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39,440; and 2 pints of Dutch clover yielded severally 25,560 and 70,400 weed-seeds.

roots.

Here, then, are three sources of the spread of those weeds which are propagated by their seeds, all of them more or less directly within the control of the farmer. He can prevent, if he likes, the seeds of weeds being scattered abroad by the winds, by simply cutting the weeds down before they seed; he can keep the seeds of weeds out of his dung-heap by burning them; and he can in large measure prevent his crop seeds being mixed with the seeds of weeds. But there is another class of weeds which are mainly propagated by The majority of farmers farming heavy wheat land are but too well acquainted with the "couch grass" (triticum repens), which so overruns some fields, which is propagated so easily, and which is eradicated with such difficulty. The root of this pest is jointed, and each joint sends out a fresh rootlet, so that by cutting up the weed merely, as some implements do—that is, dividing it into parts-we only add to the mischief by giving existence to new plants. Salt given in liberal doses is said to be an excellent mode of getting rid of such grass. Docks are another pest to the farmer: they are best got rid of by extracting the roots in wet weather, or when the ground is damp, by means of what is called a "dock spade." This or any other implement which may be used will require to be used with care, so that the roots are extracted wholly for if any part of the root is left in the ground it is the parent of a vigorous plant. The more direct the pull in the direction of its length, the more likely is the root to be wholly extracted; any lateral strain thrown upon it is almost sure to result in the root being broken short off. Such a mode of getting rid of root-propagated weeds is, however, too slow and tedious, and not always so certain a process, that other means have been looked for, for the purpose of getting rid of them. In pasture land and in meadow land-in the latter at certain periods of the year only-the best plan is to keep mowing the leaves down: let them, in fact, never be allowed to develop their leaves to any extent, never so far as to exceed 2 or 3 inches above the ground. Pro

:

fessor Buckman says :- "As the leaves are the lungs of a plant," bear in mind never to allow in such "cases] the lungs to develop themselves." This mode of meeting the enemy is of course not available in lands under arable crops, nor indeed, as we have pointed out, in meadow land, at all seasons of the year. In the land under crops, if the crop is a green one, many an opportunity will be afforded the vigilant farmer to get rid of weeds which shew themselves above ground; and, generally speaking, the previous cultivation has so made the soil in that pulverized state that the weeds are pulled up with comparative ease. It is a fortunate circumstance that the very act of getting rid of weeds in fallow crops helps to ensure heavier crops. As soon as other crops are off the field, the weeds should be taken in hand, either by forking the patches covered with weeds, or by the use of the plough, the grubber, or the cultivator. In the case of meadow land, and in pasture, the effect of certain artificial manures has not yet been fairly and fully tried. We have reason to believe that there is much to be done in this direction. We had occasion once to take occupation of a large meadow a short time previous to the hay crop being ready; but such was the condition of one part of it, as regards weeds, that it was difficult to say which was the best crop, the grass or the weeds. This part of the field was literally red with the seeds of the dock, which was the prevalent seed. In making the hay, we had all the weeds carefully separated from the hay, and the whole burnt; and as soon as the hay was housed and the field cleared, we top-dressed the whole of the field with a mixture of nitrate of soda and salt in about equal proportions, and at the rate of 21⁄2 cwts. to the acre, taking care to give to the weed-infested part a much heavier dressing. In his locality, and with his soil (a pretty heavy one), he has had such a success in the treatment of perennial or root-propagating weeds with nitrate of soda and salt, that he has a good deal of confidence in the belief that if not a preventive, it is at least in great measure a cure.

SMALL MATTERS.

HE world is made up of atoms, and hourly experience shews the folly of despising small things. A feather indicates how the wind blows, and we are frequently led to form an estimate of a man's character from little peculiarities, although such may not perhaps force themselves broadly on our notice.

The same principle is equally applicable to farming pursuits. When we see an old cart shoved into a gap in a fence, or a pair of disabled harrows along with some dead thorns, doing duty as a field-gate, we do not feel particularly desirous to go any further in order to examine the management pursued on that farm more closely. We feel assured that such evidences of slovenliness sufficiently indicate what remains behind-dirty fields, imperfect tillage, and all the results which follow adherence to a system based on the principle of "it will do well enough."

We own to a partiality for order and neatness in farm management; and we feel that the absence of such features is sadly damaging to any place, although it may be tolerably well conducted in other respects. We like to see the right thing in the right place. An old hat or a pair of ruined unmentionables are quite in keeping when we find them used in constructing a scarecrow, but they are grievous blots when stuck in a broken window. A ragged hedge is, no doubt, a very picturesque feature in a landscape painting, but it is neither profitable nor pleasant when it is part of the belongings of a farm.

