The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1877-11-20 00:00:00

i AORICUMIRAL SCHOLAR/RIP.
Agricultural items. t ' The Sorel Acricultural Society'. annual extminstion
' for junior xchol.r.hip., offered to ' in mirldlechims
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' tho

WINTERING DAHLIA ROOTS.
" What shall I in with my Dahlia roots during
winter f' asked a Villa garb tier a few days ago. }le
had grown a few during the summer in a able border.
and, being previously someivliitimlstrfevtly acquainted
with the flower, w.is i.suih plealesl with the result.
The plants were put out in sine rieh soil the sec did
week in June, they were well attended to in the way
dants wonderfully, and a capital head of
iif mulching, watering, an 1 tying ; and the moist season
helped the
bloom resulted in the cad) of each plant. Up till
quite lately the plants were loi.lel with these flowers,
then came a bright starlight night accompanied by a
sleirp frost, and the next day all were a blackened
rotting mass. Soon after the stalks were cot away
within two feet of the ground, a fork inserte.l under
the roots and lifted two or three inches; the result was
that the fibres were loosened in the soil, and a space
WAS created under the roots into which the Irenching
rains could 1 .ass leaving the soil about the tubers com-
paratively dry.

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HOW TO SIM.
A fortnight agl the roots were lifted with some .oil
adhering to them and put into an otith.stse to dry
little; the remaining stalk was cut down ti within six
inches of the roots. When they were nutticiently dry
the question then arose where best to at' re them
away for the winter? This has puzzled many a
gardener, whose live for certain flowers was far
greater than the tneatz at his dinposal for storing
away certain pet subjects during winter. Therefore
we have heard of many expiulients twin ; rep icteil to
for wintering Dahlia roots. even Go that if pntting the
roots into paper bags, with a little soil about them,
and hanging them up in the kitchen or living-room.
A Dahlia root will bear is good deal of drying, at the
same time it is best to keep the tubers as plump as
possible. A hot dry position is hardly to be COM -
mended ; it shinill be ilry and cool at the same time,
and if exuniel to the action of fr int, why it is a nimpte
matter to apply some covering when the weather is
severe. Ilundredn of shifts have to be renorteil to by
amateur gardeners in order to preserve their treasures
alive and unharmed during the winter.
One Villa gardener has cotustructed a mile kind of
shelf in his outhouse, on one of the side walls near the
roof. On this he has spread noose soft hay, and there
he has placed his rootn. Light awl air are given by
day, and should it happen that sharp weather sets in
some more hay will he placeil snugly about the roots
and tucked in well about them, and the additional
protection of a piece of old carpet or a garden mat
afforded. No harm will he permitted to come to
them, they are too highly. prized to needles ly expose
them to any risk. Dunn; the winter roots will be
hs:keil over to prevent decay, or to arrest its progress

If it appears.
HOW TO WETTER THE PLANTS.

This expedient, and it can lay no claim to novelty.
suggests how many plants of a semi-hardy character may
be kept through the winter where there is an entire
absence of glass. Saito-ming any one has grown a few
favourite Fuehsi is, L ib Ii Ls. Caleeolarim, Pelantoninnts,
Loot intos,s ueceleit ts,au I etch other plants As are etnplot e I
in the milliner tarden which they may he desinies at
preserving through the winter, the expedient of a shelf in
an outhouse sibmests the means by which it may he done.
LAO wint,r some succulent plants were lifted from the
floweritieds in October, anil planted in shallox wooden
boxes with some cos,a-nut fibre about the 1,,1i0 nf soiLatel
put no the shelf in a warm on'house while, some light
could fall upon them. As Eeheverias, Semperviums,
Pachyphyttnus, Kleinias, and such-like are slow.,growing
'plants it is all the more important to save them
through Vie winter, emeeially on the part of :illy rite who
maki s a little speciality in the way of a succulent heti :
for while Pelargoniums, Caleeolsris, Tee enas,
Ire., are plants of quick growth, sneelent plants re.' eke
time to grow into six:. Our experience teaches us that
any sperim.n plants lifted from tlo: open ground winter
best in soil rather than co-so-nut fibre or any such
substitiffe. Our advice to Villa gardeners is to pia all
such plants in a soil similar to that obtained front a pott-
ing bench. having the pits well drained, and not lifting
too much soil with the is its. The method re, immeniled
by s nue of trimming the roots is right enough when the
plants are to be put let some warmth in order to excite
them to growth ;lint when they are to have cold t regiment
we 111VC found it ile•nt to leave the Mg roots intact, and
to place them as far as pssible dely round awl
in contact with the pot,i ;for they pot forth spongioles at
their points, whit has a valuable rallying effect on the
plants. If the moil b used nicely moist, but not to the
degree of stickiness, pitting is a pleasant orneess, and it
well not require wet, for some time uultas brought int,.
contact with drs ing influences.
TIRE VINENT !WRING MOSTA' WE ‘THrlt.

