F-WOMANS

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•LIGHTER-BRANCHES
6RICULTURE-* * *

•EDITH -BRADLEY

BERT HA- lA'KOTHE-

BV

THE

^EDITED-BY ETHEL

IN SIX VOLUMES

VOLUME VI

LIGHTER BRANCHES OF
AGRICULTURE

C

w

o

E

K:

VOL. VI

THE LIGHTER BRANCHES
OF AGRICULTURE

BY

EDITH BRADLEY

WARDEN OK LADY WARWICK COLLEGE, STUDLEY CASTLE
WARWICKSHIRE

AND

BERTHA LA MOTHE, N.D.D.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

THE COUNTESS OF WARWICK

LONDON

CHAPMAN & HALL LTD.
1903

All the Illustrations in this book are copyright

CONTENTS

PAGE

MARKET GARDENING . . . i

FRUIT GROWING . ... 45

DAIRYING ...... 69

POULTRY KEEPING FOR UTILITY AND EGG

PRODUCTION . . . . .185

BEE-KEEPING ..... 239

THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE, A KEY TO

THE WHOLE POSITION . . .291

WOMEN'S AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS . 331

ILLUSTRATIONS

MARKET GARDENING AND FRUIT FARMING

PAGE

Lady Warwick Hostel — The Entrance Hall . Frontispiece
Lady Warwick Hostel — The Potting Shed . . 19

Lady Warwick Hostel — The Herbaceous Border . 25

Lady Warwick Hostel — Work in the Conservatory . 33
" Planet Jr." Double Wheel Hose in a great field of Lily

of the Valley, grown in Germany . . 37

Howard's Allotment Plough . . . .38

Horse Hoe ...... 39

" Planet Jr." No. 7 Horse Hoe and Cultivator . . 41

No. ii Double Wheel Hoe, Cultivator, Rake and Plow 43

Hand Cultivator with Rakes. . . . .44

Hand Cultivator, First Hoeing . . . .44

Hand Cultivator, Late Hoeing . . . .44

Lady Warwick Hostel — " Edging Borders " .47

Lady Warwick Hostel — Pear Tree grafted by Students

in 1899 ..... 57

Lady Warwick Hostel — Potting Chrysanthemums . 61
Lady Warwick Hostel—" A Steady Worker " . .65

X

ILLUSTRATIONS

DAIRYING

The Lawrence Kennedy Milker ....

Hand Separator ......

Steam Separator and Boiler ....

POULTRY KEEPING

Lady Warwick Hostel — A Prize Indian Game-Buff Or-
pington Cock .....

Plymouth Rocks .....

Silver and Golden Laced Wyandottes

Buff and Black Orpingtons ....

White and Brown Leghorns ....

Anconas .......

Black Minorcas ......

Langshans ......

Faverolles ......

Photographic Views of Oxford Poultry Farm, Oxford,
Pa., U.S.A. .....

Cyphers Duck and Broiler Plant

Photographic View of Breeding Pens and Swimming
Pools for Ducks on Cyphers Duck and Broiler Plant

A Cheap Apex House. Payne ....

Payne's Portable Scratching Shed

Meech's Improved Lean-to ....

Meech's Improved Covered Run

197

201

ILLUSTRATIONS xi

PAGE

Payne's Brooder House on Wheels . . 217
Payne's Recording Nest . . . . .219

Parish's Steam Jacketed Cooker .... 221

" Unita " Incubator ..... 224

Wallin Incubator ..... 225

Cyphers Incubator, 50 egg capacity . . . 225

Cyphers Incubator, 220 egg capacity . . . 226

Chickens just hatched in a Cyphers Brooder . . 227
Cyphers Three-Apartment Unequalled Outdoor Brooder,

Style A (Front View) . . . .228

Payne's Outdoor Brooder .... 229
Payne's Indoor Brooder . . . . .231

Lady Warwick Hostel — "Preparing for Ascot" . 235

Lady Warwick Hostel — A Pair of " Silkies " . . 237

BEE-KEEPING

Queen — Drone — Worker .... 245

Smoker ....... 256

Examining Frames in Hive .... 263

W.B.C. Hive, showing different parts . . . 266

Wired Frame ...... 268

Frame of Comb, showing Brood . . . 269

Frame wired for Foundation .... 269

Section ....... 270

Section fitted with Foundation .... 270

Xll

ILLUSTRATIONS

Worker Cell Foundation

Drone Cell Foundation ....

Wax Smelter .....

Feeding-bottle .....

Super containing Sections

Super Clearer or Porter Bee Escape

Showing working of Spring

THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE

Lady Warwick Hostel — " Ready for Market" .
Lids Removed, showing boxes forming a " nest "
Lids on, arranged to Form a Pyramid

PAGE

272
272
274
281
283
286
287

29

306

3°7

INTRODUCTION

BY LADY WARWICK

THE Lighter Branches of Agriculture is a
convenient expression which has been used
to denote that field of labour in agricul-
ture which is more specially the province of
women than of men. Readers of Mr Hardy's
novels know, of course, that much of the
rough work of the farms is often done by
women, even in this country. Tess was not
only a dairymaid : she had also to dig and
hoe, and bind the sheaves after the reaper.
But the rougher work is after all done by the
men in England.

The greyer skies of the north seem to
temper the despotism of man, and the farm-
labourer's wife is not the beast of burden in
this country, that she so often becomes
abroad. Indeed her daughters nearly always

XIV

INTRODUCTION

go into domestic service, thereby adding to
the great stream of emigration to the towns.
However, work is always open to these girls,
and it is not of them that I am specially
thinking. There is another class of women
who are at present at a discount, as type-
writers, and governesses, and clerks. Nobody
can pretend that the women who follow these
vocations are adequately paid. We salve
our consciences by talking about the market
rate, and the laws of supply and demand.
I admit at once that there is no use in
wasting sentiment on the hardships that
these laws impose upon any section of the
community. We must be up and doing to
find channels of employment where the pres-
sure is not so great.

It seems to me that light work upon the
land offers one solution of this problem by
opening the gates of our crowded cities to
a healthier and happier life. That is why I
welcome this present volume which set forth
how this lot may be won.

INTRODUCTION xv

Now I must explain what I mean by the
Lighter Branches of Agriculture. It implies
all work on the land which requires skill
rather than mere physical strength. It em-
braces work in the dairy, work in the
garden and greenhouse ; supervision of
market gardens, culture of fruits, manage-
ment of poultry and bees. As a necessary
part of this work, the worker must know
how to market her produce, make her fruit
into jam, and preserve the vegetables that
do not find an immediate sale. I think I
have said enough to show that the lighter
side of agriculture requires something more
than a light heart and nimble fingers. I
cannot insist too much on the fact that it
demands a thorough training, a whole-
hearted service, and a determination to over-
come obstacles. Agriculture even in its
lightest mood offers no chance of success
to the dilettante, but the woman who takes
it up as a means of livelihood must have a
sound training in some agricultural hostel or

xvi INTRODUCTION

college. ... She must be prepared to go in
as a worker with no class prejudice, and to
put her hand to anything which comes first.
She must be able to do without servants, to
sweep her own floor, and cook her own
meals. It must be remembered that the
lady who takes up this work has to over-
come the prejudices of the farmer and
gardener, who are very necessary allies.
She can do this best by showing them that
being an educated woman does not make
her any less fitted for a trade.

I admit at once that the great difficulty
is the expense of the training. I fear that
in some cases it is insuperable, and it is the
strongest argument for the establishment of
a Woman's College with a good endowment,
sufficient to supply scholarships for those
who need them. Where this endowment is
to come from I have no idea. The State
will perhaps some day see the wisdom of
subsidising this college. Meanwhile if the
cost of the college is too great, the student

INTRODUCTION xvii

can perhaps gain some practical experience
for her work on a farm, where she would
be allowed to take part in the daily routine
of the dairy and domestic work. There
are also day-classes at some of the colleges,
which may be attended by those who cannot
afford the boarding terms. I think the
matter so important that I would go so far
as to advise a woman to spend what little
capital she has upon the necessary training.
Remember also that physical strength is
absolutely necessary in addition to the small
sum of money required for the training.

I should estimate this sum at a minimum
of £ 1 60, and should add that at least a year
must be spent in learning the work. But
three years is hardly more than sufficient.
Having acquired her training, the student
will be well advised to start earning her
livelihood by taking a post as a gardener,
or as an assistant on a poultry-farm or dairy.
She will thus be able to test her capacity for
work, before setting up on her own account.

XVI 11

INTRODUCTION

But to obtain even a minor post, certificates
and diplomas are nearly always necessary,
and that is why I have laid such stress on
the training. There is no question, however,
as to the demand for women to fill these
posts.

This demand is at present greater than
the supply, and in the short time that the
movement has been started, thirty or forty
posts have, to my own knowledge, been ob-
tained by the students of one college alone.

The average salary for this work is thirty
or forty pounds a year, with board and
lodging. It includes appointments as gar-
deners, and assistant gardeners, in country
houses, and work upon dairy and poultry
farms. These appointments are only step-
ping-stones to a greater object, which is to
enable women to set up for themselves upon
the land. I know of some who have already
succeeded in doing this ; but at present they
are few and far between. What I look
forward to is the establishment of women's

INTRODUCTION xix

agricultural settlements in the neighbour-
hood of manufacturing towns and watering-
places. I think that such settlements might
do a flourishing trade in butter, milk and
eggs, in vegetables, poultry, fruit, and
flowers. I believe that they should be run
upon co-operative lines.

I am sure also that there is a great open-
ing for "petite culture" in country districts
in England. The greatest hope of success
in these ventures lies in combination. A
number of women might do well where
one would fail. The chief obstacle to the
success of working allotments is the cost of
freight. The greatest hope of meeting the
railway companies is to send large instead of
small parcels of produce, which is another
argument for working in combination. Some
day perhaps such settlements may be able
to charter their own motor vans, and thus
remove the main obstable to farming on a
small scale in England.

It seems to me that cultured and educated

XX

INTRODUCTION

women might turn their attention to tms
problem with advantage to themselves and
the country. A high-school girl would
master the necessary work very easily, and
might find a larger and more varied existence
in this way than in swelling the ranks of the
underpaid professions, and I think it important
that the student should be caught young.

I look forward to the time when there
will be a number of these settlements
working on co-operative lines dotted all
over England. I believe also that they will
incidentally be doing a great work to stem
the tide of emigration into the towns ; for
such settlements will not only give employ-
ment to the villagers, but will also raise the
standard of agriculture through the breadth
of the land, and thus help to create that small
peasant - proprietorship which I sometimes
think will be the salvation of rural England,

FRANCES EVELYN WARWICK.

WARWICK CASTLE.

MARKET GARDENING & FRUIT
FARMING AN OCCUPATION
FOR WOMEN

VI.

CHAPTER I

MARKET GARDENING AND FRUIT FARMING
AN OCCUPATION FOR WOMEN

THE last twenty years have seen the most An

t. i j r Introductory

extraordinary changes in the status or women, sketch
They have become " emancipated " doubtless,
although in a somewhat different direction
from the " emancipation " originally contem-
plated by those Pioneer Women of the
eighties, who were for laying the axe at
the root of the tree of the whole Social
Fabric. From being man's " chattel," the
more advanced of the sisterhood became his
enemy, his pronounced enemy, and hurled
anathemas of every description against his
meanness, his gross selfishness, his cruel in-
justice, which could legislate so unequally
for the sins of the woman and the sins of

3

AGRICULTURE

the man. And yet as the Pioneer Woman,
finding herself gifted with great powers of
oratory, stood on the public platform and
denounced man's weaknesses, she dressed
herself as nearly as she dared in clothes
similar to those worn by "mere man." So
ironically true is it that "imitation is the
sincerest form of flattery." And those who
were quietly watching this movement ob-
served many things, and reasoned on logical
lines that when the somewhat violent leaders
should have exhausted their energies, a re-
action would inevitably take place, and that
the extent of this reaction would greatly
depend upon the co-operation and courage
of the later recruits in the army of Woman's
Progress. They wondered whether the
leaders had been sufficiently far sighted to
drill and inspire their followers with the
truth and strength of their Cause, which
would justify them attempting to climb the
mountains of stern necessity and self-sacrifice
as a compact body? Or would it not be

MARKET GARDENING 5

here and there a noble few who would try
and probably fail, but by their failure make
it easy for others to march to victory?

Human Nature is the same all the world
over, and the history of the Woman's
Movement is the history of every other
progressive movement. The leaders go for-
ward and make tracks in the dark wood for
themselves, but they do not see that the
tracks are not wide enough or smooth
enough for the rank and file of their
followers, unsustained by their own high
aims and lofty ideals ; therefore these lag
behind, making sure of a safe path by which
they can either return or else traverse with
a certain amount of ease and comfort.
Distressing as their slowness may be to the
ardent spirits in front, their mode of pro-
cedure is useful and sustaining to the general
Cause, because average everyday people do
not care to be whirled off their feet by the
glamour of a great enterprise. They prefer
to sit down quietly (on an eminence per-

AGRICULTURE

chance !) and say, " Now whither is this lead-
ing me, and am I to get anything out of it ? "
in other words, " Will it pay ? v All honour
to these useful people ; they become the
backbone of the whole scheme, and help
to lay the dust raised by the clatter and
hurry of the advanced guard.

Now, one cloud of dust raised by the
" Pioneer Women of the Eighties " was a
huge one, and is even now still circulating.
It was the question of openings for women.
If women were to be independent beings —
as so many then strongly advocated as an
advantage, and as so many since have
advocated as a necessity - - it was quite
clear that they must work for their living,
and obtain what is now so well known as
a " living wage." Only so could they
become really independent, because in this
twentieth century in which we find ourselves
"money" is said "to rule the world," and
there were evidences of it doing so in the
last decade of the nineteenth if not before.

MARKET GARDENING 7

Confronted suddenly with this vital
question women stood aghast, or at least
some did. For what openings could they
possibly be qualified? The education of
the average woman made her a useless
being, except to grace the circle of society
in which she moved ; and very restricted in
circumference most of the circles were !

It is true that disastrous circumstances Teachers
had forced many to become governesses to
their own great dislike, and in some cases
with even more disastrous results to their
pupils ; but of course the teaching pro-
fession in all grades has claimed for itself
a large army of women since those early
days, who have been trained systematically
to their profession, and who have done
honour to it.

Then many who were ready writers secretarial
thought they would like to become private clerkships
secretaries, clerks, and in process of time
typists and stenographers (as the Americans
prefer to designate shorthand clerks). The

8

AGRICULTURE

Post-Office opened its doors to women, an<
though the examinations were stiff, the
work monotonous, and the hours fairly long,
yet the assurance of a pension in middle age
proved a great inducement to many to seek
such a security from Government.

As a natural consequence the girls of the
next generation found themselves in a much
better position, that is to say the agitation
had created a demand for trained workers,
and with the demand came a supply of
Necessity for workers for the most part untrained, yet

training .

realising ever more and more acutely the
necessity for training. So it came about
that parents at last awoke to the fact, that
if they would have their daughters to be
wage-earners they ought to receive as good
an education as their sons, and be properly
trained for whatever work or profession they
took up. Each year this necessity for train-
ing becomes more and more evident, because
competition is now so keen that only the
skilled workers can possibly excel.

MARKET GARDENING 9

Therefore, because training was necessary
all sorts of classes were opened to give the
necessary instruction in indoor or sedentary indoor pro-
occupations, and hundreds of girls, many of
them well-educated, found a livelihood as
clerks, typists, secretaries, etc., not to mention
the medical and nursing professions.

These having been exhausted to a large
extent, a movement was set on foot some
twelve years or so ago for women to learn
gardening, and a women's branch was added
to the Swanley Horticultural College. Many
girls went there, and some are now success-
ful gardeners, either on their own account
or else in posts. In 1897, to commemorate
the Diamond Jubilee, the Victorian Era
Exhibition at Earl's Court was planned, and
various society ladies consented to form
themselves into a committee to manage the
Women's Section, which was sub-divided
into many branches of education, art and
literature. Lady Warwick was chairman of
the Education Section, and by her wish a

10

AGRICULTURE

series of weekly conferences were arrangec
on matters educational, and an important
Conference three days' conference was held in the
Empress Theatre. This was throughout
remarkably well attended, but the greatest
interest was taken in the subject which
occupied the meeting on the last day, viz. :
" Women and Agriculture." The following
list of speakers and subjects spoken about
will give an idea of the width of range :-

Agricultural Education for Women in Great

Britain, Ireland, and the Colonies — Right

Hon. H. Plunkett, M.P.
Agricultural Education for Women in Canada

— Professor James Robertson.
Agriculture for Women in Ireland — Professor

Teegan.
Agriculture for Women in Great Britain-

Major Craigie.
Agriculture in New South Wales — Miss

Windeyer.
Education for Women in Rural Districts —

Mr H. Macan.

Irish Flower Farms — Mrs Orpin.
Horticulture for Women — Miss Hutchings.

This Congress was really the starting-point

MARKET GARDENING n

of Lady Warwick's future great work for
women in connection with agriculture, and
it led to the founding of her Hostel in 1898,
and to the Agricultural Association for
Women a year later.

There are many reasons to induce women Reasons why

. women

to take up Market Gardening and other should take
Light Branches of Agriculture. First, be- occupations
cause if they are fitted for it the life is a
most healthy one, and improves their physical
condition enormously. Second, it can be made
a means of livelihood, and those who go in
for it heartily under the present and future
advantages to be offered in Small Holdings,
may in time become possessors of their own
homes and freehold properties. Third, they
will help the country and add to the revenue
by producing for home consumption those
things which are now looked upon almost as
necessaries of life, such as eggs, poultry,
butter, cream, cheese, fresh fruit, vegetables,
jam, bottled fruits, etc., etc.

Furthermore, the advent of cultivated

12 AGRICULTURE

enterprising women into country districts
should be a great factor in helping rural
and village industries, and generally in bring-
ing life and interest back to the country,
which perhaps again may help in some measure
to stay the depopulation.
Are women It is certainly true that all women are by
P fitted for no means fitted for manual labour or for an
labour? outdoor life at all. For instance those girls
whose minds are set upon University life and
the obtaining of degrees simply see nothing
but an endless vista of monotony in garden-
ing, especially in watering, weeding and
tidying, without which who can become a
real gardener ? or in walking round and
round poultry runs, carrying pans or buckets
of food. Of course it is really the same in
any profession or business, there must
always be a certain amount of drudgery,
it only depends upon the spirit in which
" the drudgery " is undertaken. Then again
women of more years who have never taken
any sort of physical exercise in their youth

MARKET GARDENING 13

are not likely to be able to bear the strain
of manual labour. And what is the manual
labour required? Well, it is not largely
digging or anything quite so backaching,
but it is strength to be able to be on one's
feet all day (by no means a sinecure to a Kind of

\ i i strength

woman) ; to be constantly moving about required for
from one place to another, generally carrying g
something, either in one's hands or arms, or
on a barrow. Or there is the necessity for
stooping for a long time at a stretch, planting
out or sowing seeds. To be a successful
gardener these things must be done, and to
the average girl, who has had little regular
occupation at home, especially anything which
calls for standing, these things come hardly at
first, but it is extraordinary how soon accus-
tomed students become to the work if they
have taken it up of their own free will, and
how stimulating they find the numbers doing
pretty much the same thing. Then as a set-
off to this comes the greatly improved
health, both in bodily strength and absence

i4 AGRICULTURE

of " nerves," that noxious weed of modern
civilisation ! Therefore the conclusion ar-
rived at is that given the right stamp of
woman for this work, they can with ordinary
care and experience become quite capable
of doing all the manual work necessary to
become a successful gardener, assisted by a
labourer to dig and cart and wheel heavy
loads, and who can also do the actual stoking
of greenhouses. Women of course can, and
do, do this well enough, but experience
shows that it is undesirable for them to take
so much out of themselves physically, when
their object is to make use of their training
and education in order to bring their intel-
lects to bear upon the work in hand instead
of doing it by mere rule of thumb.
The stamp From the foregoing it will readily be seen

of women

required for that the woman who will make a real success
of the " lighter branches of agriculture " is
the one who possesses, first of all, an innate
love of the country, and of country life and
out-door pursuits ; second, one whose educa-

MARKET GARDENING 15

tion has helped to increase this feeling, and
further has brought out all her best, latent,
moral, and physical side in games and sports.
Schools such as Cheltenham Ladies' College,
St Andrew's, Wycombe Abbey, Bedale's,
many belonging to the Girls' Public Day
School Company, the Church Schools Com-
pany, and others, whose aim is to teach
girls on natural lines to take their natural
places in the world, in contrast to those which
make accomplishments and " fine-ladyism ". the
all-important end of education, and then find
that the girls thus turned out are chiefly
" prigs " of the most miserable description,
viewing with contempt those beneath them
in worldly position ; from these latter schools,
I say, women gardeners and farmers are not
likely to be drawn, but from the former—
" yes," in a fair proportion. The pioneers of
this work must be hardy and brave, and full
of purpose and determination not to " look
back," not to give up when the difficulties
inherent to the novelty of this work for

1 6 AGRICULTURE

educated women become very great. They
must " live for posterity," and with their own
lives and by their own work make it possible
for their successors to build straight away
on their foundations, and not be obliged to
dig new ones. This ideal presupposes a
band of women of high purpose and strong
aims, and indeed they are required ; there-
fore let the average girl, who thinks she is
fond of a country life, sit down thoughtfully
and count the cost of the step she is under-
taking. It is of no use to obtain the money
for her training — which in some cases is a
matter of considerable difficulty- — and then
half way through, or even at the end, throw it
all up, and take to nursing, or cooking, or some-
thing else equally remote from her original
aim.

The higher In the early days of the movement, women

a "forlorn who had failed at everything else, seemed to

think that a very definite chance of success

was now open to them. Elderly ladies, who

had brought up families, tried a Short Course

MARKET GARDENING 17

of Instruction at the Hostel ; elderly com-
panions of spinster ladies and others thought
they were eminently qualified to dig and
to hoe, as well as other women equally
unsuitable ; but in the process of time
these have been eliminated, and now the
qualifications possessed by the prospec-
tive student are clearly defined and set
forth.

When the girl, or woman, has quite de- The training
finitely decided that she wishes to become a n
gardener, and later on to take up a special
branch, which is likely, under given condi-
tions, to offer the best chance of an income,
she wrill naturally seek to enter one of the
two institutions where women can be syste-
matically trained for tfyis purpose. I allude,
of course, to the Lady Warwick Hostel,
Reading, and the Swanley Horticultural
College. There was a difference in the
fees - - £65 covering board, residence,
and instruction at the former for cubicle
accommodation, whilst at the latter /8o is

VI. B

1 8 AGRICULTURE

asked.1 It is well, therefore, to calculate
that the actual cost of training for the
minimum time — two years — will amount to,
exclusive of dress and holiday expenses,
£170 to £180; that is to say, something
under £200, which, indeed, is not a large
sum to put a woman into the way of earning
her own livelihood. Somewhat less than
half, or even a quarter, which many boys
have allowed them without demur !

The student should, moreover, have a
definite prospect of at least another £200, as
capital, to put her hand on when she is ready
to start for herself. If by any means a
larger sum can be procured, so much the
better by all means ; but with this subject I
shall deal at length in a succeeding chapter
on Women's Settlements,
intermediate It is usual after two years' instruction for a

posts

student to go into a post as assistant-gardener,

1 As, however, it has been found that £65 is not sufficient
to compensate in any way for the large outlay entailed,
the fees at Lady Warwick Hostel have now been raised
to £80.

.C5

C/3

bo

c

&

o

£

a
£

MARKET GARDENING 21

or companion-gardener in a country house
kept by a widow or maiden lady, who is glad
to have an educated woman about her place
instead of the ordinary jobbing gardener,
who is inclined to be very despotic over the
grounds entrusted to his care, and who
often shows a wonderful faculty for relieving
his mistress of much produce described by
him as " surplus " just to salve his conscience.
Of course there are many difficulties in the
way of posts which have to be smoothed out
before they will be either easy or popular.
To begin with, ladies wishing to engage
women gardeners have the vaguest ideas as
to what class they come from, and therefore
how they ought to be and expect to be
treated. The following examples will ex-
plain my meaning. A lady of position
wished to have a lady as dairy maid, who
could also do the table decorations, give
finishing touches to the rooms previous to
any entertainment, write invitations and
letters for her employer, and (curious irony)

22 AGRICULTURE

take her meals with the butler and ladies'
maids ! ! The pampered menials of large
establishments must be such a suitable and
delightful class for a gentlewoman to asso-
ciate with ! of course they would feel it their
peculiar mission to make such " an inter-
loper's (?)" place as unpleasant as possible.
And the salary (or why not call it wages
straight away ?) something between a first
footman and a successful lady's maid.