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of praise to their own actual practice. It is, however, one of the results of neatness in connexion with farm management, that it elicits expressions of approval, even from those who are strangers to the details of agricultural practice; and although, perhaps, such people cannot define precisely what it is which pleases them, still they feel there is something in the scene peculiarly gratifying to their perceptions.

Such things may, indeed, be regarded as small matters, but if we take them in the aggregate, or if we take the principle in its different bearings, we shall find that it is really of far greater importance than might at first be acknowledged. Thus, the same principle which produces tidiness in one matter, produces also thoroughly effective and systematic management in another. It is, in fact, the principle of doing every thing in the best possible manner, and of keeping every thing in the best possible order, so that the greatest results may be obtained at comparatively the least expense. The same principle which induces a man to thoroughdrain a field, work it well, manure it highly, and clean it perfectly, will, if extended to other matters, induce him to see that his fences are neat and efficient, that his implements are always cleanly kept, preserved in good order, and protected from unnecessary damage; that his farm-roads are in proper repair and kept free from weeds as well as the cropgrowing parts of his farm, and that his farm buildings are maintained in as good condition as circumstances will admit. These, as well as other matters of a similar kind, arise merely from the extension of the same governing principle; and, although the practice in some districts would lead us to think otherwise, it is the greatest possible fallacy to imagine that slovenliness is in any way an inherent feature in the business of the farmer.

We wish, therefore, to press upon our

readers the importance of making it an essential point to attend minutely to those small matters which so often impart a marked character to their farms, whether favourable or the reverse, according as these are attended to or neglected, for the more closely the minute details of their business are looked after, so much the more satisfactory will the broader features become.

If we look, for instance, at the filthy condition in which the stables on many farms are kept, we shall find an illustration of what we have stated. It may have been a quarter or even half a century since the stables were built, but ever since the last stroke of the carpenter's hammer, not a hand has been raised to sweep down the accumulated masses of cobwebs, dust, and dirt of all kinds, which hang from every rafter, and has lain unmolested in every corner. To the whitewash brush the place has been a perfect stranger, and from the want of proper ventilation the entire building reeks with the most pungent odours. Is it to be wondered at that disease has frequently prostrated the unfortunate animals condemned to pass a considerable part of their existence in such holes, or that many of their number have been swept away in what has doubtless appeared a very unaccountable manner? Yet, how little might have prevented such a catastrophe. A little more fresh air, with the frequent and regular use of the stable-broom and white-wash brush, would have preserved the lives of many animals, or kept them in health, instead of labouring, as we often find them in such cases, under certain forms of disease, which, although not perhaps immediately fatal, are of such a nature as to lessen their value very materially.

Then, again, look at the state of the implements on some farms. As in the case of the stud, those indispensible requisites in farm manage

ment cost a deal of money, although from the usage they get we should sometimes be inclined to imagine that such was not the case. We find them lying about in all directions, rotting and rusting, instead of being put carefully aside under cover when not immediately required for use. Paint is cheap, but year after year passes without anything of the kind being applied to them. We strongly recommend that every implement of the farm requiring paint should be painted once a year, after being put in proper repair, and that no tool, not even a dung-fork, should be allowed to lie knocking about after the occasion for using it had passed, without being put aside into its proper place. And here we may remark, that sufficient shed accommodation for the implements of the farm, large and small, is frequently wanting, even in some farmsteads of considerable pretensions. When such is the case, it is of course difficult to keep things in proper condition; but whether such accommodation exists or not, every effort should be made to do the best for the preservation of the implements that circumstances will admit of We might give other illustrations of the fact that what some evidently consider trivial points of management, are in reality matters which deeply affect the interests of the owner; and if we look at the consequences which arise from them, it will easily be seen that in farming there are really no small matters. Some may, indeed, object that the close attention to such matters which we recommend involves expense; but is the expense remunerative? If so, then the objection vanishes; and we should not forget that homely illustration of the wisdom which saves pennies while it sacrifices pounds—" for want of a nail the shoe was lost, and for want of the shoe the mare was lost."