When there is the appearance .4 frosty weather
setting in, the plants -hould be allowed to become "mite
dry. and then danger from that canso is mlielt lessened.
If thee thusiasm fan amateur gardener who is Pot
feeling his way in thg tnatter cultivating plants may
be said to ovedlow in any one direction it is that of
nee of the wateriog.pot. lie is ever asking for signs
when a plant is dry; and it is very difficult indeed to
educate him up to this point. If s,me newspapers be '
placed over and below the plants, placing thicker fol !a
as the Fr. sty weather to be guarded against ioereases
in intensity, its insidious advances will be checked and
harm kept at a distance.
Directly the spell of frost has broken up let the
, plants he tincovere.l and examined. They should not
be kept in total tlarknem a m .111'llt longer than is
necessary. Ott a vay any decaying parts of the soft
is.ints of the branches, remove any whithering leaves,
for thy are re, many avenues by which damp .nay find
its way to the stems ; and if the weather happens to
be soft and balmy. AK it is sometimes after a thaw, the
plants may be stood out in the sun during the day and
' a little water be given to them. It is a little attention
that saves no many plants; a constant alertness and
snpervision overrt le =thy difficulties, and the way to
substantial reward is never reached through the bye'
way... of careless inactivity.—Goeskso.'s chrooich.
OVENsTockING COW', 1% I

At the Wizan Itormigh WilliAm

Thomas I lalliwell, 139, Deruisgate, Bolton. was charged
with cruelly ill-treating a cow by not relieving it ..f its
milk.—Mr. B raker, soicitor. S nthport, who appeared
in support of the cnnnhlone. said the inspector of
the ltoval Society to- the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals was I /11 duty on the 29th ult. in Wigan fair.
About hol-paat two in the afternoon the inspector
found the defendant offering for sale a cow which wee '
in strati pain that it could not stand still, and the raider
was very much !Untended and milk was running from '
the teats. The inspector c tiled the attention of the
defend.rat to the state g.f the animal, and he replied
that they were ohli;ed to overstock them In order t
produce a favourable irapreasion upon intending tem
chasers. Ihe offence committed by the defendant
might be comidierel a light one, but he (Mr. Barker)
thought it a very serious rate, and one which would
came the animal great pain.—Mr. Wood, veterinary
surgeon, !laid his attention wax called to the animal in
question. He t.,unl the cow'x udder very much
distended, which would canoe very great pain, and
, might lead to inflammation and aura itrat'on. —By Mr.
Rowb !wpm The cow ought not to have been left
unmilked more than twelve hours at a time.—The
defence wan that, although the OW war not actually
milked since the previous evening, it WM repeablly
relieved f ite milk dining the morning by biter) in;
purch micro. Mr. Rowb !tt In contended that. whon
the Act of Parliament WWI passed he was cure the
legidatora had no intorntion ..f milting the statue
apply to c ttlem like the present ; it was praised to
prevent bull baiting, cock fighting, and the like. —The
bench said they were of opinion the defendant was
!guilty, and they should inflict a fine !.f 200. and Vl4l.
PRIM; or rorilla.

We have to report a sale at the highest price for a
single bird ever recorded. We have already related
how NIL% Pope's beautiful black-red game cockerel was
claimed at Oxford for f:5O. It seem+ the claimant at
this price wax Mr. Samuel Matthew, who exhibited
him again, and ha: won at the Crystal Palace Show;
and here he has been re-claimed by the original owner
at the enormous price of ten shillings over ogre howler./
pounds! The third prize partridge cochin hen was
also claimed at £3o.—From the Lire Stock Juvroar.
RABIES AND lITDR.PHOBIA.