Take another instance, this time in France.
The lady gardener was to have the care of
the greenhouses and do table decorations,
but inasmuch as these occupations would not
fill up the stated hours, namely, 7 A.M. to
7 P.M., she was to give the intervening ones
to dusting the ivories and curios in the
picture gallery, and doing cross-stitch or
other needlework for her employer. Her
meals she was to have alone, and to keep
her own room entirely, making the bed,
sweeping and dusting the furniture, as well
as cleaning her own boots. There were to

MARKET GARDENING 23

be no hours off, even on Saturday afternoon,
but on Sunday the lady might visit her
friends or otherwise take a view of the big
world outside from ten o'clock in the morning
till seven at night.

On the other hand, I have in my mind Typical posts
two others at least which represent quite a
different side of the picture. The first where
a clever and very keen young student was
offered the post of head gardener, with a
man and boy under her, in a large garden
with glass. The lady herself, being deeply
interested in her garden, gives her young
head gardener much advice and help, to say
nothing of the stimulation of a most ob-
servant mind. A nice little cottage in the
grounds shelters the lady gardener and her
belongings, and an old woman "does" for
her. It is an excellent though a very re-
sponsible post, and seems likely to work out
very well.

The second relates to two students who for
over two years now have together taken the

24 AGRICULTURE

entire management of the dairy and cheese-
making on a large farm in Wales. They share
a nice farm-house, keep a servant, and have
their own pony and trap. They have certain
hours off every day, which enables them to
get a break in the daily round, and even to
go visiting in the neighbourhood. Altogether
they appear to be able to live comfortably
and consistently with their tastes and re-
spective positions in life, whilst at the same
time giving every satisfaction to their em-
ployer, who knows that his interests are
being looked after.

The students, on the other hand, have of
course much to learn on their side ; perhaps
at first they erred by putting a fictitious
value on their labour because they were
women gardeners. Perhaps they thought
— some were very young — that a glamour
of sentiment about their work would cover
many deficiencies, and it was hard to realise
—and it takes many years to do so — that
about work there must be no sentiment,

o

pq

rt

-o

K

o

E
^

it
*

MARKET GARDENING 27

except the sentiment of irreproachableness.
They realise better now that they are enter-
ing into competition with men, and by the
market value of men's work their own will
be valued, although some deductions may be
made in their favour. Nevertheless it takes
much conscientious work, many disappoint-
ments, many strenuous efforts, to prove to
their employers that they are worth 258. a
week in wages, as against a labouring man's
at 1 8s. or 2os. It may be inquired why
should 255. be asked as a woman's wage ?
Because it is agreed that the ordinary Wages
necessary living cannot be reckoned at less
than i os. to 155. a week if alone, and that
rooms, fire, washing, etc., will take the
balance of los. Of course it is really
much better for two to share rooms and
meals if in any way possible, but it is very
seldom indeed that prospective employers
venture on asking for more than one at a
time.

I must crave the indulgence of my readers

28 AGRICULTURE

if I have digressed too early into the
regions of a student's prospects after train-
ing, instead of first discussing the question
of training per se, but in view of the plan
of this article as mapped out, it seemed an
appropriate opportunity for dealing generally,
if somewhat superficially, with the openings
which offer themselves to the students.
The We have already agreed that training is

necessity of .

training necessary, in order to nave any chance or success
in the race for life ; it is the "trained capacity"
that is so essential in all branches, coupled
with an intelligent belief in co-operation and
combination. If we take the average life of
an average girl up to eighteen, nineteen, or
twenty, what does she know of training,
such as, for instance, any factory girl has
learned? She knows what regular hours,
regular work, regular pay means, and she
knows also that unless she does her work
properly she will be turned off, and that
another and another are ready to fill the gap
in the ranks which she leaves. Therefore,

MARKET GARDENING 29

from hard necessity she has learned that her
work must be up to a certain mechanical
standard at least, and then she will be all
right. Of course if she chooses to put her
heart and mind into it she will achieve a
better result. Now the kind of girl we are
discussing as a student has perhaps had a
regular education, and done her lessons satis-
factorily, but when she leaves school her day
at home possibly consists in doing or not
doing certain self-imposed tasks, in visiting or
not visiting as her fancy dictates, and, in fact,
after a conscientious performance of her few
household duties, the question of filling up
the time is the one problem in which she is
seriously engaged.

When therefore such a girl thinks of
taking up gardening as a profession, she has
first of all to get herself into harness. She
must go to a place where regular work or
leisure is provided for every hour of the day.
She must submit to rules of some kind, how-
ever light, because she then becomes a

3°

AGRICULTURE

member of a corporate body, and she must
take upon herself the moral responsibility of
doing the work which is set her, honourably
and conscientiously, because she has become
a responsible woman, and taken up the burden
of life,
satisfaction in After a time the routine ceases to be

regular work . .

irksome, and the regular hours leading to
the accomplishment of satisfactory work gives
a feeling of " purpose " and " achievement "
which is immensely gratifying morally and
mentally, to say nothing of a sort of exalta-
tion of personal dignity in belonging to the
great army of the employed, instead of to
the greater one of the unemployed. Some-
times no doubt regrets for " the fleshpots
of Egypt " will force themselves upon all
healthy-minded girls, because the paths of
dalliance and pleasure once left never again
present the same attractions. Fulness of
active life and work are apt to make a
woman feel dreadfully " out of it " when she
again joins in those social amusements which

MARKET GARDENING 31

used to seem so alluring ; besides a u work-
ing woman" is still viewed somewhat as a
curiosity, another very annoying position in
which to find oneself. On the other side,
there is always the fear that in following
manual occupations women are very apt to
neglect the intellectual side, either from
sheer fatigue or indifference, and this is a
thing to be strenuously avoided, because a
high standard of culture and manners should
always be aimed at, otherwise there will be
the fear of the whole movement resulting in
deterioration. Nevertheless, the point which what
undoubtedly has to be faced by those who give up
enter the ranks with the definite purpose of
carrying the work through to its logical con-
clusion, is that like Cortez when he set out
to conquer Mexico, the boats of the former
irresponsible life must be burnt, so that there
will be no return to the sunny lands of Spain
until the conquest of the New World has
been achieved. Then in her hands she can
carry back the fruits of that conquest where-

a
woman must

32 AGRICULTURE

with to build for herself, and better still for
other women, not one boat, but a whole
flotilla fitted up with the latest inventions
and best equipments to sail the unknown seas
of life in safety ; no longer in doubt of the
issues, but feeling sure that steering by the
compass of self-sacrifice (which is the law of
life) they will in due course ride at anchor
safely " in the haven where they would be."
So with this, the warning of hard experience,
let me urge every woman to sit down and
count the cost before " she setteth out on
this warfare."

what the Now let us consider the kind of train-
training . ir . . . . .. r

should mg itself which is required to nt a girl to

become first of all a general gardener, and
then to specialise as a market gardener. As
to the essentials of which every one must
possess a practical knowledge (and here let
me pause and emphasise that the importance
of practical knowledge cannot possibly be
overstated, or the truth of the saying ques-
tioned that " an ounce of practice is worth a

c
o
U

O

E

VI.

MARKET GARDENING 35

pound of theory " ; women must be practical
to succeed) let us take them in the following
order :—

I. (a) Digging. (£) Seed sowing. (V)

Weeding, (d} Watering, (e) Care
of lawns and garden walks. These
apply to every branch.

II. Fruitgrowing, (a) Walls. (£) Trees.
(V) Pruning. (cT) Gathering. (i)
Storing.

III. Flower growing for different purposes.
(a) Ordinary bedding. (£) Herbaceous
borders. (V) Rose gardens.

IV. Shrubs and climbers.

V. Work in greenhouses and under glass
generally. (a) Potting. (£) Pro-
pagation. (V) Watering.

It would be out of place in the present
volume to treat of these essentials and
different branches of work from a purely
technical point of view, but a few general
remarks in detail, as it were from an on-

36 AGRICULTURE

looker's side, may help to indicate the broad
effects to be aimed at.

I. (a) Digging. — This is at best hard back-
aching work for a woman, and a branch of
gardening of which it is to be hoped she will
not have a great deal to do. It is generally
possible to hire a labourer, or what is known
as " a rough man," to do this, and it is
certainly wiser to pay such wages as the
locality demands for " spade labour " than
for a woman to take an amount of energy
out of herself which could be turned to far
greater advantage in planning and scheming
her work out with a clear bright brain. Of
course every woman-gardener ought to know
how to dig, and how to trench " two spits
deep " too when necessary. In gardening as
in everything else " knowledge is power," and
unless one has been through the mill oneself,
how can one tell whether those working for
one are doing the work properly? and in
digging, as in all other kinds of work, if it is
done badly or skimped, the next crops are

MARKET GARDENING

37

bound to suffer. The everlasting law of
Cause and Effect is nowhere more quickly
realised than in gardening.

" Planet Jr." Double Wheel Hoes in a great field of Lily of the
Valley, grown in Germany

in England we are so Labour

saving

Then, again,

foolishly conservative that we do our best to appliances
avoid benefiting in any way by the inventions
of other people ; therefore we will not

AGRICULTURE

employ " labour-saving " appliances in our
gardens and fruit farms, such as they have in
America and Canada. It is true that some of
these are on too large a scale for our fields
with their narrow gates and picturesque

Fig. i. — Howard's Allotment Plough

hedgerows, because the American machinery
is built for long reaches of unbroken plains,
where nothing impedes the progress of the
machine ; but with adaptation smaller ap-
pliances on the same principle ought to be
invaluable in the present state of the
labour market. For instance there are some

39

very useful small ploughs now on the
market, called by various names, such as
the pony plough, the allotment plough,
or the small holdings plough, which are
extremely useful on market gardens, as
they can be drawn by a stout pony or

Fig. 2. — Horse Hoe

cob, and are quite powerful enough to
break up the surface to a sufficient depth
(three to six inches, and eight inches wide)
after the crop is off. The one shown in
the illustration, " Howard's Original Allotment
Plough," only weighs 105 Ibs., and costs
£2, 5s. ; it can be personally recommended
from experience, though doubtless others are
as good. Another invaluable implement is a
horse hoe, of which Vipan and Headley's has

40 AGRICULTURE

been found most satisfactory as a hoe, not as
a plough — see illustration.

Then there are most excellent American
tools for use in a large garden, or on a
market garden and fruit farm. I allude to
the " Planet Junior Cultivators," both for
hand and pony work. It is not such a simple
implement to use as its advocates would have
one believe, but from actual experience I can
affirm that it amply repays anyone who will set
to work and thoroughly learn it, as a mechanic
would learn to use his tools. Here let me
say in parenthesis, that I have been struck
over and over again at the extraordinary
absence of anything like mechanical intuition
in women ; a course of workshop training
would be invaluable to many taking up this
new life, whether at home or in the colonies.

The Planet Junior Double Wheel Hoe,
cultivator (fig. 4), rake and "plow," can really
be made to perform all the enumerated various
operations by simply altering and adjusting the
different tools for the purpose ; as can also the

42 AGRICULTURE

horse hoe and cultivator (fig. j).1 The great
service performed by both tools is the constant
stirring of the soil, which helps to keep down
weeds, and to let air and moisture penetrate
below the surface. It stands to reason that it
must be a quicker and more thorough per-
formance of the same than can possibly be
done by a hand hoe. The cultivators save
time and save labour, and are a good invest-
ment for capital to be -laid out at starting, as
they do not cost more than £2 to £3 each.

Seed sowing, (b, c, d, e) Seed sowing, weeding, watering,

watering' the care of lawns and walks — all these are so

lawns and obviously essential to the well-being and well-

doing of a garden, that the necessity for a

thorough knowledge of all need not be dwelt

upon. The homely proverb, " A stitch in time

saves nine," applies equally to a garden as to

a garment. Lawns swept regularly once or

twice a week, and cut as often as necessary,

1 Mr Geo. Bunyard of Maidstone informed the writer that
he kept ten Planet Junior Cultivators always at work on his
fruit gardens, and he calculated that he saved £50 a year in
wages for each cultivator employed.

44

AGRICULTURE

paths swept and weeded constantly, waterin
done regularly, all these form part of the

Fig. 5. — Hand Cultivator,
with Rakes

Fig. 6. — Hand Cultivator,
First Hoeing

everyday work of a gardener, which, if
accomplished at the proper time, gives that

delightful appearance
of human care and
love, which can be
seen at a glance in a
garden, besides the
saving of extra pres-
sure and extra labour,
which has to be sub-
stituted if the place
is allowed to get out of hand. Whilst
on a market garden the steady eradica-

Fig. 7. — Hand Cultivator,
Late Hoeing

FRUIT GROWING 45

tion of weeds means that the crops are not
robbed of their nourishment, and that they
will pay fifty and a hundred per cent, better.
Besides how monotonous life would become
if there were no weeding to be done !

FRUIT GROWING

This is a most interesting subject. Eng- Fruit
land, especially Kent — the garden of England gr°
— has always been looked upon as a fruit-
producing country, but it is only within our
own time that such a tremendous impetus has
been given to fruit growing on a thorough
systematic basis. Of course the importation
of corn from abroad, and the general cheapen-
ing of bread, has thrown whole corn-growing
districts out of cultivation, but here steps in
the fruit grower and intensive farmer. In
the returns issued by the Board of Agricul-
ture for 1902, the acreage of orchards has,
since 1885, increased by 40,000 acres, and
that of small fruits, since 1888-90, by 33,000

46 AGRICULTURE

acres. We are essentially a fruit-eating
nation, so much so, that the foreigner l finds
a ready sale for the fruit he puts upon our
markets by the ton, whilst often in seasons
of glut ours is left to rot on the trees because
it does not pay to gather and send it to the
home markets, owing to heavy freight and
Transport bad packing. The whole question of trans-
port of our own agricultural produce is simply
crying out for a solution. The present railway
rates are prohibitive for any but the largest
growers and capitalists, and it is not the rates
only, but the shuntings and changes which
cause great damage and loss. Mr Rider
Haggard makes an excellent suggestion in his
book, "Rural England," just out (Dec. 6th),
which, if the Government in the person of
the Postmaster-General could see their way
to adopt quickly and comprehensively, might
give such an impetus to the " Lighter Branches
of Agriculture " that in another half century

1 Between 1891 and 1901 over 45,000,000 bushels of apples
were imported, chiefly from America.

Lady Warwick Hostel — " Edging Borders "

FRUIT GROWING 49

rural England might be glad and happy once
more. I allude to an organised system of An

i i T» i • • i Agricultural

Agricultural rost ; this, to commence with, Post
might be looked upon as a glorified parcels
post, which has been so very successful. It
would seem, however, that much time and
expense could be saved to the producer if the
Post - Office vans could collect the produce
daily, if not from door to door, at receiving
offices in small areas, and that these offices
should have scales for the public to use, and
room to put things down, instead of the little
crowded shops which so often now have to
do duty for local Post-Offices. Of course the
Government would have to pay more liberally
than they do, but why not ? The dignity of
such a Department as the Post-Office might
surely be maintained at a higher level than
at present, especially in regard to the manners
of the clerks and assistants ! No doubt the
outlay would be very heavy at first, but if
this Agricultural Post indirectly led to the
re-population of the rural districts, surely it

VI.

50 AGRICULTURE

Motor would be a hundred times worth while. Motor

Transport

power will no doubt also play a very important
part in the future of agriculture, whether as
machines on the land or in the transit of produce.
Packing Lastly, there is the most Important question
of packing and grading. Statesmen, officials
and others all agree, and constantly vociferate,
that our people must learn to put their goods
on the market, as well packed as by the
foreigner, but anything like organised instruc-
tion in this dainty branch of work seems
conspicuous by its absence. Surely the
County Councils might give attention to
this important matter, and organise practical
not theoretical classes. Here surely women
ought to make a great success with their
deft ringers and light manipulation. In fact,
they could very well become the instructors,
although the County Councils would possibly
have to import a Dane to teach them.
Careful The embryo fruit farmer must, before all
ground10for°af things, make a very careful selection of her
n ground before planting an orchard. Broadly

FRUIT GROWING 51

speaking, all fruit trees want a good soil, and
good depth of soil. Of course bad ground
can be improved, but it is a great question
whether it is worth spending time and money
in so doing, because it is not only the great
expense of manuring and cultivating which
is never ending, but if the roots lack proper
nourishment the trees will not grow or bear
crops worth speaking of during the process
of improvement. It is money out of pocket,
capital invested which gives no return, and
therefore does not pay, and a business woman
must not meddle in things which do not pay,
except for sentimental reasons. I do not
mean that making money is to be the end
sought for itself, far from it ; a woman whose
ultima thule is £ s. d. is to be avoided like
a disease ; but when after a fair trial it can
be proved that this or that branch of work
brings no proper returns, I maintain that it
is the duty of a business woman to say,
" This must be stopped," and at once proceed
to turn the land or the stock to some other

52 AGRICULTURE

purpose. I admit this is difficult : it requires
the " trained capacity " and the outside grasp
of a situation which can only come from
experience. It is so natural to think that
if you start a thing on carefully approved
lines, given ordinary care and attention it is
bound to succeed, and you will make it a
personal matter that it should succeed, but
when the hard fact comes that you are not
getting a proper return for your money,
your labour, your personal outlay, then the
necessity arises to reform or to change.
An nius- To illustrate my point with reference to
the necessity for good ground for fruit trees.
I have in my mind a certain piece of land in
which I was interested some years back. I
was advised to rent and turn it into a market
garden and fruit farm. In my inexperience
I thought the advice good, and entered upon
my possession with all the ardour of a landed
proprietor. The rent was fixed at a price
absolutely prohibitive to successful market
gardening, namely at £5 an acre, and there

tration

FRUIT GROWING 53

were six acres, which meant in plain language
that each year the cultivation was to be so
intensive and the crops so good that each
acre must give a return of ^5 to pay for the
rent alone, and quite four times that sum to
pay for labour and cultivation and to give
two or three per cent, on my capital. (I
think I started by putting in £200.) Well,
in other words, I must make £i 20 per annum
out of the crops straight away. It was not
pointed out to me that for several years this
piece of land had been out of cultivation, that
it was choked with weeds, and that there was
no depth of soil over a subsoil of gravel.
It was in October that my ardour was kindled,
and in October and November weeds, as a
rule, are not especially aggressive. So with
a light heart I wrote to the best and most
expensive growers for catalogues of their
fruit trees, and as I ordered them — almost
at catalogue price instead of wholesale, which
every market gardener ought to insist upon
having — I had visions of my garden being

54 AGRICULTURE

white with blossoms in spring time, like the
Kentish orchards, and heavy with fruit in
the autumn. Moreover, it was to be planted
on a great system which was to be original,
and surrounded with a fruit hedge instead
of a common thorn — why not turn every
inch of ground to advantage ? This hedge
was to consist of blackberry brambles neatly
trained with standard damson trees growing
out of the thickness ; in front was to be a
row of alternate nuts and bush damsons, and
in front of these again plantations of goose-
berry and currant cuttings. Not content
with common blackberries I bought about
50 or 100 roots of wineberries to give
variety, and some hundreds of mirabella
plums completed this unique hedge.

After three years what do I find ? well,
certainly, not the hedge, and nothing that
could be dignified with such a title. Some
gas lime shot down to make a gravel track,
outside my boundary, got mixed in with the
poor hungry soil and wrought death and

FRUIT GROWING 55

destruction to the hedge for about fifty
yards, further up the soil was so poor that
even brambles could not obtain nourishment
enough to make them fruitful, and the
standard trees are still standards and little
else. Along the top where the soil is
better the mirabella has flourished, and the
bramble has straggled over the ground, and
passers-by have some hindrance to their
vision. It is a sad picture, but true never-
theless !

Then in the garden itself some 2000 black
and red currant bushes, 1500 gooseberries,
1000 raspberries and standard plum trees
were put in ; that is to say, they were
ordered by me and arrived on the spot, but
as to the planting of this endless number of
trees, for this in my inexperience I had made
no adequate provision, as the amateur, until
she has had a bitter experience, has but the
poorest idea of how to deal with numbers.
An old gardener, whose best days had ended
ten or twenty years ago, and a young boy

56

constituted my staff. They worked and
worked at these trees, but only stuck them
into the ground-, they did not plant them,
and the crookedness of the lines was an eye-
sore from every point of view. As a result,
the trees all had to be replanted — double
labour — quantities of them died from ex-
posure to the cold, and the next year bore
only a most miserable crop. The black and
red currants have "picked up" considerably
now, and make a fine show, but the goose-
berries are still the meanest little bushes you
could see anywhere, although the raspberries
deserve their name " superlative."

Then another foolish thing was to order
17,000 cabbage plants; Wheelers Imperial,
\ remember they were, and they cost
^6, iis. 6d. I was told that if planted in
November they would come on in May when
greens were scarce, and sell for i^d.each easily.
Seventeen thousand three halfpence, said I,
means £106, js., so of course the prospect of
cabbage growing seemed highly lucrative.

Lady Warwick Hostel — Pear Tree grafted by Students in 1899

FRUIT GROWING 59

Alas ! there was the same trouble with the
planting, and again the ground was so poor that
the cabbages never made a success of them-
selves, and instead of being early on the market,
they were greatly behind and sold at last for
3d. and 4d. a dozen. Under good manage-
ment and with this dearly bought experience
this particular six acres of land is now doing
well, and is a credit to its cultivation, but I
have given these facts and details, because it
seems to me so much more helpful to give
one's own practical experiences of a thing
than merely to quote platitudes, and give
statistics of work as it ought to be, but
seldom is. I know how my own imagination
was fired in this way, until it appeared to me
that to be a market gardener was a certain
step to becoming a rich woman if not a
millionairess. Figures are so misleading,
and the difference between practice and
theory is hardly less so, while women as a
rule are most nervous about venturing on
undertakings connected with money risks ;

60 AGRICULTURE

therefore there is all the more reason
to be cautious, and to be able to ob-
tain solid and trustworthy advice when
required.

A Summary To sum up these remarks on fruit growing,
it is essentially a branch of work in which a
woman ought to do well, as she can assist to
plant, prune and tend the trees, gather and
pack the fruit, and to send it to market, or
sell it retail. Then, further, the preserving
of fruit is distinctly within a woman's scope
of activity, and in fact jam making, fruit
bottling and drying when done on the spot
would possibly prove more remunerative than
selling the fruit in the first instance. For
good jam there always seems to be a fail-
trade, and tons of pulped fruit to make the
groundwork of common jam is imported
annually. Again, why need it be imported ?
The bottling or sterilisation of fruit and
vegetables in England is still in its infancy,
and affords a hopeful outlook for the increase
of fruit farms and orchards.

Lady Warwick Hostel — Potting Chrysanthemums

FRUIT GROWING 63

Market gardening will often include a Market

gardening

flower trade, especially flowers grown under
glass, in order to put them on the market
early ; for example, narcissi, daffodils, lilies
of the valley, roman hyacinths, ordinary
hyacinths, tulips, fresias and lilies of all
kinds, notably arums ; spirea, and the great
winter crop of chrysanthemums.

The culture of peaches and nectarines and
forced strawberries in pots can be carried on
very successfully, and they can follow on in
a market grower's house when the chrysanthe-
mums are over ; and these in their turn can
be followed by tomatoes, so that a well
managed house can be made to produce three
distinct crops of marketable produce in the
year.

To return to my previous remark, a general
knowledge of gardening is invaluable to the
successful market gardener or fruit grower ;
therefore it seems well to obtain an all-round
training at first, and afterwards to specialise
in the particular branch it is desired to take

64 AGRICULTURE

up. But in this, as in all other walks of life,
" common sense " and judgment play an all im-
portant part, as well as the most desperate
perseverance and untiring energy. Given these
qualifications and a capital to start upon of not
less than £200, and better still £500, there is
every reason to suppose that in three years'
time a woman could make her market garden
a going concern in every sense of the word,
and if she were able to co-operate with other
women doing the same thing, a greater suc-
cess still might be reasonably anticipated.
Dress for a Perhaps a few words might be added in
gardener conclusion on the subject of a suitable dress
for a woman gardener. In the illustrations
of life at the hostel scattered about the
article it will be seen that the students wear
a more or less conventional dress. It consists
of a short narrow skirt about six inches off
the ground, made of a thick serge or rough
tweed, a pretty blouse (flannel in the winter),
an apron or overall, a coat or jersey if neces-
sary, thick boots, gaiters (in bad weather),

o
ffi

$

"O

a

J

VI.

FRUIT GROWING 67

and a soft felt hat. These are now made in
so many shapes and shades that it is quite
easy to get a becoming one. The whole
costume is business like and sometimes very
artistic, without anything incongruous or
offensive, and has evolved itself naturally
out of the requirements of the students.

