The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1880-09-07 00:00:00

/tgriculturt.

TUZ OROUND GAMS NUISLNCI.
gr. Thomas Scott. the writer to the rinses, estimates
the "ems wheat yield at 30 bushels an acre, this being
nearly double the yield of hist year. Thus it is estimated
the, newly £10,000,000 will be spent at home instead of
being sent away for foreign wheat. As for stock food, he
says we have more than we shall be able to consume. 'Yet
he advocates laying land down to grass because it saves
labour. Having partially done so he says may account
for workers on farms having diminished 4f1,000 since
185 L
A singular game case was heard at the Mundford
court, Norfolk, on Tuesday. The head gamekeeper to Mr.
Lynn Stephens, • large landowner, summoned a farmer's
son, named Odes, and two labourers, for searching for and
pursuing game on several different dates, and Mr. Giles
was also summoned for authorising the other defendant.
to commit the offence. It appeared that the farm is held
on a yearly tenancy, game rights being reserved. The
tenant complained of an excels of hares on the farm, and
wrote to his landlord'. agent, telling him to choose
between hares and rent, which he could not pay unless the
game was kept down. No notice was taken, and he
employed men every night with dogs to drive hares away
from the crops, but not to ki.ll the hares. When the dogs
did kill some they were left on the ground, not taken
away. The defence was that this was the only resource to
secs these ,ps, and that killing was accidental. The bench
held that a technical offence had been commuted, and
fined the defendants one penny each and caste.

POTATOES..
83ma years ago I was in the habit of regularly exhibit-
ing potat ees, and had the gratification of winning many
first prizes at various chows. Thinking to continue nsy
successes with more certainty and greater ease, I used at
first to keep all ray prize potatoes for seed, adding to their
number any other* that I was able to 'elect from my stock
of equal tile and merit. These were planted with extra
cam at double the usual distance, and I expected grand
results I can only say that in every case I woe dis-
appointed. The produce was generally inferior to that
obtained from my reedinen-sised seed, and quite as liable
to &seam. The supposition that the largest potatoes ham
eyes of a bettor constitution than smaller tubers is, I
believe, also a fallacy. No one who has grown potatoes
long can have failed to observe, that in year. when
disease is rife Ills nearly always the largest tubers that
are first affected. Lest year, an unusually bad one. I dug
about hail an acre of Snowflake in which every large
potato was diseased. Only a small proportion of the crop,
and that consisting entirely of small and middle-sized
Potatoes,
_escaped. Many • time I have had the rows
overhauled to obtain exhibition Bp•001011J, and in bed
seasons have been disgusted at finding all the finest
touched with the abominable disease. My deduction
therefore, is quite the reverse of that of " W.B. W." I
find that size and weakness of constitution as • rule go
together, and my advice is--aend your large potatoes to
market or eat them. Do not waste valuable food by
putting it into the erotica to rot, when you will get
equally good if not better crops by planting sound, whole,
or even cut ests of medium-sized potatoes
Then, again, I see it constantly insisted upon as
necessary to success—" Change your seed:" "Get it from
• distance if possible, and you will be repaid by double
crops with greater immunity from disease." Now as far
as my experience goes this is • mistaken notion. My
advice la—lf you have the chance save your own seed,
and you will VITO your money too, and get a better mop
Into the bargain. "But this is rank heresy," some will
say. Well, it may be so; bat I can only add that for
the last fifteen years I have purchased • quantity of seed,
but never yet bought any as well saved as I can save it
myself, nor any that gave me a better return in the way
of a crop. I have now some Gloucestershire kidneys (one
of the very beet earliee), which have been grown in and
saved from the same ground for the last fourteen years,
and their produce is this season quite equal to what It
wee originally; nor is there any more tendency to dise•ee
than there was at first In fact, in the wont lemons I
have usually had them quite free from it.
But when I say "Sava your own seed," I mean 'save
It welt' Let medium-sized tubers be carefully selected;
let them be carefully spread out in sinsle layers, and the
original swami carefully preserved. And dem all this
ward elf disease No, by no means, but without doubt it
mitigates its severity, and, above all, gives the crop •
chance of being ripe and out of the ground before the pest
appears. My experience coincides with that of Mr.
Mlward Luckhurst when he says that in the matter Of
disease we are at Me mercy of the weather. le is simply •
question of a wet or dry season.—R. W. BLICMEY, in
Journal of ortunaturc
FOOD PRODUCTION IN LNERICA.

