 Plot No. 2. 
 
 Clover or 
 Grass. 
 
 Plot No. 3. 
 "Wheat. 
 
 Plot No. 4, 
 
 Green or Root 
 Crops. 
 
 Table 2. 
 THIRD YEAR. 
 
 Plot No. 1. 
 
 Clover or 
 Grass. 
 
 Plot No. 2. | Plot No. 3. 
 ' Green or Root 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 Crops. 
 
 Plot No. 4. 
 
 Barley with 
 
 Clover or 
 Grass Seeds. 
 
 Table 3. 
 FOURTH YEAR. 
 
 Plot No. 1. 
 Wheat. 
 
 Plot No. 2. 
 
 Green or Root 
 Crops. 
 
 Plot No. 3. 
 
 Barley with 
 
 Clover or 
 Grass Seeds. 
 
 Plot No. 4. 
 
 Clover or 
 Grass. 
 
 Table 4. 
 
 Table 1 shows the land to he cropped as divided into 
 four plots, with the arrangement of its crops for the 
 first year, turnips opening the rotation ; in Table 2, 
 the arrangement of the second year's crops. Plot No. 1 
 now bears barley; with this clover or artificial grass 
 seeds are sown, which are allowed to remaia after the 
 barley is harvested ; and from the crop of Plot No. 1 in 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 the third year's plan, as shown in Table 3, the grasses 
 are succeeded by wheat, which closes the rotation 
 and occupies Plot No. 1 in the fourth year's plan of 
 cropping. Taking Plot No. 2 in the first year's plan, 
 it is seen to be occupied with barley, in the second year 
 with clover or grass, in the third year with wheat, in 
 the fourth year with green or root crops. Throughout 
 the rotation the barley (sown down with clover or grass 
 seeds) follows the green or root crops ; the clover (or 
 grass) foUows the barley, the wheat follows the clover 
 (or grass), and the green or root crops follow the wheat. 
 The fifth year is the same as the first. But complete as 
 the alternation of green with grain crops appears in 
 this rotation, perfect alternation is only effected where 
 the green and grain crops themselves are changed ; 
 different varieties of each occupying the same plot in 
 succession. Thus, when any plot which in any one year 
 was occupied with a grain crop, as wheat, again falls 
 to be occupied with a grain crop, it should be barley 
 and not wheat ; the third occupancy being again 
 changed from barley to oats, the same care being taken 
 to alternate the green crops. Thus, let Plot No. 1, 
 Table 1, be occupied with turnips in the first year ; for 
 the fifth year, when the rotation begins the second time, 
 the crop in Plot No. 1 should not be turnips but man- 
 gold-wurzels, beet, or kohl-rabi; in the liinth year, 
 when the rotation begins the third time, the Plot No. 1 
 should be occupied with potatoes ; in the thirteenth 
 year, when the rotation begins for the fourth time. Plot 
 No. 1 is now to be occupied with what is called a forage- 
 plant, as rape, vetches, cabbages, &c. 
 
 Plot No. 1. First year. 
 
 Plot No. 1. Fifth year. 
 Second time of rotation. 
 
 Mangold-wnrzel 
 
 or 
 
 Kohl-rabi. 
 
PLOTS FOR KOTATIONS OF CROPS. 
 
 147 
 
 Plot No. 1. Ninth year. 
 Third time of rotation. 
 
 Plot No. 1. Thirteenth year. 
 Fourth time of rotation. 
 
 Potatoes. 
 
 Rape, Vetches, 
 
 or 
 
 Cabhages. 
 
 The above is a plan of the alternation of green crops 
 in Plot No. 1 during the period of the rotation ; the 
 foUowing gives the corresponding alternation of the 
 grain crops (seeTahle 1) : — 
 
 Plot No. 4. Firat year. 
 
 Plot No. i. Fifth year. 
 Second time of rotation. 
 
 Plot No. 4. Ninth year. 
 Third time of rotation. 
 
 Plot No. 4. Thirteenth year. 
 Fourth time of rotation. 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 Barley. 
 
 Oats. 
 
 Rye. 
 
 When the land under culture is of small extent, 
 and none of it desired to be under grass or clover, from 
 there being a suiEciency of meadow-land and pasture- 
 ground, a four-course rotation may be adopted as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 FIRST YEAR. 
 
 Plot No. 1. 
 Beans, 
 
 Plot No. 2. 
 Wheat. 
 
 Plot No. 3. 
 
 Root or Green 
 Crops. 
 
 Plot No. 4. 
 
 Barley or 
 Oats. 
 
 Table 5. 
 
148 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 SECOND YEAE.' 
 
 Plot No. 1. 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 Plot No. 2. 
 
 Eoot or Green 
 Crops. 
 
 Plot No. 3. 
 
 Barley or 
 Oats. 
 
 Plot No. 4. 
 Beans. 
 
 Table 6. 
 THIRD TEAE. 
 
 Plot No. 1. 
 
 Eoot or Green 
 Crops. 
 
 Plot No. 2. 
 
 Barley or 
 Oats. 
 
 Plot No. 3. 
 Beans. 
 
 Plot No. 4. 
 Wheat. 
 
 Table 7. 
 FOTJETH TEAE. 
 
 Plot No. 1. 
 
 Barley or 
 Oats. 
 
 Plot No. 2. 
 Beans. 
 
 Plot No. 3. 
 Wheat. 
 
 Plot No. 4. 
 
 Eoot or Green 
 Crops. 
 
 Table 8. 
 
 This rotation is adapted for a clayey, or what is some- 
 times termed a wheat soil. The rotation illustrated in 
 Table 1 may be modified and changed into a " five- 
 course," thus : — 
 
 Plot No. 1. 
 Barley. 
 
 Plot No. 2. 
 
 Plot No. 3. 
 
 Second year 
 in Grass. 
 
 Plot No. 4. 
 Wheat. 
 
 Plot No. 5. 
 
 Eoot or 
 Green Crops, 
 
 A " seven- course " rotation may be arranged as 
 
 follows : — 
 
 FIEST YEAE. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 1. 
 
 Eoot or 
 Green 
 Crops. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 2. 
 
 Barley 
 with 
 Grass 
 Seeds. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 3. 
 
 Grass 
 Mown 
 
 for 
 Cattle. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 4. 
 
 Grass 
 
 for 
 
 Pasture. 
 
 Table 9. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 5. 
 
 Oats. 
 
 Plot 
 
 No. 6. 
 
 Beans. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 7. 
 
 Wheat. 
 
' SEYEN-COTJESE ROTATION IN CROPPING. 
 
 149 
 
 SECOND YEAR. 
 
 Plot 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 2. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 3. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 4. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 5. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 6. 
 
 Plot 
 
 No. 7. 
 
 Barley 
 with 
 Grass 
 Seeds. 
 
 Grass 
 Mown 
 
 for 
 Cattle. 
 
 Grass 
 
 for 
 
 Pasture. 
 
 Oats. 
 
 Beans. 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 Root 
 
 or 
 Green 
 .Crops. 
 
 Table 10. 
 THIRD YEAR. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 1. 
 
 Grass 
 Mown 
 
 for 
 Cattle. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 2. 
 
 Grass 
 
 for 
 
 Pasture. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 3. 
 
 Oats. 
 
 Plot 
 
 No. 4. 
 
 Beans. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 5. 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 6. 
 
 Root 
 
 or 
 Green 
 Crops. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 7. 
 
 Barley 
 with 
 Grass 
 Seeds. 
 
 Table II. 
 FOURTH YEAR. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 1. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 2. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 3. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 4. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 5. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 6. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 7. 
 
 Grass 
 
 for 
 
 Pasture. 
 
 Oats. 
 
 Beann. 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 Root 
 
 or 
 Green 
 Crops. 
 
 Barley 
 with 
 Grass 
 Seeds. 
 
 Grass 
 Mown 
 
 for 
 Cattle. 
 
 Table 12. 
 FIFTH YEAR. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 1. 
 
 Oats. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 2. 
 
 Beans. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 3. 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 4. 
 
 Root 
 
 or 
 Green 
 Crops. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 5. 
 
 Barley 
 with 
 Grass 
 Seeds. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 6. 
 
 Grass 
 Mown 
 
 for 
 Cattle. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 7. 
 
 Grass 
 
 for 
 
 Pasture. 
 
 Table 13. 
 SIXTH YEAR. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 1. 
 
 Beans. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 2. 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 3. 
 
 Root 
 
 or 
 
 Green 
 
 Crops. 
 
 Plot 
 
 No. 4. 
 
 Barley 
 with 
 Grass 
 
 Plot 
 No. 5. 
 
 Grass 
 Mown 
 
 for 
 Cattle. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 6. 
 
 Grass 
 
 for 
 
 Pasture. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 7. 
 
 Oats. 
 
 Table 14. 
 
150 
 
 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 SEVENTH TEAK. 
 
 Plot 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 Plot 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 3. 
 
 Plot 
 
 No. 4. 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 Hoot 
 
 or 
 
 Green 
 
 Crops. 
 
 Barley 
 ■with 
 Grass 
 
 Seeds. 
 
 Grass 
 Mown 
 
 for 
 Cattle. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 5. 
 
 Grass 
 
 for 
 
 Pasture. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 6. 
 
 Oats. 
 
 Plot 
 No. 7. 
 
 Eeans. 
 
 Table 15. 
 
 In the tenacious, bird-limy clays, wliere root-crops 
 cannot well be cultivated, a very difEerent rotation is 
 followed. An amateur farm, as I have in the introduc- 
 tion to this chapter stated, should never be taken where 
 the soil is of this kind. It is totally unfit for the 
 diversified experiments and modes of working compe- 
 tent for the amateur farmer, and which in my opinion 
 constitute so much of the real charm of a play-farm, 
 bringing as they do with them the delights of change 
 and of novelty. Moreover, where a variety of crops are 
 cultivated, it will be a strange thing should any season, 
 however unfavourable, result in the loss, or great deterio- 
 ration, of aU the crops. The circumstances detrimental 
 to one may not be so to the other. Although advising 
 the reader to avoid having anything to do with ne- 
 glected, tenacious, clayey soils, it will be well, seeing 
 that one of the aims of this little work is to convey a 
 general notion of the principles of agriculture, to give 
 — while on the subject of rotations — one used in these 
 heavy, tenacious clays I speak of. 
 
 In these the " fallow " takes a place. Some of my 
 readers may be curious to know what is meant by this 
 term. In the early times of agriculture, when the 
 crops cultivated were few in number, and were, of 
 course, frequently repeated, it was discovered that after 
 a time the soil refused to grow the crop, or at least to 
 grow it well. It was therefore allowed to remain at 
 rest for a period, no crops being grown upon it.^^ This 
 portion of land so treated was termed "fallow "land. 
 After resting for some time, the cropping upon it was 
 resumed, the fertilizing properties being found restored 
 
FALLOW CROPS. 151 
 
 to it. At first the fallow was allowed to remain abso- 
 lutely at rest ; but in process of time, the advantages of 
 stirring the soil, opening it up to the atmospheric 
 influences, and getting rid of the weeds, became more 
 evident ; the fallow land, therefore, during the summer- 
 time, was subjected to repeated ploughings and work- 
 ings. At one period in the history of agriculture, the 
 "fallow" formed a part of every farm ; but the intro- 
 duction of the " root-crop " into this country from. 
 Flanders brought about such a complete revolution in 
 the system of cropping, that in the lands to which the 
 roots were adapted, the " fallow " was gradually abo- 
 lished, and the whole soil of a farm was engaged in 
 bearing ,crops, no part of it being allowed to remain 
 idle. This arose from the facilities afforded by the 
 root-crops for introducing a change of crop on the same 
 soil, to make use of — so to speak — the "food" left in 
 the soil by the preceding crop. The roots, moreover, 
 being highly manured, and gro'wn in lines, placed at 
 such a distance apart as to allow of the soil being stirred, 
 and the weeds removed from between them, during a 
 long period of their growth, the land was as thoroughly 
 prepared for the grain- crop which succeeded the roots 
 as if it had lain fallow. Indeed, so complete in many 
 soils are the advantages of the fallow secured by the 
 cultivation of roots, that they are sometimes teimed 
 "fallow crops." Of course, in localities where tena- 
 cious, heavy clays are met with, unsuited for the growth 
 of roots, the fallow will form part of the rotation there 
 adopted, as wiU be seen from the following : — 1st, Fal- 
 low ; 2nd, "Wheat ; 3rd, Beans or Clover ; 4th, Barley. 
 It is right, however, to mention, that from the intro- 
 duction of machinery, improved processes of working, 
 and a judicious use of manures, many heavy lands are 
 being made capable of bearing root-crops. 
 
 The introduction of a rotation depends, of course, 
 upon the nature of the soil ; but for all soils between 
 the lightest and poorest of sands and the heaviest and 
 most tenacious of clays, the rotation in Tables 1 and 5 
 will be found generally to answer. The heavier the 
 
152 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 soil, the more frequent should be the workings to which 
 it is subjected ; a light soil, on the contrary, should be 
 worked less frequently, and, indeed, often requires con- 
 solidating. Where sheep are fed, one advantage of the 
 rotation I have given for light soils is by feeding the 
 turnips off the land with the sheep, as it is at once 
 manured and consolidated. As the turnip and the 
 clover are apt to degenerate when grown too frequently 
 on the same soil, it is advisable to change the kind of 
 grain or root-crop, as before recommended. Rape, 
 vetches, Italian rye-grass, may be substituted for the 
 clover; and kohl-rabi, parsnips, or cabbages for the 
 turnips. 
 
 Laying out and Culture of the Land for Crops. 
 — In setting out the land of his little farm, designed to 
 grow the various crops in the rotation adopted, I would 
 strongly advise the amateur farmer to mark out several 
 plots in which one or more of the crops of rotation can 
 be cultivated in a variety of ways, and to which a variety 
 of manures can be applied. By doing this I can safely 
 promise him an almost endless variety of pleasures. 
 The mere planning of the experiments, with the carry- 
 ing out of them, keeps the mind very pleasantly en- 
 gaged, and is a valuable relief to one who may be 
 occupied in some other way which confines him for 
 hours to sedentary work, or keeps his mind continually 
 on the rack by the demands of a commercial calling or 
 professional pursuit, as I presume will be the case with 
 the majority of amateur farmers. You are perpetually 
 looking forward, moreover, to the period when the ex- 
 periment will be resolved, and cannot help putting forth 
 all sorts of anticipatory thoughts, and broaching conjec- 
 tures as to how it will be so. You have, in fact, aU the 
 excitement of a pleasant lottery without its disadvan- 
 tages ; for, like the original game of " heads, I win; tails, 
 you lose," the game in any case is in your hands ; for 
 if the experiment succeeds, you gain an increased or 
 more valuable crop ; if it fails, you gain experience, 
 and perhaps an insight into some curious process of 
 nature, which before was unknown to, or even undreamt 
 
EXPERIMENTAL PLOTS. 153 
 
 of by you. We all have heard of, and I dare say we 
 have nearly all of us experienced, that wonderful impa- 
 tience of youth to know whether, the process of growth 
 has commenced of seeds which they may have put into 
 their tiny gardens, and of that prying curiosity to know 
 how it goes on which prompts them to scratch them up 
 before they show their green points through the brown 
 earth — ^impatience and curiosity very delightful to the 
 youthful mind. I do not promise to the amateur who 
 may plant out seeds in a new way, or manure those with 
 a new substance, the same degree of delightfiil anxiety 
 which the youth has ; but I can at all events promise 
 him some considerable proportion of it, and that is 
 worth something in these " used-up " days, when almost 
 everything is pronounced to be empty and to have 
 " nothing in it." When his own special day's work is 
 over, I will venture to say that his "man " or "men " 
 win not seldom see him strolling down to the field where 
 his " experimental plots " may be situated, and bending 
 over or walking roimd them with an interest which will, 
 I fear, elicit anything but complimentary remarks as to 
 his good sense or practical wisdom from such man or 
 men. For be it here mildly suggested, that such 
 an invincible repugnance has an ordinary specimen 
 of the genus " agricultural labourer " to all improve- 
 ments, or innovations which may be considered such, 
 that nothing will convince him. but that they are the 
 veriest folly, and, in consequence, that he who attempts 
 them is not much blessed with wisdom. 
 
 For instance, when I have been engaged putting in 
 seeds in a certain plot, and in a certain way, I know 
 well enough that a guffaw, which is borne on the breeze 
 across the field, comes from my two men, who are 
 working in the opposite corner, and has arisen in con- 
 sequence of one of theln quietly resting on his spade, in 
 the lazily luxurious way known to most masters who 
 have had experience in paying gardeners and labourers 
 for this sort of thing, looking at me and asking his 
 neighbour, "What on earth is he about now?" for 
 in such a respectably complimentary way does he talk 
 
154 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 of me. But I know that it is not specially myself per- 
 sonally -whom lie treats with sucli scorn, but simply the 
 fact that I am the representative of a change in practice ; 
 and all change is utterly repugnant to many phases of 
 the labouring mind. When I took my "play-farm," 
 it was, of course, with a view to carry out on it all sorts 
 of " audacious " experiments ; so when I engaged " my 
 man," my head-man, if I dare assume such a dignified 
 title, and so designate one of my small establishment, I 
 frankly told him that I would ask him to do many 
 things which he would, I knew, consider very odd. If 
 I did this by way of preparing him, taking off the 
 " chill," as it were, I might have saved myself the 
 trouble, for' if I had warned him every day, he never 
 would, I verily believe, have divested himself of the 
 strange look — half defiant, half sarcastic — with which 
 he received my announcement of some neiv things which 
 I wished done. The little scenes which were enacted 
 on such occasions greatly amused me, I confess. 
 
 I remember well my first effort at explaining a new 
 process. William and another man were busy taking 
 up mangolds in a field over which I had been somewhat 
 idly strolling — doing, in fact, the easiest part of farm- 
 work, namely, looking on and ordering. I went up 
 to them and commenced my explanation. At first, the 
 look which I learned to know so well took possession 
 of William's face ; but so utterly unlike to anything in 
 his experience was the process I was explaining to him, 
 that it gradually wore off, and I knew that an explo- 
 sion of laughter was coming, which it did, and very 
 much to my amusement, tod. Honest Bill could not 
 stand the absurdity of my proposed plan — it was too 
 much for him. " Well, measter," he at last said, " I 
 never heard the like o' that afore ; it winna do, it winna 
 do, I assure you ; " laying an emphasis on the personal 
 pronoun, as much as to tell me that my experience was 
 not to be set against his any day. In answer to my 
 explanation that it icould do, that, in fact, it had done 
 in more cases than one, he came out with what I soon 
 discovered was a stock speech of his, a sort of moral 
 
THE LABOUKEES OP THE SMALL FAKM. 155 
 
 weapon, so to call it, of his own, with which he firmly, 
 and for once and all, drove home his charge : " Ay, 
 measter, there's nowt like practice." Not wishing fur- 
 ther to explain, I of course told him that whether it 
 would do or not it must be tried. This laugh of his at 
 the order to carry out my first "experience," asWiUiam, 
 honest fellow, called " experiment," turned, however, 
 a capital argument for me in the long run. " It's a 
 fine thing that, measter," said "William to me, one fine 
 frosty morning, as I walked into the shippen, or cow- 
 house. " What is a fine thing ? " I asked. " The new 
 plan, sir." "Why, William," I rejoined, "I think 
 you laughed at it, and said it would not do." " Ay, so 
 I did," he answered, with an easy, off-hand cooliaess, 
 quite pleasant to see, considering his former scepticism, 
 " hut I see now it is a fine thing, a fine thing, sir." I 
 turned that laugh to advantage, and closed up many 
 an incredulous jeer of his by reminding him of it. 
 
 It was all very well, however, when " orders " to 
 inaugurate new plans or processes passed thus plea- 
 santly off ; but not seldom was I grieved to find the 
 existence of a decided obstinacy on the part of the men 
 I employed, an utter lack of sympathy with the pro- 
 jects of the master, and of that workmanlike feeling 
 which takes a pride in seeing improvements go on, and 
 new things tried. This, in fact, is one of the points 
 which bear very closely on the labour question now 
 attracting so much attention amongst those interested 
 in the improvement of the social condition of the 
 labourer. The want of an intellectual sympathy is the 
 cause of the want of social and moral sympathy between 
 master and man, which is so much to be deplored as 
 widely existing — a platform on which both can mutually 
 meet. The master does, and often with the happiest 
 effect, go down to the labourer's platform ; but my ex- 
 perience goes to prove that, in the great majority of 
 cases, it seems to be utterly hopeless to expect the 
 workman to rise to that of the master : supposing, I 
 mean, that the master is in every point of view the 
 superior — not always the case I coniess. I fear we shall 
 
156 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 be able to do but little witli the present generation of 
 grown-up labourers. We must begin with the young ; 
 our only hope rests with them. I have given my reader 
 this long digression, but with a view to prepare such 
 of them who may be contemplatiag the carrying on of 
 a "'play-farm " what he must expect from his labourers. 
 The more anxious he wUl be to do his duty to them, the 
 more, in some cases, will the difficulties surround him 
 as to how to do it. It is to be deplored when one's 
 intercourse with one's helper tends to harden the heart 
 towards them, and to -deaden true sympathy. But 
 such is too often the case. The labour question is sur- 
 rounded with difficulties. I make no apology for this 
 digression ; the subject of it is too important to be 
 j)assed over, and the lessons one learns about it are not 
 the least important of the lessons of a little farm. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 cuvrxmE of obain ceops. — wheat. — oats. — bablet. — eye. — 
 
 HAEVESTINO. 
 
 I HAVE already said that a vast deal of pleasure is to 
 be derived from having a number of experimental plots 
 at work, so to speak, upon the farm, each one working 
 out a problem, the demonstration of which will be 
 watched with pleasant anxiety. The following plan 
 shows how a series of plots may be laid out for experi- 
 ments upon different methods of planting and manuring 
 wheat, the most important of all our cereals : — 
 
 DIVISION IN "WHEAT (No. 1, General Plan). 
 
 Butt No. 1, sown with (white) wheat (state variety), 
 broadcast, Nov. 5th. 
 
 Butt No. 2, do. do. 
 
 Butt No. 3, do. do. 
 
 '. Wheat 
 
 Butt No. 4, drilled 4 inches apart, Nov. 6th. 
 
 Butt No. 5, drilled. 
 
158 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 DIVISION IN WHEAT {continued). 
 
 Butt No. 6, drilled 9 inches apart, Nov. 6. 
 
 Butt No. 7, dibbled with Sigma's dibble, Nov. 6th. 
 
 Butt No. 8, do. do. Nov. 6th. 
 
 Butt No. 9, do. do. Nov. 6th. 
 
 Butt No. 10, hand dibbled, 9 inches apart each way, 
 three or four grains in the hole. 
 
 Butt No. 11, do. do. 
 
 Butt No. 12, do. do. 
 
 Wheat Cbotanical name Triticum sativum). — The soil 
 best adapted for this cereal is strong. The crops which 
 usually precede the wheat are the fallow or root-crops, 
 as turnips, potatoes, and beet or mangold- wurzel ; or 
 forage crops, as clover. "Where the wheat is made to 
 follow the potato crop, this being an exhausting crop, 
 it is desirable to manure the land before sowing the 
 wheat. Wheat requires a consolidated, not an open 
 soil ; the roller, therefore, is good to be used where the 
 soil is light and friable. The best crop to precede the 
 wheat is a root crop, as turnips ; but where the soil is 
 too heavy to admit of root crops being grown, beans 
 usually precede the wheat. Wheat may be divided 
 into two great classes, " winter " and " spring," and the 
 different varieties classed under two heads, " red" and 
 " white." Wheat is generally sown in the autumn, as 
 soon as the crops which precede it are taken off the 
 ground. Where these are taken ofE too late to admit 
 
THIN AND THICK SOWING OF SEEDS. 159 
 
 of the land being prepared and the seed got in, the 
 wheat is sown in the spring. The quantity of the seed 
 sown per acre is one to two bushels, according to the 
 notion of the fanner on the subject of "thick" and 
 " thin " sowing ; for this it is proper the reader should 
 know is 'one of the vexed questions of agriculture. 
 Having carefully studied all the arguments, statements, 
 and facts published during the last few years on the 
 subject, and from what I have seen in practice, I am 
 very much disposed to think that thin seeding is the 
 best. In the experience of many fanners, plots or 
 parts of thin wheat-fields which have come up so 
 wretchedly thin as to induce them almost to plough the 
 land up, have turned out the most prolific parts of the 
 field. I had in two plots last year a remarkable exem- 
 plification of this. In one of two plots treated exactly 
 alike, and both sown on the broadcast system, the wheat 
 came up exceedingly thin and patchy. My man ad- 
 vised its being sown in the spring-time with barley ; 
 but I determined to let it remain, stating that I had no 
 doubt of its turning out as well in point of weight as 
 the other plot. The result justified these expectations, 
 and although the number of wheat-plants was compara- 
 tively small, no comparison could be made between the 
 bulk of the ears and the quality of the grain obtained 
 from the thickly-planted plot and the thinly-planted 
 one; the thinly-planted plot giving by far the best 
 quality of grain. 
 
 As I suppose the amateur's farm to be small in ex- 
 tent, from five to ten and twelve acres, set out in nicely- 
 balanced proportions of arable land — ^that is, cultivated 
 land and pasture and meadow fields for hay ; and as 
 these fields will necessarily bring down the extent of 
 land under culture to a small proportion of the whole 
 farm, I presume that the spade or trenching-fork wiU. 
 be the means used to prepare the soil for the reception 
 of the crops. All are agreed as to the advantages 
 resulting from spade husbandry ; and one reason why 
 it is not adopted on large farms is not because it is not 
 beneficial, but because it is such a difficult matter to 
 
160 
 
 SMALL FAEMIXG. 
 
 get a sufficiency of hands to carry it out properly. The 
 improTement effected in ploughed land by putting it 
 under spade culture is yery great and rapid too. A 
 man should dig an acre of turnip-land or clover-land 
 to a depth of nine to twelve inches in twenty-eight 
 days to six weeks, according to the condition in which 
 it is. Stubble-land should be turned over for about 
 sixpence per sqiiare rod. A pair of horses will plough 
 an acre of land in ten working hours. 
 
 Wheat is, in practice, sown in three different ways. 
 First, broadcast, that is, scattered by hand over the 
 surface of the soil. Second, drilled, that is, the seed is 
 continuoiisly deposited in parallel rows, the distance 
 between which is usually six to nine inches : 
 
 Third, dibbled, that is, the seed is deposited in holes 
 made in the soil, the distance varying according to cir- 
 cumstances : 
 
 These three systems have all their advocates; but 
 the reader must judge for himself as to which is the 
 best from, the following considerations, which are given 
 by Professor "Wilson in his work entitled " Our Farm 
 Crops," p. 31, and which comprises all that can be said 
 on the comparative merits of the three systems. 
 "Broadcasting," says the Professor, "enables the 
 farmer to get his seed in at a quicker rate, and at a less 
 
DRILLING OF SEED. 161 
 
 cost, than by tlie use of machines ; while at the same 
 time in adverse seasons he is less dependent upon 
 the weather at seed-time, and, if his land is kept well 
 cleaned in his fallow crops, he may not suffer much by 
 leaving his crop beyond the reach of the hoe during its 
 period of growth. On the other hand, if his land be 
 foul at sowing, it necessarily becomes worse by harvest- 
 time, and the crop must have been injured, as every 
 weed grown on the surface has abstracted from the soil 
 a certain amount of food, which otherwise would have 
 gone to increase the crop under cultivation. This con- 
 dition of things soon tells its own tale on the debtor side 
 of the farm ledger, while another item to be entered 
 there is the extra quantity of seed required to be sown. 
 This generally amounts to considerably more than the 
 entire cost of machine sowing. 
 
 " Drilling offers the great advantage to the farmer of 
 being able to regulate the exact quantity of seed to be 
 sown ; to sow it equally all over the field ; to deposit it 
 at a given regular depth in the soil ; to insure its being 
 properly covered. A saving of seed to the extent of 
 one-third to one-half, as compared with broadcasting, 
 is effected ; and by being deposited in the ground in 
 straight parallel lines, great facilities are afforded for 
 keeping the surface free from weeds, either by hoeing 
 or hand-pulKng. The produce also per acre is, under 
 equal conditions of soil, climate, &c., shown to exceed 
 that of broadcasting. The only charge that can be 
 advanced against drilling is, that perhaps it offers some 
 assistance to the wire-worm in its destructive attacks 
 on the young plant, by forming a furrow of loosened 
 soU, along which the wire- worm takes its course with- 
 out any difficulty, destroying each plant in succession. 
 This, however, on soils subject to it, may easily be 
 checked by running a ribbed roller, either Cambridge 
 or Crosskill, across the Hne of drills, by which the con- 
 tinuity of each furrowed course is broken at each 
 indentation of the roller. The wire- worm then, owing 
 to its small j)owers of forcing itself through the soil, 
 can only move from plant to plant by coming up to the 
 
162 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 surface ; tMs materially ctecks its progress, while its 
 presence there is being constantly sought for by insec- 
 tivorous birds. 
 
 " Dibbling is to be recommended chiefly for the more 
 perfect manner ia which the seed is deposited in the 
 soil, both as regards the quality of its distribution and 
 as regards the proportion of area allotted to each plant. 
 The amount of seed saved by this method is an item of 
 consideration — drilling requiriag twice and broadcasting 
 four times the quantity. The seed, too, by being de- 
 posited in separate unconnected holes, is not so liable to 
 be destroyed by the wire-worm as when sown in driUs, 
 while the parallelism of its lines of plants offers even 
 greater facilities for cleaning than in ordinary drilling. 
 Some care, however, is necessary that the dibbling 
 machine should only be made use of when the soil is 
 suitable and in a suitable condition. If it be too light, 
 or too dry, the sides of the holes are apt to fall ia with 
 the seed, or before it is quite deposited, and then the 
 depth is irregular, often too little. If the soil is heavy 
 or too wet, the dibble forms a hole or cup, with com- 
 pressed sides and bottom, in which the water collects, 
 checks the germination of the seed, and materially 
 injures or destroys the vitality of the young plant." 
 
 The well-known writer on agricultural subjects, who 
 appears before the public under the nom de plume of 
 " Sigma," is a great advocate for the dibbling system, 
 of which he remarks : " All things being equal, whether 
 the soil be rich or poor, light or heavy, drained or 
 undraiaed, I have found 'set'* wheat succeed better 
 than when drilled or broadcasted, merely because each 
 
 plant has an even space allotted to it I do not 
 
 mean to say that ' planted or set wheat ' does not suc- 
 ceed better on some lands than on others ; but what I 
 affirm is, that everything being equal of two pieces of 
 land of equal size, one ' set ' with wheat, the other 
 drilled or broadcast, the 'set' land wiU produce a 
 heavier and more healthy crop, and with straw always 
 standing stiff and erect through all weathers." It is, 
 * By the term " set," the author means diihled. 
 
TRANSPLANTING DIBBLING OF PLANTS. 163 
 
 indeed, this latter result which, is one of the most 
 striking of the " dihbling " process. 
 
 Last year, the district in which my little farm is situ- 
 ated was visited with showers of an extremely heavy 
 character ; so heavy were they that they seemed to dash 
 all the standing grain with wonderful force to the 
 ground. As I had my various plots laid out ia grain 
 grown on the three systems, I had an admirable oppor- 
 tunity of noticing which of the three afforded the best 
 security agaiast laid crops. The broadcast crops were 
 uniformly the worst ; some of them laid as flat as a 
 table-top ; the drilled plots were laid, but laid unequally, 
 some parts standing pretty well ; but in all the dibbled 
 plots, without exception, the grain stood erect. But, 
 further, we had a succession of showers extending over 
 a space of many weeks, so that I had an opportunity of 
 findiag, roughly or approximately, the relative capa- 
 bihties of the grain grown on the three systems to with- 
 stand the beating or laying influences of continued 
 heavy showers. 
 
 On the first heavy shower — I have occasion to 
 remember it well — the broadcast plots were laid in the 
 central part of each plot to a considerable extent ; the 
 drilled plots showed signs of weakness, but no decided 
 " laying ; " the dibbled plots no signs whatever ; but as 
 the "rattling showers" came one after the other, it was 
 curious to note how Httle by little the broadcast plots 
 were laid hopelessly and helplessly down ; soon the 
 drilled plots got to their worst, but they were never so 
 bad as the broadcast plots, the part in the drilled, plots 
 which resisted at first resisting to the end ; while the 
 dibbled plots were nearly as erect the day they were 
 cut as they were before the heavy rains came on. In 
 the broadcast plots, however, there was one exception, 
 namely that which came up " thin sown ; " the wheat 
 in this plot stood erect to the end. In two barley plots 
 I had a striking exemplification of the power of dibbled 
 grain to stand the beating-down influence of heavy 
 showers, as compared with broadcasted ; the plot broad- 
 casted was, at a comparatively early period in the 
 
164 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 autumn, so completely flattened that it might have heen 
 rolled. The seed began to spring anew, and a second 
 growth was forcing its way through the first. The plot 
 dibhled had the holes placed at distances of nine inches, 
 and a single seed in each hole. The stems came up and 
 grew strong and numerous, and resisted all the un- 
 favourable influences of wind and weather. 
 
 Before sowing the wheat it is necessary to steep it, 
 to prevent the disease called the " smut " attacldng it. 
 I use the steep laiown as " Down's Farmer's Friend." 
 Urine is often used as a steep. The wheat is stirred up 
 in the solution or " pickle," all seeds which float being 
 refused ; the wheat is then taken out, well dried, and 
 sown as soon after it is dried as possible. 
 
 As before stated, I should advise the reader to lay 
 out several plots with wheat, and in different ways, so 
 that he will have the pleasure of watching their pro- 
 gress and noticing the results at the end of the season. 
 In order that all the stages of the experiment may be 
 traced with ease, and one plot easily distinguished from 
 another, it will be advisable to "plan" out the whole 
 of the land allotted to the crop in a book specially kept 
 for the purpose. 
 
 The following will show how I have laid out one of 
 my stetches of land this year for the wheat crop. Thus, 
 see the plot marked in " General Plan of Cultivated 
 Land " in a succeediag chapter, which is marked out in. 
 the book, thus : — 
 
 Plot D. 
 
 Sown Oct. 9, 18— 
 
 ■with New 
 Califomian Wheat. 
 
 Plot C. 
 
 Sown Oct. 8, 18- 
 with 
 Giant "Wheat. 
 
 Plot B. 
 
 Sown Oct. 4, 18—, 
 
 with Hallett's 
 Pedigree Wheat. 
 
 But in order to know exactly how each of these plots 
 is sown, I map out each plot in a page of the " Farm 
 "Work Book" (see a succeeding chapter on "Farm 
 Accounts ") under the date of sowing. This I do on a 
 larger scale than the space of the general plan permits 
 of, and the entry stands thus : — ; 
 
PLANS FOR CEOPPING. 165 
 
 Plot C. Plot B. 
 
 Note (in Book).— Oct. 4th, 18—. Planted Plot B 
 (here the page refers to the page of the book in which the 
 " general plan " is given, and which is mapped out in 
 parts distinguished by various letters) withHallett's Pedi- 
 gree "Wheat, three feet space between it and Plot A. 
 Six drills, nine inches apart : next, ten rows dibbled, nine 
 inches apart each way, one grain in each hole ; then six 
 drills, nine inches apart. Then, as I have shown in 
 Plot C, two plots sown under precisely the same cir- 
 cumstances, and each of which I can place under 
 different manurial treatment, recording under date 
 what that treatment is. 
 
 The varieties of wheat I sowed in one year were 
 Giant, Talavera, Hallett's Pedigree, New Californian, 
 Norfolk White Wheat, Browick's Wheat, Fenton's 
 Wheat, Nursery Red Wheat, Drewitt's Wheat, BarweU. 
 Wheat, Kingsland Wheat, Chiddam Wheat, Hunter's 
 Wheat, Archer's Wheat. For the experimental stock 
 of each of these I was indebted to Messrs. Law- 
 son & Son, the eminent seedsmen of Edinburgh and 
 London ; then, in addition to plots set out and care- 
 fully planted with all these different wheats, I sowed 
 one with a mixture of the whole of these varieties. 
 On this point of mixture of seed. Professor Wilson has 
 the following interesting and suggestive note in his 
 " Farm Crops," p. 20 : " In the Journal d' Agriculture 
 Pratique, for November, 1856, a report is given of some 
 experiments by M. Lucien Rousseau, of Angerville, on 
 the growth of various kinds of wheat, under the same 
 conditions of time of sowing, soil, and climate. There 
 
166 
 
 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 were fifteen lots of different wheats experimented with, 
 and the sixteenth was composed of equal portions of the 
 fifteen mixed together." 
 
 Throughout the growth of the plants the mixed lot 
 appeared always to have the advantage, and, at the time 
 of harvest, its produce, both in grain and straw, was 
 considerahly in excess of any of the others. M. Rous- 
 seau seems to consider the superior produce of the 
 mixed grain to be due mainly to the more perfect im- 
 pregnation of the floret, by the ears making their 
 appearance at so many different times as there were 
 varieties sown, for if the first flower, he says, which has 
 lost its pollen has not been fertilised, owing to the bad- 
 ness of the weather, it may still be capable of being 
 impregnated by the pollen of a later ear. M. L. Vil- 
 morin, in commenting on the experiments, says : "A 
 m.ixture of grain, arising from sorts selected as suitable 
 to the district, does not present usually any marked 
 difference in appearance so as to be lessened in value. 
 On the other hand, the increase in yield, and the greater 
 chance of success arising from the variety of different 
 constitutions of the kinds sown, gives the results obtained 
 by M. Rousseau an importance which ought not to be 
 disregarded. By taking care not to mix sorts, the grain 
 of which has not the same market value, and does not 
 ripen at about the same time, it appears that very im- 
 portant advantages may be derived." It is but right, 
 however, to -state, that this principle of a mixture of 
 seeds is considered by some wrong. They maintain 
 that to attaia to purity of the variety of seed grown is 
 the grand object of culture. As the object of the pre- 
 sent volume is not merely to detail what I have done 
 on my little farm, but to point out what others 
 have done, so that the reader may have a variety of 
 experiments to choose from, some of which, if _ he will ' 
 carry out, wiU add greatly to the interest of his farm, 
 I therefore here draw his attention to two methods of 
 growing wheat — one, the first, is that of " selection ; " 
 the other, the second, the "Lois Weedon" principle. 
 The principle of "selection" has been carried out 
 
EXPEKIMENTS IN GROWIKG WHEAT. 167 
 
 with singular ly marked and good results by Mr. Hallet, 
 of Brighton. 
 
 Anxious to add a plot of this famous wheat to my 
 various plots of the year, I applied to Mr. Hallet, who, 
 in a very coxirteous manner, sent me an ear of wheat, 
 picked indiscrimuiately from the corn in his bam, and 
 of which I give at a — see Frontispiece — a representa- 
 tion (one-fourth less than the actual size), and in addi- 
 tion a small supply of grains. I laid out a plot with 
 this as follows, the date of sowing being so early as 
 September 6th. Early sowing Mr. Hallet insists upon 
 as an essential. 
 
 Each hole is nine inches from its neighbour, so that 
 there are sixteen holes in each square yard; the depth 
 of each hole is about an inch and a half, and a single 
 grain is deposited in each hole, and the whole covered 
 up. In the plan of the plot which I have entered in 
 my. book, I have left sufficient space between each of 
 the holes to enable me to number each hole. Round 
 the dot representing a hole, the seed of which does not 
 germinate, I draw a circle in red ink ; and at the end 
 of the season I reckon the produce of each hole, or 
 "pocket," as it is sometimes termed, and place against 
 
168 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 each number in the plan the number of grains pro- 
 duced by it. The best of these wiU then be chosen, 
 as affording the seed for the next crop. 
 
 From some plots of wheat grown on my own place, 
 and top-dressed in spring with nitrate of soda, I ob- 
 tained some good wheat. Of two ears of this I give a 
 drawing, b and c in Frontispiece (the scale is one-fourth 
 less than the actual size) . I have, on the principle of 
 " selection," sown a plot with the best grains from the 
 best ears; the holes dibbled in at nine inches apart 
 each way, and.o»ie grain placed in each hole. 
 
 It is a disputed point with those who advocate dib- 
 bling of wheat, whether one grain, or two or three grains, 
 should be placed in each hole. To test this in a small 
 way, I set out a number of plots from which I obtained 
 the following results. Out of 56 holes dibbled 9 inches 
 
 *. 
 « 
 
 * 
 * 
 
 .* 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 * 
 
 apart, and each hole having 3 grains sown in it, 49 
 holes tillered. Out of 56 holes dibbled 9 inches apart, 
 and having 2 grains in each hole, 45 came up. Out of 
 56 holes, with 1 grain in each hole, 32 came up. Out 
 
DIBBLING OF CEKEAL CROP SEED. 169 
 
 of a plot of 154 holes 97 came up. The foregoing map 
 of a plot will be interesting and suggestive. Each hole 
 which has missed is marked with a star, thus, * ; all the 
 other full dots represent the holes which have germinated. 
 
 It is somewhat curious to note the distribution of 
 the holes which have m.issed. Thus, out of 92 holes, 
 32 have missed. In another plot, consisting of 104 
 holes, each having 1 grain only in it, 37 holes 
 only missed. The reader may draw his own infer- 
 ence from the above facts ; but in glancing over the 
 various plots, it was easy to see how much more 
 regularly the hole had shot up its sprout or sprouts 
 of wheat where two or three grains had been placed 
 in each, than in the plots where only one had 
 been put in each hole. From what I have heard ex- 
 perienced men say, from what I have read on the 
 subject, and from what I have tried myself, in addition 
 to the experiments above described, I am of opinion 
 that the advantages of thin sowing are to be met to 
 their fullest extent when the plants are placed at com- 
 paratively wide intervals, and where the plants are pro- 
 duced from three to five grains rather than from one. 
 This is in the case of dibbling ; in drilling, let the 
 intervals be wide between the drills, but the seed 
 moderately thick in the drills. I believe that holes 9 
 inches apart — everything else being equal — will give a 
 larger produce than when the holes are only 6 inches 
 apart. If we were sure of each seed germinating in its 
 hole, as good results might be obtained from one grain 
 as if 3 or 5 were put in it. But there are so many 
 chances against each grain germinating — birds, grubs, 
 &c. — that it is, I think, infinitely the safer plan to put 
 more grains than one. If planted early, 3 to each hole 
 will suffice ; but the later sown, the more in the holes 
 will be required ; if advanced in November, 5 or 6 will 
 be required. 
 
 I now come to describe very briefly the system of 
 sowing wheat introduced by the Rev. Mr. Smith, at 
 Lois Weedon Vicarage, and hence known as the Lois 
 Weedon system. The feature of this is leaving fallow 
 
170 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 wide spaces between the wheat rows" — these being 
 kept up in what may be called a perpetual system of 
 stirring so as to let the atmosphere act on the wheat 
 rows. The _ remarkable peculiarity of this system is, 
 that wheat is grown upon the same land for a suc- 
 cession of years without manure. The method of 
 culture in this system is described in a pamphlet, " A 
 Word in Season ; or, How to Grow "Wheat with Profit" 
 — a most interesting brochure, to which I heartily 
 recommend the reader's attention. It is published by 
 Eidgway, of Piccadilly, price Is. 
 
 The following diagram gives a fair idea of this 
 system : — 
 
 LOIS WEEDON SYSTEM OF GROWING WHEAT, AND 
 THE OEDINAEY DRILL SYSTEM. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 OEDINAKY 
 
 MODE. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 LOIS WEEDON MODE. 
 
 In the system of Mr. Piper, of Colne Engraine, in 
 Essex, wheat is grown in a still more remarkable man- 
 ner, year after year, on the same land, which he never 
 ploughs, digs, or stirs, but merely clears the surface of 
 all weeds, and varies the manures which he applies to 
 the crop, giving one year guano, another year lime, 
 another soot, &c., &c. And of late years the system of 
 Mr. Prout, of continual corn growing, has attracted 
 
DIBBLING APPLIANCES. 
 
 171 
 
 great attention. We' confine 
 Weedon system, as it is well 
 farmer. Those who wish to 
 become acquainted with the 
 Pront system will find it 
 fully explained in the Jour- 
 nal of the Royal Agricultural 
 Society cf England. 
 
 The process of dibbling 
 wheat by using a single 
 dibble being very tedious, I r^ ,■- 
 
 ourselves to the Lois 
 adapted for the small 
 
 the implement in Fig. 
 14, in the following way : — 
 I first mark out across the 
 "butt," " furrow," " stetch," 
 or "plot," a line in the 
 direction in which the rows 
 a b: — 
 
 c 
 
 -A6 
 
 '^J^~^ ^ ^r~x 
 
 Fig. 14. 
 are to run, as in the line 
 
 I then take the dibbler, and set it down along the line, 
 pressing the foot alternately on the top of the bar, a b, 
 on each side of the upright bar, c c (Fig. 14). This 
 
172 
 
 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 presses the dibble, d e, into the ground ; and in with- 
 drawing the dibble, four holes nine inches apart will 
 be marked out in the ground, from one inch to an inch 
 and a half in depth. In the hole nearest the bottom, or 
 end b of the row, I place' one of the dibbles at e (see 
 drawing of dibble), as a guide, and press down the 
 dibble in the line a b. I thus proceed till I mark out 
 along the whole length of the end ab & series of holes 
 nine inches apart. I now proceed to mark out the 
 holes along the length of butt in the direction of a c, 
 as follows : — I place the dibble or point e in the first 
 hole of the row a b, and keeping the bar a 5 of the 
 dibble along the line a c, or as nearly at right angles 
 to ah as my ej'^e enables me to do, I press the dibble, 
 and thus obtain four holes in the direction of a c. 
 Moving backwards, I next insert the point e of the 
 dibble in the second hole of the line a b, and keeping 
 the bar of the dibble at right angles to the line a i, I 
 make other four holes in the direction of a c. By pro- 
 ceeding thus, always keeping the point at e in one of 
 the holes of the line a h, I. obtain across the butt a 
 series of four lines of holes nine inches apart each way. 
 I then turn round, and, moving backwards in the 
 direction from b to a, and always keeping one of the 
 points of the dibble in the holes of the inside or last- 
 made line, I gradually go across the butt, and make a 
 series of dibbles in line. Three rows of dibbled holes 
 are thus made in each journey across the butt. The 
 operation is not so tedious as one might suppose ; in 
 fact, it is sooner done than described. Into the holes 
 thus made the grain or grains are dropped by hand, 
 and covered up with a hand-rake. This dropping is, of 
 course, tedious ; but it is surprising how rapidly by a little 
 practice one can mark out the holes and drop the seeds. 
 "Sigma "has invented a hand-dibbling apparatus, 
 by which the seeds are dibbled in with wonderful ac- 
 curacy and celerity. It is easily worked, but I have 
 not had such success in its working as to induce me to 
 repeat its use this wheat-sowing season. Many of the 
 plots sown with it last year failed to come up satisfac- 
 
SEED-SOWING APPLIANCES. 
 
 173 
 
 torily. Although not to deposit the seed wjth it is 
 almost an impossibility, still it has one disadvantage, 
 and to which, as my readers may recollect, Mr. Smith, 
 of Lois Weedon, has alluded — namely, you do not see 
 the seed deposited hy it. This is the great advantage 
 of the hand-dropping system : you know that the grain 
 is deposited. I am aware of the objection made to the 
 hand-dropping system in these days of agricultural 
 machines and of lazy workpeople, who are not to be 
 depended upon for accuracy or honesty in giving each 
 hole its own proportioned grains. But I am writing 
 at present for the amateur, who, I suppose, is likely to 
 do a little of the easy work of the farm himself. Cer- 
 tainly, if he wishes to gain health, and add to the plea- 
 sures of his play-farm, I would strongly recommend him 
 to " bend his back" in the fine days of autumn or spring, 
 now and then, and dibble in a few thousand grains. 
 
 When there is not a great extent of land to be drilled 
 with wheat, the simplest method is to draw the ruts or 
 furrows with the angle of a three cornered hoe (Fig. 
 15). The operator will soon acquire dexterity enough 
 
 d 
 
 Fig. 15. 
 
 Fig. 16. 
 
 to draw the lines parallel and of uniform depth. "Where 
 much of this work is contemplated, it will be better to 
 get a simple drilling apparatus made, which a man 
 can easily drag over the land. I here give illus- 
 trations of it. Let a b (Fig. 16) be of hard wood, 
 
174 SMALL FAEMING. 
 
 as oak, some four or five inclies square, to give 
 sufficient weight to press the iron pointers into the 
 soil as the implement is dragged over the land. 
 The iron pointers may be driven into the under side of 
 a b (Fig. 16) ; but to be securely fixed, they should be 
 passed through holes made in the head a b, and secured 
 with nuts on the upper side. The handle/' is furnished 
 at top with a cross at g, and stayed by stays, h h. 
 Fig. 17 is a side elevation. To enable the lines to be 
 drawn at different distances, an adjustable apparatus 
 
 aT 
 
 
 Fig. 17. . Fig. IS. 
 
 a c 
 
 may be made as follows : — The head is made in two 
 pieces, as ab, cd (Fig. 18), and) kept apart three- 
 fourths of an inch distant by parts e, at the end, as 
 shown. The teeth or tines are made as in Fig. 19, 
 with a shoulder, a b, and an upper stud, c ; this is 
 passed up the aperture between -. 
 <^t^ the two pieces, ab, c d (Fig. 18), [;" {^"', 
 and fixed at any point by the nut a 
 (Fig. 19). As' this is screwed up 
 ^ ^ tight, it jams the shoulder, b a, 
 against the lower side of the head, 
 and keeps the tine tight. By loos- \_ 
 ening the nut, the tine may be -pj 20. 
 '^^^' ^ ' slid along the slot as desired ; and 
 thus any distance may be made between the tines. 
 Fig.. 20 is a cross section. This will be found a very 
 useful implement in the farm for sowing all manner of 
 seeds in line. 
 
 A very quick' and very simple way of dropping or 
 distributing the seed evenly along the drills, in &mall 
 plots made either with th.e implement just described or 
 with the three-cornered hoe, is to put it in a long 
 paper envelope — one of those which are made to open 
 at the end — or in a long paper bag, and shake it out 
 as you 'Walk gently along. A little experience will 
 
BARLEY CULTURE. 175 
 
 soon enable the operator to drop the seed uniformly 
 along the line. The seed may be covered up either 
 with the bush-harrow or the hand-rake ; the latter is 
 the most satisfactory. 
 
 The next crop I have to write about is Barley (bo- 
 tanical name, Hordeum). As much of what I have had 
 to say about the wheat crop will be applicable to this as 
 well as to the oat crop, my remarks will necessarily be 
 short. 
 
 The two-rowed barley {Hordeum distichum) is that 
 which is chiefly grown in this country. . The soil best 
 suited for barley is a light, rich, and friable one ; a 
 wet, heavy soil is not congenial to it. The crop should 
 always succeed a root crop. The varieties most com- 
 monly grown are the Common or Early English, the 
 Chevalier, the Annat, the Golden Drop, the Notting- 
 ham Long-eared. Messrs. Fletcher, of Sleaford, Lin- 
 colnshire, were kind enough to forward me a small 
 parcel of " Healey's Providence Prolific " — a barley 
 recently introduced. I dibbled the seed in holes nine 
 inches apart, and put one grain in each hole. A very 
 small percentage (only about seven per cent.) of the 
 grains failed to come up, and nothing could be more 
 satisfactory than the bushy, tree-like form the plants 
 assumed. From each grain was produced, on the 
 average, 24 ears, and each ear gave, on the average, 
 24 grains. One plant yielded 43 straws,, 32 ears) of 
 which 24 were prolific. The following is a statement 
 of the number of grains in each ear : — 
 
 Nx). 1,29 
 Ko. 5, 30 
 No. 9,28 
 No. 13, 32 
 No. 17, 34 
 No. 21, 29 
 
 s> 
 
 No. 2, 31 ; No. 3, 30 ; No. 4, 34 
 
 No. 6, 32 ; No. 7, 32 ; No. 8, 30 
 
 No. 10, 31 ; No. 11, 27; No. 12, 31 
 
 No. 14, 34 ; No. 15, 30 ; No. 16, 30 
 
 No. 18, 25 ; No. 19, 30 ; No. 20, 18 
 
 No. 22, 30; No. 23, 27; No. 24,34 
 
 or, in all, 748 grains, as the produce of one grain. 
 
 The time of sowing of barley is a disputed point 
 amongst agriculturists, some advocating as early as 
 February ; some late sowing-, as late as April, and even 
 
176 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 May. The balance of evidence seems in favour of 
 early sowing. Much, however, is still to be done in 
 the way of direct experiment on this point. The usual 
 months for sowing are March and April. The quantity 
 to be sowed is also a disputed point, some advocating 
 thin, some thick sowing. Much of what I have said on 
 the sowing of wheat refers as pointedly to that of 
 barley. A usual quantity of seed to sow is three 
 bushels per acre. In sowing, it is necessary, in order 
 to insure the quick germination of the seeds, to have 
 the land in a moist condition. When the soil is freshly 
 turned over is the best time for the seed to be put in. 
 Barley is a verj' quickly-germinating grain. 
 
 Oats (botanical name, Avena sativa). — There are 
 numerous varieties of oats grown. Possibly the potato 
 oat is that which is most commonly sown. The Poland 
 oat is a variety generally cultivated in England. The 
 crop may be grown in a wide range of soils ; those of 
 a rich loamy character yield the largest results. The 
 preparation of the land for the crop is very similar to 
 that required for the wheat crop. The conditions of 
 growth of both plants are very similar, more so than 
 of barley and wheat. Oats may be taken after a crop of 
 roots or beans ; usually they follow the seeds or arti- 
 ficial grasses; sometimes they are taken after wheat, 
 sometimes after the barley. The time of sowing, like 
 that of the wheat or the barley crops, is a disputed 
 point. Early sowing has, however, more to be said in 
 its favour than late. Indeed, one of the remarkable 
 changes in the practice of agriculture that is fore^ 
 shadowing itself, is the general substitution of early 
 for late sowing of all the cereals. This, amongst other 
 things, is owing to the improved condition of the soil, 
 consequent upon drainage, manuring, and the facilities 
 thrown in the way of working improved machinery. 
 The usual months for sowing oats are Februany and 
 March ; they should invariably be got in before the 
 barley. The quantity of seed is usually two to three 
 bushels drilled, four to five when broadcast. Thick 
 sowing is understood to be more consistent with the 
 
OAT CULTURE. 
 
 177 
 
 DIVISION IN OATS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 Butt No. 1, 
 
 
 in Drillfl 10 
 
 
 inchea apart. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Butt No. 2 
 
 
 Hand- 
 dibbled. 
 
 Interval left unseeded, 3 feet wide, 9 inches eacli 
 
 
 
 
 Drills 10 inches apart. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bdtt No. 3. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Three-feet interval. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Three-feet interval. 
 
 Bum No. 4. 
 
 Hand-sown or Broadcast. 
 
178 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 habits of the plant than thin. I set out plots sown 
 in various ways, as shown on preceding page ; and 
 although the dibbled plants stood best the heavy- 
 showers, I obtained no advantage in the yield to com- 
 pensate for the increased time taken up in the opera- 
 tion of dibbling. Mr. Smith, of Lois Weedon, has 
 sown oats on his wheat plan. He says, " Twice I have 
 grown oats in triple rows, and three-feet intervals; 
 and I make a heavy demand on the faith of the reader, 
 when I tell him that the produce of the first year was 
 eight quarters and a half of fine Poland upstanding 
 oats — upstanding from being earthed up — the weight 
 of which was forty-six pounds to the bushel ; and of the 
 second year nearly the same." One advantage obtained 
 by this method of culture is the facility given to stir 
 the soil between the rows, and to keep the crop free 
 from weeds. It was curious to note in the plots I 
 sowed on this triple row and wide interval plan, how 
 the sides of the rows nearest the intervals grew up 
 straight and stifi", like green walls. The plots, indeed, 
 throughout their whole extent, were as flat as the sur- 
 face of a bowling-green, arising from the beautiful 
 imiformity of height of all the rows, contrasting very 
 markedly with the irregular height of oats often seen 
 growing in furrows and sowed in the ordinary way. 
 
 Rye (botanical name, Secale cereale). — Although only 
 best suited for light and sandy soils, and a grain not 
 much used in domestic or farm operations, the reader 
 may be desirous to have some of it growing on his little 
 farm. The variety known as " Giant Rye " may be 
 grown. When the ear of rye is newly sprouted, it is 
 a beautiful plant. " "When the bloom is on the rye," 
 is a quotation doubtless familiar to many of my readers. 
 The time of sowing winter rye, the variety most com- 
 monly cultivated, should be as early in the autumn as 
 possible, four weeks before the wheat is put in. This 
 is necessary, that the roots may have firm hold of the 
 soil before frosts set in. The quantity of seed is three 
 to four bushels per acre, broadcast. Rye may be sown 
 in the autumn, to be cut for fodder purposes early in 
 
BEAN CULTUKE. 
 
 179 
 
 the spring. It is valuable in this way, and by sowing 
 a succession of plots, the second plot some three weeks 
 or so after the first, a succession of cuttings may be 
 obtained in early spring, when green food is scarce. 
 When used in this way, it is a Tery common practice 
 to sow vetches with the rye. 
 
 Beans (botanical name, Faba vulgaris) (see Fig. 21). 
 — Wheat lands are the best for beans. Eeans are often 
 sown broadcast ; but this is a slovenly and wasteful 
 way. One object attained by sowing beans in drills 
 twelve or fifteen inches 
 apart is getting the land 
 cleaned and freed from 
 weeds during the growth 
 of the plants. One of the 
 . advantages of the bean 
 crop treated in this way is, 
 that it is a cleaning crop, 
 and well suited to precede 
 the wheat crop. The sowing 
 of beans whether thickly 
 or thinly is a much dis- 
 puted point ; for winter 
 beans, one and a half to two 
 bushels per acre, and for 
 spring, two to four bushels, 
 are the usual quantities. 
 The result of different ways 
 of sowing ordinary horse 
 beans which I adopted 
 last season was, that having the rows far apart but 
 thickly sown in the rows, gave the greatest produce. 
 When the lines were three feet apart, thus, and very 
 
 Fig. 21. 
 
 Tliree-feet interval. 
 
 Three-feet interval. 
 
 thickly sown, the plants came up strong and vigorous. 
 
180 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 and were podded, or " corned," equally on both sides, 
 from top to bottom. "Where the rows were still three feet 
 apart, but the beans dibbled in the row nine inches apart. 
 
 Three-feet interval. 
 Three-feet interval. 
 
 the plants did not come up so strong or vigorous as 
 above, nor was the produce so great ; although, from 
 each stool of plants being completely separated from its 
 neighbour, the plants were podded from heel to head. 
 In the rows set thus, each row nine inches apart, it was 
 
 curious to note how well podded the plants of the out- 
 side rows were compared with those of the interior ; 
 thus showing the necessity of plenty of light and air 
 where a full yield of beans is required. "Where in the 
 nine-inch rows the beans were dibbled in at nine-inch 
 spaces, thus, the produce was not so satisfactory as 
 
 where the rows were seeded continuously, as on the 
 preceding plan. Altogether, I am inclined to join 
 with the author of a practical paper in a late number of 
 . the Farmer's Magazine, who states that if " you practise 
 thin seeding, take care that you have plenty of seed in 
 each row ; but let the saving of seed be in having t]ie 
 rows tliidely apart. You thus secure regularity and 
 
BEAN CULTURE. 181 
 
 sufficiency of plants, while great space is provided for 
 their full development." 
 
 The "topping" process is one which must not be 
 neglected, however tedious it may appear. As soon as 
 the " black fly " appears on the tops of the plants, let 
 the top of each plant be carefully snipped off. 
 
 Where wide spaces are left between the rows of 
 beans, it is usual to grow cabbages there. I have found 
 that cabbages grown thus are not satisfactory in bulk ; 
 they go too much to " leg," are drawn up thin and 
 lanky, and heart indifferently. Where the beans are 
 taken early ofl", time may be allowed for the cabbages 
 to develop themselves ; but this will not generally be 
 the case in "weeping " climates. It will be infinitely the 
 better plan to keep the intervals unoccupied, well 
 stirred, and free from weeds. On this point the 
 writer in the Farmer's Magazine may again be quoted 
 with service : — " The drilling of beans at very broad 
 distances, and pursuing a system of tillage between, is 
 not nearly so generally adopted as it might be, with 
 very great success. We have seen winter beans in single 
 roics, five feet apart, yielding fifty imperial bushels per 
 acre, the manuring, of course, being very high, the 
 tillage exceedingly deep, and the hoeing followed up 
 with frequency." 
 
 The bean crop is one which requires high manuring, 
 the preparation of the land being very similar to that 
 required for turnips, which important crop of the farm 
 I shall shortly treat of. 
 
 Manures are not usually applied directly to the grain, 
 crops, as they are made to follow root crops, as turnips, 
 which are heavily manured. Potatoes being considered 
 an exhausting root crop, manure is by some applied 
 directly to the wheat crop which succeeds it. Artificial 
 manures, as guano, nitrate of soda, &c., are now applied 
 to the grain crops, being most frequently used in the 
 form of top-dressings. When wheat is top-dressed, 
 with nitrate of soda, it should be applied in the early 
 spring, and not later, if the weather will permit, than 
 the beginning of February. It is not advisable to 
 
182 
 
 SMALL PAEMING. 
 
 apply this manure in the autumn, although Peruvian 
 guano should be applied at this period, as it takes 
 longer to show its effects. I had six plots under winter 
 wheat cultivated in all respects precisely alike. In the 
 spring I top-dressed two with nitrate of soda alone ; 
 two I top-dressed with a mixture of nitrate of soda and 
 common salt ; and two I left not top-dressed. It was 
 some weeks before any marked difference showed itself 
 between the plots top-dressed and those not so ; but as 
 soon as the spring weather began to set in the difference 
 began to show itself, and it was not long before it was 
 very marked. The colour of the top-dressed plots began 
 to change to a beautifully deep and healthy green ; and 
 "this was maintained during specially trying weather, 
 when cold, dry, cutting east winds prevailed, which 
 seemed to shrink down and make yellow and sickly- 
 looking the plants of the plot not top-dressed. Through- 
 out the whole season it was apparent to the most casual 
 observer that there was a marked difference in the 
 mere colour of the plots, this being all in favour of those 
 top-dressed. Nor was the difference in the vigour of 
 the plants less observable ; the plots being all in close 
 contiguity, it was gratifying to note that the top- 
 dressed plants towered inches above their neighbours ' 
 less fortunate in this respect ; and, with thicker stems 
 and broader leaves, showed also how much they owed 
 to the care which had given them the means of such a 
 higher development. But it was when the plants came 
 into ear, and as these advanced to maturity, that the 
 difference in favour of the top-dressed plants was so 
 marked and gratifying. The produce of the plots not 
 top-dressed was fully one-third less than that of those 
 top-dressed. I here speak of the top-dressed plots as if 
 they had been top-dressed alike, but it was not so ; two 
 were top-dressed with nitrate of soda alone, two with a 
 mixture of the nitrate and common salt. The mixture, 
 of course, was much the cheaper of the two manures, 
 yet no difference could be perceived in its effects as 
 compared with the nitrate of soda alone ; if any differ- 
 ence existed, it was^ rather in favour of the mixture. 
 
HARVESTtNG OF CROPS. 
 
 183 
 
 Nitrate of soda is specially valuable as a top-dressing 
 for oats. I applied a mixture of it — coal-ashes and the 
 nitrate in equal proportions — to a plot of oats ; the 
 effect, as compared with a plot not top-dressed, was 
 Tery satisfactory. The effect, however, was more 
 marked in the increase of straw rather than in that 
 of the grain ; but in its strength and thickness rather 
 than its length. As a neighbour remarked of them, 
 " they come up like trees." 
 
 In carrying out various experiments with manures, 
 I can promise the amateur farmer an endless source of 
 amusement and delight ; and if carefully done, he may 
 arrive at results of which even practical farmers may 
 acknowledge the value. 
 
 Harvesting. — Wheat should be cut, either with the 
 scythe or with the sickle, eight or ten days before it is 
 dead ripe ; a better 
 sample is thus ob- 
 tained, and the yield 
 of flour increased. 
 Red wheat should 
 stand a little longer 
 than white. If the 
 grain, on being 
 pressed between the 
 finger and thumb, 
 
 yields moisture, it _ _ 
 
 is not ready for cut- -p- 22 
 
 ing. Barley should 
 
 be cut as soon as the ear begins to drop. Oats should 
 
 never be allowed to stand till they are fully ripe, as a 
 
 large proportion of the seed is shed ; they should be 
 
 cut while rather greenish in the straw. 
 
 In this weeping climate of ours it is of the greatest 
 importance to have good methods of " stooking " the 
 com when cut, so that it can stand without much injury 
 in rainy weather. Last year I adopted the system of 
 putting the sheaves as in Fig. 22. Fig. 23 shows the 
 method practised by Continental farmers, and known to 
 them under the name "moyette." In putting up the 
 
184 
 
 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 grain in this way, a workman holds a small sheaf on end, 
 compressing it at the top ; other workmen bring other 
 sheaves, and arrange them so that a cone as perfect in 
 outline^ as possible is formed. This is bound together, 
 at a distance of one-third of its height from the top, 
 with a straw rope to render it steady on the ground in 
 windy weather. The whole is then capped by an inverted 
 sheaf, the straws being spread out as smoothly as pos- 
 sible. I found that in stocking in this manner the re- 
 sults were more satisfactory when the capping sheaf was 
 made larger than the standing sheaves. When all were 
 made of the same size I found it a difficult matter for 
 
 the ends of the 
 inverted sheaf to 
 cover properly all 
 the standing corn 
 beneath. In set- 
 ting up stocks after 
 this fashion, the 
 great point is to 
 make as perfect a 
 cone of the stand- 
 ing sheaves as pos- 
 sible — head com- 
 ^°' ■ pressed, and swell- 
 
 ing and secure base. Great care also should be taken 
 to place the capping-sheaf right in the centre. A 
 little practice is required to gain the proper degree 
 of dexterity necessary to insure success in spreading 
 out the ends, and " solching" down the cap thus spread 
 out on the heads of the standing sheaves. 
 
 The great objection to this method is, that the whole 
 is so closely put together that no air can get through 
 the mass. To get rid of this, I modified the plan this 
 season by placing eight sheaves together, four on each 
 side, the heads close together, the feet spreading out ; 
 the two rows forming, as it were, a steep roof. The 
 eight sheaves were then "capped" or hooded by two 
 sheaves reversed. This plan admits plenty of air to 
 pass through. . 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 KOOT OB GBEEN CHOPS. 
 
 The most important of all the crops for winter con- 
 sumption of dairy or fattening stock is the swede, of 
 which Fig. 24 is an illustration. 
 
 Brasdca campestra. — This is a species of cabbage, not 
 a true turnip, in the ordinary acceptation of the term. 
 Its place in the rotation is after a white or grain crop, 
 as wheat. The preparation of 
 the land is of the greatest im- 
 portance as regards the future 
 prospects of the root. The best 
 soil is a loamy ; but the root 
 may be grown in a wide variety 
 of soils, so that care is taken to 
 have the land well pulverised 
 and worked. To do this, there 
 is no better implement on a 
 small scale than the spade or 
 fork ; these are the mainstays 
 of the amateur farmer in the 
 preparation of his land. As 
 soon as the crop which pre- 
 cedes the root crop is off the 
 land in autumn, it is advisable 
 to turn up the soil ; and it is the 
 opinion of some that this is the proper time to dig in the 
 manure. Whether this latter point is correct (and it 
 is certainly open to discussion) matters not here ; but 
 there can be but one opinion of the advantage of having 
 the land turned up and exposed to the improving in- 
 fluences of the frost and atmosphere during the winter. 
 
 Fig. 24. 
 