It seems a matter of considerable regret
and an offence to good taste that in some
institutions where women gardeners are
employed they should be made to dress in
men's clothes, especially as it is an unneces-
sary hardship, and one which causes sensitive
women much unhappiness.

In conclusion, if asked an opinion upon Conclusion
the openings for women in the twentieth
century, one would say without hesitation,
and after a close experience of five years,
that for those to whom neither the literary
professions nor teaching hold out any in-
ducements, market gardening and fruit farm-
ing are healthful and profitable occupations,
presenting, side by side with hard work,

68 AGRICULTURE

attractions and resources, and an intimate
connection with Nature, which will afford
compensations of the most elevating and
alluring kind, and which should and will act
as a preventative of that habit of endless
worrying over trifles, which is so often the
bane and misery of the female mind, when
its possessor is no longer fired by the marvel-
lous vitality of youth.

One can look forward with certainty and
with confidence to seeing many practical ex-
amples of the work which educated women
can do, during the next ten years, when
those who have been trained are in the full
practice of their experience, and making
happy homes for themselves amidst happy
surroundings up and down the country.

DAIRYING

CHAPTER II

DAIRYING

IT is an acknowledged fact by men and The topic
women of wide knowledge and high standing
in the agricultural world, that women must
play a prominent part in staying the de-
population of the rural districts, and in
bringing people back to the land.

One feels safe in asserting that if a suffi-
cient number of women will abandon the
idea of lucrative and all-absorbing careers as
governesses, typists and clerks, and turn their
steps country wards, they will draw a certain
proportion of the sterner sex with them.

As these succeed and prosper — and they
assuredly will if trained and made of the
right material — others will be inspired to

imitate them, and the thin end of the wedge

71

72 AGRICULTURE

will be inserted in the problem of " How to
ameliorate the conditions of Rural Life."

The object of this paper is to show how
this may be forwarded by means of dairying,
which is nowadays one of the most im-
portant branches of farm life ; indeed many
of our farmers look to it to enable them to
realise a profit on their land. There is no
one connected with agriculture who is not
heartily sick of hearing that " dairy farming
does not pay," "we cannot compete with the
foreigner," and so forth, until by dint of
much telling it is accepted as truth. To
make dairy work pay, it is necessary to have
an intimate knowledge of the subject, prac-
tically and theoretically (above all practically),
and also to be prepared to work one's self,
thoroughly believing that " the master's foot
manures the land," in a way that farmyard
and artificial manures will never do.

In these days of keen competition and low
prices there is no margin for waste or
extravagance of any kind, the most minute

DAIRYING 73

profits must be as carefully attended to as

the large ones, and no paid labour will do The financial

aspect

that. Besides fortunes are not now made
agriculturally, and any one going in for dairy-
ing expecting otherwise would do well to
leave it alone, before he or she is disap-
pointed. But there are numbers of occupiers
of land on a small scale who are making an
honest livelihood under conditions far happier
and more congenial than if their lot were cast
in the heart of some great town.

It is not enough to be a dweller in the
town to become rich or famous, as so many
of the thousands who rush thither seem to
think. Of a thousand persons, perhaps one
makes a fortune, while the other 999 strive
and struggle in bitterest competition with
each other, merely for the livelihood which
they get at the expense of their own health
and happiness, or at the expense of those
who come after them. City life under these
circumstances, as it is led by millions of our
people, is degrading and demoralising to a

74 AGRICULTURE

degree which is never found amongst a rural
population. Close intercourse with nature
cannot fail to have an ennobling influence,
helping men and women to strive to lead
more honourable and useful lives. Therefore,
seeing what a matter of necessity is a pros-
perous country life to a country, both from
a moral and a physical standpoint, it is the
bounden duty of those in authority on matters
agricultural to spare no pains to promote
" the safety, honour, and welfare " of the
rural population of Great Britain.
Suitable Many are the influences at work in the

localities

evolution of a successful Dairy farm. Butter
and cheese depend largely for their quality
on the skilful handling and the cleanliness of
the dairymaid after the milk has been de-
livered into the dairy, but the finished product
is enormously affected by various conditions
long before the milk arrives at that stage.
Climate, locality, soil, different breeds of
cattle, and the manner in which they are fed
and housed, have an important bearing on

DAIRYING 75

the production of milk. Such being the case,
it will be necessary to briefly discuss these
points, before we arrive at the actual manufac-
ture of butter and the various kinds of cheese.
With regard to locality, the following
points should be taken into consideration :
(i) the quality of the available markets. It
is a great thing to be able to manufacture
good produce, but when one is working for
one's livelihood the crux of the matter lies
in the sale of it. A conveniently got-at and
constant market would weigh considerably
against possible inconveniences with regard
to the land or the buildings. Unless one
were building to suit one's own requirements,
it would be extremely difficult in any locality
to get all the conditions satisfactory. But
the quality of the available markets should
be given a prominent position. It should be
clearly understood in saying this, that how-
ever good the market, on no consideration
should bad land be taken. It is too costly
at any price.

76 AGRICULTURE

The cost In some districts the labour question is

and supply

of labour much more acute than in others. On a dairy
farm this consideration is especially important,
as efficient milkers are an absolute necessity.
Because of the scarcity in this respect, many
farmers have been obliged either to consider-
ably reduce their dairy herds, or, in some
cases, to give up cows and keep sheep instead.
It seems certain that sooner or later we shall
have to have recourse to milking by machinery
almost entirely. Many milking machines
have been put on the market. At present the
best of these is the "Lawrence Kennedy "
milker, brought out by the Dairy Outfit
Company.

Milking At a farm near Datchet a herd of forty-
eight cows is regularly milked by this means.
The milker is actuated by suction, which
may be obtained by an ordinary vacuum
pump, worked by steam or oil or gas engine,
or an electric motor. Connected with the
vacuum producer is a vacuum-containing tank,
and a range of pipes runs along the sheds,

IU

78 AGRICULTURE

over the cows' shoulders. From this pipe a
short branch descends between every alternate
cow, having on it a vacuum cock. To work
the apparatus one end of a rubber tube is
put on to this branch, while the other end is
connected to the pulsator, which rests upon
a cone-shaped pail placed between the cows
near the manger.

From the pulsator two rubber tubes branch
out, right and left, one to each cow, and each
tube is attached to four rubber teat-cups,
which are slipped upon the teats of the cow.

When the vacuum cock is turned on, the
pulsator commences to work, and causes the
cups to collapse and expand, and thus suck
the milk from all four teats at once, an
almost exact imitation of the calf sucking its
mother. One machine with a man and boy
is said to do the work of six men skilled in
milking, and with less labour to themselves.
This machine is also working on two or
three other farms, and is said to be giving
satisfaction.

DAIRYING 79

A dry, hot climate is not suitable for dairy- Climate
ing. The farm should be selected preferably
in the W., N.W. or S.W. of England, where
the rainfall is certain (this year, 1902, alas!
only too certain), and the extreme heat of the
eastern counties seldom experienced.

The question of suitable soil is quite Soils
one of the most important which has to
be considered, affecting as it does, not
only the health of the stock, but also the
quality of the ultimate product. The best
soils for the purpose are those of limestone,
sandstone or marl, producing sweet fine
herbage, containing a select collection of all
the best milk-producing grasses and clovers,
such land as is found in parts of Derby-
shire, Cheshire, Durham and Cumberland.
The great desideratum of pasture land is
that it should be not only fertile but
" sound." That is, land that is naturally
well-drained.

Although there is much excellent land
used for dairying, which has been arti-

8o AGRICULTURE

ficially drained, it can never be so satisfactory
as that which is naturally sound. A sound
. soil is 'much warmer and drier, because the
"*more water a soil contains the more slowly
will it rise in temperature (owing to the
high specific heat of water), and the more
rapidly will it part with its heat. Un-
sound soils no doubt stand better in times
of drought, but the many disadvantages in
connection with them quite outweigh this
one fact in their favour. Also the superior
capillary attraction of a sound soil mate-
rially assists it in resisting and recovering
from a dry spell.

Cattle fed on damp water-logged soils give
milk which is a continual source of annoyance
in the dairy, especially when used for cheese-
making. This arises from the fact that all
kinds of unfriendly bacteria flourish amaz-
ingly in milk produced on such land. On
the other hand, for the production of clean,
sweet milk nothing equals a sound, lime-
stone soil. There is an enormous difference

DAIRYING 8 1

in the length of time which. milk from such
land will keep, as compared with that from
an inferior source. /

It is also important that land should have a
suitable subsoil. In alluvial soils it is gener-
ally of the same character as the soil. Light
sandy soils do best on a clay subsoil, as the
water does not pass so readily downwards.
A clay soil resting upon sand or gravel is
advantageous.

The maintenance of permanent pastures Manures
and meadow land in good heart requires
much care by the application of farmyard
and artificial manures. To do this, in an
intelligent manner, demands a knowledge
of the chemistry of the soil, and of the
constituents removed from it by different
plants. All crops are influenced in a
greater degree more by one special in-
gredient than by another, thus the cereals
require nitrogenous manures ; turnips and
swedes, phosphatic manures ; mangels, nitro-
genous manures, and so on.

VI. F

AGRICULTURE

General principles must be adapted to suit
the varying conditions of soil and climate, and
also care must be exercised in mixing to see
that no chemical action takes place which
minimises the value of the manure. The
most important constituents of soils are-

Silica
Alumina
Lime
Potash

Soda
Iron

Phosphoric acid
Sulphuric acid

Chlorine

Nitrogen

Magnesia

These are present in varying degrees ac-
cording to the nature of the soil. The chief
manures are Green manures, either ploughed
in or fed off, Farmyard manure, Artificial
manure.

Farmyard manure is undoubtedly the most
important of these, because if properly pre-
served it contains all the constituents removed
from the soil by the crop. And it has an
advantage over artificial manure in that it
affects the soil mechanically as well as chemi-
cally, by reason of the large quantity of

DAIRYING 83

organic matter which it contains. This has
a very beneficial effect on the soils deficient
in humus. Upon a dairy farm, where milk
is sold, the land is being continually deprived
of its phosphates. The best means of re-
placing this loss is by the application of
bone meal. The most efficacious way of
manuring pasture is by feeding stock upon
it with cake. After which potash and
phosphate only will be required.

It is a " penny-wise and pound-foolish "
policy to be sparing in the application of
manure ; if the farmer is scanty in his
supply, the land will reward him scantily.
One of the most important parts of farm
arrangements should be an adequate pro-
vision for the preservation of all the farm-
yard manure, solid and liquid. On most
ordinary farms the value lost for want of
this is tremendous.

It is impossible in this short space to enter
more fully into the merits and dements of the
different manures and their application. Suffice

84 AGRICULTURE

it to say that a special study must be made of
this point, so that it may be carried out in-
telligently. Successful manuring is not such
a very simple matter. In any case, it must
be done liberally, to obtain the best result
from the land.

Breeds of Before selecting any special breed of dairy
cattle there are many points which should
receive due consideration. We have seen
that soil and climate have a considerable
influence on the health of the stock, and the
quality and quantity of the milk produced.
In addition to these two factors the kind of
land on which the cattle are to be maintained
must be considered. As a rule, the larger
breeds do best on rich soils, poorer class
land being more adapted to the smaller and
hardier cattle.

The chief dairying breeds of cattle in the
United Kingdom are the

Shorthorn Guernsey Kerry

Ayrshire Red Polls Dexter Kerry

Jersey

DAIRYING 85

There are two chief strains of Shorthorn, The

Shorthorn

the " Bates " and the " Booth." The " Booth "
is more for beef production and is large and
darker, " Bates " is the milking strain. Of
all the different breeds Shorthorns are the
most widely kept. They give large quantities
of excellent milk, well suited for either butter
or cheese-making. A fair average quantity
of milk for a Shorthorn cow per annum is
700 gallons, but they can give as much as
from 1000 to 1200 gallons, and there are
many dairy herds, well fed and housed,
where the average of 700 gallons is higher.
The Shorthorn has many points in its favour,
such as (i) the power of adapting itself to
almost any soil or climate. (2) When its
milking years are over it can be fattened off
and sold as beef at a fair price. (3) The
calves are very saleable. In colour the
Shorthorn is red, roan, or red and white ;
black or brindled indicates impurity of blood.

The Ayrshire is the favourite milking Ayrshire
animal in the West of Scotland, and is a

86

AGRICULTURE

typical dairy cow, being wedge-shaped, that
is, narrow in the forequarters, gradually in-
creasing in depth and width backwards.
They are smaller and hardier than Short-
horns, also more energetic, thriving where a
Shorthorn would starve. At the same time
they do very well for rich soils and more
genial climates, though after a time, under
such conditions, they tend to lose their
characteristic quality as a milk - producing
animal only and begin to lay on fat. In
colour they are brown, red, white, black, or
these mixed in patches. The most common
being red, with white patches. The fat in
the milk of Ayrshire cows is in very small
globules, which makes it more suitable for
cheese than for butter-making, especially as
it contains a large percentage of casein,
jerseys and Jerseys and Guernseys are very favourite
8 cattle for private dairies, and are principally
found in the southern half of England.
They are not so hardy as our English
cattle, and require a mild and less rigorous

DAIRYING 87

climate. By means of legislation, preventing
the importation of cattle into the Channel
Isles, these breeds have been kept absolutely
pure for centuries. They are essentially
butter-making cattle, producing milk very
rich in butter-fat, and the great size of the
globules increases not only the quality but
the quantity of the butter. With Jersey
milk one pound of butter can be made from
two gallons of milk or sometimes less, while
with the other breeds it takes from two and
a half to three gallons. It is a good plan to
keep a few Jerseys or Guernseys in a milk-
ing herd, as their milk will assist in keeping
up the colour and churnability of the cream.
The Jerseys are fawn or silver grey in colour
with sleek short hair, deer-like heads, and
slender frames.

Guernseys are rather larger than Jerseys?
longer in the body, and hardier altogether.
They are usually of a yellow brown colour,
but sometimes red and white with flesh-
coloured noses. They are nearly as good

88

AGRICULTURE

milkers and butter producers as the Jerseys,
and are better for fattening. A Jersey cow
when finished milking is practically of no
value from a butcher's point of view.

Red Polls Red Polls are hornless breeds found in the
eastern counties. Excellent beef and dairy
cattle, in colour they are red, with light
coloured udders, and white tail tassels. They
are noted for their long milking periods.

Kerry and The only distinct Irish breeds are the

Dexter Kerry

Kerry and Dexter Kerry ; they are small
and very hardy. The Kerry is some-
times called " the poor man's cow," as
it thrives on the poorest pasture, and can
withstand bad weather with next to no
shelter. The usual colour is black, but
sometimes they are black and white, also
brown or red. Dexters are heavier cattle,
not so tall as the Kernes, and more com-
pact looking. For their size they give a
large quantity of milk, very rich in quality,
which makes it most suitable for butter-
making.

DAIRYING 89

ANNUAL YIELDS OF MILK OF THE DIFFERENT

BREEDS

The standard proposed for the respective
breeds by the British Dairy Farmers' Associa-
tion for entering in the Dairy Cattle Register
is as follows :—

Weight of Milk Pure butter -fat

in the milking per diem average
Pedigree and Non- period> not ex_ of i tests as dc_

ceeding 11 termined by
months. Ibs. analysis.

Shorthorn, . 8,500 1.25

Jersey . 6,000 1.25

Guernsey . 6,000 1.25

Ayrshire . 7?5°° I-°°

Red Polls . 7,000 i.oo

Kerry and Dexter

Kerry . 4,500 0.75

Dutch . 8,500 i.oo

The standard for crosses of either of the
above will be the mean of the standards for
the pure breed. No animal will be admitted
whose milk contains less than 12 per cent,
of solids at any test.

9°

AGRICULTURE

No other country in the world has such
a variety of excellent breeds of cattle both
for dairying and beef production as is to be
found in the British Isles. If a farmer
breeds his own stock, he should only
work from the best materials. Well bred
stock are no more difficult or expensive
to keep than inferior animals, and they
will make a profitable return, which the
latter can never do to the same extent.
In breeding for the production of milk it
is not enough that the dam should be a
good milker, but care must also be exercised
to see that the bull comes of a good milking
strain. All cows whose milk does not come
up to the required standard of quality and
quantity should be gradually weeded out.
To ascertain which are the inferior milkers
it would be necessary to periodically weigh
and test the milk of each cow. By using
a " Sandringham " herd recorder it is a
simple matter to weigh the milk every day.
The milkers soon get accustomed to using

DAIRYING 91

it, it is no trouble, and besides being a check
upon them, any cow out of condition is
quickly noted. In selecting a dairy cow
there are certain external signs which should
always be remarked. First, she should have
rather fine, slender shoulders, but with a
chest sufficiently wide and deep to ensure
strength of constitution. A typical dairy
cow should (i) be wedge-shaped, having
great breadth across the hips, and tapering
forward. (2) The skin should be soft and
elastic, covered with, soft silk hair. (3) Her
udder should be large but not fleshy, well
set forward under the body and back behind,
large teats placed well apart and all perfect.
(4) Prominent milk vein. More importance
should be attached to the shape and texture
of the udder and the set of the teats than
to the relative size. (5) The escutcheon.
This consists of the hair on the udder, which
turns up and out instead of down. If the
escutcheon is wide on the thighs, high and
broad, it is taken to indicate a good milker.

9 2 AGRICULTURE

The following excellent description of a
good milker is taken from one of the Dairy
Publications : —

A GOOD DAIRY COW

" Long in her sides, bright in her eyes,
Short in her legs, thick in her thighs,
Big in her ribs, wide on her pins,
Full in her bosom, small in her shins,
Long in her face, fine in her tail,
And never deficient in filling the pail."

Feeding To farm at all successfully, in face of
the high prices which now have to be paid
for feeding stuifs of all kinds, it follows
that farmers and farmeresses must have a
clear knowledge of the principles of feeding
and the successful application of the same.
The value of a food depends upon its com-
position and digestibility, the digestibility
varying with the constituents it contains or
with its mode of manufacture. The main-
tenance diet of an animal is the amount of
food which it requires to meet the daily
wants of the body.

DAIRYING 93

It has been proved by experiment that the
maintenance diet of an average Shorthorn
cow, when dry, is fourteen pounds of digest-
ible dry matter.

When in full milk and fattening, she re-
quires nearly twenty-five pounds. An animal
is like a machine, in that it is no more able
to create within itself the power of doing
work or of secreting milk than an engine
would be if not supplied with fuel and water.
The nutritive portion of food is divided
into : —

(1) Protein, or nitrogenous matter, made up
of albuminoids. — These are the only parts of
food which are capable of building up the
animal tissue of the body, repairing the daily
wear and tear of bone, muscle, blood, etc.

(2) Carbo-hydrates. — Such as sugar, starch,
digestible fibre, are heat and fat producers,
heat being necessary to supply the energy of
the animal body.

(3) Fats and oils. --These are of the same
use as carbo-hydrates, but fat produces nearly

94

AGRICULTURE

two and a half times as much heat and energy
as the same weight of starch and sugar.
Anything taken in excess of what is required
for heat and energy is stored in the body in
the shape of fat. The nutritive or albu-
minoid ratio of a food is the proportion which
the digestible albuminoids bear to the digest-
ible carbo-hydrates and fat together, one
Ib. of fat being equal to 2.25 Ibs. of carbo-
hydrates. Experiment has proved that for a
cow in full milk the albuminoid ratio should
be i to 5.6 — that is, one part of flesh formers
to 5.6 parts of heat, energy and fat. In
summer the chief food of a cow consists of
grass, supplemented with artificial food accord-
ing to the quality of the land, and when
the pasture begins to go off, with vetches,
cabbages and lucerne, etc.

For feeding in summer cotton-cake may be
used with advantage ; it has a high manurial
value, and its effect on the butter-fat is to
harden it, which is a very valuable property
where ice is unobtainable. Many farmers

DAIRYING 95

do not approve of feeding with cotton-cake,
because they say it has a bad effect on the
calves ; but if used in moderation, and not
given within two or three months of calving,
it is one of the most valuable foods the dairy
farmer possesses, being rich in oil and albu-
minous matter. Winter rations are made
up of roots, hay, straw and chaff, besides
concentrated food, such as cake and meal.
The cakes chiefly used in England are linseed-
cake, decorticated and undecorticated cotton-
cake.

Linseed-cake is a very good and safe food
for cattle, especially for calves, but it is more
expensive than cotton-cake, and, unless great
care is exercised, it gives an oily, unpleasant
taste to the butter. Decorticated cotton-
cake is a most valuable food, but being highly
concentrated must not be used in too large
quantities. Undecorticated cotton-cake should
only be given in summer, when the cows
are on grass. Rake-cake, palmnut-cake and
cokernut-cake are useful food, and much

96

AGRICULTURE

appreciated on the Continent, though little
used over here. Bean meal is a highly
nitrogenous food, and an excellent addition
to a ration mixed with chaff and pulped
roots.

Pea-meal has much the same property as
bean-meal. The two following winter rations
have been found to give excellent results :-

45 Ibs. swedes
1 6 Ibs. oat straw
6 Ibs. hay
4 Ibs. crushed oats
4^ Ibs. D. C. cake

45 Ibs. swedes

9 Ibs. hay

10 Ibs. oat straw
4 Ibs. maize meal
4j Ibs. D. C. cake

The hay should be given long, a mixture of
chaff, pulped roots, and meal together, and
the cake as a separate meal. The cooking
of food for cattle, no doubt, increases the
quantity of milk given, but the food is not
rendered any more digestible, and the cows
seem to be more delicate.

The chaff may be sprinkled with hot water,
or slightly steamed.

DAIRYING 97

The secretion of milk is closely related to Housing
the nervous organisation of the cow, and
therefore everything that conduces to the
comfort and tranquillity of the animal aids
considerably in increasing the milk yield.
Considering what a large part of the life
of a cow is spent in the cow-byre, everything
possible should be done to make it suitable
to the requirements of the animal with
regard to requisite space, light and ventila-
tion, and cleanliness.

According to the bye-laws, each cow is
required to have an air space of 600 cubic
feet ; some authorities advocate 800 to
1000. It is quite possible to have a cubic
air space of 600 feet, and for the cowshed
to remain ill ventilated and unhealthy.
Where the cowhouse is kept very clean,
with a satisfactory ventilating system, the
cows will do quite well with 500 cubic
feet or even a little less per cow, especially
in the country. In town dairies it is
another matter. The point is that a proper

VI.

98

AGRICULTURE

system of ventilation is much more im-
portant than an air space of 800 cubic
feet with inferior or no ventilation. The
cowshed should be frequently whitewashed
and exposed as much as possible to the sun-
light.

After milking morning and evening, the
manure should be wheeled away, and de-
posited some distance from the shed. No
cleaning out should take place either just
before or during milking, because in disturb-
ing the manure the air becomes heavily
laden with injurious bacteria, and if milking
is going on, millions are absorbed by the
milk with the result that the butter or
cheese has an undesirable flavour,
stalls If the cows are to be clean and comfort-
able, the stalls should be constructed to suit
the size of the animal.

The best width for a double stall is from
six to seven feet, seven feet for the large
breeds such as Shorthorns. It is not at all
necessary to have a passage in front of the

DAIRYING 99

cow. It takes up a large space, and it is
really quite as easy to feed the cows from
behind.

The best manger is a glazed fire-proof The Manger
trough, 1 6 inches wide by 9 inches deep.
The standing room between the manger
and the gutter should be 5^ to 6 feet
long.

The gutter should be 24 inches wide
and 8 inches deep, with a passage at the
back 6 feet wide, so as to give plenty of
room for the removal of the manure, and for
the coming and going of the cows.

The floor should be of bricks set in cement, The Floor
or cement concrete which is better, with a
slight slope towards the gutter to carry off
the manure.

Milking should take place at regular Milking
intervals. Cows are sensitive and easily
disturbed, therefore they should be treated
in a kindly, gentle manner if the highest
returns are to be secured.

The character of the milk is to some

ioo AGRICULTURE

extent determined by the treatment accorded
to the cow. The amount of butter-fat, upon
which the commercial value of the milk
depends, is lessened by harsh, rough treat-
ment, or other adverse conditions, such as
exposing the animal to sudden changes, low
temperatures, fast driving, change of milkers
or milking hours, in fact, any noise or treat-
ment which excites or annoys them. This
is especially noticeable in well-bred cows or
deep milkers. The first process of milking
is to thoroughly wipe or wash the udder.
The milker should wear a clean overall, and
have clean hands with short nails. Milking
should be done with dry hands. The action
of milking is done more by creating a vacuum
in the teat by firmly opening and closing the
fingers from the base of the teat downwards
than by squeezing or pulling. Milking
should be done rapidly. The quicker the
milking the richer the milk.