One of the stranuct cases of specula, ire discomfort,
says the Prairie Farmer, is the fur upraised by some
that there will be an over-production of food in the
United States, sod that such over-production will load to
financial embarrassment. It is true that the Dutch, upon
gaining possession of the Spice Islands, cut down a large
portion of the, spiarlielding trees in order to entraps* the
vane of what rema. On this principle some croakers
would have us kill oe belt our cattle and burn half our
Grope before reaping, or what would be about the same
thing, refrain from raising more than one-half of what our
*oil and industry are capable of producing, lest, forsooth,
there bee plethora, a glut, or an over-production of bread
and meat, and food be a drug in the market I Nonsense.
There to no such thing as over-production, and In article,
of food even the appearroce has not been presented. The
American people are the only ones in the world now, or
In the history of the world, that hare had enough to eat.
The Germans hays not enough to sit; they cannot get it.
The Trench hare Dot enough to eat: they stint thernselvei.
The English have not enough to eat, but try to supply the
want by the use of cheep beer. The Irish y have
not enough to eat end never had. The people of Ada
are all on the brink of starvation. The people of Mrioa
make caked out of mosquitoes 71se tribes of South
America fare no better. With ninety-nine hundredths of
' the people of the world insufficiently supplied with fool,
what nonsense It is to ta'k about an over-production of
breadstulls.

now.' (0 MARIUS 011ILDEMIL

To private gardeners it is peculiarly distressing when
they learn that one of their nurater has proved so delin-
quent to his profeealon and to his employer as to be
heavily punished by imprhionment, but a moist case, and
happily a very unusual one, opens up a wider field for
refiectim. because the evidence given in the case showed
that the gardener was in the employ of ono of that now
rather too abundant clam—noble market gardeners.
Having regard to the contempt mussily shown en the
part of the upper classes for mere trade and its concerns,
It is meridians how soon noblemen and rich commoners
descend into the arena of trade and barter when the pro-
ducts of their garden are concerned. If the public were
permitted to inspect the books of some of out well-known
fruit salesmen there would be much surprise expressed
at finding that his Grace of this sad his L vdship that, of
all the factions of titles, with a large number of rich
gentlemen, had become market gardeners, and send not
merely the surplus but rather all the good produce of
their gardens to market, taking only the swill= them-
selves. Hera there is an undoubted grievanoe to the
genuine market vomit, the man who has to live by his
labour and to whom competition of this kind is meet
' hurtfuL As a rule, all large piece., the property of noble-
men and gentlemen, are very insufficiently rated, and
still more lightly taxed, whilst the Cosi Ads market
grower finds his premises and his outlay rated and faced
to the uttermost. No doubt the public benefit by the
competition, and gardeners in the employ of thew trading
nobles and gentlemen also, as but for the sale of fruit and
vegetables the establishments would be greatly curtailed.
None the lees, if these Plume are market gardens, they
should, in justice to the trade, be rated and treed &sonata.
—Giontessers' Chrosiar.

azi.scTion 01 RAM.

For crossing the off-going ewes or the lest year of breed-
ing for the sale of lambs or tags for slaughter, the Oxfords
offer a better alliance than ft• long-woolled and white-
faced breeds, because the butchers prefer sheet, with dark
fam, as they are sure to die with more internal fat, mak-
ing Mao • higher pries at a given weight. We will now
give a few of our opinions relating to the possibility of
raising • new breed, and possessing in our opinion moms
valuable qualities beyond either of our types at present in
existence. Having been accustomed for many years to the
rearing of lambs bred from the horned ewes, both of
Dant and Somerset, produced by a cross with a Down
ram, we have often thought if a breed could be established
of this cross how desirable it may be if carefully corded
out. We have been led into this way ot thinking became
many yews ago there was a little movement in this direc-
tion made by some of the Direst and Somerset breeders,
who thought that they may give up the idea of h
sheep and obtain all the advantages they required from a '
Down breed ; but they soon found that the Downs would
not lamb early, even In their climate and soil, where the
horned ewes had always done so. They also found that
the horned ewes leave, superior fold of manure for the
food consumed compared with the Downs, and that they
could not raise enough lambs from the Downs. Some
farmers tried the first cross, bit they were not continued.
We have purchrsed this cross in two instances, and they
answered an excellent purpose lambing early in
December with plenty of twins, and the ewes losing
excellent smothers furnished the belt quality of lambs at
Mister. In the endeavour to establish a fixed diameter
and type between the horned ewe and Hampshire Down
we thould select the former of the best dam, like those
bred by the late kit John Pitfield, of Higher Zype, Brid-
po:t, Direst, whom stock !Estill maintained in the county,
his rams having been much sought for. Thom ewes being
woolled, short-legged, long, deep, and round in the
' body, also yielding the greatest number of lambs, and
being capable of beomaing fat during the time of rearing
their lambs, which they make of the best gar lity, would
to our opinion if crossed with the Down produce • breed
having all the qualities which can be required if carried
out as recommended by Mr. Humphrey, and would well
repay after some years any farmer of sufficient experiences
and perseveranc, who would not hesitate about the
trouble and expense.

1111/01110061. PIM, AID MUNI*

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Continue to pay all gas attention to the cleansing and
judicious watering of the greenhouse plants standing out-
side, with • view to thoroughly ripening their new growths
before placing them again and., shelter. Autie
flowering plants should all by this time hare well Meg
their pote with roots, if they are to furnish • full supply of
hiocennii. and must on no account now be allowed to get
too dry. The soil bein also more or lees exhausted should
be regularly y• with liquid manure to keep the
plants in • healthy flourishing condition. Llllums going
out of flower must be Owed In the yin to iipen off, and lee
regularly watered until the stems wither.