The Britbdi Medical Awociation ha. aeTrPieted Mr.
C alendar, Dr. Burden Sander.on,. Mr Ernest Hart, and
Dr. Lauder Brunton a committee to organise an investi•
turbot into the canwtion, pathology, and treatment of
rabies and hydrophobia, and has granted a learn of 1:1011
toward. the expenses of the investi:arian. Mr. ErSheriff
Ewt ha-, broached the the try that hyarophobi ia canted
in the first instance by the bite of a viper. The herd of
deer at Cassiolerry-Park, the seat of L ri Essex, has
suffered severely from a singular malady. The animals
become very fierce and unable to control their action..
They foam at mouth, fight, and run their heads against
the trier, injuring themselves SO much as to Mille death.
In this way forty-five were destroyed up to the beginning
of last week. About forty-five year: ago a situiliar malady
affected the herd, but not so many died.
IRI*If FARMING.

Mr. Marlstonels recent visit to Ireland has called
new attention to that country, and we h pe that both
he and the public generally will read the account of
the prize system as applied to small farms, which
Profeasor Baldwin has just published in the Journal
f,f the Royal Agricultural Society. Some years ago,
Professor Baldwin, who is Government Inspector of
agricultural schools, devised a scheme ,of rewards to
'small farmers for good husbandry. The scheme was
heardly adopted by Earl Spencer when he was
Viceroy, eatal it has been carried out with the best
results. While in England the average mice of the
h 'Wings is 20/1 acres, and the farmhouses are good.
In Ireland, the ave-a4e is 20 acres, and the farmhouses
are wretched. There are, says Pr diessor Baldwin,
" very many small farmers with I irge families wh•oe
dwellings consist of one apartment, in which cattle
and pigs are house!. I have seen more than once the
manure pit in the middle ot the apartment." There
are four million ac es of poor herbage full of weeds,
and the return from which is not equal to twice the
rent. There 'are seven other millions in permanent
grass, the average yid.' of which might be greatly
increaade. Ahmed everywhere in Ireland there is a
great waste of manure, and the deficiency of crops
arising from bad manures, amounts to several million
sterling every year. By bad husbandry, the hay crop
Is deteriorated to the extent of one-fifth of its value,
which involves a loss of 1:1,500,000 on this score alone.
Dairy produce might he improved to the extent of
1.1,000,000 a year; drainage would effect an improve.
ment of £3,000,000 a year. But how are we to get
these improvements effected in a country of peasant
' proprietors, who differ from all others in being thrift'
i lees, and who are without capital? Well, a beginning
has been made. Prizes have been offered to small
farms not exceeding 1:3 valuati m. A series of marks
has been drawn up, 300 for cultivation, 100 for live
stock, 50 for farm offices, and 50 each for manure, the
cottage garden, and the dwelling, making a maximum
of 600. These prizes have been eaaerly contended for,
and have so stimulated the small farmers Owl the
landlords have offered prizes on their own account, as
an additional incentive. • The result is that new
e ottages and seperate piggeries have been built (how
cheap building is may be gathered from the fact that
one house Endessor Baldwin speaks 14 costs but
£l2 12s. 5,1. to erect); fields have been drained, crops
have been =mitred, and the produce hex been largely
increased. As these prizes are annual there is nothing
to prevent the same tenant from competing again ;
but he is not allowod to carry off more than three.
One of the moist striking instances given by Mr.
Baldwin is that a farmer in Connaught, with •
holding of under 29 acres, two-thirds of which was
utterly sterile until he and his brother reclaimed it.
After rent, tolls, and all expenses are paid, the two
brothers have a net profit of £1.20 a year.

_
bore
echoole, took pla, on Wednesday and Thursday at tie.
'leveret echouls from which candidates have been entered.
The ,oietv hes "IV not 10 scholarships .4 LIM each, on
conditim that the scholar spend the ensuing year at a
e,hicil or with a practical agriculturist. or at one of the
acricultnral ("Aram,. such R. Cir,ucci.ti.r, filesncvin
(lhiblin), or the Ariculturiat •pertinent at Elinliurgh,
ot partly at a who and partly either with a practical
agriculturist or at an agricultoral college. The sulticet in
%bleb the can.lidatea are ex-dump-A are laml surveying;
el twittery tnechanick at armilied to agriculture ; and the
ptiumples of turricultu.e. eeteiri.,lly with reference to the
rotttiun of crops. the nutrition .4 plants awl animaln. and
the mechanical ciltivation tit the all. Thie year thirty.
two .ndidates have been enterol —l9 from &MeV C unty
School, 5 from Glasnevin Calico, 3 (pen Sandhach
ilrammar 8-boil, 2 each from the B..dford ant Dorset
County Schools, and 1 from Devon County School. The
results of the examination cannot yet be stated.