The first milk drawn is always deficient in
butter fat, increasing in quality until the last

DAIRYING 101

milk, known as " stoppings," contains some-
times as much as ten or twelve per cent, of
butter fat. Complete stripping encourages
the milking habit, and even when no more
milk comes, milking should be carried on for
a minute or two to stimulate the milk glands ;
on the contrary, insufficient stripping entails
a great loss of fat, besides gradually diminish-
ing the quantity of milk and oftentimes
spoiling a good cow.

After milking, the milk should be weighed,
and at once removed to the dairy.

The best temperature for a cowshed Temperature
would be from 58° to 60° F., but this is
very difficult to maintain. If the tempera-
ture does not go below 55°, the cows do
very well.

The food is first used to repair the waste
in the body, and to keep up the required
temperature (101°), and after that for the
secretion of milk. Therefore if the sheds
are very cold, a great part of the food
is used to maintain the heat of the body,

102 AGRICULTURE

which would otherwise go towards increasing
the milk flow.

On the other hand a higher temperature
certainly conduces to a larger milk yield, but,
as a rule, the cows are not so healthy, and
are very liable to cold, so that in the long
run, by having stronger and healthier herds,
more milk of a better quality will be obtained.
Cows should be turned out every day, all
through the winter, for a longer or shorter
period according to the weather. This will
slightly lower the milk yield, but the above
remarks on the subject of temperature apply
here also with regard to the increased
healthiness of the stock, and such food as
roots and cabbages may safely be fed out
of doors without imparting the disagree-
able flavour that is so much disliked.
Turning the cows out also gives an oppor-
tunity for thoroughly airing and purifying
the cowshed.

The Dairy For the production of the best dairy pro-
duce a suitable dairy must be provided, where,

DAIRYING 103

if possible, the following requirements should
be considered.

It should be well removed from the cow- situation
shed, piggeries and manure yard, as no other
liquid absorbs odours in the same way as
milk. Where possible it should have a
northern aspect.

The walls should be of brick, those facing Wails
inwards being glazed. An air space between
the walls is a great help in maintaining a
uniform temperature, for the same reason a
thatched roof is best.

For the floor concrete is best, sloping Floor
slightly to an open gutter which carries the
water outside the building into a trap drain.
There must be no drains in the dairy.

Ventilators near the floor at each end Ventilation
of the room, and one in the centre of the
roof.

Ordinary windows with blinds of fine gauze windows
wire.

Uniformity of temperature is most neces- Temperature
sary. Means should be provided for exclud-

io4 AGRICULTURE

ing the heat in summer, and for warming the
dairy in winter. Heating is done preferably
by hot water pipes, or by a slow combustion
stove. The best temperature is as close to
60° as possible all the year round. If
too dry and hot, a hard crust will form on
the ripening cream, and if too cold, it absorbs
all the impurities in the air.

To insure success in dairying, perfect
cleanliness is absolutely essential. The best
dairy and appliances in the world are worth-
less, if not combined with cleanliness. In
fact, it is the whole secret of the business
from cowshed onwards to market.
Cream Where there are even only a small number
s of cows, it will be found more profitable to
use a separator, because (i) more cream is
obtained ; (2) the cream is obtained quite
sweet, and may be sold in jugs or ripened
for butter-making ; (3) the separated milk is
fresh and much more valuable for feeding
young stock than skim milk, and in districts
where there is a demand for it, it may be

DAIRYING

sold at a cost of from id. to 2d. per quart.
For a dairy of more than twenty cows it
would be best
to have a separ-
ator and a small
steam-engine. In
addition to work-
ing the separa-
tor, this power
can, if required,
work the churn
and butter-
worker, besides
supplying all the
hot water, and
last but not ' T-

least, all dairy

Utensils Can be Hand Separator

thoroughly cleaned and purified each day
with live steam, than which there is nothing
more efficacious for cleansing.

Shallow pans setting is still continued in shallow pans

... . setting

some dairies, and there is no doubt that

0,
1)

CO

DAIRYING 107

where conditions are favourable the butter
produced from this cream excels all other in
flavour, but the maximum yield of butter is
not obtained.

BUTTER-MAKING

In feeding for butter and cheese making
more care is required than when the milk is
sold. For this purpose the milk is best when
the cows are on grass. Very often in the
summer they receive, in addition, cotton-cake
or linseed-cake, poor in oil ; where the rich
cake is used the butter is sometimes affected.

As butter is made all through the year, a
great part of the time the cows are on winter
rations.

Either of the rations already given will
produce good milk. Swedes and mangels are
most valuable foods on the farm, but they
must be fed with great care, always imme-
diately before or just after milking or else
out of doors, to prevent taint in the milk, and
consequently in the butter also.

io8 AGRICULTURE

Swedes are preferable to mangels, as they
produce butter of a better colour.

Cabbages are also a useful food, but the
same care must be observed in their use as in
the case of roots ; they produce rather pale
butter, wanting in flavour. Cotton-cake,
linseed cake (poor in oil), bean and pea meal,
maize meal, crushed oats, are all excellent
concentrated foods for butter production.

Brewers' grains should be used very
sparingly, or preferably not at all.
Treatment The milk having arrived in the dairy, it is
"butter- strained and separated. When drawn from
maklng the cow it is at a temperature of 95° F. ; 90°
to 95° F. is the right heat for separating, so
that the milk should be separated immediately
it comes into the dairy before it has lost its
animal heat, otherwise where it has fallen
below 90° F. it entails the labour of re-
heating.

The next process is the ripening of the
cream for churning. By ripening, in the
ordinary sense, is meant the production of a

DAIRYING 109

certain amount of lactic acid in the cream.
This is done for the following reasons : —

1. To yield the largest possible quantity
of butter.

2. The churning period is shortened.

3. The flavour is improved.

4. The removal of the buttermilk is
rendered more complete, and

5. As a consequence the butter keeps
longer.

To know just when the right stage of
acidity has been reached is a matter of
experience. Tests such as litmus paper and
the acidimeter may be used, but usually
the dairymaid must be able to decide by
means of taste and smell and the appearance
and texture of the cream when it is ready for
churning.

Cream may be ripened : -

i. Naturally, by leaving it exposed to the
air for a longer or shorter period, according
to the surrounding temperature. In summer,
ripening will take place in from twelve to

no AGRICULTURE

twenty-four hours, and in winter from two to
three days. The results by this method are
uncertain. The best temperature, where
cream is ripened after this fashion, is from
58° to 60° F.

2. The cream may be raised to 95° (the
temperature at which bacteria work best), and
is then allowed to fall to the temperature of
the air, after which ripening is very much
hastened.

3. By adding a "starter" to the cream.
A starter may be any liquid in which a con-
siderable quantity of acidity has been already
developed, such as sour milk, cream, or
butter-milk, or it may be a liquid inoculated
with a pure culture of the lactic acid bacillus.
Ripening is brought about by certain kinds of
micro-organisms, which in their growth pro-
duce lactic acid. By obtaining the desired kind
of micro-organism and growing it alone, a
" pure culture" is the result. This upure
culture " is next put into milk, which then
becomes "a starter."

DAIRYING 1 1 1

With regard to the use of pure cultures
there is great diversity of opinion. In this
country they are comparatively little used,
but in Germany and Denmark, especially the
latter country, nearly all the butter produced
is made from cream, first pasteurised and then
ripened with an artificial bacteria culture. In
careful and experienced hands, their use is
followed with excellent results, but where all
the surroundings are cleanly and the atmo-
sphere pure, the use of such artificial means
is not necessary to procure butter of the finest
quality.

The texture of the butter is largely
influenced by the temperature which the
cream undergoes whilst ripening.

It has been proved that to secure a
really firm butter, the cream should be
reduced to a temperature, if possible, below
50° F. for several hours before ripening
begins. When cream has been separated
by the deep setting system, it has already
experienced this temperature, and is ready

ii2 AGRICULTURE

for ripening when removed from the milk.
In ripening separator cream, the first thing
is to reduce the temperature as rapidly
and as uniformly as possible to below 50°.
Cream during ripening should not be sub-
jected to sudden and great changes of
temperature. When cream of different
ages is to be mixed for use, it must be
done at least twelve hours before churning,
otherwise a certain amount of butter fat is
lost.

The best The best churn is one which churns by con-
n cussion, not friction; "Bradford's Diaphragm "
and the " End over End " churns are most
satisfactory. They are easily cleaned and
emptied, and the progress of the churning
can be observed through the glass fixed in
the lid of the churn.

A valve is also provided for ventilation. It
is usual in churning to make from fifty to
sixty revolutions per minute, but each churn
has a certain speed at which the best results
are attained, this speed should be ascertained

DAIRYING 113

and adhered to. Perhaps the most important
point in churning is the temperature of the
cream, which must be regulated according to
the temperature of the air. The following
table is often used as a guide : —

Temp, of Air. Temp, of Cream.

66° F. 55° F.

64° F. 56° F.

62° F. 57° F.

60° F. 58° F.

58° F. 59° F.

55° F. 60° F.

When too thick the cream should be thinned
by the addition of water.

The best results are obtained with a con-
sistency yielding three pounds of butter to
every gallon of cream.

Sometimes in winter, to meet the demand Colouring
of the market, it is necessary to colour the
butter. The best way to do this is to keep
a few Jerseys in the herd, the milk of these
cattle being so rich in colour that a small

VI. H

H4 AGRICULTURE

quantity added to a considerable bulk of
ordinary milk will usually be sufficient to keep
up the necessary colour. The milk of cows
which have calved a long time and are going
dry is also deficient in colour, and too many
of these " stale " cattle should not be allowed
in a butter-making herd at the same time.
Otherwise one of the many preparations of
annatto, for instance, " Danish butter colour,"
may be used. It must be carefully measured
and diluted with water, and the quantity used
must be according to the depth of colour
required.

One drachm will be sufficient for from two
to six gallons of cream.

Preparation The churn should be scalded with boil-

s ing water, and then well rubbed over

with salt, after which it must be reduced to

the desired temperature by means of cold

water.

The butter worker, Scotch hands, butter
board, etc., must all be treated in the same
fashion. Having prepared the cream and

DAIRYING 115

churn, cover the mouth of the churn with
a strainer cloth, and carefully pour in the
cream, gently squeezing the last through
with a squeegee, against the side of the
churn. At starting the churn should be
turned slowly, and at about every eight turns
it must be ventilated by means of the valve
in the lid until no more gas is given off. This
is gas which has been formed by some of the
fermentations going on in the cream, and it
is liberated during the first few minutes.
Having gradually arrived at the necessary
speed, this must be maintained regularly until
the butter " breaks," that is, until the fat
globules have united to such an extent that
they are visible on the glass in the lid of the
churn.

Then open the churn, and add the "break-
ing water,"-— i.e. the water which is added to
assist the butter to break into granules and
to reduce the temperature, — at the rate of
from one to two quarts to each gallon of
cream, according to circumstances, which will

n6 AGRICULTURE

be understood by experience. This is to
reduce the temperature and prevent too rapid
gathering of the butter granules. After this,
churning is proceeded with till the grains are
about the size of half a grain of rice.

At this stage the butter-milk should be
drawn off, through a hair sieve covered with
butter muslin, and the butter allowed to
drain thoroughly. Water, at a temperature
of from 45° to 55° (according to the season),
is used for washing. It should be strained
into the churn which is revolved about five
or six times, the water is then withdrawn,
and .the butter allowed to drain as before,
after which the second washing water is
added in the same manner.

The quantity of water used each time
should be about the same as the amount of
butter-milk withdrawn.

As little washing should be done as
possible, and, if properly carried out, two
waters ought to be sufficient ; the addition of
a small amount of salt to the first water helps

DAIRYING 117

to remove the butter-milk without perceptibly
salting the butter.

The usual method is to use a brine Salting
made by adding two pounds of salt to each
gallon of water, and leaving it on the butter
for ten to fifteen minutes. There should be
just enough brine to cover the butter. The
amount of salt used is a matter of taste, and
the brine must be made to suit the require-
ments of the market.

After brining, the butter is removed from
the churn to the worker by means of a
wooden scoop. Butter should never be
touched by hand. The worker is used to
solidify the grains, and to press out the super-
fluous moisture. Great care should be exer-
cised in using the worker, as carelessness in
this respect very often completely ruins the
texture of the butter. The action should
be pressure, without grinding or rubbing,
and the movement of the roller should cor-
respond to that of the frame, otherwise
the butter will be injured. It should be

n8 AGRICULTURE

worked until all the free water is expelled,
and, at this stage, properly made butter
should, when broken, have the appearance
of cast iron. If the butter is soft, do not
finish working it, as it is impossible to do so
without injury. Remove it to a cool place,
and leave it for as long as possible to harden,
when it may be finished off and made up in
safety.

Dry salting When dry salting is done, the salt should
be added to the butter just after it has been
removed from the churn. Pure dairy salt
only should be used. It is generally added in
the proportion of a quarter to three quarters
of an oz. to the lb., according to taste.
First, roll the butter out and sprinkle on it
half the salt, then roll it up and spread out
again, after which the remainder of the salt
is added. When this has been well
worked in, it should be removed to a cool
place and left for as long as possible — in
any case, not less than thirty minutes, to
give time for all the salt to be dissolved.

DAIRYING 119

After that, the working may be finished.
Salt has a deepening effect upon the
colour of butter, therefore if it is made
up while some of the salt remains undis-
solved in places, the result is a speckled
or mottled appearance, owing to the
water in the butter dissolving the salt at
those particular points and deepening the
colour.

Butter which is intended for immediate con-
sumption may contain more water than that
which is to be kept for any length of time.
It is usually made up in i Ib. or J Ib. bricks
or rolls. Various sized bricks have been
made, but since this shape has become so
popular, a standard size has come into general
use — 5i by 2-J by i\ inches. These bricks
are wrapped in grease-proof paper, and packed
in specially made boxes. These are best made
of wood, as cardboard is liable to taint the
butter if it remains in it for any length of
time. The average composition of butter
is : —

i2o AGRICULTURE

Fat . . 85 per cent.

Casein . . i ,,

Salt . 2

Water . .12 „

Except under most favourable circum-
stances, butter-making is the least profitable
branch of dairying. It takes usually three
gallons of ordinary cow's milk to produce
i Ib. butter, which realises on an average
is. 2d. per Ib. This equals only just over
4jd. per gallon.

MILK SELLING

This is the most profitable and least
troublesome method of disposing of milk on
a dairy farm. In many cases, where formerly
butter and cheese were largely made, raw
milk is now the staple commodity. The
composition of good milk is as follows :—

Water .... 87-60
Fat 3-25

Casein . , , . 3-40

DAIRYING 121

Albumen . . . -45

Sugar 4-55

Ash . 75

Milk intended for consumption as such
must be: ist, of high quality, as far as its
composition is concerned (the Government
standard requires that it should contain, at
least, 3 per cent, of fat and 8-5 per cent, of
solids, not fat) ; 2nd, produced by healthy,
well-fed cows, kept in clean, properly venti-
lated sheds ; jrd, it must be clean.

In view of the milk standard, and the
attention which public bodies are bestowing
upon the question of our milk supply, it
behoves all farmers to awake to the fact that,
if they wish to place upon the market a milk
such as is now required, very different
methods of production and treatment will
have to be adopted. First and foremost it
will be necessary for them to know the
quality and quantity of milk given by each
cow. This may be satisfactorily and easily

122 AGRICULTURE

arrived at by the use of one of the various
milk-testers now to be had. The Gerber
Milk Tester, obtainable from the Dairy Supply
Company, is, perhaps, the most satisfactory
for the ordinary farmer. As already stated,
the milk from each cow should be weighed
daily ; in some places it is done weekly, but
this is not nearly so advantageous, and is very
apt to be forgotten altogether.

The machine stands in the shed, and after
weighing the milk, the amount is at once
entered on the sheet which bears the name
of each cow. If this were done farmers
would be surprised, in many cases, to find
that they were housing and feeding animals
which were not worth their keep, and in
time this weeding out of all cows giving
milk poor in quality or quantity would tend
considerably to improve the milking herds of
the country.

A well-bred, profitable cow costs no more
to keep in labour and food than a poor
one, therefore why not go to the trouble of

DAIRYING 123

finding out which are the poor ones and
getting rid of them at the earliest oppor-
tunity? Just as milk is prepared for cheese-
making and cream for butter-making, so milk
should be prepared for sale.

Cleanliness is equally important, whether
the milk is intended for consumption as such,
or for manufacture. All the precautions
already mentioned with regard to milkers
and milking should be taken to prevent the
access of dirt, or taints to the milk whilst in
the shed. The vessels used for containing
milk should be of the best tin ware (with all
seams smoothly soldered), kept scrupulously
clean and bright. Milk is much more easily
removed from utensils when it has not been
allowed to dry on their surface. Therefore
they should all be rinsed with tepid water
immediately after use, then thoroughly washed
and scrubbed, especially in the seams, with
hot water, after which they should be
steamed for a few minutes. When dry, if
possible, they should be placed in the sun-

i24 AGRICULTURE

light, and with this treatment they will
always be clean and sweet. It may some-
times be necessary to give a good scouring
with soap or soda, but when this is done
the vessels must be thoroughly scrubbed
out with hot water before steaming. It is
essential that when not in use they should
be kept in a clean atmosphere. As soon as
the milk is drawn from the cow, it must be
at once removed from the cowshed to the
dairy to be strained, aerated and refrigerated.
It is then ready to be despatched to the
consumer or retailer.

Properly handled, milk which can be
reduced to a temperature of from 45° to
50° F. should keep good for over forty-
eight hours. Hitherto there has been greater
license in feeding for milk selling than for
butter and cheese-making. Now, however,
more care in this respect will have to be
exercised so as to keep up to the required
standard. Some of the best milk-producing
foods are hay, straw, roots (carefully fed),

DAIRYING 125

cabbages, lucerne, linseed-cake, D. C. cake,
ground oats, bran, beanmeal and Indian meal,
maltcombs, maize.

Of the concentrated foods, an animal
should receive up to eight Ibs. per day for
each two gallons of milk produced. Succulent
food must not be given in too great quantities,
especially forcing foods, such as brewers'
grains. Some milk contractors stipulate that
these shall not be given at all, as they pro-
duce a very "unstable" milk, i.e. milk which
sours rapidly.

Where farms are situated near the town, Delivery
it will pay the farmer much better to retail
his own milk as he will then get (according
to locality) 3d. to 4d. per quart for it.

In most cases, however, from different
reasons, this is not practicable, and it has
first to be sent to the retailer who delivers to
the householder. The farmer then realises
from 6d. to 8d. per imperial gallon as an
average price all the year round. In London
milk is bought by the large dealers by the

126 AGRICULTURE

" barn " gallon, which consists of seventeen
pints. The average price is is. id. per
" barn."

Milk is bought by contract usually for
six or twelve months.

The contracts are made at the end of
March, which, from the farmer's point of
view, is a very bad arrangement. At that
time of year milk is plentiful, and for fear
of having large quantities left on his hands
he often has to make contracts at a price
which does not even pay expenses, when
later on in the season milk becomes scarce.
To get the best return from his cows, the
farmer would do well to utilise the milk for
cheese-making during two or three months
in the year, say from the middle of April
to the end of June. He would then be
much better able to dictate his own terms
when he came to put his milk on the market,
and in the long run the monetary advantage
would quite outweigh the extra trouble
involved.

DAIRYING 127

If a certain number of farmers could be in-
duced to adopt this course, the market price of
milk would be considerably enhanced. Wher-
ever possible milk should be sold by weight,
and according to the amount of butter fat which
it contains. This method is always adopted in
the case of selling to factories or creameries,
where the milk is tested immediately on
delivery: the farmer obtains from is. to
is. id. per Ib. of butter fat, and he also
receives back the separated milk. By this
means the man who keeps well-bred cows
and feeds them properly is placed in a much
better position than his neighbour, who
perhaps cares nothing for the quality of the
milk and feeds only for quantity.

Unfortunately, this system is hardly prac-
ticable except in the above instances, where
it should always be insisted upon.

In talking of milk selling it should be
mentioned that there is an increasing demand
for sterilised milk. The appliances for doing
this are now so simplified that it would be

1 28 AGRICULTURE

possible for anyone to carry this out success-
fully with little extra trouble. It realises
5<i. a quart, and as there is no expense in
the manufacture of it, beyond the heating
apparatus, it will be seen that milk sold at
that price should return a handsome profit.
The most expensive item in connection with
it is the bottles, but as these are charged to
the customer, in addition to the 5d. paid for
the milk, that point is not of so much con-
sequence to the producer.

FIFTY DAIRY RULES

The following valuable set of rules are
issued by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. A
large edition printed on card can be obtained,
suitable for posting in the cowhouse or
dairy : —

THE OWNER AND HIS HELPERS

i. Read current dairy literature and keep
posted in new ideas.

DAIRYING 129

2. Observe and enforce the utmost cleanli-

ness about the cattle, their attendants,
the stable, the dairy and all utensils.

3. A person suffering from any disease, or

who has been exposed to contagious
disease, must remain away from the
cows and milk.

THE STABLE

4. Keep dairy cattle in a room or building

by themselves. It is preferable to have
no cellar below and no storage loft
above.

5. Stable should be well ventilated, lighted,

and drained ; should have tight floors
and walls and be plainly constructed.

6. Never use musty or dirty litter.

7. Allow no strong smelling material in the

stable for any length of time. Store
the manure under cover outside the
cow stable, and remove it to a distance
as often as practicable.

8. Whitewash the stable once or twice a

VI. I

130 AGRICULTURE

year ; use landplaster in the manure
gutters daily.

9. Use no dry, dusty feed just previous to
milking ; if fodder is dusty, sprinkle it
before it is fed.

10. Clean and thoroughly air the stable be-
fore milking ; in hot weather sprinkle
the floor.

TI. Keep the stable and dairy room in good
condition, and then insist that the dairy,
factory, or place where the milk goes
be kept equally well.

THE cows

12. Have the herd examined at least twice a

year by a skilled veterinarian.

13. Promptly remove from the herd any

animal suspected of being in bad
health, and reject her milk. Never
add an animal to the herd until certain
it is free from disease, especially tuber-
culosis.

14. Do not move cows faster than a comfort-

DAIRYING 131

able walk while on the way to place of
milking or feeding.

15. Never allow the cows to be excited by

hard driving, abuse, loud talking, or
unnecessary disturbance ; do not expose
them to cold or storms.

1 6. Do not change the feed suddenly.

17. Feed liberally, and use only fresh,

palatable feed stuffs ; in no case
should decomposed or mouldy material
be used.

1 8. Provide water in abundance, easy of

access, and always pure ; fresh, but
not too cold.

19. Salt should always be accessible.

20. Do not allow any strong flavoured food,

like garlic, cabbage, and turnips, to
be eaten, except immediately after
milking.

21. Clean the entire body of the cow daily.

If hair in the region of the udder is
not easily kept clean, it should be,
clipped.

132 AGRICULTURE

22. Do not use the milk within twenty days

before calving, nor for three to five
days afterwards.

MILKING

23. The milker should be clean in all re-

spects ; he should not use tobacco ; he
should wash and dry his hands just
before milking.

24. The milker should wear a clean outer

garment, used only when milking,

and kept in a clean place at other
times.

25. Brush the udder and surrounding

parts just before milking, and wipe
them with a clean, damp cloth or
sponge.

26. Milk quietly, quickly, cleanly, and thor-

oughly. Cows do not like unnecessary
noise or delay. Commence milking at
exactly the same hour every morning
and evening, and milk the cows in the
same order.

DAIRYING 133

27. Throw away (but not on the floor —

better in the gutter) the first few
streams from each teat ; this milk is
very watery and of little value, but it
may injure the rest.

28. If in any milking a part of the milk is

bloody or stringy or unnatural in ap-
pearance, the whole mess should be
rejected.

29. Milk with dry hands ; never allow the

hands to come in contact with the
milk.

30. Do not allow dogs, cats, or loafers to be

around at milking times.

31. If any accident occurs by which a pail

full or partly full of milk becomes
dirty, do not try to remedy this by
straining, but reject all this milk and
rinse the pail.

32. Weigh and record the milk given by

each cow, and take a sample morning
and night, at least once a week, for
testing by the fat test.

134 AGRICULTURE

CARE OF MILK

33. Remove the milk of every cow at once

from the stable to a clean, dry room,
where the air is pure and sweet. Do
not allow cans to remain in stables
while they are being filled.

34. Strain the milk through a metal gauze

and a flannel cloth or layer of cotton,
as soon as it is drawn.

35. Aerate and cool the milk as soon as

strained. If an apparatus for airing
and cooling at the same time is not at
hand, the milk should be aired first.
This must be done in pure air, and it
should then be cooled to 45 degrees if
the milk is for shipment, or 60 degrees
if for home use or delivery to a factory.