H

FOOD OF THE TOWN-FED COW.*

AVING got your cows well purchased, the point of next importance is to feed them properly. Their invariable food in London cow-sheds is grains (brewers' or distillers' grains, the spent barley or other grain after being well washed or "worked out" in the process of brewing and distilling), with mangolds and hay in winter, and grass in summer. When first the cow is received into the shed it is important that she be gradually accustomed to her new food. She should therefore receive during the first. week little but green food, grass, or clover, or vetches in the summer, and mangolds and hay in winter, with bran mashes, into which grains may be gradually introduced, until, as she takes to them, she may at length be treated as the others are. What this management generally is, I take from the statements of two men, neither of them very large dairymen, but both of them successful managers. Mr Sumpton, of Little Warner Street, Clerkenwell, who usually milks about thirty cows, describes his day's work as follows: -The cowmen enter the shed at 4 A. M., and proceed to milk. In the case of the wholesale milk trade, when the dealers who buy the milk do the milking, one good man suffices for thirty cows. The cowman then only helps if necessary at milking-time, and sees that the work is thoroughly done, his main business being to feed and tend the cows. If he has any reason to suspect that a cow is not milked out, it is his duty to his master to "strip" her, for nothing injures a cow more than imperfect milking; and if he succeeds in getting another half pint from her his master will give him 6d. or Is. for it, and fine the dealer that amount for his servant's default. When not only milking, but serving the customers at shops and houses has to be done, three men are required for 30 cows. They begin milking at 4 A. M., and finish between 5 and 6. About a bushel and a half of grains is then given between each pair of cows, and they are partly cleaned out, and when the grains are done, a truss of hay (1⁄2 cwt.) is divided amongst 12. In the meanwhile the men have been serving the milk; after which they have their breakfast (about 8 A.M.). After breakfast time a bushel of chopped mangolds, weighing 50 or 60 lb., is given to each two cows, and the cows receive another truss of hay amongst 12. The cowshed is then cleaned out, and the cows are bedded and left. At I P.M. milking recommences, and very much the same feeding as before is given. At 2.30 grains are given as before, followed by the same quantity of hay, and then (and only then during the 24 hours) the

*An extract from Mr J. C. Morton's paper in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society.

cows are freely watered. They again receive a truss of hay amongst 12, and are left for the night. The grains are either brewers' or distillers' grains; the former are as much inferior to the latter in value as they are in price-the one at present costing 3d. to 4d. a bushel, and the other 8d. and 9d. In the case

of cows in heavy milk-also in the case of those

rapidly losing their milk, which must be sent to market as quickly as possible-it is common to give 2 or 3 quarts of pea-meal mixed up with the grains morning and evening; each cow thus receiving that quantity daily. And when the milking is coming to an end, for three or four weeks before

the cow is sold, she may receive 2 or 3 lb. of oilcake in addition. A full bushel of grains, half a bushel of mangolds, one-third of a truss of hay, and 5 or 6 lb. of pea-meal in the case of the fatting cow, are thus the daily ration in a London cowhouse. The grains at 2s. a quarter, the hay at £5 a ton, and the mangolds at 20s. a ton, cost is. 3d. a day, and with meal or cake the daily allowance may cost from Is. 6d. to Is. 9d. per cow-10s. to 125. a week.

In summer time the food is grass with grains, and meal if necessary. Most cowkeepers, except the very smallest men, either have a small suburban farm, or buy a few acres of vetches, clover, or grass, and cart it in themselves. When it is bought daily at the cowhouse it costs from Is. to Is. 3d. a cwt. during the summer, and the cows receive about that quantity daily, given to them as fast as they can eat it, morning and evening, with their grains.

Of course the proper feeding of the cow after she has been well bought is the very essence of the business of the cow-keeper. It is a proof of good management when she is so treated that no kind of food which she receives shall pall upon her taste. The maxim isnever "overdo" a cow with any kind of food. Some cows are exceedingly greedy for distillers' grains, and they yield a very large quantity of milk upon them. But it is easy to "overdo" a cow with grains; and she should be always stinted of her favourite food, or she will get sick of it, as I have seen often enough in the case of this very article-distillers' grains.

The suburban cow-keeper, though more favourably situated than the London dairyman as regards the bulk of the food he consumes the grass, the mangolds, and the hay is less favourably situated as regards grains; and this disadvantage combined with the other, of distance from the consumer, is such as at least to balance, often to overbalance, any advantage he possesses over the town dairyman in respect of labour, rent, and cheaper farm produce. Going further afield, as for example, to Swindon, and beyond it, or to

distant stations on the south-western and north-western railways, you find that the farmer feeds his cows for London, just as he has hitherto done for cheese or butter dairying. Bring them to the pail at all months of the year, so as to have a regular produce to meet his contract with the London dealer, he milks his cows out at pasture during the summer, and feeds them on hay and mangolds in the winter. Receiving 61⁄2d. to 8d. per imperial gallon for the milk delivered at the nearest station, and getting 500 to 550 gallons from his cow per annum, he receives 15s. to 18s. per annum for her produce, which is more than he can generally make of it in the form of cheese or butter, at the same time that he avoids all the cost of labour in the dairy. He runs, however, especially during hot weather, the risk of the milk souring on its journey, in which case it is thrown away on its arrival at his expense.

