The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1878-09-24 00:00:00

Sgritultural Jams.

TEI TARE Of TM! FUME.

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Looking to the throes through which farming has
lately paired, and through which it is now peening, the
gradual reduction in the price of grain, dating from
the repeal of the Corn laws, and which has been
assisted by the increasing foreign importation.; the
mania for farming amongst ammonia' men and
tradesmen which net in some five or six years ago, and
which forced rent up to an abnormal value; the Union
combination amongst labourers; the threatened inter-
ference with our meat trade by American and other
Importations; the general depression In trade—all
these causes have contributed to render farming with
profit most difficult of !solution, they point to the
inevitable result that a change in our procedure is
necessary, if we are to continue to supply the nation
with food.
At the first glance this may seem • question with
which farmers only have to do, but a little reflection
will convince the observant that it is one which affects,
perhaps, more vitally the owners of the land, and also
the general public. Agriculturists have ever had the
name of being persistent grumblers, and by many it is
thought without cause. We venture to think that if
other trades or professions had been asi heavily handi-
capped in the race to, daily sustenance as have our
agriculturista during the past few years, they would
not have shosrn the same equanimity as have the
farmers. They have had to contend with successive
, seasons of the worst possible weather, in which, owing
to the excessive rainfalls, prob bly one-half of their
land has been rendered inoperative for profit; on the
other they have seen their crops partially spoiled, and
have had to supplement them with costly purchased
fond.; they have son their bards and flocks stricken
with imported diseases, by which cattle have died,
been killed, or have been rendered idle and useless for
long periods, necessitating vexatious restrictions and
heavy veterinary bills.
The lose to the farmers of the United Kingdom, I
venture to fearlessly assert, from an epidemic amongst
their cattle—whether it be cattle plague, pleum-
pneumonia, or foot-and-mouth—is never sufficiently
appraised at its true result nor ever thoroughly under-
stood by the public. Under thews circumstances
farmers may strugille for • few years under their
difficulties, and neither landowners nor public may
perceptibly feel the pinch ; but there are too palpable
Indications at the present day that the time has
arrived when relief must be given. We no longer hear
of retired tradesmen hankering alter and bidding renta
for farms which existed a few years ago. The struggle
has proved too much for past accumulated savings to
stem and we daily see many retiring from the battle
dishe:ertened and discomfited. What, then, does the
lemon teach us ? No less than that the whole
procedure on which we have hitherto acted must be
revised, and in that revision landowners, farmers, and
public must each play • part.
A few years an the coal and iron trades enjoyed
abnormal prosperity, and the farm interest partici-
pited in it to • certain extent Prices for coal and
Iron were most extravagant. A time of depression
CllOlB, and now the rates for these articles are reduced
quite one-third. In that period of prosperity the
rents of land were greatly enhanced • but, unlike
Iron and coal, the period of depreesior; has brought
no amelioration. This is evidently an injustice, and
It would be well for landowners not to shut their
eyes to this fact, lest a greater evil overtake them,
for it must be evident to the dullest intellect that
the bankruptcy of the tenants will in the end
reflect upon the owners. The part of the public will
consist in a cheerful acquiesasnU with the restrictions
which may be imposed on the importation of foreign
live stock. It is quite hypothetical whether nick
legislation will ever perceptibly increase the present
rates of flesh meat. But should such be the case, the
increarie will be but temporary, for, once assured of
Immunity from disease, the herds and flocks of the
kingdom will be greatly increased, and, with the
supplies we shall still continue to reMve from abroad,
we confidently look forward to the next few years ,
giving us cheaper meat.
Given the above deductions, what, then, I ask, is
the hest system of farming to be pursued in the future?
Violent tear:intiona are ever beneficial, and doubt's'',
the change in farming will be gradual; but there can
be no doubt but that the tendency and the intention
of the present day is in favour of extension of stock
farming, and • decrease of awn growing. But in
order to effect this it will be n.cery to put our
"houses in order." No man would be Insane enough
to fit up machinery for a cotton mill, and then, because
he waa told that grinding grain was a bitter-paying
busineet expect to fumed in the latter with the
cotton machinery. So it is with stock farming.
No infallible nostrum can be found to convert an
arable farm into • paying grating farm unless all,
or, at least, most 0 the necessary concomitants
are present. The process of conversion must
be gradual, for it will take some years to tram
spare arable into paying grass land. Here, again,
both owner and tenant most play cohesive parts in the
work. Restrictive leases must be abolished; re-
missions of tett must be made, for without these two
conditions success will be all but impossible to the
great majority of tenants; security of tenure, or
compensation for ruaexhausted improvements, will
also be necessary; dod, what is of great importance.
each farm must be provided with enclosed, comfortable,
and ventilated budding for the stock, so that each
head of cattle can be put under cover during winter or
bad weather. In the North of England we put our
young stock into the shippons—heifers and bullocks—
at about from six months old; that is, during the winter
months. It is quite time that in this respect the
hygiene held to be necessary in the principles which
regulate the human race should be made applicable to
our live stock We have heard it urged it is n
to harden stock. Would any sane man lo:=
hardening process to bear upon his young children,
and expect them to thrive, or even live' Or can it
be expected that stock can thrive in a veritable hot.
bed of reeking excrement, urine, and rotten straw?
And look at the cost of such a process, The straw
which they tread into manure might be utilised to
feed • much larger number of stock, and thus add to
the owner's k ts, and put sufficient to the manure
heap for the use of the land. The fares of the future
should have sufficient land under the plough to pro-
vide green crop, straw, and grain for the necessities of
the farm. The grass lands should be drained, and
liberally manured.
It may ba by many considered barer, on my part
when I say that the tendency of the age has been, and
Is, to depend too much on powerful stimulating
artificial maritime, and too little on the products of the
farmyard. With the introduction of Peruvian fia:
and artificial manures cam* the potato diesses•
a patient is in cztreatia • physician will prescribe •
powerful stimulating draught ; but when once the need
has passed be will not matinee the dam for he would
to a certainty know that it would ruin his constitution.
So, I believe, we are ruining the constitution of the
Land, and the sooner we adopt the physician's mode of
procedure, and allow the patient to go hack to kitchen
physic, the better it will be for our interests'. I simply
give the above remarks in order to induce reflection
and fair consideration of the matter, without wishing
to thrust my own ideas down any man's throat.
To resume the farm 0 the future must be made to
glow the maximum of grass. In walking through the
extensive park of a nobleman the other day, I observed
that it was very notch overgrown with moss—so much
so, that only the minimum of grass could grow.
Alluding to the master, I asked why it had not been
treated to pa lime, lima, wilt, or some other promo-