1^6 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 In spring, as soon as the weather permits, let a second 
 digging be gone through preparatory to throwing up 
 the land in ridges. When this is done, the manure is 
 at the same time placed beneath the crown of the 
 ridges. The distance between the ridges varies from 
 eighteen to twenty-six inches. Other things being 
 equal, it will be found more beneficial to have the dis- 
 tance between the rows a greater rather than a less 
 distance Mentioned above. Plenty of air and light to 
 the roots will not be thrown away. The quantity of 
 manure — farm-yard manure — to the acre given to the 
 swede crop is from fifteen to thirty tons, according to 
 circumstances. Although turnips are usually highly 
 manured, it is questionable how far the diseases which 
 attack the roots are not aggravated, if in some cases 
 they are not caused, by over-manuring. The prepara- 
 tion of the land should all be finished in time for the 
 sowing of the seed, which usually extends from the 
 middle of May to that of June. The quantity of seed 
 sown per acre is usually from two to five pounds per 
 acre ; but thin sowing, in the case of the root crops, is 
 not at all desirable. As one of the scourges of the 
 turnip crop, " the fly," is apt to be greatly aided in its 
 ravages by thin sowing, the greal; object in the turnip 
 crop is to force on a rapid growth, so that the leaves 
 will get beyond that stage at which they are attacked 
 by the fly. As soon as they are in rough leaf, the 
 plants may be considered safe from the fly. 
 
 The seed may be sown in continuous rows in a rut 
 made in the top of the drill ; or it may be dibbled in 
 at intervals of nine to twelve inches. In cases where 
 the seed is sown, and the plants come up in a con- 
 tinuous line, it is necessary to thin them out after they 
 have grown to a height of two inches, or thereabouts, 
 or even less, according to the vigour and strength of 
 their growth. This may be done by the hoe, leaving 
 "bunches" at intervals, which again are thinned by 
 hand. When the seed is dibbled, the plants come up 
 in " bunches," of course, so that no hoe is used. In 
 thinning finally by hand the bunches left in either case. 
 
THINNING AND TRANSPLANTING. 187 
 
 a plant atronger and better developed than any of the 
 others will almost invariably be found. This, desig- 
 nated by some as the " king plant," is the solitary one 
 which should be left in, all the others being put aside. 
 In dibbling, seed is saved to a large extent, and 
 the hoeing is also dispensed with. In thinning out the 
 plants, the distance between each is usually ten to 
 twelve inches. In place of thinning the plants out to 
 the full distance at first, they may be thinned out to 
 only half the distance, and a few weeks' growth given 
 to them ; then thin out the weakest plants, giving the 
 full distance between for the strongest plants to de- 
 velop themselves. The thinnings are greatly relished 
 by thS'pigs and cattle. It is, I need scarcely 
 say, of the greatest importance to thin out 
 the plants perfectly. Where two or three 
 are left together none of them do well, but 
 monstrosities of growth only result as in 
 the annexed figure (Fig. 25), which repre- 
 sents two mangolds, one of which was ne- 
 glected to be taken out. Monstrosities in the 
 turnips are just as common from this cause ; 
 only in my crop this year I had none, 
 while I had. amongst the mangolds, of 
 one of which the engraving is a represen- 
 tation. Fig. 25. 
 
 It is a popular notion that swedes cannot 
 be transplanted ; this is a mistake. I have known 
 transplanting followed out with marked advantages in 
 filling up blanks by transplanting plants obtained from 
 a neighbouring farm. I knew a gentleman — who farms 
 in a small amateur way — convinced, in a very striking 
 manner, of the fallacy of the notion above alluded to, 
 which he maintained to be correct. A party had some 
 blanks to fill up, both in his swedes and mangolds, who 
 happened to be visiting this gentleman at his house, 
 distant upwards of two hundred miles from his own 
 place, when he was thinning out his swedes and man- 
 golds, and seeing they were fine plants, he determined 
 on taking a lot home. This determination he carried 
 
188 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 out, to the silent surprise of his friend, who looked 
 upon the affair as a nonsensical scheme. The plants, 
 taken up one afternoon, travelled all next day, and were 
 transplanted the following evening, which, fortunately, 
 was a favourable one for the purpose. They not only 
 did well, but proved to be about the finest roots at the 
 end of the season. The mangolds especially were very 
 fine. It might be advisable, then, to have a small seed- 
 bed of plants for filling up blanks. 
 
 The varieties of turnips grown are verv numerous. 
 The following (Fig. 26) is a drawing of a White' Globe 
 
 Fig. 26. 
 
 Fig. 27. 
 
 Turnip, Fig. 27 of a "White Tankard, and Fig. 28 of a 
 Yellow Turnip, in shape, &c., between the Grlobe and 
 the Tankard. Turnips are liable to diseases, as the 
 "fly," the " finger-and-toe," and "anbury." The 
 remedies proposed for these diseases are very nume- 
 rous. For the fly the following top-dressing has been 
 recommended : 14 lbs. of sulphur, 1 bushel of fresh lime, 
 and 2 bushels of road scrapings. These quantities are 
 for an acre, and when well mixed should be applied at 
 night. As the fly only attacks the turnips in the 
 
DISEASES OF THE TTJEKIP CEOP. 
 
 189 
 
 early stages of the plant, some have sown common mus- 
 tard between the drills at the same time as the turnips 
 are sown ; and as the mustard 
 comes up the first, the fly attacks 
 it, and gives the turnips an op- 
 portunity to get into the " rough 
 leaf," at which stage they are free 
 from liability to be attacked 
 by the fly. The mustard, if not 
 eaten by the fly, need not be 
 lost. I allowed some of mine to 
 grow to the height of a few 
 inches, pulled it up, cut off the 
 roots, and gave the tops to one of 
 my cows, which had a particular 
 fondness for it. Pigs will also 
 eat it. 
 
 A very great deal has been 
 written on the subject of " finger- 
 and-toe," which distorts the bulbs 
 
 Fig. 28. 
 
 (see Figs. 29, 30, and 31), and " anbury," which dis- 
 
 Fig. 29. 
 
 Fig. 30. 
 
 figures the surface of the bulbs with wart-like excres- 
 cences (see Fig.32 ) ; and a number of remedies, as well as 
 
190 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 methods of cultivation likely to prevent tiiese diseases, 
 have heen proposed. The popular remedy is the appli- 
 cation of lime. In view of the extraordinary develop- 
 ment which the diseases ravaging the turnip crop have 
 taken of late years, it is worthy of consideration how 
 far the system of over-forcing the growth of the bulbs 
 by an excess of stimulating manures has not brought 
 about in process of time a weakness in the plants, thus 
 giving them a liability to disease. We are now becom-' 
 ing alive to the evils of over-feeding our cattle ; and, 
 reasoning from analogy, may we not expect the same 
 evils to arise from the persistent, long-continued over- 
 manuring of our bulbous crops ? Moreover, is not the 
 
 Fig. 31. Fig. 32. 
 
 practice of taking the crops too often from the same 
 land a faulty one ? In the chapter on Rotations, I have 
 spoken of the necessity which apparently exists for 
 change. Change, indeed, is one of the great laws of 
 nature ; and it is worth while drawing lessons from 
 her to aid us in our operations. 
 
 •The manures used for the turnip crop, in addition to 
 the great staple — the farm-yard manure — are Peruvian 
 guano, and superphosphate of lime. The guano should 
 be broadcasted ovet the farm-yard manure after it is 
 spread ; and in forming the drills, the manure and 
 guano get covered with soil. When guano alone is 
 used for turnips, as it sometimes is, it is sown upon the 
 
MANURES rOK EOOT CROPS. 191 
 
 land previous to forming the drills. Superphosphate, 
 or dissolved bones, may be used in the same way. Mr. 
 Spooner recommends, as a manure for the turnip crop 
 the following: — ^Half cwt. of guano, ditto of super- 
 phosphate, 1 cwt. of bone-dust ; the mixture resulting 
 being sufficient for an acre. I have found the following 
 give as good results as farm-yard manure : — Peruvian 
 guano and coal-ashes, mixed in equal proportions ; also 
 nitrate of soda and coal-ashes in equal proportions. 
 
 As the amateur will likely cultivate a variety of tur- 
 nips, and try a number of experiments, and as, con- 
 sequently, he will have comparatively small plots under 
 culture, in place of using the artificial manures as 
 above described, I would recommend him to spread by 
 hand, or rather run out a narrow track of manure on 
 the land in the direction of the ridges, and at the 
 distance he wishes ; then covering these tracks up with 
 soU, the ridges are formed ; and on the apex of these 
 the lines or ruts are made with the hoe, the seed 
 dropped in, and the whole covered in with the rake. 
 Plots also may be sown on the flat. If artificial manure 
 is used, this may be sown over the land before it is 
 dug ; or a series of deep ruts or furrows may be run 
 with the hoe across the beds, a layer of manure laid in 
 this, above the manure soil ; above this the seed, which 
 is finally covered by soil with the rake. The seed, be 
 it noted, must not be placed immediately upon the 
 manure, or it will very likely fail to germinate ; soil 
 must invariably separate the two. It brings the 
 root on amazingly fast. The seed, immediately on 
 germinating, certainly has all the advantage of being 
 placed as favourably with reference to the manure 
 as possible. I sowed one plot on this principle three 
 weeks after the others, and on taking up there was 
 z. remarkable equality of produce. The rapidity 
 with which the later-sown ones grew was very 
 marked, nor was the soundness of the bulbs obtained 
 at all afifected. 
 
 The " home-made guano," as I call it, made of night- 
 soil aiid dried earth, as hereafter described in the 
 
192 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 chapter on Manures, I have found an excellent manure 
 for turnips. I consider it quite equal, if not superior, 
 in its effects to farm-yard manure. 
 
 Mangold-wukzel (botanical name, Beta vulgaris). — 
 This is now an important root. There are two 
 varieties of it chiefly grown, the long (see Fig. 33) and 
 the globe or oblong (see Figs. 34 and 35), the red 
 and the yellow. The mangold is very subject to ab- 
 normal growth, or what is called " finger-and-toe " 
 (see Fig. 25, ante, and Figs. 36 and 37 here given). 
 The time for sowing is the end of April or beginning 
 
 Fig. 33. 
 
 FiK. 34. 
 
 Kj?. 36. 
 
 of May. The third week of April is considered the 
 best time. The quantity of seed used per acre is 7 lbs. 
 It is advisable to steep the seed in water for several 
 hours, to soften it and assist its germination. I tried 
 the difference in very dry weather, and which had 
 continued for some weeks. The seed which was put in 
 dry and hard scarcely came up at all ; a plant here and 
 there only. The seed which I kept moist till germi- 
 nation began to show itself, all came up without a 
 single failure. In putting in the seed, the earth, after 
 
MA^'URI^•G OF HOOT CROPS. 
 
 193 
 
 covering it up, sliould be pressed firmly down. The 
 mode of cultivation is very similar to that of turnips, 
 already described. The seed is dibbled in at distances 
 of twelve inches, from one inch to an inch and a half 
 deep. I prefer, on the small scale, to dibble in at nine 
 inches' distance, allow the plants a certain growth, 
 then lift each alternate plant for feeding the pigs or 
 giving to the cows ; thus giving illtimately each plant 
 a space of eighteen inches to grow in. Salt should 
 form an essential ingredient in the manure for man- 
 gold-wurzel. After the plants are finally thinned out. 
 
 Tig. 36. 
 
 Fig. 37. 
 
 I have top-dressed them with a manure composed of 
 coal-ashes, salt, and Peruvian gilano, in the proportion 
 of two parts coal-ashes, one salt, and one of guano. 
 This was well mixed, and the man, taking a basketful, 
 walked in the centre of the drills, and threw a handful 
 at the foot of each plant. This was done during a 
 drizzling " Scotch mist." This takes a little more time 
 than throwing the manure at random would take, but 
 it saves manure of more value than the time ; and, 
 moreover, it applies it where it is really required. I 
 have also applied this manure to the kohl-rabi and cab- 
 
 o 
 
194 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 bages ; and on comparing tlie drills of those dressed 
 with it and those not, a glance was sufficient to tell the 
 difference in development of the roots. 
 
 I would recommend the reader to try the method 
 introduced by M. Koechlin for increasing the yield 
 of beet and mangold, of which the following descrip- 
 tion, taken from the Mark Lane Express, is worthy 
 of careful perusal : — 
 
 " The Koechlin method is not, properly speaking, an 
 invention, but the application to the beet-root of pro- 
 cesses employed long since with other vegetables. 
 
 "In 1830, M. Koechlin, who cultivates weeded 
 plants (sarclees*), asked why, of all those which we 
 commonly transplant, the beet-root was the only one 
 that was not raised upon a seed-bed ? Whilst the cab- 
 bage, celery, lettuce, and a thousand other horticultural 
 or semi-horticultural plants, sown under glass at the 
 end of winter, may be transplanted in the first fine 
 days, and have the whole season to develop them- 
 selves, the beet-root alone, raised in the open field, and 
 sown after the disappearance of the frosts, is only 
 ready to be planted out by the middle, and often 
 towards the end of June, at the moment when the heat 
 and drought render the drawing, transplanting, and 
 revival of the plant much more difficult, and when 
 the part of the season most favourable to vegetation 
 has already passed. Seeing no plausible reason for 
 this exception, M. Koechlin made an experiment. He 
 sowed some seed on a seed-bed towards the end of 
 January, covered it with a frame, and planted them 
 out in March. The result of this attempt surpassed his 
 hopes ; he obtained a crop double that obtained from 
 the common method. From that moment he adopted 
 the process into his practice, and has uniformly had 
 reason to congratulate himself upon it. . . . 
 
 " At the commencement, M. Koechlin sowed at the 
 end of January on a hotbed, and transplanted towards 
 the, middle of March. In order to economise the sur- 
 
 * This is a Prench term for ropt and other plants requiring repeated 
 hoeing. 
 
MANUKING OF KOOT CROPS. 195 
 
 face of the beds and the number of frames employed^ 
 and perhaps also to show the excellence of their method 
 in producing enormous roots, they planted the seed- 
 lings at 60 centimetres' (about 22 inches) distance each 
 way, so that they required per hectare only 26,000 or 
 27,000 plants (about 10,800 per acre), which they 
 obtained from a bed of from 22 to 27 square yards. 
 This system presented many inconveniences. It re- 
 quired the employment of a large quantity of dung, pro- 
 duced plants too watery, and consequently too delicate, 
 and yielded many hollow beet-roots — that plant being 
 liable to this defect when it attains an enormous size. 
 
 "After ten or twelve years' experience, M. Irvan 
 Koechlin determined therefore to modify his process in 
 the following manner : — Towards the middle of Feb- 
 ruary he placed, either in the garden or in the fields, 
 but always in a warm and sheltered spot — if possible 
 by a wall — frames thirty-nine inches wide, made of 
 four boards of pine- wood. As to their length, it varies 
 according to the number of plants wanted. The frames 
 being fixed, M. Koechlin dug and carefully pulverised 
 the earth within it, and watered it plentifully with 
 liquid manure. He surrounded the frames with hot 
 horse-dung, and then, tracing with a garden-line small 
 furrows very close to each other, sowed in them the 
 grains one by one, and covered them over with a rake. 
 At intervals he nailed across the frames laths to sup- 
 port mats, which economically supplied the place of 
 glass sashes, and protected very effectually the plants 
 from frost. 
 
 " In the first days of April, the plants generally 
 reached the size of the little finger, or at least that of 
 a good-sized quill, and were quite ready to transplant, 
 which may be done even in spite of a drought, for 
 having attained that size they always strike. In this 
 manner he obtained plants much more hardy, only 
 they required more space than by the old method, since 
 they became larger. In other respects, this considera- 
 tion is of little importance^ the expense of the frames . 
 being insignificant. We should add, that the less 
 
196 
 
 SMALL FAEMIKG. 
 
 thickly the seed is sown on the beds, the better it will 
 be ; for the roots, remaining about two weeks longer in 
 the fields, than by the ordinary mode, are liable to run 
 to seed, and nothing predisposes them more to this than 
 too thick sowing. For the same reason, we advise 
 cultivators never to use seed less than two or three 
 years old. 
 
 " M. Koechlin prepares his land in the same manner 
 as English farmers are accustomed to do for sowing 
 their turnips and ruta-bagas. After having got the 
 soil into a perfect state by tillage, harrowing, and roll- 
 ing, he forms, with the plough, ridges from eighteen 
 to twenty-two inches wide, according to the richness 
 and the nature of the soil, and spreads his dung in the 
 trench ; he then covers the manure by splitting the 
 ridges, and finishes by levelling the tops with the roller. 
 The land being thus prepared, he transplants the beet- 
 root upon the crest of the ridges, placing them at 
 thirty to forty centimetres, or from twelve to fifteen 
 inches, distant from each other. For this purpose, 
 he uses a dibble with four wooden points, in order to 
 accelerate the work. 
 
 " On this plan, it will be seen that it requires from 
 40,000 to 60,000 plants to furnish a hectare (or from 
 16,000 to 24,000 per acre). The beet-roots thus ob- 
 tained are less in size, but more regular, and in the 
 aggregate yield a greater product. When the plants 
 have struck, they pass between the rows with the horse- 
 hoe, after which they give them two or three weedings, 
 according to the nature of the soil. After the last 
 weeding, they lightly earth-up the plants. 
 
 "M. Kcechlin considers it very important not to 
 dress the plants by cutting the ends of the leaves before 
 transplanting. According to him, it occasions a loss 
 of time to the plant, which receives much nourishment 
 by the leaves. Left untouched, on the contrary, they 
 increase rapidly, soon cover the ground, hinder the pro- 
 duction, and, above all, the development, of injurious 
 plants, and retain in the soil a freshness which contri- 
 butes greatly to the growth of the roots." 
 
BOOT CHOPS — KOHL-RABI. 
 
 197 
 
 KoHL-EABt (botanical name, Brasska caulorapae). — 
 This plant, which goes' by the name popularly of the 
 
 which there are two 
 38, and the " long " or 
 
 Fig. 38,5 
 
 "turnip-rooted cabbage" (of 
 varieties, the " globe " in Fig 
 "oblong," in Fig. 39), 
 has for some time had 
 the attention of farm- 
 ers directed to it as an 
 admirable substitute 
 for the swede, which 
 we see so frequently 
 diseased. The kohl- 
 rabi is easily trans- 
 planted, stands drought 
 and frost well, and is 
 not liable to be at- 
 tacked by disease. The 
 preparation of the land 
 for it is very similar 
 to , that required for 
 the turnip ; it is greedy 
 of manure. It is culti- 
 vated in two ways : 
 first, the seed is sown in seed-beds early in March ; the 
 plants are then thinned out, and allowed to grow some 
 
188 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 five or six inches higt, with a somewhat thick stem ; 
 they are then transplanted in the first week of May, 
 the distance between the drills or ridges to which they 
 are transplanted being twenty-seven inches, and the dis- 
 tance between the plants fifteen to eighteen inches. 
 The second way is to sow the seed in drill in the month 
 of May, and thin them out turnip-fashion. In the first 
 mode, the quantity of seed required to raise a suf- 
 ficiency of plants for an acre is eight ounces, a space of 
 six yards square being required for this quantity of 
 seed. For sowing in drill, four pounds of seed are 
 required. As seed is very dear, this difierence 
 in the quantity required in both methods is 
 worthy of consideration. But apart from this, 
 from what I have learned in conversing with 
 parties who have grown the plant, from what I 
 have read of it, and from what I have seen in 
 the two seasons I have grown it, I am clearly 
 of opinion that the method of sowing in seed- 
 beds and transplanting is the best. Looking 
 at the roots I have had growing this year on 
 the two systems, there can be no doubt, under 
 my circumstances of soil, climate, &c., that 
 transplanting gives the best produce. I say 
 under my circumstances of soil, climate, &c., 
 for I am not unaware of this, that many of 
 the discrepancies and contradictory evidences 
 Fig. 40. which we hear and read of in connection with 
 farming facts arise from the difierence in these 
 same circumstances of soil and locality. Hence the 
 necessity of ascertaining by direct experiment which is 
 the best out of a number of methods recommended. The 
 farmer may have many excuses why he cannot undertake 
 making these direct experiments, but the amateur 
 farmer should have none ; he ought to be the first to 
 try them, and in thus adding to the stock of his know- 
 ledge, and perhaps to that of others, he will be greatly 
 adding to the pleasures of his play-farm. 
 
 The Paesnip, Fig. 40, is an excellent root for culture. 
 Pigs are especially fond of it, as are also cows. Its 
 texture even closely resembles that of the mangold or 
 
LEAF CEOFS CABBAGES. 
 
 199 
 
 the carrot, wliioli is a crop whicli should be more 
 valued than it is. Horses are fond of and thrive 
 upon it. 
 
 Cabbage (botanical name, Brassica oleracea). — The 
 best variety is the Drum-head or Cow Cabbage, of which 
 Fig. 41 is an illustration. The Swedenborgian cabbage 
 grows high and tree-like ; it produces a large amount 
 of succulent fodder. I have grown some excellent 
 specimens of it. Cabbages form a highly nutritious 
 food for cows, and are calculated to promote the secre- 
 tion of milk. The variety to be cultivated is the Drum- 
 
 Fig. 4L 
 
 FiS- 42. 
 
 head, or Cow Cabbage, as it is commonly called. The 
 Tree Cabbage, too seldom cultivated, rich as it is, is a 
 succulent produce for live stock, illustrated in Fig. 
 42. The seed should be sown in seed-beds early in 
 March, on a piece of land well pulverised and manured. 
 The land should be meanwhile prepared, and an ample 
 supply of manure given to it, for the cabbage loves a 
 rich soil. Salt should be added to it. Remembering 
 the marine origin of the cabbage, we see why it is so 
 much benefited by an application of salt. In trans- 
 planting cabbages, the lines should be 30 inches apart, 
 and the cabbages dibbled in at the like distance in the 
 lines. However, I do -with this as with the turnips and 
 
200 
 
 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 mangolds : I give at first a closer growth, and then 
 thin out for feeding the pigs or giving to the cows. If a 
 spare plot of ground can be prepared in. autumn, cab- 
 bage-plants may be planted out in October if sown in 
 seed-beds in August. Many will probably be killed by 
 the frost, but those which survive will give early cab- 
 bages for spring feed. Unprecedentedly severe as was 
 the frost of one winter, the cabbages which I planted put 
 early in the previous October stood remarkably well, and 
 I had in the spring numbers of well-developed cabbages, 
 when others were but newly planted. In setting out cab- 
 bages for winter growth, it is a good plan to hoe up the 
 earth on each side of the plants, thus making a species of 
 embankment, which has a good effect in sheltering the 
 plants from biting blasts. To give as much vigour to 
 the plants as possible before winter sets iu, I top-dressed 
 them with a mixture of salt, a§hes, and nitrate of soda. 
 The same I applied to the rape plants. This plant. 
 Rape (botanical name, Brassica napus), is worth cul- 
 tivating as an auxiliary for spring feeding. The seed 
 is sown in seed-beds, from the end of June to the begin- 
 ning of July ; the plants transplanted at the end of 
 September or beginning of October, at distances of 12 
 to 15 inches in the rows ; the rows the same distance 
 apart. The plants will be ready to cut down early in 
 spring, and may be used as cattle-food. Vetches (bo- 
 tanical name, Vicia sativa) are also sown in the autumn, 
 to be cut down in spring as green food. 
 
 Potatoes. — About the cultivation of this crop — one 
 of the most important of the farm — little need be said, 
 as every one is familiar with it. Much has been writ- 
 ten about the disease to which the crop is so unfortu- 
 nately subjected, but with little practical result; we 
 are as far off as ever from a successful solution of the 
 mysterious question. What is the cause of the potato 
 disease ? I have tried three or four ways of culture, 
 each of which has been recommended as a remedy, 
 but the same result has been obtained as before. Some 
 have argued — and argued, I need scarcely say, plausibly 
 — that the system of cutting " sets " is a bad one ; and 
 that we should grow the crops from ^'hole potatoes. 
 
POTATOES JERUSALEM AKTICHOKE. 201 
 
 To put the matter to the test ia a small way, I set out 
 in the same ground, and under precisely the same treat- 
 ment as to preparation of the land and manure applied, 
 three plots : one was set with whole potatoes ; the 
 second with " sets," each potato being divided into two 
 parts ; the third plot with sets, each potato being divided 
 inio four parts. On being taken up and measured, the 
 results were as follows : — Set- 
 ting down the produce of 
 whole potatoes as 1^, the pro- 
 duce of the plot of halved sets 
 was 1^, the jjlot with quar- 
 tered sets 1^. In the amount 
 of produce, there was thus re- 
 markably little difference, but 
 the potatoes grown from the 
 whole potatoes were remark- 
 ably sound, and contrasted, in 
 the matter of disease, favour- 
 ably with the quartered plot. 
 The Jerusalem artichoke, which 
 is a tuber crop like the potato, 
 is well worthy of cultivation 
 on the small farm, as all live 
 stock are fond of it. It has 
 one great advantage, that it ^^' *^" 
 
 will grow upon land so poor as to be useless for any 
 other crop. It is more, even a beautiful plant, in the 
 habit of generally sending up long stalks with graceful 
 foliage (see Fig. 43). 
 
 In taking up the roots, turnips, mangolds, &c., I 
 should advise " time to be taken by the forelock;" that 
 is, to do so rather early in October than later. A night's 
 severe frost, such as we occasionally experience, and 
 which results in the loss to the farmers of England of . 
 many thousands of pounds, may do away with the labour 
 and blast the hopes of weeks. The risk run by keeping 
 roots too late in the ground is not overbalanced by the 
 small growth which may be obtained by letting them 
 remain in the ground till an advanced period. Besides, 
 time will be gained by getting the turnip land ready 
 
202 
 
 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 for the early sowing of the wheat. The kohl-rabi, 
 standing frost well, may be left later out ; indeed, in 
 many cases, it has been allowed to remain out till 
 spring, with comparatively little loss. The following 
 is a scheme for setting out the division in root or green 
 crops : — 
 
 DIVISION IN EOOT GEEEN CROPS. 
 No. 1 in General Plan. 
 
 
 
 BVTT No. 1 
 
 Swedes and Mangolds in altemato rows. 
 
 Btjtt No. 2 
 
 Mangolds— Leaves to te stripped ofif for feeding. 
 
 Butt No. 3 
 
 Mangolds— Leaves to be left on tai taken up. 
 
 Bdtts Nos. 4, 5, 
 6,7 
 
 Swedes under different manures. 
 
 Butt No. 8 
 
 Green KoM-rabi, transplanted. 
 
 Butt No. 9 
 
 Purple KoU-rabi, transplanted. 
 
 Butt No. 10 . 
 
 Green Kobl-rabi, sown in drill, and thinned out. 
 
 Butt No. 11 . 
 
 Purple Kohl-rabi, ditto, ditto. 
 
 My house accommodation being anything but limited, 
 I store under roof all my roots. Where this house 
 accommodation is not attainable, " clamping " or pit- 
 ting must be resorted to. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HAYMAKINO. — ^MANAaEMENT OF MEADOW LAND. 
 
 I HAVE now to conclude the present division of my little 
 book with a few remarks on this important subject. I 
 can give but little space to it, as little space is now left 
 me ; but for fuller information I refer to the works of 
 which a list is given at the end of the preface. 
 
 Preparation of the Meadow tor the Crop. — ^The 
 first essential to be attended to is the manuring of the 
 land, the kind of manure to be used, and when to apply 
 it. The manure almost universally used is farm-yard 
 manure. To enable this to act upon the land in early 
 spring — the time when its action is required to push on 
 the grass to maturity — it is necessary to have the 
 manure applied as early in autumn or winter as it can 
 be conveniently done. 
 
 Of artificial manures for hay crops, Peruvian guano 
 and nitrate of soda are now principally used. I have 
 used the latter chiefly ; its efiects are striking and 
 satisfactory. Not only is the growth quicker and the 
 produce larger, but the quality of the herbage is won- 
 derfully improved. In one field I have had a striking 
 evidence of this : the weeds with which one part of it 
 was infested have disappeared, or are disappearing fast. 
 As a general rule — that is, unless where I have been 
 trying special experiments — I invariably mix the nitrate 
 of soda, and the Peruvian guano also, with an equal 
 weight of coal-ashes, finely sifted. I have tried por- 
 tions under the two — nitrate of soda alone, and nitrate 
 of soda and coal-ashes — and have found the plots under 
 the latter yield as good results as those under the 
 former. Dr. Voelcker, chemist to the Royal Agricul- 
 
204 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 tural Society, first drew my attention to the importance 
 of mixing artificial manures, especially guano, with 
 dried earth or ashes. I believe a large waste of such 
 valuable substances as nitrate of soda is made every 
 year by using them in their crude condition, and using 
 them alone. They should invariably be well pulverised ; 
 and I am convinced that it will also be a saving if 
 they are mixed in greater or less proportions with 
 ashes. 
 
 I have also used as a manure the " home-made 
 guano," or deodorized night-soil, described in the next 
 chapter as a top-dressing for meadows. All artificial 
 manures should be applied as early in the spring as the 
 weather will permit. 
 
 Haymaking. — The haymaking season, according to 
 popular notions, is the most joyous of all on a farm. 
 Poets have sung of it, and townsmen dream of its de- 
 lights ; but only those who have worked at it know 
 how hard is the work connected with it. It is all 
 very easy to lean lazily over a fence, and look at the 
 mowers, "cutting tkeir sounding yi a j," as the poet of 
 the " Seasons " has it ; but an hour's toil — if, indeed, 
 the work by amateurs' hands could be done at all — 
 would soon dispel the romance of the thing, and con- 
 vince one how very hard the mower's work is. The 
 same with aU. the other departments of haymaking. The 
 young ladies of the family may go out on a fine breezy 
 afternoon, and with streaming ribbons and flaunting 
 lace may hand for a short time, and hand it gracefully 
 too, as no doubt they will, the hand-rake or the " pikel," 
 and think the while how nice it is ; but when " cross- 
 cutting" is indulged in, or " windrowing," for the 
 best part of the day, some idea will be formed that 
 haymaking is really downright hard work ; and 
 if this brings with it, on the part of the " lady hay- 
 makers," consideration for. those who work continu- 
 ously in the field, the lesson will not be without its 
 value. 
 
 As soon as the haymaking season approaches, let all 
 the tools be looked up and put in order, rakes mendedj 
 
HAYMAKING, 
 
 205 
 
 and scythes sharpened. And on deciding where to 
 " cut," or rather when, let the workers be engaged, 
 and take care that there are plenty of them. It is the 
 most mistaken economy possible to stint the number of 
 the workers in the hay-field. At no other time should 
 the old maxim, " Make hay while the sun shines," 
 be borne so continually in mind as in haymaking 
 time. The delay or loss of a day may imperil your 
 whole crop. 
 
 There are many important points connected with the 
 hay crop, some of which receive at the hands of farmers 
 hot discussion ; all these I have not space to enter upon, 
 but a few of them may be here adverted to with profit. 
 And first, as to the best time td cut the grasses. This is 
 generally when they are in flower. Italian rye-grass 
 should be cut down as soon as the flowers show them- 
 selves, as this is the period when the grasses are the 
 most nutritious. Moreover, as this crop is such a rapid 
 grower, with good management, two, three, and even 
 four crops may be obtained in the season. Peruvian 
 rye-grass may be allowed to come into flower, and 
 clover into full blossom. Meadows being usually com- 
 posed of a variety of grasses, it is necessary to become 
 acquainted with the various appearances and times of 
 flowering of the varieties grown ; you will in this way 
 find a period at which a greater number will flower 
 than at any other period : cut at this period if the 
 weather be favourable. You will find, in my little 
 work entitled " Hints for Farmers " (Routledge), at 
 page 57, a table showing the periods of flowering of the 
 different grasses, which may be of use. 
 
 In making hay, the general rule is to " get " it as 
 rapidly as possible, consistent with the due dryness 
 necessary. "With good management, and with good 
 weather, the hay from mixed meadows may be got in 
 in three days ; that is, suppose you begin to cut early, 
 very early, on "Wednesday morning, you may get it 
 housed by the Saturday evening. I know of no method 
 so good to ascertain when hay is ready as by taking a 
 handful and plunging the face into it. The peculiar 
 
206 
 
 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 feeling — showing absence of positive dampness, yet the 
 presence of that degree of moisture so essential to good 
 hay — imparted to the skin, as well as the smell, will 
 tell whether the hay is ready or not. Of course, one in 
 this case must have a little experience to fall back upon. 
 As soon as it is ready, get it off the field with all pos- 
 sible despatch. Lose not a moment, nor be influenced 
 to allow it to remain another day by the represen- 
 tations of men who are sometimes — I say it with all 
 charity — thinking more of getting another day's work 
 out of it than of getting it well housed. When hay is 
 ready, the place for it is the stack or the hay-barn, not 
 the field. 
 
 The methods of managing the work of the hay-field 
 vary in difiierent districts. The following short ex- 
 tract from Arthur Young's " Farmer's Calendar "* will 
 give a fair notion of the mode of making hay applicable 
 to the majority of districts : — 
 
 . "In executing the work, observe particularly that 
 the labourers cut as close to the ground as possible ; 
 grass never thrives well that is not cut quite close, 
 and the loss in the crop of hay is very considerable, for 
 one inch at bottom weighs more than several at top. 
 In making it into hay, you will be a loser if you 
 have not many hands ready for the work. It should 
 be shaken out directly after the scythe, windrowed 
 (that is, raked into rows) before the evening, shaken 
 out again next morning, and in the afternoon got into 
 grass-cocks ; these should be opened the morning fol- 
 lowing, and got into the great cock by night, by which 
 time the hay will be well made if no rain comes ; but 
 in case of bad weather, the process will be more tedious. 
 If successive rains come, so that the hay is damaged, 
 and you are fearful of its turning out unprofitably, 
 by all means salt as you stack it; a peck, strewed 
 
 * I take this opportunity to draw the attention of the reader to the 
 new edition of this work, puhlished hy Koutledge. It is edited by the 
 well-known agricultural writer, Mr. John Chalmers Morton, and is 
 enriched hy all the stores of information and the results of experience 
 which this gentleman has at his conuuand. 
 
MANX7KING OF HAY GKASS FIELDS. 207 
 
 in on the stack, to one load of hay will have a very 
 marked effect in sweetening it, however bad it may be, 
 even if it be black ; and it has been found by experi- 
 ment that horses and horned cattle will eat damaged 
 hay salted, which they would not touch without that 
 addition." 
 
 The following are schemes for laying out meadows 
 under different manurial treatment : — 
 
 LONG MEADOW. 
 
 Division No. 1. 
 
 Farm-yard Manure. 
 
 Date when applied, and quantity. 
 
 Division No. 2. 
 
 Home-made Guano. 
 
 Date when applied, and quantity. 
 
 Division No. 3. 
 
 Artificial Manure, composed of nitrate of soda, common 
 salt, and wood-ashes, in equal parts. 
 
 Date when applied, and quantity. 
 
 Division No. 4. 
 
 Liquid Manure, from cow-house tank. 
 
 Date when applied, and quantity. 
 
208 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 LAEGE MEADOW. 
 
 Division No. 1. 
 Top-dressed with nitrate of soda alone. 
 
 Date of application, and quantity. 
 
 DiTisioN No. 2. 
 Not manured. 
 
 Division No. 3. 
 Top-dressed with soot alone. 
 
 Division No. 4. 
 
 Top-dressed with nitrate of soda and finely-sifted 
 coal-ashes, in equal proportions. 
 
 Division No. 5. 
 
 Artificial Manure — ^Nitrate of soda, coal-ashes, salt, 
 home-made guano, in equal proportions. 
 
 Of the divisions ia the "Long Meadow" scheme, 
 No. 3 yielded the best results ; No. 2, top dressed with 
 (Moule's) home-made guano, was decidedly better than 
 No. 1. In the " Large Meadow " scheme Nos. 1 and 4 
 yielded the best results, and were about equal. The 
 top-dressing of both Nos. 4 and 5 were, of course, much 
 cheaper than that used for No. 1. Indeed, as before 
 stated, I look upon the use of nitrate of soda alone as a 
 decided waste, and as being in no marked manner supe- 
 rior in effects to a mixture of it and of coal-ashes. 
 
 On the 21st of August of one year, I top-dressed for 
 " aftermath," " edditch," or a " second crop," a small 
 meadow with nitrate of soda alone, at the rate of 2 cwt. 
 
TOP-DRESSING OF CEOPS. 209 
 
 to the acre ; the growth was wonderfully rapid, and an 
 excellent bottom of grass was the result. The weather 
 being settled, I cut it on the 21st of September, and the 
 crop turned out remarkably heavy. It was well and 
 carefully "got" and "housed," and ultimately proved 
 exceedingly good, and had a perfume Hke a " posy," 
 as William remarked — meaning thereby a nosegay — 
 albeit those who had never "heerd upon" nitrate of 
 soda, and did not think well of its use, shook their 
 heads at the hay, and pronounced it soft, "mashy," 
 and as sure to make poor hay. The appearance of the 
 field all through the severe winter was particularly 
 green and refreshing. On the 29th of January, in the 
 following year, I top-dressed part of it with coal-ashes 
 and salt, in equal proportions, and the other part with 
 wood and weed-ashes. With these alone, the growth 
 was quick and satisfactory, and when cut, early in June, 
 yielded what all admitted to be a heavy crop. The 
 part of the field top-dressed with the coal-ashes and salt 
 was better than the part top-dressed with wood and 
 weed-ashes. The top-dressing for the second crop the 
 next year was applied on June 29 th (two months earlier 
 than before — such was the difierence in the season, 
 the continuous rains of the year previous having kept 
 back all labour in the field for weeks), and consisted of 
 nitrate of soda one part, Peruvian guano one part, and 
 coal-ashes two parts, applied at the rate of 2^ cwts. to 
 the acre. The growth was rapid, and an excellent 
 second crop was the result. 
 
 Caution, however, must be exercised in the use of 
 nitrogenous or highly-forcing manures to meadow land. 
 What has been given above as to the use of nitrate of 
 soda alone, may appear to be contradictory to what has 
 been stated at the close of the preceding paragraph. 
 But it is not, and may be taken as an example of how 
 farm produce is greatly influenced by special circum- 
 stances, and as showing that what may not be good for 
 One case may be so for another. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 It will be necessary to say a few words on this import- 
 ant subject. -Manures kre divided, into two great 
 classes, farm-yard, and aitificial or special.* Farm-yard 
 manure is, as my readers are aware, composed mainly 
 of the droppings of the farm stock mixed with the 
 straw or litter which is u ed for their "bedding. This 
 straw forms, therefore, an impoFfaiit part of farm- yard 
 manure. I have had occa lion to refer rather frequently 
 to the disputed or vexed [uesti6ns4n\agriculture; and 
 when I say that the modefcf treatment of our farm-yard 
 manure is another of th^e vexed questions, the reader 
 will begin to think that Igricidture must 'Be in a very 
 unsettled state, since eviry thing connected', with it is 
 liable to be disputed. And it reaUy is tEe' case that the 
 diversities of farm prac< ce is one of ' the*' most remark- 
 able things connected w th ^h.6 art": "nor need this be 
 wondered at, when we t .ink of the wide variety of soils 
 and climates with whicl the farmer has to 'do, and the 
 ever- varying peculiariti s of the plants 'he has to raise, 
 or the stock he has to'lea:Sl..and to maintain. But to 
 return: I have said thai the best mode of 'treating our 
 farm- yard manure |^is anything ' but decided A great 
 deal has been written! and infinitely 'morB has been 
 said, on the importancl of keeping dung coifed, so as 
 to prevent its being washed by the" fains or its am- 
 m.onia evaporating intl the air. Doubtless Me weight 
 of evidence is in favqur of the covered, diing-pit or 
 
 • Strictly speaking, therslis an important distinction between arti- 
 ficial and special. An artififial manure may not be a special one. 
 
COVERED DUNG -PIT AND LIQUID MANURE-TANK. 211 
 
 stand, and numbers of practical farmers are beginning 
 to hold this opinion ; yet, neveiliheless, it is worthy of note 
 that but a short time ago a ccmclave of the best farmers 
 of the day decided against the covered dung-pit. Again, 
 the question of which is best lo apply to the crop, long 
 or fresh dung, or short or r(|}ten dung, is fiercely dis- 
 cussed, and is by no means^, in a fair way of being 
 settled. A covered dung-pit is one which is walled in, 
 and is provided with a roof, Ijut with the sides open. 
 The foUowing is the mode of t|eating the dung in a pit 
 of this kind, as described by |n intelligent correspon- 
 dent in the pages of the Agricultural Gazette : — 
 " The droppings and soiled litler of stall-fed cattle, and 
 the same from the work-horse f stable, are daily thrown 
 into a walled and covered pit, care being taken that 
 they are intermixed. A dozai feeding-pigs are kept in 
 the pit ; any loose litter tlmt may be found lying 
 about, together with road-scrlpings and odds and ends 
 of animal and vegetable refu^, are thrown in ; the pigs 
 mix and incorporate the while well together. From 
 time to time, the liquid from Jhe manure-tank is pumped 
 in ; and thus we have generally a deposit of a considerable 
 quantity of well-made manipe at hand to supplement 
 tW<iung-heaps when they ^e exhausted."_/^.^y5£^,^^ 
 /^A valuable adjunct to the manure department is the 
 Qiquid manure-tank. One should always be appended , 
 to the cow-house, a drain leading from this to the tank. 
 Although experience has shown that liquid manure is 
 most beneficial in light, sandy soils — remarkable evi- 
 dence of this is found in the sandy plains of Belgium — 
 and is not so useful, if so at all, in heavy soils, still, on 
 the great majority of amateur farms, a liquid manure- 
 tank should invariably be constructed. It is worthy of 
 note, that the urine from the cow-house, if left in its 
 original condition in the tank, soon loses its ammonia ; ^ 
 but if the urine is diluted with water, the ammonia is 
 retained. This mixing should be made to the extent of 
 half the bulk of the urine, and should be made immedi- 
 ately on collection. But as the supply is not made all 
 at once, but from day to day, the water should be sup- ' 
 
212 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 plied at intervals ; the best way to do it is to wash 
 down, the gutters in the cow-house with water, and let 
 the whole run into the tank. The diluted liquid manure 
 is an excellent thing to water the drills of the mangold- 
 wurzel in dry weather, after sowing the ^ed. As this 
 seed is very hard, and takes so^a* time w) germinate, this 
 watering is of great assistance. J Q^jy\ If^tS^^ ^ 
 
 The manure of an amateufiarm shoiud be supple- 
 mented from every conceivable quarter. " Waste not, 
 want not," is, or ought/ to be, the motto in this 
 department. I place great value upon coal-ashes. I 
 have an apartment in myj steading to which the ashes 
 from the house and furnace fires are taken every 
 morning. They are theie carefully sieved — the cin- 
 ders are famous for bacaing up a fire, or for burn- 
 ing in the furnace fort cooking the food — and the 
 ashes are carefully storedjup. I know of nothing saved 
 in a house possessing so wide a utility as the coal- 
 ashes. All the varietief of turnips love ashes as a 
 manure ; and mixed witlji nitrate of soda or guano or 
 salt, they make a goodi top-dressing for grain, root 
 crops, or for grasses. Soot also is a valuable manure, 
 and this I buy at a modterate rate, and store up care- 
 fully. Salt I use largelyfor cabbages, mangold- wurzels, 
 and for grass lands ; it forms a valuable part of the 
 artificial manures I mak i for some of my experimental 
 plots. 
 
 I set also great store By the house sewage, or rather, 
 the contents of the privies. This is a highly valuable 
 manure, and much of the unpleasantness connected with 
 it can be obviated, and Its value ^«ased rather than 
 diminished, by treatin^it after the method introduced 
 by the Eev. Mr. Mod ?. This I consider one of the 
 best methods of utiHsi ttg what, unmixed, is in every 
 way a nuisance; and having adopted it on a rather 
 large scale, and with i larked success, I can confidently 
 recommend its adopt on/, The Rev. Mr. Moule de- 
 scribes the method of ;reatment in <p, pamphlet entitled 
 " National Health and Wealth."* 
 
 • Bradbmy and Evans, London. 
 
TURNIP-MANURE — HOME-MADE. 213 
 
 A point worthy of notice in connection with this 
 mode of treating excretce is the capacity of repeated ac- 
 tion which the dried earth possesses. So marked is this, 
 that separate masses of night-soil can be mixed with the 
 earth after even short intervals, and each separate mass 
 is, when mixed, thoroughly deodorized. 
 
 Professor Skilling, of Queen's College, Belfast, has 
 introduced a new manure, which he calls a stimulating 
 manure, used principally for the turnip crops ; as this 
 is capable of being made on every farm, and uses up all 
 the house dihris of whatever kind, I think it will serve 
 some useful end if I give here the Professor's own de- 
 scription of it : — 
 
 " We have a pit by itself, independent of the general 
 farm- yard pit, for its reception ; this pit communicates 
 with, and receives any excess liquid that may escape 
 from, the large pit ; also, with the scullery, kitchen, 
 water-closets, &c., &c., receiving everything in the 
 form of manure that is valuable and useful ; into this 
 also is poured, as Well as the necessaries connected with 
 it, all ashes from the fires, in many cases from consump- 
 tion of materials, turf on farm, or in the bogs, all drip- 
 pings of the houses and yards. It may be mentioned 
 here that all kinds of ashes are perfectly grateful to the 
 turnip. 
 
 "We sometimes add dry peat- mould as the best 
 deodorizer; we use this in poultry -houses, pig-yards, 
 &c., and when fully saturated, add to our heap; all 
 green weeds from farm and garden, before seeding, are 
 likewise added; and in fact, every vegetable and 
 animal substance that will decompose in time, as the 
 greater the number and variety of substances the better 
 the manure. Occasionally, also, we purchase some 
 town manure from private and cottar houses ; this is 
 an excellent addition ; all this we collect up to the fol- 
 lowing spring, when decomposition has made great pro- 
 gress, and the heap is one dark rich mass. As soon as 
 dry weather sets in during February or March, we have 
 the pit cleared out, the contents spread in a yard with 
 hard dry bottom, and if the weather be favourable, with 
 
214 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 frequent turning, it will be dry enough and ready for 
 riddling or screening in two days or so. This we have 
 carefully done, returning the coarse riddlings to the 
 general dung-heap, and carefully storing the fine 
 stimulating manure in sheds or houses for the purpose, 
 to keep it from wet, and allowing it to remain there 
 until required for use." 
 
 Of special and artificial manures the amateur will be 
 well supplied if he has Peruvian guano, nitrate of soda, 
 and superphosphate; and in connection with these I 
 have made some remarks at the conclusion of the chap- 
 ter on the subject of Manures for Meadow-land. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 PEINCIPIBS OP CATTLE PEEDINO. 
 
 While showing an intelligent man — one who wishes 
 always to know the " reason why " — over the buildings 
 of my little farm (I could scarcely dignify them with 
 the title oi farm-steading), I took him into the apartment 
 then used as a store for the various foods for my stock. 
 Of the bags and bins containing these, there was rather 
 a formidable array : one bag held bran, another rice- 
 meal, a third Indian-corn, a fourth beans, another oats, 
 a sixth Jjarley, while a large heap of oil-cake lay in a 
 corner. This variety of materials seemed to puzzle 
 my friend somewhat, who said to me that it looked very 
 like making a great business of a simple matter ; for 
 old Brown — my friend's agricultural oracle — ^used no- 
 thing but turnips and straw, with a handful of hay now 
 and then as an extra treat. " As for oU-cake," quoting 
 here old Brown, " and all them new-fangled things he 
 knowed nowt about 'em, nor cared nowt about 'em for 
 the matter 'o that eyther." Merely remarking that the 
 notions " o' owd Brown " were none of mine, or of the 
 authorities to whom I pinned my agricultural faith, we 
 passed through the " shippen " or " byre," in which 
 my cows were quietly ruminating after their afternoon 
 meal. The afternopn was fine, but very cold withal ; 
 notwithstanding which my friend wondered why the 
 poor animals were not out in the field enjoying the air, 
 instead of "sweating" — so he neatly expressed it — there 
 in that " nasty, stinking place." Now, if there was one 
 thing my man prided himself on, it was the nice, orderly, 
 clean condition in which the shippen was kept ; and so 
 far as stench was concerned, I smelt none, the only odour 
 
216 
 
 SMALL FAEMING. 
 
 was the sweet healthy one which cows exhale ; but I 
 did not point out these facts, simply stating that in this 
 cold weather I could not afford to let my cows out, it 
 wouldn't pay. " I dare say," I continued, " that your 
 friend old Brown would think I was doing anything 
 but a paying thing ; but if he is content to starve his 
 cows, I see no reason why I should do the same with 
 mine." Saying this we passed into the machine-room, 
 where William was busy cutting hay and oat-straw, 
 which formed part of a food, some of which, just newly 
 prepared, sent forth a temptingly odorous smell, and 
 the nature of which my friend was eager to know. 
 Explaining to him briefly its composition, and the office 
 which each ingredient was destined to perform in the 
 animal economy, his look betrayed his disbelief in its 
 supposed virtues, and told me as plainly as look could 
 do, that " owd Brown," and what he would think of 
 this new-fashioned crotchet of mine, was uppermost in 
 Lis mind. 
 
 After an examination of my poultry and pigs, and 
 brieiiy hinting at some fearfully heretical notions as to 
 their management, we went into the snug shelter of 
 my study, and taking sundry books from its shelves, I 
 laid them on the table for the inspection of my friend. 
 I meant to let him see what properly constituted agri- 
 cultural authorities thought and wrote about cattle and 
 cattle-feeding, that he might gather, if possible, some 
 faint notion of " owd Brown's " position in the matter. 
 Leaving him to this task, I for a while plunged into 
 the sea of agricultural papers, picking out from its 
 mj^sterious depths all sorts of odd bits and scraps as to 
 prices, facts, &c. — it is odd how soon one takes an 
 interest in the price of stock and so forth, when engaged 
 in farming, even on the smallest scale — till seeing that 
 my friend speedily laid down one book after the other, 
 as in hopeless despair of getting any knowledge there- 
 from, I volunteered to explain to him, to the best of 
 my ability, viva voce, the art and mystery of cattle- 
 feeding on scientific principles.- In thanking me for 
 the offer, he said that what he had picked up did show 
 
SOME NOTIONS ABOUT CATTLE FEEDING. 217 
 
 him a deal of matter about nitrogenous and non-nitro- 
 genous, flesh-forming and heat-producing principles, 
 and so forth, but that he could not help admiring the 
 simplicity in operation of the old-fashioned methods 
 of feeding ; it " was more natural-like at all events." 
 " At first it does appear so," I repKed, "but, in reality, 
 the correct is the easiest and quickest way to do a thing, 
 however complex to the uninitiated it may at first sight 
 appear. I am well aware," I continued, "that the 
 old-fashioned farmers throughout the country think 
 scientific men awfully crotchety, and sneer at them, 
 perpetually parading tiieir stock sentence, ' There's nowt 
 like practice,' as if men of science denied its value, or as 
 if, indeed, correct practice did not simply illustrate and 
 foreshadow the truths of theory. Thus the generation 
 of ' owd Browns,' not by any means extinct, nor likely, 
 as it seems, just yet, have shaken, not seldom, their 
 rotund sides with laughter at some of the ' crotchets ' of 
 men of science respecting the treatment of meadows, and 
 the best way of securing good crops of hay ; and have 
 prophesied hard things, and have used hard names in 
 connection with them. And really while the crotchety 
 men have had — as has more than once happened in 
 my confined experience — plenty of fodder, and the 
 ' laughers ' little or none, comparatively, I have felt a 
 kind of pity for them, for they knew then very well 
 who was best entitled to laugh after all, and which of 
 the two, they or the crotchety men, were on ' the right 
 side of the hedge.' Just so with all the ' new-fangled 
 notions' — another expression very much in use with 
 the ' owd Brown ' species — about cattle-feeding, which 
 have been so well illustrated in the practice of experi- 
 enced breeders and feeders of late years. Such * new- 
 fangled notions ' appear, I confess, to be very expen- 
 sive afiairs, but what if the result is — as, indeed, in 
 nine cases out of ten is the case where parties carry 
 them into pl:actice — that they make money, whereas 
 they who laugh at, and pass them by as worthless, lose 
 it with their stock ; the tables are turned with a ven- 
 geance, and I know very well what, in their heart of 
 
218 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 hearts, the ' owd Browns ' think of the ' turning ; ' for 
 to do them justice, they know the difference between 
 a good and a bad balance at the end of the season. 
 And it is just indeed in view of this 'cuteness that men 
 of science have hope that their improved practice, based 
 upon correct theory, will ultimately be taken up and 
 acted on by not a few of the ' owd Browns ' before the 
 present generation is quite out. In spite of the sneers 
 of outsiders it is nevertheless a fact that there is a 
 pretty fair aptitude among farmers of the present day 
 to adqpt new practices. At least, their promoters have 
 often chances of obtaining a hearing, a thing not always 
 so in times gone by." 
 
 Then I proceeded to explain the principles of cattle- 
 feeding, thus:j 
 
 Farm-food, of whatever kind, consists of two parts — 
 an " organic " and an " inorganic." The latter is the 
 portion which is obtained by burning or consuming the 
 food, and constitutes what is called the ash. The ash, 
 or inorganic portion of food, is made u-p, first, of in- 
 soluble earthy matters, consisting chiefly of phosphate 
 of lime with magnesia, and is useful in adding to the 
 bony structure of the animal : hence it is called some- 
 times " bone-formers ; " second, soluble saline sub- 
 stances, as the chlorides of potassium and sodium ; the 
 sulphates and phosphates of potash soda ; the office of 
 these is to supply the blood and the animal juices with 
 their various mineral constituents. The "ash," or 
 " mineral matter " of food — ^for by this latter name 
 also is the inorganic portion designated — plays a com- 
 paratively unimportant part in the constitution of 
 cattle food ; for nearly all its varieties contain sufficient 
 mineral matter to supply the wants of the animal so. far 
 as its bones and juices are concerned ; it is, therefore, 
 to the organic portion of food to which the attention 
 of chemists have been directed. 
 
 The organic portion of food is composed of a pretty 
 wide variety of substances — as albumen, gluten, caseine, 
 starch, gum, sugar, oil, and fibrin or fibre. These 
 organic constituents of food, according to Liebig — the 
 
FLESH-rOEMlKG CONSTITUENTS IN CATTLE FOODS. 219 
 
 discoverer, or at least the first expounder of the chemical 
 theory of nutrition — are divisible into two great classes 
 — the " nitrogenous " or albuminous group, and the 
 " non-nitrogenous " or carboniferous group. The nitro- 
 genous group is composed of vegetable albumen, vege- 
 table caseine or lignum, and vegetable fibrin, which in 
 wheat is called gluten. All these are marked by the 
 presence of the four elements, carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, 
 and nitrogen ; hence the name nitrogenous compounds 
 of food by which they are sometimes known. The use 
 of the nitrogenised compounds of food is to build up, 
 so to speak, the body of the animal partaking of them, 
 by adding to its flesh, and repairing the waste of the 
 tissues which is perpetually taking place. From per- 
 forming this oflice they are generally described as 
 " flesh-formers." And as, moreover, the eminent 
 chemist Mulder considered the albuminous constituents 
 of food to be compounds of protein, they are also some- 
 times designated "protein compounds of food." The 
 names, then, " nitrogenous," " albuminous," flesh- 
 formers, and " protein" compounds, are all synonymous, 
 and may be, and are often indiscriminately used. I 
 shall henceforth use the term " flesh-former." 
 
 The flesh-forming parts of food are named fibrin, 
 albumen, and caseine or legumin ; they contain the 
 four elements, hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, 
 in precisely the same proportions. These elements 
 must be present in aE food before it is capable of build- 
 ing up the body, supplying flesh, and restoring the 
 wasted tissues. Flesh-formers are obtained alike in 
 vegetable and in animal food. Fibrin, for instance, 
 may be obtained from fresh-drawn blood, or from the 
 juice of a cauliflower ; albumen from an egg, flour, or 
 the juice of cabbage; or caseine from peas, beans, 
 and milk. "The growth and support," says Dr. 
 Lankester, " of an animal is now easily explained ; 
 when a flesh-eater, like the tiger, lives on the flesh of 
 another animal, it eats, from a chemical point of view, 
 the substance of its own body, and requires only to give 
 it a new place and form. When a child receives its 
 
220 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 mother's milk, it, does the same thing, eating, in fact, 
 its mother, and giving her flesh a new place and form 
 in its own body. The nutriment of vegetable eaters is 
 precisely the same ; they find in vegetable fibrin, albu- 
 men, and caseine the substance of their flesh and blood 
 actually formed, and have only to give it a place and 
 position within their bodies. Vegetables are the true 
 makers of flesh ; animals only arrange the flesh which 
 they find ready formed in vegetables. The nutritive 
 value of food depends upon its richness in flesh- forming 
 matter. An adult man, in vigour, wastes five ounces 
 of dry flesh daily, and requires the same amount of 
 flesh-formers in his food. 
 
 The non-nitrogenous, or second group of substances 
 in food, contain three elements — carbon, oxygen, and 
 hydrogen ; but nitrogen, the fourth, is entirely absent. 
 They are represented by starch, sugar, gum, pectin, fat, 
 and woody fibre. The use of the non-nitrogenous group 
 is to support the animal heat, and promote respiration; 
 hence the substances composing it are called "heat- 
 givers," "respiratory," or " carboniferous " compounds. 
 When there is a preponderance of the " heat-givers " 
 in food, more than is sufiicient to maintain the proper 
 temperature of the body, they are assimilated and pro- 
 duce a store of fat. But as the claim of the body to be 
 kept warm must first be met, before fat can be formed, 
 the importance of keeping up the warmth of the animal 
 we are feeding and fattening, by shelter and other means, 
 is insisted upon ; for the warmer the body, the greater 
 surplus of food will be left to go to the formation of fat. 
 Heat, then, is said to be equivalent in some measure to 
 food, so that there is good reason why cattle should not 
 be left shivering in the frosty air on wintry days. 
 
 Heat is thus said to be, to a certain extent, food, the 
 animal we fatten being compared to a furnace in which 
 we consume our fuel. " The food," to quote the words 
 of Dr. Playfair, " is the fuel, the excrements are the 
 ashes, and the gases expired from the mouth are of the 
 same composition as those which fly up the chimney of 
 a furnace." 
 
NON-KITKOGENOUS CONSTITUENTS OF CATTLE TOOD. 221 
 
 " Thus, non-nitrogenous substances are, in fact," says 
 Dr. Lankester, " the /2(e/ which keeps up animal heat. 
 The body of a man has a temperature of 98° Fahr. This 
 warmth results from the burning of those substances 
 which produce as much heat in the body as they would 
 if burned in an open fire out of the body. A man. 
 inhales about 3,000 gallons of air in twenty-four hours, 
 in order to burn the daily amouiit of food-fuel, con- 
 taining about ten ounces of carbon or charcoal. The 
 products of combustion pass out by the mouth, just as 
 they would fly up the chimney of an open fire were 
 the charcoal burned in it. Less food-fuel is required in 
 hot weather than in cold, and less in hot climates than 
 in cold ones. Tropical foods contain about 20 to 30 
 parts in the 100 of charcoal ; Arctic blubber and fats 
 from 80 to 90. The intense cold of the polar regions 
 compels the inhabitants to devour large quantities of 
 food -fuel to keep up the heat of the body to 98°. Arctic 
 travellers state that 20 lbs. of blubber is not an un- 
 common meal for one person." 
 
 The oily or fatty substances of food are found, like the 
 nitrogenous substances of food in plants, " in the same or 
 nearly the same state of combination as those in which it 
 ultimately comes to be stored up " in the animal system. 
 
 " The plant elaborates from water and carbonic acid," 
 says Dr. Anderson, " a variety of fatty bodies, from the 
 solid, butter-like palm-oil to the perfectly fluid product 
 obtained from the olive or linseed ; and these are com- 
 pletely identical with the fatty and oily substances ob- 
 tained from the difierent parts of the animal body. 
 They are all compounds of carbon, hydrogen, and 
 oxygen, the former element preponderating, and form- 
 ing about three-fourths of the whole. Though similar in 
 composition, they are not absolutely identical, although 
 the differences are not so large as to be of much import- 
 ance, at least in relation to their nutritive properties. 
 
 " Matters are very different, however, with the sac- 
 charine or starchy compounds, for these constitute a 
 group altogether peculiar to plants, and are either 
 entirely wanting in animals or present in quite infini- 
 
222 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 tesimal quantity, and, so far as we at present know, 
 only in some of the secretory organs, and that under 
 particular circumstances ; at all events, they are never 
 met with in sufficient quantity to be of any importance. 
 All the members of this group are identical in compo- 
 sition — starch and sugar, which are the most important 
 of them, being, moreover, convertible substances, many 
 processes being known by which the one may be trans- 
 formed into the other." 
 
 The starch or sugar substances of food are not so 
 valuable as heat-givers to the animal frame as the oily 
 substances. If we represent the heat-giving value of 
 these starch or sugar substances as 1, the value of the 
 oily substances will be represented by 2^. Fat, how- 
 ever, in that wonderful alembic, the aninial system, is 
 capable of beiag formed from'the starch and sugar sub- 
 stances of food. This is proved by the fact that animals 
 become fat although fed upon food containing no fatty 
 substances. The heat-producing and fat-producing sub- 
 stances of food may therefore, in one sense, be identical ; 
 so that if the heat-givers in any food are in' greater 
 abundance than is necessary to maintain the required 
 temperature of the body of the animal partaking of it, 
 the heat-givers thus in superabundance are not got rid 
 of, but are retained in the system, and stored up as fat. 
 The less, then, we draw upon any food for heat, the 
 more have we left for fatteniag purposes. 
 
 The food-theory owes its origin to the services of the 
 great foreign chemist, Liebig, and is generally received 
 as correct throughout Europe. According to it, as 
 strictly viewed, the nutritive value of a food is estimated 
 by the quantity of nitrogenous matter it contains. This, 
 also, was long held ; but recently the English supporters 
 of Liebig's general theory have seen the importance of 
 the non-nitrogenous substances of food, and therefore 
 hold it essential that, to constitute a valuable food, it 
 must be a combination of the flesh-formers and heat- 
 givers. On this point Professor Voelcker has the fol- 
 lowing : " I am aware it was the fasTiion, not many 
 
 years ago, to measure the feeding properties, and even 
 the fattening qualities, of articles of food by the amount . 
 
NDTRITIVE PROPERTIES OF FOOD. 
 
 223 
 
 of nitrogenous or flesh- forming matter ; but these views 
 are not supported by any practical experiments, nor, 
 indeed, j)j the every-day experience that we have re- 
 specting not only human but cattle food. We pay more 
 for food rich in nitrogenous matter, but which does not 
 produce so much butcher's meat. It is a matter of 
 much importance to the farmer to know how much he 
 gets back for the money he expends in the purchase of 
 food. I have no hesitation in saying that more money 
 is made by the purchase of food which contains an 
 excess of nitrogenous matter." 
 
 Nutritive Properties of Food. — Chemists have, 
 with patient research, investigated and analyzed the 
 various kinds of food used for cattle-feeding. Did time 
 permit, I could give the results of such investigation ; 
 but, interesting and valuable as these would be, I con- 
 tent myself merely by giving here a table, showing the 
 proportion, in 100 parts of feeding materials, of water, 
 starch, and oil or fat. For the data of this table I am 
 indebted to the " Guide to the Food Collection of the 
 Kensington Museum," by Dr. Lankester : — 
 
 MATEEIALS. 
 
 Water. 
 
 Heat-givers. 
 
 Flksh- 
 
 PORUKKS. 
 
 Siiirch. 
 
 Oil or Fat. 
 
 Rice ; 
 
 13 
 75 
 13t 
 14* 
 14 
 14t 
 14 
 14 
 .14t 
 13 
 14 
 8C 
 87 
 79 
 85 
 92 
 
 74 
 15 
 39 
 59 
 36 
 48 
 37 
 50 
 60 
 51 
 35 
 
 ir 
 
 10 
 
 17 
 
 12 
 
 4 
 
 0-7 
 0-2 
 5-7t 
 l-2t 
 . 2-0 
 0-3t 
 2-0 
 10 
 7-7t 
 1-0 
 2-0 
 
 17'0 
 ■ 14'6 
 240 
 13'0 
 23-4 
 8'6- 
 12-0 
 13-8 
 26-6 
 
 
 Oats 
 
 Wheat 
 
 
 Barley 
 
 Peas 
 
 Buckwheat 
 
 Maize 
 
 Eye 
 
 Lentils 
 
 Carrots 
 
 
 Parsnips 
 
 Mangold- wurzel .... 
 , Cabbage . . .- 
 
 
 * Flour. 
 
 1 
 
 ■ Flour 
 
 or meal. 
 
 
224 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 In the following table Professor Tanner gives {Jour- 
 nal of Bath and West of England Society) the com- 
 position and respective feeding values of the different 
 classes of food : — 
 
 It is necessary to explain that the column marked 
 " As proved " means, that hy the consumption of 5 or 
 6 lbs. of linseed, as much flesh will be produced as by 
 the consumption of 150 lbs. of mangolds; 6 lbs. of 
 barley as 7 lbs. of oats, or 12 lbs. of clover or hay. 
 
 MATEEIALS. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 Fbediso Value. 
 
 Non- 
 
 nitrogen- 
 
 ised 
 
 matter 
 per cent. 
 
 Nitrog- 
 
 enised 
 
 ' matter 
 
 per cent. 
 
 Water 
 per cent. 
 
 As proved. 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 
 56-0 
 55-0 
 48-5 
 50-0 
 13-52 
 
 31-76 
 
 U-3 
 
 30-4 
 
 40-0 
 8-474 
 8-19 
 
 10-0 
 
 13-0 
 13-6 
 23-3 
 23-3 
 28-56 
 
 25-93 
 33-7 
 42-9 
 9-3 
 1-44 
 1-81 
 1-5 
 
 14-83 
 12-8 
 14-8 
 14-1 
 8-6 
 
 11-3 
 
 6-8 
 
 7-9 
 14-9 
 89-0 
 86-0 
 85-0 
 
 lbs. 
 
 6 to 1 
 
 7 tol 
 
 8 to 1 
 8 to 1 
 
 5 or 6 to 1 
 
 4|to 1 
 
 6 to 1 
 
 6 tol 
 
 12 to 1 
 
 150 to 1 
 
 150 to 1 
 
 160 to 1 
 
 16-7 
 14-3 
 12-5 
 12-5 
 16-7 
 
 22-2 
 16-7 
 16-7 
 8-3 
 ■ 0-66 
 0-66 
 0-66 
 
 Oats 
 
 Beans 
 
 Peas 
 
 Linseed-cake .... 
 
 Linseed-cake and 
 
 Peas, equal parts 
 
 Bape-cake 
 
 Cotton-cake .... 
 