Nearer London the management is almost exactly that of the London cowhouses. Mr Sumpton tells me that he feeds his cows at his farm in Hendon parish exactly as he does his cows in Little Warner Street, only beginning an hour earlier, so as to give time to bring the milk in. No attempt is made to cool it for transmission this short journey, but it arrives warm an hour after milking, sometimes, however, the worse in summer-time for even so short an interval.

Mr Panter, who manages Lord Granville's large dairy-farm at Golder's Green, upon the Finchley Road, thus described the management of his cows, in evidence before the Royal Commissioners on the cattle plague :

"We give about a bushel and a quarter, or from that to a bushel and half of brewers' grains to each cow, and about 15 lb. of hay, and about 30 lb. of mangold wurtzel, with 4 lb. of meal (pea-meal principally), in addition to that feed in the winter. In the summer, grass is given instead of hay and mangold wurtzel. This mode of feeding, though it damages the constitution of a cow, is adopted in order to force the greatest quantity of milk which the dairymen can get. The gain more than covers all the loss; at least it is supposed to do so. In our suburban district we give them more air, and feed them more on grass in the fields. We do not feed them so heavily upon grains and artificial food as they do in London. We give them much more natural food. Some turn them out from about July to October; and some do not. The cows always lose condition by being turned out; that is invariably the case. They lose milk, too, to the extent of a quart a day, unless the pasture is very good

indeed."

It is plain that the London cow management for milk production is certain to be followed wherever it can, if cows lose both flesh and milk when turned out to grass. Mr Balls, who manages the dairy farm at Oakington, near Sudbury, in the occupation of Colonel the Hon. W. P. Talbot, has kept from So to 100 cows constantly in stalls. They are milked at 3 and 4 A.M., and again at 1 and 2 P.M., and are fed

exactly on the London plan, first on grains, a bushel between two, next with a little hay, then with a bushel of either cabbages or mangolds, and then again a little hay; in the afternoon grains and hay and water (they are only watered once a day), and again hay before night. The alteration in summer is a substitution of grass for hay and mangolds. A small quantity (3 or 4 lb. a day) of meal is given along with grains in the case of cows nearly dry; or rather this used to be given, for Mr Balls now declares that there is no profit in the attempt to put on extra flesh with extra feeding, so long as meal is so dear and meat so cheap. He contrives, however, by careful purchasing, to get cows which will put on flesh without extra feeding as they get dry.

At Lodge Farm, Barking, where several cowhouses holding 60 cows a piece have been built at intervals of 200 or 300 yards from one another, in the midst of 50 acres of land, which is being irrigated with North London sewage, and has been thus producing enormous crops of Italian ryegrass, the rule of London management has been till lately carefully followed. A bushel of grains between two cows has been given immediately after milking, and followed by a little hay (a truss amongst 10 or 12 cows). They were then watered freely, and afterwards 30 or 40 lb. of pulped mangolds mixed with hay chaff were given, and the cows were left. The treatment in the evening was exactly the same, except that a little hay was given when they were bedded up for the night. In this case distillers' grains were used; and whenever the supply failed us the milk ran short at once. The yield dropped onefifth, sometimes one-fourth, at the very next milking after the missing meal of grains, and brewers' grains were a very inefficient substitute for them. The quantity of milk would, however, gradually increase again under other feeding, as soon as the cows had taken cordially to the new ration, whatever it was, but in no case did it ever amount to the quantity which was quoted when they received their fill of distillers' grains. Latterly, partly owing to the cost and difficulty of obtaining these grains, and partly because it was desirable to test the value as cow food of sewagegrown Italian ryegrass given by itself, the mode of feeding has been altered. Several cowhouses were supplied with grass alone during the past summer, receiving nothing else whatever, and about 11⁄2 cwt. a day was the average consumption per cow; and though the substitution of a bushel of grains for 1⁄2 cwt. of grass was at once followed by an increased yield of milk, yet the latter was so much the dearer food that the balance of profit was against it as long as grass was not valued at more than 18s. a ton upon the land. In winter we are giving mangolds, hay, and meal, without grains. In one shed at present twentyfive cows nearly dry are receiving 16 cwt. of mangolds, 7 trusses of hay, 100 lb. of barleymeal, and 80 lb. of cake; which is 70 lb. of mangolds, 8 lb. of hay (these are given as chaff and pulp), 4 lb. of barleymeal, and about 3 lb. cake per fatting cow.

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