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FARMING NOTES

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FARMING NOTES (Dy Professor Wrightson in the Agricultural Gazette.") IIORSE KEEP. It is now the time for taking up work horses from the pastures. We can remember when there was much discussion as to whether our teams should or should not be turned out even in summer, but that was in the days of agricultural prosperity, when farmers met together to argue upon agricultural prac- tice, and enlighten one another upon matters per- taining to farming. There is but little of that healthy debating nowadays. All is bimetallism, Pro- tection. and legislation, and few condescend to inquire how to manage so as to secure a profit. We know that objections have been urged against turning out horses to grass at all, but these objections h,ive ceased to receive attention in the face of dear wheat straw, cheap land, and a cheap ny of rnaflaging every- W thing. As long as horses can earn theii living on grass, and the nights are not too cold, so long will they be allowed to remain out at night at a low cost per week. The mild character of the present season and the abundance of grass will induce even the best farmers to prolong summer keeping late into autumn, so as to diminish expenses to the lowest possible point. Science may inculcate the fact that grass after September loses its nutrient properties, but as long as horses and other descriptions of stock fill their bellies and keep their condition, few farmers will be disposed to take them in and incur all the expense of winter food. While mainta:ning this position we do not forget that working horses should be in good condition in October and November if they are to be kept tat and well-looking in the winter and spring, and therefore the allowance of corn should be increased from It to two bushels per week. We must endeavour in every legitimate manner to keep down expenses and in this we are assisted by the low price of corn. Would that this were not so, but it is well if we can extract even a crumb of comfort out of the situation, bad as it is. It will probably be objected by some that horse keep, such as straw, hay, and oats, are not, after all, so much cheaper than in the good old times. Maize has gone up owing to scarcity, and left middle qualities of oats in possession of the field. There is a natural re- V pugnance against feeding horses on wheat, which may after all be prejudice. Those who wish to try wheat should do so with caution and in small proportion with oats or dredge, which last description of corn proTjes that barley may be employed for horses with- out detriment, in combination with oits. Wheat is said to be too glutinous for horses, and to be liable to produce impaction of the stomach, and this tendency would prove an objection to the free use of wheat as a food for horses. All we can say to inquirers on this point is to act with great circumspection by introduc- ing very small quantities of wheat into mix- tures of horse corn. Still, as barley, maize, and oats are all good for horses, why should wheat be absolutely objectionable ? It is a question -to be solved by practice rather than by the abstract opinions of professors, and we should be glad to hear from those who have tried it. The question of feeding wheat is, we believe, a most important one. We can remember when a sort of pious horror was excited at the idea of degrading the grain which Pro- vidence appeared to have designed for the special use of man. Wheat was a privileged crop which might be garnered on Sundays if such a course seemed to be necessary. It. above all descriptions of corn, must not be wasted. It was the children's bread-not meet to be given to dogs. These worthy feelings have subsided with the price of wheat, and it is now the common property of man and brutes. We do not, how- ever, accept the responsibility of recommending wheat as horse corn, but merely suggest that a few sacks might be got rid of in the stables if well diluted with oats or dredge. Hay may be dispensed with in the winter feeding of horses, and here we can speak from experience. It is an expensive food, and may be well replaced by oat and barley straw and a rather more liberal allowance of oats or maize when it can be bought reasonably. We live in times when foreign oats are tempting at the price, and we believe that there may be some advantage in selling good English oats at a somewhat higher price and buying foreign feeding-stuffs for home use. A KB FRY, OR CLUB-ROOT. It is strange that after the publication of the Royal Agricultural Society's report upon club-root there should have been a widespread visitation of this disease. We have noticed it this year in various districts of the kingdom. That club-root is a ftingoici attack, capable of being produced through infected soil, has been proved by direct experiment, and this fact has caused various writers to recommend the de- struction of all affected plants or remains of plants, and a course of cropping and of tillage calculated to stamp out the disease. It has even been suggested to guard the manure heap carefully, in case infected roots should find their way into it, and this condemns the system of treatment as impracticable. Such extraordinary measures would be exceedingly difficult to carry out on farms, and they would scarcely be likely to succeed unless applied with a thoroughness entailing much trouble and expense. Fungoid attacks appear under certain conditions of season, and often afterwards remain for years in abeyance until again called into destructive activity. Cae year we see a plague of red rust on wheat, another year we suffer from mildew, and we learn to accept such visitations as inevitable, and to be borne with becommg resignation. This ought not to be. After studying the causes, and arriving at the nature of an attack, we should proceed to discover a remedy, aided by all the resources of modern science. How small progress we have made in our struggle against these insidious diseases is only too well known to agriculturists. The recent report of the Royal Agricultural Society helps us but little, for its suggested remedies are given with so much hesitation that they are scarcely likely to arouse attention. Probably deficiency of lime in the soil is a principal cause of club-root, and consequently chalking and liming may be used as a means of prevention. In a field of our own, club-root was apparently successfully stopped by w drilling a quantity of powdered mortar with the swede seed. This was about 14 years ago. No further trace of the disease was noticed in this field until the present season, when it appears on several spots, completely destroying the swedes and rape over several small areas. The remainder of the crop is particularly healthy and vigorous. The previous cropping of this field indicates that the frequent or I not too frequent growth of swedes or turnips was not the cause, for it was last in swedes and rape in 1886, and the cropping since then has been barley in 1.887, 8eeds in 1888, 1889, 1890, and 1891, turnips in 1892, wheat in 1893, and swedes and rape in 1894. The last attack of club-root was in or about 1879 or 1880, and the 1886 crop was quite tree irom it. The field was also reeently chalked, and yet in 1894, when the climatic conditions have been favourable, it has again been visited, but not on the same portions 4 as in the previous attack. There is no evidence here of spores having rested for years and then developmg into activity, and we may well attribute the attack to favourable conditions of season. In another field, situated on similar alluvial land, the cropping has been still more favourable to complete eradication of fungoid germs, supposing them to have existed. Here we notice a small amount of club-root, but no turnips or swedes have been grown on this land for at least 10 years before the present season, and we do not remember noticing it previously. That it should appear in 1894 seems to be due to the season, unless the contamination was imported in the seed, which is not improbable, as both fields were drilled with seed from the same source. There is nothing unreasonable in such a theory, and it is further probable that had the season not been favourable to the fungus we should never have become aware of its existence. It is, however, evident that no amount of ordinary precaution could have prevented the attack, although it might occur to a scientific mind that dressing the seed with sulphate of copper would have killed the spores attached to the surface of the seed. To a practical man such a course would present the objection of being unusual and unnecessary in most cases. There is, in fact, at present insufficient cause for adopting such a course. If the disease were more widespread and more common than it is, it is possible that the dressing of cruciferous seeds previous to sowing might prove beneficial, just as in the case of wheat. The theory of infestation through seed is as good as many others, and is borne out by several parallel cases. It appears hitherto to have been overlooked, and we call attention to it with a view to inviting the attention of growers to a possible cause of this mischievous disease.

JGAUDEXING GOSSIP. -

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GREATER BRITAIN. -

MUSTARD GROWING IN THIFEB.

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IHOME HINTS.

ITHE WOMAN'S WORLD.

WAIFS AND STRAYS.

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