36. Never close a can containing warm milk

which has not been aerated.

37. If cover is left off the can, a piece of

cloth or mosquito-netting should be
used to keep out insects.

DAIRYING 135

38. If milk is stored, it should be held in

tanks of fresh, cold water (renewed
daily), in a clean, dry, cold room.
Unless it is desired to remove cream,
it should be stirred with a tin stirrer
often enough to prevent forming a
thick cream layer.

39. Keep the night milk under shelter so

that rain cannot get into the cans.
In warm weather hold it in a tank
of fresh cold water.

40. Never mix fresh warm milk with that

which has been cooled.

41. Do not allow the milk to freeze.

42. Under no circumstances should anything

be added to milk to prevent its sour-
ing. Cleanliness and cold are the
only preventives needed.

43. All milk should be in good condition

when delivered. This may make it
necessary to deliver twice a day during
the hottest weather.

44. When cans are hauled far, they should

136 AGRICULTURE

be full, . and carried in a spring
waggon.

45. In hot weather cover the cans when

moved in a waggon, with a clean wet
blanket or canvas.

THE UTENSILS

46. Milk utensils for farm use should be made

of metal, and have all joints smoothly
soldered. Never allow them to be-
come rusty or rough inside.

47. Do not haul waste products back to the

farm in the same cans you use for
delivering milk ; when this is unavoid-
able, insist that the skim milk or whey
tank should be kept clean.

48. Cans used for the return of skim milk or

whey should be emptied and cleaned
as soon as they arrive at the farm.

49. Clean all dairy utensils by first thoroughly

rinsing them in warm water; then
clean inside and out with a brush and
hot water, in which a cleansing material

DAIRYING 137

has been dissolved, then rinse, and
lastly sterilise by boiling water or
steam. Use pure water only.
50. After cleaning, keep utensils inverted in
pure air and sun if possible, till wanted
for use.

CHEESEMAKING.

We are accustomed to hearing that bread
is the staff of life. It follows that, if the
great desideratum of working men and women
is to earn their u bread and cheese," next
in importance to the staff of life, comes
cheese.

Therefore, for an article of such importance
in the commissariat department, there must
always be a sure and steady sale. Cheese-
making is a more difficult art than butter-
making, as the number of conditions which
have to be taken into account in connection
with it are much more numerous than in the
case of buttermaking.

A successful cheesemaker must thoroughly

138 AGRICULTURE

understand, not only the principles of cheese-
making, but also the principles of milk
production and management. He must have
a knowledge of the influence of different soils
on the character of the milk and be able to
alter the conditions of manufacture to suit its
requirements.

For instance, in making cheese from milk,
produced on a limestone soil, it is necessary
to adopt lower temperatures during the
process of manufacture, because such milk
has great keeping qualities and acidifies
slowly. On the other hand, higher tem-
peratures must be adopted in the case of
milk from gravel or clay soils which are
deficient in lime.

Roughly speaking, cheese consists of fairly
equal proportions of casein, water, and fat,
with a certain proportion of ash, and very
small quantities of milk sugar. Casein is the
most important constituent of cheese, and
milk intended for cheesemaking has always
been valued according to the amount of

DAIRYING 139

casein it contained, irrespective of the
fat.

However, it is now being gradually accepted
that the fat is of nearly equal importance
with the casein. Hence the richer the milk
is in fat, the more cheese it will make. As
the result of numerous experiments, carried
out by Dr Van Slyke, it has been proved that
the percentage of casein increases in propor-
tion to the increase of fat, up to a certain
point (about 4.5% fat).

Casein in milk exists in a semi-dissolved or
colloidal form.

The object of the cheesemaker is to Rennet
change it from the soluble to the insoluble
or coagulated form. During the process of
coagulation, the casein entangles the fat in
its mass. The coagulation of the casein
may be effected by different re-agents, but
the one usually employed is rennet, which is
a secretion of the glands of the fourth or
digestive stomach of the calf. It must be
obtained from an animal at least a week old,

140 AGRICULTURE

which is still living on milk alone. The
glands are most active whilst digestion is
going on, therefore the calf should be killed
two or three hours after it has had a good
meal. The rennet stomach or " veil " is then
carefully removed and cleaned, but it must
not be washed. After which it is salted and
dried, ready for use. "Veils" keep best
when tied up in bundles and hung in a dry
airy place. To prepare the extract, they are
soaked in warm water containing a little salt
until the active principle is thoroughly removed
from them. The extract is afterwards filtered,
and salt and a little saltpetre are added as
preservatives.

Formerly it was the custom amongst
cheesemakers to manufacture their own
rennet, but this is no longer necessary or advis-
able, as the commercial rennet is now in every
way superior, being uniform in strength, free
from taint, and of a much better keeping
quality ; good points which cannot, as a rule,
be claimed for the home-made article.

DAIRYING 141

Home-made rennet is still preferred by
many makers for Stilton cheese, owing to
the fact that as the commercial rennet
contains a strong preservative, it cripples the
growth of the mould, necessary in the ripen-
ing process. To obviate this, the American
rennet prepared in tablets may be used for
Stilton making, as it contains no preservative.
Rennet should be kept in earthenware jars in
a cool dark place, as it contains animal matter
which is liable to putrefy. Its cost is about
i os. per gallon.

The cheesemaking season usually lasts
from the beginning of April to the middle
or end of September. The best cheese is
made from milk produced by cows fed on
grass. But when the pastures are insuffi-
cient, it is necessary to give such concentrated
foods as decorticated cotton cake, bran,
barley meal, and crushed oats in addition.
A good cow produces on an average 4! cwts.
of cheese during the season. On a cheese-
making farm it is generally arranged as far

season

1 42 AGRICULTURE

as possible to have all the cows calving in the
spring, so as to obtain the largest supply of
milk during the summer months. Milk
selling is carried on through the winter.
The returns from such a system as this
cheesemaking and milk selling would be, per
cow, somewhat as follows :—

4 J cwts. cheese @ 588. per cwt. £13 i o

200 gals, milk @ yd. per gall. 5 16 8

(out of cheesemaking season)

Value of whey . . . i o o

Total value . £19 17 8

The To a large extent the success of cheese-

Acidimeter i • i j i r - T

making depends upon the amount or acidity
which is developed in the milk, whey and
curd, at different stages of the manufacture.
To ascertain this correctly, the acidimeter
has been introduced by Professor Lloyd. It
is specially intended to overcome the natural
inaptitude which so many cheesemakers un-

DAIRYING 143

fortunately possess, to estimate by the senses
of taste and smell, the various degrees of
acidity in milk, whey and curd, upon which
the ultimate character of the product so much
depends.

The acidimeter possesses the special ad-
vantage that the acidities as determined by
it can be daily recorded as figures for future
reference. By this means the maker is
enabled to see the degrees of acidity he had
attained in certain cheeses, which, when sold,
were considered " too sweet," a too acid," or
"just right," as the case may be, and act
accordingly. The buttermaker also can
ascertain to what degree of ripeness the cream
should arrive before churning and thus be
certain of a more uniform product. The prin-
ciple of the acidimeter is that if an alkali and
an acid are brought together they neutralise
each other, or, in other words, they combine to
form a salt. In this case the acid is lactic acid,
and the alkali, caustic soda of a certain strength.
To show when the exact point of neutralisa-

144 AGRICULTURE

tion has been reached an indicator is required.
For this purpose a chemical substance called
phenol phthalein is used. It is colourless in
acid and pink in alkali. The greater the degree
of acidity present the more soda solution will
be required to produce the pink colour that
is to effect the neutralisation, and vice versa.
For the use of the acidimeter we require :—

(1) Standard solution of caustic soda. Soda
is generally used, but any alkali, such as
potash, lime, magnesia would do. By
standard solution is meant a solution of
which a known quantity will neutralise a
definite amount of acid. In this case the
standard solution is of such strength that one
cubic centimetre neutralises .01 grammes, or
looth part of a gramme, (i gramme equals
the weight of i cubic centimetre of distilled
water, at 4° C. i cubic centimetre equals the
loooth part of a metre.)

(2) Ten cubic centimetres milk or whey, or
whatever is to be tested ; in all estimations
ten cubic centimetres are used.

DAIRYING 145

(3) Phenol phthalein, two or three drops.

(4) A burette. This is a graduated glass
tube divided into twenty-five equal divisions,
or cubic centimetres. Each cubic centimetre
is subdivided into ten parts. Each large
division denotes .1 of i%.

(5) A pipette capable of holding ten cubic
centimetres.

(6) A porcelain dish.

Method — The burette is filled to the top with
soda solution. Ten cubic centimetres of milk,
accurately measured in the pipette, are run into
the porcelain dish, and two or three drops of
phenol are added, and the dish placed on the
stand under the burette. The soda is then
run in very carefully, and stirred gently until
a very faint crimson tint appears. The acid
originally present in the milk has now been
destroyed. The number of divisions of soda
used is then carefully read and noted.

Thus, if two large divisions have been con-
sumed to neutralise the acid in the milk, the
percentage of acid denoted is .2.

VI.

146

AGRICULTURE

In all estimations ten cubic centimetres of
milk are used. m If, therefore, these ten cubic
centimetres of milk require two cubic centi-
metres of soda for neutralisation, then they
contain -jjhj of a gramme of lactic acid,
and there would therefore be T2oths in 100
cubic centimetres of milk, or .2.

Cheeses are divided into three classes,
namely Hard Pressed, such as Cheddar ; Blue
Veined, such as Stilton ; and Soft Cheese,
such as Camembert. By hard pressed cheese
is meant one from which the whey is expelled
by pressure ; by blue veined that to which
no pressure is applied, the whey being
expelled by draining and evaporation. The
chief varieties of these classes made in Eng-
land are : —
Hard Pressed Caerphilly

Cheddar Wiltshire

Cheshire Blue Veined

Derby Stilton

Gloucester Wensleydale

Leicester Cotherstone

Dorset Blue
Soft

Camembert
Pont 1'eveque
Coulommier
Port de Salut

DAIRYING 147

In this article, it will be only possible to
give the principles of manufacture of one of
the leading varieties in each class.

Anyone who has thoroughly grasped the
principles and system of making of one
cheese in a class, and is skilful in putting these
principles into practice, should be quite able
to make any variety in the same class, allow-
ing for the differences of detail.

Cheddar — It has already been said that Cheddar
for successful cheese and buttermaking, we
require the best milk from healthy cows,
produced and kept in the most cleanly
manner. In addition to this, we must have
a suitable dairy (already described), contain-
ing all necessary apparatus. The larger
utensils required for Cheddar cheesemaking
are :—

(i) A jacketed vat or round cheese tub,
made of tin, lined copper. Where a jacketed
vat is used, it is easiest, and, in the end, most
economical to have a boiler for generating
steam. The " Standard ' steam boiler

i48 AGRICULTURE

(of which an illustration has been given),
supplied by the Dairy Outfit Company, will
be found most satisfactory for this work.

(2) A metal cooler and racks.

(3) A curd mill.

(4) One pair of American curd knives.

(5) One platform weighing machine.

(6) Three cheese presses.

(7) Two tin weighing cans.

(8) Acidimeter.

And, in addition, various things, such as
strainer, breaker, whey syphon, rennet mea-
sure, stopwatch, weights, moulds, followers
and wooden block, cheesecloth, thermometer,
pails, etc. etc.

Cheddar cheese season begins in April and
lasts till about the end of October. This
cheese must be produced from grass, not from
winter rations. It is made from a two meals'
milk, that is, two milkings. The evening's
milk is used to procure a certain amount of
acidity. Before commencing the process of
cheesemaking, it is necessary that the degree

DAIRYING 149

of ripeness or acidity in the milk should be
known. Although this should not have pro-
ceeded to such an extent as to give a distinctly
sour taste to the milk, there should be a
sufficient quantity of lactic acid developed at
the start to enable the process in Cheddar
making to be completed in not more than six
hours.

Evenings milk — This must be refrigerated. Evening's
In spring it is sufficient to run it over the
empty refrigerator, in summer cool to about
60° F., and stir it frequently to prevent the
cream from rising. Next morning the tem-
perature of the milk is about the same as that
of the surrounding air, and a certain amount
of cream has risen to the surface. This is
skimmed off.

The evening's milk is heated independently,
and then mixed with the morning's, as the
morning's milk is poured in, the cream at 90° F.
is poured with it, through the strainer.

If the evening's milk is acid, the tempera-
ture is not raised at all, but the morning's

1 5o AGRICULTURE

milk is heated higher to make up for it.
When more than .28 of acid is present in the
evening's milk, the idea of cheesemaking
should be abandoned.

If it has coagulated, the whole milk may
be churned.

Tests for The two tests in common use are the
y rennet test, and the soda test or acidimeter,
which has already been described. The
rennet test depends upon the fact that rennet
is assisted by acid, so that the length of time
taken for coagulation depends upon the
acidity in the milk.

For its use we require :—
4 ozs. milk at 84° F.
i drachm of rennet.
Glass.
Straws.
Stopwatch.
Thermometer.

Method — Warm the glass, then pour in the
rennet, and add two or three pieces of split
straw about half to three-quarters of an inch

DAIRYING 151

long. Place the thermometer in the glass, and
pourin all the milk. Stir rapidly for ten seconds,
then remove the thermometer. Directly the
milk coagulates the straws should stop and
reverse, usually at the end of about twenty-
two seconds, which is then called a twenty-two
second rennet test. The milk for cheese-
making should give an acid test of from .21%
to .22%, and a rennet test of twenty-two or
twenty-three seconds.

If the milk is too sweet acidity must be Starter
promoted by adding sour milk or whey.
Milk which gives as much as a twenty-eight
second rennet test is sweet, and should have
about 2% of starter added. With a twenty-
four second rennet test i% is sufficient.

Rennet acts best at a temperature of about Setting
95° F., but the best results are obtained
between 84° and 86°. If milk is set at a
high temperature, the fat has a tendency to
separate, but at 85° (the usual temperature),
we obtain a fairly rapid coagulation without
injuring the fat. The setting temperature

152 AGRICULTURE

also depends to a certain extent on the
quantity of the milk.

A large body retains its temperature and
acidity better than a small one. Rennet is
usually added in the proportion of one
drachm to three gallons. This is mixed
with four or five times its volume of cold
water, and should be well stirred into the
milk for from three to five minutes. After
this, the stirring should only be done very
lightly on the top, so as to prevent the
cream rising, until signs of coagulation are
noticed, which is first shown by a slight
thickening of the milk.

The vat must then be covered over, and the
milk allowed to remain perfectly quiet while
the process of coagulation is going on. As
soon as the coagulation is strong enough, the
curd may be cut. This may be ascertained
by gently inserting the finger and raising it
slightly, and when ready the curd will
break clean across and show signs of
draining.

DAIRYING 153

Coagulation should be complete in about
forty-five minutes from the time of adding the
rennet.

This is done to ensure the expulsion of Cutting
the whey, and the thorough contraction
of the casein. Great care should be exercised
in cutting the curd, which is extremely
tender at this stage, otherwise a great loss
of fat will be the result. It is cut twice with
the horizontal knife, and twice with the
vertical. These knives consist of a number of
steel blades arranged in a frame ; in the one
case the blades are placed horizontally, and
in the other vertically.

The horizontal knife is usually put through
first in a longitudinal direction. These knives
cut the curd into cubes about f of an inch in
diameter, though the size of the cube is
regulated somewhat according to the amount
of acidity present. Curd in which there is
much acidity is cut smaller than a sweet one.
After cutting, allow the curd to stand for
from two to three minutes, so that each little

154 AGRICULTURE

cube has time to shrink and harden on the
outside, which prevents the loss of fat. As
soon as the curd is cut, it should be gently
stirred for about twenty minutes before scald-
ing is begun.
Scalding Scalding has a twofold object :—

1. The contraction of the curd and the
expulsion of the whey.

2. To promote acidity.

It is imperative that the scalding should
take place evenly throughout the whole mass,
and to this end the curd must be constantly
stirred and the heat applied very gradually,
about i° in every 2| minutes from the setting
point of the milk up to about 100° F., accord-
ing to circumstances.

Directly heat is applied to curd, it parts
with its whey and contracts, and as the
particles shrink and harden, stirring may be
done more energetically without loss of fat.
When using a jacketed vat and heating by
steam, it is necessary to turn off the steam
about 3° before the required temperature is

DAIRYING 155

reached, as the heat that the vat itself con-
tains will raise it sufficiently.

If an ordinary round cheese tub is used,
scalding will be done by the use of hot whey,
and the temperature must be raised in three
stages — first to 88C P\, then to 92° F., and
finally to 100° F. Scalding by hot whey is
done by taking out a certain quantity of whey,
heating it, and returning it to the vat. Any
quantity may be taken out, and in order to
know to what temperature this should be
brought so as to raise the contents of the
vats the following formula is used :—

Multiply total number of gallons in vat by Formula for

, , , ,. . , ascertaining

the degrees it has to be raised, divide by the to what
number of gallons taken out, and add result thTwhey11"'
to the temperature of the vat ; e.g., if the mutt be
total number of gallons in the vat amount to r<
thirty gallons, and four gallons have been
taken out-
jo x 4 = 120 -=- 4 30 + temperature

of vat, say 84° F. — 114.
Stirring may be continued for a short time

156 AGRICULTURE

after the desired temperature has been
reached, and then the curd may be allowed
to settle or " pitch," until the particles have
contracted to about half their original size,
and become u shotty," i.e. hard enough when
pressed between the fingers to fall apart
when the pressure is relaxed, exhibiting no
tendency to stick together.

After the curd has settled long enough
(somewhere about forty-five minutes) to
ensure the proper consistency of the curd
and the right amount of acid, the whey may
be withdrawn.

In dealing with acid curds, it will be
necessary to remove part of the whey either
just after cutting (when very acid), or after
the maximum scald is reached, leaving just
enough whey to float the curd till it is
sufficiently dry.

The whey contains the milk sugar which
is the cause of the acidity.

From the time of cutting till the whey is
drawn acidity develops from .14% to .

DAIRYING 157

Just before drawing the whey, a wooden
rack and weights are put on for a few
minutes to solidify the curd, and the whey
is then drawn off, after which the curd is cut
down the centre, and if the quantity is small,
say from about thirty to forty gallons of
milk, it may be rolled up immediately to the
other end of the vat. In dealing with larger
quantities, the curd should be cut down the
centre, and then across into square blocks,
and left spread out to drain for a few
minutes. The blocks should be pushed on
either side, leaving a channel down the
centre to allow free drainage for the whey.
They are then piled upon each other, two or
three deep, covered with a clean cheese cloth,
and the rack and weights put on again to
expel the whey.

At first, about every twenty minutes, the
curd is uncovered and turned, the parts which
were uppermost being placed inwards ; subse-
quently the development of the acidity must
regulate the turning and treatment of the curd.

158 AGRICULTURE

Acid curd must be frequently opened out
and turned, to hasten on the drying process
before the acid has developed too far. Sweet
curds are kept warm and disturbed as little
as possible. During this process of "matting"
the development of the acidity causes a con-
siderable change in the condition of the
curd. It becomes elastic, smooth, and, when
torn apart, distinctly stringy, and has an
acid smell. When the curd contains from
.75% to .80% acid, it is ground in the curd
mill, and salted in the proportion of i oz.
salt to 3 Ibs. curd ; the salt must be very well
stirred in.

It is then filled into the moulds lined with
a clean cheese cloth, and put in press, at first
with only the weight of the screw.

The temperature of the curd when put in
press should not be above 75°. If too warm,
the fat is liable to be pressed out and lost.
After two or three hours, the pressure may
be increased to about 6 cwt., and left so
overnight. The following day increase

DAIRYING 159

pressure up to 10 cwt., ending finally by
from 1 6 to 30 cwt., according to the size of
the cheese.

The pressure should be uniform, and, if
possible, continuous ; the best cheese presses
are those with which the pressure follows
the cheese as it shrinks. Where screw
presses are used, the screws should be
tightened as they become loose.

The morning after going to press, the
cheese must be taken out, turned, and have
a clean cloth put on, and the following morn-
ing the process is repeated. On the third
day the same thing is done again, and a
capping of unbleached calico is put on one
end. The next day it is capped at the other
end, and put back into the press for a few
hours.

It may then be taken out, well greased,
bandaged, labelled, and removed to the
ripening room.

When the cheese comes from the press, it Ripening
should be taken to the ripening room to be

160 AGRICULTURE

kept at a temperature between 60° and 65°,
where a series of fermentations take place,
during which the casein becomes soluble, and
the cheese acquires the peculiar and charac-
teristic flavour necessary.

Many investigations have been carried out
with regard to this subject of cheese ripening,
but even now it is very imperfectly under-
stood.

As far as has been ascertained, the different
constituents seem to undergo the following
changes :—

Fat. — This seems to undergo very little
change in ripening.

Water. — The percentage of water becomes
distinctly less.

Casein. — The most important constituent
in the cheese is changed from the insoluble
condition in which it is found in fresh cheese
to certain soluble albuminoid bodies.

Sugar is no longer present in ripe cheese.
It has been decomposed into lactic acid, and
probably butyric acid.

DAIRYING 161

Mineral Constituents. — Some of these, espec-
ially lime and phosphoric acid, are lost by
passing away in the salt during the salting of
the cheese. So far it has not been ascertained
how the mineral salts are affected by bacteria
during the ripening process. Professor
Lloyd considers that u the principal factors
in the ripening of cheese are the continued
production of lactic acid, together with an
increase in the solubility of the casein or
nitrogenous compounds ; as the casein becomes
soluble there is an increase of ammonia, and
of substances like ammonia probably produced
by the decomposition of the casein, which is
converted into peptones."

Richmond agrees that the lactic acid
bacteria has some influence, but holds that
as the cheese ripens concurrently with the
growth of the lactic acid organisms, and
continues, while they are diminishing, that
the ripening is not due to the direct action
of micro-organisms.

Cheese ripens best when the process goes

VI. L

162 AGRICULTURE

on gradually. It proceeds much more rapidly
in a high temperature, but the best quality
cheese is produced when ripened at a tem-
perature between 55° and 60°. According
to recent experiments carried out, it has been
found that although it takes longer to ripen,
40° F. produces excellent results.

At the end of about a month or six weeks
the cheese would be fairly fit for eating, but
it will not be perfectly ripe for from three to
four months. As soon as a cheese is ripe,
it should be used, as although it may be
kept for some time afterwards, the quality
deteriorates.

Cheddar Good Cheddar usually fetches from 565.
to 6os. per cwt. One gallon of milk is
usually taken to produce i Ib. of cheese, but
this is found to vary with the season of the
year and the breed of cow.

Wensieydale Wensieydale. — This cheese is chiefly made
in Yorkshire, in the Wensieydale valley, and
there are many different systems of making
it. The land on which it is produced lies

DAIRYING 163

on limestone, the soil is light and stony, pro-
ducing sweet, fine herbage. There is also
an abundant supply of pure water, and in this
district most of the cows are milked outdoors.
Wensleydale is becoming increasingly
popular in London, and good prices may
be obtained. Its good points are that it
keeps better than Stilton after being cut ;
its flavour is not so much impaired by mites ;
there is not so much waste in cutting, and
it retains its moisture better. In its own
district it is made all through the winter, but
the cheeses are then made of a different
shape, being flat and round, and are called
"flat Wensleydales." These cheeses are
sold at the end of a fortnight to buyers in
the Newcastle district, who distribute them
chiefly among the miners at yd. a lb., and
this really pays better than the summer
cheese. For making, an ordinary Cheddar
vat is required. Wensleydale is made from
ripe milk, — morning's and evening's milk is
preferable to sweet milk ripened with starter.

164 AGRICULTURE

The amount of rennet used to produce
coagulation in about ij hours is one drachm
of prepared rennet to five gallons. If only
a small quantity of milk is used (fourteen
gallons), one drachm rennet to four gallons
should be taken. The curd should be
longer in forming and softer than Cheddar.
Cutting should be done with the American
knives, but not in such small particles as for
Cheddar making. The cubes should be
something between the size for Cheddar and
Cheshire cheese, although this must be regu-
lated to a certain extent by the acidity in the
curd. After cutting, let it stand for a few
minutes, and then stir for thirty minutes, after
which it must be scalded to 88° F. with hot
whey. After scalding, under normal conditions,
allow the curd to settle, but where the milk is
acid, it should be continually stirred in order
that too much acid may not be produced until
the curd is sufficiently dry. The whey should
be drawn when it contains .17 of acid, the
curd is then removed to the cooler, with just

DAIRYING 165

enough whey to barely, cover it, till .18 to
.19 of acid is developed, when the whey may
be withdrawn and the curd left to drain.