 ClOTer-hay 
 
 Swedes 
 
 Mangolds 
 
 
 " From what you have stated," remarked my friend, 
 after I had finished the foregoing long explanation, "it 
 appears that the true science of feeding is not so difficult 
 to be understood ; but it seems to me that it will be dif- 
 ferent in practice. I confess the theory is wonderfully 
 ingenious ; but will it not be a difficult matter to get 
 all animals, with their different tastes and habits, to con- 
 form to one particular kind of food, however nutritious 
 the analysis of the chemist shows it to be ? Has the 
 chemist ever taken into consideration the suggestive- 
 ness of the old proverb, ' What is one man's meat is 
 another man's poistJn ' ? " 
 
PHYSIOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY OF FOOD. 225 
 
 " You have shrewdly hit," I rejoined, " upon a point 
 to which, in fact, I was about to advert when jrou 
 spoke. I have already called the animal body which 
 we have to nourish and fatten a ' machine.' Chemists 
 have so called it, and have, with one or two notable 
 exceptions, which I shall refer to shortly, to a great 
 extent treated the matter as if it was this and nothing 
 more. And the chemists have had for a long time pretty 
 much their own way with the question ; but the phy- 
 siologist has lately stepped in, and while agreeing with 
 the chemist that the animal is, in one sense, a machine, 
 he claims consideration for the fact that it is some- 
 thing more — that it is an ' organism.' And while freely 
 admitting the fact that it is important to know the 
 nature of the substances of which food consists, it is 
 equally important, nay, more so, to know the nature of 
 the elementary process hj which these substances are 
 assimilated by the organism which they are designed 
 to nourish. The various points at issue between the 
 physiologists and the chemists are too numerous to be 
 here gone into ; I can only recommend you to consult 
 the book in which the whole subject is most popularly 
 as well as scientifically treated, namely, the ' Physiology 
 of Common Life,' by Gr. H. Lewes, published by Messrs. 
 Blackwood, only here requesting your attention while 
 I read the following suggestive passage from this 
 ■work: — 
 
 " ' Only gross ignorance of physiology — an igno- 
 rance, unhappily, too widely spread — can argue that, 
 because a certain article is wholesome to many, it must 
 necessarily be wholesome to all. Each individual organ- 
 ism is specifically different from every other. However 
 much it may resemble others, it necessarily in some 
 points differs from them, and the amount of these 
 differences is often considerable. If the same wave of 
 air, striking upon the tympanum of two different men, 
 will produce sounds to the one which to the other are 
 inappreciable ; if the same wave of light will affect the 
 vision of one man as that of red colour, while to the 
 vision of another it is no colour at all, how unreasonable 
 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 SMALL FAEMIXG. 
 
 it is to expect that the same substance will bear pre- 
 cisely the same relation to the alimentary system of 
 one man as to that of another ! Experience tells us 
 that it is not so.' After citing a number of facts with 
 which I need not now trouble you, proving that diflferent 
 classes of the same species of animals live on different 
 food, and that strong vegetable poisons are food to 
 many animals, Mr. Lewes proceeds thus : ' We have 
 brought these facts forward for the sake of giving dis- 
 tinct relief to the importance which must inevitably 
 belong to physiological considerations in every question 
 of food, and to indicate the necessity of fixing our 
 attention on the organism to be nourished, rather than 
 on the chemical composition of the substances which 
 nourish it. When we are building a bridge, or making 
 a machine, we can accurately guide ourselves by esti- 
 mates of the strength of the wood and iron, because 
 these substances do not lose their properties under new 
 arrangements ; but in building the mysterious fabric of 
 the body, we have little or no guidance from our esti- 
 mates of the properties of substances out of the body, 
 because the body itself is an important factor in the 
 sum, acting on the substances, as well as being acted 
 upon by them, annulling or exalting their ordinary 
 properties in a way quite peculiar to itself.' " On con- 
 cluding the reading of this sentence, I expressed my 
 fear that I had by this time fairly exhausted his 
 patience, but that as he had started the point, I was 
 anxious to show him how far his shrewd guess was 
 correct, and how it certainly appears that the physiolo- 
 gists must have something hereafter to say in making 
 clear the doubts which still hang about a subject the 
 elucidation and examination of which has as yet been 
 mainly left in the hands of the chemists. But it will 
 not do to keep out of sight the immense benefits which 
 chemistry has bestowed upon agriculture by its re- 
 searches into the nature and composition of food. Nor 
 have many of the physiological points of the question 
 been overlooked by some of our chemists, as witness 
 Dr. Voelcker, one of our ablest expounders and most 
 
THEOKETTCAL VALUE OF FOOD. 227 
 
 patient of investigators of all matters relating to agri- 
 cultural chemistry. 
 
 Many chemists, however, still, to a great extent, 
 maintain the importance of attending to the analysis 
 of a food as the only trustworthy index to its econo- 
 mical value. Physiologists on the contrary, not only 
 maintain that chemical analysis cannot and does not 
 alone give this index, but further — and this opens up 
 many considerations of extreme interest — that the 
 theory of food, so generally received, is in itself wrong, 
 and that its acceptance leads to errors of the gravest 
 importance. The issue being thus as between chemists 
 and physiologists on so important a point as the " food 
 question," it behoves all interested in the progress of a 
 most important branch of practical agriculture to know 
 the case as put by both sides, and, while hearing the 
 evidence brought forward, to examine and see whether 
 these things be so or not. 
 
 It will be suggestive, therefore, to take into conside- 
 ration here some of the circtimstances of practice which 
 modify the value of feeding materials. That chemistry 
 has rendered valuable service to the practical feeder 
 there is little doubt ; but at the same time it must, I 
 think, be admitted that some danger arises from taking 
 as guides, safe under all circumstances of soil, locality, 
 and animal peculiarities, the results of those analyses 
 of foods, and classification of the effects which their 
 constituents are presumed to produce, which have of 
 late years been so widely circulated. An analysis of 
 any product of the farm may be given, and certain 
 feeding effects predicated from its use ; but it by no 
 means follows that this analysis will represent correctly 
 the feeding value of the same kind of product grown 
 in a locality where the soil or climate may be of a very 
 different character. The chances are all in the oppo- 
 site direction, and the probability is that the material, 
 though the same in name and variety, may be of high 
 feeding value in one, and low in another locality. True, 
 this difference is not to be put to the discredit of the 
 chemist, who may have made the first analysis ; it 
 
228 
 
 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 arises rather from the roistaken notion of the feeder, 
 who takes it for granted that the analysis of any- 
 material grown in one place will represent precisely 
 the value of the same material grown in another. For 
 instance, the nutritive value of oats grown in Scotland 
 is higher than when they are grown in England, the 
 case being the reverse as regards barley. The highest 
 authority on such matters states that this fact has 
 been well established by several analyses. Again, 
 Mr. Huston has shown that, while mangolds grew 
 luxuriantly in his soil, they possessed no very high 
 nutritive value, while turnips are not worth the 
 growing, as regards feeding value. How misled un- 
 der such circumstances one would be if he took 
 for a guide in practice the analyses of the same 
 feeding materials grown ia another locality as given 
 by some chemist. But we do not require" to take, by 
 way of example, the products of localities separated by 
 wide intervals of country ; for the practical man has 
 often abundant evidence of the different feeding value 
 possessed by produce grown, not only on two contiguous 
 farms, but even on different parts of his own farm. 
 The value of the produce must be, and is, influenced by 
 the modes of treatment as well as the nature of the 
 soil. It would open up, for instance, a very interesting 
 inquiry, if we could institute rigid experiments as to 
 the feeding value of produce grown on precisely the 
 same soil, but under different treatment, application of 
 manure, &c., &c. Produce grown on a poor, exhausted 
 soil cannot possess the same qualities, be they good or 
 bad, as that grown on carefully-prepared and highly- 
 manured soil. The season, too-^the, absence of rain or 
 the superabundance of it^ — will also influence, in a more 
 or less marked degree, the qualities of produce ; and 
 even the period at which it may be harvested will have 
 its influence too. The period for which produce is kept 
 before being used also exercises an influence on its 
 feeding value. This we know, that mangolds are much 
 more nutritious, or at all events more wholesome — and, 
 in the feeding sense, the two terms may be used syno- 
 
THE VALUE OF CATTLE FOOD. 229 
 
 nymously — ^when' given to stock in December or the 
 spring, than when taken newly up. Weeds, too, exer- 
 cise a baneful influence on the quality of produce ; and 
 often a mysterious, at least unknown, peculiarity of 
 soil or herbage will make the one side of a valley a 
 very Golgotha for sheep, while the other side may be a 
 Paradise. The different effect of the same food on 
 different animals is a point also worthy of considera; 
 tion ; but to this I shall refer in process of time, and 
 fully, as its importance indeed deserves. 
 
 Chemists themselves have directed special attention 
 to the danger of supposing, as many do suppose, that 
 chemical analysis alone determines the value of a feeding 
 material. On this point Dr. Voelcker has some remarks 
 pregnant with meaning. " We are too much in the habit 
 of speaking of cake," he remarks, " turnips, mangold, 
 or hay, as if these complex mixtures of substances were 
 simple chemical combinations ; whereas the differences 
 in two samples of the same produce are often very 
 great. Any one who has tried practically the nutritive 
 effect of good and badly made hay, or of turnips grown 
 on good turnip land and on peaty land, knows well 
 that there is a vast difference between hay and hay, 
 or a turnip and a turnip. In speaking of the nutritive 
 value of any article of food, too precise a language is 
 out of place ; and it is simply absurd to draw nice 
 general conclusions from small differences which the 
 analysis of different feeding materials may have yielded. 
 Unless the differences are strongly marked and con- 
 stantly observed in a great number of cases, it is unsafe 
 and irrational to attach a precise nutritive value to 
 different articles of food, especially if the opinion is 
 founded solely on analytical data, and not corroborated 
 by actual experimental trial." 
 
 The nutritive or feeding value of a food is greatly 
 influenced by certain conditions frequently connected 
 with it. Thus, as Dr. Voelcker points out, the prejudicial 
 substances which it may contain, the mechanical effect 
 which it exercises, the physical condition of the food, 
 the flavour which it imparts to the flesh or milk, are 
 
230 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 all circumstances influencing the value of a food. Thus, 
 rape or oil-cake may contain a large percentage of 
 m.ustard, and the sweepings of food stores may have 
 bad material mixed up with them. In that case, the 
 food is not only in nutritious, but absolutely hurtful. 
 Again, bran, for instance, although in reality, so far as 
 chemical analysis shows, more nutritious than the 
 whole grain, exercises such a mechanical effect in 
 passing through the system, that it not only induces 
 relaxing effects, but passes through, to a certain extent, 
 undigested altogether. The effects of musty or a bad 
 condition of food — as hay — are too well known to be 
 much dwelt upon here. 
 
 The observations I have here made may be taken as 
 a few suggestive notes on a subject, the importance of 
 which is sometimes overlooked ; but there are other 
 points which are full of interest, and which exercise no 
 small influence in modifying the feeding value of farm 
 produce. The consideration of these points brings us 
 more closely in connection' with the science of physio- 
 logy than with that of chemistry. And on this point, 
 connected with what may be called the peculiarities of 
 inner life, I may state at the outset that comparatively 
 little is known which may be taken as correct and trust- 
 worthy. As yet, conjecture is nearly all that we can 
 indulge in ; and although facts are certainly being 
 brought forward repeatedly which will ultimately tend 
 to place the science of life on a more secure and better- 
 understood basis, at present these facts, so called, are 
 so scanty, and some of them are so open to be dis- 
 puted as being facts at all, that little can be predicated 
 with certainty from them. Indeed, we may, with the 
 philosopher, paradoxically aflSrm that, as regards life 
 and its wondrous secrets, what we know shows us that 
 we know nothing. Yet the observations which I thus 
 have here presented to the reader are full of suggestive 
 interest. 
 
 That the peculiarities, temper, disposition, and age of 
 the animal we feed exercise a modifying influence upon 
 the feeding value of the materials employed, is well 
 
DIVERSITY OF TASTES IN CATTLE. 
 
 231 
 
 known. One likes straw, another hay ; roots are 
 eagerly devoured by some, which are eaten as if with 
 palled appetites if not turned from with disgust by 
 others. The milk of cows will increase and diminish, 
 will assume a variety of conditions of the most diverse 
 character, and these succeeding each other sometimes 
 with singular rapidity, and as singular an uncertainty. 
 The food relished by them to-day will be turned from 
 with disgust to-morrow ; and while one breed does well 
 with one kind of produce, another breed cannot thrive 
 upon it at all. The same food, too, with the same 
 animals, will produce precisely opposite effects one day 
 from those brought out upon another, according, 
 apparently, to the condition of the animals, whether 
 they are quiet and gently treated, or disturbed by fear 
 or ill-usage. The weather, doubtless, too, acts as singu- 
 larly upon some animals as it does upon the human 
 frame, bringing with it fits of depression, or, on the 
 other hand, a flow of animal spirits, and influencing, it 
 may reasonably be conjectured, their physical condition 
 accordingly. Dr. Voelcker very clearly points out a 
 variety of circumstances connected with the condition 
 of the animals as modifying the value of the food with, 
 which they are supplied. Of these points a resumi will 
 be found in " Hints for Farmers " (Warne, London). 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 ENSILAGE — ITS CHABACTEBI3TIC EEATCEES, AND GENEEAL STATEMENT AS 
 TO ITS PBACnOAIi "USES IN THE PEESEEVATION OP GEEEN-CUT 
 FAEM CEOPS, TO BE USED FOE THE PEEDING OP LIVE STOCK AS A 
 SUBSTITUTE FOE HAT AND OTHEE PEEDING PEODUCE. 
 
 There has been no system connected with'fodder intro- 
 duced in modern times which has excited so much 
 attention, which has so quickly risen into importance, 
 and which has been accepted so widely and so rapidly 
 as that of ensilage. Nor need this be matter of surprise, 
 seeing that it promises to give what is virtually a new 
 power to the farmer in the feeding of his live stock. 
 We purpose, therefore, devoting a very important space 
 in fuUy describing this new system. And we do this the 
 more readily, not merely on account of its importance 
 in the present adverse circumstances of farmers, but 
 because, in our treatment of it, we shall have an oppor- 
 tunity of entering into details which will be useful to 
 the small farmer in departments of his work other than 
 that of ensilage. 
 
 Such frequent reference has been made in the public 
 journals and magazines to this subject as one of the 
 greatest importance to farmers, graziers, and dairymen, 
 that even those who are not connected with agriculture 
 must have had their attention more or less directed to 
 it. And, as is generally the case with anything which 
 has the attribute of decided novelty, especially if it be 
 likely to meet some pressing need, there has been in this 
 case no lack of that sanguine hope which sees only such 
 perfect success in the application of the new way to 
 meet the old difficulty as to lead to the conclusion that 
 not only will the difficulty be removed, but that by its 
 
THE fBATUKES OF ENSILAGE. 233 
 
 means quite a new era of good times for farming will be 
 introduced. This mode of considering a new project is 
 no new thing in the history of farming. Contrary to 
 the popular opinion, the farmer of modern times is re- 
 markable for the eagerness with which he listens to new 
 schemes promising to help him in his work and to make 
 it more profitable. And, although popularly considered 
 to be the slowest of the slow, he is so ready to spend 
 money in the trial of new schemes and new machines 
 and implements that his best and most prudent friends 
 have rather to warn him of the danger of spending his 
 money heedlessly on things which may not repay him, 
 than to urge him to try new things. Evidence of the 
 truth of this, which to many will be a novel statement, 
 is to be found in the records of modern farming ; and 
 there is perhaps no evidence of it more striking than the 
 extraordinary rapidity with which the manufactures of 
 agricultural manures, feeding-stuffs, and machines and 
 implements have progressed, till now, in the amount of 
 capital invested in them, the work they produce, and 
 the number of hands they employ, they form most im- 
 portant departments of national technical and industrial 
 work. 
 
 Now, in connection with the subject of ensilage, this 
 tendency of farmers to look favourably on all new things 
 promising to promote their interest, taken along with 
 the highly exaggerated views promulgated by some as 
 to what it will and must do to cure the evils which 
 have so long depressed farming as a technical calling, 
 is likely to cause some connected with its business to 
 form hopes of its value so high that they cannot be 
 realised. In aU new things which possess certain 
 marked features of true practical utility, it is wise and 
 prudent to ascertain as clearly and as fully as possible 
 what they will not, as well as what they will do. As 
 has been well remarked by a shrewd business man, in 
 technical and industrial investigations the answer No is 
 just as valuable to the prudent man as that of Fes. If 
 not in the present, in a subsequent chapter on the sub- 
 ject of ensilage, we may find space to point out to the 
 
234 
 
 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 practical farmer the possibilities of the system in help- 
 ing him to overcome the difficulties of his position, and 
 how far these possibilities are likely to extend, and how 
 best to avail himself of them in a practical and paying 
 way. Meanwhile we proceed to explain first what 
 ensilage is ; to touch on one or two points bearing upon 
 this — and then to describe briefly the best method of 
 carrying out the system. 
 
 For a long period — so long, indeed, that we have no 
 record of the date of its introduction, or of the nation 
 by which it was introduced — it has been the habit of 
 many farmers who grow wheat in certain districts on 
 the Continent where the climate is dry and genial and 
 the temperature ranges regularly high — such being the 
 best climatic conditions for wheat-growing — to store the 
 grain up in pits dug in the natural soil, or in excava- 
 tions made with greater care and harder toil in the 
 rock. This system, when carefully carried out, is very 
 successful in preserving the grain food for long periods 
 of time in a thoroughly sound condition. It is so 
 suggestive of many practical points bearing on the 
 preservation of food substances, that we may return in a 
 future chapter to its further consideration. We here 
 refer to it, as it seems to have given rise to a corre- 
 sponding system for the preservation of farm produce of 
 a totally different character from that of wheat or grain, 
 carried out in other districts on the Continent which 
 either by their natural dampness, or the heaviness or 
 frequency of rain, offer almost the reverse of the climatic 
 conditions met with in the wheat-growing districts we 
 have referred to. 
 
 In some of those damper and colder continental dis- 
 tricts it has been long the practice — ^how long it is as 
 difficult to say as it is in the case of the wheat-growing 
 districts referred to — of the farmer to dig pits and to 
 store up in them what is called forage produce, chiefly 
 grass, although the practice has been in some instances 
 extended to the leaves of plants, such as those of man- 
 gold or of beet. The produce as grass is cut in its 
 green state, put in layers in the pit, and a quantity of 
 
ACTION or ENSILAGE. 235 
 
 salt sprinkled between them. The whole is then firmly 
 stamped or pressed down, and when well consolidated 
 by the simple means adopted, a coTering of soil is put 
 over as a finish, and this also is pressed or stamped 
 firmly down. 
 
 Green-cut grass thus treated is found to keep for a 
 long time, long enough in all cases to tide over the 
 period of a full season or year, and frequently for a 
 much longer period than this. When the contents of 
 the pit are required for use it is partly opened, and the 
 compressed material is cut down vertically, keeping to 
 one end or side of the mass, just as one cuts down sup- 
 plies of hay from a haystack. The object of this is 
 obviously to retain the quality of the compressed mass 
 as long as possible, and not to open it up to the influ- 
 ence of the atmosphere. The green stufi' thus obtained 
 is found to form an excellent and nutritious food for 
 cattle, and is so liked by them that it is generally eaten 
 with avidity. The grass when taken out and chemi- 
 cally examined is not the same as when put in and first 
 compressed, certain changes having taken place in its 
 composition. 
 
 At first sight it will to many appear that the pre- 
 servation of the mass is due to the conserving qualities 
 of the salt used. This is not the case, inasmuch as we 
 shall hereafter see the use of salt in the modern or im- 
 proved system of ensilage is to be deprecated rather 
 than recommended. The chief preservative influence 
 arises, in fact, from the way in which air and moisture 
 are excluded, by the close compression of the mass, and 
 by its being covered over with a protecting roof of soil. 
 This point will be further gone into in its proper 
 place in this or in a succeeding chapter. This conti- 
 nental custom of pitting green-cut grass, like many 
 others which possess intrinsically good and practically 
 valuable peculiarities, was long carried out without, so 
 far as is known to the contrary, any attempt to improve 
 the system, and bring out more fully its valuable fea- 
 tures ; and like many other departments of technical 
 and industrial work, it had to wait till the "time " came 
 
236 
 
 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 ■when its improvement was to be taken up, and the 
 man by whom it was to be carried out. The time 
 was some thirty-five or forty years ago ; the man 
 was M. Goffiert, a continental agriculturist. It struck 
 him that the rough-and-ready pit system possessed 
 capacities of great value to the live-stock feeder if 
 they were developed by a more accurate system of 
 pit arrangement and construction, based on what ap- 
 pea,red to him to be the true principle of preservation. 
 This principle he closely studied, and the result was 
 not merely that he hit upon a good method of construct- 
 ing the pits, but he saw that it was applicable to other 
 farm produce than grass or leaves — indeed, to a wide 
 range of crops. Not content with improving the pit 
 itself, but also seeing that if applicable to several crops 
 there would be some crops better fitted to bring out 
 the best qualities of the system of preservation than 
 others, he set himself to find out what crops were the 
 best to grow specially for it. So successful were his 
 efforts in both directions that he deemed it to be his 
 duty to publish the results in a small pamphlet, in order 
 that his neighbours, if not his countrymen generally, 
 might profit by them. ^ 
 
 But if the time be that of the man who improves, 
 it does not always follow that it suits the time of the 
 public which should benefit by the improvements. 
 An improver is often before the public time. It 
 was so in this case. M. Gofiiert's pamphlet fell un- 
 heeded, so to say, on the public soil, and seemed des- 
 tined to bring forth no fruit. But by one of those 
 curious circumstances which form what may be called 
 the " romance " of technical and industrial work, a 
 copy of the pamphlet fell oddly enough into the hands 
 of a traveller from the United States of America. 
 Struck with its facts and the practical character of its 
 remarks, he determined on his return to the States to 
 try the system. This trial was so practical and so com- 
 plete, that he in his turn, anxious to serve his brother 
 agriculturists, published a special work detailing his 
 experience and showing how the system could be carried 
 
THE ENSILAGE SYSTEM. 237 
 
 out with all its practically valuable features. This work 
 met with a better fate than that to ;which in fact it 
 owed its existence. The time of the public had come 
 for the reception of this old scheme with a new face. 
 The press and the agricultural societies of the United 
 States and of Canada took it up heartily. Numerous 
 trials were made and their results registered. In pro- 
 cess of time the wave of public opinion thus rolling 
 high and strong on the new continent crossed the 
 Atlantic, and striking the shores of the old continent 
 gave back to it what it had parted with years before. 
 Our own island experienced also the influence of this 
 wave of American opinion, and an interest was excited 
 in agricultural circles of which we now see some of 
 the practical fruits, and are from present indications 
 likely in the future to see others, and those still more 
 valuable. 
 
 To the pit or receptacle — for it is not a necessity of 
 the modern system that the preserving-place should be 
 a pit in the sense of an excavation or dug-out place — ^in 
 which the mass of green produce is stored up the name 
 of " Silo " is given, and the term Ensilage, which is 
 derived from this, denotes the system of preservation. 
 A high authority on the subject proposes to extend its 
 nomenclature by giving the term " Silage " to the green 
 produce which is preserved. 
 
 Before proceeding to give details of the system, so far 
 as construction of the silo is concerned, we conclude 
 this chapter by an explanation in popular terms of the 
 features of the system. The silo is essentially designed 
 to effect the exclusion of the atmosphere and moisture 
 from the mass stored up in it. This points to a 
 pit so constructed that its boundary sides and its 
 bottom surface shall be absolutely impenetrable to all 
 moisture existing in the soil in which the pit is dug, 
 and that precautions be equally taken to prevent 
 the moisture, or rather wet of raiii or snow, falling on 
 the top of the pit, this requiring a roof or covering 
 of some kind impervious to moisture. The pit, there- 
 fore, popularly described, must be " waterproof." This 
 
238 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 quality must also exist, it is scarcely necessary to say, 
 if the silo be constructed above the ground level, either 
 specially constructed or adapted from some existing 
 building. 
 
 Another essential feature of the ensilage system is 
 the exclusion of air. This is secured by thoroughly 
 compressing the layers of the mass together, so that it 
 be throughout practically solid. At present the means 
 to obtain this are, first, pressing down by bodily force, 
 then stamping on the surface of the layers ; and second, 
 increasing the compression and keeping it up by a per- 
 manent weight, as of heavy soil placed on the- top of 
 the last or upper layer. And those features, popularly 
 explained, obviously point to this, that ensilage is a 
 somewhat costly process to carry out efficiently. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE EJfSILAOE SYSTEM OP PEESEETIN(J QUEEX-OUT FABM OEOPS AS FOOD 
 FOE LIVE STOCK (continUcAJ . — THE " SILO " IN ITS TWO ' FOEMS, 
 THE PIT, OB UNDEEQEOTIND, AND THE ABOVE-GEOUND SYSTEMS. 
 
 We have instanced a pit as the primary form which the 
 silo assumed. But it does not follow that a " pit," that 
 is an excavation made in the soil below the level of the 
 ground, is the only form in which the silo can be made. 
 So long as the essential features we have named above 
 are secured, it matters not how the silo is made. It 
 may thus be, instead of a hollow pit below, a receptacle 
 constructed above, the level of the ground. The small 
 farmer will be guided by circumstances as to which of 
 the two systems he will adopt. The great point with 
 him is to have his silo provided at as small a cost as 
 possible. The amateur farmer need not be so very 
 particular on this point, for here as elsewhere in the 
 work, we use these two terms as indicative of the two 
 classes of men who carry out farming on the small sc^le. 
 The amateur farmer in many cases treats farming purely 
 as a hobby, and therefore is probably desirous of having 
 all his appliances of the best kind, this being very 
 frequently a characteristic of those who have a hobby. 
 "While he, therefore, may be indifferent as to cost, the 
 small farmer, who has to make a living as best he can 
 out of his land and the stock he keeps, is so far from 
 being indifferent that he must examine every cause of 
 expenditure in the most careful way so as to lessen it as 
 much as possible. 
 
 We have said that in regard to the silo the small 
 farmer will be guided by circumstances, such as locality, 
 soil, &c., as to whether he will dig his pit below or erect 
 
240 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 his chamber above the soil. He must recollect that while 
 deciding upon one of these methods as the easiest to be 
 made and the cheapest, that the mere fact that one form 
 is lower in first cost than the other does not bring with 
 it as a necessary consequence that it will be the cheapest 
 in the end. He has to consider the cost of working it. 
 'Now it will not require much knowledge of what work 
 is to understand that taking the work of silo manage- 
 ment all round it will be more easily and more quickly 
 done when the silo is in a pit or excavated chamber be- 
 low, than whdn it is a structure raised above, the level 
 of the ground. In larger farms, while the mere size of 
 the silo wiU justify and even positively demand the em- 
 ployment of mechanical means to aid the work of ensi- 
 lage, it may be found that the best system to adopt is 
 the above-ground silo chamber. But taking the cir- 
 cumstances of the small farmer generally, we should be 
 inclined to recommend him to adopt the pit form. 
 The making of it will be easier to him than the build- 
 ing . of a structure above ground-level, as this last- 
 named form will require him to hire skilled labour to 
 construct it ; and skilled labour is always costly. 
 
 We have seen that one of the essential requisites for 
 a silo is that it be waterproof. This at first sight would 
 seem to militate much against our recommendation that 
 the small farmer should make his silo in the form of a 
 " pit." For in this case the drainage or soakage of the 
 water through the sides of the pit would be an evil not 
 easily prevented. In many cases this prevention could 
 be more easily secured than would appear likely at first 
 sight. "We see in examining the system of ensilage 
 with a view to see how far it is likely to be a great 
 help to farmers, that as a rule its. benefits will be more 
 striking in the case of heavy land than in that of light 
 soil farms. Now a heavy soil ofiers greater advantages 
 for the construction of a silo on the pit system than 
 a lio'ht one. But even in a light-land farm it often 
 happens that small patches of dense heavy soil exist, 
 and one of these may be near or upon the site of the 
 farm buildings. Some clays are so dense that drainage 
 
THE SILO — ITS SITE ON THE FARM. 241 
 
 or soakage of water through them is a matter of much 
 greater difficulty than it is in the case of light permeahle 
 soils. Now, if by a trial-pit or hole or two the small 
 farmer comes across a piece or patch of dense retentive 
 clay, he may conclude that he can have the cheapest 
 made silo possible. The best site for a silo of this kind 
 is on a piece of ground which slopes away on all sides ; 
 the next best, almost as good as the first, is when it 
 slopes gradually in one direction. The site thus placed 
 can be kept well freed from water by making a drain 
 to run along the lower side of the slope. The deeper 
 this is the better when the soil is very heavy, that is, a 
 dense, impenetrable clay ; if the bottom of the pit be 
 thoroughly well rammed down and the sides beaten 
 with a spade or pressed well in, there will be compara- 
 tively little chance of the sides falling in. 
 
 But while it would be pretty free from actual drain-, 
 age water, the surface of the pit would be certainly 
 damp, and clay, close as it looks, is a medium through 
 which water percolates very much more easily than 
 many are inclined to believe — a peculiar feature, how- 
 ever, well known to those who have had experience in 
 the draining of heavy clay soils. Still the percolation 
 of water through the sides and bottom of a silo pit in a 
 dense clay will be reduced to a minimum by ramming 
 and pressing close the surface of the pit. We had a 
 pit in a soil of this kind ; and, although the winter had 
 been a specially rainy one, when it was opened and 
 emptied in the spring, it was found, to the surprise of 
 some who saw it, that the sides and bottom surfaces 
 were comparatively free from even moisture, while no 
 drainage water had collected in the pit. However, we 
 had taken the precaution to run a drain all round the 
 pit, as its site was by no means favourable to what may 
 be called the natural drainage of the water in the body 
 of the surrounding soil from its neighbourhood. This 
 drain was, however, shallow in relation to the depth of 
 the pit, although considered as an open or surface drain 
 —for it was only this — it was deep. Experience points, 
 in this case at least, to the fact that in excavated pits 
 
242 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 of tliis kind there is more danger of wet getting in from 
 the top and the upper part of the sides than from per- 
 colation through the bottom and general surfaces of 
 the sides. Hence it. is essential in all sites that they 
 be covered over to protect them from the rain and 
 snow fall. 
 
 Where the utmost economy in forming a sUo is 
 desired, as with many small farmers is absolutely neces- 
 sary, it may in such a soil be made in its simplest 
 elements in the form of a mere excavation, care being 
 taken to finish the bottom and side surfaces in the 
 way we have described. And when the silo is filled 
 it may be covered over in the most, complete and per- 
 fect way attainable by the use of such cheap and 
 readily available materials as may be at hand. No 
 doubt there is considerable risk that a silo thus con- 
 structed in a cheap, simple fashion will not be suc- 
 cessful in a completely satisfactory sense ; that a per- 
 centage of the " silage " or food preserved by it would 
 be lost may be almost certainly predicted, but that the 
 whole of it would be so we do not believe, that is, if the 
 " silo " be properly managed in the filling in of the 
 green-cut food to be preserved. This opinion is based 
 upon what experience has shown in the case of simple 
 pits ; and in view of the whole circumstances, and 
 giving the widest possible margin to the chances of 
 failure, we nevertheless would say to the small farmer 
 thus : — Looking at the great advantages you would 
 obtain in your heavy land farm by the adoption of the 
 ensilage system of obtaining a cheap supply of nutri- 
 tive food for your stock, we think that it would be 
 worth your while to run the risk of a partial loss 
 through the incompleteness of your silo and have one. 
 Por we believe that the gain, even in the event of the 
 loss being greater than may be fairly anticipated, 
 would be such as to leave the balance largely in your 
 favour. If we were in your circumstances we should 
 run the risk ; and there is this probability still more in 
 favour of your doing so, that the first year's experience 
 with your silo, constructed in the cheapest possible 
 
THE FUTURE OF ENSILAGE. 243 
 
 way we have described, may give you such hints for its 
 improvement in the future, that it may, at a mere trifle 
 of extra expense, be made practically perfect. At the 
 worst you can only lose the food you try to preserve in 
 this simple silo, for the digging or making of it will be 
 but a trifle. For, if you are a wise man, seeing that 
 you run a risk of loss, you will take care to lessen the 
 cost of the trial by digging your pit and filling it in 
 extra time. We repeat, at the worst you will only 
 lose your produce, but we do not, judging from expe- 
 rience, believe that the loss will be anything like total. 
 If you are careful in filling in the pit with its produce, 
 we feel assured that, with this silo, it will not, at the 
 very worst, be all loss you experience. 
 
 There is no doubt upon this point that, if ensilage is 
 to prove a practically valuable help to the small farmer, 
 some system other than that at present generally in use, 
 and almost universally recommended by all authori- 
 ties who have written about it, must be adopted. The 
 system must present the feature of much greater 
 cheapness than that thus universally recommended. 
 And there is no class of farmers who require to be 
 helped in the difficulties which beset all farmers nowa- 
 days more than do the small farmers. Those of this 
 class have as a rule, with few exceptions, little money 
 in hand, and they can afibrd but little of that which 
 they have to lay out in the way of buildings or ap- 
 pliances of any kind needed. It may be said that 
 the silo should be erected at the cost of the land- 
 lord, and no doubt this will in time be done, that is if 
 the system of ensilage is proved to be — as in all its prac- 
 tical aspects it is likely to be — of such value that it will 
 take its place as an adjunct of the farm buildings or 
 steading as necessary to it as the barn or the shippen. 
 
 Although it may be said of ensilage that the results 
 of such trials as have been made have been so exceed- 
 ingly satisfactory, that of all the different systems 
 introduced of late for the purpose of helping the 
 farmer, it alone has offered such real practical value 
 as to be worthy of a regular and permanent place in 
 
244 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 farm work>; yet landlords in the present stage of its 
 history may be well justified in claiming the right to 
 he allowed to wait for further and more extended ex- 
 perience before they decide to lay out money in making 
 the silo a part of the regular and ordinary appli- 
 ances of the farm. It is not wise to decide ofi" hand 
 that we have had experience enough of the system to 
 justify us in assuming that we now know all its capa- 
 cities, and that those are beyond doubt of the highest 
 Talue, and that we have nothing further to learn as to 
 how those capacities may be increased, or with respect 
 to the practical way in which the work may be carried 
 out. This style of what is assuredly hasty and prema- 
 ture decision is against all the lessons which experience 
 has taught us in regard to improvements in branches 
 of industrial works other than that of farming, and 
 indeed by many improvements in this art itself. No 
 matter how sound the principle of any improvement 
 is at first shown to be, no matter how perfect the mode 
 of carrying that principle into practice appears to be, 
 all experience has shown that it is only by repeated 
 trials, and those in most cases accompanied by failures 
 more or less decided, that the true capacities and the 
 permanent features of the new process or method are 
 found out. The method of to-day gives place in some 
 detail or another to the improved method of to-morrow, 
 till the weak points in the system are one by one 
 eliminated, and it is accepted as the best way in which 
 the principle can be carried out. 
 
 And this will, beyond all doubt, be the history of the 
 system of ensilage, should it actually take its place as 
 one of the permanent parts of English farming. And 
 this much may be said of it, and assuredly it is a great 
 deal, that all the indications afforded by what has been 
 already done with it go strongly to prove that it is 
 exceedingly probable that this permanent position will 
 be given to it. But few practical men acquainted with 
 business improvements will be found to assert that 
 all we do now know about the system is all we shall 
 ever know. Practical men know better than to say 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF SILOS, 
 
 2i5 
 
 this — and for our part we have no hesitation in be- 
 lieving that the results of future experience will, in 
 conjunction with that of the past, be such as to indicate 
 if not actually the best method, at least the direction 
 in which it is to go, by which a system of carrying 
 out ensilage in future will be discovered cheaper and 
 equally effective, if not more so. No one denies the 
 fact that as a system it is but as yet in its infancy, and 
 surely no one will assert that the characteristics of this 
 the earliest and weakest period of its existence will be 
 those of its riper years. That ensilage will have new 
 developments, and that experience will show easier and 
 more economical methods of deriving the fullest 
 advantages from it than any yet introduced, we fully 
 believe. If we did not believe this we should belie or 
 certainly forget all the lessons taught us by the pro- 
 gress of the industrial arts of the last hundred years as 
 recorded more or less fuUy in its history. 
 
 Meanwhile, until we really know all the powers 
 and capacities of the system of ensilage, and have a 
 much wider experience than we now possess of all its 
 constructive and practical features ; and until silos and ■ 
 all their attendant appliances will form as regular a part 
 of farm buildings and conveniences as the barn or the 
 stable, and therefore be provided by the landlord as a 
 matter of course — those farmers whose landlords refuse 
 to construct silos for them must, if they decide to have 
 them, fit them up themselves, and at their own cost. 
 And this wiU, we expect, be the circumstances of the 
 small and the amateur farmers of the kingdom for some 
 time to come at least. While the small farmer cannot 
 be expected to do much in the way of trying ensilage 
 in a complete way, the amateur farmer on the contrary 
 may be reasonably expected to do a great deal. And as 
 we have in another place drawn attention to the good 
 service amateur farmers may do in the cause of ex- 
 perimental agriculture generally, we would suggest to 
 them an exceediugly good outlet for this in experi- 
 menting upon, ensilage in all its aspects. That is, not 
 merely the best and most economical methods of securing 
 
246 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 and saving green food, that is the making of silage — 
 but in the direction of ascertaining its true feeding 
 value and to wha:t " stock " it can be applied. Amateur 
 farmers are, as a rule, men of means, and as they go 
 into farming to gratify a hobby or realise a fancy, and 
 have generally a great desire to make experiments, they 
 may as Tvell — nay, it will be a great deal better if they 
 do — experiment in a systematic way and in some useful 
 direction promising to be more than usually practical. 
 And ensilage meets this position. 
 
 We have already explained how the small farmer 
 with limited means may make a silo in the cheapest way 
 in the pit, or below-ground-level system, and have 
 shown how, where his soil is heavy, he may make one 
 which will, to a large extent, give fairly good results. 
 But those results he could scarcely expect in the case 
 of light soils. In these, in fact, he would find a great 
 difficulty in keeping the pit he might dig in " form ;" 
 the sides would be continually falling in, especially 
 under the work of filling in. And then, again, which 
 is a still more important point, the percolation of water 
 from the surrounding soil would in such light land be . 
 very great in wet weather; the sides and bottom of 
 such pits would be like a sieve in certain conditions of 
 the weather. A lining to the pit would in such cases 
 be necessary. The cheapest of all would be rough 
 timber slabs, placed along the bottom as well as all 
 round the sides. If placed edge to edge, even with 
 regularly sawn planks, there would be joints so open 
 that a good deal of water would percolate through to 
 the interior. But with " slabs " — that is, the outsides 
 of logs or bulks of timber — the edges are so rough and 
 uneven that wide spaces would be left if they were 
 placed edge to edge. The boards should therefore be 
 placed so as to " overlap " each other at their edges, and 
 this overlap should be so wide that, in the case of slabs, 
 the uneven edges would lie quite even on the solid part 
 of the slab below. This method of laying is illustrated 
 in the well-known style of forming the sides of wooden 
 sheds or of wooden roofs to which the name of " clap- 
 
COVER FOR A ROOF OF THE SILO. 247 
 
 board" covering or "weather boarding" is given. 
 Another method of securing a fairly water-tight joint 
 where regular " planks " — not slabs — are used, and 
 in which the edges are cut " fair," is by bringing • 
 the boards quite close together and then 'covering 
 the joint with a slat or roll of wood, about an inch 
 and a half or two inches broad and three-quarters 
 of an inch or so thick. Great care must be taken in 
 securing these to the boards to nail them on one 
 edge only, that is, the nails must be driven in to 
 give the slats or strips of wood a hold on one of the 
 two contiguous boards only. If the slats are nailed to 
 both edges, that is, securing them to the two boards, 
 they will inevitably be split at the naU parts by the ex- 
 pansion or contraction of the boards. But by nailing 
 the slats to one only of the two contiguous boards, one 
 of the boards is free to move without dragging, so 
 to say, on the slat or roll at all. This "wrinkle" in 
 construction for general woodwork is worth knowing ; 
 we have seen cases in which no end of mischief has 
 been done by neglect or ignorance of it. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 PEACTICAL NOTES ON THE CONSTEUCTION OP THE SILO. — POETLAND 
 CEMENT OONCEETE CONSTEUCTION, AS APPLICABLE TO A WIDE VAEIETY 
 OP FAEM STEUCTUEES OTHEE THAN THE SILO, SUCH AS MANUEE PITS, 
 TANKS, STABLES, SHEDS, PIQOEEIES, AND THE LIKE. 
 
 When the pit or below- ground style of silo is deemed 
 preferable, by far the best plan is to line it with a water- 
 proof interior ; and this can only be executed in the 
 most perfect way by means of Portland cement concrete. 
 It is much cheaper than a lining of brickwork set in 
 cement, and brickwork set with ordinary mortar will 
 not give a water-tight lining. At least, if it does so at 
 first, it will only keep good for a time more or less 
 limited, and that at the most for not a long time. Fur- 
 ther, brickwork requires skilled labour, whereas any 
 day-labourer can make a lining in Portland cement 
 concrete, the work being of the simplest kind. "We 
 have employed men who had never executed any kind 
 of constructive work in concrete building, who, from the 
 very first, proved competent to do even what might be 
 called, and indeed was, from a bricklayer's or mason's 
 point of view, work of a very complicated character. 
 Again, as regards the soundness of the work in concrete, 
 there is no material which can come up to it in real 
 value, far less excel it. A pit lined with it is, when 
 completed, a monolith as perfect as if it had been hol- 
 lowed out of a solid block of stone. And, in fact, it is 
 better than the stones usually met with ; for while these 
 are generally pervious to wet or damp, the concrete is 
 absolutely impervious. 
 
 As this material is so exceedingly valuable for a 
 great variety of purposes on the farm, in addition to 
 
SILO CONSTRUCTION. 249 
 
 silo making, such as liquid manure tanks, farm-yard 
 manure pits, water-tanks, and for floors of stables, 
 cattle courts, yards, &c., &c., we deem it likely to be of 
 some practical service to our readers if we give bere 
 a few notes on the working and using of Portland 
 cement concrete; and for this purpose we reproduce 
 bere tbe principal points of a paper wbicb we wrote 
 for tbe pages of tbe Journal of the North and West 
 of England Society under tbe title of " Brief Hints 
 on tbe Construction and Arrangement of Farm Build- 
 ings." 
 
 Tbe mode of building, or ratber of constructing, walls 
 in eartb known as " pise," or bard-rammed soil, and 
 witb wbicb our readers are doubtless acquainted, pro- 
 bably led to tbe use of concrete as a substitute for tbe 
 eartb, as possessing tbe capacity for being more easily 
 worked and for much greater strength. Concrete may be 
 defined as a mixture of gravel, stone chips from quar- 
 ries, or from tbe preparation of stones for building 
 purposes, cinders, clinkers, broken bricks, or tbe like, 
 mixed with lime or cement. Where lime is used as tbe 
 material to bind the substances which form the bulk of 
 the concrete, the concrete is used for the making of 
 foundations ; but where it is required for building pur- 
 poses, an hydraulic cement is employed to bind the 
 broken bricks, &c., used as tbe bulk of the material. 
 Tbe cement almost alone used now is that known as 
 Portland, which, in fact, is tbe most valuable of all 
 such cements. It is made by mixing definite propor- 
 tions of chalk and clay, mud and carbonate of lime, 
 or of certain mineral nodules found in certain rivers, 
 tbe waters of which flow over clay and chalk. These 
 are calcined at high temperatures, and thereafter 
 ground into a fine powder. In this country tbe Med- 
 way, or rather the bays and creeks on the sides of 
 it, aflbrds the best material. The cohesive strength of 
 the cement made from these materials is very great, 
 four times as much as that of tbe best hydraulic lime. 
 When mixed witb broken bricks it forms a concrete 
 which is stronger than Portland stone in tbe propor- 
 
250 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 tion of 2-280 to 1-480. In purchasing Portland cement 
 it is well to specify the weight per bushel. A good 
 quality is that which weighs 110 lbs. ; some authorities 
 prefer as lighter cement a 100 to 105 ; but the weight 
 of experimental evidence is in favour of the heavier 
 cement. 
 
 We have named a number of materials of which Port- 
 land cement can be made, but to those may be added the 
 nodules of burnt clay (clay can be burnt at a cost of 
 Is. 6d. to 28. 6d. a cubic yard), broken glass and 
 crockery, hard chalk and chalk flints, broken slags 
 from iron furnaces, and, indeed, almost any materials 
 which form hard compact lumps or nodules. Where 
 these vary in size, the large lumps may be used to pack 
 the centre of the wall, the thinner concrete being used 
 to bind the whole together. For the making of floors 
 and the covering of flat surfaces, and of projecting 
 parts of buildings, such as the mouldings or dressings 
 to windows, doors, string courses, and the like, sand 
 or fine " breeze," or ground bricks are verj'' valuable. 
 It is surprising how rapidly a floor surface is laid with 
 the concrete made with the " cement " and those last- 
 named materials. Where fine breeze cannot be obtained, 
 sand is generally available ; that known to builders as 
 clear, sharp, dry river-sand is the best. Indeed, for 
 floor-making purposes we prefer the sand to the fine 
 or powdeyy breeze. The proportion of the Portland 
 cement to the broken materials used for making the 
 concrete differs according to the practice of various 
 workmen. Some use so small a proportion of cement 
 as one part to eight of the materials, others seven ; but 
 a safer proportion is one part of cement to six of the 
 materials. This we adopt in our own practice, modi- 
 fying the proportions, however, according as we require 
 in some parts a greater strength than in others, as 
 pillars or narrow pedestals, in which case we use as 
 great a proportion as three parts of the cement to eight 
 of the material. The best way of mixing the mate- 
 rials is to have a platform made of strong boards, well 
 clamped together, which may be of any convenient 
 
PORTLAND CEMENT CONCRETE SILOS. 251 
 
 dimensions, as 7 or 8 feet square. This is laid upon the 
 ground in close vicinity to the place where the building 
 is to be erected. The gravel, broken or crushed bricks 
 — of a size to pass through the meshes of a quarter or 
 half-inch sieve or screen — are then placed upon the 
 board, together with the cement in the proper propor- 
 tion, and the whole well mixed together in a dry state. 
 "When the mass is well mixed, water is sprinkled over 
 it, gently at first — best done through the rose of a 
 watering-pot — and applied till enough is given to 
 enable the cement to adhere, to, or become incorporated 
 with, the broken material, the whole being of a consis- 
 tency to be easily passed into the moulds, and to be 
 pressed closely up to the sides and ends, and to embrace 
 as it were the larger lumps put into the centre of the 
 mould, and forming the packing, of which more pre- 
 sently. A little experience will soon enable the work- 
 men to know the proper state of consistency in which 
 the mass should be for using, care being taken to mix 
 it well up before wheeling it off to be put into the 
 moulds ; for if not well mixed, the cement is apt to settle 
 at the bottom, leaving the upper portion, ■ of course, 
 weaker than)the lower. 
 
 From our description of the mode of using Port- 
 land cement concrete for the lining of silos in the pit or 
 below ground-level system, the reader should be able 
 to pick up as much information, with the additional 
 sentence or two at the close of our remarks, as will be 
 practically useful to him in the erection of simple^farm 
 structures, such as manure pits, or in silos on the 
 above-ground-level system which, so far as the principle 
 of construction is concerned is simply an enclosure 
 within four walls, the plan being either rectangular, 
 i.e., longer than broad, or square — that is, equal-sided. 
 Of such " above-ground silos " the floor should be made 
 of concrete equally with that of the pit or below-ground- 
 level silo. 
 
 Presuming, then, that the pit is to be excavated of 
 such dimensions as may ,be required for the weight 
 of silage or green-cut food to be preserved in it, 
 
252 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 tHose dimensions must be measured so as to allow for 
 the tMckness of the concrete lining. In the above- 
 ground silo, the retaining or enclosing wall having, in 
 the " filling in" and the permanent weighting processes, 
 to resist a pressure acting almost wholly outwards, 
 must be thicker than the lining or inside walls of a silo 
 on the pit or below-ground-level system ; as in this last 
 the pressure, although outward as in the case of the 
 above-ground silo, is met or resisted by the solid soil or 
 earth surrounding the lining walls against which they 
 are placed. While the retaining or enclosing walls 
 of the above-ground silo should not be less than nine 
 inches, the lining walls of the pit silo may be very much 
 thinner. Practically their duty is really to keep the 
 water from the surrounding soil from percolating to 
 the interior of the silo pit, and has little or no work to 
 do iu resisting the pressure put on the silage or green 
 food preserved in it, the lining forming a part, so to say, 
 of the soil, and merely acting as a waterproof or water- 
 tight facing to it. If the best Portland cement were 
 employed, we should have no hesitation in making the 
 lining of concrete not exceeding two and a half inches. 
 No doubt it may be said that there is a pressure 
 exercised by the surrounding soil tending to force the 
 lining inwards, but this is reduced to a minimum in 
 heavy or clayey soils, and in lighter ones may be fully 
 provided for by a thickness of five or six inches given 
 to the lining walls. If the silo pit were made circular 
 in section or plan — the strongest form of side to a pit — 
 we should have no hesitation in lining it with a con- 
 crete facing not exceeding an inch and a half in thick- 
 ness, always providing that in such fine work the very 
 best materials were alone used, as sand and a good pro- 
 portion of concrete. 
 
 Having, then, the pit for the below-ground-level silo 
 dug out, the sides being squared down so as to be 
 "plumb," or "plim," as pronounced by most workmen, 
 and the bottom levelled and well rammed down, the 
 placing of the concrete " floor " of the pit is the first 
 work to be done. Having the mixing "board" we 
 
PORTLAND CEMENT CONCRETE SILO FLOORS. 253 
 
 Lave above described placed at a convenient spot near 
 the pit, the materials have to be prepared of wbich the 
 floor lining in conjunction with the cement is made. 
 The floor is practically made up of two kinds of mate- 
 rials, first the foundation course, technically termed 
 the " bottoming," and the concrete proper. This 
 last rests upon and is partly incorporated with the 
 bottoming, which has thus to be the first prepared 
 and laid. 
 
 The following is a brief description of the mode of 
 preparing the " bottoming " of stones for the concrete 
 to rest upon. The best material to use is broken 
 bricks, or small clinkers, or broken stones, or what are 
 called " stone shivers," the harder the stone the better, 
 such for example as road metal used in macadamising 
 roads, which we have found excellently adapted for the 
 purpose. The stones or small clinkers should be of a 
 size sufficient to pass through a ring not exceeding two 
 inches in diameter. Larger-sized stones do not " bed " 
 or He well together so as to form a level surface. The 
 concrete proper has for its base fine breeze or ground 
 brick, and if this cannot be obtained, good sharp sand, 
 sea or river, will do admirably ; we have used both with 
 success. The bricks or sand are well mixed with 
 Portland cement in the proportion of three parts of the 
 material to one of the cement, water being added to 
 bring the whole to such a consistency as to be easily 
 spread upon the floor. Not much should be mixed at a 
 time, as it sets rapidly. The spreading should be begun 
 at one end of the space, and gradually laid down to 
 the other end, so that what is done may not be trampled 
 upon. Where parts must be passed over before the 
 concrete is set, plank boards should be laid down, as 
 a _ bearing surface. In forty-eight hours the surface 
 will be quite hard enough to be walked over without 
 injwryj and in a week it will be as hard as stone, and 
 will present the appearance of a floor of that material, 
 solid, without a crack or flaw throughout its whole ex- 
 tent if well laid down. 
 
 As in some cases the green-cut food put into the silo 
 
254 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 to be preserved may be so wet that under the pressure 
 to which it is subjected water or juices may be ex- 
 pressed in quantity sufficient to form a thin film of 
 liquid on the floor of the silo. Although this, being 
 watertight, will not be injured by it, provision can 
 easily be made for it so that it will be kept separate 
 from the " silage " lying above. This can be done 
 by forming channels or depressions in the face of the 
 concrete lining ; and this with the greatest ease 
 by simply making use of a piece of wood a little 
 less in length than the breadth or length of the 
 floor of the silo, having its edge half round, or bead- 
 like. By pressing this to a small depth into the con- 
 crete facing before it sets, a channel will be made on 
 the floor surface. Any desired number of those channels 
 can be made. The thoughtful reader will see how, by 
 this plan, "open gutters" can be formed of any shape 
 and taking any direction in the making of concrete 
 floors to stables, cow-houses, piggeries, or the like. 
 As will be shown presently, there should be no actual 
 need of forming those channels in pit-silo floors, be- 
 cause if the ensilage be done properly there should be 
 little actual liquid expressed from the green-cut food 
 put into the pit. 
 
 We now come to the lining of the sides of the pit- 
 silo, or what may be called the walls of the excavation. 
 And what we have to say preliminary to the practical 
 work to be done will apply specially to the construction 
 of the walls required for an above-ground silo, or to 
 any other class of farm building work required, such 
 as manure- pits, piggeries, or the Hke. In the formation 
 of a concrete floor, the original surface of the ground 
 forms the supporting surface of the semi-liquid con- 
 crete and the bottoming, which together make the 
 finished floor when the upper layer of concrete proper 
 sets. And till this setting, indicating a hardening of 
 the cement, takes place, the floor material must not be 
 disturbed in any way. But even the reader who has 
 not been accustomed to constructive work of any kind 
 will have no difficulty in seeing that, forming a body 
 
CONCRETE CONSTRTJOTIONS. 255 
 
 of concrete, no matter of what thickness, which, when 
 finished, will be vertical, such as a wall, while the 
 ground forms the supporting surface of the base or 
 foundation of the wall or vertical mass, there is no sup- 
 porting surface to the sides, so that the mass of concrete 
 in its semi-liquid or loose condition will naturally fall 
 away or down, and simply become a heap lying upon 
 the ground. The concrete must, therefore, be supported, 
 whatever be its mass, till the cement sets, and then it 
 becomes solid and stone-like. If one has a mass of 
 concrete to form, the height of which is much greater 
 than its thickness, and which, like all walls, has two 
 free or exposed surfaces, keeping its ends or extremities 
 out of view at present, the mass must be supported on 
 both sides till the cement is set. To use a familiar 
 expression, which, in fact, explains the process of con- 
 crete wall building, the mass has to be "moulded." 
 A mould, therefore, has to be made to suit the dimen- 
 sions of the wall required to be constructed. The 
 simplest form of a concrete wall-mould may be made 
 thus. Let two flat boards of equal surface be fixed 
 vertically and fairly in the ground, and kept sepa- 
 rated from each other, say, a distance equal to a b 
 or c d, as in the following diagram : — 
 
 Let the space formed within these two board-surfaces, 
 ac, hd, be the concrete material place or mould. And 
 as each portion is added, let it be levelled down, and 
 the stones, clinkers, or Broken bricks, or whatever 
 form the base of the concrete may be made of, pretty 
 well settled down by the hand or by a small rammer, 
 and parry on the process of adding layer after layer 
 within the space a b, c d, till the upper edges of the 
 boards be reached ; then allow the whole to remain at 
 rest till the cement sets or hardens. "When this 
 takes place— which will depend upon the proportion 
 and good quality of the Portland cement used, but 
 
256 
 
 SMALL FARMIKG. 
 
 which may be averaged at from eighteen to twenty- 
 four hours — if the boards be taken down, we shall then 
 have a wall or structure equal in thickness to a bored, 
 and in length to that of the boards a c or bd, and in 
 height equal to the depth of the board, which we may 
 suppose to be e/or gr ^ in the following diagram — 
 
 / 
 
 in which e g or fh is equal to the length ac or h dm. 
 the first diagram. When the boards are taken down, 
 the surfaces, ef,hg, will be found to be smooth, and 
 of a didl grey colour. The smoothness will, of course, 
 depend upon the way in which the concrete was filled 
 into the moulds, the proper mode of doing which will 
 be presently explained. 
 
 It will be obvious that while for the construction of 
 free walls, that is, with the two surfaces or sides exposed 
 as in all ordinary walls, the mould for the concrete 
 must have two sides, SiS, a c or h d in the first of the two 
 diagrams we have just given, only one side is required 
 for the lining or wall of the pit silo, as the other 
 side is formed naturally by the face of the excavated 
 soil. Thus, if we take the line a c to represent the 
 inside line or the inner face of the excavation, this 
 forms, practically, one side of the mould, so that we 
 have only to provide a board, or boarding, represented 
 by the line b d, to form the other. If the pit of the 
 silo is of the length of e g, and the breadth of g h, it is 
 obvious that we shall require two boards, one to form 
 the mould for the sides, fh, and the other for the end, 
 gh or ef. The cheapest way, then, wiU be to make 
 the pit or silo square ; the sides being then equal, one 
 boarding or inner side of mould will do for all. 
 
 As walls are generally of considerable height, to 
 form the full height of the wall by one setting or fixiug 
 of the moulds would obviously be inconvenient, and in 
 
CONCRETE SILO AND ITS WALLS. 257 
 
 the majority of walls for ordinary buildings impracti- 
 cable. It is therefore usual to construct the walls by a 
 succession of heights, or "courses," as the technical 
 phrase is. The depth of the boarding forming the 
 mould side is, therefore, made equal to one of these 
 " courses " or rises, and this should be some multiple 
 of the whole height of the wall. Thus, a depth of 
 1 foot 8 inches wSl give on six rises a height of wall 
 equal to 10 feet, or with five rises or courses, 8 feet 
 4 inches. In the case of walls for above-ground silos, 
 the hpight will be determined by the convenience of 
 working, and the cost of the moulding appliances, pre- 
 sently to be described, for building a high wall is 
 greater than the appliances required for a wall of such 
 moderate height as could be constructed with a mould 
 made in one depth or piece, and boarding five or six 
 feet deep would be easily enough made and used. This 
 moderately high wall would in most cases be quite 
 sufficient, and the entire cubical space or contents of 
 the silo could be made up by increasing the area, that 
 is, the length and breadth of the silo. Land-surface in 
 rural districts is not so costly as in towns, where build- 
 ing land has a much higher value. 
 
 No doubt the extension of area or surface of the 
 silo affects the expense of getting the required perma- 
 nent pressure ; but we shall see hereafter, as we pro- 
 ceed, that this cost may in nearly all rural districts be 
 reduced to a minimum. In the case of pit silos, we 
 should strongly recommend the excavation or pit to be 
 of moderate depth, and the cubical contents or capacity 
 to be made up by increasing the area or surface. And 
 for this reason, that as the depth of the pit increases, 
 so do the cost of excavation and the time taken in doing 
 the work, and that in a quickly increasing ratio. But 
 difficulties in the excavation, especially in certain soils, 
 frequently arise, which demand an engineering know- 
 ledge of a higher class than the ordinary kind of farm- 
 labourer possesses, arid which will not usually be met 
 with. When the excavation is of moderate depth — say 
 from four to six feet — the mould-boarding required 
 
 s 
 
258 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 can easily be made in one piece or depth of planks edge 
 to edge, and secured together by battens at the back. 
 "Where the sides of the pit silo are of considerable length, 
 the length of the mould should be some multiple of the 
 length of the silo side, so that two, three, or more 
 changes of the mould will give the length required. A 
 convenient length for a depth such as named above 
 would be eight or ten feet. The length of the mould for 
 above-ground silos may be greater than this, as the 
 depth should or may be less, say twenty inches. The 
 method of using the one-mould boarding required to 
 form one side or lining- wall to the pit silo will be a 
 simple modification of the method of using the mould 
 for the construction of ordinary walls of above-ground 
 silos, manure-pits, piggeries, or the like. And of this, 
 as well as of the method of constructing the mould 
 itself, we now proceed to give a description. 
 
 First, as to the mould, or rather, the boarding 
 which, worked in pairs — the "inside" and the "out- 
 side" boarding — form the mould. The boarding is 
 made up of planks eight or ten inches wide and five- 
 eighths or three-quarters inch thick. The shorter the 
 length the thinner the boarding required. If moulds 
 ten feet long are used — a very convenient length for 
 boarding — ^half-inch, or better three-quarter inch boards 
 would do, with careful filling in of the concrete ; that 
 is, avoiding all hand-ramming in of the materials. 
 There is no necessity to ram or strongly press down 
 the packing (see a succeeding paragraph) ; all that 
 is necessary is to place them with some care, so that 
 the stones, broken bricks, &c., constituting the pack- 
 ing lie pretty closely to each other and slightly 
 pressed down by hand. The thinnish stuff or cement 
 running in between the interstices of the packing 
 stones, and between them and the sides of the mould, 
 binds the whole together. If, on the contrary, ram- 
 ming down the materials forcibly be resorted to, it 
 will have the effect of forcing out the sides of the 
 mould, causing them to " belly," as the technical term 
 is, and creating inequalities in the face of the wall. 
 
THE APPARATUS FOE CONCKETE CONSTEUCTION. • 259 
 
 and causing openings to be formed through which, at 
 the lower edge of the mould, the thinnish cement is apt 
 to pass. This "bellying" can only be prevented by 
 having the boards of which the mould is made very 
 thick and strong. But by avoiding ramming or undue 
 pressure — giving to the packing-stones only the small 
 hand pressure | we advise — the boards may merely be 
 thick enough to give the mould the strength necessary 
 to sustain the weight of the materials and prevent them 
 from spreading laterally till the cement is set. This is 
 in reality the only office the mould has to perform, and 
 by its form to give the wall a uniform thickness 
 throughout. So simple, indeed, is the method of con- 
 structing walls in concrete, so tractable, so to say, the 
 materials, that we would undertake to raise any length 
 of wall with the aid of two flat planks, ten to twelve 
 inches wide and some twenty inches long, and four 
 stout stakes. The process would be a slow one, no 
 doubt; and it is to make it a more quickly-finished 
 process that a long mould is used. 
 
 The mould, then, is constructed of two boardings and 
 made as follows. The planks, as already stated, are 
 eight or ten inches wide by five-eighths or so thick. 
 Strengthening pieces, or battens, four inches by two 
 inches, are secured to the outside of the boarding, 
 the boards forming the inside of the mould. The side 
 boards are kept together when placed in position on the 
 wall by wrought-iron bolts, which pass through side 
 battens or strengthening pieces, and are secured by the 
 nuts at one side. The distance between the centre of 
 the lower bolt and that of the upper, or course, is 
 exactly the height of each successive rise, as the moulds 
 are shifted upwards — that is, the wall is built up 
 in portions corresponding to this height ; eighteen or 
 twenty inches will be an easily worked height for the 
 " course." "We shall hereafter show how, for a silo of 
 the simplest kind, moulds may be made of less complex 
 character than that just described. The distance hori- 
 zontally between the bolts is four feet, the bolts h9,ve 
 a taper given to them in their length of from five- 
 
260 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 eighths to three-quarters of an inch. We now come to 
 the fitting-up of the apparatus and the mode of work- 
 ing it in the building of the walls. The first thing to 
 be done is to stake off upon the site the accurate dimen- 
 sions of the proposed building, taking care to have the 
 walls exactly at right angles to the sides. At one 
 corner two posts are placed, and, if the wall is to be 
 nine inches thick, exactly in such a position that when 
 the moulds are put up, the distance between the interior 
 faces of them shall be exactly nine inches. This thick- 
 ness for a silo wall of moderate height above the ground 
 level will be quite sufficient. And if this silo be made 
 so as to be asemi-pit — i.e., one whose space is half in and 
 half out of the ground — the height of the wall above 
 ground-level need not be more than one side or course 
 of the mould ; that is,' ii the depth or height of the 
 mould be twenty or twenty-four inches, one fixing of 
 the mould will give the height reqxiired. This form of 
 " semi-pit " silo, will be found the easiest to be con- 
 structed if the whole work — concrete constructing and 
 digging — be done by the ordinary labour of the farm. 
 
 The position of the posts at the startidgof the wall 
 at one of the courses is shown in the annexed diagram. 
 
 a 
 
 
 B 
 
 ■ 
 
 d 
 
 p n 
 
 Let A B represent the posts ; the distance, such as 
 that from d to c, and from a to b, being nine inches, 
 or whatever the thickness of wall is to be. Two 
 additional posts are placed at points c ando — the distance 
 between these points and those at which the posts a 
 and B are fixed being equal to the length of the mould, 
 a boarding eight or ten feet, as the case may be, as 
 shown in the diagram above. 
 
 On the supposition that the amateur farmer intends 
 to amuse himself by raising constructions other than 
 silos, and these structures being, say, cow-houses, 
 
SEMI-PIT SILOS. 261 
 
 manure-pits, sheds, piggeries, or the like, or even 
 cottages, the posts provided should be strong enough 
 and long enough to compass all classes of work. Posts 
 four inches square in section will be quite strong enough, 
 as the pressure in them is almost wholly vertical. In- 
 
 ■ deed, if strength only were considered, a three-inch 
 
 ■ Section would suffice ; but a side surface of some width 
 is convenient for working, hence the greater section we 
 have named. "We would scarcely recommend the ama- 
 teur farmer to attempt two-storied structures, as in the 
 case of cottages for his labourers ; the length of the posts 
 for a single-storied structure would be twelve feet. This 
 would give a height of nine feet in the clear for the 
 wall, allowing ample length for insertion in the ground 
 and also a surplus at the upper termination above the 
 moulds. If the mould were under twenty-seven inches 
 deep, the wall would be raised in four lifts of the mould 
 or courses. 
 
 Where only one semi-pit silo is intended to be made 
 of concrete, or where an above-ground silo was pre- 
 ferred, but with a wall of moderate height, say two 
 courses of a twenty-seven inch mould, posts such as we 
 have described may be dispensed with and good strong 
 ordinary fence stakes substituted. We have recommended 
 a semi-pit silo to be made rather than one wholly above 
 ground, as the wall, being required in this case to be 
 only of moderate height, the depth of the mould may be 
 such as to give the full height of the wall with only one 
 fixing. The mould may thus be made three feet deep, 
 of nine four-inch planks, secured together bj'' battens as 
 already- described. But the wrought-iron bolts may be 
 dispensed with, as these are only required for a high 
 wall where the mould has to be used in a succession of 
 lifts, rises, or courses. And when there is only one silo to 
 be made, the simpler the apparatus for wall-raising the 
 better. Stakes being fixed in the soil perfectly plumb or 
 vertical, in the position shown in the last given dia- 
 gram, the moulds may be secured by simply nailing them 
 to the stakes. This should be done carefully, to avoid 
 unnecessary wasting of the boards or planks, which after 
 
262 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 tlie silo concrete wall is raised may be used for other 
 work. If the side walls of the silo are of considerable 
 length, necessitating several lengths of the mould to 
 make up the distance, the stakes for positions interme- 
 diate between the courses are placed as shown in' the 
 following diagram ; the stake — or post, where posts are 
 
 a • 
 
 • b 
 
 cm • d 
 
 used — a being in advance of the stake or post c astbe 
 post b at the starting corner is obviously in advance of 
 the post d ; the relative positions of the posts are thus 
 maintained, so that when the corner at the other end of 
 the wall, of which b dia the beginning, is reached, the 
 posts will be in the proper position corresponding to 
 that shown in the diagram on page 260. 
 
 Where high walls are required, which for an above- 
 ground silo, or for another class of farm structure is 
 
 required, mould and post 
 apparatus of a more com- 
 plicated character are 
 required than that for 
 simple work where the 
 height of the wall is 
 made in one fixing of 
 the mould. ■ The mould 
 itself, or rather the two 
 boardings forming it, is 
 provided with wrought- 
 iron bolts, as already 
 described; and as they 
 cannot be secured to 
 the posts by nailing, as in the simple work last 
 explained, another and more perfect method must be 
 adopted. The simplest way to effect the junction 
 between the moulds and the post is that illustrated in 
 the drawing, Fig. 44. Let a a in this represent 
 part of the upper edge of the fetrengthening piece 
 or longitudinal batten binding the planks b h of the 
 
 Fi*. 44. 
 
WALL OR SILO SIDES IN CONCRETE. 263 
 
 mould together, and let c c he the cross section of the 
 post. A wrought-iron clip of one-fourth or three-six- 
 teenths plate, having two sides, d e, at right angles to 
 
 ■ each other, is secured permanently to the batten, a a, 
 by two or four screw nails, as shown in front elevation 
 at «?'■. The other face e e' is provided with a half-inch 
 hole, through which a bolt passes, and also through the 
 post c c c' c', and the two, namely, the clips e dand post 
 c, joined and kept fast together by a screw-nut. Both 
 top and bottom battens a a are thus provided with clips 
 a e, so" that the moulds are secured at both top and bottom 
 to the posts c e. A. series of holes should be bored in the 
 posts, and the distances between these are obviously 
 equal to the distance or height of rise in the mould at 
 each course taken in raising the wall. When the posts 
 are finally adjusted, the moulds rise perfectly horizontal 
 in the direction of their length, and perfectly plumb in 
 the direction of their depth, and the posts being per- 
 fectly .plumb at starting, these positions wUl not be 
 altered throughout the whole work, and no other 
 adjustment wiU be required. The battens a a are of 
 course outside, the boards b h being to the inside of 
 wall. 
 
 The packing or central portion of the wall, of larger 
 pieces of brick or other material, is now to be put in, 
 keeping this as exactly in the centre as possible, so that 
 a clear space is left on each side between the outside 
 of the pacKing and the inside face of the mould. The 
 well-mixed concrete is then brought up from the 
 
 ■ mixing-board and poured into the mould, so that it 
 must lie between the interstices of the packing and fill 
 the side spaces between it and the inside of the mould. 
 The whole of the mould should be filled thus, and the 
 cement allowed to set. In the case of a long silo or 
 other wall, the mould may be of considerable length, 
 so that the filling may be done one day and the setting 
 completed by the time work is begun on the day 
 following, or two sets of moulds may be used. In the 
 case of a room or cottage, the moulds should embrace 
 the whole of the walls all round, so that they may be 
 
264 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 filled in the early part of one day, giving tlie whole 
 time from the filling of the moulds to the beginning of 
 next day, when the whole will be found well set and 
 compacted together. On the supposition that a high 
 wall is to be raised, on the first course being completed, 
 the mould has to be screwed higher up the posts, so that 
 the course next in succession can be formed in concrete. 
 This is done by unscrewing the nuts of the bolts of the 
 clips d d, Fig. 44, and of the bolts e of the moulds. 
 The batten bolts d e are then knocked by a hammer at 
 the small end until they are forced out of the concrete 
 wall, in which they of course leave holes all along the 
 length at distances of four feet from each other, which 
 holes are finally filled up with cement. The moulds 
 are then lifted up, and the upper range of holes left by 
 the bolts of the moulds in the wall form the holes 
 through which the lower bolts now pass and secure the 
 moulds to the wall. The clips are then fastened to the 
 posts by the bolts, and the moulds are now in place 
 for the second rise of wall being built. The moulds 
 are then filled as before, and allowed to remain at rest 
 a day for the materials to set. 
 