I • Salmi= airgis Is thee kr Os lissiwfa redo I LEW

tive. The steward pointed out It. vast extent, sad
said what an amount it would require. Here le • short-
sighted new. It would just as well pay to convert
the hundred' of acres of the nobleman into profitable
lands. it would the farmer of fifty acres.
Lastly, perhaps the most important feature of tin
farm of the future will consist in the quality of the
stock kept upon it. There is no need tor the flesh-
producing farmer to pay hundreds of guineas for pure-
bred Shorthorn sires ; but if he wish to succeed • good
Shorthorn bull—and they at. plentiful enough now,
and cheap enough to be within reach of most tenants
—will be found an indispensable itsesmity. In the
selection judgment is as necessary as in any other
matter, and no code of selection can be put down. He
must study to add weight of carcass to early maturity, ,
and also to select his bull from a good milking strain,
for the dairy qualities ot Ms cows will play an impor-
tant part in the economy of the farm. There are
farmers I know who, having bred from good bulls, sell
their young male animals to their neighbours for stock
bulls, at a price of some 8 or 10 p. This
nameitates the purcham of mongrel.bmi bunalldfor
feeding. My own impression is that thb is a mistake.
If their owlytock were kept, the difference in prim
would be mars than equalised by the better thriving
properties and the additional weight of camas and
ember maturity of their own bullocks. It is snatch.
big a temporary benefit and losing a much larger
prospective one.
Under the above conditions, we may reasonably
hope that the farm of the future will be more remu-
nerative than has the farm of the past few years, and
under which gran farms and stock feeding will biome
profitable. By its means we may reasonably hope for
• solution of the fifth meat supply to our Increasing
population. Landowners, are you willing to take the
initiative in carrying out your portion of the work? I
think the tenants may be safely answered for. It is •
national question, and if meetings of landowners were
called in every county of the kingdom, in which the
present condition of the farming interest were dispas-
sionately discussed, the leading feature being in each
discussion" an identity of interests, I doubt not but
that the outcome would be to the ultimate benefit of
the owners, the tenants, and the public at large.—R.
in the Agricultural Gazette.

TEI POTATO DIStAZI
The followingsuggestion., which in the
prevalence of potatO ily be Morelli=
have been fanned to the tenants of the eradord
Society for Aiding the Industrious. They are mewed
by Mr. G. H. With, chemist to the society.
" The yearly destruction of our potato mop, and the
great loss of food which follows, render it absolutely
noceseary that some plan for checking, and, if possible,
rooting out the disuse, should be tried without delay.
After giving a good deal of attention to the subject I
offer them suaretions, with the fun belief that, U
they axe caref any followed, results will be obtained
which will far more than rept the trouble The
potato dimness is owing to the dlsmdiys action of
two kinds of mildew; and it starts afresh evsry year
from seeds, or spores as they axe called, which have
rested during the previous autumn and winter, either
In the ground, or in the potato tubers, or in the manure
" L Burn the haulm. and all waste potatoes,
parings, Az., not intended for the soon as
possible after th, crop has been raised.ninla
tiress this%
done, the decaying haulm and waste potatoes may fill
the ground with the seeds of the destroying mildnra.
" 2. Do not throw the haulm and waste potato=
upon the manure heap, because the mildew seed. will
gain in strength by resting in the manure, and this
manure will help to spread the potato disease next
season

"i" Boil for a long time all disarmed, and even
apparently sound potatoes, before you feed animals
with them. It is highly probable that the seeds of
the potato mildews gain strength by passing through
the stomach of an animal—the p ,for Instanoa The
manure of animal, fed on raw d potatoes and
potato parings may, for the above mem heoome a
powerful means of spreading the potato dimes...
"Do not grow potatoes on the same piece of land
two years in sucoession. Any mildew seeds which
may rest in the ground for the last year's potato crop
will begin to grow about the beginning or middle of
May • but they will quickly perish If they cannot
find May;
plants at hand to nurse them.
Be sure the seed potatoes are quit* free from
disease when planted. A potato does not always show
the disease on the outside; therefore it will be
necessary to cut the sets, in order that the condition
of each one may be seen. A few diseased plants will
serve to infect acres of potatoes, in a wet warm

-7767 Use chemical manures in preference to any
others for the potato crop. Ordinary manures may,
especially if brought from a distenoe, contain the
mildew seeds.
"7. A potato crop may generally be saved by
pulling up the haulm, throughout the whole crop, ea
completely as possible, directly the diseaae spots
appear on the leaves of any one of the plants. Of
course the tubers will not grow any larger after the
leaves and stalks have been removed. They will,
however, ripen in the ground (more or less according
to the season), and though they may not be very large
they will be At for food.
"8. r ensure euccess, all the potato growers of •
neighbourhood should follow the above plan. One plot
of diseased potatoes mar furnish seeds enough, in July,
to destroy the surrounding potato crops."