About an hour before vatting, it should
be cut up, in good sized pieces, and turned
over now and again to facilitate drainage. It
may be vatted when the acidity has reached
. 2% The amount of curd from fourteen

•J /O

gallons of milk is about 24 Ibs. When
putting into the mould, the large pieces
should be placed in the centre, so as to
encourage the growth of the mould in
ripening. Salt is added in the proportion of
i oz. to 4 Ibs. It stands for three hours
after vatting without any pressure at all,
when it should be turned and placed in press,
and left there overnight with about 2 cwts.
pressure. Next morning the cheese should
be taken out, turned, and put back till about
midday, when it is finally removed from
press and bandaged. A circular bandage all
in one piece is used. The whey from the
cheese soaks into the bandage, sticking it

1 66 AGRICULTURE

firmly to the side of the cheese, and so
preventing the entrance of the cheese-fly.
It should be placed on a stone shelf or slab
till the outside of the cheese is dry, and
afterwards should be kept in a cool, dry
place at a temperature of 60°. Ripening
takes about five months, and the weight of
cheese from fifteen gallons of milk when ripe
should be about 14 Ibs. They are mostly
made in truckle shapes. On cutting through
a ripe Wensleydale it should have an appear-
ance similar to Stilton, except that the blue
mould is supposed to perforate more than in
Stilton, hence they are often slightly dis-
coloured. In flavour, while it approaches a
Stilton, it is rather sweeter and moister, with
a trace of the flavour found in hard-pressed
cheese ; it is, in fact, something between a
Caerphilly and a Stilton.

SOFT CHEESEMAKING

This branch of cheesemaking is not
developed so much as it might be. It is

DAIRYING 167

quite true that at the present moment it is
not well known in England, though, for-
tunately, in this respect things are improving;
but it is also equally true that up to now no
very high standard of excellence has been
attained in its manufacture.

i. English farmers have never studied the
art of making it, though in many cases it would
pay them better than selling milk at 6d. a
gallon, out of which they have to pay id. or
f d. a gallon carriage. It is undoubtedly an in-
dustry for women to take up and to succeed in;
in fact it awaits development at their hands.

One very often hears the objection raised
against cheesemaking that it is such heavy
work, and when one thinks of the manufac-
ture and subsequent daily turning of 60, 80,
or 120 Ib. Cheddars, it is heavy work. In
the case of soft cheeses it is different, the
work is light, fascinating and dainty, infinitely
more interesting than buttermaking, which is
undoubtedly a case of " the trivial round, the
common task,'

1 68 AGRICULTURE

Then, again, there is no expensive plant to
be set up. All that is required is an ordinary,
average size dairy, and a room for ripening
the cheeses in, in both of which there must
be a means of regulating the temperature,
either by stoves or pipes. If possible a cellar
which can be well ventilated is the best place
to ripen these cheeses in. Where the dairy
is already in existence a sum of £5 would
buy everything required to start in a small
way, making three or four different kinds of
cheese.

The following is a list of things which
would be required, with their prices. They
can be got from any large dairy firm :—

A draining table, these can be had from
i os. to 355., according to size.

£ s- d-

Two oak tubs for renneting the

milk, i2S. each . . .140
i Dozen draining boards . .060
6 Dozen straw mats . . 0120

The cheeses are drained upon straw mats

DAIRYING 169

placed on these boards so that they can be
moved and turned.

s. d.

Rennet measuring glass . i 6

Papers for lining moulds, 1000 3 o

i Dozen Pont 1'Eveque moulds 4 9

,, ,, Gervaise moulds . 3 3

„ „ Bondon „ . 36

Coulommier , 8 o

• * « « v~* vy ui v-'ii 1 1 1 1 1 v_ i • .

2. There are many varieties of soft cheese,
of which the best known are Camembert,
Coulommier, Pont 1'Eveque, Gervais, Bon-
don, and of course the ordinary English
cream cheese, which practically anyone can
make almost anywhere, and which sells for
nearly double the value of the cream used.

Camembert is a variety very largely made
and appreciated abroad. It has been made
in England on a small scale for some time,
but unfortunately no one as yet has succeeded
in obtaining the characteristic flavour and
consistency of those made at their own home

1 70 AGRICULTURE

in Normandy. Apart from Camembert, how-
ever, there are many of the other varieties
which can be made as well here as in
Normandy, Brittany, or Switzerland. Pont
1'Eveque, for instance, always sells well,
having a very delicious flavour. It takes
about six weeks from the time of making
till it is ready for market.

Gervais and Bondon rather resemble each
other ; they are smaller than Pont 1'Eveque,
and do not take such a long time to ripen.
Gervais is fit for sale at the end of three
days.

Coulommier is also a very favourite cheese,
besides being easy to make and profitable to
sell.

Cream cheese Set thick sweet cream without rennet at
58° to 60° F. Put into a linen cloth and
hang up or place over a rack in a good
current of air. Scrape down the sides of
the cloth, and change it occasionally to assist
drainage, until the cheese is firm enough to
mould. Moulds are generally 2f x ij ins.,

DAIRYING 171

and hold about ] lb., but the cheeses can be
made of different shapes or sizes to suit
customers. Line the boxes with grease
proof paper or with muslin. These cheeses
are usually made without salt, but if preferred
it can be added to the cream in the beginning.
One pint of cream will make three J lb.
cheeses.

Cream cheeses this size are usually sold at
6d. each.

One third cream and two thirds new milk.
Mix thoroughly and set at 60° to 65° F. Add
one or two drops of rennet per quart, and
stir at intervals until it shows signs of
coagulation. In from twenty-four to thirty-
six hours ladle into a huckaback cloth, place
over a rack, and twenty-four hours afterwards
change the cloth and press between two
boards, with a slight weight on top. Add
salt if desired. Moulds are i\ x if ins.
Line with paper specially prepared. Three
quarts will usually make one dozen cheeses.

One gallon of new milk, J pint buttermilk. Bondon

172 AGRICULTURE

Set at 60° to 65° F. Add two drops of
rennet per quart, and stir for a few minutes.
In from twenty-four to thirty-six hours ladle
into a huckaback cloth placed over a rack and
drain for from eight to ten hours. Scrape
down the sides of the cloth occasionally to
assist drainage. Then turn into a clean cloth,
and press between two boards under a weight
of about 14 Ibs. Add salt to curd when
firm. Moulds 2f x if ins. Line with
grease-proof paper. One gallon average
milk will make six or eight cheeses.
Pont Three gallons of whole milk set at 95° F.,
e one drachm of rennet ; stir for three or four
minutes, and then again in ten minutes.

The time taken for coagulation is about
twelve minutes. From coagulation till the
curd is firm enough to cut and put into cloths
is about one hour. The curd is then cut in
three directions, down, across, and corner-
wise, and ladled into two cloths. The same
amount of curd should, as nearly as possible,
be put into each cloth, as drainage is then

DAIRYING 173

more even. Next gather up the corners of
the cloth, leaving one corner to wrap round,
at first quite loosely. Tighten it a little in
about fifteen minutes, and again at the end of
the next fifteen minutes. Cut the curd again
in the centre and leave for fifteen minutes.
Then tighten the cloth and turn the curd
over, leaving it for twenty minutes. If
necessary the curd must be cut and the cloth
tightened once more ; leave for ten minutes ;
after which it ought to be ready to fill into
moulds. When filling moulds lose no time,
being careful to fill the corners well. After
filling, the cheeses should be turned over two
or three times about every five minutes.
Next day scrape the edges with a knife and
salt the top, the day after turn over and salt
on the other side. The sides must also be
well salted. They should be ripe in about
six weeks.

In working up a market for these cheeses,
it would be advisable to make several varieties
to start with, until it is ascertained which

174 AGRICULTURE

sell best in the particular locality, then
specialise in those one or two kinds and get
up a reputation for them. It is an excellent
thing, when 'possible, to get the custom of
a hotel or a club, as soft cheeses are often
much used there. There is no reason why
one or two energetic and capable girls,
provided they have had a thorough training in
dairy work, should not take up this work
and make a good and pleasant livelihood. If
they can supplement it by poultry and bee-
keeping so much the better. A certain
amount of capital would, of course, be
required to start with, but for the kind of
place meant — a small cottage and land
enough for four or five cows — the amount
would not be anything considerable. Where
the time and money can be spared a visit to
the farms and dairies of Normandy and
Brittany would be of incalculable benefit to
anyone thinking of taking up this branch of
dairy work.

DAIRYING 175

BYE-PRODUCTS

The chief bye-products of the dairy
are :—

Skimmed milk Milk sugar

Separated milk Whey butter

Butter-milk Skim milk cheese.

Whey Dried casein.

To obtain the best monetary results from a
dairy, it is necessary that these bye-products
should be advantageously used.

With regard to the first four, they are
generally utilised as food for animals, for
which they are extremely valuable.

Separated milk is best for this purpose, Separated
because it can be given perfectly fresh and
sweet, differing only from whole milk in
having had its fat removed. This may be
replaced by something less costly than butter
fat, as, for example, linseed oil or cod-liver
oil, and the result is a food equal to new
milk.

Near a town there is often a demand for

176 AGRICULTURE

separated milk at about id. a quart. On the
farm it is only valued at id. per gallon for
feeding young stock.

skimmed milk Skimmed milk is preferred by many, owing
to the larger amount of fat which it contains,
but it is not so good for feeding owing to its
having developed a considerable quantity of
lactic acid. Sour milk causes diarrhoea and
derangement of the digestive system in young
stock.

Butter-milk Butter-milk is an excellent food for pigs,
but as it is sour it is best not to give it to
calves.

whey Whey is less valuable than separated milk
and buttermilk, as it has lost not only the
fat but a large proportion of the casein.
whey butter Whey butter. — In cheesemaking districts
this is often made. The whey is allowed to
stand until all the fat has risen, and it is then
skimmed and made into butter in the ordinary
way. It is usually only made for home con-
sumption.
Milk sugar Milk sugar. — At one time it was a difficult

DAIRYING 177

and expensive matter to separate this sugar
from the different constituents of the whey,
but now that there are various methods of
doing so, the manufacture of this sugar is
carried on on quite a considerable scale. It
is the most digestible form of sugar, not so
sweet as the ordinary cane and beet sugars,
and largely used in the preparation of invalids'
and infants' foods.

Skim-milk cheese. --The best known example skim-milk

cheese

of this is the cheese made in Dorset from
skim or separated milk, called " Dorset Blue."
It is a very favourite commodity in its own
locality. It belongs to the class of blue
veined cheese, and ripens very much like a
Stilton. It is usually sold at about 4d. a Ib.

Dried casein. — In some dairies, instead of Dried casein
using the skim or separated milk for feeding,
the casein is extracted from it, and sold in the
form of a fine white powder.

Process. — The milk is treated with acids,
which precipitate the casein, after which the
whey is drawn off and the curd washed with

VI. M

178 AGRICULTURE

water. It is then taken out, pressed ai
afterwards ground in a mill and finally dried
in the oven.

TRAINING

There is a very prevalent idea amongst
many people, and, unfortunately, especially
amongst women (though they are beginning
to improve in this respect) that work, such as
dairying, gardening, poultry and bee-keeping,
may be taken up with next to no knowledge
of the subject.

Why this should be so, it is hard to see.
It is usual in all other walks of life to learn
the business at which one proposes to
work, and why should not the same course
be followed with regard to farming or any
other of the lighter branches of agricul-
ture ? The writer is acquainted with a lady
(typical of many others), who, after taking
a six weeks' poultry course, insisted, in the
face of great opposition, in starting a small
poultry farm. All the conditions were

DAIRYING 179

satisfactory, house, ground and market, but
the lady was untrained. She had no expe-
rience beyond her six weeks' course, so that
when difficulties and contingencies arose,
which had not been mentioned in her course,
and on which she had no u notes," she was
quite unable to cope with them.

She has now joined forces with those
who find u that poultry keeping does not
pay."

No other business or profession embraces
such a wide area of knowledge as farming :
some idea of this may be gathered from the
few points touched upon in this chapter.

Forethought, patience, prompt judgment, Necessary
love of nature, and last, but far from least, a farmer °
sound, practical experience of the work in all
its branches, is demanded of the successful
farmer.

The practical experience must be there, and
he or she may, if they like, be with advantage
and enjoyment, botanist, entomologist, geo-
logist, chemist, zoologist, and meteorologist,

i8o AGRICULTURE

Surely no profession embracing so many
"ologies" is to be lightly taken up!

From the point of view of a woman wishing
to take up dairy farming and having no
previous knowledge of the subject, the
question of the most satisfactory method of
training is most important.

For those who really intend to take it up
seriously, either to work for themselves or to
become teachers of dairying, two years is the
shortest time which should be devoted to it.

The first year may be given to the
scientific part of the work, combined with a
certain amount of practice -T the second year,
the order of things to be reversed, with a
large amount of practice and very little
science.

Where it is possible the best results are
obtained when the scientific and practical
farm work and dairying can be carried on
side by side, otherwise all or part of the
second year should be spent on a well
arranged dairy farm, where the student may

DAIRYING 181

enter fully into all the daily routine of farm
life.

Anyone, absolutely ignorant of dairy farm-
ing, going straight to a farm will not obtain
nearly such good value for their money, as
one who has already some knowledge of the
matter, though perhaps as far as the actual
farming goes, it is chiefly scientific. They
are then in a position to take advantage
of and understand all the work which is
going on.

Farmers are busy, hard-working men, and
do not, as a rule, profess to teach farming,
though they may be quite willing to receive
farm students who wish to have the oppor-
tunity of putting their theories into practice.

OPENINGS

The three following objects may be in
view at the end of a course of training in
dairy work :—

i st. To enable those who have the neces-

1 82 AGRICULTURE

sary capital to work a small place of their
own.

2nd. To obtain posts as dairy managers or
dairymaids.

3rd. To become lecturers or teachers under
the county councils.

The first mentioned is undoubtedly the most
interesting termination. There is no reason
why energetic and capable women should not
take up dairying and make a good and
pleasant livelihood, provided they have had a
thorough training in all its branches, other-
wise it simply means failure for themselves
and probably the discouragement of others,
who perhaps have all the necessary qualifica-
tions for making a success of it.

Nevertheless they should be prepared for
the fact that it will be a case of hard work,
early rising and constant attention. Animals
pay no heed to Sundays, high days or
holidays. Therefore anyone embarking on
work of the kind must be ready to give all
their time and energies to its development.

DAIRYING 183

In any case, whatever drawbacks there are,
they are more than counterbalanced by the
all absorbing interest of the work.

There is not the same demand for dairy
managers and dairymaids as for gardeners
and poultry managers, that is to say, for girls
of culture and refinement, for whose benefit
this article is intended. Lady gardeners and
poultry women are of comparatively recent
date, and they have, so to speak, made their
own position. On the other hand, the dairy-
maid has been with us from time immemorial,
and she is usually expected to fill up her time
by taking some share of the house or laundry
work with the other servants, amongst whom
she is classed. Naturally positions such as
these are not tenable by ladies, so that
practically in dairy work, at the moment,
the openings resolve themselves into small
independent holdings, or posts as lecturers
and teachers. For the former, there are
many good appointments under the county Posts to be
councils at salaries ranging from £80 to

184

AGRICULTURE

£150, and, in some cases, board, lodging and
travelling is included. It is necessary, how-
ever, to obtain these posts, that the applicant
should possess all the highest dairy certi-
ficates.

CHAPTER III

POULTRY KEEPING FOR UTILITY AND EGG
PRODUCTION

THE subject of poultry keeping from every
point of view has been so thoroughly dealt
with in books and magazines by experts, that
it would seem unwise and unnecessary to treat
it in a technical way in this short chapter.
I propose, therefore, to give in more or
less detail a practical experience in poultry
keeping, which has come very nearly under
my own observation, and which strikes me as
being one of such ordinary occurrence that
the relating of it may be a help to " those
who are about to start " for themselves.

By way of general remark, however, I TWO views

r of poultry

would say that the ideas ot the every-day keeping
public on poultry may be roughly classified

1 88

AGRICULTURE

into two sets, viz., those who only think of
poultry as any sort of two-legged bird that

Lady Warwick Hostel — A Prize Indian Game-Buff Orpington Cock

lays eggs for table and runs about a farm or
field " on its own " (so to speak), and there-
fore requires so little looking after, that it is
futile to train anyone to do so simple a thing.

Plymouth Rocks

Silver and Golden Laced Wyandottes

i9o AGRICULTURE

The other class thinks of them as more or
less valuable birds in pens — both for table
or fancy, and therefore entailing such care
and constant attention as to be rather be-
yond a woman's scope to manage.

In point of fact a happy medium between
the two extremes will perhaps bring about
the position which poultry keeping should
take amongst the " Lighter Branches of Agri-
culture " if it is to be successfully carried out.
utility, not It should be clearly understood that in this
chapter only the treatment of it from a
utilitarian point of view is attempted. " The
Fancy" has fascinations of its own, and rami-
fications endless and illusive, which require
considerable capital to gratify, with a large
proportion of the speculating instinct which
ordinary women do not possess — as a rule—
and, alas ! a conscience which must not, at
least in some cases, be over sensitive.
HOW to start Now let us suppose that someone wanted
to start poultry keeping on a portion of
ground taken from an ordinary garden. The

Buff and Black Orpingtons

White and Brown Leghorns

1 92 AGRICULTURE

first thing to be considered is what breed
or breeds to get, and how many birds to
keep on the ground allotted. The person
to whom I have referred started with two
breeds, viz., Buff Orpingtons and Houdans ;
the former because they do well on a gravel
soil, and are excellent layers and sitters, and
generally speaking are all-round favourites ;
the Houdans, because they were presented ;
they did very well indeed as good egg layers,
and for table, especially when crossed with
other breeds. As the question of breeds is
a most important one to decide before start-
ing poultry keeping the following advice
given by the well-known poultry expert, Mr
Geo. Palmer, in one of his lectures, may
prove helpful.
Different The best non-sitter for grass runs — White

breeds .

Leghorn.*

The best non-sitter for small covered runs
— Black Minorca.

* The blocks for illustrating the different breeds have been
kindly lent by Mr Randolph Meech.

Anconas

VI.

i94 AGRICULTURE

Other good non-sitters Andalusian,
Ancona, Redcap,

Best sitters and layers of brown eggs in
order named — Silver Wyandotte, Buff Rock,
White Wyandotte, Buff and Gold Wyan-
dottes, Buff Orpington, Barred Rock, Langshan.

In considering table fowl for size, quality
and rapidity of growth Mr Palmer places
first, the first cross from Indian Game and
Dark Dorking Hen, and when quality only
is required substitution of an English Game
Cock for the Indian. Faverolles are also a
very good breed.

Breeds for When, however, the object is to combine
s as many good qualities as possible, that is to
get from the pullet the largest number of
eggs, and from the cockerel qualities for
table, a first cross gives the best results — as,
for instance, Houdan-Leghorn, Houdan-
Minorca, Houdan-Ancona, Barred Rock-
Leghorn, Langshan-Minorca. Now, however,
that the county councils have made instruc-
tion in poultry keeping one of their regular

Langshans

Faverolles

196 AGRICULTURE

subjects, it is easy to obtain the advice of an
expert as to particular breeds suitable for the
particular locality or conditions, and this advice
it is always well to have before starting.
Housing Then comes the question of housing,
which of course is most important and many-
sided. As a rule poultry always spoil the
look of a place, and are a disfigurement to
any garden, because the runs and houses are
nearly always utilitarian to the last degree,
if not positively ugly, whilst if the birds
are at large they scratch and trample down
everything, especially the choicest seed beds.
One lady of my acquaintance suffered much
from the poultry which her husband delighted
in, but the care of which fell largely to his
wife, as he was away all day at his business.
She was devoted to her garden, and kept it in
good order, but little by little the chicken
runs encroached and encroached, and then
it was all runs and no garden, combined
with many searchings of hearts, and not a
little sadness.

POULTRY KEEPING 199

There is of course a movement on foot to
introduce new appliances of every description
both elaborate and simple. Needless to say
the impetus has largely come from America.
The Anglo-American Poultry Company and improved

f^ , . i, appliances

Cyphers incubator Company may be specially
named, as having introduced improvements
likely to revolutionise the poultry industry.

Figs, i and 2 give the Cyphers Duck and
Broiler Plant at Wayland, New York, near
Buffalo. "It consists of a 3oofoot brood-
ing house of the latest pattern, heated by
hot water and regulated by a Cyphers
electric regulator." It is stated in the
catalogue that " during the past four years
thousands of pounds of green ducks, broilers
and roasters have been produced and sold."
Of course this is all carried on, on a truly
American or " mammoth " scale, which is
quite beyond the scope of ordinary people,
as an immense capital is necessarily required.
"Broilers" is the American name for young « Broilers "
birds from five to six weeks old, which are

200 AGRICULTURE

"picked up," plucked and trussed, split open
and broiled like a mackerel. They are very
delicious if nicely cooked and served hot, as
they possess much more flavour than the
mature chicken. They are just a step be
yond the "Petits Poussin" stage and the or
"Petits dinary birds used for table. Petits Poussin are
three-week old chicks, which are reared in
enormous numbers, especially around Paris,
for the supply of the restaurants, where they
obtain a ready sale. There is a certain demand
for these also in London, but unless reared in
great numbers, for which special plant has
of course to be erected, the prices are not
good enough to make it a popular branch
of poultry keeping in England.

The poultry houses made by the Anglo-
American Company appeal to the public for
their utility. Fig. 3 is a cheap match-
boarded house, easy to make at home. The
perches run across and form handles by
which it can be moved. Fig. 4 shows a
portable Scratching Shed House. Scratching

:

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POULTRY KEEPING 205

sheds are for the purpose of keeping the
birds under shelter, and yet giving them
plenty of occupation by scratching in the
straw and litter for food all day, on the udry
feed " system. It has been found to work
admirably.

Mr Geo. Palmer has evolved a patent plan Combined

r i • • 11-1 i garden and

ror combining a garden and chicken yard, poultry run
which would certainly commend itself to
what is described agriculturally as " a small
man," and therefore would equally apply to
" a small woman." Supposing the garden is,
say an acre in extent, a little piece may be re-
served for flower beds and paths, and in fact
it may thus be permanently laid out; then
the remainder can be divided into four, with
the poultry house in the middle, and a path
leading up to it on both sides. The birds
can be let out into the grass run to start
with, whilst the other sections are prepared
for crops in rotation, commencing with peas
and beans. When these come off the ground,
the birds can be moved in to that section, and

2o6 AGRICULTURE

so on until they have worked right round.
This plan answers two purposes, it prevents
the fowl run being tainted, and the manure
on the ground with cultivation has a splendid
effect upon the crops. Mr Palmer quotes a
lady in Warwickshire who has adopted this
plan and made it pay admirably.
An ideal As an exception to the many poultry

poultry farm _ . . . r

rarms 1 nave visited from time to time, I
would mention a really picturesque one which
I saw in France, at Mantes. It was a happy
combination of a well laid out garden and
orchard, with pens of poultry on sound utility
lines. Perhaps I may be forgiven if I quote
the description of this farm which I wrote
at the time (Aug. 1901) for the Women's
Agricultural Times : —

u Across the road was a pretty garden and
large orchard, and here, dotted about in
picturesque houses and small runs (the floors
of the houses, being raised about 18 inches
from the ground, acted as a shelter) were
the breeding pens. Sand was scattered over

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VI.

POULTRY KEEPING 211

the surface, neither grass nor gravel being
used. The splendid fruit trees, many of
which were enclosed in the runs, afforded
shelter and enjoyment to the birds. The
finest specimens of almost every variety were
to be seen, the familiar Langshan, Wyandotte,
Leghorn, Dorking, Rocks, Houdan, besides
La Fleche, La Bresse, Campine, Mantes, c la
poule de ferme par excellence,' and the very
handsome fancy breed, the Padoue, gold,
silver, white, and other varieties. Some two
or three hundred birds were housed in these
beautiful surroundings, and formed the most
delightful and artistic poultry farm it would
be possible to imagine.

" In the afternoon M. de Perpigna drove us
out to see his dogs, and then on to the farm,
which was very extensive. The herd of
Breton cows was just being milked, some
fine goats browsed in another field, and
hundreds of rabbits filled cages round the
farm yard. Geese, ducks and chickens
(chiefly the Mantes) roamed about in large

2 i2 AGRICULTURE

numbers. The country round was very
undulating and highly cultivated, and the
whole appearance of the place bathed in
the afternoon sunlight was charming and
restful in the extreme.

"The satisfactory thing about the whole
from a practical standpoint was that it seemed
to be in every way a financial success, and
M. Perpigna gave it decidedly as his opinion
that poultry could be made to pay.