 We have thus explained the mode of building, so far 
 onlv as plain or solid walls without windows or door- 
 
 .^^«-^^a K?roroTmSni 
 
 these openings is ex- 
 tremely simple. If sim- 
 ple openings only are 
 required, with no frame- 
 work fixed in same, then 
 all that is necessary is 
 ^^" to put in what may be 
 
 called " stops," or rough boards of timber at the points in 
 the mould corresponding to the points at which the open- 
 ing is required. Thus, in Fig. 45, let abb be the sides of 
 the mould, and c d the sides of the opening g to be made, 
 then at these points boards c d are fixed between 
 the moulds, care being taken to keep them perfectly 
 plumb till secured. The length of these side pieces is 
 
 mi 
 
 '^nfummd'j^mt^miiw/m! 
 
CONCKETE CONSTRUCTION J)ETA1I,S. 
 
 265 
 
 obviously equal to the height of the opening required. 
 The concrete is then filled in at the spaces e f at 
 each side of c d, thus leaving the space between 
 them vacant, as at ff, and when the desired height 
 is reached and the moulds are removed, the boards 
 c d are taken out, leaving the sides of the 
 opening quite flush and fair. If the opening be in a 
 low waU — for example, the front wall of a piggery — 
 nothing more is required ; but if it be a door-opening 
 in a high wall, with solid waU above the opening, then, 
 when the mould is fixed at the rise corresponding to 
 the height of the door, a horizontal board a is fixed 
 across the two side boards c h, Fig. 46, and the con- 
 crete filled in above this at d. 
 
 The diagram ahed,m Fig. 46, may represent a square 
 aperture, as the feeding-hole in the side wall of a cattle- 
 
 ^^^^m^^s^^s^^s^ 
 
 .-■- ^•:-.",'.•^"-••■■.V^■■vR^;o a 
 
 ■ - '' ^ ^ ' ^ ■N^■^\vcs^x^^^^^^^ •' • ■ 
 a 
 
 Fig. 46. 
 
 shed or piggery, the bottom part e being formed by the 
 upper face of concrete course last completed. If it be 
 desired to have the upper part of the opening semi- 
 circular, or like a Gothic, arch, as in the case of a door 
 or window opening, all that is required is to sub- 
 stitute a board shaped Bsfg h, or ij h for the flat board a 
 in Fig. 46. The reader should, from these illustrations, 
 have no difficulty in making openings of any kind and 
 
266 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 of any desired form or dimensions ; all that is necessary 
 to be done is to provide boards to form the " stops," 
 and place them in the proper position. For buildings 
 other than silos, where regular door and window openings 
 are required, and wood bricks required at sides of open- 
 ings to which the door or window frame is to be nailed, 
 they are put in the concrete wall in a very easy and 
 simple way, illustrated in Fig. 46, in which II, mm 
 represent the sides of the mould, n n the solid con- 
 crete wall, p the " stop " corresponding to c d, and o 
 the vacant space of the window or door opening or 
 " void." The wood brick is shown in section at q, and 
 should be at least six inches on the side or face next o, to 
 give plenty of nailing space for the framing to be fixed 
 to it. It may be of any depth or height, and if re- 
 quired may extend from top to bottom of the opening 
 in wall. Three wood bricks, as q, will do for ordinary 
 work, one at the centre and one at each extremity of 
 the under face of opening, which face is termed a " re- 
 veal " in the case of a window, a "jamb " in that of a 
 door, opening. The diagram at 1 1, m m, o shows onlj' 
 one side of the opening, the other being the same, but 
 in this the wood brick q lies to the right of the " stop " 
 corresponding to p. 
 
 Roofs are in all cases required for " silos," but where 
 the breadth of the " silo " is narrow, and the span of 
 roof correspondingly small, it may be made so light as to 
 be easily removed, simply resting upon the top of the 
 side walls. In most cases it will be better to rest the roof 
 on a " wall -plate '' of wood running along the whole 
 length of the side walls. The wall-plate, which, for 
 ordinary width, may be 6 inches deep by 2 to 2^ inches 
 broad or thick, should be let into the wall, that is bedded 
 in or surrounded by the concrete, at its lowest part 
 three inches deep. This is illustrated in Fig. 47, in 
 which a a, b b represent the sides of the mould, c c the 
 concrete filling, and d the wall-plate. 
 
 Thoroughly waterproof roofs may be made of a light 
 framework of wood covered by the " New "Willesden 
 waterproof paper," which we can well recommend. 
 
CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION — DETAILS. 
 
 267 
 
 This will be so light that it may either be lifted en- 
 tirely oflp, or, which will be better, may be moved or slid 
 along, exposing only that part of the silo below from 
 which the produce is to be taken out for stock-feeding 
 purposes. The lower rib which supports the small 
 rafters of the roof or sliding frame should have nailed 
 to its under side a projecting piece rounded on the 
 lower edge. This half-rounded part is that on which 
 the roof slides, and it runs in a groove as e, made in the 
 top surface of the wall, one side sloping outwards and 
 downwards to carry off any water which may collect 
 on the top, or this part may be covered by the roof or 
 sliding cover being made to project' some few inches 
 
 "■ •;'■;:■, ?^.'-:."-v;." • : •'.'■:.<«' 
 
 
 Iti^fiiy; 
 
 m 
 
 ^\\\\\W^^^;^^g^%^\\\^'' 
 
 M\\\\\\l^^i^^^^^^<?^NV\\\\\\\\\\ 
 
 3 M^' 
 
 Fig. 47. 
 
 beyond the outside line of wall. The manner of form- 
 ing the groove and slope in one is shown in Fig. 47, 
 g being a block of wood of any length convenient 
 to work, the lower side being sloped so as to give the 
 groove and slope, or the simple groove only. This 
 block is to be bedded on the top surface of wall, after it 
 has been finished with a layer of the thinnish concrete ; 
 it is to be then worked sideways to and fro to consoli- 
 date the concrete and give a smooth surface to the 
 inside of groove. The block may be allowed to remain 
 for an hour or two to permit the cement to partially 
 set ; but it should be occasionally rubbed or moved to 
 and fro in its bed to prevent it adhering to the cement. 
 
268 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 When taking out, the top should be covered by loose 
 boarding to prevent the concrete being broken or dis- 
 turbed till the top is quite set. 
 
 It may be as vcell to draw the attention of the reader 
 to the fact that this method is the same as that applied 
 to the formation of open or surface " gutters," the iloor 
 of stables, cow-houses, and the like, which are made of 
 concrete. The gutter-forming mould may be made 
 simply as at g, but in order to give uniformity to the 
 depth of the gutter the mode illustrated at h ij on pre- 
 ceding page will be best. Here the piece h is what gives 
 the form or depression of the channel or gutter in the 
 concrete ; this nailed to the centre on each side of a broad 
 piece i j, shoulders' as at i and j will then be formed, 
 which will rest and slide upon the general surface 
 of the floor, and thus insure the depressions formed 
 being uniform, in depth throughout their length. A 
 very little practice wUl enable this as well as all other 
 concrete-working appliances to be easily and uniformly 
 effected. The illustration in Fig. 47 shows also how 
 easily ventilating channels or tubes, or chimney or 
 stove flues, are formed on the inside of concrete walls. 
 All that is necessary is to have a wood block made of 
 any size and slope desired, such as shown at k. This 
 block is built as the wall is filled up in the mould, 
 but is worked up and down by a handle or large nail 
 driven into the upper end so as to prevent its adhering 
 to the cement. The block is, of course, withdrawn 
 when the wall is finished in that course, leaving an 
 aperture in it as at I. For a circular ventilating channel 
 a drain tube will do admirably as the block, correspond- 
 ing to k, and the socket part of the upper end wUl serve 
 as a means of withdrawing the tube. It is scarcely 
 necessary to say that in order to have the interior 
 surfaces of .such ventilating channels smooth, no pack- 
 ing stones should be placed near the blocks as they are 
 formed. The blocks should be surrounded with 
 thinnish cement concrete. The same remark applies to 
 the layers of concrete in which the gutter-forming 
 blocks, as g and h, are used. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE PILLINO-IN OE PAOKINO OF THE SILO WITH THE OEEEN-OTTT PEODITOE. 
 
 We now come to the filling in of the silo, or rather, to 
 use the better term, the " packing " of it with the pro- 
 duce to be preserved, this term involving pressure in 
 so far that the greatest amount, or weight, of produce 
 is to be got into the smallest cubical space. Taking 
 meadow grass or any of the artificial grasses, such as 
 Italian rye-grass, as the typical ensilage crop — that is, 
 the produce best fitted for that system of preservation — 
 it takes but little observation to perceive that to pack 
 a certain bulk of it into the smallest possible space 
 will require proper management in the operation. It 
 would ia practice be found that with grass thrown in 
 any way, a certain cubic space would be required for it 
 under a given amount of pressure ; but by placing it 
 carefully by hand, so that the thick parts of one heap 
 or armful shall lie on the thin parts of a previously 
 deposited heap, a less amount of space would be required 
 to hold it even with the same pressure. Any one having 
 experience in packing knows well that the saving of 
 space is dependent upon the way in which the materials 
 are disposed or placed in relation to each other. Now 
 this relative economy of space, or what is the same 
 thing, the closeness with which the material will lie 
 together, is aided in the case of grass by cutting it into 
 short lengths — " chopping" it, to use the common term. 
 And this is simply because the mass, as a whole, is 
 equalised, the mere multiplicity of its component 
 parts tending itself to their ready adjustment, so that 
 thick parts will be superimposed upon thinner parts ; 
 and hollow places being thus filled up, the uniformity 
 
270 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 of surface so essential to the successful packing of 
 produce is obtained. Hence in all good systems of 
 ensilage the cutting of the produce into short lengths 
 is an important feature. As this costs money and 
 takes time, many think that both will be saved by 
 ordinary cuttiilg or chopping, arid simply packing the 
 grass as it comes from the field. But, if anything is 
 worth doing at all, it is worth doing as well as it can 
 be done, is a maxim which cannot be ignored without 
 loss. And it is especially true of the process or work of 
 ensilage. And it is just because it is always best to 
 understand the reason why a thing is done which is 
 recommended that we have gone somewhat into the 
 rationale of packing. 
 
 No doubt the condition necessary to secure good 
 packing of the crops " ensiloed " — to coin a word for 
 the occasion — will depend greatly not only on the kind 
 of crop used, but the state of growth of any one crop. 
 Thus grass cut in a young or highly succulent condition 
 will be much more easily packed closely together than 
 if at a riper stage, when its stems are larger and 
 much harder ; and grass will, for example, lend itself, 
 as a rule, better to close packing than will green-cut- 
 oats with the ears or grain blossom formed, however soft 
 or "milly" they may be. The mere mechanical con- 
 dition of the crop must be always taken into considera- 
 tion in deciding the relative packing value of silage 
 crops ; and all the crops suitable for the process will 
 be packed more efficiently if cut into short lengths, or 
 chopped. 
 
 This cutting will of course be done by the chaff or 
 ordinary straw cutter, worked by hand in the case of a 
 small farm, but for large silos steam power is indis- 
 pensable. Lengths of three-fourths of an inch are about 
 the average " cut," but this, again, will be modified by 
 the crops used, and also by their condition. Harder 
 or larger stemmed crops — such as green "maize" or 
 Indian-corn, simply termed "corn" throughout the 
 United States and North America — will require to be 
 cut into much shorter lengths than soft or small- stemmed 
 
THB PACKING OF THE SILO. 271 
 
 Crops. But in. this department of practical farming, as 
 in all other departments, there can be no hard-and-fast 
 rule given ; circumstances will decide the details, and 
 the success of the process wiU. depend very much indeed 
 upon the way in which those details are patiently thought 
 out, and the process and principles of the system investi- 
 gated. The reader may rest assured that a thoughtful, 
 observant way of dealing affects the success of more 
 farm processes than ensilage, and lies at the root of all 
 well-conducted and skilful farming. 
 
 But it is obvious that one may have his materials 
 ready for packing in a very good way, nay, in the 
 best condition to secure the end desired, and yet that 
 end may not be. attained unless the packing itself in 
 the silo be carefully devised and as carefully carried 
 out. We meet with an analogous case in the building 
 or engineering process known as the "puddling" of 
 foundation courses, or of the central space of a dam or 
 embankment for a reservoir. The "puddling" is neither 
 more nor less than "clay," and the more plastic and 
 cohesive, and the freer from small stones, gravel, and 
 organic matter — such as woody fibre, rootlets of plants, 
 &c. — the better. The process of puddling — that is, 
 the practical use of the material-. — may be properly 
 carried out, but if the clay itself is defective it will be 
 but puddling in name. A "puddled," so-called, foun- 
 dation or embankment may look as if it were well done 
 on merely examining the surface, yet it may be alto- 
 gether deceptive, and the deception may be, and often 
 has been, the cause of grave disasters. Now, as there 
 is puddling and puddling, so, in the filling of the silo, 
 there is packing and packing. Granting that the 
 clay to be used for puddling is in good condition, the 
 proper use of it is to keep adding to the thickness or 
 depth of the puddled mass by a succession of thin 
 layers evenly distributed, and then carefully and uni- 
 formly " puddled " — that is, beaten or hammered down. 
 And the great object is to arrive at the minimum thick- 
 ness, not to aim, as so many careless workers do, at 
 seeing how thick the layer can be worked, and how 
 
272 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 soon the foundation may be made or the dam centre 
 filled. The perfect union required between the upper 
 face of the layer last finished and the lower face of the 
 layer being added, can only be secured by leaving the 
 upper layer at the minimum thickness which admits of 
 the force of the blow or ram communicating itself to 
 the two surfaces to be made, as it were, one. If the 
 layer be too thick or deep, much of the force of the 
 blow is absorbed or taken up by the mass of the claj'' 
 which acts in this way as a cushion, deadening the blow 
 at the very point where its force is chiefly wanted — ^that 
 is, where the two faces meet. The silage or crop to 
 be preserved in the silo difl'ers from the clay used in 
 puddling in that it is largely elastic, the clay being, 
 practically, inelastic. 
 
 It is this difiierence which introduces a feature 
 peculiar to the packing of the produce preserved in 
 the silo. In the case of puddling, where the margin of 
 the puddled surface must be carefuUy attended to, to 
 make a good union or joint at the lines where the clay 
 comes up to the faces of the retaining or containing 
 walls, the whole surface, every inch of it, must be care- 
 fully and equally rammed down. But in the silo the 
 chief attention must be given to the margins — that is, 
 the sides and ends of the silo — for it is there where 
 any air and moisture present will force itself to 
 the mass, if it will anywhere. And if the packing 
 also be carefully done, and the produce pressed or 
 rammed down equally at the sides, the elasticity of 
 the mass will aid the packing closely together of its 
 centre, at which point there is the least chance of air 
 gaining admission to the whole mass or to parts of it. 
 
 What we have said, then, urges that the produce 
 be put into the silo in thin layers, the minimum 
 thickness being discovered by careful observation ; 
 these layers should be as even^ distributed or 
 levelled as possible, and the pressure or ramming 
 down, while given uniformly all over the surface, 
 should be especially attended to and secured at the 
 margins or outer edges of each layer, where it comes 
 
THE PACKING OF THE SILO. 273 
 
 in contact with the sides and ends or interior wall sur- 
 face of the silo. "We have no belief in hurrying over or 
 " scamping " work, the main ohject in this being to get 
 it quickly done. This applies to all classes of work, 
 especially that of ensilage. If this is to be done 
 well it will only be done slowly, that is, the maximum 
 of time required to secure perfect packing must be 
 given. Where ensilage has not been successful its 
 principle has been condemned, whereas that which ought 
 to have been censured as the cause of the failure was 
 defective work, hastily and carelessly — or both — carried 
 out. 
 
 To give one, therefore, every chance of being success- 
 ful in the ensilage process, the packing or filling must be 
 done with the greatest care. And time given to secure its 
 being done as well as it can be done must not be looked 
 upon as being wasted or lost. The great point to aim 
 at is not so much as to how it is to be done, but that it 
 be done well. The " how " no doubt is of great im- 
 portance, but the exact character of this will depend 
 very much upon the circumstances of the farmer, and 
 the character of the produce in the ensilage. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE "LOAD " OE PEEMAIJENT PEESSUEE TO BE PUT ON THE FILLED OB 
 PACKED SILO. 
 
 We Have said that tlie silage or produce to be preserved 
 is, to a certain extent, elastic, and on this peculiarity 
 rests one of the most important features of ensilage, 
 namely, the permanent pressure to be put upon the 
 packed mass. How powerful this elasticity is in the 
 silage may be tested by a simple experiment and by aid 
 of very simple apparatus. This may be carried out in 
 more ways than one. But if means are taken to gauge 
 a mass of highly compressed — that is, thoroughly well 
 packed — produce immediately or very shortly after the 
 packing has been completed, and to gauge the same 
 some hours after the mass is allowed to remain at rest 
 from the pressure put upon it, it will surprise many to 
 see how greatly the thickness or depth of the mass has 
 increased. In other words, the separate fibres have 
 more or less parted from each other, and having sprung 
 up have afiected the whole mass, rendering it looser 
 than before. This would seem to be antagonistic to 
 what we have said when treating of the packing or 
 filling up of the silo as to the practice of filling it up 
 gradually, so much a day being filled up so that the 
 mass would settle and consolidate. But thereis in reality 
 nothing antagonistic between the statements. There is 
 a certain amount of natural settlement or consolidation 
 as the result of each packed layer being allowed to rest 
 a certain number of hours before the succeeding layer 
 is put in. But the consolidation here noted is only 
 temporary, and is at its best only partial in its efiects, 
 
LOADING OF THK SILO. 275 
 
 and not sufficient to neutralise effectually the natural 
 elasticity of the mass to which we have just alluded. 
 Moreover, after the silage has been a certain time in 
 the silo, certain changes in its composition begin to 
 take place, which, aiding this elasticity, bring about a 
 looseness or openness throughout the mass which is 
 directly and powerfully antagonistic to the very 
 principle upon which perfect ensilage depends. That 
 principle has been already referred to, and its exposi- 
 tion may be here given in a single sentence, and that is, 
 that it is the exclusion of the air as completely as 
 possible from the mass of produce in the silo. 
 
 This essential may, up to a certain stage and up to a 
 certain point of efficiency, be secured by the primary 
 careful packing we have described. But from the very 
 nature of the silage, and from the conditions under 
 which it is placed while remaining for a length of time 
 in the silo, this primary exclusion of the air is not main- 
 tained, and can onlj'' be so by not merely keeping up the 
 pressure at first obtained by the packing, but by largely 
 adding to it. This is effected by the " permaneixt pres- 
 sure," or, as we prefer simply to term it, the " loading " 
 of the silo. This " load," to use the term in its en- 
 gineering or mechanical sense, put upon the silo 
 may be obtained in different ways — such as by heavy 
 weights of iron, stone, brick, or concrete, slabs, common 
 soil, sand, or gravel. These may be termed natural 
 loads, or as giving natural pressure, as distinguished 
 from the more costly and specially applied system 
 which may be called mechanical, and in which the screw 
 and the lever, as mechanical agents, play an important 
 part. For the small and amateur farmer the first- 
 named of these two methods of loading the silo, 
 namely, the natural one, is the best ; and the cheapest 
 and the most readily had of the materials comprised in 
 it are what Mr. Jenkins calls " local materials " — that 
 is, soil, sand, or gravel. Whatever be the materitd. 
 used, the great object to be gained is what engineers 
 call an " equal distribution of the load." This demands 
 a uniform spreading of the soil — or other material 
 
276 
 
 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 employed — over the tipper surface of the silage. If soil 
 be used, this uniform distribution is not so easy in all cases 
 or qualities of soil to be obtained, as one might suppose 
 at first sight. It is obvious that the more uniform or 
 homogeneous in character the soil itself is, the more 
 easily will it be spread out, so to say, and the more uni- 
 form will its pressure or weight be on the surface 
 on which it lies. The more lumpy the soil is, therefore, 
 the more difficult will it be to get its weight uniformly 
 distributed ; the more friable, the more easily will this 
 be secured, for its particles will, so to say, have a 
 tendency to spread themselves out, running away as it 
 were, from each other. It is this quality which makes 
 sand so highly valuable in constructive work where any 
 pressure is to be uniformly distributed, and where the 
 sand is firmly retained within the enclosing space makes 
 it also valuable in resisting pressure put upon it. Hence 
 sand is poured into holes, and inserted in some cases 
 in place of timber piles, in making foundations for 
 masonry, as it gives such a uniformity of resisting power 
 to pressure or loads put upon it. 
 
 But sand, while it can be uniformly spread on the top, 
 and thus give to the silage a pressure more perfectly 
 uniform than ordinary soil, has this disadvantage, that 
 it finds its way through very small crevices, and there- 
 fore is exceedingly apt to get mixed up more or less 
 with the produce of the silo. To overcome this objection 
 to sand when used in bulk, that is, simply spread over 
 the surface of the silo, it wiU. be a good plan to put the 
 sand in coarse but sound bags. These can be distri- 
 buted so as to give as uniform a pressure as possible 
 over the whole surface. A still better plan for se- 
 curing this uniformity of pressure will be to have a 
 series of narrow wooden boxes which, when' placed in 
 position, will exactly fill up the surface of the silo from 
 end to end. These boxes can be placed in position when 
 empty, and then filled With the sand, which will give 
 a uniform pressure over the surface of each box. This 
 plan will also be a good one when light soil or small 
 gravel is used to give the dead weight or pressure 
 
TAKING THE. PRODUCE FROM THE SILO. 277 
 
 required. One great advantage this plan possesses is 
 that it will be a clean and orderly method of using 
 sueh substances. And this is a great point in the well 
 ffoing of the work. So valuable is it that even if heavy- 
 plastic clay be used to give the dead weight, although 
 it would not " run " like sand or light soil or gravel, 
 yet in order to secure the clean orderly condition we 
 should like to see exemplified in all the work of the 
 ordinary farm, we should use the wooden boxes, pack- 
 ing the clay carefully into them. When the time came 
 to open the silo these boxes could be emptied quickly by 
 hand or shovel and then be easily removed in order to get 
 out the silage, this being taken out as explained below. 
 Whatever the material used to give the dead weight 
 or load upon the silage ; it is not placed immediately 
 upon the surface of the last layer packed in, but a 
 flooring of plank always intervenes between the silo and 
 the material for the load. The silage is taken out of 
 the silo for feeding purposes at one end only, so as to 
 expose as little of the surface of the produce as possible. 
 This is cut down vertically exactly as we cut down 
 the hay in a haystack. The strip of produce in 
 the silo, exposed to be thus cut down and taken away 
 should be as narrow as can be conveniently adopted for 
 the quantity of silage required to be taken out. The 
 reader will, therefore, see the necessity there is to make 
 the above-named boxes narrow, if used, and also the 
 value of the other recommendation that the width of the 
 boxes should have a distinct relation to the width of the 
 planks which, covering the silage, forms the floor on 
 which the boxes rest. For if made of a width 
 greater or less than the width of a given number 
 of -planks, there will be a diflBculty in working the 
 taking-out of the silage. But if the boxes be made 
 so as to be equal to, say, two, three, or four planks, ^and 
 the planks are all cut of a uniform width, when they 
 are removed the right number of planks can be removed- 
 ■without disturbing the plank next in succession, the 
 edge of which will be flush with the side of the box. 
 •This, along with the details we have given, may be 
 
S78 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 looked upon as a trifle, but it is attention to such trifles 
 which makes a system easily, orderly, and therefore 
 economically worked, each detail or part dovetailing as 
 it were into another part, thus forming a well-arranged 
 whole. Where a system is made up of many details, as 
 the ensilage system is, this plan of making all dimen- 
 sions multiples of a given datum division is of immense 
 service in practically working it out. There is, more- 
 over, a good reflex influence exercised upon the minds 
 of all engaged when feeling that they are systematically 
 helped in their work. 
 
 The dead weight or load of a silo is also obtained by 
 the use of blocks of cast iron, or of concrete, and in 
 some cases bricks are also used ; and these satisfy the 
 condition of systematic laying, as they are all " repeats " 
 of one definite size. So, also, in the case of cast-iron 
 or concrete blocks ; they should be made multiples of 
 the common datum divisions of the silo structure. 
 In cases where a perfect system is aimed at irrespective 
 of considerations of economy, the pressure can be put and 
 kept upon the silo by special mechanical appliances. It 
 is obvious that this system is not applicable to the cir- 
 cumstances of the small farmer, though it may suit 
 those of the amateur. He has often a well-filled purse, 
 and does not object to getting rid of a part of its con- 
 tents if only he gets a " complete" thing, quieting all 
 such economical qualms as might arise in his mind 
 by the reflection — '-' I like to have the very best I can 
 get ; ' I wish my little farm to be a model one in all 
 its departments." To those, however, who live to farm 
 and farm to live, the cost of a system is the crucial point 
 they have to consider; audit must not be disguised that 
 the weak or rather the difficult point in the ensilage 
 system to get over is just this point of the permanent 
 pressure or load to be put and kept upon the packed 
 silage. And so far as the small farmer is concerned we 
 cordially endorse the opinion of Mr. Jenkins who, as 
 we have stated, has seen more of ensilage as carried out 
 practically than any other agricultural authority. And 
 his opinion on this point of the load is thus expressed : 
 
METHODS OF LOADING THE SILO. 
 
 279 
 
 " The only economical mettod I know of, is the use of 
 what may be collectively termed 'local materials.'" 
 What these are is indicated on a preceding page, 
 
 As to the extent or amount of the permanent pres- 
 sure or load required, in practice it has in this country 
 varied from 1^ to 2 cwt. to as low as ^ cwt. per square 
 foot of surface ; of these weights Mr. Jenkins says, that 
 while the first-named gives too great, the last-named gives 
 
 Fig. 48. 
 
 too light a pressure, and recommends a weight midway 
 between these two extremes, namely that of 1 cwt. to 
 the square foot of surface of silo. This will be given 
 by a layer of ordinary or average soil 12 inches in 
 depth, this of course resting upon the floor of planks 
 covering the last packed in layer of produce. 
 
 The pressure or load may be put upon the silo sur- 
 face by hanging or suspended weights. One method 
 of doing this is shown in the above drawing, Fig. 48, 
 
280 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 which also illustrates ia section the form of above- 
 ground silo, as patented by Messrs. Pearson, of Wolver- 
 hampton. The peculiarity of this silo is that it is quite 
 independent of any fixed or permanent foundations, and 
 can therefore be erected at any convenient place, and can 
 be taken to pieces when emptied, and the pieces used for 
 temporary roofing purposes, as cattle sheds or the like. 
 This silo is made with plates of galvanised iron, so 
 curved that when bolted together they form a circular 
 receptacle of any required diameter, from 8 feet up to 
 20 ; and, being made on the multiple system, the 
 height can be increased as desired — and the deeper the 
 silo the better the silage. From a constructive point 
 of view, this arrangement of silo is altogether well 
 designed, for the plates being circular, and each plate 
 itself corrugated with circular corrugations or channels, 
 we have such a constructive strength in the directions 
 in which strength is required that the silo on this 
 principle will bear any pressure put upon it, and no 
 framing of any kind is required ; and the whole is put 
 together with such ease that any labourer, however 
 unused to constructive work, can erect the structure in 
 a very short time. Erected, moreover, on the surface 
 of the ground, there is no fear of danger from drainage 
 water. The only point to be attended to is that it 
 should be erected with a north exposure and in a 
 shaded place. We have said that no foundation is 
 required ; this is true in the ordinary sense of the term, 
 but it is not precisely so in another sense. Still the 
 foundation, so to call it, which this form of silo requires 
 is very simple, being merely the selection of a firm sur- 
 face of ground, and the digging within the circle of its 
 base pits some three feet deep and the same in diameter. 
 These, as shown in the section, are designed to contain 
 the weights, which, when suspended, give the load a 
 permanent pressure. The covering of the silo is made 
 up of boards, and these are made so as to form sections 
 or compartments ; one compartment may be taken oS 
 without disturbing the others, and each compartment 
 has also its own set of weights. When a compart- 
 
METHODS OF LOADING THE SILO. 
 
 281 
 
 ment is to be used, the weights are lowered till they 
 rest on the bottom of the pit, and the pressure being 
 thus taken off the boards, they can be removed. The 
 drawing in Fig. 48 shows the method of weighting or 
 loading the silo. There are some very good points con- 
 
 nected with this kind of silo. The method of applying 
 the load is economically good in principle, as there is 
 no lifting or removing the weights, and no silo space is 
 taken up by them, so that the whole of the space can 
 be used for packing the silage. Again, the system of 
 
282 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 loading or 
 weighting 
 being always 
 available and 
 easier, it lends 
 itself very eco- 
 nomically to the 
 method of fill- 
 ing the silo at 
 intervals as the 
 cut produce is 
 ready. 
 
 Fig. 49 illus- 
 trates another 
 method intro- 
 duced by the 
 Messrs. Pear- 
 son, who have 
 given their 
 special atten- 
 tion to the de- 
 signing and 
 construction of 
 the mechanical 
 arrangements 
 of the silo ; by 
 which the more 
 perfect and eco- 
 nomical making 
 of the silage is 
 secured. The 
 method of ob- 
 taining the 
 pressure will be 
 obvious on in- 
 spectingthe en- 
 graving. This 
 plan was, how- 
 ever, preceded 
 by one which 
 
METHODS OF LOADING THE SILO. 
 
 283 
 
 presented quite a novel feature in what may be called 
 the mechanism of ensilage. This was the combination 
 of the most simple yet effectual mode of obtaining an easy 
 movement ; that is, by the use of the circular motion of a 
 roller, and obtaining with the regular and uniform 
 pressure it gives over any surface on which it is rolled, 
 the requisite dead weight necessary for ensilage by 
 simply making the roller hollow, and filling it with water 
 or with sand. Fig. 50 illustrates the simple mechanical 
 way in which the roller was worked to and fro over the 
 silo planked surface. This has now been superseded 
 by thevhighly simple system in which mechanism is con- 
 spicuous by its absence, boy or man power being 
 employed, as shown in Fig. 51, in merely moving the 
 
 Fig. 51. 
 
 roller to and fro over the surface of the planks which 
 cover the silage, and distributing on it the pressure 
 uniformly. The following is Messrs. Pearsons' descrip- 
 tion of this, their last improvement in silage mechan- 
 ism, of which it maybe said that it will be a diffi- 
 cult task to improve it, in the direction of making it 
 more simple or effectual. And simplicity is the great 
 point to be aimed at in all farming operations. Con- 
 Hti-udioii. — Roller is hollow, made of plate steel, closed 
 at ends, provided with screw plug for filling ; is ballasted 
 with the almost costless weight of water or sand (the 
 latter, if easily obtained, gives nearly double the weight 
 of water). Working of Roller. — Simultaneous rolling of 
 one-half of silo and filling of other half should be 
 followed. One half of silo is filled with loose grass, 12 
 
284 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 inches deep, the boards laid down — the roller covers 
 seven boards which are 9 inches broad by 1| inches 
 thick, and the length of board depends on width of silo. 
 Two boys, or even two girls, as Mr. Hudson says, of four- 
 teen years, may move roller easily to and fro. The 12 
 inches of grass will be pressed into a compact body of 
 about 2^ to 3 inches deep. No haulage gearing is used, 
 merely rolling by hand as shown in Fig. 51, and when 
 top of silo is reached the grass is one solid mass by thus 
 pressing in layers. 2 to 2J feet of ensilage is fully 
 pressed per day in silo 34 feet by 18 feet. Silo, as 
 shown, is formed of deals, which fix into grooves in 
 columns of shed, and can be fitted in as the work pro- 
 gresses. Silo and roof removable, if wished (see Figs. 
 51, 52). The roller can be emptied and removed to 
 other silos on the farm or adjoining. The cost of this 
 plan is the Jirst and only cost of the roller, and the cost 
 per ton of ensilage made is almost inappreciable. The 
 maximum of pressure with the minimum of labour is 
 obtained. The lightness of empty roller enables it to 
 be got in and out of silo more conveniently (it is easily 
 rolled on an inclined plank into silo, and then filled 
 inside silo) besides greatly reducing the cost necessary 
 if made solid. Messrs. Pearson likewise maintain that 
 by repeating or multiplying the pressure, it may be 
 from 3 to 5 cwt. per square foot or more, the grass, if 
 wet when siloed, is wrung and dried, and the resistance 
 of the water destroyed, and the ensilage made more 
 adaptable to a concrete compression and preservation. 
 The spring and sinkage in the grass are likewise mini- 
 mised. Progressive rolling and pressing in layers 
 should be followed, so that when the top is reached the 
 grass is one solid mass. The late Dr. Voelcker, Chemist 
 to the Royal Agricultural Society of England, recom- 
 mended packing or pressing in 3 or 4 inch layers ; and 
 this is likewise the method adopted by M. Goffiert, the 
 great French Ensilageur ; the closer and harder you pack 
 the grass the more you check fermentation, which is the 
 greed secret of making good ensilage. The great pressure 
 inflicted by this simple means must be self-evident. 
 
SIMPLE FORM OF SILO. 
 
 285 
 
 V' -.ai^v 
 
 ^ "M."^- 
 
 ^iiiiii 
 
286 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 One ton (say weight of roller) distributed over the 
 breadth of the silo, which is say 10 feet, gives 2 cwt. of 
 pressure at every point, and this can be repeated, just 
 as the blow of the ponderous block is repeated in pile 
 
 Fig. 63. 
 
 for the recurrent and impulsive force in each 
 repetition of the rolling is on the same principle though 
 differently applied. Just suppose the ensilage a vast 
 pile to be forced down, you cannot apply the ordinary 
 
 Fig. 54. 
 
 pile-driving apparatus, but you can use the roller, which 
 is a simple and effective substitute, where you have a 
 large surface to embrace and to press down. 
 
 To make our remarks and illustrations complete, we 
 
PROBABLE rUTUKE OF THE ENSILAGE SYSTEM. 287 
 
 give in Figs. 52, 53, and 54, sketches of simple methods 
 of forming and covering silo, introduced by Messrs. 
 Pearson, which will explain themselves. 
 
 We have given a marked prominence to the ensilage 
 system of treating farm produce, not merely because it 
 is one which promises great economical results, by 
 removing some of the diflBculties surrounding the 
 farmer in attempting to make his work pay, but also 
 because, as the reader will have doubtless discovered 
 from the way in which we have treated our subject, 
 a number of lessons applicable to small farming may 
 be gathered from its connections. The questions will 
 naturally arise. What is the probable future of the 
 ensilage system ? Is it likely to take as loermanent 
 a position as it has during the last few years taken a 
 prominent one? Or is it destined to go through the 
 process, which has been the fate of many a farming 
 improvement, so called, of being for a time freely 
 criticised and written about, and even to a large extent 
 adopted, and then after a period more or less extended, 
 being at last passed over to the wide class of neglected 
 and forgotten things ? To answer these questions fully 
 would take up much more space than our pages can 
 possibly afford, and which the scheme and scope of 
 our work do not include. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 CAEE Ajm PATTENINa OF STOCK. 
 
 Talking one day with a friend on the pertinacity 
 with which a certain class of farmers clung to certain 
 modes of treatment of their stock, or of working in the 
 field, I made the remark that the strange thing about 
 it was, that they persisted in doing such absurdities 
 after their reason was convinced as to the loss they 
 sustained by following them. How often have I heard 
 one say, after being remonstrated with on a certain 
 wrong method of operation, " Oh, well, it's all true ! " 
 admitting, with marvellous nonchalance, the fact, but 
 still finding some excuse for not obviating the evil of 
 it. It is all very well when these absurdities are car- 
 ried out with insensate objects ; but the case assumes a 
 difierent aspect, and involves higher moral considera- 
 tions, when the comfort of animals is concerned. I 
 remember well, the first time I saw one of Bewick's 
 marvellous " tail-pieces." It represented a winter 
 scene — a ruined cottage, half hid in a snow-wreath. 
 On a bare space before the door stood a ewe, in the 
 last stages of miserable thinness, nibbling at the stump 
 of an old broom, as if that were to give a supply of the 
 milk which the innocent lamb was vainly endeavouring 
 to obtain from her. Simple as the subject was, there 
 was a depth of pathos in it which fairly startled me 
 into tears. The feeling has never left me, and many, 
 many a time does the picture rise up in all its painful- 
 ness before me, and never more so than when I see — as 
 I am pained to say I too often, in my country rambles, 
 do see — young cattle in the fields in winter time, vainly 
 
trying to pick up through the frozen snow the scanty 
 feed which the humanity of their owners denies them 
 on easier-got terms and in fuller quantity. I never see 
 them shivering with the rude blasts of winter whirling 
 around them, but I think of Bewick's sheep nibbling at 
 the old broom, to keep the life in her and in her poor 
 lamb, so pitifully tugging at her teats. I know of a 
 case not long ago where a few young cattle were actu- 
 ally starved to death. They had been left for weeks 
 without shelter, and for many, many days the scanty 
 herbage was covered with frost-bound snow. There is 
 something to me inexpressibly painful in the thought 
 of what these poor animals must have gone through the 
 last few days of their miserable life. And yet the 
 practice is defended, from its utility. Well-named is 
 it — " hardening," or " roughing ! " Sure am I that the 
 owner of the above poor animals must have gone through 
 the processes thoroughly himself. I cannot suppose 
 that in such cases as I allude to, that any thought 
 whatever is given to the matter by the men who can so 
 unfeelingly treat their stock in the way I have spoken 
 about. They must know, and they ought to know, as 
 it is their business to know everything about their call- 
 ing, that cattle are in reality most delicate creatures, 
 keenly sensitive to what we in our own case would call 
 " personal discomfort." I can get no shorter expres- 
 sion to denote what I mean ; and if this comfort is not 
 attended to, a heavy loss is sustained. I am well aware 
 that this " hardening " or " roughing '' process — how 
 fitly chosen these names are ! — is considered a valuable 
 one, as it tends to improve the animals subjected to it. 
 
 Now hear what the verg highest authority in cattle- 
 breeding and rearing says on this point. If some of 
 my " roughing " friends would only treasure them up, 
 and act upon them for a time, I am certain they would 
 tell me that the words were worthy to be blazoned in 
 gold, and hung up in every cattle-breeder's home. The 
 system of roughing, my authority remarks, " has the 
 effect of weakening their constitutions; and this system 
 pursued towards the young stock for two or three gene- 
 
290 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 rations will ruin the best breed of cattle in the country. 
 The offspring, after this time, will have lost all the 
 quality, early maturity, and propensity to fatten of 
 their ancestors ; and it will require years of the greatest 
 care to recover what is thus lost." I have emphasised 
 the last sentence, as you will perceive ; but if, my friend, 
 I were to emphasise every word of it in the ears of some 
 " owd Smiths " I wot of, I would be met with cold in- 
 difference, and be shut up, very likely, with the never- 
 failing maxim of the family rejoicing in that ubiquitous 
 name — " Ah ! it's all very well, this book-laming, but 
 there's nowt like practice." I declare, ,my dear Berzi- 
 lius, when I think of the use some men put their reason 
 to, I am like to go to buffets with myself, as belonging 
 to the same genus hominem. But what matters it, after 
 all ? I need not sour my ale with their thunder. In 
 China, when a man has to carry a chest of tea, he 
 slings it from one end of a pole, which he carries on 
 his shoulder, duly balancing the same with a huge 
 stone dangling from the other end. An Englishman 
 who saw a John Chinaman thus loaded, suggested that 
 he might as well balance the one chest of tea with 
 another, and thus carry in one journey a double weight. 
 He was mildly met by the answer, " Our fathers did so ; 
 are we wiser than our fathers ? " Some of the " owd 
 Smiths " have doubtless a hearty contempt for the bar- 
 barous Chinese ; but in many things they themselves 
 show as much reason as did the Chinaman, and might 
 aptly enough paraphrase his speech ; " There's nowt 
 like practice ; my feyther did it afore me ; would you 
 ha' me wiser than my feyther ? " 
 
 As this process of " roughing " or " hardening " of 
 cattle is still highly esteemed by many, let us see, if 
 you have time and patience, Berzilius, to listen to my 
 prosing as to how far the practice of eminent feeders bears 
 this notion out. In the last conversation we had — if 
 that can be called conversation where I alone was the 
 speaker — -the subject of the chemistry and physiology 
 of food was pretty fully explained. In that conver- 
 sation I pointed out that there must be a properly- 
 
UNPRODUCTIVE PART OF FOOD. 291 
 
 adjusted balance between the nitrogenous, or flesh- 
 forming, and non-nitrogenous, or respiratory, or heat 
 and fat producing substances. Purely nitrogenous 
 substances cannot support life and health, any more 
 than purely non-nitrogenous substances. 
 
 From the above it wiU be perceived that, in addition 
 to the supplying of iiesh-forming principles, the food has 
 also to support respiration, maintain the heat, and 
 assist in laying on fat. The increased weight of the 
 animal is therefore no index to the amount of food con- 
 sumed by it. The maintenance of the functions we 
 have named requires, it has been estimated by £ous- 
 singault, a quantity of flesh-forming substances, over 
 and above that required to increase the weight of the 
 animal by adding to its flesh equivalent to 18 oz. 
 These may be obtained by the consumption of a weight 
 of 12 lbs. of wheat-floor, and 60 lbs. nearly of turnips. 
 From 4 to 5 lbs. of carbon are also daily converted 
 into carbonic acid, this amount being obtained from a 
 weight of 1,000 lbs. of turnips. This extra consump- 
 tion may be called the "unproductive part of food; " 
 and it is of importance to reduce its amount as much 
 as possible. This may be done by attending to certain 
 points ; and first, as to the loss of food consumed in 
 maintaining the heat of the animal under disadvantage- 
 ous circumstances. Dr. Playfair has likened the body 
 of an animal to a furnace ; in which a quantity of food 
 is consumed to produce a certain amount of animal 
 heat. The animal heat always being equal, and the 
 temperature of the air always varying, the colder the 
 weather, the greater the amount of food consumed, 
 so to speak, in the animal furnace, in order to keep up 
 the heat to the proper degree. The less the difierence, 
 then, between the heat of the animal and that of the 
 atmosphere, the less food will have to be consumed. 
 Other circumstances being equal, the warmer the cattle 
 are kept, the quicker will be their rate of fattening. 
 Heat, then, in some sense, may be said to be food. 
 This balance of temperature is well maintained by pro- 
 per shelter, and in this way stall-feeding is peculiarly 
 
292 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 advantageous, as the temperature of the house is gene- 
 rally higher than that of the external atmosphere. 
 But while maintaining this excess of temperature, care 
 should hfi taken that a due ventilation is secured. If 
 this is not attended to, the health of the animal suffers, 
 and the quantity of food consumed being necessarily 
 lessened, enough is not taken to fatten at the rate and. 
 to the degree required. 
 
 Muscular exertion increases the activity of the organs 
 of respiration, is a powerful agent in the waste of the 
 tissues, and greatly increases the expiration of carbonic 
 acid. Exertion, then, is equivalent to consumption of 
 food ; quietness equivalent to economization of it. It is 
 in this way that stall-feeding operates so advantageously, 
 for the animal is always confined to one spot in his stall. 
 This quietness is also aided by darkening the apartment 
 in which the animals live, and rigidly excluding from 
 it all comers and goers, allowing no one to enter except 
 at stated intervals for necessary purposes. 
 
 The bulk of food is another important point, and 
 should not be lost sight of. Although nutritive matters 
 are essential, the food must assume suflB.cient bulk to aid 
 in the functions of digestion. Without this necessary 
 bulk, the effect of nutritive matters of food is injured ; 
 the addition, therefore, of woody fibre, by increasing its 
 bulk, adds to the value of the food. 
 
 Another point of importance is regularity in feeding. 
 This is essential, first, as inducing regularity of habit 
 in the animal, as that of sleep ; and secondly, in supply- 
 ing food as soon as desired by the animal. 
 
 Briefly recapitulating, then, we find, first, that in 
 addition to a proper selection of food, so that there shall 
 be a proper balance between the nitrogenous or albu- 
 minous and the non- nitrogenous or saccharine and oily 
 substances, there shall be, second, shelter, so as to secure 
 a maintenance of the proper degree of heat ; third, 
 ventilation and cleanliness ; fourth, quietness, and, in 
 some cases, darkness, or rather half gloom ; fifth, ad- 
 justment of the bulk of food ; and, sixth, regularity in 
 feeding. To these must be added a seventh, and not the 
 
VARIKT'X IN CATl'LE FOOD. 293 
 
 least important of the requirements necessary to carry 
 out a successful system of feeding, namely, attention to 
 the state of the animal's general health. To aid in 
 this, in addition to ventilation and cleanliness, attention 
 must be given to the excretions, so that regularity of 
 action be secured, and all tendency to scouring or the 
 reverse be avoided. This latter point can be attained 
 by attention to the food used, rape or oil-cake having a 
 laxative, bean-meal a constipating effect. Judicious 
 feeding consists in giving an admixture of food, so that 
 the properties of one shall correct all injurious tendencies 
 of the other, care being taken to " lean somewhat 
 towards the laxative side, as it is found that cattle are 
 the most healthy, and feed best when in that condi- 
 tion." 
 
 To this list of requirements we may add an " eighth," 
 namely, variety of food. When the food is changed 
 judiciously, the appetite is kept always up to a healthy, 
 vigorous tone. Food eaten with a relish develops fat 
 quickly. You will thus see that the feeding and care 
 of cattle is of a much more important and careful cha- 
 racter, and demanding the exercise of a greater degree 
 of skill, forethought, and kindness than some of the 
 " owd Smith " generation would care to acknowledge, if 
 pressed for an opinion on the matter. 
 
 A few remarks on the modes in use for preparing 
 food for stock will be useful. 
 
 Feeding Matekials may be divided into two classes 
 — first, those produced as ordinary crops of the farm, as 
 hay, straw, and roots (as turnips, mangolds, kohl-rabi, 
 potatoes), beans, peas, and certain qualities of cereals, 
 as wheat, oats, and barley ; and second, those obtained 
 from foreign sources, as oil-cake,/ rape-cake, cotton- 
 cake, and the like. Hay or straw or roots, used alone, 
 cannot bring an animal in the quickest way and to the 
 highest degree of fatness ; to do this, such substances as 
 oil-cake, bean-meal, and rape-cake are necessary. 
 
 OiL-CAKE — that is linseed oil-cake — has long been 
 used as a feeding material, and is very highly esteemed. 
 Its use is undoubtedly remunerative, when given along 
 
294 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 with, turnips at the rate of 4 to 6 lb. a day ; 10 to 
 12 lbs. have been, and are in some cases still, given ; no 
 roots, but hay alone being used. It is understood that 
 fattening cattle receiving 5 lbs. of oil - cake along 
 with half the usual quantity of turnips pay better 
 than if fed wholly on turaips. Linseed itself is 
 sometimes used as a feeding material. The great 
 advocate for this species of food is Mr. Warnes, who 
 holds that by the peculiar combination of linseed with 
 corn — both the produce of our own soil — a cheaper and 
 more profitable kind of food would be obtained than by 
 the use of imported oil-cake. 
 
 The following are extracts explaining Mr. Warnes' 
 method of using the linseed in conjunction with other 
 food : — 
 
 "The seed (linseed) must be first reduced to fine 
 meal, 1| lbs. of which, stirred into 12 lbs. of water while 
 it is boiling, with 4^ lbs. of barley, bean or pea-meal, 
 and given to a bullock of between 40 or 60 stone (5 cwt. 
 to 6 J cwt.) every day, will, in addition to Swedish 
 turnips, be quite sufficient, or perhaps more than he 
 would be inclined to eat. This small quantity of linseed 
 will act well on the stomach, and the bullocks will thrive 
 and fatten in a degree that can. scarcely be credited, 
 except by the person who tries the experiment. In no 
 instance has it failed 
 
 "Either potatoes, carrots, turnips, or mangold- 
 wurzels, boiled and incorporated with linseed-meal, 
 form a, compound upon which cattle fatten with great 
 rapidity. To make it, nothing more is required than 
 to fill the copper with washed potatoes, carrots, &c., 
 sliced. Supposing the copper would contain eight or 
 nine pails of water, let only one be added. In a few 
 minutes the water will boil, and the steam will speedily 
 cook the roots ; then a convenient portion should be put 
 into a stout-bottomed trough, with a little linseed meal, 
 and mashed with the rammer, while a boy turns it over. 
 The remainder must be prepared in the same way. As 
 the mass increases in the tub, it should be firmly pressed 
 down,- in order that it may retain the heat as long as 
 
WAENES' BULLOCK FATTENING FOOD. 295 
 
 possible. The length and size of the rammer ought to 
 be adapted to the height and strength of the person 
 employed. It will be found convenient to have two or 
 three at hand, varying from eighteen inches to two feet 
 long, tapering, and from four to six inches square at the 
 bottom. A pin should be passed through the top, for 
 the convenience of being worked with both hands." 
 
 The following is Mr. Warnes' method of making 
 what he called his " bullock compound : " — 
 
 " Put 150 lbs. of water (15 gallons) into an iron 
 boiler, and as soon as it boils, not before, stir in 21 lbs. 
 linseed meal ; continue to stir it for about five minutes, 
 then let 63|lbs. of barley meal be sprinkled by the hand 
 of one person upon the boiling mucilage, while another 
 rapidly stirs and crams it in. After the whole has 
 been carefully incorporated, which will not occupy more 
 than five or ten minutes, cover it down and withdraw 
 the fire. The mass will continue to simmer, from the 
 heat of the cauldron, until the meal has absorbed the 
 mucilage. On this compound being removed into tubs, 
 it must be rammed down to exclude the air, and pre- 
 vent it turning rancid. The compound will keep a 
 long time, if properly prepared. The consistency 
 ought to be like clay when made into bricks." 
 
 The use of Eape-cake as a feeding substance is now 
 becoming rapidly extended. It possesses many ad- 
 vantages ; it is cheaper by nearly one-half than linseed - 
 cake, while its feeding capacities are equal to it. 
 Wolff has proved that in feeding it is more equivalent 
 to twice its own weight of hay ; and in milk-producing 
 qualities, 1 lb. of rape-cake will produce 1 lb. of milk. 
 
 Dr. Voelcker gives the following' statement as to the 
 feeding value of rape-cake, compared with linseed cake. 
 The result of the examination of various foods : — 
 
 Linseed. 
 
 Moisture 12-44: 
 
 Oil 12-79 
 
 Nitxogeuised flesh-formers . . 27-28 
 Heat-giving substances .... 41-36 
 Mineral matters, ash 6-17 
 
 The great objection urged against its use is thedis- 
 
 Eape-cake 
 
 .. 10 68 
 
 . 11-10 
 
 . 29-53 
 
 . 40-90 
 
 . . 7-7.9 
 
296 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 like which cattle have for it. To accustom them to it, 
 Dr. Anderson recommends the bulky food, as turnips 
 and straw, to be diminished in quantity, replacing it by 
 some substance, as grain, containing in smaller bulk the 
 same amount of nutriment ; then " the craving for a 
 sufficient quantity to fill the stomach will induce the 
 animals to consume the rape, and after a few days they 
 become completely accustomed to it." 
 
 Where rape-cake is used in conjunction with other 
 food, and steamed or cooked, it is worthy of observation 
 that if it (the rape-cake) is treated with boiling water, 
 or the mixture heated beyond the boiling point, all 
 acridity disappears, and the animals eat it with avidity. 
 Mr. C. Lawrence, of Cirencester, was the first to notice 
 this — at least, to draw public attention to it — and, on 
 his representation. Dr. Voelcker carefully examined 
 some rape-cake, and furnished the following report : — 
 "I believe the pungent principle in rape-cake arises 
 from the presence of mustard- seed, which is often con- 
 tained in considerable quantities in foreign rape-cake. 
 Mustard and rape-seed belong to the same family of 
 plants, and in Germany, at least, I am sorry to say, 
 our rape-fields are often very foul with mustard. That 
 boiling water prevents the pungent, acrid smell is fully 
 explained by the chemistry of mustard-seed. That seed 
 does not contain any volatile or essential oil of mustard, 
 the cause of the pungency of mustard taste ; but it does 
 contain two peculiar principles, which, in contact with 
 cold or tepid water, generate essential oil of mustard — 
 the one is called by chemists ' myronic acid,' the other 
 ' myron.' The latter is a substance like albumen, and, 
 when moistened with cold water, acts as a kind of fer- 
 ment upon myronic acid, producing the acrid oil of 
 mustard ; whereas boiling water coagulates myron like 
 albumen. In a coagulated state, myron loses its efficacy 
 as a ferment, and consequently no pungent or acrid 
 smell is produced when cake containing mustard is 
 
 mixed in boiling water However, the practical 
 
 result of mixing rape-cake with boiling water deserves 
 to be generally known, for even pure mustard-cake will 
 
VARIETIES OF CATTLE FOOD'. 297 
 
 lose its poisonous character — or, more correctly, its 
 poisonous qualities will not be called into existence — if it 
 be mixed with water at the temperature of 212° Fahr." 
 
 Beans form a valuable food for fattening cattle. 
 They should never be given whole, but be crushed by 
 a crushing-machine, or ground into meal; bullocks 
 weighing from 7 to 8 cwt. may get from 3 to 6 lbs. of 
 the crushed beans or bean-meal. It is a usual practice, 
 however, to ttiiy the bean-meal with crushed oil-cake, 
 the quantities of each being equal; and the mixture 
 being given to the extent of 6 lbs. per day to each 
 bullock at two feeds. Where Peas are used, they should 
 also be crushed or ground into coarse meal, and mixed 
 with oil-cake, as above. 
 
 Where turnips and straw or hay are alone used as 
 the feeding materials, the quantity of turnips given at 
 the mid-day meal has been recommended to be smaller 
 than that at the morning and evening meals, as the 
 intervals between are longer at those two last meals. 
 The supply of turnips is given to the cattle in the 
 troughs, which have been previously cleaned out, so 
 as to remove all traces of former meals ; after they are 
 consumed the cattle are supplied with fodder, straw or 
 hay — the latter freshly made up — and the animals left 
 quietly to ruminate tiU next feeding time. The weight 
 of turnips consumed per day by each herd of cattle will 
 vary according to circumstances — say 11 to 12 stones 
 for cattle weighing from 5 to 6 cwt., and 16 to 18 
 stones when they weigh 8 to 9 cwt. 
 
 Straw. — Circumstances have arisen during the last 
 two seasons to set a higher value upon straw as a 
 feeding material than it at any previous period pos- 
 sessed ; and it is to be hoped that attention will now be 
 paid to its use, in order to ascertain the most economical 
 way of applying it in conjunction with other kinds of 
 food. One hundred parts of field and meadow hay give, 
 on an average, sixty-three parts of feeding value, while 
 straw, on an average of the three varieties, wheat, oats, 
 and barley, yields forty parts — a comparison showing 
 that straw possesses in reality a much higher value than 
 
298 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 has been acceded to it. To obtain the full value of 
 straw, it must be used along with other feeding mate- 
 rials, as roots, oil-cake, and the like. An allowance of 
 roots, from 65 to 70 lbs. per day, with 3 to 4 lbs. of oil- 
 cake, has been found in practice to create a considerable 
 degree of appetite for the straw; with this feed, the 
 fattening beasts have done well, and have made a profit. 
 It is not to be wondered at that the animals should turn 
 from straw with disgust when they have been over- 
 supplied with roots to the weight of, say, 100 lbs., afld 
 with oil-cakg to the weight of 10 to 12 lbs. per day. In. 
 such a case, their palled appetites can only be stimulated 
 by hay. 
 
 There has been much written and said with reference 
 to the cooking of cattle, food, and opinion seems pretty 
 equally divided upon the subject. Upon the whole, 
 evidence, we think, is more favourable to a portion of 
 the food being cooked than to the whole of it. 
 
 A variety of opinions exists amongst agriculturists 
 as to the benefit to be obtained by the pulping of roots. 
 These opinions, like many others Qn agricultural ques- 
 tions, are very conflicting, but upon a careful examina- 
 tion of the matter, pro and con, it may be safely 
 admitted that considerable advantages will arise from 
 the giving of pulped food to feeding animals. For 
 full information on the point, the reader is referred to 
 vol. XX., part 2, of the Journal of the Royal Agri- 
 cultural Society of England, p. 468. From a short paper 
 by Mr. T. Duckham, Baysham Court, Ross, Here- 
 fordshire, I extract the following, as comprising nearly 
 all that can be said as to the advantages of pulping or 
 mincing roots : — 
 
 " 1st. Economy of food, for the roots being pulped 
 and mixed with the chaflj either from threshing or cut 
 hay or straw, the whole is consumed without waste, the 
 animals not being able to separate the chafi" from the 
 pulped roots, as is the case when the roots are merely 
 sliced by the common cutter ; neither do they waste the 
 fodder as when given without being cut. 2nd. The use 
 of ordinary hay or straw. After being mixed with the 
 
VARIETIES OF CATTLE FOOD. 299 
 
 pulp for about twelve hours, fermentation commences ; 
 and this soon renders the most mouldy hay palatable, 
 and animals eat with avidity that which they would 
 otherwise reject. This fermentation softens the straw, 
 makes it more palatable, and puts it into a state to 
 assimilate more readily with the other food ; and in 
 this respect I think the pulp of great value, particu- 
 larly upon corn farms, where large crops of straw are 
 grown, and where there is a limited acreage of pasture, 
 as 'by its use the pasture may be grazed, the expensive 
 process of haymaking reduced, and consequently an 
 increased number of cattle kept. I keep one-third 
 more, giving the young stock a small quantity of oil- 
 cake, which I mix with the chaff, &c. 3rd. Choking is 
 impossible, and I have only had. one case of hove in 
 three years, and that occurred when the mixture had 
 not fermented. 4th. There is an advantage in mixing 
 the meal with the chaff and pulped roots for fattening 
 animals, as thereby they cannot separate it, and the 
 moisture from the fermentation softens the meal, and 
 insures its thorough digestion ; whereas when given in 
 a dry state, without any mixture, frequently a great 
 ■portion passes away in the manure." 
 
 Mr. Charles Lawrence, of Cirencester, makes a thick 
 soup of hot water and rape-cake ; this is mixed with 
 chaff and pulped roots. Each animal consumes per day 
 66 lbs. of pulped roots, 3 bushels of chaff, rape-cake 
 4 lbs. The weight of rape-cake at first trial is 1 lb. per 
 head per day, gradually increasing it to 4 lbs. as above. 
 Rather more than 2 bushels of chaff are mixed with the 
 pulped roots, and given at two feeds, morning and 
 evening, and the remainder is given with the cake in 
 the middle of the day. 2 lbs. of mixed meal are added 
 to the trough of each animal along with the mid-day 
 meal. Care is taken to have the rape-cake soup boiling 
 hot while it is poured over the chaff. 
 
 A brief notice of the varieties and characteristics of 
 fattening stock may be useful. The reader will find it 
 in the next chapter. 
 
\^ CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 TEEATMENT OF CALVES AOT3 YOUNG CATTLE. — VABIETIES AND OHAEAO- 
 TEEISTICS OF FATTENING CATTLE. 
 
 The maxim which some hold to be correct, " In treating 
 farm stock, follow the teachings of nature," seems at 
 first sight to be a good one, and one universally 
 applicable. On the other hand, however, it ought 
 not to be forgotten that by long continued and peculiar 
 processes of breeding and training, we have brought 
 many of our animals into a kind of artificial condition 
 very far removed, indeed, from their original ones, and 
 which necessitates, so to speak, a kind of treatment some- 
 what different, and in many points essentially so, from 
 that which we would find to be the case in their strictly 
 natural or original condition. For instance, when we 
 think of the herds of the plain and the cattle upon a 
 thousand hills, we at once associate with them all the 
 ideas of unrestrained liberty and continual exposure to 
 the winter's blasts, no less than to the summer sun ; 
 and yet we know that stall or box fed animals are 
 frequently perpetually confined, and yet maintained in 
 good health, and in a capacity to perform all their 
 functions. At the same time, in some points connected 
 with the feeding and rearing of stock, the value of the 
 lessons afforded by a study of nature cannot be over- 
 estimated : although, in many instances, we find them 
 totally neglected. Perhaps this applies more directly, 
 and with greater force, to the treatment and rearing of 
 calves than to other varieties of farm stock. 
 
 The treatment of the calf varies very much in differ- 
 ent localities and amongst different breeders. Some rear 
 the calf on milk alone, some on artificial substitutes for 
 
REARING OF CALVES. 301 
 
 it ; some leave the calf with its mother for a short time 
 that she may lick it, others leave it with her for a fort- 
 night only, and so on, practice varying with circumstances 
 of locality or opinion. Where the cow is not allowed 
 to suckle the calf, it is removed immediately on being 
 born to a separate crib — this should be placed where 
 good ventilation and light are secured — the latter is not 
 wanted where the calf is to be reared for veal — well 
 rubbed over with straw, and afterwards hand-fed with 
 the warm milk. The feeding is done three times a day, 
 and for the first three or four weeks milk is the only 
 food required — eight or ten quarts daily will be con- 
 sumed. The calf having an early penchant for nibbling, 
 a few broken pieces of oil-cake should be put into the 
 manger, and it will thus get accustomed to consume this 
 essential element in good feeding. It is also gradually 
 trained to eat turnips sliced, and hay. When able to 
 eat these, and at about six weeks old, the allowance 
 of milk should be given at two meals instead of three. 
 As the quantity of hay, roots, and linseed is iacreased, 
 the quantity of milk is proportionately decreased. After 
 the calf is six weeks old, a little exercise wiU be bene- 
 ficial in a dry, open, but well- sheltered yard. 
 
 Another method of rearing a calf is to allow it to 
 suckle the cow for a short time. The cow licking the 
 young animal promotes its circulation, while the mucus 
 with which the calf is covered at birth, acts as a proper 
 purgative to the cow. If very weak, the calf should be 
 assisted to suckle, a little milk being given by hand, 
 tiU it gains strength. The calf is confined within a 
 crib, and it is allowed to go to the mother on its return 
 from the pasture. The course of practice " is modified 
 by some breeders, who, after allowing the calf to suck 
 ten days, allow it six or eight pints of new milk twice 
 daily, and after this has been continued two or three 
 weeks, gradually substitute skimmed milk for the new 
 milk, adding oatmeal porridge, and allowing the calf 
 cut roots and hay until it is ten weeks old, when the 
 new milk is entirely stopped. Other breeders, when 
 the new milk is removed, use as a -substitute a quarter 
 
302 SMALL FAEMTNG. 
 
 of a pound crushed linseed, a quarter of a pound bean- 
 meal, a quarter of a pound molasses daily, made into 
 eight or ten quarts of soup ; and this is decidedly a 
 good artificial food for calves " (Professor Tanner). 
 
 Where the supply of milk is very small, the fol- 
 lowing has been recommended in the Irish Farmers 
 Gazette : — 
 
 " Eearing calves without some portion of milk should 
 not be attempted ; but with some milk good calves can 
 be reared as follows: — On three quarts linseed-meal 
 and four quarts bean or pea-meal pour thirty quarts 
 boiling water, cover up well for twenty- four hours, then 
 pour it into a boiler holding about thirty quarts more 
 of boiling water ; give it half an hour's boiling, stirring 
 it well all the time, then put by for use, giving it to the 
 calves milk-warm, mixed with milk. The calf should 
 get its dam's milk for the first week, when the muci- 
 lage may be mixed with it, at the rate of one-third 
 mucilage to two-thirds milk, gradually increasing the 
 mucilage and decreasing the milk till the seventh or 
 eighth week, when the milk may be entirely with- 
 drawn." 
 
 As before stated, artificially prepared food is some- 
 times substituted for the milk in the rearing of calves. 
 The following is Mr. Beamish's plan, as given by Mr. 
 Pringle in his highly useful treatise on " Meat Manu- 
 facture " : — 
 
 " Thirty quarts of boiling water are poured on three 
 quarts of linseed-meal and four quarts of bean-meal, all 
 then close covered up ; and at the end of twenty- four 
 hours added to thirty-one other quarts of boiling water 
 then on the fire, being poured in slowly to prevent 
 lumps, and being well stirred with a small, flat, shovel- 
 shaped board, perforated with holes, to produce thorough 
 incorporation. After thirty minutes' boiling and stir- 
 ring, the mucilage is put by for use, to be given blood- 
 warm to the calves as soon as they are three days old ; 
 first in equal portions with new milk, increasing 
 gradually to two-thirds, as the calf gets older, substi- 
 tuting skim milk after a month, and feeding on muci- 
 
REARING OF CAL"^'ES. 303 
 
 lage alone after six weeks. This mode of feeding will 
 be as follows, viz. : — 
 
 
 New 
 
 Skim 
 
 ; Mucil- 
 
 Total per 
 Week. 
 
 Weeks. 
 
 milk. •" 
 
 milk. 
 
 age. 
 
 
 Quarts. 
 
 Quarts. 
 
 Quarts. 
 
 Quarts. 
 
 1st 
 
 .. 22 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 32 
 
 2nd 
 
 .. 21 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 42 
 
 3rd 
 
 .. 20 
 
 — 
 
 29 
 
 49 
 
 4th 
 
 .. 20 
 
 20 
 
 36 
 43 
 
 56 
 
 5th 
 
 
 63 
 
 6th 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 50 
 756 
 
 70 
 
 7th to 15th 
 
 — 
 
 756 
 
 83 40 945 1068" 
 
 With regard to the use of these artificial foods for 
 calves, it may be accepted as a safe rule, that, if their 
 use can be dispensed with, and the milk given, it will 
 be the most economical plan, and in every way the 
 most satisfactory. Milk is the natural food of the calf. 
 The " beisting," as the milk first drawn from the cow 
 is called, contains an unusually large quantity of cheesy 
 matter, and its use by the calf prevents costiveness, 
 and aids its delicate digestion. "Milk again," says 
 Johnson, " is a perfect food for a growing animal, con- 
 taining the curd which is to form the muscles, the 
 butter which is to supply the fat, the phosphates which 
 are to build up the bones, and the sugar which is to 
 feed the respiration. Nothing is wanting in it." The 
 " internal organism of the calf points to the use of milk 
 alone for the early period of its life, and a careful ob- 
 servation of the most successful practice tends to con- 
 firm this opinion. For the same reason, we may also 
 learn another lesson from the natural habits of the 
 animal — that the supplies of food should rather be 
 moderate and frequent than larger in quantity after 
 longer intervals. . . . We find that calves which run 
 with the cow thrive better than others, because they 
 can draw their supplies of milk frequently, and in small 
 quantities — in fact, at such times as they feel the want. 
 .... Ifo doubt it may be questioned whether this is 
 an economical method, and one desirable for general 
 adoption ; but there are cases which render such a 
 
304 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 course absolutely essential to success, and, I believe, in 
 many other cases the question of economy is too often 
 viewed under the contracted aspect of present cost 
 rather than future return." 
 
 "In rearing a calf," says Professor Tanner, from 
 whose paper on Rearing and Breeding Cattle, in The 
 Journal .of the Highlarid Society, 1860, the above is 
 taken, " there is one object to be kept steadily in view, 
 and that is to promote the development of the body as 
 much as possible. In the calf which is to be fattened 
 and killed, no one will dispute it, and I believe it will 
 be equally important in the case of those which are to 
 be reared for beef, but it is stiU more important in 
 rearing breeding stock." 
 
 The following is the method of fattening calves I 
 adopted. For the first fortnight they were fed on 
 the sweet milk of the mother, getting from six to eight 
 quarts daily — more frequently the latter than the 
 former quantity ; this we gave at three times in the 
 day— morning, noon, and night. The noon meal I 
 considered of essential importance. The interval usually 
 observed from morning to night is far too long for a 
 weakly animal to fast; getting hungry, the whole 
 afternoon is spent in fretting and uneasiness : now, no 
 animal can make satisfactory progress in this state. 
 The noon meal, therefore, I insisted upon the calves 
 getting. After the first three weeks skimmed milk is 
 given thick with linseed and wheat-meal. The linseed 
 is made into a jelly by stewing it with water— thirty 
 quarts of water to three quarts of the seed. The 
 wheat I ground down to meal in one of "Whitnell's 
 Domestic Flour Mills — which, I may here state, was 
 of the greatest service to me in the preparation of 
 my cattle-food. The wheat thus ground down is rich 
 in all the constituents necessary to support and build up 
 the frame of the calf. The food is greatly relished by 
 the calves. A quantity of wheat-meal equal to a little 
 over a pint, with four quarts of skimmed milk, given 
 three times a day. The calves were then gradually 
 trained to eat small lumps of oil-cake, and to nibble at 
 
REARING OF YOUNG CATTLE. 305 
 
 hay and pieces of roots. "When ahout six weeks old, 
 the skimmed milk was only given once a day — at noon — 
 and the eyening and morning meals consisted of a mash 
 of chopped hay, with lumps of oil-cake strewed amongst 
 it. Roots were also given them to eat, with a handful of 
 uncut hay after they had eaten their chop. Their drink 
 was water with a little milk or meal in it. 
 
 The calves should, if possible, be ready to wean in the 
 month of May. Before putting them out to grass, the 
 calves should be accustomed to the use of green meat ; 
 some early vetches, rye, clover, &c., will prepare the 
 stomach for the succulent food of the pastures. The 
 weather being mild, and the herbage in good condition, 
 the calves should be put out, and on young pastures or 
 recently laid down grasses rather than old pastures. 
 As cold is prejudicial, it wiU be advisable to shelter the 
 calves at night. A. good supply of water and a change 
 of pasture are desirable for the first summer. The calves 
 should be put into the pastures first, the older cattle 
 following and finishing up. The supply of oil-cake 
 should be kept up, to prevent those checks in the growth 
 to which allusion has already been made. In some 
 cases the calves are not turned out, but are reared in 
 well-littered yards and sheds, green food and oil-cake 
 being given to them. 
 
 Young Cattle. — As autumn advances, and shorten- 
 ing days bring chilly nights, the young cattle should be 
 brought from the pasture-fields and placed under ap- 
 propriate shelter. This should not be given to them in 
 the shape of too closely confined and warm buildings, 
 which are apt to induce a sickly and debilitated condi- 
 tion in the animals, and render them less hardy and 
 more liable to the attacks of disease. No arrangement 
 for wintering young cattle can excel the court with dry 
 sheltered sheds. Here that exercise so essential to the 
 healthy development of the young animals will be ob- 
 tained, and shelter from biting winds and dashing rains 
 obtainable. As to the too often indulged-in habit of 
 roughing the animals in the open fields or yards, all 
 the winter J nothing more need here be said ; what my 
 
306 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 opinions on ttis point are the reader already knows. 
 It is altogether opposed to the true principles of feeding 
 — already, or hereafter explained in the present division. 
 Where cattle are thus used, " their owners," to quote 
 an authority I have often appealed to, " are following a 
 course which is opposed to their own interests." It is, 
 indeed, a course which the dicta of science as well as 
 the experience of practice show to be a very foolish one. 
 The medium course, between the absolute want of arti- 
 ficial shelter, and having it of too close and confined a 
 kind, is the best. 
 
 Of the various breeds adapted for fattening quickly 
 and economically, the Shorthorn is acknowledged to be 
 the best. Other breeds, as the " Hereford," Devon, 
 and Scots, or Kyloes, are good fatteners. We give 
 the following notes on the varieties and characteristics 
 of fattening cattle : — 
 
 Improved Shorthorns. — The main object in pro- 
 ducing cattle of this breed, is to secure rapid and per- 
 fect " meat-making," the " milk-giving " properties 
 being secondary in importance ; " their ponderous 
 forms," says Mr. R. Smith in the Journal of the 
 Royal Agricultural Society, "rapid growth, and early 
 maturity are the guarantee both for the economical 
 conversion of food into flesh, and for the manufacture 
 of first-rate manure for succeeding crops. Let me try," 
 continues the same writer, " to describe a model speci- 
 men of the breed. He should have a symmetrical and 
 compact form, of sufficient size, on shortish legs ; the 
 body should be covered evenly with flesh, of a mellow 
 and elastic nature, yet firm enough and springy to the 
 touch, following the fingers when the pressure is vdth- 
 drawn ; the forehead should be open, without a con- 
 tracted air about it, and tapering gracefully to the 
 muzzle ; the eye prominent, yet placid ; neck mode- 
 rately long, neatly running into the shoulders, which 
 should be well laid, gracefully fitting into the fore- 
 quarters ; the girth good over the heart ; the forearm, 
 where it joins the body, broad and tapering with fine 
 bone below the knee and fitting level into the girth, 
 
POINTS OF SHORTHORN CATTLE. 307 
 
 and so maintaining a straight line along the whole 
 animal to the extremity of the hips ; the neck-vein 
 should be prominent and well filled up with flesh, run- 
 ning neatly into the shoulder joints, which should not 
 be prominent (i.e. rough), but well covered, the muscle 
 on the outside of the shoulder being well developed ; 
 the ribs should spring well and level from the back- 
 bone, increasingly so towards the back-rib, which should 
 be well home to the quarter ; in fact, the space here 
 (termed the false-rib) should carry on in a straight 
 line over the hip, gradually tapering to the side bones 
 at the tail, but the quarter must be well packed, not 
 'scooped out,' so to speak j the hip-bones should be 
 dovetailed into the quarter and false-rib so completely 
 that one ought to be at a loss where to find them ; i.e. 
 they should not be too recognizable ; the fiank will then, 
 as I have already said, be deep and full, forming a 
 parallel line with the animal's back from the bottom of 
 the girth ; the back again, from behind the top of the 
 shoulder all along the vertebra should be well covered ; 
 the loins should be wide and thick ; the bone, or ridge 
 along the quarter, should form a straight line in con- 
 tinuation with the back, and should also be well 
 covered (which in a great many animals it very im- 
 perfectly is) to the same level; the hirst should be 
 straight down (square), moderately wide and deep, con- 
 taining a great deal of heavy flesh, and the legs should 
 be well under the animal ; there should be a thick coat 
 of mossy hair, not sharp, or what is termed wiry. 
 
 " Altogether, such an animal will have an ease and 
 grace of motion as it walks which is only attained when 
 the whole formation is in perfect harmony. There is in- 
 variably, too, a style and grandeur of appearance 
 unmistakably stamping the 'high caste' shorthorn. 
 Many well-bred animals will not feed level, but get 
 patchy, which is fatal to them as show animals, how- 
 ever stylish and fashionable in their outline. It is, 
 therefore, indispensable that an animal should lay on 
 flesh uniformly on every part, so as not to spoil the 
 proportion of the several parts. Rough shoulders are 
 
308 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 always accompanied by heavy open shoulder-blades 
 and a slack, bad girth, deficient through the heart as 
 well as the top of the plates immediately behind the 
 shoulder. The animal is also sadly deficient in neck- 
 vein, very weak and ill-filled where it joins the shoulder- 
 points. Again, however good an animal is in all other 
 respects, it is imperative that the hind-quarter be well 
 finished and neat ; nothing proclaims a low-bred cha- 
 racter so distinctly as an ill-turned quarter. If the 
 tail is not neatly set on, failing to come well out to 
 form the square at the hirst, you may be sure some- 
 thing is wrong. While, however, the tail is well set 
 on, and the side bones sufficiently high to carry the 
 flesh fully up to the level of the quarter, there should 
 not be any redundancy to mark and separate the rumps 
 from the adjoining quarter. The hind legs must not 
 be overlooked ; if the hocks are too much bent, too 
 long, or not well under the animal, it is a serious objec- 
 tion. The hind legs should be nearly straight, and 
 well under the animal ; this not only looks well, but is 
 a mark of strength as obviously the reverse is one of 
 weakness." — Journal of Royal Agricultural Society of 
 England, vol. xx., p. 330. 
 
 The " Hereford " breed was formerly in high repute 
 for the draught purposes of the farm. This purpose 
 being, however, nearly set aside, the breed is more 
 prized for his "beef-producing qualities, for which 
 his scale of form, early maturity, and aptitude to fatten 
 render him highly distinguished." The following, ac- 
 cording to Mr. Smith, from whom we have already 
 quoted, are the characteristics of the breed :-;^" The 
 face, mane, throat, the under portion of the body, the 
 inside and lower portion of the legs, and the top of the 
 tail are beautifully white ; the other parts of the body 
 a rich red, usually darker in the male than the female ; 
 the horn is white or light yellow, of a waxy appearance, 
 sometimes tipped with black. The forehead is broad, 
 with spreading horns ; those of the bull straight and 
 level with the poll, and of the ox and cow slightly 
 curved, with an upward tendency. The eye is full, yet 
 
HEREFORD AND DEVON CATTLT3. 309 
 
 of a passive expression, denoting the quietness of dis- 
 position and temper characteristic of the Hereford, and 
 which is of paramount importance to insure the profit- 
 able feeding of all ruminating animals. The cheek is 
 fine, the head small in proportion to the carcase, which 
 is long, level, and cylindrical. The hide is thick yet 
 mellow, and well co verted with moderately long soft 
 hair, having a tendency to curl. The brisket is promi- 
 nent, the chest well expanded, and the breed is emi- 
 nently distinguished for neatness of shoulder ; the bone 
 being thin and flat, the kernel full up, the outside 
 shoulder well covered with mellow flesh, the chine 
 good, the loin broad, the hips wide and level, the whole 
 back displaying a straight line, well covered with flesh 
 from the neck to the tail; the hirst-flank and fore- flank 
 are good, the outside thigh is perhaps the most defec- 
 tive part. The whole body is well covered with rich 
 mellow flesh, yielding with pleasant elasticity to the 
 touch. The legs are short and the bone small, and the 
 whole contour displays good constitution, and exhibits, 
 perhaps, a larger proportion of flesh, in proportion to 
 bone, than any other breed." 
 
 The " Devon," according to Mr. Smith, is eminently 
 fitted for every hardship, the frame being compact, 
 with the ofial light ; they have powers of great en- 
 durance ; being " cast in a peculiar mould " they have 
 a degree of elegance in their movement which is not to 
 be excelled. As animal food producers they are unsur- 
 passed, and, in consequence, they receive the first 
 attention of the London west-end butchers. A first- 
 rate Devon " has a prominent eye, with a placid face, 
 small nose, and elegantly turned horns, which have an 
 upward tendency (and cast outward at the end), as if to 
 put the last finish upon his symmetrical form and car- 
 riage. These animals are beautifully covered with sUky 
 coats of a medium red colour. The shoulder-points, 
 sides, and fore-flanks are well covered with rich meat, 
 which, when blended with their peculiar property of 
 producing meat of fitst-rate quality along their tops, 
 makes them what they are — ' models of perfection.' " 
 
310 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 Some object to the North Devon, and class him as a 
 small animal, with the remark, "He is too small for the 
 grazier." In saying this it should ever be remembered, 
 that the Devon has his peculiar mission to perform, viz., 
 — that of converting the produce of cold and hilly pas- 
 tures into meat, which could not be done to advantage 
 by large-framed animals, however good their parent- 
 age. The Devon may thus be designated the " pony of 
 the ox tribe." 
 
 The following are the principal breeds of Scotland : 
 —"Angus," or "Aberdeen," "Galloways," "Ayr- 
 shire," and " Highland," or " Kyloe." 
 
 'Ihe Angus or Aberdeen polled cattle breed has lately 
 attracted great attention in this country and on the 
 Continent. " Their massive frame, hardy constitution, 
 quiet disposition, aptitude to fatten, and excellent beef, 
 have tended to recommend them to the notice of breeders 
 and feeders in these countries." 
 
 The " Highland," like the Devon, is highly estimated 
 by the London west-end butchers. It is very hardy, 
 and will pick up a living in places which would be 
 virtually barren to other breeds. He well repays, how- 
 ever, any attention in the matter of fattening, by the 
 rapidity with which the process is carried on, and 
 the excellence of the beef which is produced. The 
 size is small, the colour jet black, or light dun, the 
 horns long, and are curved outwards and upwards ; 
 the body is covered with a soft coat, the hair long and 
 curled. The beef is formed chiefly in the back, which 
 keeps straight — the body being round. 
 
 Although I have already given " points " or indica- 
 tions which will enable one, in a general way, to judge 
 of the properties of an animal proposed to be fattened, 
 still an extensive experience alone can give those ready 
 facilities for judging the value of stock, so practically 
 useful, by their form. The " touch " is one of the most 
 important points on which the feeder can rely. The 
 state of the skin at once gives an indication as to the 
 value of the animal. Its characteristics should be a 
 softness and pliability which, while yielding a gentle 
 
POINTS OF A GOOD BULL. 311 
 
 resistance to pressure, will present an elasticity which, 
 allowing the pressed finger to give a mark or indenta- 
 tion to it, will enable it to rise again to its usual 
 condition. The hair should not be straightly and 
 closely laid on, nor stand straight out from the skin, 
 but should have a wavy appearance as if it had a ten- 
 dency to curl. The tendency to yield fat gives a round- 
 ness to the body ; and breadth of carcase is indispen- 
 sable — depth and width of chest, breadth at the hips, 
 fulness and roundness of the crop, smallness and 
 fineness of head — all absence of angularity — are other 
 marks of a favourable character. The body should be 
 such, that a balance is preserved in all its parts, that 
 is, the length, breadth, and height of the fore and hind 
 quarters equal. This wiU give the form of a rectangle, 
 or oblong-square as it is sometimes called, with all the 
 ■paj-ts filled up. The illustration in Fig. 55 will give a 
 good idea of the proper shape and form of a Shorthorn 
 cow. 
 
 POINTS INDICATING A WELL-DEVELOPED BULL. 
 
 TJm head should be rather small in proportion to the 
 animal, and well set on the neck, with a fine tapering 
 muzzle, a broad forehead, bright, full, yet placid eyes, 
 furnished with a graceful horn of fine quality, and ears 
 small and fine. 
 
 The neck should be thick but not too short, but having 
 a graceful appearance by tapering steadily towards the 
 head, and yet not getting thin behind the ears. 
 
 The shoulder should be snugly in the carcase ; it 
 should be covered with a well-developed muscle down 
 to the knee, below which it should possess a fine and 
 flat bony structure. 
 
 The chest should be bold and promiaent, wide and 
 deep, furnished with a deep, but not a coarse dewlap. 
 
 The carcase should be barrel-shaped, having a top 
 level and broad, especially across the hips. The ribs 
 should be well rounded ; the space between the last rib 
 and the pin should not be too short, yet at the same 
 time we must guard against too much length ; there 
 
312 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 will, however, be little cause for objection if the rib is 
 well rounded and the bone flat, for it will add weight 
 to the animal in a good part. The flank should be full 
 and pendent. 
 
 The hind legs should be full and fleshy down to the 
 hock, with a well-developed buttock, showing great 
 substance, but below the hock we require a fine and 
 cleanly-formed bone. 
 
 The tail should be finely formed without much hair. 
 
 The hide mellow to the touch, covered with a fine yet 
 plentiful coat of hair. 
 
 The above is from a paper by Professor Tanner on 
 "Breeding and Rearing Cattle," in "Transactions of 
 Highland Society," vol. for 1860, p. 341. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 BAIBY MAJJAGEMENT. — CHOICE OP COWS. — THE rEEDING OF COWS. — 
 CATTLE-SOILINO. 
 
 The cow and her management are the important points 
 of the dairy department. You cannot churn profitably 
 without good milk ; and the more milk you get at the 
 same cost of feeding the better. The principal breeds 
 of dairy cows are the shorthorns, the Suffolk, the Ayr- 
 shire, the Kerry, and the Alderney. To these I may 
 add the Brittany cow, which, from its smallness, neat- 
 ness, and reputed good milking qualities, is now attract- 
 ing considerable attention. It bids fair to compete 
 favourably with the Alderney or Channel- island cow, 
 which has long been a favourite for gentlemen's house- 
 hold dairies and foi* the play-farm of amateurs. 
 Professor Gamgee, of the New Veterinary College, 
 Edinburgh, pronounces the Brittany cow "to be 
 essentially an animal for family use." 
 
 Of the breeds I have just enumerated, the Short- 
 horn is perhaps the best ; certainly, from its reputation, 
 it has been for some time influencing all other breeds, 
 to a greater or less degree. So popular, in fact, is the 
 breed, that even those not intimately mixed up with 
 agricultural matters must have heard not seldom the 
 term " Shorthorn," and have wondered, possibly, what 
 it meant. 
 
 The principal breeds of dairy cattle are the Short- 
 horns, the Suffolk, the Ayrshire, the Kerry, and the 
 Alderney or Jersey. Of these, the most important is 
 the Shorthorn, as it is influencing almost every other 
 breed, and is, perhaps, the most highly esteemed. 
 
 The following is a scale of points for Shorthorn cows, 
 
314 
 
 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 as given in the " Transactions " of the Board of Agri- 
 culture of Lower Canada, which may be some guide to 
 the reader in the choice of a cow : — 
 
 " Scale of Points for Shorthorn Cows. 
 
 " 1. Purity of breed on male and female side ; sire 
 and dam reputed for docility and disposition, early 
 maturity, and aptitude to fatten; sire a good stock- 
 getter, dam a good breeder, giving a large quantity of 
 milk, or such as is superior for making butter and 
 cheese. 
 
 " 2. Head small and tapering, longer and narrower 
 in proportion than that of the bull ; horns fine, and 
 gradually diminishing to a point, of a flat rather than 
 a round shape at the base, short, and inclined to turn 
 up ; those of a clear, wavy colour to be preferred, but 
 such as are of a transparent white, slightly tinged with 
 yellow, admissible ; ears small, thin, and well covered 
 with soft hair, playing quick, and moving freely; fore- 
 head of good breadth between the eyes, and slightly 
 dished ; eyes bright, placid, and rather prominent than 
 otherwise, with a yellow rim round them ; the lower 
 part of the face clean, and well developing the course of 
 the veins ; muzzle small ; nose of a clear orange or 
 light chocolate colour, the former much preferred ; 
 nostrils wide and well opened ; lower jaw thin ; teeth 
 clean and sound. 
 
 " 3. Neck fine and thin, straight, and well set on the 
 head and shoulders, harmoniously widening, deepening, 
 and slightly rounding, in a delicate feminine manner, 
 as it approaches the latter point ; no dewlap. 
 
 " 4. Shoulders fine and well placed ; fore-legs short, 
 straight, and well spread apart ; fore-arm wide, mus- 
 cular, slightly swelling, and full above the knee ; the 
 bone fine and flat below ; knees well knit and strong ; 
 foot flat, and in the shape of an oblong semicircle ; 
 horn of hoof sound, and of a clear wavy colour. 
 
 " 5. Chest broad, deep, and projecting ; the brisket 
 in a lower line than the belly. 
 
 " 6. Barrel round, deep, and well ribbed to the hips. 
 
POINTS OF SHORTHORN COWS. 
 
 315 
 
 " 7. Back short, strong, and straight from the withers 
 to the setting of the tail ; crop round and full ; loin 
 broad ; huckle-bones on a level with the back ; tail 
 well set, on a level with the back, or very slightly 
 below it, fine, and gradually diminishing to a point, 
 and hanging without the brush an inch or so below the 
 back, at right-angles with the back. 
 
 " 8. Hind-quarters from the buckles to the point of 
 the rump long and well filled up ; twist well let down, 
 and full; hind-legs short, straight, and well spread 
 apart, gradually swelling and rounding above the hock, 
 the bone fine and flat below ; foot flat, and in shape of 
 
 JFig. 55. 
 
 an oblong semicircle ; horn of the hoof sound, and of 
 a clear, wavy colour ; legs not to cross each other in 
 walking, nor to straddle behind. 
 
 " 9. TJdder broad and full, extending well forward 
 along the belly, and well up behind ; teats of a good 
 size for the hand, squarely placed, with a slight oblique 
 pointing out ; wide apart ; when pressed by the hand, 
 the milli flowing from them freely ; extra teats, indica- 
 tive of good milking qualities, but should never be 
 milked, as they draw the bag out of shape. Milk- veins 
 large and swelling ; milk excelling either in quantity 
 or quality for making butter or cheese. 
 
316 
 
 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 " 10. [Skin of a medium thickness, movable and 
 mellow ; a white colour admissible, but a rich cream 
 or orange much preferable. (We speak of a bare skin 
 beneath the hair.) It is believed, as a rule, that cows 
 with a cream-coloured skin yield the richest milk. 
 Hair well covering the hide, soft and fine, and if under- 
 coated with soft, thick fur in the winter, so much the 
 better. Colour, pure white; red roan; bright red; 
 red and white ; spotted roan, or reddish yellow." The 
 illustration in Fig. 55 is that of a Shorthorn cow of a 
 first-class breed. 
 
 The following excellent description of the peculiari- 
 ties of the Brittany cow is from Professor Gamgee's 
 work on " Dairy Stock " — a work, we may add, likely 
 to take, and worthy to maintain, a highly useful position 
 in agricultural literature : — 
 
 " Standing from thirty-two to forty-two inches high 
 at the period of maturity — viz., at four years of age — 
 there is a remarkable symmetry of form ; a short, fine 
 head, with sharp outline, small muzzle, well-defined 
 nostrils, quick, well-made eye, small ear, and slender 
 horn, indicate the pure blood. The horns are well set, 
 curving outwards and upwards, with the points turned 
 to each other. In proportion as the horn is slender, is 
 it prized by all judges of a Brittany cow. The colour 
 of the horn is usually white at the root, and black 
 towards the point ; sometimes it is all black, or all of 
 a yellowish colour ; at others, but far more rarely, it 
 is of a pure white throughout its whole length. 
 
 " The head is beautifully hung on a slender neck, 
 which is well defined from the sharp outline of the 
 jaws ; the crest is free, and the dewlap very small. 
 
 " The body of the little animals is distinguished by 
 a straight back, with well-formed withers ; long and 
 broad loins ; prominent hips, indicating a large pelvic 
 capacity, hence capabilities for bearing young. The 
 rump is short, and the long tail is well attached, though 
 the defect of the Ayrshire breed is sometimes seen from 
 an elevation at the root of the tail, and a depression 
 just at its apparent attachment. When the tail is thick 
 
POINTS OF THE BRITTANY COW. 317 
 
 at the base, and elevated or outwardly attached, there 
 are usually other defects of external form. 
 
 " The chest of the Brittany cow is wide and deep, 
 with ribs well arched, and affording good room for 
 internal organs. 
 
 " The limbs are very beautiful, with large fore-arms, 
 though slightly muscular ; short legs ; joints small, but 
 well defined ; and the limbs, usually straight, are always 
 tapering and slender. The hoofs are small, dry, and 
 black. 
 
 " The skin is, in a good cow, invariably very fine 
 and supple ; the coat short and shiny ; the colour is 
 usually black and white; some, but very few, are all 
 black, or with a white mark across the withers or croup, 
 or along the back ; the lower part of the belly is usually 
 white ; the muzzle is black, or black and white, rarely 
 quite white ; the roof of the mouth and tongue is always 
 white. Some Brittany cows are red and white, and if 
 a really good specimen of this colour can be met with, 
 it is highly esteemed in France, and will realise a very 
 heavy price j but usually the red and white Brittany 
 cows are not so good as the black ones. 
 
 " The udder is generally well shaped, compact, though 
 large for so small an animal, with teats pointing inwards. 
 The mammary vein, commonly called the vessel, is large 
 and flexuous. According to Guenon's system, every 
 fine Brittany cow shows the typical points of a good 
 milker, and usually belongs to the first class — that of 
 the flandrines. 
 
 " A Brittany cow is capable of great endurance. She 
 is active and strong, though always gentle and quiet. 
 Hardy by nature, she thrives under any circumstances, 
 and when well cared for and stall fed, fattens rapidly. 
 She has, indeed, the greatest aptitude for laying on 
 flesh so soon as the secretion of the milk is suspended. 
 This should not be lost sight of by those who purchase 
 these animals chiefly for the milk they yield. It will 
 be found that, in proportion as they are allowed exer- 
 cise when well fed, they will continue to give much 
 milk." 
 
318 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 Having decided on the breed of the dairy cow you 
 purpose keeping, j'ou must not omit to see that the 
 particular animal you choose possesses all the character- 
 istics of a good milker. The mere breed will not secure 
 these. A cow is at its best paying time when it has 
 had its second or third calf. It is important, therefore, 
 in purchasing, to be sure of the age of the cow, and 
 also to know her "note," as it is called ; that is, when she 
 had her last calf, or the date of her next calving. The 
 appearance which the " milk- veins " present is another 
 point. They run down on either side of the animal 
 towards the udder ; and if the animal is not fat, they 
 are easily discovered by gentle pressure, and sometimes 
 are so prominent that they can easily be seen. The 
 appearance of the milk-veins should be taken along 
 with the condition of the skin ; this should feel soft and 
 mellow to the touch, not hard, rough, and " staring," 
 which always indicates an animal in poor condition. 
 The appearance of the udder of the cow is also an 
 important test. The udder should be full, swelling, 
 and capacious, not " puckered up," to use an apt enough 
 expression, under one part of the belly, but projecting 
 well behind the legs, and also pretty well forward under 
 the belly. The udder should feel soft and thin to the 
 touch, not fleshy and thick, which latter attributes may 
 give an appearance of fulness which it does not possess 
 in reality. Be careful to see that the number of the 
 teats on the udder is perfect, namely, four. If not 
 perfect in her " quarters," as the technical word is, 
 there is just a proportionate loss in the milk obtained ; 
 if one teat is absent, about a fourth less in quantity is 
 the result. This arises from the fact that the udder 
 is divided into four separate compartments, or " milk 
 glands," each being supplied with its own teat. The 
 udder is not, as has been observed, a barrel with four 
 taps, by means of any one of which the whole contents 
 can be withdrawn, but four separate vessels, each dis- 
 tinct from its neighbour, and each supplied with its 
 tap. It is not only of importance that the " quarters," 
 or teats, are complete, but it is necessary to see that 
 
GENEKAL TEEATMENT OF THE COW. 319 
 
 they are well placed on the udder — ^not closely set, but 
 pretty far and equally apart — and are of uniform appear- 
 ance. The eyes of the cow should be large, mild, and 
 clear, docility of temper and quie tness of disposition being 
 very essential. Ill-temper and restlessness in a cow only 
 brings about a loss of milk and general condition. 
 
 And here I would point out seven requisites to be 
 attended to in the management of cows, which, neglected, 
 will assuredly yield you nothing but care and disap- 
 pointment : — Mrst, regularity in feeding ; second, regu- 
 larity in milking ; third, careful and complete milking ; 
 fourth, gentle treatment ; fifth, regularity and complete- 
 ness in .cleaning both animal and stall ; sixth, venti- 
 lation ; seventh, a proper degree of warmth. On the 
 first, fifth, sixth, and seventh, I have already, in the 
 chapter on cattle feeding, somewhat largely dwelt. The 
 importance of the second is obvious enough, but on the 
 third and fourth I have a few words to say. Careful 
 and complete milking, the udder must be completely 
 emptied, for two important reasons — -first, the milk last 
 drawn is the richest and the best, the poorest is always 
 drawn first, being at the bottom, as it were, of the milk 
 glands, just as the worst milk is at the bottom of a 
 basin, the cream being at the top. The " afterings," 
 as the last milk is termed, is the richest. The second 
 important reason for completely emptying the udder is, 
 that if not done the cow will soon cease to give milk at 
 all. Indeed, the method of incompletely milking her 
 is that used to make a cow go dry before she is about to 
 calve. No way so speedy and efiectual, then, for drying 
 a cow as incomplete milking. A first-rate and con- 
 scientious dairymaid at the head of an establishment 
 where many cows are kept, knowing the importance of 
 this, goes round after the helps have done milking, and 
 by "stripping" each cow, sees that they are milked 
 " clean ; " or still more certainly to secure this essential 
 in dairy-cow management, she takes off the " afterings" 
 herself. 
 
 Therefore, have nothing to do with any one who is 
 to look after the cows, unless he comes recommended to 
 
320 
 
 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 you as thoroughly competent. If a man— in the north 
 of England, men generally milk ; in some districts to do 
 this is considered derogatory by men, and the milking 
 is given over to the females — however clever and well 
 recommended for his general abilities, is not sure of 
 being a good milker, or who says he thinks he could do 
 it, or who could soon learn — it will be better to cease 
 further negotiation. He is not the man for you ; while 
 he is learning to milk he may be spoiling your cow. 
 Then, as to the fourth of the points I have enumerated, 
 namely, " gentle treatment," be sure that your cow- 
 man or dairymaid is of a kindly disposition. If you 
 are in the habit — which you should be — of continually, 
 in your spare moments, " knocking about the place," 
 as your men will likely term it, you will very soon see 
 what manner of assistants you have. I have known 
 ill-tempered men wreak their miserable wrath upon the 
 poor unoffending animals, by means of kicks and 
 punches ; or by an infinite variety of less obvious, but 
 not the less annoying, habits tease and torment the 
 animals till they get restless and excited, and, of course, 
 they fall off in milking at once. Animals have their 
 own special idiosyncrasies, and require, like their 
 " noble masters," to be humoured and treated consider- 
 ately ; and it is astonishing how soon some men, as 
 compared with others, will find out how a cow requires 
 to be humoured. 
 
 Have your eyes about you when you go into the cow- 
 house at feeding or milking time, you will soon be able 
 to discover whether the cows are kindly treated. I 
 have seen a cow almost caress one man, follow and obey 
 him like a dog, which, with another man beside her, 
 would show all the signs of restlessness and fear. I 
 speak only the truth when I say that there is a vast 
 deal of deliberate, and fiendish, I may add, cruelty 
 exercised towards the animals of our farms throughout 
 the country, by debased and brutal men ; and not a 
 little, I regret to say, done by peevish, cross-grained 
 dairymaids. Let the master look to this ; policy and 
 his pocket as well as humanity demand it. 
 
MANAGEMENT OF DAIRY CATTLE. 321 
 
 In the management of dairy-cattle there are two 
 plans pursiied — first, that in which the cows are more 
 or less pastured ; and, second, that in which they are 
 wholly housed, or nearly so. Both systems have their 
 able advocates. In the former method, where strictly 
 pursued, the cows have access to the pasture-field daily 
 throughout the year, for a shorter or longer period, 
 according to the period of the year and other circum- 
 stances. The best old pastures should be kept for the 
 cows, care being taken to secure them a "fresh bite" 
 by changing them frequently. Some dairymen keep 
 their cows out in all weathers ; this is to be reprehended, 
 as, for instance, in very hot weather, keeping them out 
 only subjects them to the annoyance of insects, which, 
 keeping them in a state of continual irritability, 
 has a prejudicial influence on the yield of mUk ; on 
 the other hand, keeping them out in extremely cold 
 weather lessens also the produce of milk. In both of 
 these cases, when housed, the cattle should be provided 
 with cut food. Some dairymen keep their cows out in 
 the pasture all night during summer, milking them in 
 the yard ; some, on the contrary, keep them in the 
 house all night, supplied with food, milking them in 
 the morning and turning them out to the pasture there- 
 after. When the pastures begin to fail, a supply of 
 vetches, cabbages, &c. wUl be found of great use. 
 Although generally thought to be almost immediately 
 destroyed by frost, cabbages are reaUy more hardy. 
 I have found the " drum-head " or " cow " cabbage, 
 and the " Swedenborgian " or "giant" cabbage, stand 
 repeated and severe frosts. I have fed far into the 
 winter with cabbages, cutting them in the field as 
 required. When well hearted, I find the frost afiects 
 the outer or the two outer layers of leaves, but the 
 heart is generally fresh and sound. The leaves of the 
 " giant " cabbage seem to stand frost well. At Christ- 
 mas time even I have had cabbages standing in the 
 field, presenting, in spite of previous severe frosts, a 
 very healthy appearance, and have had a supply of green 
 food far on in the spring. In addition to the winter 
 
 Y 
 
322 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 food ordinarily used in dairy-cattle feeding, other sub- 
 stances, as oil-cake, bean-meal, &c., &c., are now being 
 largely introduced. The use of these I shall shortly 
 discuss. In summer even, in some cases, it is the prac- 
 tice to add to the grass-feed some feeding substance, 
 as cake. 
 
 In the second method of keeping dairy-cows, in 
 which they are wholly housed — " the soiling-system," 
 as it is called — a much greater number of cows can be 
 kept than when a regular pasturing is pursued. The 
 great points to be observed in the " soiling " of dairy- 
 cattle axe— first, regularity in feeding ; second, diversity 
 of food employed ; third, warmth ; fourth, cleanliness'; 
 fifth, ventilation. Regularity of feeding is of the utmost 
 importance ; where this is not attended to, the animals, 
 not being fed at the accustomed period, become restless 
 and irritable, and this has a bad influence in the yield 
 of milk. Diversity of food is also another important 
 matter to be attended to. " If a cow always receives 
 the same kind of food, the quantity of milk which she 
 yields daily will gradually decrease; whereas when 
 there is a frequent change of diet, it will increase, or 
 be maintained at as high a pitch as she is capable of 
 producing. With this object, therefore, the addition 
 of 3 or 4 lbs. weight per day of crushed cake or 
 linseed-meal will be found very useful in the case of 
 house-fed cows, securing a diversity of diet as well as 
 a kind of food naturally favourable to the production 
 of milk. It is, in fact, the change of food more than 
 even what is called 'a clean bite' which renders 
 frequent shifting in the pasture so desirable." 
 
 I now proceed to notice a few methods of managing 
 dairy-cattle as pursued by different authorities, from 
 which my amateur reader may derive a variety of use- 
 ful hints, as well as be prompted, perhaps, to try a 
 few experiments himself to test their practicability in 
 the dairy. Perhaps the most celebrated system — as it 
 is undoubtedly the most scientific in its basis, is that 
 introduced by Mr. Horsfall, and expounded in two 
 elaborate essays in the Journal of the Royal Agricul- 
 
HORSFALL'S SYSTEM. 323 
 
 tural Society of England. The system has a two- 
 fold aim in view, namely, the iacrease of condition in 
 the fattening of an animal and its milk-producing 
 capacity. These Mr. Horsfall has abundantly 
 proved are not incompatible ; however much they 
 clash with popular notions of some districts which 
 maintain that, to be good milkers, cows must be 
 wretchedly thin or in poor condition. " My food," 
 says Mr. Horsfall, " for milch-cows, after having under- 
 gone various modifications, has for two seasons consisted 
 of rape-cake 5 lbs., and bran 2 \ha,,J'or each cow, mixed 
 with a sufficient quantity of bean -straw, oat-straw, and 
 shells of oats, in equal proportions — to supply them 
 three times a day with as much as they will eat. The 
 whole of the materials are moistened and blended 
 together, and after being well steamed are given to 
 the animals in a warm state. The attendant is 
 allowed 1 lb. to IJ lbs. per cow, according to cir- 
 cumstances, of bean-meal, which he is charged to 
 give to each cow in proportion to the yield of milk, 
 those in full milk getting 2 lbs. each per day, others 
 but little : it is dry, and mixed with the steam food 
 on its being dealt out separately ; when this is eaten 
 up, green food is given, consisting of cabbages from 
 October to December, kohl-rabi till February, and 
 mangold till grass time, with a view to nicety of 
 flavour. I limit the supply of green food to 30 or 
 35 lbs. per day for each. After each feed 4 lbs. of 
 meadow hay, or 12 lbs. per day, is given to each cow ; 
 they are allowed water twice a day to the extent they 
 will drink .... During May my cows are turned 
 out in a rich pasture, near the homestead; towards 
 evening they are again housed for the night, when 
 they are supplied with a mess of the steamed mixture, 
 and a little hay each, morning and evening. During 
 June, when the grasses are better grown, mown grass 
 is given to them, instead of hay, and they are also 
 allowed two feeds of steamed mixture. This treatment 
 is continued till October, when they are again wholly 
 housed." 
 
^^24 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 In the food thus given by Mr. Horsfall the hay and 
 roots yield what is necessary to maintain the animal in 
 good condition : while the rape-cake, bran, and bean- 
 meal supply the extra food required to keep up the 
 supply of milk. Latterly, Mr. Horsfall has used a 
 modified form of food — giving less hay ; that is, in 
 place of 12 lbs., 9 lbs. ; and also less roots, that is, 
 28 lbs. in place of 36 lbs. per day. He at the same 
 time increased the quantity of rape-cake from 5 lbs. to 
 6 lbs. per day, and added 1 lb. per day of bran, and 
 also of malt-combs. This latter — which is the dried 
 germinating sprouts of barley or malt— is rich in albu- 
 minous matter, and greatly aids the production of milk. 
 I use it largely, and find it beneficial. 
 
 I tried Mr. Horsfall's system last winter for some 
 time, and with marked economical results. I, however, 
 substituted oU-cake, that is, linseed-cake, for the rape- 
 cake, which I could not so readily or conveniently 
 obtain. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. PuUeine, in a prize essay of the " York- 
 shire Agricultural Society," details his system of feeding 
 as follows : — " It is a good plan to take up cows as soon 
 as the nights become cold — say the middle of October, 
 as the white frosts which occur about that time cause 
 them to run off their milk. They are turned out during 
 the day till the middle of November if the weather keeps 
 fine. From that period till May-day. they are kept 
 entirely in the house, except being turned out a few 
 minutes every afternoon to water. They are milked at 
 haK-past five o'clock, morning and evening. As soon 
 as the man who feeds them comes in the morning, the 
 dung is all removed, and each cow has a feed of 28 lbs. 
 of roots. 
 
 7 lbs. of chopped hay. 
 
 A pail of water with J lb. of bean-meal 
 
 stirred into it. 
 2 lbs. of linseed-cake. 
 7 lbs. of chopped hay. 
 Turned out to water, and then 2 lbs. of 
 
 bruised cake. 
 28 lbs. of roots. 
 7 lbs. of chopped hay. 
 
 At 
 
 7 
 
 a.m. 
 
 ii 
 
 9 
 10 
 
 J) 
 
 J, 
 
 1 
 
 p.m. 
 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 8 
 
 It 
 J) 
 
FEEDING OF DAIRY CATTLE. 325 
 
 On this system of management, five cows produced in 
 seven weeks, from the 25th of March to the 10th of 
 May, 191 rolls of butter, 24 ounces to the roll, equal to 
 about 254 lbs., 16 ounces to the pound. To this must 
 be added 154 quarts of new milk and 42 quarts of cream 
 consumed in the house. The milk was not regularly 
 measured, but averaged about 60 quarts per day." 
 
 From an article in the Journal of Agriculture I quote 
 the following : — 
 
 "The state in which the food is given has also a 
 great efiect in the production of both milk and butter. 
 We have observed more than once that the yield of 
 butter and milk is never so great when we give cows 
 boiled turnips, with beans boiled quite soft amongst 
 them, as when they get the boiled turnips and the same 
 weight of beans made into meal and mixed raw with 
 them. Again, there is more milk and no taste of the 
 turnip in it, when the turnips are pulped and mixed 
 with cut straw or chaff, and fermented, than if the 
 same weight of turnips are given whole and raw. In 
 the Journal cP Agriculture Pratique we read a short 
 notice on this subject by M. Lejeune, a director of the 
 Agricultural school at Thourout, in Belgium. The 
 facts he reports are not to be regarded as experiments 
 instituted to test any theory, but are merely extracted 
 from his accounts, and show the importance of attend- 
 ing to the mode in which their food is given to milk- 
 cows. In February, 1855, the milk of eight cows was 
 selected for experiment. The cows were fed in the 
 following manner : — ^Each cow got per day 4'4 lbs. of 
 meadow hay, 13"2 lbs. straw, 48 lbs. linseed-meal, 
 1 1 '5 lbs. of beetroot, and a cooked mash, consisting of 
 55 lbs. of turnips, 27 lbs. of beetroot, 1'2 lb. linseed- 
 meal, 3'21bs. of rape-cake, I'l lb. of grain dust, I'llb. 
 of mixed meal, about 1^ ounces of salt, and six gallons 
 of water. From this very watery diet a large quantity 
 of milk was obtained, 16 quarts of which gavel lb. of 
 butter. In the month of February, 1856, the calcu- 
 lation was made from the milk of ten cows, eight of 
 which were those with which the observations were 
 
326 
 
 SMALL FAKMING. 
 
 made in the previous year. The nutritive value of the 
 food detailed above was calculated to be equivalent to 
 upwards of 30 lbs. of good meadow hay per head. The 
 food given in 1856 consisted of oat-straw, beetroot, the 
 meal of rye, oats, and buckwheat, linseed-cake, rape- 
 cake, and the dust of wheat or bran, given in such pro- 
 portions as to make the equivalent value of the day's 
 feed equal to a little more than 31 lbs. per head of hay. 
 None of it was cooked, and the beetroot was reduced to 
 small pieces and sprinkled over the meal. There was 
 not the same quantity of milk, but the proportion of 
 butter was much larger, being 2 lbs. of butter for every 
 20 quarts of milk. The cows, with the exception of 
 the food, were managed in the same way in both years, 
 and there were more newly-calved cows in 1855 than 
 in 1856." 
 
 In or near towns the management of dairy cows has 
 reference more to the quantity of milk produced than to 
 its quality. To increase the quantity of milk, the suc- 
 culency of the food rather than the amount of nutrition 
 it contains is the point looked after, hence the use of 
 brewer's grains, and the liquid refuse of distilleries. 
 
 Mr. Davy's Food for Cattle. — In the Bath and 
 West of England Society's Journal, vol. v., new series, 
 p. 314, an account is given of the food used by this 
 gentleman at his farm near Truro, Cornwall. The 
 food consists of a mixture of grated turnips and chaff- 
 straw, in the proportion of 90 lbs. of the former to 7 
 lbs. of the latter, mixed in the following manner. "The 
 grated turnips (swedes) are intimately mixed with the 
 chaff in a bin sufficiently large to supply the cattle with 
 one day's food. These ingredients are allowed to re- 
 main in the bin three days, during which time con- 
 siderable fermentation, and, consequently, heat is pro- 
 duced in the mass, sufficient to cook the whole as if it 
 had been submitted to the power of steam. We observed 
 that an odour is emitted from the fermented mass 
 similar to fresh brewer's grains, evidently the conse- 
 quence of the saccharine matter evolved from the roots 
 and chaff. ... 97 lbs. of this mixture is given to each 
 
FEEDING OF DAIRY CATTLE. 327 
 
 animal, and 4 lbs. of linseed-cake per dai/, in the follow- 
 ing manner : — 
 
 Ist feed, 6 o'clock a.m., miztuie of chaff and turnips. 
 2nd „ 9 
 
 3rd „ 12 noon, 4 lbs. of Unseed-cake. 
 4th „ 1 o'clock p.m., mixture. 
 5th „ 4 „ „ 
 
 In addition to this about 3 lbs. of dry chaff is given during the 
 eyening." 
 
 The " fash," as it is sometimes called, that is, the 
 tops of the roots, should be ate up by the pigs and 
 cattle, as much of it as possible while fresh. I have 
 sometimes used a large quantity by boiling it up with 
 chopped hay. This cooked food is greedily devoured 
 by the pigs ; with the addition of bean-meal and malt- 
 combs it makes an excellent food for the milch-cows. 
 It is not a bad plan to mash a quantity of the cooked 
 hay and turnip-tops, and place it in barrels, taking care 
 to force it well down. Compactly' placed in the barrels, 
 it will keep a long time ; salt should be added to the 
 food. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 BUTTEB-WAKTNa AMD SELLINO. 
 
 B UTTER-MAKING. — If I were asked what are the three 
 essentials necessary to be attended to in order to secure 
 success in dairy operations, I would say that the first is 
 cleanliness. What the second ? Cleanliness. What 
 the third ? Cleanliness — still cleanliness — cleanliness 
 in everything and cleanliness of everything. Borrow- 
 ing Mortimer's idea, it would pay, I believe, if we 
 could have caged starlings in our dairies, calling out 
 perpetually in the dairymaid's ears — cleanliness ! I 
 do feel inclined to attribute many of the mistakes and 
 misfortunes met with in amateur dairies to the want of 
 attention to complete cleanliness. I once heard as 
 thorough a housewife as ever had a true claim to the 
 name remark, that she could get plenty of servants as 
 surface-cleaners ; but what she liked to see was the dirt 
 " bottomed." Now there may be plenty of surface- 
 cleaning in dairies ; but, unless everything is so cleaned 
 that the dirt is " bottomed," the work has no right to 
 be considered finished : and finished cleanliness is what 
 must be attended to in a dairy if the produce is wanted 
 of good first-rate quality. To produce thorough clean- 
 liness in vessels used in the dairy, they must all be well 
 " scalded " after being washed. Now, the reader will 
 please to bear in mind, that "scalding" implies the 
 use of boiling-water — but not warm merely — scalding 
 hot as fire can make it. I have seen water used for 
 " scalding" so called, that would scarcely have warmed 
 the tip of an infant's finger — hot! why Bardolph's 
 nose smelling at cold water would nearly have made it 
 
TWO METHODS OF MAKING BUTTER. 329 
 
 as warm. Let the water, then, used for the scalding of 
 dairy utensils be neither more nor less than boiling 
 when it is used. Before scalding, however, the follow- 
 ing is what is done in my dairy : — The dishes or vessels 
 which have had milk in them are first rinsed with a 
 small quantity of cold water, the rinsings being added 
 to the hog-wash ; they are next washed with a larger 
 quantity of cold water, the dairy dish-cloth being used. 
 I have italicised the " dairy dish-cloth " to indicate that 
 it must be used for dairy purposes only, and for no 
 other purpose whatever. All other usage of it will be 
 a desecration of the dairy. 
 
 Milk or cream set aside in the dairy dishes is a most 
 delicate thing, and has a wonderful aptitude for absorb- 
 ing quickly taints of all kinds. Everything, then, must 
 be kept out of the dairy which would have a tendency 
 to putrefy, or to render the air foul. I have known the 
 odour from a milk-spot left on the table to taint the 
 milk in a vessel near it. Let all such milk-droppings 
 be washed carefully away, and the spots thoroughly 
 scalded. 
 
 In making butter there are two methods of working — 
 first, by churning the " whole milk," and secondly, by 
 churning the " cream " only. Each system has its 
 advocates ; the experience of my little dairy, as it is 
 promulgated by its oracle, is decidedly in favour of 
 churning the cream. The modus operandi is as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 An average proportion of cream obtained from milk 
 is one quart of cream from twelve quarts of milk — 
 this ought to produce one pound of butter. The milk 
 as it is brought from the cow-house is strained through 
 a " sieve " into the milk-pans or dishes, which, in my 
 dairy, are of glazed earthenware. The dishes are then 
 set aside for the cream to rise — this morning's milk, as 
 it were, being creamed to-morrow morning. The cream 
 obtained is put in a deep cream-mug, also of glazed 
 earthenware. Note here, good reader, that your dairy- 
 maid mmt put the cream into the mugs carefully. For 
 why ? If thrown in hurriedly, the cream dashes up on 
 
330 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 the sides of the mug, and drying there, putrefies or 
 acquires a bad taint. As successive portions of cream 
 are put into the mug, the adYancing tide, so to speak, 
 covers these islands of clotted, rancid cream, and 
 it is then communicated to the mass of cream, and 
 bad butter is the result. The one solitary instance, in 
 our dairy experience, when we had bad butter, it 
 arose from this cause. As we milk our cows every 
 morning and evening, so we cream the milk every 
 morning and evening ; thus early morn and dewy eve 
 finds our dairymaid adding to the store of cream in 
 the cream-mugs. As each addition is to be made care- 
 fully, so is it equally necessary that when the addition 
 has been made, that the whole be well stirred with a 
 cream-stick or a wooden spoon. This spoon or stick 
 should be allowed to remain in the cream. This stirring 
 of the contents of the cream-mug is absolutely essential 
 when additions are made to it. The best and richest of 
 the cream rises to the top ; if when new cream is added 
 to the mug this is not stirred up, the contents of the 
 mug become rancid and exceedingly nasty, and the 
 result is, the butter is sure to be bad. * 
 
 The cream is thus collected for a few days — ^the col- 
 lecting process being extended over a longer period in 
 winter than in summer. In winter, for instance, the 
 cream may be collected — that is, portions added morn- 
 ing and night in the manner above detailed — for a full 
 week ; in summer from four to five days, according to 
 the temperature. The collection being finished so far 
 as one mug or a set of mugs is concerned, the contents 
 of this or these are allowed to remain for a few days 
 tQl sour and thick — that is, till it is "ripe," or "cauved," 
 as a provincial term has it. While souring, the stirring 
 twice or thrice a day is essential. 
 
 When " sour," " ripe," or " cauved," the contents of 
 the mug or mugs are then ready for churning. Pray 
 do not let this process frighten you, for nothing can be 
 easier or simpler if you have followed to the letter the 
 directions I have given above. I know a lady who had 
 no experience whatever to fall back upon, nothing but 
 
CHURNING OF THE MILK. 331 
 
 natural nous and mother-wit and readiness to aid her, 
 wto commenced butter-making, and carried these direc- 
 tions out, and who never had a failure ; but from first 
 to last, over a period of fifteen months, churned with 
 ease and pleasure. By the way, I ought to state, that 
 the lady above referred to had, in churning, some slight 
 experience — with a quart pickle-bottle — a strange im- 
 plement enough in all verity ; yet, notwithstanding, if 
 any one wishes to ascertain the real rationale of the 
 churning process, let him shake cream about in a clean 
 quart pickle-bottle, and he will learn more from it than 
 from a long and patient perusal of a load of agricultural 
 treatises : you see the process through the clear glass. 
 One has read appalling accounts of the difficulties to be 
 encountered in the process of churning, of folks hard at 
 work for hours, some for a whole day, and, alas, no 
 butter as the result of the labour. In our little dairy 
 such hard experiences have not fallen to our lot. 
 
 The following, taken from the butter- making book 
 — see next chapter — wiU show how easy, as regards the 
 time taken, has been on the average of the churnings : 
 — twelve minutes, ten minutes, half an hour, three- 
 quarters of an hour, one hour and a quarter, one hour 
 and a half, two hours, one hour, half an hour, and so on. 
 The longest time ever taken being three and a half 
 hours; and that happened in consequence of having 
 filled the churn too full, so that it had to be divided 
 and the quantity churned twice ; this, in point of fact, 
 reducing the time of each churning to one hour and 
 three-quarters. The time for churning the whole quan- 
 tity was, of course, entered in the book. The churn we 
 use is that known as the " American chum ; " the 
 agents are Messrs. Burgess and Key, of ITewgate Street, 
 London, and I had mine supplied me, along with the 
 few implements I required, by Messrs. Richmond and 
 Chandler, of Salford and Liverpool. This churn is of 
 the box or dasher kind. In winter, if the butter is 
 long in forming, it is a good plan to put a little warm 
 water into the churn, stirring it up with the dasher. 
 Before putting the cream into the churn, it should be 
 
332 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 well scalded with boiling water ; in winter, the cream 
 is put in while the churn is hot ; in summer, the hot 
 water is allowed to remain in the churn till it has cooled. 
 The churning is carried on rather quickly at the first, 
 till the cream is broken, when the speed is reduced, and 
 the working is continued till the butter is formed. As 
 the butter forms or "comes" in small particles, the 
 " collecting " of it is the final operation. This is bring- 
 ing the small particles into the form of a large lump, 
 or longish lumps ; and this is done by moving the 
 dasher slowly backward and forward, say, a quarter of 
 its entire revolution — not entirely round. 
 
 The making-up of the butter tests the neatness of the 
 dairymaid. The butter is lifted out of the churn and 
 placed in the wooden butter-basin, in which is a supply 
 of "fair spring-water." With the hand it is there 
 worked and washed, the water being from time to time 
 renewed, till all the milk is washed out of the butter. 
 It is then salted to the taste — if your taste be mine, 
 reader, let your dairymaid sprinkle the salt with a light 
 rather than a lavish hand ; the salt, in whatever quan- 
 tity decided on — I keep in view here, the temptation, 
 in the salt line, to avaricious dairy folks, salt being so 
 much cheaper per ^pound than butter — is then worked 
 weU and equally in by hand. I say equally, for in this 
 the skill of the maid is shown, for what more atrocious 
 than to eat butter with lumps of salt here and there in 
 it. I have omitted to say anything about the colour- 
 ing process. If colour is required, the annatto is put 
 into the churn along with the cream. Colouring we 
 have never had occasion to resort to, the natural rich 
 appearance of the butter of our dairy pleasing even the 
 most fasti,dious of our customers. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 CHEESE AND OHEESE-MAKINa. 
 
 80 far as this product, is concerned my little farm 
 yielded no lessons, or but the scantiest number, hav- 
 ing made such limited quantities only as served more 
 by way of amusement or of limited experiments. So 
 far as the experience of our Kttle dairy went, however, 
 it sufficed to make it clear enough that there would 
 have been practically no difficulty in adding this pro- 
 duce to those of the farm had circumstances created a 
 demand for it. In one, and in the general sense, it is 
 an easy thing to make cheese, provided one has not 
 only all the necessary appliances, but, what is of 
 greater importance, good milk to make it from ; for we 
 even made cheese with the very simplest dairy imple- 
 ments and appliances. But it is another thing to make 
 it of the well-defined and known flavour, to make it 
 have the physical or mechanical peculiarities which 
 are the accompaniment of any particular flavour, and, 
 at the same time, needful to please the " dealers," or 
 customer. As this edition of our work is designed to 
 address a wider range of readers than did the first issue, 
 it is considered necessary that we should give at least 
 as much information in cheese-making as will suffice 
 to enable the small farmer to make it of a good quality, 
 leaving him, by the experience of repeated makings, 
 to learn how to please dealers and customers, should he 
 make this department one of the mainstays of his 
 little establishment. 
 
 Of the large number who almost daily partake of 
 cheese at one at least of their meals, and who are not 
 
334 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 connected witli farming, but an exceedingly small pro- 
 portion have any idea how it is made. Some there are, 
 indeed, whose ignorance extends to such a point that 
 they do not know what are its chief constituents, while 
 if the majority do go beyond this stage, they know, 
 nevertheless, but little of the way in which the liquid 
 milk and cream they use with their tea or coffee are 
 transformed into the solid cheese they cut up at the 
 dinner or supper table. It will serve to convey at least 
 a fair idea of the way in which this transformation is 
 effected if we give here the following general descrip- 
 tion of cheese-making ; and indeed we hope it will do 
 more than this, as the points detailed are all thoroughly 
 practical. 
 
 The appliances, or apparatus, may be of the simplest 
 character, in order to make what may be called our 
 elementary or "lesson" cheese : a pot or pan, a small tub, 
 a jug or two, a basin, and a kitchenmuslin strainer. With 
 the exception of the bath thermometer — and even this in 
 a house having a bath will be no exception — and the 
 long batten or wooden lever, it will be noticed that all 
 these appliances can be got together out of the ordinary 
 kitchen furnishing of a house ; a cloth, a sharp-pointed 
 knife, a bath thermometer, a hoop of metal or of wood, 
 and a long batten or lever, complete the cheese- 
 making apparatus and appliances. The time and way 
 in which these appliances are to be used will be seen as we 
 proceed in our description of the process. " First catch 
 your hare," says the well-known authoress of a Cookery 
 Book, in giving a receipt for hare soup ; and, availing 
 ourselves of the time-honoured joke, we make it again 
 do service in a new direction, and say to the learner or 
 student in cheese-making, " first get your milk." This 
 will be found in these enlightened times in which we 
 live, not to be quite so easy a thing to be done as one 
 would suppose ; to paraphrase a well-known French 
 saying, " There is milk and milk," some of it which 
 ought to come, and often does come, under the opera- 
 tion of the Adulteration of Foods Act, and which is not 
 fit ; some which is fit for making a good cheese. It is 
 
CHEESE-MAKING. 335 
 
 this alone whichi ought to be used, as we presume that 
 the learner in the school of cheese-making wishes to 
 have his or her products of the best only. Second in 
 importance to having good milk, is the having all the 
 appliances we have named, and indeed everything in 
 and. about the cheese-making place — and need we say 
 the cheese-maker's person and clothing — in a state of 
 absolutely perfect cleanliness and purity. We have 
 said that this is second, it is, in fact, of equal if not 
 greater importance than having good milk to operate 
 upon. 
 
 In a clean pan — an enamel-lined or a preserve- 
 making pan will do famously — put the clean and good 
 new milk, and heat it till it arrives at a temperature of 
 about 85 degrees. Some make a great fuss about the 
 exact heat to which the milk should be warmed ; in fact 
 it will be none the worse if it be what housewives call 
 scalded, but not burnt so as to have a smack of the 
 " bishop's foot," which would utterly spoil the flavour 
 of the cheese. The milk thus heated is to be strained 
 through the strainer placed over the wooden tub, which 
 must be of that most dazzling purity of cleanliness 
 which would satisfy a " fat frow " in Holland. And 
 now comes the first step towards making the liquid 
 milk into the solid form. This is effected at this stage 
 by mixing with the milk, which is supposed to be now 
 so far reduced in temperature as to be about 85 degrees, 
 or less, a solution of "rennet;" this must be thoroughly 
 mixed with the milk, and then the whole covered over 
 with a cloth till a later stage of the process is reached. 
 While we are waiting for this, let us use the time by 
 giving a word or two about this same " rennet." It is 
 a product, if we may use the term, of a certaia part of 
 the stomach of a calf, which is washed clean, then 
 thoroughly well salted, dried, and stored away for 
 future use. When about to be used, or rather some 
 few days before this, the " bag," as it is called, or part 
 of it, according to the cheese to be made, is soaked in 
 warmish water, rubbed and worked in it, and allowed 
 to lie till the strength of the bag is pretty well imparted 
 
336 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 to tHe water ; some add salt to form a brine, but usually 
 the bags are so completely saturated with salt that this 
 will not be necessary. The management of the rennet 
 and the proportion to be used are, however, points which 
 experience can alone, or at least best and most safely, 
 impart to the cheese-maker, and belong to that cate- 
 gory of things to be done which cannot well be taught 
 through the medium of books. Prepared rennet may 
 be bought at shops, as also substitutes for it, of which 
 pepsine is, perhaps, the best ; but the best is poor com- 
 pared with the rennet. Chemically or scientifically 
 little is known as to the mode of action of rennet. It is 
 the only substance we possess which can do precisely 
 and what it alone does, which is, to coagulate the warm 
 milk with which it is mixed in right proportions ; or, 
 in popular phrase, to form the liquid into a semi-solid, 
 semi-liquid substance called " curd." 
 
 At this stage we suppose the milk in the tub with 
 its close cover to be transformed into this same curd. 
 The cover being removed, the curd in the tub is to be 
 cut into sKces by parallel lines, these are to be crossed 
 by other cuts parallel to one another, the result of the 
 two being that the curd, to its full depth or thickness 
 in the tub, will be divided into a series of squares some 
 half-inch on the side, or at the most a little over. The 
 best state of the curd to be in for cutting is seen by 
 passing the finger through the surface for a short dis- 
 tance. If the curd splits and keeps opening up regu- 
 larly before the finger, it is in good state to be cut. 
 The cutting must be neatly and deftly done, so that the 
 squares should have smooth and not rugged edges. As 
 the cutting proceeds a liquid will flow out from the 
 curd of a bluish tint ; this is " whey," about which, and 
 the uses made of it, we shall have hereafter a word or 
 two to say. "When the cutting of the curd is completed, 
 cover up the whole with a cloth as before, and allow it 
 to remain at rest for a time. After a longer or shorter 
 period seen to be necessary, take off the cloth, and. if 
 the whey has accumulated so as to form a bath of liquid 
 equal to, say, about a tenth of the whole bulk of 
 
CHEESE-MAKING. 337 
 
 materials in the tub, strain or take gently off the whey 
 which is iloating on the top of the curd. 
 
 The next process is the mixing and crumbling of the 
 curd, so as to bring it into a finely- pulverised con- 
 dition fitted for the final process. The next thing, 
 therefore, to do, is to warm part of the whey which has 
 been removed from the curd as above stated, till it has 
 a temperature of about 120° or 125° ; at this heat it is 
 to be poured back into the tub, upon the curd, and the 
 whole is then to be mixed and worked by hand, taking 
 the curd up in handfuls, crumbling it and thoroughly 
 mixing it with the whey till the temperature is re- 
 duced some twenty degrees lower than the whey when 
 first put in. This mixing, crumbling, or stirring, by 
 whatever name it may be called, requires to be done 
 with the greatest care. It is indeed that part of the 
 operation of cheese-making upon which depends the 
 value of the produce ; for upon the right and the 
 wrong doing of it depends the fact whether the cream 
 shall be retained in the curd and therefore in the 
 ultimate cheese, or passed into the whey ; and upon the 
 presence or non-presence of the cream depends the rich- 
 ness or the reverse of the cheese. In regularly ap- 
 pointed dairies there is a machine used to break and 
 mix the curd ; this of course does it more uniformly 
 than it can be done by hand; but some dairymaids 
 prefer the hand, in which there is a delicacy of touch 
 which no machine can equal. The great point is, to 
 have the curd broken as uniformly as possible, and so 
 that the particles will not adhere or clog together. 
 
 When well broken the curd looks very much like a 
 heap of good-sized sago or tapioca in the uncooked 
 state. When the first mixing is done, the tub is to be 
 covered with a cloth till the "curd granules," as they may 
 be called, are uniformly warmed through, the remain- 
 der of the whey is to be heated and added to and 
 mixed with the curd as before, the curd granules get- 
 ting finer and finer and harder as the mixing is gone 
 through, and the less tendency will they have to 
 adhere or tlog together. To allow the curd to ripen, 
 
338 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 as it is termed, so as to be fitted for the next stage, it 
 should be covered with a cloth and allowed to remain 
 in the tub for some time. It is known to be ripe when 
 some of the granules of curd crumble if taken up, 
 squeezed together, and applied to a hot iron, are drawn 
 into fine threads when pulled away from contact with 
 it. The required heat of the iron is that which makes 
 water bubble and simmer when put into a vessel 
 containing it. 
 
 When ripe, the whey is next to be drained ofi" from 
 the curd in the tub, and the curd to be taken out and 
 placed on a strainer to be dried or drained. When 
 this is accomplished thoroughly, the curd is next to be 
 salted. The degree of salting is of course a matter of 
 taste, but as a guide, for average use, about 3 lbs. of salt 
 may be given to each 100 lbs. of curd. 
 
 Now comes the time to use the hoop and the long 
 batten, or lever. The hoop is that which gives to the 
 curd solidity and the well-known circular or disc-shaped 
 form of cheeses in this country, with one or two ex- 
 ceptions, as the cylindrical shape of the Stilton, for 
 example. 
 
 The hoop is placed on a clean table, and a clean cloth 
 placed inside ; this cloth must be large enough to fall 
 over the edges of the hoop, and to cover the upper face 
 of the curd when placed and pressed into the hoop. On 
 the top of the cloth a wood disc or flat circular piece is 
 placed ; and thus prepared, the whole is put imder 
 pressure. The pressure in the simplest way is obtained 
 by the long batten, one end being inserted in a hole in 
 the wall, or in a wooden upright or post, while the other 
 end is loaded with heavy weights, the hoop, &c. being^ 
 placed between them. At first the pressure should be 
 very gentle, and applied for, say, six hours, till the curd 
 granules have adhered well together. The lump, or 
 cheese — for it is now a cheese although only partially 
 made — is now to be taken out of the hoop or mould, for 
 such it really is, and reversed in position, a clean and 
 fresh cloth being placed, as before, with the flat wood 
 disc, and then the whole put under the lever pressure. 
 
KIPENING OF CHEESE. 339 
 
 whicL. should be increased by heavier weights at the 
 outer end. Kept under there for a day or so, the cheese 
 is ready for the last stage of all, " the ripening." This 
 is generally carried on, in a separate room, having an 
 equable temperature, the cheeses being regularly turned 
 over as they lie upon the shelves, 'which are best made 
 of latticed work, to admit a current of air all round 
 them. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 CEOPS TO BE CDITIVATED STTtTABLE FOE DAIEY-OATTLE PEEDrNO. — THE 
 SOILIJiTG-IN HOUSE -PEEDINO SYSTEM. 
 
 The experience of the best authorities in the manage- 
 ment of dairy-cattle is, that the higher and more careful 
 the system of feeding adopted, the less the expense 
 and the greater the produce. Hence the advantage of 
 arranging part of a dairy-farm for arable culture, to 
 rear a succession of crops useful for feeding, as turnips, 
 kohl-rabi, cabbages, rape, vetches, &c., and also of the 
 method of purchasing and using foreign foods, as oil- 
 cake, rape-cake, and the like. On the subject of the 
 course of cropping to be adopted, the following, from 
 the Irish Farmers Gazette, will be of utility : — 
 
 " The green crop break will furnish cabbages for use 
 in autumn and beginning of wiater, with turnips and 
 mangolds for consumption during winter and spring. 
 With the grain crop which succeeds there will be sown 
 Italian rye-grass and clover ; and as a varied supply of 
 summer food is requisite, one-half of the break need 
 only be sown with 'seeds,' the remaining half being 
 reserved for winter and spring vetches — the former 
 being sown in September after the wheat stubble, and 
 the latter in successional sowings during the spring 
 months. The winter vetches being early ready for use, 
 will allow of turnips being sown on their removal. The 
 summer keep of the cows consists, therefore, of the dif- 
 ferent sowings of vetches, and, according to the rich- 
 ness of the land or the manurial applications resorted 
 to, of two, three, or four cuttings of Italian rye-grass 
 and clover. In the fourth year of the course a grain 
 crop will be taken ; and, should a scarcity of summer 
 
SOILING OR STALL-FEEDING OF CATTLE. 341 
 
 food be anticipated, the limits of this cereal crop may 
 be trenched upon by reserving a portion of the land 
 previously under rye-grass and clover for the produc- 
 tion of spring-sown vetches." 
 
 When the soiling, or house -feeding, system — of 
 which several remarks will be found in our earlier 
 chapters — is carried out, no mode of culture and 
 management seems more worthy of adoption, and is 
 nowhere, certainly, so fully and clearly explained as in 
 an American work, recently published, on cattle-soiling, 
 by Josiah Quincey. The following cannot but be useful 
 and interesting to the reader : — 
 
 " As to ' my practice ' in soiling, it relates, first, to 
 the quantity of land to be cultivated for the purpose 
 of preparing succulent food; second, to the particular 
 articles to be thus cultivated ; and third, to the times 
 they are to be sown, so as to effect a regular succession 
 of such food. 
 
 " 1. As to the quantity of land to be cultivated. 
 According to my experience, one square rod of land of 
 rich loam, in high tilth, in grass, oats, barley, or Indian 
 corn, is enough for the support of a cow a day, if cut 
 and delivered to her in the barn. As, however, there 
 is a great difference in the state of land and its produc- 
 tive power, and as it is important there should be no 
 failure in succulent food, my practice has been to culti- 
 vate one and a half square rods of land per day for each 
 head of cattle I intend to 'soil,' and, on this basis I 
 make my calculations in the spring of the year. To 
 make this calculation sufficiently exact, the length of 
 time it will take the article sown to come to maturity 
 so as to be fit to cut, and the length of time it will 
 afterwards continue succulent, are to be considered. 
 The time it comes to such a state of maturity is, of 
 course, the time at which it may be relied upon for 
 ' soiling.' A like reliance may be placed on the time 
 it will continue succulent. The general knowledge of 
 practical farmers, and experience, will easily give infor- 
 mation on both points. 
 
 " If any article sown in the spring will come to 
 
342 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 maturity on tlie first of July, and will continue succu- 
 lent ten days, fifteen square rods of succulent food will 
 be wanted for each cow ' soiled.' One cow will, there- 
 fore, consume fifteen square rods during that period ; and 
 cows will require one hundred and sixty rods, or about 
 ten an acre, of such food for their support. On this cal- 
 culation I have safely ' soiled ' from thirty to thirty-five 
 head of cattle, adding an acre of preparation for every 
 ten head. 
 