" The ' Etablissement ' proper was situated
on the high road from Mantes, and consisted
of a charming old house covered with a lovely
creeper, the Incubator t Room, Offices, and
Workshop where the appliances were made.

" Some twenty-two large Incubators, heated
by hot water, and holding 150 to 500 eggs
each, occupied the centre of the room. The
shining brass taps and railings and general
appearance of care and order was a notable
feature, as were also the l secheuses,' or
drying boxes for newly hatched chickens,
and the foster mothers which extended all

POULTRY KEEPING 213

along one side of the room. The chickens
in all stages of growth looked most healthy,
and are hatched all the year round.

u In the same building we were shown a
4 Gaveuse ' or fattening machine with an
automatic action and gauge indicator for
rations ; by this arrangement the exact
quantity of food can be regulated, and no
undue pressure exerted to fill the bird's
crop. This Gaveuse has the recommenda-
tion of appearing more humane than the
ordinary cramming machines."

But to return to the Housing Question. Houses and

Tr -, . , , appliances

It the embryo poultry keeper wishes to spend
some of her capital on appliances and start
with an "up to date ' appearance, then I
would advise her to do, what my friend did,
write to a few of the best known appliance
makers for illustrated price lists, remember-
ing to ask for discount for ready money, or
for any other financial arrangement that the
firms may make. (Some of course are so
well established that they can enforce their

214

AGRICULTURE

list prices, but others are more open to
arrangement.)

0,

£

The next point is to make a selection of
the necessary houses, shelters, runs, brooders,

POULTRY KEEPING

troughs, etc., and order them, being prepared
for the inevitable delay in obtaining the same,

o
O

as few firms keep a large stock ready made. If, Home-made
on the other hand, money is a consideration,

houses

216 AGRICULTURE

and one is willing to do with make-shifts,
there are many ways in which packing cases
and other things can be utilised, and satis-
factory results obtained. Here, let me add
Knowledge of parenthetically, a knowledge of carpentering,

carpentering

useful even a small one, can be turned to very good

account. In fact a course of lessons in

carpentering is a valuable asset to put in

Points to with one's stock-in-trade. The chief things

remember . . r , ,

to remember in constructing a fowl house,
whether from packing cases, bacon boxes,
or anything of that description, are that
the roof should be rainproof, the sides
draughtproof, with plenty of ventilation at
the top ; the perches should be placed on one
level, about 18 inches apart and about 2 feet
from the ground — this is to keep the fowls
away from the bad air which always rises to
the top whether of a sitting room or a
chicken house, for it has been abundantly
proved that the purest air is to be found
about half way between floor and roof or

Number of ... _^

birds in house ceiling. — Be carerul not to put too many birds

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Q,

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O

$

c
o
<u

"O

o

POULTRY KEEPING

219

into one house or run, as they do not do
well if they are crowded. The floor can be

C

12
o

covered with peat, moss, litter, or sand or
ashes ; the former is the most expensive, but

220 AGRICULTURE

it is a great deodoriser, and therefore helps
to keep the birds healthy.

Roofs For the roof, corrugated iron with a lining
of straw is very satisfactory, whilst if felt is
used it must be thoroughly tarred. Mr
Webster suggests in his book, that if Port-
land cement be sprinkled over the tar whilst
it is wet, the surface becomes quite hard and
impervious to weather.

Feeding The feeding of the birds is the next point
to consider, and this is where great extrava-
gance may come in. There is such a variety
of food, with so much that is really inferior
mixed with the better samples, so many
patent foods advertised to do everything,
that only hard bought experience teaches the
poultry keeper where to buy to the best
advantage for her own pocket, and to pro-
duce the best results on the birds. The cost
per bird per year ought not to exceed 55.,
therefore if it works out at 135. and more
the poultry will never pay. The household
scraps are a most valuable addition, especially

POULTRY KEEPING

221

when mixed with sharps or barley meal and
given hot in the early morning.

This can be
done by letting
the potato peel-
ings, etc., stew
on the kitchen
fire all night, or
where this is im-
possible let them
cook in a jack-
eted cooker
placed in some
outhouse. Par-
ish's patent Steam
Jacketed Cookers
are especially to be recommended, because
a supply of hot water can be obtained at
all times, on pouring cold water into the
geyser. The food is placed in an inner vessel,
around which hot water circulates in a jacket,
and cooks the food well and thoroughly
without drying it up. Heat can be supplied

Parish's Steam Jacketed Cooker

Steam

jacketed

cooker

222 AGRICULTURE

either by gas or by fuel, and the cooker is
simple and easy to work ; one to hold 4
gallons costs £4, los.

Foods The six staple foods are : oats, sharps,
wheat, barley, maize and peas ; of these wheat
and oats are the best for everyday feeding,
with an addition of barley in wet, and peas in
very dry weather.

Egg A beginner will do well to confine his
poultry keeping at first to Egg Production,
as this is looked upon as one of the most
profitable branches. It is estimated, as
before stated, that a hen should cost to keep
55. per annum and a good layer should
average from 160 to 170 eggs in the year,
which will bring in 135. 4d. to 145. 2d. per
bird, reckoning the eggs at id. each, which is
a low average, as between November and
March it is easy to get ijd. each. There-
fore each laying hen should give a profit of
from 8s. to 95. a year. Some of the eggs
can be used for setting as the hens get
broody, and a new stock brought up to take

POULTRY KEEPING 223

the place of the two year old hens, which
should be sold off or killed.

Poultry fattening is another paying branch Poultry

J . ° fattening

of Utility Poultry Keeping, but it is thought
wiser not to rear chickens for this purpose,
but to buy them at four weeks old. To
fatten successfully a special darkened shed
is necessary, cages have to be made, and a
cramming machine bought. The work also
makes great demands on a person's time,
besides being distinctly distasteful to some.

An incubator is almost a necessity ; it is a incubators
considerable outlay to commence with, but in
these days of necessity for rapid production
it is difficult to do without artificial aid.

In these again the English makers have
been beaten by Americans. Hearson's, which
has long held the first place in England for
quality, reliableness, and generally giving the
best results, has also retained its original
price of £10, los. for 100 egg capacity.
Tamlin's is generally put second : that is also
expensive. Whilst among cheaper makers

POULTRY KEEPING

225

Wallin Incubator

can be placed the "Unita," which took two

silver medals at the last

Dairy Show, 1902,

price £4 for 50 eggs

and ^5, 55. for no

eggs; and the "Wal-

lin," ^"3, i os. for 60

eggs, and £4, los. for

100 eggs.

Cyphers, not content with two machines,

have brought out
no less than five,
varying in price
and capacity from
£3, 155. for 60
eggs, and ^5, IDS.
for 120, to ^8, 155.
for 360. and even
a double decker to
hold 440 eggs.

Cyphers Incubator, fhis firm claims

50 egg capacity .

a larger hatching
average for its machine than has been

VI.

POULTRY KEEPING 227

attained by any other incubator ; that the
chicks are stronger; that it is fireproof,
requires no moisture, and that they give

Chickens just hatched in a Cyphers Brooder

with each machine a warranty that it will
last ten years without repairs.

Of course, like everything else, experience
is required to manage an incubator success-
fully. The lamp must be kept cleaned and
regularly trimmed so that the temperature is
kept uniform, and the eggs must be turned

228

AGRICULTURE

Care of daily. A certain percentage of eggs are

chickens

expected to prove unfertile, but not neces-
sarily 50% as I have known to be the case,

Cyphers Three-Apartment Unequalled Outdoor Brooder,
Style A (Front View)

from careless handling. Then the first three
weeks of a chicken's life is a most delicate
time when artificially hatched, as so many die
in these early weeks from cold or damp, or
improper feeding.

The Anglo-American Poultry Company have
brought out some excellent brooders, which

rt

OH

6
o

o

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rt

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o

"

POULTRY KEEPING 233

are invaluable for early rearing; illustrations
given on pp. 229, 231, show the outdoor
brooder both open and closed. This one
with the improved lamp answers splendidly, as
the chicks have the warm chamber at night ;
a second one which should be carpeted
with fresh cut turf (from which the chicks
can pick up much entrancing diet), and a
third which is cold but yet protected from
the weather, although they can get out to
the runs through the little door, when such
a course is desirable.

Considering poultry keeping as a whole, it Poultry
should be a profitable branch when taken be made
with other work on a small holding, but to p
make it pay really satisfactorily, it requires
an immense amount of care, hard work and
perseverance, because no matter what the
weather may be, out the poultry keeper must
go to tend her birds so many times every day,
from the hot meal in the early morning to
the shutting up the last thing at night. On
the other hand, it is an extremely interesting

AGRICULTURE

occupation, and when combined with experi-
ment and research it gives ample scope for
intelligence and skill of the highest order, and
it is here especially where the well-trained
mind should come in and make a great success,
because " there is plenty of room at the top,"
only the lower parts being crowded.

Lady Warwick Hostel — " Preparing for Ascot "

BEE-KEEPING

CHAPTER IV

BEE-KEEPING

INTRODUCTION

OF all the lighter branches of agriculture,
bee-keeping is quite one of the most
fascinating. Although of late years it has
come into much prominence, it is no new
thing, as, in all ages, intelligent people have
found interest, recreation, profit and delight
in the care of these wonderful little crea-
tures.

In this short space, only the most important
points in bee-keeping, from an economic point
of view, will be touched upon.

Practically, it is only since the establish-
ment of the British Bee-keepers' Association
in 1870, that bee-keeping has taken a definite
place as a profitable rural industry.

VI. Q 2<i

242 AGRICULTURE

As this book is intended, primarily, for
women, the writer would like to lay special
stress on the suitability of apiculture as a
part of any rural occupation they may pursue.
It has everything to recommend it and
nothing to detract from it, except the one
fact that bees are provided with stings, and
that from time to time they see fit to use
them.

It has been said that success in bee-keeping
depends upon u dexterity of hand and celerity
of foot," certainly the first is necessary, and,
in the writer's experience, more usually
possessed by women than by men, while the
second quality perhaps belongs most generally
to men.

No one anxious to take up bee-keeping
need be deterred by the thought of the
stings. A veil may be worn, which will
thoroughly protect the face, and the beginner
may start by wearing gloves, when mani-
pulating.

In time, however, when confidence and

BEE-KEEPING 243

deftness have been attained, these will be
discarded. After a short period the bee-
keeper becomes sting-proof, and except for a
momentary inconvenience, the stings have no
effect. Stings are, moreover, said to be an
excellent cure for rheumatism, if taken in
sufficient quantity !

In some cases apiculture is adopted as a
profession, and there is no doubt that by
anyone who thoroughly understands the
subject in all its different branches, as good
a livelihood can be made in this way as in
any other.

It will be necessary to have from 100
to 150 hives, never less than 100, and
to work for both comb and extracted
honey.

In addition to this must be included the
sale of bees and queens, and the manufacture
of appliances, and from these combined, good
returns should be secured.

The greater number of bees are kept for
one of three purposes.

244 AGRICULTURE

Either as a means of money-making in
conjunction with fruit farming or poultry
keeping, by the scientist, or simply for the
pleasure the keeping of them affords. They
are a never failing source of healthy interest
and recreation. All successful bee-keepers
are enthusiasts, and there is a bon cam-
araderie amongst brethren of the craft,
which is unequalled in any other pursuit.
An experienced bee-keeper is always anxious
that others should take up the work, and is
willing to give time and trouble for their
assistance, and gladly, for the benefit of the
beginner, to impart all the knowledge he has
acquired.

To be able to take an intelligent interest
in the work of the hive, it will be necessary
to understand something of the natural
history of the bee.
A book to The history, anatomy and physiology is
y fully dealt with in Cowan's " Honey Bee,"
which should be studied previous to com-
mencing bee-keeping.

BEE-KEEPING 245

ECONOMY OF THE HIVE

At the beginning of the honey-gathering
season, the population of the hive consists of
(i) the queen mother, or as she is usually
called the "queen"; (2) a few hundred
drones ; (3) from 40,000 to 50,000 workers.

Queen Drone Worker

The queen is the only perfectly developed The Queen
female in the hive, and it is she who lays all
the eggs from which the other bees are
produced. A good queen, in her prime
(from one to two years old) lays between
2000 and 3000 eggs per day, during the
breeding season.

If allowed, the queen will live from four
to five years, being considerably longer lived
than her subjects.

246 AGRICULTURE

Only one queen is allowed in the hive at
a time, but, if from any cause, the queen is
lost or killed, or if she becomes old and
infertile, or when the bees are preparing to
swarm, a certain number of royal princesses
will be reared, one of which is destined to
take her place. From four to five days after
the young princess is hatched, she leaves the
hive on her " nuptial flight" for fertilisation
by the drone. Except when heading a
swarm, this is the only time on which a
queen leaves the hive.

Fertilisation can only take place on the wing,
but once accomplished it suffices for life.

Two days after returning from her flight,
the queen commences to lay eggs, which are
of two kinds, those producing drones and
those producing worker-bees.

Queens are produced from the same eggs
as worker-bees, but under different conditions
of feeding and treatment, and the queen can
decide whether she will lay drone or worker
eggs-

BEE-KEEPING 247

If, by any chance, the queen fails to
become fertilised during her flight, she will
only be able to lay drone eggs, and will be
of no use as the mother of a colony.

The queen may readily be distinguished
from the other bees by her size, shape and
colour. Her body is much longer and
tapering towards the extremity, she is darker
and glossier, and her wings are propor-
tionately shorter than those of the drone or
worker.

Her sting, which is never used except in
combat with a rival sovereign, is curved
instead of straight. As her function in life
is merely to produce eggs, she is not
provided with any means for extracting
honey from flowers.

The drones are the males, and exist only The drones
for the purpose of fertilising the queen.
They are much larger and bulkier than the
workers, but not so long as the queen.
They do no work for the support of the
hive, but depend upon the workers' labour.

248 AGRICULTURE

They have no sting. At the end of the
breeding season, when the honey harvest is
drawing to a close, and when they are no
longer required, the workers set upon them
and eject them from the hive, either stinging
them to death or leaving them to starve.

Should the drones be retained in a hive
in the autumn, it is a sign that the hive is
without a queen.

The workers The workers complete the population of a
hive. They are much smaller than either
queen or drones, and on them the whole life
of the colony depends. Indoors, they act as
nurses or protectors of the brood ; they provide
food for the queen and drones ; build the
combs ; clean the cells, and ventilate the hive.

Outdoor work consists in gathering honey,
pollen and propolis. In short, every duty
connected with the marvellous organisation
of the hive depends upon them.

On account of the hard, incessant work
which they perform, the life of the workers
only extends over a period from six to eight

BEE-KEEPING 249

weeks in the honey season. The bees
hatched in autumn usually live through the
winter, and commence the work of the
colony in the ensuing spring.

The queen takes fifteen days to hatch from
the time the egg is laid to the time when she
emerges from the cell as a perfect insect, the
workers twenty-one days, and the drones
twenty-four.

Wax is not gathered by the bees, but is Wax
secreted by certain glands situated on the
under side of the abdomen, and from this
wax all the honeycomb necessary in the hive
is made. These combs consist of numerous
six-sided cells, the size of which varies
according to the kind of bee which is to
be hatched in them.

The cells in which worker bees are The cells
hatched are the smaller, five worker cells
or four drone cells occupying an inch in
width. The cells are placed back to back,
with their openings sideways and slightly
tipped upwards.

250 AGRICULTURE

The cells in which queens are hatched are
of a different shape. They are rather pear-
shaped, and hang with their mouths down-
wards. They are about an inch long and
one-third inch in diameter.

The cells used for storing honey are the
same as the drone and worker cells. The
bees themselves usually prefer the drone cells
for this purpose.

Pollen or Pollen or bee bread is the fertilising dust
of flowers, gathered by the bee on the hairy
under surface of her body. She then collects
it and kneads into a kind of sticky dough
with honey, after which it is placed in the
pollen baskets found on her third legs, and in
that manner it is carried home. Pollen forms
the nitrogenous part of the food of the bees,
and is absolutely essential in preparing food
for the larvae. The adult bees also use a
certain amount for their own nourishment.

When not required for immediate use it
is stored in the cells.
Propolis Propolis is a sticky substance which exudes

BEE-KEEPING 251

from trees, such as pines and horse chestnuts,
especially from the buds. It is also carried
home like pollen on the third legs of the bee,
and it is used for stopping up every crack
and opening in the hive.

ARRANGEMENT OF THE APIARY

The apiary should be arranged so as to
face south or south-east.

It is very essential that the early morning
sun should fall upon the hives, and so cause
the bees to get out to work early. In
winter, every ray of sun is precious, and
helps very much in keeping up the tem-
perature of the hive.

The hives should be, as much as possible, Relation to
protected from the north and west winds,
either by a good hedge or trees. Bee-hives
may advantageously be placed in an orchard.
The fruit trees afford shade to the hives in
the summer, and what is very important, an
early supply of nectar, close at hand, in the
spring.

252 AGRICULTURE

Apple, pear, cherry and plum blossoms are
much liked by the bees.

On the other hand, the trees profit
enormously by the visitations of the bees,
and orchards in which sufficient bees are
kept very often yield quarter or even half
as much fruit again, as where the trees
have to depend on the chance fertilisation
of wind and insects.

Anyone going in for fruit farming should
make a point of having twenty to twenty-five
hives for every one or two acres planted, and
if he or she does not care to go to the trouble
or expense of working them so as to secure
a good honey yield, the larger return of
perfect fruit will repay him or her for the
outlay on the hives.

Arrangement The hives should be placed from three to
six feet apart or farther, where there is the
necessary accommodation, with a good path,
not less than three feet wide, running at the
back. All manipulation of the hive must be
done from the back. From the entrance or

BEE-KEEPING 253

alighting board of the hive, a board the same
width as the entrance should slope gently to
the ground, otherwise bees returning home
heavily laden with honey or pollen, very
often drop just short of the alighting board
from fatigue, and since, owing to their bur-
dens, they are unable to rise, frequently perish.

Bees depend largely upon white clover for The situation

r . . . of the hive

their supply or honey, so that it is necessary
to ascertain before establishing an apiary that
white clover grows freely in the neighbour-
hood.

Fruit trees of every kind, white and red
clover, Sainfoin and lime trees are all excel-
lent in proximity to an apiary.

There should be a shed or building fairly
near to the apiary, where hives, appliances,
etc., may be kept, and all necessary work
done. If it is to be used for extracting
honey it should be made " bee-proof," that
is, there must be no crevice large enough
either in walls, windows or under doors
through which a bee can enter.

AGRICULTURE

Necessary
appliances

It is a mistake to start by buying all
the appliances which one thinks one may
want for all future occasions. At first pro-
vide only what is absolutely necessary, and
wait to enlarge the apparatus with one's
experience.

The things which are absolutely necessary
are : —

1. A hive.

2. A skep.

3. Smoker.

4. Feeding-bottle.

5. Extra quilts.

6. Two supers.

Handling
the bees

7. Comb foundation.

8. Section boxes or

shallow frames.

9. A veil.

10. Naphthalene.

11. Bees.

All the first mentioned should be in readi-
ness before the bees are purchased.

Before advising as to the best method of
obtaining the bees it would be as well to say
a few words on the subject of handling them.

The bee has been provided with a sting as
a weapon of defence, and does not, as a rule,
use it unless provoked to anger by unskilful,
rough or careless handling.

BEE-KEEPING 255

Bees, like men, are rendered gentle by a
good dinner, and if they can be made to
gorge themselves with honey, they are very
easily handled. For this reason, a swarm
of bees may be manipulated with impunity,
without veil or gloves, as before leaving
the hive to seek a new abode, the bees fill
their honey sacs as full as possible, knowing
that it may be some time before they can get
another meal.

Bees will also fill themselves with honey
if they are frightened, and that is why we
use what we call a "smoker," in which we
burn brown paper, coarse dry sacking, or old
fustian.

Before opening and manipulating the hive,
blow a few puffs of smoke in at the entrance.
This serves to intimidate the bees, and they
immediately run to the honey cells and fill
themselves with food, after which they are
comparatively harmless.

The smoker should be kept at hand, and a
few puffs of smoke given now and again, if

256

AGRICULTURE

the bees become restless. Do not use too
much smoke, or the bees may lose their
placidity and grow irritable.

A cloth moistened with a carbolic solution
of one part Cal vert's carbolic to two parts of
water is also used for quietening the bees.

Smoker

This is laid over the frames for a minute or
so in the place of the calico quilt, and the
bees, disliking the smell of carbolic, go down
to the lower part of the hive.

Extreme gentleness and care are necessary
in handling bees, and the work should be
done with steadiness and determination, so
as to give the bees the impression that the
operator is a Nemesis against which resistance
is useless.

BEE-KEEPING 257

On the other hand, nervous jerky move-
ments, jarring of frames, knocking against
the hive, etc., irritate the bees to such an
extent that they rush out to inflict punish-
ment on the unlucky offender.

It should be borne in mind that bees are
more amenable at certain seasons and under
certain conditions than at others. For
instance, in spring, when they have few. if
any, stores to guard, and when honey is
coming in freely, they may be approached
without veil or smoker, whereas, in autumn,
after they have been robbed of the
fruits of their labour, they are very
fierce.

In hot weather they are also often very
irritable, and any necessary manipulating
should be done either very early in the
morning or in the cool of the evening. If
bees are found to be fierce and excited, it is
not advisable to persist in one's operations,
rather leave them for a day or so, till they
have calmed down. To be able to judge

VI. R

258

AGRICULTURE

when to humour the bees in the right way is
only learned by experience.

The removal of surplus honey is an opera-
tion which always annoys the bees, more or
less, and therefore it should be carried out
with special quickness and deftness, having
everything required in readiness before
beginning.

A veil should always be worn, it is no
inconvenience, and makes the wearer more
or less independent.

It is especially needed by women, because
the bees always become entangled in the
hair, and are nearly certain to sting before
they can be removed.

Gloves are not advisable, and it is much
better, from the first, to accustom one's self
to work without them. For those, however,
who are too nervous to dispense with them
it is best to wear a pair of woollen gloves,
with cotton ones drawn over them, and if
these are damped, the stings will not make
any impression.

BEE-KEEPING 259

There are several varieties of bees, some varieties

of bees

of which are much more gentle, than
others.

The English Black Bee. — The bee usually The English
kept in England is the ordinary English Black
Bee, and this has been found after many
experiments to be the best all round bee
for our climate, notwithstanding the fact
that it is not so good tempered as one or
two of the foreign varieties.

Their comb honey sells well, as it is beau-
tifully white.

The young bees begin to work outside
much earlier than the young ones of other
kinds, and they are more ready to begin
work in supers in the spring, owing to the
fact that they produce and maintain a greater
amount of heat than the same number of any
other sort.

The Italian or Ligurian Bee. — Italian or The Italian

T . r r • .or Ligurian

Ligurian bees were the first foreign variety Bee
introduced into England in 1859. They are
rather like our black bee in size and appear-

260 AGRICULTURE

ance, except that they are light in colour,
and have three yellow rings on the abdomen.

A cross between Italians and black bees
results in a very good working strain.

The introduction of these bees has done a
great deal of good by bringing new blood
and fresh energy into our native race.

Italians do not produce such good comb
honey as the blacks, nor are they such good
comb-builders. They go up into the supers
less readily and are not so suitable for queen
rearing. On the other hand, they are more
active, working earlier and later. They can
gather nectar from flowers not visited by the
black bee, and are also more amiable in
disposition.
TheCamioian The Camiolan Bee. — Carniolans are natives

Bee

of Carniola in Austria, and are supposed to
be pre-eminently the u beginner's bee,"
owing to their good temper when being
manipulated.

They are an excellent variety for all pur-
poses, their one failing being an excessive

BEE-KEEPING 261

propensity for swarming. If this can be
overcome by plenty of ventilation and room,
in advance of their requirements, they are
much to be recommended.

Other Varieties. — Other yellow varieties
which have been introduced from time to
time are the Cyprians, Syrians, and Pales-
tines, but experience has shown that though
they have many good qualities, these do not
make up for their undesirable ones, amongst
the worst of which is a very variable tempera-
ment, some of them being so vicious that it
is almost impossible to approach them. They
are now very little imported.

There are many kinds of hives on the Hives
market, and it would be impossible in this
short space to attempt to discuss them.

Bees will work almost anywhere, and an
experienced bee-keeper could comfortably
manage a stock of bees in a badly made or
badly constructed hive, whereas to a beginner
they would be a constant source of worry
and stings. It is therefore essential that we

262 AGRICULTURE

have a hive of best workmanship and con-
structed to suit the requirements of the bee.
By going to the Apicultural Department
of any of our Agricultural Shows, specimens
of the different makes of hives may be seen
and examined.

Until about twenty years ago, bees were
rarely kept in anything but the old-fashioned
straw skep, and it is only since the more
general use of the movable frame-hive that
bee-keeping has made such strides in this
country.