 " Should any one, however, adopt this practice for 
 the first time, I should advise the preparing two square 
 rods for each cow, to guard against every contingency 
 to which a first attempt may be liable, for nothing will 
 be lost, if the food should be proved more than was re- 
 quired. The surplus becomes a resource for the winter 
 keeping after it is too rank for ' soiling.' 
 
 "2. As to the particular articles to be thus culti- 
 vated, I have tried many besides those above mentioned ; 
 such as millet, lucern, cabbages, peas, the tops of car- 
 rots, beets, or turnips. Each may be usefully applied 
 in its proper season, particularly the three last. And 
 whoever keeps milch-cows will find roots an important 
 auxiliary for milk in the winter season ; and, of course, 
 will find their tops an important aid to ' soiling ' in 
 the latter months of autumn. But I think it best . to 
 enumerate only the fewest, the simplest, and the best 
 known to all farmers, of the articles which, from ex- 
 perience, I have found the surest and the best to be 
 relied upon for a successful conduct of the system. 
 These are those already enumerated — oats, barley, 
 Indian corn, sown broadcast or in drills, for fodder. 
 
 " 3. The time at which the above articles are to be 
 sown. — The usual period in this country for turning 
 out cows to pasture is from the 20th of May to the 1st 
 of June. Antecedent to this period, no succulent food 
 can be obtained for ' soiling.' Preparation, however, 
 may be made the autumn previous by sowing winter 
 rye, according to the proportion required for ' soiling,' 
 from the 10th or 15th of the month of May to the 1st 
 of June. This could be done with advantage ; but I 
 
SOILTNG OR STALL-FEEDING OF CATTLE. 343 
 
 have never practised it more than once, hecause, al- 
 though I have always had rye fit for cutting at this 
 time, yet it is too' valuable, as grain and straw, for me 
 to use it, regarding, as I do, winter rye, at the usual 
 prices of grain and straw in this ncinity, to be most 
 profitable of any grain product. 
 
 " The reliance in the ' soiling ' system, for succulent 
 food, between the 20th of May and the 1st of July, is 
 grass, cut and delivered in the stable ; and, according 
 to my experience, one and a half square rods per day 
 for each cow ' soiled ' is ample for this purpose. The 
 grass thus cut was usually that which is the least 
 likely to be preferable for winter keep ; such as that 
 growing by the side of my farm roads, or under trees, 
 or that having the rankest fibre. 
 
 " The food sown and cultivated for ' soiling ' in this 
 climate must have exclusive reference to the summer 
 and autumn months, commencing with the Ist of July. 
 And the following is the order of sowing, according to 
 my practice, justified by experience ; the proportion of 
 land sowed at each successive period being, as above 
 stated, one and a half or two square rods per day for 
 each com soiled. To produce a sufficient quantity in 
 succession of succulent food, sow — 
 
 "1. As early in April as the state of the land will 
 permit — which is usually between the 5th and the 10th 
 — on properly prepared land, oats, at the rate of four 
 bushels to the acre. 
 
 " 2. About the 20th of the same month, sow either 
 oats or barley, at the same rate per acre, in like quan- 
 tity and proportions. 
 
 " 3. Early in May, sow, in like manner, either of the 
 above grains. 
 
 " 4. Between the 10th and 16th of May, sow Indian 
 corn (the fiat, southern being the best), in drills, three 
 bushels to the acre, in like quantity and proportions. 
 
 " 5. About the 25th of May sow corn in like quantity 
 and proportions. 
 
 "6. About the 5th of June repeat the sowing of 
 corn. 
 
344 
 
 SMALL FARMING, 
 
 " 7. After the last-mentioned sowing, barley should 
 be sown in the before-stated quantity and propor- 
 tions in succession, on the 15th and 25th of June, and 
 on the 1st of or early in July : barley being the best 
 qualified to resist the early frosts. 
 
 " The results of the above sowing in succulent food 
 may be expected to be as follows, seasons of extraordi- 
 nary drought excepted : — 
 
 " The oats sowed early in April will be ready to cut, 
 for ' soiling,' between the 1st and 5th of July, and will 
 usually remain succulent until the 12th or 15th of this 
 month. 
 
 " Those sowed about the 20th of April will be ready 
 to cut between the 16th and 20th of July, and will last 
 nearly, or quite, till the 1st of August. 
 
 " Those sowed early in May will be ready to succeed 
 the preceding, and last till about the 10th of this month. 
 The corn sown on the 10th and 25th of May, and early 
 in June, will supply, in succession, succulent food of the 
 best quality until early in September. 
 
 " The barley sown in July will continue a sufficient' 
 supply until early in November ; at which time, and 
 often before, the tops of roots, carrots, beets, or turnips 
 are a never-failing resource." 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 MACHINES FOB PEEPAEINO OATTI^-POOD. — ^DAIEY IMPLEMENTS AND 
 ■UTENSILS. 
 
 The machines required on a small farm for the prepa- 
 ration of the food are few in number. An important 
 one is the Straw or Chaff-cutter, as it is generally called ; 
 a well-known one manufactured by Messrs. Richmond 
 and Chandler. In Fig. 56 a front view of this chaff- 
 cutter is given, and in Fig. 57 a view of a smaller size. 
 
 Fig. 56. Fig. 57. 
 
 A very simple form of Turnip-cutter is shown in 
 Fig. 56. This will do well enough where one or two 
 cows are kept; where the number, is greater a 
 machine capable of doing more work, such as 
 Hunt and Tawell's Root-cutter, will be essential. 
 Where it is desired to pulp the root, Bentall's Eoot- 
 pulper will be found efficient. 
 
346 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 Where beans or oats are used, they should be crushed 
 
 Fig. 58. 
 or bruised. A -well-known form is the Bean-crusher of 
 
 Eig. 69. 
 Messrs. Hunt and Tawell, of Earls Colne. Richmond 
 
DAIRY APPLIANCES. 
 
 347 
 
 and Chandler's Oat-crusher will be found efficient. 
 One of Whitmee's Flour-mills for grinding wheat, 
 beans, &c. for cattle-food will also be found very 
 serviceable on the small farm. Where oil-cake is 
 much used, an Oilcake-breaker will be found useful ; a 
 well-known form is illustrated in Fig. 59. 
 
 Daiey Implements and Utensils. — The principal 
 implements and utensils which I employ are illustrated 
 
 Fig. 61. 
 
 below. It is needless to take up space in describing 
 them ; it will be enough to state that the form of churn 
 know as Anthony's American Churn, enjoys an ex- 
 
 ceedingly high reputation. Fig. 60 is the milk-pan 
 or basin ; Fig. 61 the milk-strainer ; Fig. 62 a, cream- 
 skimmer ; Fig. 63 the cream-mug ; Fig. 64 the butter- 
 bowl, for working or making the butter in ; Fig. 62 c 
 
348 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 represents the " butter-sticks." By these, after a little 
 practice, the butter can be worked up into a variety of 
 neat and fantastic shapes, ready for the table. Some 
 of these are shown at Fig. 62 b. 
 
 Fig. 63. 
 
 Of late, machines and appliances for large dairies of a 
 more or less complicated character have been intro- 
 duced into practice — such as milk-coolers, cream- raising 
 machines, and the like; but these, alike from their 
 nature and cost, are quite beyond the means of the small 
 farmer, although the amateur farmer may, if he chooses, 
 indulge in the somewhat expensive luxury of having 
 them in his dairy. For his amateur work he will, I 
 fear, find them out of place. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE POUliTET OP THE SMALL FAEM. 
 
 While dairy-cattle and a horse or two are the live- 
 stock of the amateur farmer, to which the gentlemen 
 deem it worthy to pay attention, the poultry come 
 under the department of the ladies of the house — that 
 is if they have rural or farming proclivities, and are 
 not too high in station or too grand to see personally 
 that they are furnished with a dry-house and suit- 
 able provisions — engross their care, and very speedily 
 become the objects of their afifeotion, and are raised 
 to the first rank of pets of the farm. Nor is this to be 
 at all wondered at — it is not every lady who can 
 feel confidence on a horse, however kindly they may 
 think of them and be disposed towards them ; and very 
 few ladies indeed there are who have feelings other 
 than those of cowering dread or fear, and something like 
 aversion, to cows. But poultry are such " tiny things," 
 so lively in their ways, require no hard labour in feed- 
 ing or attending to them, and have so many of what 
 may be called the " family ways," that they are easily 
 made " family pets." 
 
 We have in this section of our little work been 
 taking the live stock of the small farm-yard on what 
 may be called the descending scale, beginning with the 
 largest and ending with the smallest of them all. We 
 thus class poultry as " live stock " of the farm-yard, 
 although, no doubt, many a farmer will decidedly 
 object to classing them as stock at all. For with those 
 the prejudice against them is so strong, that although 
 they will condescend to eat them at table, they will not 
 
'^50 SMALL PAKMING. 
 
 condescend to give sucli care to them as will render 
 them all the more fitting food for it — plump, fat, and 
 juicy in flesh. Tet there are some of our farmers, and 
 eminent ones too, who take a broader, juster, and deci- 
 dedly more accurate view of the matter, and although 
 they may not classify or call them stock — a trifle 
 indeed — they do take pains to keep the best birds, and 
 give some time — or, what is the next best thing, allow 
 their servants to give it for them — to see that their food 
 and lodging are of the best materials, and all properly 
 looked after. One, not the least advanced of our farmers, 
 has well observed that if a good return for the money 
 expended be the object of keeping any class of live 
 stock, he does not see why poultry should be made an 
 exception, for they have much to be said in their favour 
 as producers of food. 
 
 Weight for weight, and taking that and the value of 
 the food with which they are supplied, they compare 
 favourably with any " live stock" of the farm. Averag- 
 ing the price obtained for beef and mutton at 4d. or 5d., 
 or even so high as 6d. per pound, we find the average 
 price obtained for poultry, as meat, is 9d. or lOd., and 
 in some seasons higher than this; while as for the 
 eggs, they at times bring in prices to the poultry rearer 
 which appear very high even in rich districts. The 
 wealthy people buy, apparently determined to have 
 them at any price. Fowls have not only little "offal" 
 to reduce the amount obtained from the butcher — ^we 
 should say the poulterer — ^but a large portion of their 
 food costs the farmer nothing, and comparatively little 
 care is demanded in their breeding and rearing. Here, 
 compared with the " big beasts," which bring such big 
 prices at cattle shows and markets, fowls are but " small 
 game," indeed, for farmers to aim at or trouble them- 
 selves with. Yet, if figures are to be acted on — although 
 it is said that they can be got up to prove anything ; a 
 fact which if true, however, applies equally to other 
 live stock — the importance of fowl-farming is shown 
 by the aggregate amount which it producesj an amount 
 even in this country which assumes somewhat gigantic 
 
ANNUAL VALUE OF IMPOETED EGGS. 351 
 
 proportions, proving that great effects often rise from 
 very small causes. We say even in this country, for 
 compared with what is done on the Continent in fowl- 
 farming, we do, so to say, nothing. The number of eggs, 
 for example, imported into this country from France 
 was half a million of millions, or 600,000,000,000, 
 the pecuniary value of which must have been no trifle, 
 seeing it is set down at £2,000,000 sterling. This was 
 but three years ago ; we have no later statistics ; but 
 there is no doubt that with the increased demand for 
 produce of this kind the number is now much greater 
 than the above, enormous as that is. A department of 
 farm production which can spare to send to another 
 country what represents a sum so vast as £2,000,000 
 is surely no mean one, and can scarcely be said to be 
 beyond or beneath the notice of our own farmers. We 
 believe that large as is the amount obtained by those of 
 France from poultry, it is gained by a most trifling 
 expense, inasmuch, as a rule, they give little or no 
 special food to them. The figures we have given refer to 
 France alone, and take no account of Belgium, Holland, 
 and the villages on the Bhine, all of which contribute 
 their quota to swell the aggregate of produce of this 
 kind imported into this country, to make up a deficiency 
 caused by the indifference of our farmers, especially oi 
 our small farmers and of our cottagers, to a source of 
 income which, in view of the trade done, cannot pos- 
 sibly be a trifling one. There can be no doubt that 
 both small farmers and cottagers could make poultry 
 pay, and that to a very satisfactory degree ; and this 
 by no greater amount, if so much, of care and labour 
 than 'they give readily to other departments, some of 
 which do not pay so well. 
 
 Every amateur farm must, of course, have its poultry 
 department carefully fitted up and well attended to. 
 Some amateurs will make this tlie department of the 
 farm, bending everything to it, and giving it a promi- 
 nence which no other will get ; others, again, will pay 
 it the due share of attention, but allow it to usurp no 
 place over any of the others, letting it be looked after, 
 
352 SMALL FARMING^ 
 
 in fact, as one of many departments, not as the, one. I 
 confess to belong to this latter class. I had no claim to 
 be considered as a " poultry fancier ; " my stock was 
 more remarkable for the number and variety than for 
 the purity of the breeds. Doubtless, high authority— 
 as " The Henwife," for instance — ^would be inclined to 
 deny that my poultry were worthy, in any way, of the 
 title ; and I am free to confess that, compared with the 
 well-disciplined and carefully collected army of her lot, 
 mine might rank as did Falstaff's regiment, which even 
 Falstaff would be ashamed to own. " I would not march 
 through Coventry with them, that's flat." Possibly a 
 poultry- fancier would say that Coventry was precisely 
 the place to which my poultry should have been sent. 
 
 When I say that my numerous army of poultry 
 was composed chiefly of all the " mixty-maxty " raga- 
 muffin kinds known as barn-door fowls, I know that I 
 at once put myself out of court, and lose, henceforth, 
 all right and title to be considered a keeper of 
 "poultry." Yet, nevertheless, when I looked at my 
 restless, scraping, crowing, crooning, cackling lot, it 
 reminded me of the story told of a poor woman, who 
 having had the misfortune to go into a church-pew 
 which was not on the poor side, and who was turned 
 out by the apparitor with more roughness of gesture 
 and graphic force of speech than befltted the place — 
 " Gret out o' that, you ugly hag ! " was met by the 
 retort, " Well, if I am ugly, I am godly." So with my 
 poor lot of hens, I am free to admit that they were 
 ugly and beggarly-looking, but somehow the "beggars" 
 laid well, and brought-up decently, in some sort of way, 
 respectable families, which looked well and which sold 
 well also. And ^/;a^ was surely something. The truth is 
 that, however pure the breeds may be with which you 
 start, unless the greatest possible pains is taken, the 
 purity soon ceases to exist. This pains I did not care 
 to take ; moreover, I sheltered myself, as I do still, 
 under the wing — ^the simile is allowable in a chapter 
 on poultry — of one of the ablest agriculturists, who 
 gives it as his opinion that for ordinary farmhouse 
 
THE POULTKY HOUSE. 353 
 
 purposes the "barn-door fowl" is the best, both for 
 laying and for the purposes of the table. The poorest- 
 looking hen I had was the best layer. It is, I guess, 
 in the poultry as it is in the lady world, the finest- 
 looking is not always the best. Nevertheless, poultry 
 possess their " points," and those should be attended to. 
 There are two lessons which the attentive amateur 
 farmer will soon learn from his poultry ; these are, that 
 to make them pay, good housing and good feeding must 
 be attended to, be their "points" what they may. The 
 house should be well built and warm, and have, if pos- 
 sible, a southern or south-west exposure. Light and 
 ventilation should be attended to. The floor should not 
 be of rough stones or brick, but of some soft, elastic 
 material, as clay or gravel, well beaten down. An 
 authority in poultry matters states it as his belief that 
 cold hard floors are the cause, in nine cases out of ten, 
 of cramp in fowls. The yard attached to the house 
 should be kept supplied with a dust-bath; that is, a 
 box or hole in the ground filled with coal or wood 
 ashes, or dry sand and lime. The form and position of 
 the perch is a matter of great importance. In many a 
 poultry-house you will see the perches of bars of wood 
 some inch and a half in diameter, as carefully planed 
 and rounded as if the point to be attained was the 
 having small and smooth perches ; whereas, on the con- 
 trary, the perch should be rpugh, and not round — rather 
 square than round — and pretty large. Mrs. Blair, the 
 great modern authority on poultry, recommends movable 
 perches in the form of "trestles," some two feet high 
 from the ground ; these are made of split larch, with 
 the rounded and rough-barked side uppermost. The 
 cylindrical, smooth-surfaced bar, as a perch, is de- 
 nounced by Mrs. Blair. " The fowls cannot take a firm 
 hold on it ; and, besides, it is certain to cause crooked 
 breastbones — a grave defect." But the position of the 
 perch is also of moment. Mrs. Blair recommends them 
 to be placed low, about two feet from the ground; 
 others, again, think they should be high. Certainly, 
 arguing from the original habits of the bird, high 
 
 A A 
 
354 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 perclies are likely to be the best, roosting in trees being 
 their habit; certainly hens are exceedingly fond of 
 getting to the highest possible place in the house to 
 roost in. T kept a lot of fowls one season in a stable, 
 which was otherwise unoccupied, and I was often highly 
 amused to hear the noise made, and to watch the bicker- 
 ings carried on bj"- the hens in the attempts they make 
 to obtain the highest perch. It takes, generally, poultry 
 no small time in the evening to settle down. 
 
 The second lesson which poultry on a farm teach, 
 is the necessity there is of good feeding being attended 
 to. Scanty food, little good ! is just as worthy of being 
 remembered in the care of poultry as in other stock of 
 the farm. " Never stint poultry in the variety or 
 quantity of the food. Good food is a positive economy." 
 Such are the deliverances of a high authority on this 
 point, and, I believe, they are indisputable. If it does 
 not pay to keep them well, it never will pay to keep — 
 if this term here is not indeed a misnomer — them ill. 
 Better kill or sell than half-starve. Let the experi- 
 ment be tried — although rather, I confess, a cruel one 
 for one set of birds — on two sets of fowls : let one be 
 kept well, the other ill, for some time ; reverse these, 
 and see the marvellous difference. My mode of keeping 
 hens has been condemned as extravagant, but I know 
 this, that my birds were plumper for sale, and their 
 eggs were larger, than some of those I knew of, who 
 grudged the birds the plenteous food they required. 
 The mode of feeding, and the material used, are as 
 various as the breeds, almost, of poultry reared. Boiled 
 potatoes mashed and mixed with bran I found to be 
 an excellent food. But barley, ground coarsely in the 
 mill, mixed with bean-meal and bran, the whole mashed 
 up with boiling water, is possibly the best food I tried. 
 Linseed-meal, mixed with shorts and sour milk forms a 
 food promotive of laying. Beet-root is a food of which 
 hens are very fond ; it is said to be first-rate for laying. 
 Oats soaked in water till soft, then fried or rather 
 boiled in oil or fat, some say, is the best food possible 
 to make hens lay in winter. Oleaginous seeds, as the 
 
FKEDING OF TOULTKY. 355 
 
 seed of sunflower or linseed, are also capital food during 
 . the winter months. All that can be said on the subject 
 of food has been well said by Mrs. Blair,* in the work 
 noticed below. 
 
 There is just one point to which I should refer in 
 connection with the feeding of poultry, and that is, 
 our experience is not in favour of the continued use of 
 cooked food through the winter. As a rule, it should 
 be given raw. One has only to try hens with the 
 cooked and with the uncooked meat, to see which is the 
 favourite with them. Their appetites soon pall with 
 cooked, rarely so with uncooked, animal food. Such, 
 at all events, has been one of the lessons of my farm. 
 Mrs. Blair, in the work above alluded to, frequently 
 refers to the importance of following the teachings of 
 Nature in the treatment of hens ; certainly, with 
 reference to this question of cooked or uncooked food, 
 Nature tells us which to give, for a female friend at my 
 elbow mildly suggests " that Nature does not give to 
 the hens, as they wander through the fields, in spring 
 or summer time, a supply of cooked worms or grubs." 
 No, truly ! she gives them, as the French say, and as 
 gourmands aver oysters should be eaten — namely, ati 
 naturel. The best way is to change the food occasionally, 
 hence cooked may be made to alternate with uncooked 
 food during the winter. Indeed, this alternation or 
 rotation of food I conceive to be of the utmost import- 
 ance. A variety of food is what the birds pick up in 
 their natural state, and we should, in our artificial 
 way of rearing them, endeavour also to give them this. 
 I have insisted upon cleanliness being the general 
 feature of the dairy ; it should in no less degree be the 
 feature of the poultry house and its utensils. Let every- 
 thing be kept truly clean. The drinking vessels must 
 be kept clean and well supplied with fresh water. This 
 
 * "The Henwife — Her own Experience in Her own Poultry- Yard. 
 By Mrs. Fergusson Blair, of Balthayook. Edinburgh : J. Jack." 
 We have heen so much indebted in the practice of our poultry-keeping^ 
 to this valuable work, that I gladly avail myself of the opportunify to 
 recommend it to my readers aa one to be kept for daily reference. It 
 is distinguished by its sound common-sense views. 
 
356 
 
 SMALL FARMIXG. 
 
 supply cannot be too well attended to. Small dishes 
 for water are better than large, as being soon emptied 
 they require filling often ; and each time they are tilled 
 a reminder is given to the henwife to see that, ere fill- 
 ing, they should be cleaned. None but a hopeless, 
 helpless slattern will keep filling water into dirty vessels. 
 Fowls should be allowed a run in the fields as often as 
 possible — they enjoy this vastly ; and pick up, during it, 
 no small quantity of animal as well as vegetable food. 
 
 The best way to keep eggs for " setting " is to 
 place their small end downwards in a basket, or a 
 deepish dish, as a soup tureen, filled with perfectly 
 dry bran. Each egg should have marked in pencil the 
 date on which it is laid ; and on placing the first eggs 
 in tlie basket or dish, place them near one end, in a 
 row, gradually and symmetrically filling it. As each 
 egg is dated, selection for sitting purposes is an easy 
 matter. If setting-eggs accumulate faster than there 
 are brooding hens to set them with, and you wish to 
 use the eggs, use the oldest. Be sure that your hens 
 are broody. " Not every hen," remarks a judicious 
 observer, "that rumples up her feathers and cluck, 
 cluck, clucks with affected matronly indignation and 
 importance, is fit for the great duty of bringing forth 
 a brood. A good setting hen should be large. Size is 
 important, because of the greater amount of warmth 
 imparted to the eggs, as well as giving the hen the 
 ability to cover the eggs thoroughly, and thus secure 
 regular hatching. She should be well-feathered. If a 
 hen which shows a desire for incubation has a meagre 
 coat of feathers, try and get her out of the notion. If 
 she will sit in spite of you, give her but a few eggs." 
 
 The form of the nest I found to be a matter of 
 importance. Where this admits of the eggs being 
 allowed to spread and be moved aside by the hen turn- 
 ing them, the chances are that some of the birds will 
 not hatch through the eggs getting cold. The best 
 nest I have found is what is called a " pan-basin" in 
 Lancashire. This has a tapering form, and when the 
 nest is formed in this of hay, it allows the eggs to lie 
 close together, and the hen to sit well on them. 
 
DISEASES OF POULTRY. 357 
 
 All setting-hens should be kept apart by themselves 
 in a darkish and quiet apartment. If the other hens 
 are allowed to fuss in and out, no satisfaction wiU. be 
 obtained in the hatching. As the confinement of the 
 poor birds is long and tedious — twenty- one days for 
 hen and twenty-eight for duck eggs-,— humanity, if not 
 interest, demands that every thing should be done to 
 make their confinement as pleasant as possible. To 
 this end let their supplies of food and water be regu- 
 larly attended to, and a dust-bath provided. When 
 the hen is off for her daily exercise or food, the nest 
 should be looked to, and broken eggs, if any, removed. 
 As much as possible in the hatching of the eggs should 
 be left to Nature ; we had no luck with birds assisted 
 out of their shells, nor should feeding them by hand 
 or rearing them apart from their mother be ^ittempted. 
 Ducks make sometimes bad mothers — ours have invari- 
 ably done so — and the little ducklings, in some instances, 
 have had to be reared alone. Ducklings, however, are 
 not so helpless or difficult to be reared by hand as 
 chickens, and, in more instances than one, we have 
 brought up ducklings left by cruel parents. Hens 
 , make the best mothers for ducks. 
 
 As to diseases of poultry, a book might be written on 
 the subject, but with little practical good so far as 
 amateur farmers are concerned. At first, all sick 
 poultry we were troubled with we attempted to 
 cure after the most improved or approved fashion, 
 but the only result was that we tortured the poor birds 
 and lost them in the long run. The truth is, we soon 
 learnt the lesson that the cure of disease of ordinary 
 fowls is not worth attempting ; and that the best way 
 out of sight was, as soon as I noticed a fowl drooping 
 and looking miserable — as indeed a sick fowl looks so 
 to perfection — I mercilessly, or rather mercifully, de- 
 voted it to the hands of the executioner. A fowl, even 
 under the slightest sickness, deteriorates so fast in con- 
 dition, that it is best to kiU it at once. Since making 
 this a rule in my poultry department, I have learned 
 that it is the advice of an authority, " Better kill than 
 attempt to cure." 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 THE PIO ON THE SMALL rAEM. 
 
 We have got now to the management of the pig, that 
 " Ishmaelite of the farmyard/' as he has been termed. 
 The question has often been asked, Do pigs pay ? and, 
 strange to say, it has been more frequently answered in 
 the negative than in the positive, and the facts 
 disputed which can be brought forward in proof of the 
 positiye answer. Those desirous to see the matter fully 
 discussed are referred to the chapter on Swine in " The 
 Complete Grazier." 
 
 Young and store pigs are comparatively easily fed in 
 summer. There is a good deal of refuse matter from 
 the house, butter-milk and whey from the dairy, and 
 of grass food from the garden and fields, which keep 
 them in a moderately-improving condition ; this will 
 be greatly helped on if they have a field or fields into 
 which they can be turned daily. A vast deal of food can 
 be there picked up, and the exercise is beneficial other- 
 wise. But if the sun is hot, they must not be turned 
 out till it is going down ; for pigs have a tender skin, 
 and an unprotected one, and they sufier much if ex- 
 posed to strong sunlight. In the early months they 
 will require to have cooked potatoes, roots, and kitchen 
 refuse. Good dry bedding and clean sties, as well as 
 clean bodies of the pigs themselves, are great helps in 
 keeping them up to an improving standard. Some 
 think differently, and even allow their young and store 
 pigs to waddle in mud and all sorts of filth. They find 
 out their mistake some day ; and if they do not, the 
 mistake and its losing consequences exist all the same. 
 
TEEDIKG OF PIGS. 359 
 
 It is such feeders who raise the cry, and believe ia it, 
 that pigs do not pay. The matter for surprise would be 
 if they did under the circumstances. 
 
 "When the pigs are sufficiently advanced so as to be 
 getting ready for the butcher, the food must be in- 
 creased in quality, and their condition kept gradually 
 improving. To the ordinary food which they have 
 hitherto been getting should be added, therefore, some 
 nutritious substances, as meal, Indian corn, and a little 
 artificial food of the best quality. Cinder or coals for 
 all classes of pigs are essential to health ; of the two 
 coals are the best. Attention should be paid to the 
 condition of the bowels, for if these be not attended to, 
 and if they do not act regularly, the food is to a large 
 extent thrown away ; and indeed worse than this, for it 
 only aggravates the mischief which is being done. 
 When the pigs are getting nearly "ripe" for the 
 butcher, they must be put upon forcing food for the last 
 three or four weeks, in order to finish them off. The 
 best food for this purpose is oatmeal varied with an 
 occasional feed of Indian corn; this latter should be 
 partially cooked, as in some cases, from its extreme 
 hardness, it simply passes through the bowels without 
 being dissolved and assimilated. A good, perhaps the 
 best, plan of giving these finishing-off foods is to pre- 
 pare them in the form of a warm, thick mash — not thin 
 and watery — with good potatoes and a turnip or man- 
 gold or two. Salt should always be added. For drink 
 they should have whey and butter-milk from the dairy. 
 
 The sows with pig and near their time should be 
 kept wholly in the sty for some weeks before litter- 
 ing. They should be fed on warm and rather thinnish 
 mashes of brewer's grains as a basis, and potatoes, meal, 
 and pollard or bran. The bedding should be abundant 
 in quantity and clean and dry. 
 
 In the winter management of pigs, the main object 
 should be to have their sties kept regularly cleaned 
 out, supplied with abundance of litter ; good, clean, and 
 dry leaves — which the boys of the farm should collect — 
 and the withered fronds of ferns make capital bedding, 
 
360 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 as does also sawdust; and these, when well saturated 
 with liquid manure and mixed with the same, are 
 worth a good deal in helping to keep up the fertility of 
 the farm. But these materials, be it remembered, are 
 not to be used as substitutes fgr, but merely supple- 
 mentary to, the straw, without which the pigs cannot be 
 comfortably bedded, but will suffer from cold, and that 
 is equivalent to a loss of food. The j''oung pigs who 
 have to come through their first winter, and an expe- 
 rience quite new to them, require to be particularly 
 well attended to in the matter of bedding. Their food 
 should be such as to keep them in a gradually improving 
 condition without having a tendency to force them. 
 Both young and store pigs should have an occasional 
 run in a field when the weather is mild and open. 
 
 Swine with litters of young pigs require great atten- 
 tion to be paid to them, both as regards food, of which 
 the quality must be good, and the bedding. Many a 
 good litter of pigs has been lost by their being fairly 
 starved by cold. The pigs of every litter are rarely of 
 equal size and strength, and there is generally one or 
 two which, being larger and heavier, may be called the 
 " master pigs," and these generally rule the denizens of 
 the sty with a high hand, preventing the weaker pigs 
 from getting their fair share of food. This ought to 
 be looked to, otherwise it may be found some day that 
 one or more of the weak pigs are dying from want of 
 food ; or, if matters do not go to this extremity, so far 
 put back in condition and so injured in their consti- 
 tution as never to be worth much. The same remark 
 is applicable to young and store pigs. 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 EECOimS OP THE 'WOES; OP A SMAIL FAEK. 
 
 " Let- everything be done systematically and in order." 
 An admirable maxim, and worthy of being kept always 
 in remembrance, even on the smallest of small farms. 
 It involves two points to be attended to — first, having 
 a system ; and secondly, the orderly carrying out of 
 its details into practice. One may arrange the finest 
 system of working out a business, but little practical 
 result will be attained if it be not attended to. The 
 value of a machine consists not in the mere possession 
 of it — to be able to say, I have it — but in making it to 
 do its work properly. 
 
 A great help in carrying out a system of orderly 
 farm work is to keep a record or journal of it, and a set 
 of books in which accounts can be kept. On a small 
 farm these may be of a very simple and unpretentious 
 character. My set consists of — (1) a Record of Farm 
 Work; (2) a Farm Cash Book; (3) an Order Book; 
 (4) a Receipt' Book; (5) Milk Accounts; (6) Butter- 
 making Book. The list, when thus written, appears 
 somewhat formidable, I confess, and scarcely deserving 
 of the title " unpretentious " which I have claimed for it. 
 But, in reality, the "set" is a very simple afiair, as 
 will appear on a brief explanation of its parts. First, 
 as to the Record of Farm "Work. This is not a 
 journal in which the daily doings of the farm are duly 
 set down ; but rather an occasional jotting-book, in 
 which the principal operations of the farm are recorded. 
 To keep a regular Journal would take up too much of 
 the time of an amateur farmer, whom I presume to be 
 occupied otherwise with his ordinary avocations. Be- 
 sides, this daily record is not required ; as on many 
 
362 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 days, especially in the winter season, the operations 
 performed are of a very trivial character. As the 
 Record of which I speak contains a list of all the 
 operations of the farm — as, for instance, the date when 
 you put in such a seed, and how you sowed it ; manured 
 such a plot, and what the nature of the manure was, 
 and how you applied it ; together with many other 
 things needless to be mentioned here — it becomes, in 
 process of time, an exceedingly interesting work— a 
 map or chart, so to speak, in which you can trace your 
 progress in times past ; and from which you can make 
 a series of comparative observations of extreme interest. 
 
 To aid in the drawing-up of this record, I would re- 
 commend all amateur farmers to plan out that part of 
 the little farm which is devoted to arable culture. Thus, 
 the diagram opposite may represent the outline 
 of the part under culture, with the divisions occu- 
 pied with various crops as marked. This I call the 
 General Plan, which can be instantly referred to as 
 defining the place of any specific crop. But, in ad- 
 dition to these, I have " detail plans " showing the way 
 I set out each of those divisions. Thus, the " general 
 plan" is placed at the beginning of my Record of 
 Farm "Work, while the " detail plans " come in at 
 various places according to the season. I have already, 
 in the chapter on Crops under Culture, given these 
 " detail plans." I make the same plans and entries of 
 the plots for extra crops and seed-beds in the Division 
 No. 5 in General Plan, so that I can by inspection 
 readily ascertain what seed I have sown, and when, 
 where, and how. A few extracts from my Record of 
 Farm Work will show the nature of the entries. 
 
 Nov. 5th. — Sowed, with wheat, butts ISTos. 1, 2, 3 (see 
 plan, page — ), broadcast. 
 
 Nov. 6th. — Sowed, with wheat, butts Nos. 4, .5, 6, 
 (see plan, page of Record Book — ), in drills nine 
 inches apart. 
 
 Nov. 6tk. — Dibbled, with Sigma's dibble, butts Nos. 
 7, 8, 9. (See plan, p. — .) 
 
 Jan. 27th. — Top-dressed division No. 3, Long Mea- 
 dow, with artificial manure composed of equal parts of 
 
SMALL FAHM WOKK RECORDS. 
 
 363 
 
 nitrate of soda, common salt, and wood-ashes, at the 
 rate of 2| cwts. to the acre. 
 
 leb. 26th. — Sowed, in division No. 3, general plan, 
 butt No. 1, with beans, in rows three feet apart ; the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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364 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 beans hand-dibbled nine inches apart. (See plan, 
 p.—.) 
 
 Feb. 27i!A.— Hand-dibbled butt No. 4, with beans, as 
 in plan, p. — ; three feet intervals between the rows, 
 four rows in each set, the beans dibbled in the rows 
 nine inches apart. 
 
 March 2nd. — Sowed in seed-bed JS'o. 1, in division 
 No. 4, general plan, two ounces of drum-head cabbage, 
 in drills nine inches apart. (For transplanting.) 
 
 Feb. \&th. — Top-dressed wheat, butts Nos. 1 (see 
 plan, p. — ), 4, 7, and 10, with nitrate of soda, and 
 butts Nos. 2, 3, 6, 9, and 12, with a mixture of nitrate 
 of soda and common salt ; all at the rate of 2J cwts. to 
 the acre. Left butts Nos. 2, 5, 8, and 10 undressed. 
 The words " plan " and " page " refer, of course, to the 
 entries in your Record of Farm Work. 
 
 In order to ascertain the cost of preparing the land 
 for the crops, the time which it takes a man, or two 
 men, as the case may be, to dig a certain division, 
 should be entered, noting also the time taken in sowing 
 the seed, &c. The date should also be entered when 
 you begin to use any particular kind of food, and the 
 date you procure or begin to use a fresh supply ; you 
 have thus the means of ascertaining, which I have found 
 more than once to be very useful, whether there is a 
 careless use or otherwise of it during any given period, 
 as compared with one that is past and recorded. So 
 much for my Record of Farm Work Book. 
 
 My Farm Cash Book was a simple affair : on one 
 side I set down, under its appropriate date, every item 
 of cash expended ; and on the other every item of cash 
 received for milk, butter, and eggs sold, or for pasture 
 right. My sales being of a very trifling nature, and 
 being nearly all ready cash transactions, I had no need 
 of a " ledger." 
 
 My Order Book and my Receipt Book were im- 
 portant. In the one I entered a correct copy of every 
 order I sent out to tradesmen, for materials, with the 
 date of its issue and the name of the party to whom it 
 was sent. When the articles were received, I at once 
 entered a correct copy of the invoice, with the date. I 
 
MILK ACCOUNTS. 
 
 365 
 
 thus had complete checks upon every item of my ex- 
 penditure, and could tell at any time "what is what." 
 
 My Milk Accounts were two in number; one 
 marked, " Milk obtained each Day," the other " Milk- 
 selling Account." The latter was a statement of the 
 milk sent out each morning and oTcning to the man 
 who sells the milk I had to spare, after keeping what 
 is considered necessary for the household wants, and for 
 butter-making. The following shows the method I 
 adopted of drawing up these accounts. 
 
 Milk obtained each Day. • 
 
 Date. 
 
 Morning. 
 
 " Lily." 
 
 "Tiolet." 
 
 Quarts. 
 
 Pints. 
 
 Quarts. 
 
 Pints. 
 
 Oct. 16th . 
 
 S 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 The above is a form which I used when I wished to 
 make comparative observations as to the milking of two 
 cows, one of which was fed on one, the other on 
 another system. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Morning. 
 
 Evening. 
 
 Oct. 27 
 
 Quarts. 
 
 Pints. 
 
 Quarts. 
 
 Pints. 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 „ 28 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 „ 29 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 „ 30 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 „ 31 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 Nov. 1 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 ., 2 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 „ 3 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 H 
 
 ,, 4 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 ,. 5 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 „ 6 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 „ 7- 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 „ 8 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 „ 9 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
366 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 The above is an extract showing a fortnight's milk 
 from one cow. I give it also as illustrative of a fact 
 which has long been noticed, that the produce of the 
 morning milking is always more than that of the even- 
 ing. Although it is rather troublesome, it is more 
 satisfactory to keep the record of each single cow's 
 milking as above. "Where the trouble is grudged, the 
 whole produce of all the cows can of course be easily 
 entered. In addition to the interest acquired by keep- 
 ing a record such as the above, some important uses 
 are served by it. You can at once notice any falling 
 off in the quantity of milk produced, and trace, or at 
 all events try to trace, the cause. I found the milk 
 record acted as a capital check on the doings of my 
 cowman or dairymaid, and had more than once detected 
 a carelessness and neglect in the feeding. You can, 
 moreover, by its aid, note the effect of any peculiar 
 style of feeding or treatment you may be trying ; I 
 not seldom falsified the prophecies of my cowman 
 by its means, proving to him that the produce had not 
 fallen off under certain treatment, which he said would 
 be the case. Still farther, this milk record enables you 
 at any time to ascertain, to the value of a penny, the 
 amount which you have received in any one period from 
 the cows ; and this independently of, or rather acting 
 as a check upon, your separate milk and butter account. 
 The " Milk-selling Account " is, of course, drawn up in 
 the same way as the above. 
 
 The Butter-making Account is also very useful 
 and interesting. It is arranged as follows : — 
 
 Date. 
 
 Time occupied in 
 churning till the 
 butter comes, 
 not including the 
 collecting, -work- 
 ing, &o. 
 
 Quantity of. 
 
 Cream 
 employed. 
 
 Quantity of 
 
 Milk 
 
 afterings. 
 
 Weight of 
 
 Butter 
 
 obtained. 
 
 Quarts. 
 
 Pints. 
 
 Quarts. 
 
 Pints. 
 
 Lbs. 
 
 07.S. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 It is worth while to keep an account of the eggs 
 
BUTTER AND EGG ACCOUNTS. 367 
 
 obtained each day ; a slate is hung up in my kitcheUj 
 and as the eggs are brought in, the number is entered 
 thereon. As many are used in the house, the cash ob- 
 tained for eggs will give you no correct clue to the 
 profits or loss of the poultry. At the end of each month, 
 the figures on the slate are added up and entered in a 
 book, with the selling price for the month attached. 
 You can tell by such means whether or not it is truth 
 or a quiet sneer at your " play-farming " when your 
 friends assert that you are rearing eggs to eat at double, 
 treble, or even quintuple the market prices ; friends in 
 such cases oddly enough, be it here quietly noted, not 
 sticking at calculating trifles, or high-sounding sums. 
 
 All this, by many, doubtless will be called the dilet- 
 tantism of farming accounts — mere play. I hold it, 
 worthy reader, to be, in truth, nothing else than this 
 myself, and wish it to be considered nothing else. All 
 amateur farming must, some of it to a greater, some to 
 a less extent, partake of the nature of amusement or 
 recreation — ^play, in point of fact. And very healthy, 
 honest play it affords, too ; much better in every way 
 than some kinds I wot of, where green-baized boards 
 take the place of green fields ; croupiers, that of cattle, 
 and pigeons to he plucked hovering near. But I hold 
 it to be an excellent rule, to endeavour to make the 
 most of everything, to extract, so to speak, as much of 
 the honey from every flower you light upon as you can — 
 and that whether you are engaged in work or play, it is 
 best to be hearty in the pursuit. That which thy hand 
 findeth to do, let it be done with all thy might. So 
 that, if you make up your mind to try a little play- 
 farming, as I have done, do as I did, and try and get as 
 much pleasure as you can out of it. And the more 
 intellectual the pleasure is, the more lasting and worthy 
 of your regards you will find it. And this intellec- 
 tuality you will best secure by endeavouring to know 
 the why and the wherefore of everything. I do not 
 say that all this "finical, ficky style of recording," as 
 some will, doubtless, call it, will secure this ; but I do 
 say, that it will go some considerable length in enabling 
 
368 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 you to do so ; and that is a promise worth something, 
 and one which, if you try it, will be redeemed in some 
 small, perhaps in large, measure. And in the case of 
 the small farmer who farms for a living, books of some 
 kind are simply essential. 
 
 I have already enlarged upon the pleasures to be 
 derived from cultivating a wide variety of crops. The 
 amateur farmer should, however, recollect that the 
 advice given on this point is to be taken with a reserva- 
 tion. For, as I have already stated, farming, as prac- 
 tised in Great Britain, is characterized by numerous 
 diversities, and what to many appear extraordinary 
 contradictions. These, however, arise from the diversity 
 of soil and climate, and the peculiarities of locality ; 
 so that in forming a plan or scheme of agriculture, the 
 amateur farmer, as well as he who farms for profit, 
 must not overlook the peculiar nature of the soil which 
 forms the arable part of his farm, or the relation which 
 its physical condition has to the nature of certain veget- 
 ables he proposes to grow upon it. The kind of soQ 
 to be looked for by the amateur farmer is the " dark 
 rich mould which forms the most fertile soil," and 
 which is produced naturally by the fermentation or 
 action of animal and vegetable substances upon it. 
 
 Rich mould of this kind possesses all the requisites 
 essential to the growth and perfection of farm crops. 
 And where it does not naturally exist, it is satisfactory 
 to know that by superior modes of working and treat- 
 ment, even comparatively bad soil can be changed so 
 as to possess most, if not all, the. properties of this 
 class of soil. Good farming can change the character 
 of a soil so as to make it bear either more luxuriant 
 crops of the plants which it is best fitted naturally to 
 bear, or plants of another and a different kind. Changes 
 of this nature are brought about by the various pro- 
 cesses of improved farming ; by drainage, ploughing, 
 sub-soiling, harrowing, crushing, and by manuring and 
 clearing the soil. All this requires time and patience, 
 and the amateur farmer must everbe careful to remember, 
 that danger is apt to arise from an over-hasty determina- 
 
CONDITIONS OF FARMING. 369 
 
 tion to introduce new methods of working, or to improve 
 the soil and increase its produce, by modes foreign to 
 the locality. The results of agricultural experience 
 or practice of any locality are not lightly to be set 
 aside, however captivating or reasonable the dicta of 
 theory, or new-fashioned modes of working may be. 
 "Little by little" is a good motto for the amateur 
 farmer, who is apt to be somewhat enthusiastic in the 
 matter of introducing new* things. Novelty does not 
 always bring with it cfBciency, no more than old 
 things carry with them perfection : the happy medium 
 frequently is found to lie between the two ; and moie 
 especially in farming is this true. As a rule, it 
 may be accepted that where certain modes of working 
 are found to prevail in a district, that good reasons exist 
 why these should be followed. And it is exceediugly 
 dangerous to pronounce them essentially wrong simply 
 because they may run contrary to the rules by which 
 we have been guided, or to the methods which we have 
 been in the habit of adopting. Agriculture is not, in 
 the ordinary acceptation of the term, a " fixed " science ; 
 there is no such thing yet as an agricultural theory 
 adapted to all varieties of practice ; there are so many 
 peculiarities tending to throw in disturbing elements, 
 that the dictates of theory, however applicable to one 
 locality, are found to be totally inapplicable to another. 
 Hence the danger which arises to the real progress of 
 agriculture from the facility with which some accept 
 new notions, simply because they are new, and en- 
 deavour to make them applicable to all circumstances 
 of soil, climate, and locality ; and hence, also, the reason 
 why — a fact which is extremely puzzling to many — 
 farmers who have been invariably successful in all their 
 operations in one locality should so signally and totally 
 fail in another, to which, in fact, they have often 
 emigrated — so to speak — to introduce what they have 
 been pleased to term the " new lights " into darkened 
 districts. 
 
 A judicious amateur farmer, then, should strive 
 " to keep his lands always in good cultivation rather 
 
 B B 
 
370 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 than suddenly make them much better, lest a few 
 years should convince him that he was in reality doing 
 almost irreparable mischief, while he fancied himself 
 making improvements." It is always flattering to us 
 to think that we are doing better than our neighbours ; 
 but it is well, at times, to ascertain what our neigh- 
 bours are doing, and to endeavour, if possible, to trace 
 the reason why they are doing so ; it will go hard if we 
 do not derive from this inquiry some lesson of worth. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 MONTHLY MEMORANDA OF FIELD WORK. 
 
 JANUARY. 
 
 " Now the frozened soil is hardened into rock ; 
 
 Broad waters are bridged o'er -with ice, and bear 
 The heavy waggon ; and a sportive throng 
 That to and fro glide rapidly along. 
 Home now has charms untold, and numbers flock 
 Round the big fire that blazes everywhere." 
 
 The out-door labour of the farm will consist principally 
 in carting or wheeling manure on to the fields, this 
 being done best in time of frost ; in preparing compost- 
 heaps ; in repairing fences, drains, &c. ;, and in plough- 
 ing or digging when the weather is open and suitable. 
 
 The manure taken to the fields may be spread on 
 the land as the heaps are formed. Artificial manures 
 may also be spread on the meadow-fields, care being 
 taken to do this as uniformly as possible. 
 
 The management and treatment of compost-heaps 
 is a matter of the utmost importance. Where the 
 cleanings of ditches, road-scrapings, &c., &c. are 
 collected — and they should be collected whenever oppor- 
 tunity ofiers — lime should be mixed with them. When 
 the compost-heap is turned over it will be advisable 
 to add some salt to it. 
 
 Generally speaking, the weather precludes much 
 digging or ploughing being carried on. If you 
 have not been fortunate enough to get all your plots 
 which last year carried grain crops — -and which, tech- 
 
372 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 nically, are known as "stubble-lands" — dug over in 
 the autumn montlis, take advantage of seasonable 
 weather to go on with the digging now. The surface 
 should be left rather rough than smooth, in order to get 
 the action on the soil of such frosts as will likely yet set 
 in. Turnip land — that is, land which last year bore 
 turnips — should also, if opportunity offers, be dug over 
 for the cereal crop. 
 
 The crops which may be sown this month are wheat, 
 barley, oats, and tares or vetches, and beans. In sow- 
 ing wheat, the land should be moist, but not wet, and 
 any of the winter wheats may be put in. Talavera is 
 a good sort. As a rule early varieties grown in early 
 districts should be sown — Fenton's, Archer's Prolific, 
 and white wheat with red chaff ; Hunter's and Brodie's 
 are varieties which may be named here. I have given 
 remarks in the text on the mixture of wheat for sowing ; 
 it is right here, however, to state that this system of 
 mixing is not held in esteem by many authorities. 
 These hold, in factj that this is not one of the practices 
 of scientific agriculture, and that wheat of one variety 
 should alone be used. 
 
 Barley and oats are sometimes, in very favourable 
 districts, sown this month ; but the sowing of tlie 
 former had better be delayed till a later period. It is 
 worthy of remark, however, that oats sown early have 
 produced remarkably good crops. Four plots may be 
 put down for this crop — two sown in this month, two 
 sown at a later period, and the results tabulated at the 
 proper season. 
 
 Tares or vetches may be sown for spring cutting as 
 cattle food. With these a quantity of oats should be 
 sown, in the proportion of two of oats to one of tares ; 
 four bushels of the mixture being given to each acre. 
 Beans, if the plot in which they are to be grown is 
 dry, may be sown this month. Any of the common 
 field sorts may be chosen. 
 
MONTHLY FAUM CALENDAR. 373 
 
 FEBEUARY. 
 
 " Blue-eyed spring is struggling into life, 
 And feeblj laughs, and lisps her earliest words ; 
 The snowdrop peeps, the voice of singing hirds 
 Is heard again." 
 
 Ploughing and digging should he proceeded with 
 whenever the weather permits. Heavy clay soil should 
 never be touched till it is in a dry state. To turn it 
 over when saturated with wet is a great mistake, as the 
 soil gets hardened or baked into obstinate lumps. 
 
 Barley and oats may be sown now in dry soils. It is 
 worthy of note that early sowing is getting every year 
 more and more into favour. Wheat may also be put 
 in if the soil and weather are favourable ; care should 
 be taken not to over-harrow the surface, but to leave it 
 rather rough than otherwise. The quantity of seed 
 (see text) should be increased in sowing this month. 
 
 Beans should now be got in if possible, as when sown 
 later than this month the yield is not so satisfactory. 
 The soil best adapted for the bean crop is a calcareous 
 clay. Heavy soils are better than light. I have in the 
 text given some remarks on the culture of beans ; and, 
 in the autumn months of this calendar will be found a 
 description of the mode of preparing the land for this 
 crop. Beans should be either drilled or dibbled. In 
 cases where time did not permit of the land being 
 manured in winter, the manure should be applied now, 
 throwing up the land in ridges or furrows, and spread- 
 ing the manure in the rows. The beans are then to be 
 drilled or dibbled in, and the soil turned over them by 
 splitting the ridge with the double mould-board plough, 
 or throwing the soil of the ridge right and left by 
 means of the spade. It may be mentioned here that 
 the richer qualities of dung may be retained for the 
 other crops, the bean crop doing well with manure of an 
 inferior quality; further, that artificial manures, as 
 guano, &c., are of comparatively little service to the 
 bean crop. Of the varieties which may be grown I 
 name the common tick, a prolific bean, much grown, and 
 
374 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 of which two bushels may be sown per acre ; the winter 
 bean, common horse bean, and Heligoland. The long- 
 pod, or garden bean, is now recommended by some as a 
 good crop for farm purposes. Bean-straw, it may be 
 noticed here, cut up and made to form part of a mash, 
 is good food for dairy cows. Mr. Horsfall, in his now 
 celebrated system of "Dairy Management," gives a 
 high place to bean-meal as a feeding material. 
 
 MARCH. 
 
 " March of the gusty breath." 
 
 " Hour after hour, and day to day succeeds, 
 Till every clod and deep-drawn furrow spreads 
 To crumbling mould ! a level surface clear, 
 And strewed with com to crown the rising year." 
 
 The sowing of the cereals and the leguminous crops — 
 as the beans and peas — should be pushed on, so as to 
 admit of time being devoted at an early period to the 
 preparation of the land for the root crops. 
 
 Where any stubble-land yet remains to be dug over, 
 care should be taken not to commence operations till 
 the land is in the best possible condition ; it is better 
 to delay till this can be sepured than to proceed with 
 operations when the soil is in bad condition. 
 
 The sowing of wheat should be completed this month, 
 Talavera or April wheat being selected. 
 
 In selecting seed for the oat crops, take care to pro- 
 cure it from an early district. Let it be a true variety, 
 and free from the seeds of weeds. These two essentials 
 can only be secured by dealing with respectable seeds- 
 men. The varieties of oats grown are very numerous. 
 
 The sowing of barley should also be proceeded with. 
 The variety known as the Chevalier is the most highly 
 thought of. Seed should be selected from samples 
 grown in early districts. 
 
 Cabbages and kohl-rabi should be sown in seed- 
 
MONTHLY FARM CALENDAR. 375 
 
 beds this month. The soil of these should be in rich 
 condition, and brought to a fine tilth. The seed should 
 be sown in rows or drills nine inches apart, and the 
 whole kept free from weeds. 
 
 Getting in the potato crop is one of the most impor- 
 tant operations of this month. 
 
 Artificial manures should be purchased at the begin- 
 ning of this month. There can be no doubt as to the 
 advantage of applying these liberally to the various 
 crops. And on this point I cannot do better than refer 
 to the published remarks of Mr. J. B. Lawes, than 
 whom no better authority on manures exists. 
 
 APKIL. 
 
 " Lo ! the full march of spring." 
 
 " Scant along the ridgy land 
 The heans their new-bom ranks expand ; 
 The freah-turned soil with tender blades 
 Thinly the sprouting barley shades." 
 
 Continue the digging, ploughing, and cleaning of 
 land for the turnip crop. Hoe between the rows of 
 wheat and beans, to stir the soil and get rid of weeds. 
 About the end of the month commence the sowing of 
 mangold-wurzel. After the manure is spread between 
 the furrows or on the flat, broadcast over the manure 
 superphosphate or other artificial manure, taking care 
 to mix with it a proportion of common salt, splitting 
 the ridges to cover the manure, and mix with the arti- 
 ficial. Carrots may be sown in land in good condition, 
 finely pulverised, and manurially rich. The seed 
 should be mixed with sand, to enable it to be sown 
 easily. The distance between the rows eighteen inches. 
 Five pounds of seed per acre will be sufficient. To 
 enable early hoeing of the crop to be begun, it is ad- 
 visable to sow turnip seed along with the carrot seed. 
 This sprouting first will enable the line of carrots to be 
 
376 
 
 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 traced. Early hoeing of the carrot crop saves much 
 labour at future stages. 
 
 Finish the sowing of barley and oats. Consolidate 
 the land where wheat is sown by passing the roller over 
 it. If the growth of this cereal is too luxuriant, eat it 
 down with sheep, or cut it for cattle-soiling. Put in a 
 breadth of spring tares, or vetches, or rye, to be cut 
 down green in the autumn for cattle-soiling. Finish the 
 planting of potatoes. 
 
 MAY. 
 
 " The bloom is on the hud, and the hird is on the hough." 
 "A halmy hriskness comes upon the hreeze." 
 
 The great work of the latter end of this and the 
 beginning of the next month is getting in the turnip 
 crop. For my remarks on the work of this, see the 
 text. 
 
 Hoe and weed the wheat, barley, and oat plots. Also 
 hoe between the rows and hand-weed beans, carrots, 
 and potatoes. 
 
 Transplant cabbages and kohl-rabi to land highly 
 manured, both of these crops being greedy of manure. 
 
 Let the hoeing, weeding, and clearing of the crops 
 be most diligently pursued. Early work in this depart- 
 ment of farm labour will be easy work. " One year's 
 seeding is seven years' weeding." Remember this, 
 and wage unceasing warfare with the weeds. 
 
 JUNE. 
 
 " Gladly the blithe mower cuts hia sounding way." 
 "When the fresh Spring in all her state is crowned." 
 
 Finish turnip sowing. Single or thin out those 
 sown last month, and which are now sufficiently ad- 
 
MONTHLY FARM CALENDAR. 377 
 
 Tanced. Hand-hoe and weed between the rows of 
 man gold- wurzel. Single carrots; hoe and weed the 
 cereal plots, beans, &c. 
 
 The important labour of the month in advanced 
 districts is haymaking. As soon as the crop is off the 
 fields, top-dress for the second crop, or aftermath (see 
 text) . 
 
 JULY. 
 
 ' Clover blooms white- o'er the lea." 
 
 Haymaking will be proceeded with, and should be 
 finished this month. Keep up the warfare against the 
 weeds. Winter beans will be ready in some districts 
 for reaping. Sow rape for transplanting in October, 
 to be cut as green food next spring. Hoe and weed 
 the turnip, mangold, and cabbage plots. 
 
 AUGUST. 
 
 " Oh, beautiful the picture, from that steep 
 Of fields of yellow com, that ripening sleep 
 In the warm sun, all golden with his light ! 
 Gaze ! as the month advances — gaze again 
 Upon that glowing landscape, and the crowd 
 Of white sMrts gleaming in the ruddy grain. 
 How beautiful the scene ! And oh, the loud 
 And spirit-stirring shout of ' Harvest home ! ' 
 That peals upon the breeze while on our way we roam.'' 
 
 Harvesting the cereals is the important labour of 
 this month. As soon as the grain is readi/ lose no time 
 in stacking it. The stack, not the field, is the place for 
 it. Oats should be cut before they have lost the green- 
 ness of the straw ; wheat should be cut before it is dead 
 ripe ; and barley should not be cut till it is dead ripe, 
 indicated by the drooping of the head. Continue to 
 hoe and weed the turnips. Mangolds and carrots seed- 
 ing should be lifted and given to the pigs. 
 
378 SMALL FARMING. 
 
 Early stubble land may be sown with white turnips 
 for autumn feeding of stock. Mustard may be sown 
 to be ploughed in as green manure. Winter tares 
 should be sown for cutting for green food in spring. 
 
 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 "Now 
 Autumn has swept her pencil o'er the trees, 
 And left a goldaii stain." 
 
 Autumn cultivation of stubbles should, if possible, 
 be proceeded with. By adopting this system, much 
 labour is saved in spring, when time is precious and the 
 weather precarious. HarTesting of the cereals is con- 
 tinued, if not finished last month. Early plots of fine 
 samples of wheat — as of Hallett's Pedigree — should be 
 dibbled in this month, and winter rye and vetches for 
 spring feeding sown broadcast or in drills. Pastures 
 should be top-dressed with dissolved bones, phospho- 
 Peruvian guano, or with farm-yard manure. . 
 
 OCTOBEE. 
 
 " Stroll down the leaf-strewn lane, and on some stile, 
 Hacked with the rustic's knife, seat ye awhile, 
 And watch tha hushandman diffuse his seed 
 Over the ruddy field. 'Tis sweet to me. 
 The berried hedgerow, and the yellow tree 
 Have charms as yet, though flowers and leaves he dead." 
 
 Sow wheat (see text) and winter beans. 
 
 Getting up the potatoes is the most important opera- 
 tion of this month. As they are carted or taken from 
 the field, get them housed or pitted without delay. Let 
 the pits be perfectly dry, well thatched, and have a 
 drain or channel cut all round, to prevent the water 
 stagnating round the pit. If time will permit, it will 
 
MONTHLY FARM CALENDAR. 379 
 
 be in every way advisable to separate the diseased from 
 the sound potatoes before storing them up. 
 
 Plots intended for mangold- wurzel, carrots, and spring 
 beans should be turned over and manured this month, 
 if time and weather will permit. All land dug or 
 ploughed in autumn should be left rough, for the winter 
 frosts to act upon the surface, and reduce the clods, 
 &c, to a fine tilth. Top-dress meadows with farm- 
 yard manure. This operation is most beneficial, more 
 especially where young grass is coming up. This is 
 sheltered by the manure from the cutting winds and 
 frosts. 
 
 NOVEMBEB. 
 
 " The trees are near undressed, and every gale 
 Thins the sere brotherhood of leaves that cling — 
 Last of their race — to the grey twigs, and sing 
 Their latest songs with melancholy waJl. 
 Cold rain and sleet, and the round pattering hail 
 Drive through the gorges of the hills, and sweep 
 Across its plains, while blinded cattle creep 
 'Neath the tall hedge or mossy thicket pale.'' 
 
 The pulling up and storing away of the turnips and 
 mangolds are now vigorously proceeded with. In 
 topping, great care should be taken not to cut or injure 
 the bulbs. 
 
 As the turnips, mangolds, and cabbages are cleared 
 ofi', get the land speedily prepared for wheat, which 
 sow in somewhat greater quantity than for last month. 
 Carrots should be taken up. Kohl-rabi may be left 
 in the field and taken up as required. 
 
 Plough or dig the stubbles, preparing those required 
 for beans first, those for mangolds the second, and those 
 for the turnips last. 
 
380 MONTHLY FARM CALENDAK. 
 
 DECEMBER. 
 
 " The fieldB are emptied of the sweet-breathed kine ; 
 The woods are shelterless." 
 
 Continue the preparation of the stubble-plots for 
 spring crops. 
 
 Although wheat-sowing is sometimes done this montb, 
 still, unless the land is in very good condition, it will 
 be better to delay till spring, as many risks are run. 
 If sowing is done, sow the maximum quantity, and 
 leave the surface rough. Protect the rising plants of 
 wheat from birds. Proceed with repairing the fences, 
 roads, cleaning out the drains, &c., &c., and make all 
 snug and tidy about the out-buildings. In frosty 
 weather, cart out manure to the fields, and in rainy, 
 thresh out the grain and look after in-door work. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 AGREEMENT on taking the 
 ■^ Amateur Farm, 103 
 Agricultural authorities on the 
 
 Continent, their opinion as to the 
 
 Small Farm System, 70 
 Agriculture, improvement of, by- 
 landed proprietors, 94 
 Amateur, the, as an experimental 
 farmer, 107 
 
 ,, Farm, conditions necessary to 
 the, 102 
 
 ,, Farms limited in extent, 1 
 " Anbury " in the root crops, 189 
 Apparatus for Portland cement 
 Construction, 261 
 
 ,, for the silo, 280 
 Appliances for ike dairy, 347 
 Arable land, conversion of, into 
 
 grass land, ignorance of the 
 
 details of, 56 
 Artichoke, the Jerusalem, 201 
 
 BARLEY, culture of, 175 
 Bean, culture of the, 179 
 Beetroot crops, 192 
 Breeds of cattle, 306 
 
 ,, of dairy cattle, 313 
 Brittany cow, 216 
 Broadcasting of seed, 160 
 Buildings of the SmaU or Amateur 
 Farm, 124—139 
 ,, of the SmaU Farm, employ- 
 ment of Portland cement 
 concrete in, 249 
 Bull, Points indicating a well- 
 developed, 311 
 Butt«r, tiie making-up of, 332 
 ,, diiferent meliiods of making, 
 
 29 
 ,, churning of the milk for the 
 
 making of, 331 
 , , making and selling,' 328 
 
 CABBAGE crop, the, 199 
 
 ^ Calendar of tiie daily work of 
 
 the Small Farm, 371 
 CaU, rearing of the, different 
 
 methods of, 301 
 Calves and yovmg cattle, treat- 
 ment of, 301 
 Care and fattening of the stock 
 
 of the SmaU Farm, 288 
 Cattle, breeds of, 306 
 ,, Dairy, breeds of, 313 
 ,, Feeding, principles of, 215 
 ,, Feeding, physiology of, 225 
 ,, Food, nutritive properties of, 
 
 223 
 „ Food, preservation of, by the 
 
 Ensilage system, 232 
 „ Food, cooking of, 298 
 ,, Toung, and calves, treatment 
 of, 301 
 'Cereal or green crops of our Small 
 
 Farms, 157 
 CharactCTistics of modem farm- 
 ing, 8 
 Cheese and cheese-making, 333 
 Chemistry of cattle breeding, 218 
 Churning of the milk for butter- 
 making, 331 
 Climate, soil, and locality im- 
 portant factors in the SmaU 
 Farming System, 55 
 Conditions of the SmaU Farming 
 System, 50 
 , , Social, of SmaU Farms, 85 
 ,, the necessary, of the Amateur 
 Farm, 102 
 Concrete, Portland cement, for 
 structures of the SmaUFarm, 
 sUos, &c., 249 
 ,, Portland cement, construc- 
 tion of floors and foot-paths 
 in, 253 
 
382 
 
 IKDEX. 
 
 Concrete, Portland cement, appara- 
 tus for construction in, 261 
 Construction of the sUo and other 
 
 structures of the Small Farm, 
 
 of the silo or preserving-pit 
 
 or receptacle iot the ensilage 
 
 system, 240 
 Continental agricultural authori- 
 ties, opinion of, on the 
 Small Farm System, 70 
 
 ,, method of cultiTatiag the 
 turnip crop, 194 
 
 ,, Small Farming, its conditions, 
 21 
 
 , , Small Farmer, poor and hard 
 liraig of the, 48 
 
 , , Working day of, 47 
 
 „ Small Farming, its had in- 
 fluence on the progress of 
 agriculture, 63 
 CooMng of cattle food, 298 
 Cow, dSiry, crops to be cultivated 
 suitable for, 341 
 
 ,, the Brittany, 216 
 
 ,, dairy, feeding and general 
 management of the, 319 
 Cows, pasturing of, 321 
 
 ,, dairy, characteristics of, in 
 good milldng, 318 
 Crop, the potato, 200 
 
 ,, Hay, preparation of the mea- 
 dow for the, 204 
 
 ,, Hay, manuring for the, 207 
 
 ,, the Bean, 179 
 
 ,, Barley, 175 
 
 ,, Beet-root, 192 
 
 „ Wheat, 157 
 
 ,, the Turnip, 185 
 
 ,, the Cabbage, 199 
 
 ,, Kohl-rabi, 197 
 
 ,, Oat, 176 
 
 ,, theParsnip, 198 
 
 ,, Eye, 178 
 Cropping of the laud for the soiling 
 system of dairy cow feed- 
 ing, 341 
 
 ,, or rotation of the Small 
 Farm, 142 
 Crops, laying out the land for, 152 
 
 ,, Grain or cereal, of the Small 
 Farm, 157 
 
 ,, Cereal, harvesting of the, 183 
 
 , , to be cultivated for dairy cow 
 farming, 341 
 
 ,, root or green, diseases of, 189 
 
 "Cultivator" or implement for 
 
 working the land, 136 
 Culture of Barley, 175 
 ,, of the Bean, 179 
 ,, of the Oat, 176 
 „ of the Eye, 178 
 ,, of the green or cereal crops 
 of the Small Farm, 157 
 
 DAIET cattle, different breeds 
 of, 313 
 , , cows, soiling or house-feeding 
 
 of, 302 
 ,, Cows, feeding and general 
 
 management of, 319 
 ,, Cows, pasturing of, 321 
 , , Farming crops to be cultivated 
 
 suitable for, 341 
 ,, House apphanoes, 347 
 ,/ Management, 313 
 Delights of Amateur Farming, 2 
 Devon breed of cattle, 309 
 Dibbling, Hand, Seed Implement, 
 138 
 ,, of seed, 162 
 Difficulties in the way of successful 
 Small Farming, 55 
 ,, with which the small farmer 
 has to contend, 79 
 Diseases of poultry, 357 
 
 ,, of the turnip, 189 
 Dried earth or soil manure, 212 
 Drilling of seed, 161 
 
 "PARTH or soil dried manure, 
 •^ Moule'smethod of making, 212 
 Ensilage, general features of, 232 
 Experimental Farm, the Amateur 
 Farm as an, 107 
 ,, Plots, laying out of the, 148 
 ,, Plots in root or green crop 
 culture, 202 
 
 ■jPALLACIES connected with the 
 ^ reclamation of waste land 
 
 question, 81 
 ,, of the opinion that the exten- 
 sion of the Small Fanning 
 System will promote the 
 welfare of agriculture, 62 
 ,, of those who advocate the 
 indiscriminate increase of 
 Small Farms, 67 
 Fallows, 150 
 
 Farm, the Amateur, improvement 
 of, pleasant work, 112 
 
INDEX. 
 
 383 
 
 Farm, Amateur or Small, fences 
 and gates of the, 114 
 
 , , Amateur, agreement in taking 
 , the, 103 
 
 ,, Amateur, diversity in style of 
 farming a feature of, 103 
 
 ,, Amateur or Small, buildings 
 of, 124 
 
 ,, Slnall, System, general re- 
 marks upon, 97 
 
 „ Small, Poultry of, 349 
 
 ,, Small, Question, recent dis- 
 cussion of, 13 
 
 „ Small, Flemish, 64 
 
 ,, Small, system, is it likely to 
 promote the ' progress of 
 agriculture, 72 
 
 ,, Small, work, half -holidays no 
 feature of, 44 
 
 ,, Small,, training required for 
 the •work of file, 32 
 
 ,, Work, method and principle 
 of doing it, 113 
 Farmer, principal requirements of 
 the, 96 
 
 ,, poor and hard living of the 
 Continental, 98 
 
 ,, Small, of the proposed future 
 most unlikely to undertake 
 improvements in cultivation, 
 91 
 
 ,, Small, continuous care and 
 constant labour demanded 
 of the, 25 
 
 ,, Small, difficulties with which 
 he has to contend, 79 
 
 ,, Small, position of the, in re- 
 gard to expenditure, 34 
 Farmers, Small, the personnel of, 
 an important element in the 
 discussion of the Small 
 Farm Question, 25 
 
 , , Small, social condition of, 85 
 
 ,, Small, fallacies of the opinion 
 that an increase of, -will 
 promote the welfare of 
 agriculture, 62 
 
 ,, Small, the, systematic work 
 demanded of, 27 
 
 ,, SmaH, the, one of the hardest 
 worked class of those en- 
 gaged in industrial work, 
 46 
 
 ,, working day of the Conti- 
 nental small, 47 
 
 Farmers, working classes as small, 
 are their habits and training 
 calculated to make them 
 successful, 51 
 Farming, amateur, delights of, 2 
 ,, as a business, popular notion 
 as to the ease with which it 
 can be carried on, 17 — 28 
 ,, Small, its bad influence in the 
 progress of agriculture of 
 the Continent, 63 
 , , Modem, characteristics of, 8 
 ,, Small, practical outcome of 
 the popular notion as to the 
 ease with which it can be 
 carried on, 28 
 ,, Small, on the Continent, its 
 
 condition, 21 
 ,, Small, System, oHmate, soil 
 and locality important fac- 
 tors in the, 55 
 ,, Small, System, of what it is, 
 as a means of gaining a 
 livelihood, 41 
 ,, Small, difficulties in the way 
 
 of, 55 
 ,, System, condition of the 
 
 Small, SO 
 ,, Small, will working-men of 
 towns be benefited by tak- 
 ing to it as a means of liveli- 
 hood, 40 
 Farms, Amateur, limited in ex- 
 tent, 1 
 
 ,, Fallacies of those who advo- 
 cate the indiscriminate in- 
 crease of Small, 57 
 Farms, Small, manures for, 210 
 Fattening and care of the stock of 
 
 the SmaUFarm, 288 
 Feeding cattle, physiology of, 225 
 ,, and general management of 
 
 the dairy cow, 319 
 ,, Cattle, principles of, 215 
 ,, and management of the pig, 
 
 359 
 ,, Materials, or food for live 
 
 stock, 293 
 ,, of poultry, 355 
 Fences of the Amateur Farm, 114 
 Field work of the Small Farm, 
 
 Monthly Calendar of, 371 
 Filling in or packing of the silo, 
 
 268 
 "Finger and toe" in turnips, 189 
 
384 
 
 li^DEX. 
 
 Flanders, Small Farm System of, 
 
 64 
 Flemish Small Farming, 64 
 Floors and footpaths, construction 
 of, in Portland cement concrete, 
 263 
 Food, cattle, preservation of, by 
 the Ensilage System, 232 
 ,, or feeding materials for the 
 live stock of the Small Farm, 
 273 
 , , Cattle, cooking of, 298 
 ,, Machme for preparing, for 
 
 stock, 346 
 ,, Cattle, nutritive properties of, 
 223 
 Footpaths and Koads of the Ama- 
 teiir or Small Farm, 120 
 
 rjATBS of the Amateur or SmaU 
 ^ Farm, 117 
 
 Grass land, conversion of arable 
 land into, ignorance of the 
 details of, 66 
 ,, Lands of the Amateur or 
 SmaU Farm, 131 
 Green Crop of the Small Farm, 
 Culture of, 157 
 ,, or root crops, 186 
 ,, or root crops, harvesting of, 
 201 
 
 TTALF hoKdays no feature of 
 -'-'- Small Farm work, 44 
 Hardest-worked class of those 
 engaged in industrial opera- 
 tions are the Small Farmers, 46 
 Harrows of the SmaU Farm, 137 
 Harvesting of the cereal crops, 
 183 
 ,, of root or green crops, 201 
 Hay crop, preparation of the 
 meadow for the, 204 
 ,, Crop, mauuriug for the, 207 
 Haymaking, 203 
 Hereford breed of cattle, 308 
 Home-made manures, 212 
 House-feeding of dairy cows, 302 
 Husbandry, spade, 159 
 
 ■IMPLEMENTS and machines of 
 X modern good farming not re- 
 quired in the SmaU Farms, 89 
 
 Implements of the SmaU Farm, 135 
 Improvement of agriculture, in- 
 fluence of the SmaU Farm 
 System on, 76 
 ,, of agriculture by landed 
 
 proprietors, 94 
 , , of the Amateur Farm, pleasant 
 work, 112 
 
 TEBUSALEM artichoke, 201 
 
 TT'OHL Rabi crop, 197 
 
 T ABOTIR, hard, demanded of the 
 
 -'-' SmaU Parmer, 25 
 
 Land, laying-out of the, for crops, 
 
 162 
 Landed Proprietors, what they 
 
 have done for the improvement 
 
 of agriculture, 94 
 Lands, grass, of the SmaU Farm, 
 
 131 
 Laying-out of the land for crops, 
 
 162 
 Lessons to be learned from the 
 
 practice of the Flemish husband- 
 men, 67 
 Load or permanent pressure put 
 
 upon the contents of the silo, 
 
 274 
 Locality, climate, soU important 
 
 factors in the SmaU Farming 
 
 System, 55 
 
 MACHINES for preparing food 
 for stock, 346 
 Making of butter, 328 
 ,, up of butter, 332 
 ,, of cheese, 333 
 Management, general, and feeding 
 of the dairy cow, 319 
 „ of the dairy, 313 
 ,, and feeding of the pig, 309 
 ,, of poultry, 352 
 Manures, dried earth or soil, 
 Moule's system, 212 
 „ of the SmaU Farm, 210 
 Manuring for the hay crop, 207 
 Meadow land, management of, 
 203 
 ,, preparation of the, for the hay 
 crop, 204 
 
INDEX. 
 
 385 
 
 Mechanical law forbidding the 
 
 economical use of implements 
 
 and machines on the Small 
 
 Farm, 89 
 Milkers, characteristics of good, in 
 
 dairy cows, 318 
 Modem farming, characteristics 
 
 of, 8 
 Modem scientific improvement of 
 
 farming put a stop to by the 
 
 proposed wide increase of Small 
 
 Farms, 93 
 Monthly Calendar of Work of the 
 
 Small Farm, 371 
 Moule's dried earth or soil 
 
 manure, 212 
 
 "IVXJTRITrVE Properties of 
 -'■' cattle food, 223 
 
 QAT crop, 176 
 
 PACKING or filling-in of the 
 silo, 268 
 
 Parsnip crop, 198 
 
 PastuiTng of dairy cows, 321 
 
 Feraonnel of Small Farmers an im- 
 portant element in the dis- 
 cussion of the Small Farming 
 System, 25 
 
 Physiology of cattle feeding, 225 
 
 Pig on the Small Farm, 358 
 
 Pit or preserving receptacle for the 
 Ensilage System, 239 
 
 Plots, laying out of experimental, 
 148 
 
 Plough, use of, in the Small Farm, 
 135 
 
 Poor and hard living of the Con- 
 tinental Small Fanner, 48 
 
 Potato, the, crop, 200 
 
 Popular notion as to the ease with 
 whick farming can be carried on 
 as a business, 17 — 28 
 
 Position of the Small Farmer in 
 relation to expenditure, 34 
 
 Portland cement concrete, 249 
 
 Poultry of the Small Farm, 349 
 ,, Diseases of, 357 
 ,, Feeding and food, 355 
 
 Practical outcome of the popular 
 notion as to the ease with which 
 Small Farmiftg can be carried 
 on, 28 
 
 Practice of the Flemish husband- 
 men, lessons to be learned from, 
 67 
 Preparing food for stock, 
 
 machines for, 345 
 Preservation of cattle food by the 
 
 Ensilage Systepi, 232 
 Principles of cattle feeding, 215 
 Process of cheese-making, 334 
 Progress of agriculture, is the 
 Small Farm System likely to 
 facilitate the, 72 
 
 QUESTION, Small Farm, recent 
 discussion of the, 13 
 
 ■DEARING of the caU, difierent 
 
 -'•'; methods of, 301 
 
 Reclamation of waste land, ques- 
 tion of, fallacies connected with, 
 81 
 
 Records of Small Farm work, 361 
 
 Requirements of the successful 
 farm, 96 
 
 Roads and footpaths of the Ama- 
 teur or Small Farm, 120 
 
 Roller, turnip, 139 
 
 Root or green crops, 185 
 ,, or green crops, husbandry of, 
 201 
 
 Rotation of crops, 142 
 
 Rye, culture of, 178 
 
 CEED, drilling of, 161 
 ^ ,, Dibbling implement, 138 
 „ Dibbling of, 102 
 ,,. Broadcasting of, 160 
 Shorthorn breed of cattle, 306 
 
 ,, Cow, points of, 314 
 Silo, the, a preserving-pit or ""re- 
 ceptaole in the Ensilage, 
 System of, 239 v 
 
 ,, FiUing-in or packing of the, 
 208 , 
 
 , , the load or permanent pressure 
 put upon the contents of, 274 
 „ Site of the, 242 f. 
 
 ,, Apparatus for the, 280 
 Small or Amateur Farm, roads and 
 footpaths of, 120 
 ,, Farm, buildings of the, 124 — 
 
 139 
 ,, Farm, records of the wdiic of, 
 361 
 
 C C 
 
386 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Small rarm question, recent 
 discussion of the, 13 
 ,, Farm System of Flanders, 64 
 , , Farm System, general remarks 
 
 on, 97 
 ,, Farm, gates and fences of 
 
 the, lU 
 ,, Farms, or Amateur, buildings 
 
 of, 124 
 ,, Farms in relation ,'to the 
 progressive improvement of 
 agriculture, 76 
 ,, Farms, manures for, 210 
 „ Farms, poultry of, 349 
 ,, Farms, the pig in, 358 
 Social condition of Small Farmers, 
 
 85 
 Soil, climate, locality important 
 factors in the Small Farming 
 System, 55 
 Soiling, or house or stall-feeding of 
 dairy cows, 302 
 „ System of feeding dairy cows, 
 cropping of the land for, 341 
 Spade husbandry, 189 
 Stall feeding of dairy cows, 302 
 Stock of the SmaU Farm, care and 
 
 fattening of, 288 
 Structures of the Small Farm, use 
 of Portland cement concrete in 
 the erection of, 249 
 Style of cropping the Amateur 
 
 Farm, diversity in, 103 
 System of Small Farming, what it 
 is as a means of gaining a 
 livelihood, 41 
 ,, Soiling, of feeding dairy cows, 
 cropping of the land for, 
 341 
 
 Systematic work demanded of the 
 SmaU Farmer, 27 
 
 TRAINING required for the work 
 '- of the Small Farm, 232 
 Turnip Crop, Continental method 
 of cultivating the, 194 
 
 „ Crop, 185 
 
 ,, Diseasesof the, 189 
 
 „ Roller, 139 
 
 TI^AIiLS, construction of, in 
 
 ' Portiand cement concrete, 255 
 
 Waste Land Reclamation, fallacies 
 
 connected with the question, 81 
 Weeds and weeding of the Small 
 
 Farm, 125 
 Wheat, Lois Weedon system of 
 growing, 170 
 „ Crop, 157 
 Work of the farm, method or 
 principle of doing, 163 
 „ Monthly, of the Small Farm, 
 
 Calendar of, 371 
 „ of the SmaU Farm, its re- 
 cords, 361 
 Working classes proposed as SmaU 
 Farmers, are their habits 
 and training calculated to 
 make them successful, 51 
 ,, Day of the Continental Small 
 Farmer, 47 
 Working-men of towns, wiU they 
 be benefited by being under or 
 becoming SmaU Farmers, 40 
 
 VOTING cattle and calves, care 
 -•• of, 301 
 
 THE END. 
 
 rBISTKD BY J. B, TIBTUE AKD CO., LIIIITED, CITI XOAD, L0KDO.1. 
 
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 good arrangement of the matter, tbe clear explanations, and abundance of formulis, the carefully 
 calculated tables, and, above all, the thorough acquaintance with both theory and construction 
 which is displayed from first to last, tlie book will be found to be an acquisition. '—Architect. 
 
 River Engineering, 
 
 RIVER BARS : The Causes of their Formation, and their Treatment 
 by "Induced Tidal Scour. " With a Description of the Successful Reduction 
 by this Method of the Bar at Dublin. By I.J.Mann, Assist. Eng. to the 
 Dublin Port and Docks Board, Royal 8vo, ys, 6d. cloth. 
 
 " \Ve recommend all Interested in harbour works— and, indeed, those concerned in the improve- 
 ment of rivers generally— to read Mr. Mann's interesting work on the treatment of river bars.' — 
 Jipigineer. 
 
 " The author's discussion on wave-action, currents, and scour is intelligent and interesting. . . 
 a most valuable contribution to the history of this branch of engineermg."— £'»^««W/i^ and 
 Mining yottrnal. 
 
 Hydraulics, 
 
 HYDRA ULIC MANUAL, Consisting of Working Tables and 
 Explanatory Text. Intended as a Guide in Hydraulic Calculations and Field 
 Operations. By Lewis D'A. Jackson. Fourth Edition, Rewritten and En- 
 larged, Large crown 8vo, i6s, cloth. 
 
 *' The author has had a wide experience in hydraulic engineering, both in South America and 
 in India, and has been a careful observer of the facts which nave come under his notice, as well as 
 a painstaking collector and critic of the results of the experiments of others ; and from the great 
 mass of material at his command he has constructed a manual which may be accepted as a trust- 
 worthy guide to this branch of the engineer's profession. We can heartily recommend this 
 volume to all who desire to be aaquainted with the latest development of this important subject."— 
 £ngineering, 
 
 " The most useful feature of this work is its freedom from what is superannuated, and its 
 thorough adoption of recent experiments ; the text is, in fact, in great part a short account of the 
 great riiodern experiments,"— Mi/wr*. 
 
 Tramways and their Working, 
 
 TRAMWAYS: THEIR CONSTRUCTION AND WORKING, 
 Embracing a Comprehensive History of the System ; with an exhaustive 
 Analysis 01 the various Modes of Traction, including Horse-Power, Steam, 
 Heated Water, and Compressed Air ; a Description of the Varieties of Rolling 
 Stock ; and ample Details of Cost and Working Expenses : the Progress 
 recently made in Tramway Construction, &c. &c. By D. Kinnear Clark 
 M. Inst. C.E. With over^oo Wood Engravings, and 13 Folding Plates. Two 
 Vols., large crown 8vo, 30s. cloth. 
 
 " All interested in tramways must refer to it, as all railway engineers have turned to the author's 
 work ' Railway Machinery.'"— JE"«£-»>«fr. 
 
 " An exhaustive and practical work on tramways, in which the history of this kind of locomo- 
 tion, and a description and cost of the various modes of laying tramways, are to be found. '— 
 Building News. 
 
 " The best form of rails, the best mode of construction, and the best mechanical appliances 
 are so fairly indicated in the work under review, that any engineer about to construct a tramway 
 will be enabled at once to obtain the practical information which will be of most service to him."— 
 Athetiautn. 
 
 Oblique Arches. 
 
 A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF 
 OBLIQUE ARCHES. By John Hart, Third Edition, with Plates. Im- 
 perial 8 vo, 8s. cloth. 
 
 Strength of Girders, 
 
 GRAPHIC TABLE FOR FACILITATING THE COMPUTA. 
 TION OF THE WEIGHTS OF WROUGHT IRON AND STEEL 
 GIRDERS, &c., for Parliamentary and other Estimates. By J. H. Watson 
 5ppfc,M, Inst.CE, Qn a ^heet, gs,§rf, , ^ ■ . . 
 
6 CROSBY LOCKWOOn S^ CO. 'S CATALOGUE. 
 
 Tables for Setting^out Curves. 
 
 TABLES OF TANGENTIAL ANGLES AND MULTIPLES 
 fov Setting-out Curves from 5 to zoo Radius: By Alexander Beazeley, 
 M. Inst. C.E. Third Edition. Printed on 48 Cards, and sold in a cloth box, 
 waistcoat-pocket size, 3s. 6rf. 
 
 " Each table is printed on a small card, which, beinff placed on the theodolite, leaves the hands 
 free to manipulate tne instrument— no smaU advantage as regards the rapidity of work." — Engineer^ 
 
 " Very handy ; a man may know that aU his day's work must fall on two of these cards, which 
 lie puts into his own card-case, and leaves the rest wh\nA"—Athenaufn. 
 
 Engineering Fieldworh, 
 
 THE PRACTICE OF ENGINEERING FIELD WORK, applied 
 to Land' and Hydraulic, HydrOgraphic, and Submarine Surveying and Levelling. 
 Second Edition, Revised, with considerable Additions, and a Supplement on 
 Waterworks, Sewers, Sewage, and Irrigation, By W. Davis Haskoll, C.E. 
 Numerous Folding Plates, In One Volume, demy 8vo, £1 3s, cloth. 
 
 Large Tunnel Shafts, 
 
 THE CONSTRUCTION OF LARGE TUNNEL SHAFTS : A 
 Practical and Theoretical Essay. By J. H. Watson Buck, M. Inst, C.E., 
 Resident Engineer, London and North- Western Railway. Illustrated with 
 Folding Plates, royal 8vo, 125. cloth, 
 " Many of the method^ given are of extreme practical value to the mason ; and the observations 
 
 on the form of arch, the rules for ordering the stone, and the construction of the templates will be 
 
 found of considerable use. We commend the book to the engineering profession."— 57«V(^w;^ 
 
 News. 
 
 ' ' Will be regarded by civil engineers as of tlie utmost value, and calculated to save much time 
 
 and obviate many mistakes." — CoUiery Guardian. 
 
 Field-Book for Engineers, 
 
 THE ENGINEER'S, MINING SURVEYOR'S, AND CON^ 
 TRACTOR'S FIELD-BOOK. Consisting of a Series of Tables, with Rules, 
 Explanations of , Systems, and use of Theodolite for Traverse Surveying and 
 Plotting the Work with minute accuracy by means of Straight Edge and Set 
 Square only ; Levelling with the Theodolite, Casting-out and Reducing 
 Levels to Datum, and Plotting Sections in the ordinary manner; setting-out 
 Curves with the Theodolite by Tangential Angles and Multiples, with Right 
 and Left-hand Readings of the Instrument; Setting-out Curves without 
 Theodolite, on the System of Tangential Angles by sets of Tangents and Ofl- 
 sets : and Earthwork Tables to 80 feet deep, calculated for every 6 inches in 
 deijth. By W. Davis Haskoll, C.E. With numerous Woodcuts. Fourth 
 Edition, Enlarged. C^own 8vo, las: cloth. 
 "The book is very handy, and the author might have added that the separate tables of sines 
 
 and tangents to every minute will make it useful for many other purposes, the genuine ti^verse 
 
 tables existing all the same."^j4 i/te^uzum. . . 
 
 " Every person engaged in engineering field operations will estimate the importance of such a 
 
 work and the amount of valuable time which wUl be sdved by reference to a set of reliable tables 
 
 prepared with the accuracy and fulness of those given in this volume."— Railway News, 
 
 Earthwork, Measurement and Calculation of, 
 
 A MANUAL ON EARTHWORK. By Alex. J. S. Graham, 
 C.E, With numerous Diagrams. i8mo, 2s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 " A great amount of practical information, very admirably arranged, and available for rough 
 estimates, as well as for the more exact calculations required in the engineer's and contractor's 
 offices."— ylrtiza». 
 
 Strains, 
 
 THE STRAINS ON STRUCTURES OF IRONWORK; with 
 Practical Remarks on Iron Construction. By F, W. Sheilds, M. Inst, C.E. 
 Second Edition, with 5 Plates. Royal 8vo, 5s. cloth. 
 " The student cannot find a better little book on this subject." — Engineer. 
 
 strength of Cast Iron, etc. 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON THE STRENGTH OF CAST- 
 IRON AND OTHER METALS. By Thomas Teedgqld, C.E. Fiftl? 
 Edition, including Hodgkinson's Experimental Researolies. 8vo, las. cloth. 
 
MECHA N ICS &■ MECHANICAL ENGINEERING. y 
 MECHANICS & MECHANICAL ENGINEERING. 
 
 Mechanic's Workshop Companion. 
 
 THE OPERATIVE MECHANIC'S WORKSHOP COM- 
 PANION, AND SCIENTIFIC GENTLEMAN'S PRACTICAL ASSIST- 
 ANT, Comprising a great variety of the most useful Rules in Mechanical 
 Science ; with numerous Tables of Practical Data and Calculated Results, 
 By W. Templeton, Author of "The Engineer's Practical Assistant." Thir- 
 teenth Edition, With Tables for Operative Smiths, Millwrights, Engineers, 
 &C.J and Useful and Practical Rules in Hydraulics and Hydrodynamics, a 
 variety of Experimental Results, and an extensive Table of Powers and 
 Roots. II Plates, izmo, 5s. bound. 
 "Asa text-book of reference, in which mecbaoical and conuneroial demands are judiciously 
 
 met, 'Templeton's Companion' stands unrivalled." — MKhanic's Afag;aaifie. 
 
 "It has met with great success in the en^^incering workshop, as we can testify ; and there arc 
 
 a great many men who, in a great measure, owe their rise in life to this little book." — Building 
 
 News. 
 
 Engineer's and Machinist's Assistant. 
 
 THE ENGINEER'S, MILLWRIGHT'S, and MACHINIST'S 
 PRACTICAL ASSISTANT. Comprising a collection of Useful Tables, 
 Rules and Data. Compiled and Arranged, with Original Matter, by William 
 Templeton. Seventh Edition. Carefully revised, with Additions. iSmo, 
 2s. 6d. cloth. Uttst published, 
 
 "With the utmost confidence we commend this book to the attention of our readers."— 
 
 Jtfechattic's ilaffazine. 
 
 " A more suitable present to an apprentice to any of the mechanical trades could not possibly 
 
 be made." — Building Nrti's. 
 
 Mechanics. 
 
 THE HANDBOOKOF MECHANICS, ByDiONYSius Lardner, 
 D.C.L., formerly Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy in Uni. 
 versity College, London. New Edition, Edited and considerably Enlarged 
 by Bekjamin Loewy, F.R.A.S., &c. 378 Illustrations, post 8vo, 6s. cloth. " 
 
 "The explanations throughout are studiously popular, and care has been taken to show the 
 application ot the various branches of physics to the industrial arts, and to tlie practical business of 
 \\ie."—Mimtig ^ouittai. 
 
 Turning. 
 
 LATHE-WORK : A Practical Treatise on the Tools, Appliances, 
 and Processes employed in the Art of Turning. By Paul N. Hasluck. 
 Second Edition, thoroughly Revised, with a New Chapter on the Screw- 
 cutting Lathe. Crown 8vo, 55. cloth. 
 
 " Written, by a man who knows, not only how work ought to be done, but wlio also knows.how 
 to do It, and how to convey his knowledge to others. To aU turners this booli would be valuable."— 
 Jiitgifteerittff. 
 
 • We can safely recommend the work to young engineers. To the amateur it will simply bo 
 invaluable. To the student it will convey a great deal of usefiil information."— £;(^iff«r, 
 
 " A compact, sucainct, and handy guide to lathe-work did not exist in our language until Mr, 
 Hasluck, by the publication of this treatise, gave the turner a.tiucvadg'jmcmn."-'HottseDec07-ator, 
 
 Metal Turning, 
 
 THE METAL TURNER'S HANDBOOK. By Paul N. 
 Hasluck. With over 100 Cuts. Crown 8vo, is. cloth. 
 
 Iron and Steel. 
 
 "IRON AND STEEL " : A Work for the Forge, Foundry, Factory, 
 and Office, Containing ready, useful, and trustworthy Information for Iron- 
 masters and their Stock-takers ; Managers of Bar, Rail, Plate, and Sheet 
 Rolling Mills ; Iron and Metal Founders ; Iron Ship and Bridge Builders ; 
 Mechanical, Mining, and Consulting Engineers ; Architects, Contractors, 
 Builders, and Professional Draughtsmen. By Charles Hoare, Author of 
 " The Slide Rule," &c. Eighth Edition, Revised throughout and considerably 
 Enlarged. With folding Scales of " Foreign Measures compared with the 
 English Foot," and " Fixed Scales of Squares, Cubes, and Roots, Areas, 
 Decimal Equivalents, &c." Oblong ssmo, leather, elastic baiid, 6s, 
 For comprehensiveness the book has not its equal."— ./ron. 
 
 One of the t>est of the pocket books, and a useful companion la other brondjes of ^ork than 
 iron and sbesi,"—Bneiisk Mecftanic, 
 
CROSBY LOCKWOOD &> CO/ S CATALOGUE, 
 
 Stone-tvorhing MacJiinei^y, 
 
 STONE-WORKING MACHINERY, and the Rapid and Economi- 
 cal Conversion of Stem. With Hints on the Arrangement and Management 
 of Stone Works. By M. Powis Bale. M.I.M.E., A.M.I.C.E. With numerous 
 Illustrations. Large crown 8vo, gs. cloth. 
 
 "The book should be in the hands of every mason or student of sioiiz-v/oik."— Colliery 
 Guardian , 
 
 Engineer's Reference Book. 
 
 THE WORKS' MANAGER'S HANDBOOK OF MODERN 
 RULES, TABLES, AND DATA. For Engineers, Millwrights, and Boiler 
 Makers; Tool Makers, Machinists, and Metal Workers; Iron and Brass 
 Founders, &c. By W. S. Hutton, Civil and Mechanical Engineer. Second 
 Edition, carefully revised, with Additions. In One handsome Volume, medium 
 bvo, price 155. strongly bound. [Just published. 
 
 Contents : 
 
 Proportions and Rules for Modern Stationary 
 and Locomotive Engines — Lancashire, Cor- 
 nish, Vertical, Return Tube, and Portable 
 Engine Boilers — Chimneys— Water-Wheels, 
 Pumps, Pipes, Girders, Gearing, Shafting, and 
 Millwork— Iron Foundry Workand Brass work 
 —Rules and Practical Data relating to the 
 Strength and Weight of Metals and Materials 
 —Iron and Brass Casting— Cutting Metals- 
 Wheel Cutting— Screw Cutting— Wheel Gear- 
 ing—Rope Gearing— Pulleys— Weight of Pul- 
 leys — Weight of Spur, Bevel, and Mortice 
 
 Wheels — Warming and Ventilating — Weight 
 of Iron, Steel, Brass, and various Metals and 
 Materials. 
 
 Also, The Indicator and Indicator Diagrams 
 — Various Memoranda for the Foundry and 
 Workshop — Rules for the Weight of Castings 
 — The New Patent Law and Costs of Patents — 
 Legal Memoranda — List of French Words for 
 English Engineering Terms — French and 
 English Weights andMeasures — And a variety 
 of Modern Practical Information for Civil and 
 Mechanical Engineers. 
 
 "The volume is an exceedingly useful one, brimful with engineers' notes, memoranda, and 
 rules, and well worthy of being on every mechanical engineer's bookshelf. . . There is 
 valuable information on every page." — Mechanical JForld. 
 
 "The information is precisely that likely to be required in practice. . . . The work forms 
 a desirable addition to the library, not only of the works manager, but of anyone connected with 
 general engineering."- J/»«z«^ youriial. 
 
 "A formidable mass of facts and figures, readily accessible through an elaborate index 
 , . . . Such a volume will be found absolutely necessary as a book of reference in all sorts 
 ef ' works ' connected with the metal trades. ■ . . Any ordinary foreman or workman can find 
 all he wants in the crowded pages of this useful work." — Ryland's Iron Trades Circular. 
 
 Engineering Construction. 
 
 PATTERN 'MAKING : A Practical Treatise, embracing the Main 
 Types of Engineering Construction, and including Gearing, both Hand and 
 Machine made, Engine Work, Sheaves and Pulleys, Pipes and Columns, 
 Screws, Machine Parts, Pumps and Cocks, the Moulding of Patterns in 
 Loam and Greensand, &c,, together with the methods of Estimating the 
 weight of Castings; to which is added an Appendix of Tables for Workshop 
 Reference. By a Foreman Pattern Maker. With upwards of Three 
 Hundred and Seventy Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 7s. Qd. cloth. [Just published. 
 
 Smith's Tables for Mechanics^ etc, 
 
 TABLES, MEMORANDA, AND CALCULATED RESULTS, 
 FOR MECHANICS, ENGINEERS, ARCHITECTS, BUILDERS, etc. 
 Selected and Arranged by Francis Smith. Third Edition, Revised and En- 
 larged, 250 pp., waistcoat-pocket size, 15. 6d. limp leather. [Just published. 
 
 "It would, perhaps, be as difficult to make a small pocket-book selection of notes and formulre 
 to suit Al.L engineers as it would be to make a universal medicine ; but Mr. Smith's waistcoat- 
 pocket collection may be looked upon as a successful attempt."— i'w^'^^r. 
 
 "A veritable pocket treasury of knowledge, "^/raw. 
 
 The High-Bressure Steam Engine* 
 
 THE HIGH-PRESSURE STEAM-ENGINE : An Exposition 
 of its Comparative Merits and an Essay towards an Improved System of Construe' 
 tion. By Dr. Ernst Alban. Translated from the German, with Notes bv 
 Dr. Pole, M. Inst. C.E., &c. With 28 Plates. 8vo, 16s. 6d. cloth. ' 
 
 "Goes thoroughly into the examination of the high-pressure engine, the boiler, and its append- 
 pgcs, and deserves ^ pl^ce in every scientific library. '—Steam Shipping Chronicle. 
 
MECHANICS &■ MECHANICAL ENGINEERING. 
 
 9 
 
 Steam Boilers. 
 
 A TREATISE ON STEAM BOILERS: Their Strength, Con- 
 struction, and Economical Working, By Robert Wilson, C.E., late In- 
 spector, Manchester Steam Users' Association, Fifth Edition, i2mo, 6s. 
 cloth. 
 
 " Tho best treatise that has ever been published on steam boilers."— ^«^'/««r. 
 " The author shows himself perfect master of his subject, and we heartily recommend all em- 
 ploymg steam power to possess themselves of the \\Qrk,"—Ryiattd's Iron Trade Circular. 
 
 Boiler Making, 
 
 THE BOILER-MAKER'S READY RECKONER. With Ex- 
 amples of Practical Geometry and Templating, for the Use of Platers, 
 Smiths and Riveters. By John Courtney, Edited by D. K. Clark, M.I.C.E. 
 Second Edition, revised, with Additions, lamo, 5s. half-bound. 
 
 " A reliable ^uide to the worlcing boiler-maker."— /rtJK. 
 
 " Boiler-makers will readily recognise the value of this volume. . . . The tables are clearly 
 printed, and so arranged that they can be referred to with the ^eatest facility, so that it cannot be 
 " " " lily i 
 
 doubted that they wiQ be generally appreciated and much used." — Mining journal. 
 
 Steatn Engine, 
 
 TEXT-BOOK ON THE STEAM ENGINE. By T. M. 
 GooDEVE, M.A,, Barrister-at-Law, Author of "The Elements of Mechanism," 
 &c. Sixth Edition. With numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 6s. cloth. 
 
 " Professor Goodcve has g-iveii us a treatise on the steam en^iie which will bear coniparisoii 
 with anything' written by Huxley or Maxwell, and we can award it no higlier praise." —Engineer. 
 
 Steam, 
 
 THE SAFE USE OF STEAM. Containing Rules for Un- 
 professional Steam-users. By an Engineer. Fifth Edition. Sewed, 6d. 
 " If steam-users would but learn this little book by heart, boiler explosions would become sen- 
 sations by their rarity." — Etifflish Meckaitic, 
 
 Coal and Speed Tables. 
 
 A POCKET BOOK OF COAL AND SPEED TABLES, for 
 
 Engineers and Steatit-users. By Nelson Foley, Author of " Boiler Con- 
 struction." Pocket-size, 3s. 6d. cloth ; 4s. leather. 
 
 Contents : 
 
 and Cumbrae). — Table 9. Decunal Hquivalente 
 of Time. — Table 10. Knots per Hour in ft, per 
 niin.— Table ii. Constants for I.H.P,— Table 
 12. Decimals of Cwts. in lbs. — Table 13, Mea- 
 sures of Weight; also Miscellaneous Results 
 — Combustion, Air required. Stoking, &c. — 
 Time and Speed Examples. 
 
 Tiible 1. Decimals of Tons in cwts., qrs., 
 lbs. — Table 2. Consumption per Day per I.H.P. 
 — Table 3. Consumption per Hour per I.H.P. 
 — Table 4. Consumption per Day per sq. ft. 
 grate. — Table <. Consumption per Hour per 
 sq. ft. grate. — Table 6. Stowage of Coal and 
 Composition. — Table 7. Knots per Hour (Mea- 
 sured Mile).— Table 8. Knots per Hour (Cloch 
 
 Fire Engineering. 
 
 FIRES, FIRE-ENGINES, AND FIRE-BRIGADES. With 
 a History of Fire-Engines, their Construction, Use, and Management; Re- 
 marks on Fire-Proof Buildings, and the Preservation of Life from Fire ; 
 Statistics of the Fire Appliances in English Towns ; Foreign Fire Systems ; 
 Hints on Fire Brigades, &c. &c. By Charles F. T. Young, C.E. With 
 numerous Illustrations, 544 pp., demy 8vo, £1 45. cloth, 
 "To such of our readers as are interested in the subject of fires and fire apparatus, wo can most 
 
 heartily commend this book. It is really the only English work we now have upon the subject."— 
 
 Jifi£ineeriM£'. 
 
 "It displays much evidence of careful research; and Mr. Young has put his facts neatly 
 
 together. It is evident enough that his acquaintance with the practical details of the construction of 
 
 steam fire engines, old and new, and the conditions with which it is necessary they should comply, 
 
 is accurate and faii."ѣȣifieer. 
 
 Gas lAghting, 
 
 COMMON SENSE FOR GAS-USERS: A Catechism of Gas- 
 Lighting for Householders, Gasjitters, Millowners, Architects, Engineers, etc. 
 By Robert Wilson, C.E., Author of " A Treatise on Steam Boilers.'* 
 Second Edition. Crown 8vo, sewed, with Folding Plates and Wood En- 
 gravings, zs, 6d. 
 "Ail gas-users will decidedly benefit, both in pocket and comfort, if they wlU avail themselves 
 pf Mr, Wilson's c<^Vii)SQ\s,"—£fi£ineen'n£; 
 
10 CROSBY LOCKWOOD &■ CO.'S CATALOGUE. 
 
 THt POPULAR WORKS OF MICHAEL REYNOLDS. 
 
 {Known as "The Engine Driver's Friend"). 
 
 Locomotive- Engine Driving, 
 
 LOCOMOTIVE-ENGINE DRIVING : A Practical Manual for 
 Engineers in charge of Locomotive Engines . By Michael Reynolds, Member 
 of the Societyof Engineers, formerly Locomotive Inspector L, B.and S.C. R. 
 Sixth Edition. Including a Key to the Locomotive Engine. With Illus- 
 trations and Portrait of Author. Crown 8vo, 4s. 6d. cloth. 
 "Mr. Reynolds has supplied a want, and has supplied it well. Wg can confidently recommend 
 
 the book, not only to the practical driver, but to everyone who takes an interest in the performance 
 
 of locomotive engines.*'— 214* En^ruer. 
 
 "Mr. Reynolds has opened a new chapter in the Hterature of the day. Of the practical utility 
 
 of Mr. Reynolds's book we have to speak m terms of warm commendation."— ^^A««(z«w. 
 
 "Evidently the work of onewho knows his subjeat thoroughly."— ^aiVvi/ay Service Gazette. 
 " Were the cautions and rules given- in the book to become part of the 6very-day working of 
 
 our engine-drivers, we might have fewer dlstressinj^ accidents to deplore."— ^co^jwaw. 
 
 The Engineer, Fireman^ and Engine-Boy, 
 
 THE MODEL LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEER, FIREMAN, and 
 ENGINE-BOY. Comprising a Historical Notice of the Pioneer Locomotive 
 Engines and their Inventors, with a project for the establishment of Certifi- 
 cates of Qualification in the Running Service of Railways. By Michael 
 Reynolds, Author of *' Locomotive-Engine Driving." With numerous Illus- 
 trations and a fine Portrait of George Stephenson. Crown 8vo, 4s. 6d. cloth. 
 " From the technical knowledge of the author it will appeal to the railway man of to-day more 
 forcibly than anything: written by Dr. Smiles. . . . The volume contains infonhation of a tech- 
 nical kmd, and facts Hiat every driver should be familiar vflt\\."—Ii?tfftish Mechanic. 
 
 "We should be glad to see this book in the possession of everyone in the kingdom who has 
 ever laid, or is to lay, hands on a locomotive engine." — Iroti. 
 
 "Replete with information and graphic detail for the railway man.'" -^Railway Service Gazette, 
 
 Stationary/ Engine jyriving, 
 
 STATIONARY ENGINE DRIVING : A Practical Manual for 
 
 Enpneers in charge of Stationary Engines. By Michael Reynolds. Second 
 
 Edition, Enlarged. With Plates and Woodcuts. Crown 8vo, 4s. 6(f. cloth. 
 
 "Theauthor is thoroughly acquainted with his subjects, and his advice on the various points 
 treated is clear and practit^. . . , He has produced a manual which is an exceedingly useful 
 one for the class for whom it is specially intended." — Engineering, 
 
 "Our author leaves no stone unturned. He is determined that his readers shall not only know 
 something about the stationary engine, but all about W'-^Engineer. 
 
 " An engineman who has mastered the contents of Mr. Reynolds's book will require but little 
 actual experience with boilers and engines before he can be trusted to look after them." — English 
 Mechanic. 
 
 "The book should be possessed by every intelligent and ambitious cngineman."— JwiYrf^r. 
 
 Continuous Hailway SraJces. 
 
 CONTINUOUS RAILWAY BRAKES : A Practical Treatise on 
 the several Systems in Use in the United Kingdom ; their Construction and 
 Performance. With copious Illustrations and numerous Tables. By Michael 
 Reynolds. Large crown 8vo, 9s, cloth. 
 
 " A popular explanation of the difierent brakes. It will be ot great assistance in forming public 
 opinion, and will be studied with benelit by those who take an interest in the brake. . . . It is 
 a clear exposition of the brake question as it relates tolhe rival systems." — English Mechanic. 
 
 " Written with sufficient technical detail to enable the principle and relative connection of the 
 various parts of each particular brake to be readily grasped." — Mechanical World, 
 
 " May be recommended to all who desire to study the subject of continuous brakes." — Iron, 
 
 Engine-Driving Idfe, 
 
 ENGINE-DRIVING LIFE; or. Stirring Adventures and Inci- 
 dents in the Lives of Locomotive-Engine Drivers. By Michael Reynolds 
 Eighth Thousand. Crown 8vo, 2S. cloth. 
 
 "The book from first to last is perfectly fascinating. Wllkie Collins' most thrilling conceptions 
 are thrown into the shade by true mcidents, endless in their variety, related in every page."— North 
 Jiritish Mail, 
 
 " Anyone who wishes to get a real insight into railway life cannot do better than read ' Engine- 
 Driving Life ' for himself; and if he once takes it up he will find that the author's enthusiasm and 
 real love of the engine-driving profession will carry him on till he h^ read every p^e,"— Saturday 
 Review, 
 
ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING, etc. 
 
 ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING, etc. 
 
 Consttmction, . ~~' 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF BUILDING : An Elementary Treatise on 
 the Principles of Construction. By E. Wyndham Tarn, M.A,, Architect. 
 Second Edition, Revised, with 58 Engravings. Crown 8vo, 75. 6d. cloth. 
 
 " A very valuable boofc, which we strongly recommend to all students,"'~Biii!der. 
 
 "No architectural stiidcnt should be without this handbook of constructional knowledge." — 
 
 Villa Architecture, 
 
 A HANDY BOOK OF VILLA ARCHITECTURE: Being a 
 
 Series 0/ Designs for Villa Residences in various Styles. With Outline 
 Specifications and Estimates. By C. Wickes, Architect, Author of "The 
 Spires and Towers of England/' &c. 30 Plates, 4to, half-morocco, £1 is. 
 %* Also an Enlarged Edition of the above. 61 Plates, with Outline Speci- 
 fications, Estimates, &c. £2 2S. half-morocco. 
 
 " The whole of the designs bear evidence of their bcincf the work of an artistic architect, and 
 they will prove very valuable and suggestive." — Building News, 
 
 TJsefxtl Text-BooJc for Architects. 
 
 THE ARCHITECT'S GUIDE: Being a Text-Book of Useful 
 Information for Architects, Engineers^ Surveyors, Contractors^ Clerks of 
 Works, &c. &e: By Frederick Rogers, Architect, Author of " Specifica- 
 tions for Practical Architecture," &c. Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged. 
 With numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 6s. cloth, 
 
 " As a text-book of useful information for architects, engineers, surveyors, &c., it would be 
 hard to find a handier or more complete little volume." — Standard. 
 
 "A young architect could hardly have a better guide-book."— TVwiitf;- Trades yournal. 
 
 Tciylor and Cresy's Rome, 
 
 THE ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES OF ROME. By 
 the late G. L.Taylor, Esq., F.R.I. B.A., and Edward Cresy, Esq. New 
 Edition, thoroughly revised by the Rev. Alexander Taylor, M.A. (son of 
 the late G. L.Taylor, Esq.), Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, and Chap- 
 lain of Gray's Inn. Large folio, with 130 Plates, half-bound, £3 3s. 
 N.B.— This is the only book which gives on a large scale, and with the pre- 
 cision of architectural measurement, the principal Monuments of Ancient Rome 
 in plan, elevation, and detail. 
 
 " Taylor and Cresy's work has from its first publication been ranked among those professional 
 books which cannot be bettered. ... It would be difficult to find examples of drawings, even 
 among those of the most painstaking students of Gothic, more thoroughly worked out than are the 
 one hundred and thirty plates in this volame,"-^ArcAitici, 
 
 JDratving for Stiilders and Students in ArcJiitecture, 
 
 PRACTICAL RULES ON DRAWING, for the Operative 
 Builder and Young Student in Architecture. By George Pyne. With 14 
 Plates, 4to, ys. 6d. boards. 
 
 Specifications for Practical Architecture, 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS FOR PRACTICAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 A Guide to the Architect, Engineer, Survejjor, and Builder; with an Essay 
 on the Structure and Science of Modern Buildings. By Frederick Rogers, 
 Architect. With numerous Illastrations, demy Svo, 155. cloth. 
 *,• A volume of specifications of a practical character being greatly required, and the old 
 
 standard work of Alfred Bartholomew being out of print, the author, on the Dasis of that work, 
 
 lias produced the above. — Extract fi-ovi Prt/ace. 
 
 The House-Oivner's Estimator, 
 
 THE HOUSE'OWNER'S ESTIMATOR ; or, What will it Cost 
 to Build, Alter, or Repair? A Price Book adapted to the Use of Unpro- 
 fessional People, as well as for the Architectural Surveyor and Builder. By 
 the late James D. Sihon, A.R,I.B.A. Edited and Revised by Francis T. W. 
 Miller, A.R.I.B.A. With numerous Illustrations. Third Edition, Revised. 
 Crown Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 " In two years it will repay its cost a hundred times QVQT."^FieM, 
 "A very handy book"— Eug/ish Mechanic* 
 
12 CROSBY LOCKWOOD &> CO.* S C ATALOGUE. 
 
 Civil Architecture, 
 
 THE DECORATIVE PART OF CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. 
 By Sir William Chambers, F.R.S. With Illustrations, Notes, and an 
 Examination of Grecian Architecture, by Joseph Gwilt, F.S.A. Edited by 
 W. H. LEEDis. 66 Plates, 4to, ais. cloth. 
 
 Designing, Measuring, and Valuing, 
 
 THE STUDENT'S GUIDE to the PRACTICE of MEASUR- 
 ING AND VALUING ARTIFICERS* WORKS. Containing Directions for 
 taking Dimensions, Abstracting the same, and bringing the Quantities into 
 Bill, with Tables of Constants, and copious Memoranda for the Valuation ot 
 Labour and Materials in the respective Trades of Bricklayer and Slater, 
 Carpenter and Joiner, Painter and Glazier, Paperhanger, &c. With 8 Plates 
 and 63 Woodcuts. Originally edited by Edward Dobson, Architect, Fifth 
 Edition, Revised, with considerable Additions on Mensuration and Construc- 
 tion, and a New Chapter on Dilapidations, Repairs, and Contracts, by E. 
 Wyndham Tarn, M.A. Crown 8vo, gs. 
 
 " Well fulfils the promise of its title-page, and we can thoroughly recommend it to the claGS 
 for whose use it has been compiled. Mr. Tarn's additions and revisions have much increased the 
 usefulness of the work, and have especially augmented its value to students." — Enffiiteering. 
 
 "The work has been carefully revised and edited by Mr. E. Wyndham Tarn, M.A„ and com- 
 prises several valuable additions on construction, mensuration, dilapidations and repairs, and other 
 matters. . . . This edition will be found the most complete treatise on the principles of measur- 
 ing and valuing artificers' work that has yet been pv.h\is.he6.."—BHilduig' News. 
 
 "Might be read and studied with advantage by almost everyone having any connection with 
 building operations, from the architect downwards."— 5Ki/i/i«;j- World. 
 
 Pochet Estimator, 
 
 THE POCKET ESTIMATOR for the BUILDING TRADES. 
 Being an Easy Method of Estimating the various parts of a Building collec- 
 tively, more especially applied to Carpenters' and Joiners' work. By A. C. 
 Beaton, Author of " Quantities and Measurements," Third Edition, care- 
 fully revised, 33 Woodcuts, leather, waistcoat-pocket size, is, 6d, 
 "Contains a good deal of information not easily to be obtained from the ordinary price books. 
 Tlie prices given are accurate, and up to date." — Building News. 
 
 "This book is as complete as it is possible to make it." — Building and Engineering Titnes. 
 
 HiUlder's and Surveyor's JPoclcet Technical Chiide, 
 
 THE POCKET TECHNICAL GUIDE AND MEASURER 
 FOR BUILDERS AND SURVEYORS. Containing a Complete Explana- 
 tion of the Terms used in Building Construction, Memoranda for Reference, ' 
 Technical Directions for Measuring Work in all the Building Trades, with a 
 Treatise on the Measurement of Timber, Complete Specifications, &c., &c. 
 By A. C. Beaton. Second Edition, with 19 Woodcuts, leather, waistcoat- 
 pocket size, IS. 6d. 
 
 "An exceedingly handy pocket companion, thoroughly reliable." — Builder's Weekly Reporter. 
 " This neat little compendium contains all that is requisite in carrying out contracts for ex* 
 cavating, tiling, bricklaying, paving, SiC."— British Trade journal. 
 
 Handbook of Specifications. 
 
 THE HANDBOOK OF SPECIFICATIONS; or, Practical 
 Guide to the Architect, Engineer, Surveyor, and Builder, in drawing up 
 Specifications and Contracts for Works and Constructions. Illustrated by 
 Precedents of Buildings actually executed by eminent Architects and En- 
 gineers. By Professor T. L. Donaldson, P.R.I.B.A., &c. New Edition, in 
 One large Vol., Svo, with upwards of 1,000 pages of Text, and 33 Plates, 
 £1 IIS. 6d. cloth. 
 
 "In this work forty-four specifications of executed works are given, including the specifica- 
 tions for parts of the new Houses of Parliament, by Sir Charles Barry, and for the new Royal 
 }ixchaiigc, by Mr. Tite, M.P. The latter, in particular, is a very complete and remarkable 
 document. It embodies, to a great extent, as Mr. Donaldson mentions, 'the bill of quantities 
 wiih the description of the works.' ... It is valuable as a record, and more valuable still as a 
 book of precedents. . . . Suffice it to say that Donaldson's 'Handbook of Specifications' 
 must be bought by all architects,"— ^H»/rff?-. 
 
 Holler and Factory CJiiinneys, 
 
 BOILER AND FACTORY CHIMNEYS : Their Draught-power 
 and Stability; with a Chapter on Lightning-Conductors. By Robert Wil- 
 son, C.E , Author of "Treatise on Steam Boilers." Cr. Svo, 3s. 6d. clo(h. 
 " A most vjiluable t>opk of jts kind, full of useful information,"— Z.o«t/ Governm(nt Chronicle, 
 
bECORATlVR ARTS, etc. 13 
 
 DECO RATIVE ART S, etc. 
 
 Woods and MavhleS (Imitation of), 
 
 SCHOOL OF PAINTING FOR THE IMITATION OF WOODS 
 AND MARBLES, as Taught and Practised by A. R. Van der Borg and P. 
 Van der Burg, Directors of the Rotterdam Painting Institution. Royal folio, 
 i8i by 12^ Ih., Illustrated with 24 full-size Coloured Plates ; also 12 plain Plates, 
 comprising 154 Figures, price £2 izs. 6d. 
 
 List of Contents 
 
 Methods of Working — VcUow Sienna Marble ; 
 Process of Working— Juniper : Characteristics 
 
 of the Natural Wootl: Method of Imitation — 
 Vert de Mer Marble : Description of the Mar- 
 ble: Process of Working— Oalc: Description nf 
 the varieties of Oak: Manipulation of Oak- 
 paintiiig: Tools employed: Method of Work- 
 ing — Waulsort Marble : Varieties of the Marble : 
 Process of Working — The Painting of Iron witli 
 
 Introductory Chapter — Tools required for 
 A\"ood Painting— Observations on the different 
 species of wood: Walnut — Observations on 
 Marble in general — Tools required for Marble 
 Painting— St. Remi Marble : Preparation of the 
 I'aints : Process of Working — Wood Graining ; 
 Preparation of Stiff and Flat Brushes : Sketcn- 
 ingf different Grains and Knots: Glazine of 
 
 AVood — Ash; Painting of Ash — Breclie (Bre - „ „ ._ 
 
 cia) Marble: Breche violette : Process of Work- ' Red Lead: How to make Putty: Out-door 
 iiig— Maple: Process of Working— The different j Work: Varnishing: Priming ancl Varnishing 
 species of White Marble : Methods of Working : I Woods and Marbles : Painting in General : Ceil- 
 Paintine White Marble with Lac-dye : Fainting ings and Walts : Gilding : Transparencies, Flag^, 
 White Marble with Poppy-paint — Mahogany : ; &c. 
 List of Plates. 
 
 1. Various Tools required for Wood Painting 
 —2, 3. Walnut : Preliminary Stages of Graining 
 and Finished Specimen — 4. Tools used for 
 Marble Painting and Method of Manipulation- 
 
 S, 6. St. Remi Marble: Earlier Operations and 
 1-inished Specimen— 7. Methods of Sketching 
 different Grains, Knots, Ac— 8, 9. Ash: Pre- 
 liminary Stages and Finished Specimen — 10. 
 Methods of Sketching Marble Grains — 11, iz. 
 Breclie Marble : Preliminary Stages of Working 
 and Finished Specimen — 13. Maple : Methods 
 of Producing the different Grains — 14, 15. Bird's- 
 eye Maple: Preliminary Stages and Finished 
 Specimen — 16. Methods of Sketching the dif- 
 ferent Species of White Marble— 17, 18. White 
 Marble: Preliminary Stages of Procei 
 
 Finished Specimen— ig. Mahogany : Specimens 
 of various Grains and Methods of Manipulation 
 — 20, 21. Mahogany : Earlier Stages and Finished 
 Specimen — 32, 23, 24. Sienna Marble : Varieties 
 of Grain, Preliminary Stages and Finished 
 Specimen — 25, 26, 27. Juniper Wood: Methodii 
 of producing Grain, &c. : Preliminary Stages 
 and Finished Specimen — 28, 29, 30. Vert dc 
 Mer Marble : Varieties of Grain and Methods 
 of Working Unfinished and Finished Speci- 
 mens — 31, 32, 33. Oak : Varieties of Grain, Tools 
 Employed, anoT Methods of Manipulation, Pre- 
 liminary Stages and Finished Specimen-— 34, 35, 
 36. Waulsort Marble: Varieties of Grain, iTn- 
 niiished and Finished Specimens. 
 
 Marble:' Preliminary Stages of I^rocess and 
 
 " A comprehensive guide to the art. The explanations of the processes, the manipulation and 
 
 management of the colours, and the beautifully executed plates will not be the least valuable to the 
 
 student who aims at making his work a faithful transcript of nature."— i'MiWi/ff Wewj, 
 
 "Students and novices are fortunate who are able to become the possessors of so itotle a 
 
 ivork" — Architect. 
 
 Colour, 
 
 A GRAMMAR OF COLOURING. Applied to Decorative 
 Painting and the Arts. By George Field. New Edition, adapted to the use 
 of the Ornamental Painter and Designer. By Ellis A. Davidson. With New 
 Coloured Diagrams and Engravings. i2rao, 35. 6rf. cloth boards. 
 "The book is a most useful resume of the properties of pigments."— iJ/dyt/f/'. _, 
 
 Glass Painting, 
 
 GLASS STAINING AND THE ART OF PAINTING ON 
 
 GLASS. From the German of Dr. Gessert and Emanuel Otto Fromberg. 
 With an Appendix on The Art of Enamelling. lamo, 2s. 6rf. cloth limp 
 
 Decoration, 
 
 ELEMENTARY DECORATION. A Guide to the Simpler 
 Forms of Everyday Art, as applied to the Interior and Exterior Decoration of 
 Dwelling Houses, &c. By James W. Facey, Jun. With 68 Cuts. lamOi 2s. 
 cloth limp. 
 "AG a technical guide-book to the decorative painter it will be found reliable."— jff«iVrfiM^AV?i'j, 
 
 Hotise Fainting, etc, 
 
 HOUSE PAINTING, GRAINING, MARBLING, AND SIGN 
 
 WRITING, A Practical Manual of. By Ellis A. Davidson. Fourth Editi(»i. 
 
 With Coloured Plates and Wood Engravings. i2mo, 6s. cloth boards. 
 
 "A mass of information, of use to the amateur and of value to the practical man." — EngHslt 
 Mechanic. 
 
 "Simply invaluable to the youngster entering upon this particular calling, and highly service* 
 able lo the man who is pracliiiug it.' —Fiintititre Gasette, 
 
14 CROSBY LOCKWodb 6- CO.'S CATALOGVE. 
 
 DELAMO TTE'S WORKS on ILLUMIN/ TION & ALPHABETS. 
 
 A PRIMER OF THE ART OF ILLUMINATION, for the Vse of 
 Beginners : with a Rudimentary Treatise on the Art, Practical Directions for 
 its exercise, and numerous Examples taken from Illuminated M5S., printed in 
 Gold and Colours. By F. Delamotte. Small 4to, gs. elegantly bound, cloth 
 antique. 
 
 ". . . . The examples of ancient MSS. recommended to the student, whicli; with much 
 good sense, the author chooses from collections accessible to all, are selected with judgment and 
 knowledge, as well as taste."— -4//(fH<?7«?«. 
 
 ORNAMENTAL ALPHABETS, Ancient and Mediceval, from the 
 Eighth Century, with Numerals; including Gothic, Churoh-Textj large and 
 small, German, Italian, Arabesque, Initials for Illumination, Monograms, 
 Crosses, &c„ &c., for the use of Architectural and Engineering Draughtsmen, 
 Missal Painters, Masons, Decorative Painters, Lithographers, Engravers, 
 Carvers, &o., &o. Collected and Engraved by F. Delamotte, and printed in 
 Colours. New and Cheaper Edition. Royal 8vo, oblong, as. 6d. ornamental 
 boards. 
 
 "For those who insert enamelled sentences round gilded chalices, who blazon shop legends over 
 shop-doors, who letter church walls with pithy sentences from the Decalogue, this book will be use- 
 ful. ■^Atftatcstitn, " 
 
 EXAMPLES OF MODERN ALPHABETS, Plain and Ornamental; 
 including German, Old English, Saxon, Italic, Perspective, Greek, Hebrew, 
 Court Hand, Engrossing, Tuscan, Riband, Gothic, Rustic, and Arabesque ; 
 with several Original Designs, and an Analysis of the Roman and Old English 
 Alphabets, large and small, and Numerals, for the use of Draughtsmen, Sur- 
 veyors, Masons, Decorative Painters, Lithographers, Engravers, Carvers, &c. 
 Collected and Engraved by F. Delamotte, and printed in Colours. New 
 and Cheaper Edition. Royal 8vo, oblong, 2S. 6d. ornamental boards. 
 "There is comprised in it every possible shape into which the letters of the alphabet and 
 
 numerals can be formed, and the talent which has been expended in the conception of the various 
 
 plain and ornamental letters is -wonderful."— ^to^/rfarrf. 
 
 "This volume has borne the test of practical use, and is invariably spoken well of by those who 
 
 possess it. "~^^eiveller and Metalworker . 
 
 MEDIEVAL ALPHABETS AND INITIALS FOR ILLUMI- 
 NA TORS. By F. Delamotte, Illuminator, Designer, and Engraver on Wood. 
 Containing 21 Plates and Illuminated Title, printed in Gold and Colours, 
 With an Introduction by J. Willis Brooks. Small 4to, 65. cloth gilt. 
 " A volume in which the letters of the alphabet come forth glorified ingilding and all the colours 
 
 of tlie prism interwoven and intertwined and intermingled. "^-i///;. 
 
 THE EMBROIDERER'S BOOK OF DESIGN. Containing 
 Initials, Emblems, Cyphers, Monograms, Ornamental Borders, Ecclesiastical 
 Devices, Mediaeval and Modern Alphabets, and National Emblems. Col- 
 lected bv F. Delamotte, and printed in Colours. Oblong royal 8vo, is. 6rf., 
 ornamLi..al wrapper. 
 " The designs are practical—not designs that cannot be done in embroidery ; and the book will 
 
 no doubt be fo.iiid exceedingly useful in the lady's work-room and in schools." — NevjcastU Coura7tt. 
 "The book Will uc of great assistance to ladies and young children who are endowed with the 
 
 art of plying the needle in tliis most ornamental and useful pretty work," — East Aitglian Times. 
 
 Wood Carving, 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS IN WOOD-CARVING, for Amateurs ; with 
 Hints on Design, By A Lady, With Ten large Plates, as. 6d. in emblematic 
 wrapper, 
 
 "The handicraft of the wood-carver, so well as a book can impart it, may be learnt from ' A 
 Lady's ' publication," — Athenamm^ 
 
 " Tlie directions given are plain and easily understood."— .£?(^/(',r/t Mechanic. 
 
 Letter JPainting, 
 
 THE ART OF LETTER PAINTING MADE EASY. By 
 Tames Greig Badenoch. With lafuU-page Engravings of Examples, is, cloth 
 limp, 
 
 " The system is a simple one, but quite original, and well worth the careful attention of letter> 
 painterb. It can bo easily mastered and remembered."— ^/fiVi^iVi^ News, 
 
__^ CAkPEMTkV, TIMhEk, etc-. tS 
 
 CARP ENTRY, TIMB ER, etc. 
 
 Tvedgold's Cwi^entry, Enlarged by E, W, Turn, 
 
 THE ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF CARPENTRY, 
 A Treatise on the Pressure and Equilibrium of Timber Framing, the Re»st- 
 ance of Timber, and the Construction of Floors, Arches, Bridges, Roofs, 
 Uniting Iron and Stone with Timber, &c. To which is added an Essay 
 on the Nature and Properties of Timbet, &c., with Descriptions of the kinds 
 of Wood used in Building; also numerous Tables of the Scantlings of Tim- 
 ber for different purposes, the Specific Gravities of Materials, &c. By Thomas 
 Tredgold, C.E. with an Appendix of Specinjens of Various Roofs of Iron 
 and Stone, Illustrated. Sixth Edition, thoroughly revised and considerably 
 enlarged by E. Wyndham Tarn, M.A., Author of "The Science of Build- 
 ing," &c. With 6i>Plates, Portrait of the Author, and several Woodcuts. In 
 one large vol., 4to, price £i 5s. cloth. [^Just published, 
 
 "Ought to be in every architect's and every builder's library." — Builder. 
 "Tredgold's ' Eleme;\tary Principles of Carpentry' is, without doubt, the standard English 
 authority upon the subject. Mr, Tarn, by sup ptemeii ting the text of the author, adds much to the 
 work, and makes it an indispensable addition to the library of the student, the architect, and the 
 engin&ir."~-£m/di7iffJVru>s. 
 
 Woodtvorking Machinery. 
 
 WOODWORKING MACHINERY : Its Rise, Progress, and Con- 
 struction. With Hints on the Management of Saw Mills and the Economical 
 Conversion of Timber. Illustrated with Examples of Recent Designs by 
 leading English, French, and American Engineers. By M. Powis 6ale, 
 A.M. Inst. C.E., M.I.M.E. Large crown 8vp, 12s. 6d. cloth. 
 "Mr. Bale is evidently an expert on the subject, and 'he has collected so much information' that 
 his book is all-sufficient for builders and others engaged in the conversion of timber." — Architect, 
 "The most comprehensive compendium of wood-working machinery we have seen. The 
 author is a thorough master of bis suoiezt."—jBuiliiitt^Ne7vs. 
 
 " Converters of timber, wholesale joiners, the members generally of the building trades, archi- 
 tects, and owners of and dealers in timber, owe Mr. Bale tribute to the value of the cost of his 
 book. It is sound from end to end, well designed and well executed, "--/;-o?i. 
 
 " Tlie appearance of this book at the present time will, we should think, give a considerable 
 Impetus to the onward march of the machinist engag;ed in the designing and manufacture of 
 wood-working machines. It should be in the office of every wood-working iactory."— English 
 Mtchanic. ' 
 
 Haw Mills, 
 
 SAW MILLS: Their Arrangement and Management, and the 
 
 Eco)tomical Conversion of Timber. (Being a Companion Volume to *' Wood* 
 
 working Machinery.") By M, Powis Bale, A.M. Inst. C.E,, M.I.M.E. 
 
 With numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 105. 6d. cloth. 
 
 " The author is favourably known by_ his former work on ' Woodworking Machinery,' of which 
 we were able to speak approvingly. This is a companion volume, in which the ad?fitnistratioH of 
 a large sawing establishment is discussed, and the subject examined from a financial standpoint. 
 Hence the size, shape, order, and disposition of saw-mills and the like are gone into in detail, 
 and the course of the timber is traced from its reception to its delivery in its converted state. 
 We could not desire a more complete or practical treatise."— ^/*(/rf?r. 
 
 " We highly recommend Mr. Bala's work to the attention and perusal of all thoee who are en- 
 gaged in the art of wood conversion, or who are about building or remodelling aaw-milb on im- 
 proved principles,"— iff«»Vrfw(^ Ncios. 
 
 " Will be found of much value by that special class of readers for whose information it is de- 
 signed. We recommend the book to tftose about to construct or to manage aaw-mills."—.^ //»«(*(»«. 
 
 Undenvood and Woodland Tables, 
 
 TABLES FOR PLANTING AND VALUING VNDER^ 
 WOOD AND WOODLAND ; also Lineal, Superficial, Cubical, Wagen, 
 Marketing, and Decimal Tables. Together with Tables for Converti'ng 
 Land-measure from one denomination to another, and Instructions for 
 Measuring Round Timber. By Richard Horton. i2mo, as. strongly bound 
 in leather. 
 
 Carpentering, 
 
 THE CA RPENTER'S NEWG UIDE ; or, Book of Lines for Car- 
 penters ; comprising all the Elementary Principles essential for acquiring a 
 knowledge of Carpentry. Founded on the late Peter Nicholson's Standard 
 Work. A New Edition, revised by Arthur 'Ashpitel, F.S.A. Together 
 with Practical Rules on Drawing, by George Pyne, With 74 Plates, 
 4to, £1 IS. cloth. 
 
i6 CROSBY LOCKWOOD &> CO.' S CATALOGUE. 
 
 Timber Merchant's Companion, 
 
 THE TIMBER MERCHANTS AND BUILDER'S COM- 
 PANION. Containing New and Copious Tables of the Reduced Weight and 
 Measurement of Deals and Battens, of all sizes, from One to a Thousand 
 Pieces, and the relative Price that each size bears per Lineal Foot to any 
 ^ given Price per Petersburg Standard Hundred ; the Price per Cube Foot of 
 Square Timber to any given Price per Load of 50 Feet ; the proportionate 
 Value of Deals and Battens by the Standard, to Square Timber by the Load 
 of 50 Feet ; the readiest mode of ascertaining the Price of Scantling per 
 Lineal Foot of any size, to any given Figure per Cube Foot. Also a variety 
 of other valuable information. By William Dowsing, Timber Merchant. 
 Third Edition, Revised and Corrected. Crown 8vo, 3S^, cloth. 
 "Everything is as concise and clear as it can possibly be made. There can be no doubt that 
 
 every timber merchant and builder ought to possess it."— ffuil Advertiser. 
 
 "We are glad to see a third edition of these admirable tables, which for correc?tness and 
 
 simplicity of arrangement leave nothing to be defied."— Timber Trades yonrnal. 
 
 Fractical Timber Merchant, 
 
 THE PRACTICAL TIMBER MERCHANT. Being a Guide 
 for the use of Building Contractors, Surveyors, Builders, &c., comprising 
 useful Tables for all purposes connected with the Timber Trade, Marks of 
 Wood, Essay on the Strength of Timber, Remarks on the Growth of Timber, 
 &c. By W. Richardson. Fcap. 8vo, 3s. 6rf. cloth. 
 " This handy manual contains much valuable information for the use of timber merchants, 
 
 builders, foresters, and all others connected with the growth, sale, and manufacture of timber.' — 
 
 Journal of Forestry. 
 
 " To timber merchants or users this compact treatise will be found very useful." — Illustrated 
 
 Carpenter, 
 
 Timber Freight Booh, 
 
 THE TIMBER MERCHANTS, SAW MILLER'S, AND 
 IMPORTER'S FREIGHT BOOK AND ASSISTANT. Comprising Rules, 
 Tables, and Memoranda relating to the Timber Trade. By William 
 Richardson, Timber Broker; together with a Chapter on "Speeds of Saw 
 Mill Machinery," by M. Powis Bale, M.I.M.E., &c, i2mo, 3s. 6rf. cloth. 
 
 Tables for FacMng-Case Makers. 
 
 PACKING-CASE TABLES ; showing the number of Super- 
 ficial Feet in Boxes or Packing-Cases, from six inches square and upwards. 
 By W. Richardson, Timber Broker. Second Edition. Oblong 410, 3s. Grf. 
 cloth. 
 
 "Will save much labour and calculation to makers and users of packing-cases."— Cz-sk^. 
 
 " Invaluable labour-saving X7iXAa.s."~I}-o}imongcr 
 
 Superficial Measurement. 
 
 THE TRADESMAN'S GUIDE TO SUPERFICIAL MEA^ 
 SUREMBNT. Tables calculated from i to 200 inches in length, by i to io8 
 inches in breadth. For the use of Architects, Surveyors, Engineers, Timbei' 
 Merchants, Buildera* &c. By James Hawkings. Third Edition. Fcap., 
 35. 6d. cloth. 
 
 Forestry. 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF FORESTRY. Designed to, afford In- 
 formation concerning the Planting and Care of Forest Trees for Ornament or 
 Profit, with Suggestions upon the Creation and Care of Woodlands. By F. B, 
 Hough. Large crown 8vo, los. cloth. 
 
 Timber Importer's Chuide, 
 
 THE TIMBER IMPORTER '5, TIMBER MERCHANT'S AND 
 BUILDER'S STANDARD GUIDE. By Richard E. Grandy. Compris- 
 ing an Analysis of Deal Standards, Home and Foreign, with Comparative 
 Values and Tabular Arrangements for fixing Nett Landed Cost on Baltic 
 and North American Deals, including all intermediate Expenses, Freight, 
 Insurance, &c., &c. ; together with copious Information for the Retailer 
 and Builder. Second Edition, carefully revised and corrected. lamo, 3s. 6d. 
 cloth boards. 
 
 "Evervthiiig iL pretends to be: built up gradually, it leads one from a forest to a treenail, and 
 throws in, as a inakewciifht, a host of material concerning bricks, columns, cibLerns, Scz."—En£-lis/i 
 
Discovery of Mineral Lodes and the Open- 
 ing of Mines. — II. Practical Operations for 
 tlie Extraction of Metalliferous Ores.— III. 
 Ventilation and Drainage of Mines, &c. — IV. 
 Dressing Metalliferous Ores: Preparation for 
 Smelter. — V. Discovery and Extraction of 
 Iron Ores from Veins and otiier Deposits. 
 Book iv. the future prospects of 
 British Mining, — Chap. i. Sununary, 
 Examination of the Probable Exhaustion of 
 Metalliferous Minerals.— II. On the Limits 
 of the Metalliferous Zone. — III. The Occur- 
 rence of Ores at Great Depths or in New 
 Districts. — IV. Improvements and Economy 
 in Working British Mines. — ^\'. General Sum- 
 mary and Conclusion — Appendix— Glossary 
 of Terms. 
 
 MJNWG And MiriWG tNbuSfRtES, ^9 
 
 MINING A ND MINING IN DUSTRIES, 
 
 Mining in the United Kingdoin, 
 
 BRITISH MINING : A Treatise on the History, Discovery, Practical 
 Development, and Future Prospects of Metalliferous Mines in the United King- 
 dom. By Robert Hunt, F.R.S., Keeper of Mining Records; Editor of 
 " Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines/* &c. Upwards of 950 
 pp., with 230 Illustrations. Super-royal 8vo, £3 3s. cloth. 
 
 Synopsis of Contents : 
 Book i. Historical Sketch of British Book III. Practical Mining.— Chap. I. 
 
 Mining:— Chap. l. Mining Previous to the ™ ' *'' ' ' *^ ^ •' '* 
 
 Koman Invasion. — II. Mining during the 
 
 Roman Occupation. — III. MTining to the 
 
 Eighteenth Century.— IV. Minuig for Tin 
 
 and Copper to the End of the Eighteenth 
 
 Century.- V. Mining for Lead, Silver, &c., 
 
 lo the End of the Eighteenth Century.— VI. 
 
 Gold, Plumbago, Iron Ore, and Sundries to 
 
 the End of the Eighteenth Century 
 Book II. On the formation of metal- 
 liferous Deposits.— Chap. I. The Rocks 
 
 of Mining Districts, and the Distribution of 
 
 Metalliferous Deposits.^!!. Mechanics of 
 
 Mineral Lodes, Faults, Cross Courses, &c. — 
 
 III. The Laws relating to Mineral Deposits. 
 
 — IV. Remarkable Phenomena observed in 
 
 Metalliferous Ore Deposits. 
 *' One of the most valuable works of reference of modem times. Mr. Hunt, as keeper of mining 
 records of the United Kingdom, has had opportunities for such a task not enjoyed by anyone elvc, 
 and has evidenthr made the most of them. . . . The language and style aaopted are good, and 
 tile treatment of^the various subjects laborious, conscientious, and scientific." — kn^ifteerins. 
 
 "A mass of information not elsewhere arailable, and of the greatest value to those who may 
 be interested in our great mineral industries." — Engineer. 
 
 " A sound, business-like collection of interesting facts. . . . The amount of information 
 Mr. Hunt has brought together is enormous. . . . The volume appears likely to convey more 
 instruction upon the subject than any work hitherto published." — Mining- Journal. 
 
 " The work will be for the mining industry what Dr. Percy's celebrated treatise hds been for the 
 metallurgical — a book that cannot with advantage be omitted from the library." — Iron and Coal 
 Trades Review. 
 
 " Probably no one in this country was better qualified than Mr. Hunt for undertaking such a 
 work. Brought into frequent and close association during a long life-time with the principal guar- 
 dian&of our mineral and metallurgical industries, he enjoyed a position exceptionaHjf favourable 
 for collecting the necessary information. The use which he has made of his opportunities is suffi- 
 ciently attested by the dense mass of information crowded into the handsome volume which has 
 just been published. ... In placing before the reader a sketch of the present position of 
 British Mining, Mr. Hunt treats his subject so fuHy and illustrates it so amply that this section really 
 forms a httle treatise on practical mining. . . . The book is, in fact, a treasure-house of statistical 
 information on mining suojects, and we Know of no other work embodyingsogreat amass of matter 
 of this kind. Were this the only merit of Mr. Hunfs volume it would De sufllcient to render it 
 indispensable in the library of everyone interested in the development of the mining and metallur- 
 gical industries of this country."— AtAeiiaum. 
 
 "The literature of mining has hitherto possessed no work approaching in importance to that 
 which has just been published. There is much in Mr. Hunt's valuable work that every shareholder 
 in a mine should read with close attention. The entire subject of practical mining— from the first 
 search for the lode to the latest stages of dressing the ore— is dealt with in a masterly manner." 
 •-Academy. 
 
 Coal and Iron, 
 
 THE COAL AND IRON INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED 
 KINGDOM. Comprising a Description of the Coal Fields, and of the Princi- 
 pal Seams of Coal, with Returns of their Produce and its Distribution, and 
 Analyses of Special Varieties. Also an Account of the occurrence of Iron 
 Ores in Veins or Seams: Analyses of each Variety ; and a History of the 
 Rise and Progress of Pig Iron Manufacture since the year 17^0, exhibiting the 
 Economies introduced in the Blast Furnaces for its Production and Improve- 
 ment. By Richard Meade, Assistant Keeper of Mining Records. With 
 Maps of the Coal Fields anil Ironstone Deposits of the United Kingdom, 
 8vo, £1 8s. cloth. 
 "The book is one which must find a place on the shelves of all interested In coal and iron 
 
 production, and in the iron, steel, and other metallurgical industries."— £';(^i>/f«-. 
 
 " Of this book we may unreservedly say that it is the best of its class which we have ever met. 
 
 ... A book of reference which no one engaged in the iron or coal trades should omit from his 
 
 hhrary."— Iron and Coal Trades' Review. 
 
 " An exhaustive treatise and a valuable work of reference. . . . The amount of labour which 
 
 the preparation of the work has involved must have been enormous."— jl/i;»'«^ Journal. 
 
 C 
 
i8 CROSBY LOCKWOOb &- CO.'S CATALOGUE. 
 
 Metalliferous 3Iinerals and Mining, 
 
 TREATISE ON METALLIFEROUS MINERALS AND 
 MINING. By D. C. Davies, F.G.S., Mining; Engineer, &c., Author of "A 
 Treatise on Slate and Slate Quarrying," Illustrated with numerous Wood 
 Engravings. Second Edition, carefully Revised. Crown 8vo, 12s. 6d. cloth. 
 " Neither the practical miner nor the general reader interested in mines, can have A better book 
 
 for his companion and his giiide." — Mining journal 
 
 " A book that -will not only be useful to the geologist, tH& practical miner, dnd the ihetallurgis'' ; 
 
 but also very interesting to the general public." — Jrott. 
 
 "As a history of the present state of mining throughout the wdMd this book has a real -value, 
 
 and it sujiplies an actual want, for no such information has hitherto been brought together within 
 
 such limited space." — Atheiusufn, 
 
 Earthy Minerals and Mining, 
 
 A TREATISE ON EARTHY AND OTHER MINERALS 
 AND MINING. By D. C. Davies, F.G.S. Uniform with, and forming a 
 Companion Volume to, the same Author's " Metalliferous Minerals and 
 Mining." With 76 Wood Engravings. Crown 8vo, 12s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 Summary of Contents : 
 
 Part I. Siliqa— Alumina— Lime— Magnesia 
 — Glucina — Zirconia. — Thoria — with some of 
 their combinations. Fart II. Chloride of 
 Sodium (Common Salt)— Nitrate of Soda — 
 Borax — Baryta — Gypsum — Alum Shale — Phos- 
 
 phate of Lime. PART III. Carbon and Com- 
 pounds of Carbon — Sulphur. Part IV. 
 Arsenic — Cobalt — Molybdenum — Antimony 
 and Manganese — Classified List of Mineral 
 Substances. 
 
 "It is essentially a practical work, intended primarily for the use of practical men. . . . We 
 do not remember to have met with any English work on mining matters that contains the same 
 amount of information packed in equally convenient form." — AcadCTny. 
 
 Underground JPumping Machinery, 
 
 MINE DRAINAGE; Being a Complete and Practical Treatise 
 on Direct-Acting Undergrotind Steam Pumping Machinery, with a Descrip- 
 tion of a large number of the best known Engines, their General Utility and 
 the Special Sphere of their Action, the Mode of their Application, and 
 their merits compared with other forms of Pumping Machinery. By Stephen 
 MiCHELL. 8vo, 15s. cloth. 
 
 "Will be highly esteemed by colliery owners and lessees, miningf engineers, and students 
 generallj^ who require to be acquainted with the best means of securing the drainage of mines. )t 
 is 3 most valuable work, and stands almost alone in the literature of steam pumping machinery."— 
 Colliery Guardian, 
 
 Mining Tools, 
 
 A MANUAL OF MINING TOOLS. For the Use of Mine 
 Managers, Agents, Students, &c. By William Morgans, Lecturer on Prac- 
 tical Mining at the Bristol School of Mines. i2mo, 35. cloth boards. 
 
 ATLAS OF ENGRAVINGS to Illustrate the above, contain- 
 ing 23s Illustrations of Mining Tools, drawn to scale. 4to, 6s. cloth boards. 
 " Students in the science of mining, and overmen, captains, managers, and viewers may gain 
 practical knowledge and useful hints by the study of Mr. Morgans' manual." — Colliery Guardian. 
 
 Coal Mining, 
 
 COAL AND COAL MINING: A Rudimentary Treatise on. By 
 Warington W. Smyth, M.A., F.R.S., &c., Chief Inspector of the Mines of 
 the Crown. New Edition, Revised and Corrected. With numerous Illustra- 
 tions. i2mo, 4s, cloth boards. 
 " As an outline is given of every known coal-field m this and other countries, as well as of the 
 
 principal methods of working, the book will doubtless intetest a very latge number of readers."— 
 
 Mining Journal. 
 
 Mining Surveying, 
 
 THE MINERAL SURVEYOR AND VALUER'S COMPLETE 
 GVIDB. By William Lintern, Mining and Civil Engineer. With Four 
 Plates-of Diagrams, Plans, &c. i2mo, 4s. doth boards. 
 
 " Contains much valuable information given in a sjnall cdmpassj and tthith, as far ds we havC 
 tested it, is thoroughly trustworthy."— /ro;» afid Cottl Trades- Revieib. 
 
 Siibterraneous Surveying, 
 
 SUBTERRANEOUS SURVEYING, Elementary and Practical 
 Treatise on; with and without the Magnetic Needle. By Thomas Fenwjck, 
 Surveyor of Mines, and Thomas Baker, C.E. Illustrated. i2mo, 35. cloth. 
 
HAVAL AkCliltnctVttE, NAVIGATION, etc. 19 
 
 NAVAL ARCHITECTURE, NAVIGATION, etc. 
 
 IPocket'JSooh for Naval Architects and Shipbuilders, 
 
 THE NA VAL ARCHITECT '5 AND SHIPBUILDER'S 
 POCKET-BOOK of FormvleSf Rules, and Tables, and Marine Engineer's and 
 Surveyor's Handy Book of Reference. By Clement Mackrow, Member of the 
 Institution of Naval Architects, Naval Draughtsman. Third Edition, Re- 
 vised. With numerous Diagrams, &c. Fcap., 12s. 6d. strongly bound in 
 leather. ' 
 
 "Should be used by all who are engaged in thfi construction or design of vessels. . . . Will 
 
 be found to contain the most useful tables and formulje required by shipbuilders, carefully collected 
 
 from the best authorities, and put together in a popular and simple ioTm."—E»gi}teer: 
 
 " The professional shipbuilder has now, in a convenient and accessible form, reliable data for 
 
 solving many of the numerous problems that present themselves in the course of liis y/ox\i."—Iro?i. 
 "There is scarcely a subject on which a naval architect or shipbuilder can require tdrefrc'^li 
 
 his memory which wiil not be found within the covers of Mr. iAz.t)K.ravt'^\>oo\i."— English Mechanic. 
 
 IPocUet-Hooh for Marine Engineers, 
 
 A POCKET-BOOK OF USEFUL TABLES AND FOR- 
 MULjE for marine engineers. By Frank Proctor, A.I.N.A. 
 Third Edition. Royal 32mo, leather, gilt edges, with strap, 45. 
 ' ' We recommend it to our readers as going far to supply a lonp-felt want."— Naval Science. 
 " A most useful companion to all marine engineers." — United Service Gazette. 
 
 Grantham's Iron Shipbuilding. 
 
 ON IRON SHIPBUILDING. With Practical Examples and 
 Details. By John Grantham, M. Inst. C.E., &c. Fifth Edition. Imp. 4to, 
 boards, enlarged to 40 Plates, including the latest Examples. Together with 
 separate Text, also considerably enlarged. lamo, cloth limp, price £z Z5. 
 complete. 
 
 " Mr. Grantham's work is of great interest. . . . It is also valuable as a record of the pro- 
 gress of iron shipbuilding. ... It win, we are confident, command an extensive circulation 
 among shipbuil^rs in general. . . . The text-book on which the examination in iron ship- 
 building of candidates lor promotion in the dockyards will be mainly h&se6."—£ng-ineeri7ig. 
 
 Lighthouses, 
 
 EUROPEAN LIGHTHOUSE SYSTEMS. Being a Report of 
 a Tour of Inspection made in 1873. By Major George H. Elliot, Corps of 
 Engineers, U.S.A. Illustrated by 51 Engravings and 31 Woodcuts. Svo, 
 215. cloth. 
 
 Navigation (Practical)^ with Tables, 
 
 PRACTICAL NAVIGATION. Consisting of the Sailor's Sea- 
 Book, by James Greenwood and' W. H. Rosser ; together with the requisite 
 Mathematical and Nautical Tables for the Working of the Problems, by 
 Henry Law, C.E., and Professor J. R. Young, Illustrated. lamo, .7s. 
 strongly half-bound. 
 
 Storms, 
 
 STORMS : Their Nature,^ Classification, and Laws; with the Means 
 of Predicting them by their Embodiments, the Clouds. By William 
 Blasius. With Coloured Plates and numerous Wood Engravings. Cro>vn 
 8vo, IDS. 6d. cloth. 
 
 "A very readable book. . . . The fresh facts contgiined in its pages, collected with, 
 evident care, form a useful repository to meteorologists in the study of atmospherical disturbances 
 . . . The book will repay perusal as being the production of one who gives evidence of acute 
 observation."— JVa/K^. 
 
 The following books on Naval Architecture, etc., are published in Weale's 
 . ■ , -- . — - - Rudimentary' Series;" 
 
 MASTING, MAST-MAKING, AND RIGGING OF SHIPS. By. 
 Robert Kipping, N.A. Fourteenth Edition. i2mo, 2s. 6d. cloth boards. *" 
 
 SAILS AND SAIL-MAKING. Tenth Edition, Enlarged, with 
 aruAppehdiXi By Robert Kipping, N'.A.'Illustrated. izmo, 3s. cloth board?, 
 
 NA VAL . ARCHITECTURE, By James Peake. Fourth Edition, 
 with'Plates and- diagrams.- i3mo,^4s. cloth boards. 
 
cnOSBY LO'CkWOOD &- CO:s CATALOGUE. 
 NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE. 
 
 JEJlectricity, 
 
 A MANUAL OF ELECTRICITY : Including Galvanism, Mag- 
 netism, Dia-Magnetism, Electro-Dynamics, Magno-Electricity, and the Electiic 
 Telegraph. By Henry M. Noad, Ph.D., F.R.S., F.C.S, Fourth Edition. 
 With 500 Woodcuts. 8vo, £i 45. cloth. 
 "The accounts given of electricity and galvanism are not only complete in a scientific sense, 
 
 but, wlilch is a rarer thing', are popular and interesting," — Lattcet. 
 
 "Among the numerous writers on the attractive and fascinating subject of electricity, tlio 
 
 author of the present volume has occupied our best attention. It is worthy of a place in the 
 
 library of every public institution, and we have no doubt it ■will be deservedly patronised by the 
 
 scientific community." — Mining' j^our/tal. 
 
 Text Book of Electricity. 
 
 THE STUDENTS TEXT-BOOK OF ELECTRICITY, By 
 
 Henry M. Noad, Ph.D., F.R.S., F.C.S. New Edition, carefully Revised. 
 With an Introduction and Additional Chapters, by W. H. Preece, M.I.C.E., 
 Vice-President of the Society of Telegraph Engineers, &c. With 470 Illustra- 
 tions. Crown 8vo, 12s. 6<i. cloth. 
 
 " The original plan of this book has been carefully adhered to so as to make it a reflex of the 
 existing state of electrical science, adapted for students, . . . Discovery seems to have pro- 
 gressed with marvellous strides ; nevertheless it has now apparently ceased, and practical applica- 
 tions have commenced their career; and it is to give a faithful account of these that this fresh 
 edition of Dr. Noad's valuable text-book is launched fatHti.."— Extract froTn Introduction by W. H. 
 Preece, Bsq. 
 
 "We can recommend Dr. Noad's book for clear style, great range of subject, a good index, 
 and a plethora of woodcuts. Such collections as the present are indispensable.*^ — AthenauTn. 
 
 "An admirable text-book for every student— beginner or advanced— of electricity."-^ 
 Engineering: 
 
 " A most elaborate compilation of the facts of electricity and magnetism."— Popular Science 
 Review. 
 
 " Dr. Noad's text-book has earned for itself the reputation of a truly scientific manual for the 
 student of electricity, and we gladly haii this new amended edition, which brings it once mora to 
 the front. Mr. Preece as reviser, with the assistance of Mr. H, R. Kempe and Mr. J. P. Edwards, 
 has added all the practical results of recent invention and research to the admirable theoretical 
 expositions of the author, so that the book is about as complete and advanced ais it is possible for 
 any book to be within the limits of a text-book." — Telegraphic journal. 
 
 Dr. Lardner's School JECandbooJcs. 
 
 NATURAL PHILOSOPHY FOR SCHOOLS, By Dr. Lardner. 
 
 328 Illustrations. Sixth Edition. One Vol., 35. 6d. cloth. 
 
 "A very convenient class-book for junior students in private schools. It is intended to convey. 
 In clear and precise terms, general notions of ciU the principal divisions of Physical Science."— 
 British Quarterly RevieTu, 
 
 ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY FOR SCHOOLS. By Dr. Lardner. 
 "With igo Illustrations. Second Edition. One Vol., 3s. 6d. cloth. 
 " Clearly written, well arranged, and excellently U\ustrated."~CarcieHer's C/iroiticle. 
 
 Dr. Lardner's Electric Telegraph. 
 
 THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. By Dr. Lardner. New 
 Edition. Revised and Re-written by E. B. Bright, F.R.A.S. 140 Illustra- 
 tions. Small 8vo, 25. &,d. cloth. 
 
 *' One of the most readable books extant on the Electric Telegraph."— i"«^/irA Mechanic. 
 
 Field Fortification. 
 
 A TREATISE ON FIELD FORTIFICATION, THE ATTACK 
 OF FORTRESSES, MILITARY MINING, AND RECONNOITRING. By 
 Colonel I. S. Macaulay, late Professor of Fortification in the R.M.A., Wool' 
 wich. Sixth Edition, crown 8vo, cloth, with separate Atlas of 12 Plates, lis, 
 complete. 
 
 Jjiglitning. 
 
 THE ACTION OF LIGHTNING, and the Means of Defending 
 Life and Property from Us Effects. By Major A. Parneli., R.E. izmo,is.6d. 
 cloth. ' 
 
 "Major Famell has written an original work on a scientific subject of unusual interest ; and he 
 
 has prefaced his arguments by a patient and almost exhaustive citation of tlic best writers on the 
 
 subject in the EngUsh language. ~~Athenau»H 
 
NATURAL PHIL OSOPHY AND SCIENCE. 21 
 
 Geology and Genesis, 
 
 THE TWIN RECORDS OF CREATION : or, Geology and 
 Genesis : their Perfect Harmony and Wonderful Concord. By George W, 
 Victor le Vaux, Numerous Illustrations. Fcap. 8vo, ss. cloth. 
 "A valuable contribution to the evidences of revelation, and disposes very conclusively of the 
 
 arguments of those who would set God's Works against God's Word. No real difficulty is shirked, 
 
 and no sophistry is left unexposed."— r/i£ KocU. 
 
 " The remarkablo peculiarity of this author is that he combines an unbounded admiration of 
 
 science with an unbounded admiration of the Written Record. The two impulses are balanced to a 
 
 nicety ; and the consequence is that difhculties which to minds less evenly poised would be serious 
 
 find immediate solutions of the happiest kinds."— Zfl«rffl« Revie^i/, 
 
 The Blowpipe, 
 
 THE BLOWPIPE IN CHEMISTRY, MINERALOGY, AND 
 GEOLOGY. Containing all known Methods of Anhydrous Analysis, many 
 Working Examples, and Instrnctions for Making Apparatus, By Lieut.- 
 Colonel W. A. Ross, R.A„ F.G.S. With 120 Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 
 35. 6^. cloth. 
 
 Contents : 
 
 Chap, I. Manufacture of Blowing Apparatus. 
 II. Construction of Pyrological Camps. — III. 
 Supports and Apparatus. — IV. On Auxiliary 
 Apparatus. — V. On the Structure and Man^e- 
 niont of Pyrocones. — VI. On Pvrological Re- 
 ag'ents. — VII. On Reag'entsand Simple Mineral 
 Analyses. — VIII. First Operations : Aluminium- 
 
 plate Reactions of Metals and Alloys.— IX. On 
 
 Alloys. 
 a New 
 
 Pyrological Mineralogy and a. New Specific 
 Gravitometer. — X. Inner Caldum-pyroborate 
 Balls, "Chemical Water," &c.— XI. Rationale 
 of Outer and Inner Ball Formation in Boric 
 Acid before the Blowpipe, — XII. Frieberg 
 Qualitative Examples. 
 
 "The student who goes conscientiously through the course of experimentation here laid down 
 win gain a better insight into {norganic chemistry and mineralogy than if he had 'got up' any of 
 the best text-books of the day, and passed any number of examinations in their contents." — Chems- 
 
 The Military Sciences. 
 
 AIDE-MEMOIRE TO THE MILITARY SCIENCES. Framed 
 
 from Contributions of Officers and others connected with the different Ser- 
 vices. Originally edited by a Committee of the Corps of Royal Engineers. 
 Second Edition, most carefully revised by an Officer of the Corps, with many 
 Additions; containing nearly 350 Engravings and many hundred Woodcuts. 
 Three Vols., royal 8vo, extra cloth hoards, and lettered, £4. 10s. 
 " A compendious encyclopaedia of military knowledge, to which we are greatly Indebted."— 
 tainburffh Review. 
 
 " The most comprehensive work of reference to the military and collatoral sciences.'— ^ofttw. 
 trer Service Gazette. 
 
 Astronomy, 
 
 ASTRONOMY. By the late Rev. Robert Main, M.A.. F.R.S., 
 formerly Radcliffe Observer at Oxford. Third Edition, Revised and Cor- 
 rected to the present time, by Wij:i-iam Thynne Lynn, B. A., F.R. A.S., formerly 
 of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. i2mo, zs. cloth limp. 
 " A sound and simple treatise, very carefully edited, and a capital book for beginners."— ATxaw 
 
 ledge. 
 
 " The present edition seems to have been carefully and accurately brought do^vn to the require* 
 
 ments of the present time by Mr. L.yan."—£dHcaiiofiai Times. 
 
 Geology, 
 
 GEOLOGY, Physical and Historical. Consisting of "Physical 
 Geology," which sets forth the leading Principles of the Science ; and " His- 
 torical Geology," which treats of the Mineral and Organic Conditions of the 
 Earth at each successive epoch, especial reference being made to the British 
 Series of Rocks. By Ralph Tate, A.L.S., F.G.S., &c., &c. With over 250 
 Illustrations. i2mo,- 5s. cloth boards. 
 
 " The fulness of the matter has elevated the book into a manual. Its information is exhaustive 
 and well arranged."-^c/i<7o/ Board Chronicle. 
 
 Conchology, 
 
 MANUAL OF THE MOLLUSC A : A Treatise on Recent and 
 Fossil Shells. By Dr. S. P. Woodward, A.L.S. With Appendix by Ralph 
 Tate, A, L.S., F.G.S. With numerous Plates and 300 Woodcuts. Handsomely 
 bound in cloth boards, ys. 6d. 
 
 ffA most valuable storchDiise pf conchological aiid ^eolc^c^J infQtnmtion,"— ffardwic^e's 
 ^eifUfe Qossif. 
 
22 CROSBY LOCKWOOD &■ CO.' S CATALOGUE. 
 
 Dr. LARDNER'S HANDBOOKS of NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 *»* The following five volumes, though each is complete in itself, and to he pur- 
 chased separately, form A Complete Course of Natural Philosophy. The 
 style is studiously popular. It has been the author's aim to supply Manuals for the 
 Student, the Engineer, the Artisan, and the superior classes in Schools. 
 
 THE HANDBOOK OF MECHANICS. Enlarged and almost re- 
 written by Benjamin Loewy, F.R.A.S. With 378 Illustrations. Post 8vo, 
 6s. cloth. 
 
 " The perspicuity or the original has been retained, and chapters which had become obsolete 
 have been replaced by others of more modern character. The explanations throughout are 
 studiously popular, and care lias been taken to show the application of the various branches of 
 phj'sics to the industrial arts, and to the practical business of life." — Muting- yournal. 
 
 "Mr. Loewy has carefully revised the book, and brought it up to modern requirements. '— 
 Naiiire. 
 
 " Natural philosophy has had few exponents more able or better skilled in the art of popu- 
 larising the subject than Dr. Lardner ; and Mr. Loewy is doing good service in fitting this treatise 
 ■ and the others of the Siries, for use at the present time," — Scotsuian, 
 
 THE HANDBOOK OF HYDROSTATICS AND PNEUMATICS. 
 
 New Edition, Revised and Enlarged by Benjamin Loewy, F.R.A.S. With 
 
 236 Illustrations. Post 8vo, 5s. cloth. 
 
 "For those 'who desire to attain an accurate knowledge of physical science without the pro- 
 found methods of mathematical investigation,' this work is not merely intended, but well adapted." 
 • — Chemical Neios. 
 
 "The volume before us has been carefully edited, augmented to nearly twice the bulk of the 
 former edition, and all the most recent matter has been added. . . . It is a valuable text-book." 
 — Nature. 
 
 "Candidates for pass examinations will find it, we think, specially suited to their requirements,* 
 English Mechanic. 
 
 THE HANDBOOK OF HEAT. Edited and almost entirely re 
 
 written by Benjamin Loewy, F.R.A.S., &c. 117 Illustrations. Post 8vo, 6s. 
 
 cloth. 
 
 " The style is always clear and precise, and conveys instruction without leaving any cloudiness 
 or lurking doubts behind." — Ensineerins. 
 
 "A most exhaustive book on the subject on which it treats, and is so arranged that it can be 
 
 understood by nil who desire to attain an accurate knowledge of physical science Mr, 
 
 Loewy has included all the latest discoveries in the varied laws and effects of heat." — Standard. 
 
 "A. complete and handy text-book for the use of students and general readers." — Unglish 
 Mechanic. 
 
 THE HANDBOOK OF OPTICS. ByDioNYSius Lardner,D.C.L., 
 formerly Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy in University 
 College, London. New Edition. Edited byT. Olver Harding, B.A. Lend., 
 of University College, London. With 298 Illustrations. Small 8vo, 448 
 pages, 5s. cloth. 
 
 " Written by one of the ablest English scientific writers, beautifully and elaborately illustrated." 
 — Mechanics^ Magazine. 
 
 THE HANDBOOK OF ELECTRICITY, MAGNETISM, AND 
 ACOUSTICS. By Dr. Lardner. New Edition. Edited by George Carey 
 Foster, B.A., F.C.S. With 400 Illustrations. Small 8vo, 5s. cloth. 
 " The book could not have been entrusted to anyone better calculated to preserve the terse and 
 
 lucid style of Lardner, while correcting his errors and bringing up his work to the present state of 
 cientific knowledge." — Popular Science Review. 
 
 J)r, Lardner's ITandbooJc of Astronomy, 
 
 THE HANDBOOK OF ASTRONOMY, Forming a Companion 
 to the " Handbook of Natural Philosophy." By Dionysius Lardner, D.C.L., 
 formerly Profesior of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy in University 
 College, London. Fourth Edition. Revised and Edited by Edwin Dunkin, 
 F.R.A.S., Royal Observatory, Greenwich. With 38 Plates and upwards of 
 100 Woodcuts. In One Vol., small 8vo, 550 pages, gs. 6d. cloth. 
 "Probably no other book contains the same amount of information in so compendious and well- 
 arranged a form— certainly none at the price at which this is offered to the puhlic."— A thenaum. 
 
 "We can do no other than pronounce this work a most valuable manual of astronomy, and we 
 strongly recommend it to all who wish to acquire a general— but at the same time correct— acquaint- 
 ance with this sublime science." — Quarterly Jmirnal qf Science. 
 
 "One of the most deservedly popular books on the subject . . . We would recommend not 
 only the student of the elementary principles of the science, but he who aims at mastering the 
 higrier arid mathematical branches of astronomy, not to be without this work beside \a.m,"—Fracti 
 ((if Magazine. 
 
NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE. 23 
 
 DR. LARDNER'8 MUSEUM OF SC IENCE AND ARL 
 
 THE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND ART, Edited by 
 DiONYsius Lardner, D.C.L., formerly Professor of Natural Philosophy and 
 Astronomy in University College, London. With upwards of 1,200 Engrav- 
 ings on Wood. In 6 Double Volumes, £1 is., in a new and elegant cloth bind- 
 ing ; or handsomely bound in half-morocco, 315, 6d, 
 
 Contmts : 
 
 The Planets: Are they Inhabited Worlds?— 
 Weather Prognostics — Popular Fallacies in 
 Questions of PTiysical Science—Latitudes and 
 Longitudes — Lunar Influences — Meteoric 
 Stones and Shooting- Stars— Railway Accidents 
 —Light— Common Things: Air— Locomotion 
 in the United States— Cometary Influences- 
 Common Thin^: Water— The Potter's Art- 
 Common Thingra : Fire — Locomotion and 
 Transport, their Influence and Progress— The 
 Moon— Common Thiiwts: The Earth — The 
 Electric Telegraph — Terrestrial Heat — The 
 Sun— Eartliquakes and Volcanoes— Barometer, 
 Safety Lamp, and Whitworth's Micrometric 
 Apparatus— Steam— The Steam Engine— The 
 Eye — The Atmosphere — Time — Common 
 Things : Pumps— Common Things : Spectacles, 
 the Kaleidoscope — Clocks and Watches — 
 Microscopic Drawing and Engraving — Loco- 
 
 motive — Thermometer — New Planets : Le- 
 verrler and Adams's Planet — Magnitude and 
 Minuteness— Common Things ; The Almanack 
 — Optical Images — How to observe the Heavens 
 — Common Things : The Looking-glass — 
 Stellar Universe— The Tides— Colour— Com- 
 mon Things: Man— MMmifying Glasses— In- 
 stinct and Intelligence— The Solar Microscope 
 — The Camera Lucida — The Magic Lantern— 
 The Camera' Obscura— The Microscope— The 
 White Ants: Their Manners and Habits— The 
 Surface of the Earth, or Furst Notions of 
 Geography— Science and Poetry— The Bee- 
 Steam Navi^tion — Electro-Motive Power^ 
 Thunder, Lightning, and the Aurora Borealis 
 —The Printing Press— The Crust of the Earth 
 — Comets— The Stereoscope— The Pre-Ada- 
 mite Earth— Eclipses— Sound. 
 
 Opinions of ike Press^ 
 
 " This series, besides affording popular but sound instruction on scientiflc subjects, with which 
 the humblest man in the country ought to be acquainted, also undertakes that teaching of ' Com- 
 mon Things ' which every well-wisher of his kind is anxious to promote. Many thousand copies of 
 this serviceable publication have been printed, in the belief and hope that the desire for instruction 
 and improvement widely prevails ; and we liave no fear that such enlightened faith will meet with 
 disappointment." — Times. 
 
 " A cheap and interesting pubt'cation, alike informing and attractive. The papers combine 
 subjects of importance and great sclentitic knowledge, considerable inductive powers, and a 
 popular style of treatment."— ^wto^ur. 
 
 "The 'Museum of Science and Art' is the most valuable contribution that has ever been 
 made to the Scientific Instruction of tfvery class of society."— Sir DAVID Brewster, in the 
 North British Review. 
 
 " Whether we consider the liberality and beauty of the illustrations, the charm of the writing, 
 or the durable interest of the matter, we must express our belief that there is hardly to be found 
 among the new books one that would be welcomed by people of so many ages and classes as a 
 valuable present."— £xiai»t»j£}'. 
 
 %* Separate books formed from the above, suitable for Workmen's Libraries, 
 Science Classes, &c. 
 
 Common Things Explained. Containing Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Time, 
 Man, the Eye, Locomotion, Colour, Clocks and Watches, &c. 233 Illus- 
 trations, cloth gilt, 5s. 
 
 The Microscope. Containing Optical Images, Magnifying Glasses, Origin 
 and Description of the Microscope, Microscopic Objects, the Solar Micro- 
 scope, Microscopic Drawing and Engraving, &c 147 Illustrations, cloth 
 gilt, 25. 
 
 Popular Geology. Containing Earthquakes and Volcanoes, the Crust of 
 the Earth, &c. 201 Illustrations, cloth gilt, zs. 6rf. 
 
 Popular Physics, Containing Magnitude and Minuteness, the Atmo- 
 sphere, Meteoric Stones, Popular Fallacies, Weather Prognostics, the 
 Ijiermometer, the Barometer, Sound, &c. 85 Illustrations, cloth gilt, 2s. 6rf. 
 
 Steam and its Uses. Including the Steam Engine, the Locomotive, and 
 Steam Navigation. 89 Illustrations, cloth gilt, 2s. 
 
 Pomdar Astfonotny. Containing How to observe the Heavgus^The 
 Earth, Sun, Moon, planets, Light, Comets, Eclipses, Astronomical Influr 
 ences, &c. 182 Illustrations, 4s. 6d. 
 
 The Bee and White Ants : Their Manners and Habits. With Illustra- 
 tions of Animal Instinct and Intelligence. 135 Illustrations, cloth gilt, as. 
 
 The Electric Telegraph Popularised. To render intelligible to all who 
 can Read, irrespective of any previous Scientific Acquirements, the various 
 forms of Telegraphy iij Aptual Operation, 100 Illustrations, cloth gilt, 
 IS, 6rf, 
 
24 CROSBY LOCKWOOD & CO,* S CATALOGUE. 
 
 MATHEMATICS, GEOMETRY, TABLES, etc. 
 
 JPractieal Mathematics, 
 
 MATHEMATICS FOR PRACTICAL MEN, Being a Com- 
 mon-place Book of Pure and Mixed Mathematics. Designed chiefly for the 
 Use of Civil Engineers, Architects, and Surveyors. Part I. Pore Mathe- 
 matics : comprising Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Mensuration, Trigono- 
 metry, ComC Sections, Properties of Curves. Part II. Mixed Mathematics : 
 comprising Mechanics in general Statics, Dynamics, Hydrostatics, Hydro* 
 dynamics, Pneumatics, Mechanical Agents, Strength of Materials, With an 
 Appendix of copious Logarithmic and other Tables, By OlinThus Greg- 
 ory, LL.D.,F.R.A.S., Enlarged by Henry Law, C.E. 4th Edition, care- 
 fully Revised by J. R, Young, formerly Professor of Mathematics, Belfast 
 College. With 13 Plates, 8vo, £1 is. cloth, 
 
 " The engineer or architect will here find r^ady to his hand rules for solving nearly every 
 mathematicaldifficulty that may arise in his practice. The rules are in aM cases explained by 
 means of examples, in which every step of the process is clearly worked ovA."— Builder. 
 
 "One of the most serviceable books for practical mechanics. . . . Professor Youngf has 
 tnodemised the notation throughout, introduced a few paragraphs here and there, and corrected 
 the numerous typo£^raphical errors which had escaped the eyes of the former Editor. The book 
 is now as complete as it is possible to make it. It is an instructive book for the student, and a 
 Text-book for him who. havine once mastered the subjects it treats of, needs occasionally to 
 refresh his memory upon them7'—Sui/di»ff News. 
 
 "As a standard work on mathematics it has not been excelled."— ^^'^teivf. 
 
 Metrical Units and Systems^ etc, 
 
 MODERN METROLOGY : A Manual of the Metrical Units 
 and Systems of the Present Century. With an Appendix containing a proposed 
 English System, By Lowis D'A. Jackson, A.M. Inst. C.E., Author of " Aid 
 to Survey Practice," &c. Large crown 8vo, 12s. 6ii. cloth. 
 
 " The author has brought together much valuable and interesting information. . . . The 
 main object of the work appears to be the discussion of a remedy for the evils of the complex 
 systems of weights and measures which are unfortunately still in use in this country. To provide 
 such a remedy is a serious task, and one welt worthy of the attention of a great statesman such as 
 Mr. Gladstone, to whom the work is inscribed. . . . We cannot but recommend the work to the 
 consideration of all interested in the practical reform of our weights and measures." — Nature. 
 
 "For the large collection of measures brought tocfether, the author supplies the French 
 scientific equivalents, in terms of the metrical system. He also gives throughout a double set of 
 English equivalents, the first of which he calls the ' Commercial Measures,' and the second the 
 * Scientific Value/ . . . There is no doubt as to the great amount of labour that must have been 
 devoted to the calculation ; and the juxtaposition of the two values affords an easy means of chjeck- 
 ing the work by comparison." — Athenaunt. 
 
 "For exhaustive tables ofequivalent weights and measures of all sorts, and for clear demonstra* 
 tions of the effects of the various systems that have been proposed or adopted, Mr. Jackson's 
 treatise is without a rival." — Academy. 
 
 The Metric System, 
 
 A SERIES OF METRIC TABLES, in which the BritUh Stand- 
 ard Measures and Weights are compared with those of the Metric System at present 
 in Use on the Continent. By C. H. Dowlinq, C.E. Seco^d Edition, Revised 
 and Enlarged. 8vo, los. 6d. strongly boun4' 
 
 " Their accuracy has been certified by Professor Airy, the Astronomer-Royal."— Jwi/if^r. 
 
 "Mr. Bowling's Tables, which are well put together, come just in time as a ready-reckoner for 
 the conversion of one system into the other." — Athenatint 
 
 Geometry for the Architect, Engineer, etc, 
 
 PRACTICAL GEOMETRY, for the Architect, Engineer and 
 Mechanic. Giving Rules for the Delineation and Application of various 
 Geometrical Lines, Figures and Curves. By E. W. Tarn, M.A., Architect, 
 Author of "The Science of Building," &c. Second Edition. With Appen- 
 dices on Diagrams ot Strains and Isometrical Projection. With 172 Illus- 
 trations, demy 8vo, 95. cloth, 
 " No book with the same objects in view has ever been published in which the clearness of the 
 
 rules laid down and the illustrative diagrams have been so satisfactory."— 5i:o^J'»/£Im. 
 
 " This is a manual for the practical man, whether architect, engineer, or mechanic. . . , The 
 
 object of the author being to avoid all abstruse formulas or complicated methods, and to enable 
 
 persons with but a moderate knowledge of geometry to work out the problems tequiTe<i."~-£fi£-/ish 
 
 AUc^'anic. 
 
MATHEMATICS, GEOMETRY, TABLES, etc. 25 
 
 Comprehensive Weight Calculator, 
 
 THE WEIGHT CALCULATOR, Being a Series of Tables 
 
 upon a New and Comprehensive Plan, exhibiting at One Reference the exact 
 Value of any Weight from i lb, to 15 tons, at 300 Progressive Rates, from id. 
 to i68s. per cwt., and containing 186,000 Direct Answers, which, with their 
 Combinations, consisting of a smgle addition (mostly to be performed at 
 sight), will afiford an aggregate of 10,266,000 Answers ; the whole being calcu- 
 lated and designed to ensure correctness and promote despatch. By Henry 
 Harben, Accountant, Sheffield, Author of ." The Discount Guide;''^ An en- 
 tirely New Edition, carefully revised. Royal 8vo, strongly half-bound, £1 5s, 
 "A practical and useful work of reference for men of business generally; it is the best of the 
 
 kind we nave seen. We have frequently been asked if such a work as tliis could be obtained, and 
 
 tlierefore refer to it with -pleasatQ. —Irontnottg-er. 
 
 "Of priceless value to business men. Its accuracy and completeness have secured for it ^ 
 
 reputation which renders it quite unnecessary for us to say one word in its praise. It is a necessary 
 
 took in all mercantile oSces/'SAe^eld Independent. 
 
 " An enormous amount of labour must have been bestowed upon the preparation of the tables. 
 
 but the result is a series which gives the answers sought more readily than any of its predecessors." 
 
 Aliitinff Jonntal. 
 
 Comprehensive Discount Guide, 
 
 THE DISCOUNT GUIDE. Comprising several Series of 
 
 Tables for the use of Merchants, Manufacturers, Ironmongers, and others, 
 bjr which may be ascertained the exact Profit arising from any mode of using 
 Discounts, either in the Purchase or Sale of Goods, and the method of either 
 Altering a Rate of Discount or Advancing a Price, so as to produce, by one 
 operation, a sum that will realise any required profit after allowing one or 
 more Discounts : to which are added Tables of Profit or Advance from i^ to 
 90 per cent., Tables of Discount from ij to gSJ per cent., and Tables of Com- 
 mission, &C.J fronx ^ to 10 per cent. Bjr Henry Harben, Accountant, Author 
 of " The Weight Calculator." New Edition, carefully Revised and Corrected. 
 Demy 8vo, 544 pp. half-bound, £"1 5s. 
 
 " All these tables are well arranged and clearly printed ; and the collection willbe found of great 
 value in those businesses for which the book has been especially compiled." — Engineering: 
 
 " A book such as this can only be appreciated by business men, to whom the saving of time 
 means saving of money. We have the nigh authority of Professor J. R. Young that the tables 
 throughout tne work are constructed upon strictly accurate principles. The work is a model of 
 typographical clearness, and must prove .of great value to merchants, manufacturers, and general 
 traders. — British Trade jFourjtal. 
 
 " Much time and Ubour will be saved by the use of this book — even to the most expert arith- 
 metician. The great practical utility of the 'Discount Guide' will no doubt make it a standard 
 work of reference." — L,ondcn Commercial Record. 
 
 Iron and Metal Trades' Calculator. 
 
 THE IRON AND METAL TRADES' COMPANION. Being 
 a Calculator, containing a Series of Tables upon a New and Comprehensive 
 Plan, for expeditiously ascertaining the Value of any Goods bought or sold 
 by Weight, from 15. per cwt. to ti2s. per cwt., and from one farthing per 
 pound to one shilling per pound. Each Table extends from one pound to 
 zoo tons. To which are appended Rules on Decimals, Square and Cube Root, 
 Mensuration of Superficies and Solids, &c. ; also Tables of Weights of 
 Materials, and other Useful Memoranda. By Thohas Downie. Strongly 
 bound in leather, 396 pp., gs, 
 " A most useful set of tables and will supply a want, for nothing like them before existed." — 
 
 BuiMing A'ea/s. 
 
 "Will save the possessor the trouble of making numerous intricate calculations. Although 
 
 specially adapted to tiie iron and metal trades, the tables contained in this handy little companion 
 
 will be found useful in every other business in which merchandise is bought and sold by weight." — 
 
 Raihuay News. 
 
 Practical Geometry, 
 
 THE GEOMETRY OF COMPASSES; or, Problems Resolved 
 by the mere DescHpHon of Circles and the use of Coloured Diagrams and 
 
 Symbols. By Oliver Byrne. Coloured Plates. Crown 8vo, 3s. fid. cloth. 
 
 " A very useful work, which will be valued by all who are pursuing the useful and fascinating 
 study of geomeiry."— iron. 
 
 " The treatise is a good one, and remarkable — like all Mr. Byrne's contributions to the sdence 
 of geometry— for the lucid character of its teaching."— ^KiVtfi;/^ News. 
 
 "The problems in this useful book are cleverly worked out by beautifully coloured and uncoloured 
 diagrams. It will no doubt be extensively circulated. We highly recornmpnd \t"'~Ca}»bridgf 
 iix/ress. ■ ■■ - 
 
26 CROSBY LOCKWOOD &' CO.' S CATALOGUE 
 
 INDUSTRIAL AND USEFUL ARTS. 
 
 Soap^makinff, 
 
 THE ART OF SOAP-MAKING : A Practical Handbook of the 
 Manufacture of Hard and Soft Soaps, Toilet Soaps, &c. Including many New 
 Processes, and a Chapter on the Recovery of Glycerine from waste Leys. 
 By Alexander Watt* Author of " Electro-Metallurgy Practically Treated, 
 &c. With numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo, gs. cloth. 
 "The work will prove very useful, not merely to the technological student, but to the practical 
 
 soapboiler who wishes to understand the theory of his ^tX.."— Chemical News. 
 
 " It is really an excellent example of a technical manual, entering-, as it does, thoroueffly and 
 
 exhaustively both mto the theory and practice of soap manufacture. 1 he book is well and honestly 
 
 done, and deserves the considerable circulation with which it will doubtless meiit."^Kti<rwlease. 
 ' ' Mr. Watt's book is a thorouehly practical treatise on an art which has almost no literature in 
 
 our language. We congratulate the author on the success of his endeavour to fill a void in English 
 
 te Jmical li:ctRtme."—Naetire. 
 
 ". . . . Cleariy and concisely written, and appears to be comprehensive and complete."— 
 
 Leather Manufacture, 
 
 THE ART OF LEATHER MANUFACTURE. Being a 
 Practical Handbook, in which the Operations of Tanning, Currying, and 
 Leather Dressing are fully Described, and the Principles of Tanning Ex- 
 plained, and many Recent Processes introduced; as also Methods for the 
 Estimation of Tannin, and a Description of the Arts of Glue Boiling, Gut 
 Dressing, &c. By Alexander Watt, Author of " Soap-Making,'' ** Electro- 
 Mqtallurgy," &c. With numerous Illustrations. Grown 8vo, 12s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 [Just published. 
 "Every item of use and interest to the leather trade has been touched upon, and the descric 
 
 tions and explanations of the various processes are exhaustively given."^Tajmer-s' a7td Currier^ 
 
 journal, 
 
 " A most lucid and readable book upon difficult and intricate subjects. Every known process of 
 
 tanning, from the most primitive to the most recent, is fully and accurately described.' —Scotlish 
 
 Leather Trader. 
 
 Boot and Shoe Making. 
 
 THE ART OF BOOT AND SHOE-MAKING, A Practical 
 
 Handbook, including Measurement, Last-Fitting, Cutting-Out, Closing and 
 
 Making, with a Description of the most approved Machinery employed. 
 
 By John B. Leno, late Editor of St. Crispin, and The Boot and Shoe-Maker. 
 
 With numerous Illustrations, Crown 8vo, 5s. cloth. \.J^t published. 
 
 " A very complete account of the art and science of bootmaking, which includes all that need 
 
 be said about leathers and other materials, as well as about hand-tools and the various machines 
 
 that have latterly been introduced to supplement or supersede the old-fashioned handiwork."— 
 
 If'eekly Dispatch. 
 
 Dentistry, 
 
 MECHANICAL DENTISTRY : A Practical Treatise on the 
 Construction of the various kinds of Artificial Dentures. Comprising also Use- 
 ful Formulas, Tables and Receipts for Gold Plate, Clasps, Solders, Sec. &c. 
 By Charles Hunter. Second Edition, Revised. With upwards of 100 
 Wood Engravings. Crown 8vo, ys. 6d. cloth. 
 "The work is very practical." — Mo7iChly Review of Denial Surgery, 
 
 " An authoritative treatise, . . . We can strongly recommend Mr. Hunter's treatise to all 
 students preparing for the profession of dentistry, as well as to every mechanical dentist. " — Dublin 
 journal 0/ Medical Science. 
 
 "A work in a concise form that few could read without gaining information from." — British 
 Journal 0/ Dental Science. 
 
 " The best book on the subject jvith which we are acquainted," — Medical Press and Circular, 
 
 Brewing. ' 
 
 A HANDBOOK FOR YOUNG BREWERS. By Herbert 
 
 Edwards Wright, B.A. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 " This little volume, containing such a large amount of good sense in so small a compass, ought 
 to recommend itself to every brewary pupil, and many wno have passed that stage.' -^Brewers' 
 Gicardian. 
 
 "The beok is very clearly written, and the author has successfully brought his scientific know- 
 ledge to bear upon the various processes and details of brewing. To the young student of brewing 
 the reading of such a book as this is calculated to do good, for it W(l} Ig^d hjm to inquire not only 
 what is to be done, but why it should be donp "—Qrewer, 
 
INDUSTRIAL AND USEFUL ARTS, 27 
 
 Electroplating y etc» 
 
 ELECTROPLATING : A Practical Handbook. By J. W. Urqu- 
 HART, C.E. With numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 5s. cloth, 
 
 " The volume is without a rival in its particular sphere, and the lucid style in which it is written 
 commends it to those amateurs and experimental electrotypers who have but slielit, if any, know- 
 ledge of the processes of the art to which they turn their attention."— Z>ej<e^( and Work. 
 
 " The information given appears to be based on direct personal knowledge. ... Its science 
 is sound and the style is ahvays clear." — AthettaHm, 
 
 Electrotypififff etCm 
 
 ELECTROTYPING : The Reproduction and Multiplication of Print- 
 ing Surfaces and Works of Art by the Electro-deposition of Metals. By J. W. 
 Urquhart, C.E. Crown Svo, 5s. cloth. 
 
 "The book is so thoroughly practical that it assumes to start with an entire ignorance on tlie 
 reader's part of electricity. He is, therefore, conducted through Its leading laws, then through the 
 metals used by electrotypers, the apparatus, and the depositing processes, up to the tinal prepara- 
 tion of tlie work."— j4rt yottmal. 
 
 "In this work the author enters systematically and thoroughly into every department of the 
 process, in the style of one who combines theory with practice, we can recommend this treatise, 
 not merely to amateurs, but to tliose actually engaged m the trade." — Chemicai News. 
 
 Electric Idghting, 
 
 ELECTRIC LIGHT : Its Production and Use. Embodying Plain 
 Directions for the Treatment of Voltaic Batteries, Electric Lamps, aod 
 Dynamo-Electric Machines. By J. W. Urquhaet, C.E,, Author of " Electro- 
 plating: A Practical Handhook." Edited by F. C. Webb, M.I.C.E., M.S.T.E. 
 
 Second Edition, revised, with large Additions and izS Illusts. 75. 6d. cloth. 
 
 " The book is by far the best that we have yet met with on the subject." — Athenaian. 
 
 " It is the only work at present available which gives, in language mtelligible for the most part 
 to the ordinary reader, a general but concise history of the means which have been adopted up to 
 the present time in producing the electric light. ... A chapter on the comparative cost of the 
 electric light and gas contains much valuable and interesting information," — Metropolitan. 
 
 " The book contains a genenil account of the means adopted in producing the electric light, not 
 only as obtained from voltaic or galvanic batteries, but treats at length of the dynamo-electric 
 machine in several of its forms. ... An important addition to the literature of the electric 
 light. Students of the subject should not fail to read it," — Colliery Guardian. 
 
 Electro-Metallurgy* 
 
 ELECTRO-METALLURGY; Practically Treated. By Alexander 
 Watt, F.R.S.S.A, Eighth Edition, Revised, with Additional Matter and 
 Illustrations, including the most recent Processes. lamo, 3s. 6d, cloth boards. 
 "From this book both amateur and artisan may learn everything necessary for the successful 
 
 prosecution of electroplating." — Iron. 
 
 "A practical treatise for the use of those who desire to work hi the art of electro- deposition as 
 
 a husmess."—£fi£'iish Mechanic. 
 
 Silversmiths^ Work* 
 
 THE SILVERSMITH'S HANDBOOK. Containing full In- 
 structions for the Alloying and Working of Silver, including the different 
 modes of Refining and Melting the Metal, its Solders, the Preparation of Imi- 
 tation Allo;^5, Methods of Manipulation, Prevention of Waste, Instructions 
 for Improvmg and Finishing the Surface of the Work, together with other 
 useful Information and Memoranda. By George E. Gee, Jeweller, &c. 
 Second Edition, Revised, with numerous Illustrations, lamo, 3s. 6d. cloth 
 boards. [j^*«' published. 
 
 " The chief merit of the work is its practical character. . , The workers in the trade will 
 
 speedily discover its merits when they sit down to study it." — English Mechanic. 
 
 "This work forms a valuable sequel to the author's 'Goldsmith's Handbook,' and supplies a 
 
 want long felt in the silver trade." — Silversmiths' Trade youniai. 
 
 Goldsmiths' WorlCm 
 
 THE GOLDSMITH'S HANDBOOK. Containing full Instruc- 
 tions in the Art of Alloying, Melting, Reducing, Colouring, Collecting and 
 Refining. The ijrocesses of Manipulation, Recovery of Waste, Chemical and 
 Physical Properties of Gold, with a New System of Mixing its Alloys ; Solders, 
 Enamels, and other useful Rides and Recipes, &c. By George E, Gee. 
 Second Edition, considerably enlarged, lamo, 3s. 6d. cloth boards. 
 "A good, sound, technical educator, and will be generally accepted as an authority. It gives 
 
 full particulars for mixing alloys and enamels, is essentially a book for the worktop, and exactly 
 
 fulfil the purpose intended." — Horohgical 'journal. 
 
 ' ' The best work yet printed on its subject for a reasonable price. We have no doubt that it 
 
 will speedily become a standard book wliich few will care to be without."— ynw^/er and Metal' 
 
 Wor^pr- " ' ■ " 
 
28 CROSBY LOCKWOOD &> CO.'S CATALOGUE. 
 
 CHEMICAL MANUFACTURES & COMMERCE. 
 
 Alkali Trade, Manufacture of Sulphuric Acid, etc, 
 
 A MANUAL OF THE ALKALI TRADE, including the 
 Manufacture of Sulphuric Acid, Sulphate of Soda, and Bleaching Powder. 
 By ToHN LoMAS, Alkali Manufacturer, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and London, 
 With 232 Illustrations and Working Drawings, and containing 386 pages of 
 Text. Super-royal 8vo, £2 12s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 *** This work provides (i) a Complete Handbook for intending Alkali and 
 Sulphuric Acid Manufacturers, and for those already in the field who desire to 
 improve their plant, or to become practically acquainted with the latest processes 
 and developments of the trade: (2) a. Handy Volume which Manufacturers can 
 put into the hands of their Managers and Foremen as a useful guide in their daily 
 rounds of duty. 
 
 Synopsis of Contents : 
 
 Chap. I. Choice of Site and General Flan of 
 Works.— II. Sulphuric Acid.— III. Recovery of 
 the Nitrogfen Compounds, and Treatment of 
 Small Pyrites.— IV. The Salt Cake Process.— 
 V. Legislation upon the Noxious Vapours Ques- 
 tion.— VI, The Hargreaves' and Jones' Pro- 
 cesses.— VII. The BaTlingr Process.— VIII. Lixi- 
 viatibn and Salting Down.— IX. Carbonating or 
 
 Finishing,— X. Soda Crystals. —XI. Refined 
 Alkali.-OCII. Caustic Soda.— XIII, Bi-carbon- 
 ate of Soda.— XIV. Bleaching Powder.— XV. 
 Utilisation of Tank Waste.— XVI. General Re- 
 marks — Four Appendices treating of Yields, 
 Sulphuric Acid Calculations, Anemometers, and 
 Foreign Legislation upon the Noxious Vapours 
 Question. 
 
 " The author has given the fullest, most practical, and, to all concerned in the alkali trade, most 
 valuable mass of information thal^ to our knowledge, has been published in any language." — £ji- 
 gineer. 
 
 " This book Is written by a manufacturer for manufacturers. The working details of the most 
 approved forms of apparatus are given, and these are accompanied by no less than 23a wood en- 
 gravings, all of which may be used for the purposes of construction. Every step in the manufac 
 lure is very fully described in this manual, and each improvement explained. Everything which 
 tends to introduce economy into the technical details of tnis trade receives the fullest attention." — 
 
 ' ' The author is not one of those clever compilers who, onshort notice, will ' read up * any conceiv- 
 able subject, but a practical man in the best sense of the word. We find here not merely a sound 
 and luminous explanation of the chemical principles of the trade, but a notice of numerous matters 
 which have a most important bearing on the successful conduct of alkali works, but which are 
 generally overlooked by even the most experienced technological authors," — Chemical Review. 
 
 Commercial Chemical Analysis. 
 
 THE COMMERCIAL HANDBOOK OF CHEMICAL AN- 
 ALYSIS; or, Practical Instructions for the determination of the Intrinsic or 
 Commercial Value of Substances used in Manufactures, in Trades, and in the 
 Arts. By A. Normandy, Author of "Practical Introduction to Rose's Che- 
 mistry," and Editor of Rose's "Treatise on Chemical Analysis.'' New 
 Edition, Enlarged and to a great extent re-written, by Henry M. Noad, 
 Ph.D., F.R.S. With numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 12s. 6ii. cloth. 
 
 "We recommend this book to the careful perusal of everyone ; It may be truly affirmed to be 
 of universal interest, and we strongly recommend it to our readers as a guide, alike indispensable to 
 the housewife as to the pharmaceutical practitioner." — Medical Times. 
 
 " Essential to the analysts appointed under the new Act. The most recent results are given, 
 and the work Is well edited and carefully written." — Nature, 
 
 Dye-'Wares and Colov/rs, 
 
 THE MANUAL OF COLOURS AND DYE-WARES : Their 
 Properties, Applications, Valuation, Impurities, and Sophistications. For the 
 use of Dyers, Printers, Drysalters, Brokers, &c. By J. W. Slater. Second 
 Edition, Revised and greatly Enlarged. Crown 8vo, 7s. Qd. cloth. 
 *,(.♦ This book contains a description of about Six Hundred Colours, Chemi- 
 cals, and Drugs used in the Tinctorial Arts, and their Sources, Applications, and 
 possible Impurities. 
 
 " A complete encyclopsedia of the materia tinctoria. The information given respecting each 
 article is full and precise, and the methods of determining the value of articles such as these, so 
 liable to sophistication, are given with clearness, and are practical as well as valuable."— CAewtJi 
 a>id Druggiit. 
 
 "Practical dyers, &c., will welcome the work in its improved form. Thereis no other work in 
 the language iirhich covers precisely tl(e same ground. To technological students preparing fof 
 examinatiqns in dyeing ai^d printing it will prove e:[ceedingly useful."— C-^WfOi^A'rtCJ. ' 
 
AGklCVLT VRE, tANb MANAt^EMEhif, etc. 2^ 
 
 AGRICULTURE, LAND MANAGEMENT, etc. 
 
 Yoiiatt and Burn's Complete GTazier* 
 
 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER, and FARMER'S and CATTLE- 
 BREEDER'S ASSISTANT. A CompeDdium of Husbandry; especially in 
 the departments connected with the Breeding, Rearing, Feeding, and General 
 Management of Stock ; the Management of the Dairy, &c. With Directions 
 for the Culture and Management of Grass Land, of Grain and Root Crops, 
 the Arrangement of Farm Offices, the use of Implements and Machines, and 
 on Draining, Irrigation. Warping, &c. ; and the Application and Relative 
 Value of Manures. By William Youatt, Esq., V.S. Twelfth Edition, very 
 considerably enlarged and brought up to the present requirements of Agri- 
 cultural Practice by Robert Scott Burn, Author of *' Outlines of Modern 
 Farming," "Landed Estates Management," "Farm Management," "The 
 Lessons of My Farm," &c. One large 8vo Volume, 860 pp., with 244 Illustra- 
 tions, £1 IS. half-bound. 
 
 " The standard and text-book with the fanner and grazier." — Farmers' Magazine. 
 " A treatise which will remain a standard work on the subject as long as British agriculture 
 
 endures." — Mark Lane Eif^ress (First Notice). 
 
 " The book deals with all departments of agriculture, and contains an immense amount of 
 
 valuable information. It is, in fact, an encyclopaedia of cg:riculturc put into readable form, and it 
 
 is the only work equally comprehensive brought do^vn to present date. It is excellently printed on 
 
 thick paper, and strongly bound, and deserves a place in the library of every agriculturist." — Mark 
 
 Lane Express (Second Notice). 
 
 "Of great value to the fanner, more especially to the young cattle breeder and feeder. . . . 
 
 This esteemed work is well worthy of a place in the libraries of agriculturists." — North British 
 
 AgHcitUtirist. 
 
 "A valuable repertory of intelligence for all who make agriculture a pursuit, and especially for 
 
 those who aim at keeping pace with the improvements of the age. . , . The new matter is of 
 
 so valuable a nature that the volume is now almost entitled to be considered as a distinct work, ' — 
 
 Bell 's Messengor. 
 
 Modem Farming, 
 
 OUTLINES OF MODERN FARMING. By R. Scott Burn. 
 Soils, Manures, and Crops— Farming and Farming Economy— Cattle, Sheep. 
 and Horses— Management of the Dairy, Pigs and Poultry — Utilisation of 
 Town-Sewage, Irrigation, &c. Sixth Edition. In One Vol., 1,250 pp., half- 
 bound, profusely Illustrated, 12s. 
 "The aim of the author has been to make his work at once comprehensive and trustworthy. 
 
 and in this aim he has succeeded to a degree which entitles him to much credit." — Morning 
 
 Advertiser. 
 
 "Eminently calculated to enlighten the agricultural community on the varied subjects of 
 
 which it treaty and hence it should find a place in every farmer's library." — City Press. 
 " No fanner should be without this book." — Banbury Guardian. 
 
 Agricultural Engineering. 
 
 THE COMPLETE TEXT-BOOK OF FARM ENGINEERING. 
 Comprising Practical Treatises on Draining and Embanking ; Irrigation and 
 Water Supply; Farm Roads, Fences, and Gates; Farm Buildings, Barn 
 Implements, and Machines ; Field Implements and Machines ; and Agricul- 
 tural Surveying, Levelling, &c. By Prof. John Scott, Editor of the 
 Farmsrs^ Gazette^ late Professor of Agriculture and Rural Economy at the 
 Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, &c., &c. In One Vol., 1,150 pages, 
 wih 600 Illustrations, 12s. half-bound. [Jmt published. 
 
 "A copy of this work should be treasured up in every library where the owner thereof is in 
 any way connected with land." — Farm and Home. 
 
 " Written with great care, as well as with knowledge and ability. The author has done his 
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 The volume will be ofgreat value to agricultural students, and we have much pleasure in recom- 
 mending it."— ^Mark Lane Express. 
 
 " For a young agriculturist we know of no handy volume so likely to be more usefully studied.' 
 — licil's IVeekty Messenger. 
 
 Amateur Farming, 
 
 THE LESSONS OF MY FARM: A Book for Amateur Agri- 
 culturists. Being an Introduction to Farm Practice. By Robert Scott 
 Burn, With numerous Illustrations. 
 
 {_A New and Enlarged Edition in preparation. 
 
30 Crosby lociCWoOd s^ cO:s cataloc^VB. 
 
 A Text-Boole of English Agriculture* 
 
 THE FIELDS OF GREAT BRITAIN : A Text-Book ot 
 
 Agriculture, adapted to the Syllabus of the Science and Art Department. 
 
 For Elementary and Advanced Students. By Hugh Clements (Board ot 
 
 Trade). i8mo, 2S. 6d. cloth. 
 
 * A most comprehensive volume, giving a mass of information." — AgyiaiUiiral Ecoitomist. 
 ^ " It is a long time since we have seen a book which has pleased us more, or which contains 
 such a vast and useful fund of U.nowledge."~-Ecittcaeiofiai Times. 
 
 Agricultural Data, 
 
 NOTE BOOK of AGRICULTURAL FACTS and FIGURES, 
 
 for Farmers and Farm Sttideitts. By Primrose McConnell, Fellow of the 
 
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 with the facts and figures furnished in this interesting and valuable little book." — Aberdeen Frei 
 
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 Hudson's Land Valuer's Foc7&et~Soo1c, 
 
 THE LAND VALUER'S BEST ASSISTANT: Being Tables 
 on a very much Improved Plan, for Calculating the Value of Estates. With 
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 Measure, &c. By R. Hudson, C.E. New Edition. Royal 32mo, leather, gilt 
 edges, elastic band, 45. 
 
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 valuable rules for ascertaming the probable worth of standing timber to any amount ; and is of 
 incalculable value to the country gentleman and professional raan."— Farmers' Jonriial. 
 
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 and Agricultural Engineer. Royal samo, oblong, leather, gilt edges, with 
 elastic Dand, 4s. 
 " A compendious and handy little yo\Vi.me"-!-S^ectator, 
 
 Complete Agricultural Surveyor's JFocUet'-JSoolc, 
 
 THE LAND VALUER'S AND LAND IMPROVER'S COM' 
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 gether. Leather, gilt edges, with strap, 75, 6d. 
 
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 tion of land and crops we have ever seen, and its combination with Mr. Ewart's work greatly 
 enhances the value and usefulness of the latter-mentioned. . . . It is most useful as a manual 
 for reference."— A^or/A o/E7J^land Farmer. 
 
 JPotato Culture. 
 
 POTATOES : How to Grow and Show them. A Practical Guide to 
 the Cultivation and General Treatment of the Potato. By James Pink, 
 With Illustrations. Second Edition. Crown 8vo, as. cloth. 
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 a New Method of Growing the Gooseberry under Glass, &c., &c.,andonVenti* 
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 Crown 8vo, 35.65. cloth. 
 " A ffood book, and fairly fills a place that was in some degree vacant. The book is written 
 
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GARDENING, FLORICULTURE, etc, ^t 
 
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 Vegetables, Fruits, Elnd Flowers. With Practical Notes on Soils, Manures, 
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 With numerous Illustrations; Third Edition. Crown 8vo, 5s. cloth. 
 " A very good book, dnd one'to be highly I'ecoiilmended is a practical guide. Thb practltal 
 
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 " May be recommended to young gardenters, cottagers, dnd specidlly to amateurs, fdr the plain, 
 
 simple, and trustworthy information it gives on common mdtteK too often neglected;"— Carrfe/wrj* 
 
 C/cronicle. 
 
 Gainful Gardening, 
 
 MULTUM-IN-PARVO GAtiDENINGi oti How to make One 
 
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 GARDEN RECEIPTS. Edited by Charles W. Quin. i2mo, 
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 THE KITCHEN AND MARKET GARDEN, By Contributors 
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 trated." lamo, 3S. 6d, clotn boards. 
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 " A neat and concise book of reference, containing an admirable and clearly-arranged list of 
 
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 " Cram full of valuable information of practical valuer It is n trustworthy nnd compcndidus 
 
 guide to all sorts of valuation."— /*««««« Agent. 
 
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 AUCTIONEERS: Their Duties and Lidbilities; By Robert 
 
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32 CROSBY LOCkWOpD &- CO.' & CATALOdUE, 
 
 Mouse Property, 
 
 HANDBOOK OF HOUSE PROPERTY : A Popular and Practical 
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 35. 6d. cloth. 
 
 " The advice is thoroughly practical."— Zow yoitrnal. 
 
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 interested in questions affecting houses and land."— Z,a;«^ ^g-enis' Record. 
 
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 TABLES FOR THE PURCHASING OF ESTATES, Fvefihold, 
 Copyhold, or Leasehold; Annuities, Advowsons,&c.t a.nd for the Renewing oi 
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 Five Tables of Compound Interest, and an Extension of the same to Lower 
 and Intermediate Rates. By W. Inwood. 22nd Edition, with considerable 
 Additions, and new and valuable Tables of Logarithms for the more Difficult 
 Computations of the Interest of Money, Discount, Annuities, &c.,by M. Fedor 
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 cases, as well as in transactions in annuities, life insurances, &c., will find the present edition of 
 
 eminent service." — Engineering. 
 
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 by large additional contributions by M. Fedor Thoman, whose carefully arranged Tables cannot 
 
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 HINTS FOR INVESTORS : Being an Explanation of the Mode 
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 book, acquire the necessary information, and thus on many occasions save the expense and loss of 
 time of a visit to a lawyer." — Engineer. 
 
 "It is a complete code of .English Law, written in plain language, which all can understand. . 
 . . . Should be in the handsHevery business man, and all who wish to abolish lawyers' bills." — 
 iVeekly Times. 
 
 " A useful and concise epitome of the law, compiled willi considerable care."— iaw Magazine. 
 
 "What it professes to be— a complete epitome of the laws of this country, thoroughly intelli- 
 gible to non-professional readers. The book is a handy one to have in readiness when some knotty 
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