With the skeps, the bees built the combs
just as they liked, fastening them to the in-
side, and so, of course, they could not be
removed. They remained sometimes for
years, after they had become diseased, dirty
and black ; moreover, owing to the cells
becoming thickened and small, the bees
hatching from them were undersized and
less vigorous than they should have been.

In skep bee-keeping, practically everything
was controlled by the bee. With the movable

bo

e

'c

I

W

BEE-KEEPING 265

frame hive, the position is reversed, and the
bee master finds himself with the upper
hand and able to regulate the number of
drones and workers hatched, to raise queens,
regulate swarming, or examine quickly and
easily the interior of the hive for disease,
queenlessness, or scarcity of food.

The hive which combines the greatest
number of good points, some of which are pos-
sessed by each, is undoubtedly what is known
as the W.B.C. (William Broughton Carr)
hive, named after the inventor, and anyone
starting bee-keeping would do well to have
all hives on this pattern.

It is more expensive than some others on
the market, but the extra convenience in
working saves the money several times over,
in time and temper.

It costs unpainted about £i. In cases
where this price is too high, a very good
u Cottager " hive may be obtained for 1 2S. 6d.
from James Lee & Sons, 10 Silver Street,
Bloomsbury, W.C.

266

AGRICULTURE

But whatever hive is chosen, it cannot be
too strongly urged that only one pattern

W.B.C. Hive, showing different parts

should be used in an apiary, unless for ex-
perimental purposes.

BEE-KEEPING 267

The W.B.C. hive consists of :—

1. Stand with splayed legs.

2. Loose floor board.

3. Outer case, enclosing the brood chamber

or body box, to take ten standard
frames, with a division board or
" dummy " for use when all the frames
are not required.

4. Over the body box is worked a super for

shallow frames or sections, if desired.

5. A lift (for use when more supers are

put on, to heighten the hive).

6. The roof.

For successful and profitable bee-keeping, Frames
the frames must be movable.

A standard size of frame has been adopted
by the British Bee-keepers' Association, and
all hives are made to take these frames.
The outside measurements are : —
Top bar, 17 inches long.
Bottom bar, 14 inches long.
Side bars, 8J inches deep.
Worker comb in a hive is found to be

268

AGRICULTURE

f-inch thick, so the width of the frames is
made just about f -inch.

They are placed from f to f of an inch
apart, which makes a distance of ij to ij
inches from centre to centre.

For the production of worker brood ij

Wired Frame

inches is sufficient, but the distance from
centre to centre is not a hard and fast rule.

There should be a space of J-inch round
the sides of the frame, and J-inch at the
bottom. If less room than this is left, the
bees will stick it up with propolis, and if
more, they will build comb between the
frames and the wall of the hive, so defeating
the apiarist's purpose, by making the frames
no longer movable.

BEE-KEEPING 269

Standard frames are of two kinds, the

Frame of Comb, showing Brood

Frame fitted with Foundation

brood frame, which is the size already given,

270

AGRICULTURE

and the shallow frame, which is the same as
the other except that it is 5! inches deep,

Section

instead of 8J. These are used for storing
honey on top of the brood frames.

Sections

Section fitted with Foundation

Sections are little boxes made of white

BEE-KEEPING 271

wood, 4J inches by 4^, J-inch thick and
2 inches wide, except at the top and bottom,
which are if inches wide. When they
are put together and placed over the brood
frames, the bees have just room to pass
up into them through these |-inch spaces.
They usually contain about i Ib. of honey,
and as they are small, clean, and easily
handled, there is often much less difficulty
in disposing of sections than of jars of ex-
tracted or run honey, although the sections
command a higher price.

The sections are bought in the flat all
ready prepared for folding, and are made
up by the beekeeper into box-shape without
trouble.

Brood frames, shallow frames and sections Foundation
are fitted with comb-foundation, which con-
sists of sheets of pure beeswax passed
through rollers, which are engraved in such
a way as to give the wax, as it passes over
them, the shape and appearance of the comb
made by the bees themselves. In addition

272

AGRICULTURE

to the impress of the base of the cell, there
is enough wax in the slightly projecting
walls for the bees to draw out the cells
to their full depth. This is an enormous
saving of time and material, because a bee
needs to consume from 10 to 15 Ibs. of
honey to make i Ib. of wax.

Worker Cell Foundation

Drone Cell Foundation

The foundation is impressed either with
drone or worker cells, and according to our
requirements we can furnish it to the
bees.

The foundation for brood frames is con-
siderably thicker than what is used for the
shallow frames and sections, which is now
made so beautifully thin and transparent
that when worked out by the bees it is

BEE-KEEPING 273

scarcely distinguishable in the centre of the
comb.

It is necessary to use foundation, as when
left to themselves the bees build their combs
in all directions, but if sheets or strips of
this foundation are fixed to the under side
of the top bar of the frame, it becomes a
guide on which they work.

There are, of course, different methods
of fixing foundation in frames and sections,
and for a beginner it would be a saving
of time, and probably material, to obtain
proper assistance in fitting up a hive for
the first time.

Perhaps the most simple way is one
recommended in Cowan's Guide Book.
Procure a piece of wood f-inch thick,
just the size to fit into the frame, and on
the under side nail two pieces of wood
projecting about an inch at each end. Then
lay the sheet of foundation on the board
and place the frame on the projecting ends.
Push the foundation well against the under

VI. S

274

AGRICULTURE

side of the top bar, and hold it in a slantin
position at an angle of about forty-five degrees.

Then pour a little very hot beeswax at
the highest point, and it will run down to
the other end, and in this way the founda-
tion will be firmly stuck to the wood.

Melt the wax in a smelter. In this it can

Wax Smelter

be kept very hot without burning, as the wax
is surrounded by an outer case containing
hot water.

BEGINNING BEE-KEEPING

The best time of year to begin bee-
keeping is in the spring. During the
winter buy a guide-book and study it very
carefully. "The British Bee-keeper's Guide
Book," by Cowan, is about the most useful,

BEE-KEEPING 275

as it gives minute details of every operation
necessary in the apiary.

One or two hives are enough to start
with. These should be bought early in
the year, so that there is plenty of time
to get them thoroughly well painted and
ready for use at the beginning of May,
when an early swarm may be purchased
for from 155. to ^i (according to district).

If possible, obtain a swarm from a hive
which swarmed the previous season, so that
one gets a young queen in her second year,
when she is at her prime. The bees are
most likely to be sold in a skep (the old-
fashioned straw hive), from which they
must be transferred to the frame hive
which has been prepared with about six
or seven frames, fitted with full sheets of
foundation.

Over the tops of the frames lay a quilt
of unbleached calico, with a feed hole cut
in the centre.

m t i , . . How to hive

To get the bees into the new hive, raise the bee-swarm

276 AGRICULTURE

the entrance about one inch by placing two
pieces of stick under it at either side, and
then cover the board (already mentioned,
sloping from the alighting-board of the hive
to the ground) with a white cloth or sheet.

The bees may then be sharply shaken
from the skep on to the sheet, and in a
few moments they will run towards the
entrance and into the hive.

When they are all safely inside, the hive
front may be lowered, but the door must
be left open as far as possible.

A bottle of thin syrup must be placed
over the feed-hole in quilt on the top of
the frames. Put on another quilt or two
above the calico one, and leave the hive
undisturbed for a day or so.

If the weather is wet and cold feeding
must be continued, but it will not be neces-
sary if it is warm and fine, and there is
plenty of honey to be had.

When the foundation is nearly all drawn
out, and the queen begins to lay, gradually

BEE-KEEPING 277

fill up the hive until it contains as many
frames as it will hold, usually ten.

It would be well for a beginner to secure
the assistance of an expert bee-keeper in
hiving the first swarm. Much trouble is
saved afterwards by having everything right
to start with, and although books are useful,
they can never be so good as a practical
demonstration on the subject.

It is the greatest mistake for a beginner
to buy stocks of bees in old-fashioned hives,
perhaps of two or three different patterns.
It does not matter how cheap they are,
they are dear at any price. One usually
buys far more than one wants in the shape of
disease and worry in working them. Second-
hand stocks of bees should only be bought
by thoroughly experienced bee-keepers.

BRIEF OUTLINE OF WORK IN THE APIARY
THROUGH THE YEAR

The hives should not be disturbed in any January
way during the month. If wintering has

278 AGRICULTURE

been properly attended to at the right time,
the bees will require nothing.

Opening of the hive occasions great loss
of heat, which loss, at this time of the year,
is very serious. A good queen begins to
lay in January, but if the temperature of
the hive is suddenly reduced she ceases to
do so, and the brood already in existence
becomes "chilled" and dies.

If the sun shines brightly while snow is
on the ground, the bees will be tempted
out to perish. To avoid this, shade the
entrances by placing a board against the
front of the hive.

One should now begin to make one's
plans for the ensuing season, and to pro-
ceed with any preparations possible.
February Much the same advice applies for Feb-
ruary as for January. If there are any
stocks of which one is doubtful, give a
cake of candy over the feed-hole in quilt
without disturbing the bees, and cover up
again warmly. A little extra covering may

BEE-KEEPING 279

be given, so as to preserve every particle
of heat, which, now that the brood is in-
creasing, is so necessary. Also see that
all quilts are quite dry. If it is desired to
move any of the hives to a different position
in the apiary, it may be done now before
the bees begin to fly, as bees locate the
spot and not the hive, and if the positions
are changed later on, the flying bees will
return to the old place, and so perish.

About the middle of March on a warm, March
sunny day, the hives may be opened for
about five minutes, and the brood nest care-
fully examined. At this time of the year it
is as well to crowd the bees on to as few
frames as possible for the sake of the extra
warmth.

If short of food, give a cake of candy.
Any stocks which have no brood, and are
found to be queenless, should be united to the
one next to them by the following method :-

Gradually bring the two hives close to-
gether, moving them about two feet each

28o AGRICULTURE

day till side by side. Then give a little
smoke, and dredge all the frames of both
stocks well with flour. Next, take from the
hive which is to receive the bees the same
number of frames as we wish to put in from
the queenless stock, but be careful not to
remove any containing brood or eggs. The
frames of both hives should be placed
alternately. Success in uniting depends
upon the bees having the same scent. By
the time the bees have cleaned themselves of
the flour they will all have the same scent
and the danger of fighting be past.

This operation must be carried out on a
warm day, and as quickly as possible, so as
to avoid robbing. " Robbing " is the invasion
of a weak colony by a strong one, which
carries off all the stores of the former, leaving
the bees which have not been killed to perish
of hunger.

About the beginning of April, in many
districts, with favourable weather, the honey
season will have begun.

BEE-KEEPING

281

Any stocks which have earlier been found Feeding-

J f . bottles

short of food may now have thin syrup given
to them instead of candy by means of the
feeding-bottle, which is adapted for either

Feeding-bottle

spring or autumn feeding. It consists of a
wooden stage for placing over the frames
with a hole in the centre covered with
metal, which has a narrow slit half way
round it, and a bottle which is provided with
a cover having about nine small holes pierced
in it. When the bottle is reversed over the

282 AGRICULTURE

stage, the holes are moved round to come
over the slit, which is about one-eighth inch
wide. Any number of holes may be turned
on. There is an under finger attached to
the cover of the bottle, which regulates
the supply.

If there is no water supply which the bees
can get at, water troughs must be provided,
filled with small stones, tea-leaves, or bits of
cork.

These must be kept full of water, and
placed in the most sheltered spot in the
apiary. Water is essential to the bees for
brood rearing. This trouble is, however,
unnecessary where there is a natural supply
of water, as the troughs will be dis-
regarded.
April Transfer bees from skeps to bar frame

hives about April.

May In May strong stocks are becoming
crowded, and care must be taken to see
that the bees have plenty of room. This
may be done by adding frames, where the

BEE-KEEPING 283

full number (generally ten) has not been
given, or by placing on the supers.

A super is a crate or box containing
sections or shallow frames placed over the
brood frames, and in which the bees will
store surplus honey. These can be removed

Super containing Sections

as filled, without disturbing the frames
below.

A crate of sections usually contains twenty-
one i Ib. sections, and a box of shallow
frames is fitted to take eight or ten frames.

Supering should not be done until the nine Supering
or ten frames comprising the brood nest are
crowded with bees, and honey is coming in
well.

284 AGRICULTURE

The time for supering varies according to
the district and the state of the weather.

Where there are large fruit plantations
near at hand, supers may go on early in May,
but when clover and sainfoin are depended
upon, it is advisable to wait for a week or
two longer.

If the weather should be wet and cold
in May, syrup feeding must be continued to
any hives known to be short of stores.

It is very important that swarming should
be prevented from hives with supers on, for,
if this takes place, the bees will forsake the
sections, and no surplus honey will be ob-
tained from the hive.

As soon as the bees are working well in
the first super, it should be raised, and a
second one placed underneath.

Give plenty of ventilation ; if very hot,
prop up the front of the hive.

Swarming Swarming usually takes place from the
beginning of May until the middle or end
of July.

BEE-KEEPING 285

The old adage says : —

" A swarm in May is worth a load of hay,
A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon,
A swarm in July may be allowed to fly."

Swarming occurs in the height of the
breeding season, when the hive is becoming
daily more crowded, and unless plenty of
room is given the bees' instinct leads them to
know that some of them must seek a new
home. The first preparation for swarming
is the building of a number of queen cells.
When these are nearly ready to hatch out,
the old sovereign abandons the hive, accom-
panied by nearly the whole of the adult
population, leaving the young princesses, one
of which becomes the queen, with all the
young bees and any flying bees, which return
to the old hive, to form the colony.

If swarms are hived in bad weather, they
must be fed until they can get out to gather
honey.

In many places July is the busiest month July
for honey gathering, and section crates and

286

AGRICULTURE

shallow frames should be removed as soon as
the honey is fully capped over.

Supers should be removed early in the
morning or in the evening, by means of the
Porter bee escape.

This consists of a board exactly the same

Super Clearer or Porter Bee Escape

size as the super, having in the centre a bee
escape, which is a spring, by which the bees
can go down into the hive, but are unable to
return.

The super which it is desired to rid of
bees is raised, and the board, with the round
opening of the escape upwards, is placed
underneath.

If this is done in the evening, the bees
will go down into the hive during the night

BEE-KEEPING

287

and be unable to return. Next morning all
that remains to be done is to lift off the super
and take it indoors.

Showing working of Spring

In August the honey flow, except in the August
heather districts, is ceasing, and the drones
begin to be worried out of the hive.

288 AGRICULTURE

At the end of the season all hives should
be examined to see if they have a young pro-
lific queen, and plenty of stores for the winter.
The whole success of the next season's work
depends to a great extent upon this.

If they are queenless, or if the queen is
getting old, a new one must be introduced,
and if food is short, feeding with syrup
slowly (allow them access to about three
holes) must be commenced.

September If, by the end of September, they have
not stored sufficient food (about 25 Ibs.
sealed honey), feed as quickly as possible
until they have enough.

November Syrup feeding must not be carried on in
November.

If there is then any doubt about their
having enough, give a good cake of candy.

Place two or three pieces of naphthalene
between the frames of all hives as preven-
tative of foul brood, one of the deadliest
enemies in the shape of disease which the
bee-keeper has to contend with.

BEE-KEEPING 289

See that the quilts are porous and dry, and
that there are enough of them, also that the
roofs of the hives are thoroughly water-
tight. Open the entrances wide, and then
the bees are best left entirely alone until the
following February or March.

There is in nearly every town a branch British

r t_ T» • • t_ T» • • Bee-keepers'

of the British Bee-keepers Association, to Association
which all bee-keepers should make a point of
belonging.

A subscription of 55. per annum entitles
them to the "Bee-keepers' Record," a
monthly journal devoted to practical bee-
keeping, and also to have their apiaries
visited once or twice a year by a qualified
expert.

By means of associated effort every intelli-
gent man and woman must know that much
more may be accomplished in making apicul-
ture a profitable and interesting pursuit, than
if the individual relies solely on himself. It
is to be hoped that everyone thinking of
beginning bee-keeping will make a point of

VI.

290

AGRICULTURE

joining the British Bee-keepers' Association,
not only for their own benefit, but to aid the
community at large by doing all in their
power to enable this association to extend
the good work which it has carried on since
1870.

THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE,
A KEY TO THE WHOLE
POSITION

J

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•4->

CO

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|

rt
£

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CHAPTER V

THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE, A KEY TO
THE WHOLE POSITION

THERE is no doubt that at the bottom of the
agricultural problem lies the question of
profitable or unprofitable selling. It is not unprofitable

. . selling

likely that men or women either, can put
much heart or interest into work which
brings no adequate return, and in many cases
even loss, for all the effort expended.

But then comes the reflection, Why should
not good produce sell well, when there is
always a steady demand for certain articles
of food, and an increasing one for fresh fruit
and vegetables ? The last ten years has seen
a remarkable change in this direction, and
the amount of imported fruit increases each
year.

295

296 AGRICULTURE

Bad packing I fear there is one main answer which
applies generally, and that is, the produce
has been picked and packed so badly,
that the prices it commands are of the
lowest, and not sufficient to pay for
even the small amount of inferior labour
expended.

old methods Let us try to picture the methods which
have prevailed and still do prevail in country
districts which have not been enlightened
by, or else refuse to listen to, the County
Council Instructor. Perhaps it is the season
for soft fruit picking, red or black currants
for instance. They are picked into any dirty
baskets or boxes which have been lying about
all the season, then shaken all together into
another odd sieve large enough to take the
whole quantity. Perhaps some dirty news-
paper lines the sides of the basket, perhaps
hot. It is almost certain to be put over the
top with some leaves, and secured by withes.
Then the local carrier calls the next day, or
the one after, and takes them into the nearest

THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE 297

town. By the time they reach the green-
grocer's shop, they are more or less bruised
and spoiled, and only realise second instead
of first prices. Take the case of apples, these
are picked and thrown unsorted into half
sieves, or pots, with a few good ones on the
top to deceive the buyer. What is the
result ? In the market the whole contents
of the basket is condemned as u thirds " or
worse, and the really good apples fetch no
price at all, whereas if they had been sorted
and graded and carefully packed the same lot
of apples would have obtained good prices in
their different grades if they had been true
to sample. The Canadian Government have Canadian

. . . Fruit Marks

adopted strong measures to stop the iniquitous Act
practice of cheating buyers with the contents
of the packages. In the Fruit Marks Act
of 1901 it provides: "That the face of
all fruit packages must fairly represent
the fruit throughout," . . . " and to dis-
pose or have in possession for sale fraudu-
lently packed or marked fruit is constituted

298 AGRICULTURE

an offence within the meaning of the
Act."1
Irish Board The Irish Board of Agriculture have lately

issued a most valuable leaflet on " Fruit Pack-

ing ing," which should be in the hands of all those
really taking this subject seriously. People
have only to write to the Secretary of the
Department of Agricultural and Technical
Instruction, Dublin, to obtain a complete
copy ; but I think the following extracts are
well worthy of a place for their practical
simplicity.

SCHEDULE
Section i. — Gathering

" Apples and pears must be hand-pulled.
4 Windfalls,' or fruit shaken off trees, must
not be mixed with hand-pulled. Discretion
must be exercised as to the best time to pull
late-keeping apples and pears. (See Depart-

1 Woman s Agrlc. Times , Feb. 1903, pp. 1 1 6, 1 1 7.

THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE 299

ment's Special Memo, on Fruit Culture.)
Apples and pears of non-keeping sorts should
be packed for market as soon as ready for
use, so as to be handled only once. All
other fruit should be gathered straight into
market packages and only handled once.
Pickers of soft fruits should sort out the
fruit as evenly as possible into different
grades as they go along.

Section 2. — Grading

" Apples, whether packed in large or
small packages, cannot be too carefully
graded. The best apples should be graded
by passing them through rings, as follows :-

BEST COOKING APPLES

Above 3! inches will be classed A

,, 2f ,, to 3 1 inches classed B

oi 23 r;

11 *t 11 11 *% 11 11 ^

Under 2^ ,, D

300 AGRICULTURE

BEST DESSERT APPLES

Above 2 J inches will be classed A

,, • i\ ,, to 2^ inches classed B

11 2 11 11 2¥ 11 11 V

Under 2 ,, D

u The grading of pears must be done so
that fruits fill standard packages evenly.
The test of correct grading must be the
regularity and good fit of the layer in the
case, as pears are sold by count, and fruits
should be graded so that they will pack in
fixed counts of uniform size.

"The grading of soft fruits should be in
to large, medium, and small. The grower
should see that such fruits are properly
sorted out into these three sizes.

Section 3. — Packing

"It is recommended that in the case of
very fine fruit — where it is of sufficiently
high quality -to warrant special packing by
count as well as by grade — packages holding

THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE 301

one, two, or three dozen selected apples,
pears, or peaches, be adopted. These pack-
ages can be bought as ' nest ' boxes. It is
also recommended that selected large apples,
pears or peaches be packed in single layers
in flat baskets or boxes. These packages
show fine fruit off to great advantage. The
i Ib. box for forced strawberries, and the
i Ib. punnet for strawberries, raspberries,
cherries, dessert gooseberries and currants,
are strongly recommended, the package
being of nominal cost, and punnets non-
returnable, and made up so that it gets a
minimum of handling, and by its lightness
always keeps fruit in best condition. One
pound punnets should be packed in crates
holding sixteen, twenty-four, or thirty-two
each, the top layer of punnets being covered
with a sheet of clean paper, and above that
wood-wool. Where it is desired to pack
choice selected fruits in less quantities than
5 Ib. packages, the choice of package is
left to the initiative of the grower.

302 AGRICULTURE

"In regard to grapes and melons
absolute standard can be fixed for packages.
It is recommended that strong, flat boxes
with grapes in one layer be adopted, and
that the finest wood-wool only be used for
packing grapes, melons, and peaches.

UA11 packages should be of wood where
possible, and be free and non-returnable.
Where baskets are used they are return-
able. All packages should bear such a
label as the following :—

"(SAMPLE LABEL.)

PERISHABLE.— DELIVER AT

ONCE.

APPLES— GRADE A.

From (Name}.

(Address}*

Sent. (Date).

V f*

Boxes in

Bundles.

To (Name).

\ /'

( /IfMrf.t.t )

\ 1 *
Per Ry. ( State if Passenger or

Goods. )

THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE 303

or, if boxes be branded, stating as
follows : —

"The grower or Society's name, address,
and distinctive brand, if any.

"The kind of fruit contained.

"The grade — either A, meaning 'Extra
size ' ; B, meaning ' First size ' ; C,
meaning c Second size ' ; or D, mean-
ing ' Small size.'

"The sizes referred to are those named
above in Section 2.

Section 4. — Standard Packages and the Fruits
for which they are intended

u

The standard of weight suggested is 5
Ibs. The standard packages are multiples of
the standard weight ; thus, standard weights
and standard packages will also assure to the
buyers a reliable measure. These weights
and measures are set forth below : —

304 AGRICULTURE

"Standard Weights. Standard Measures.

" (i) 5 Ibs., taken as equivalent to - i gallon.

" (2) 10 „ „ - J bushel.

" (3) !5 »» >» - 3 gallons.

" (4) 20 ,, ,, - J bushel.

"(5) 40 „ „ - I bushel.

" (6) 80 „ „ - 2 bushels.

" (7) 1 20 ,, „ - i barrel.

"Apples and pears may be packed in all
the above except gallons.

"Damsons and green gooseberries in all
the above packages.

" Plums in all except 2-bushels and
barrels.

" Cherries, red and amber gooseberries, in
gallons, J-bushels, 3-gallons, and i-bushels.

u Strawberries, raspberries, currants and
tomatoes in gallons and ^-bushels.

" We desire it to be distinctly understood
that the foregoing proposals are tentative and
provisional"

Following up this report the Committee
have sent the Department specimen packages
as follows ; —

THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE 305

1. For general use.

Nest of six boxes, to hold 5, 10, 15,
20, 40 and 80 Ibs., respectively.

2. For selected dessert apples.

Three nests of packages, each holding
i, 2, and 3 dozen, respectively. Each
nest contains four boxes, one for each
standard size of apple.

3. For selected cooking apples.

Three nests of boxes, each holding
i, 2, and 3 dozen, respectively. Each
nest contains four boxes, one for each
standard size of apple.
The illustrations below show the boxes
recommended for general use in marketing
fruit.

In p. 306 the lids have been removed,
showing the boxes forming a "nest."

In p. 307 the boxes with lids on have been
arranged to form a pyramid.

Special u nests" are manufactured for graded
apples, both dessert and cooking.

These specimens were made by Messrs

VI. U

306

AGRICULTURE

George Perry and Co.. Ltd., of Camden Row,
Dublin, who have prepared a price list, which

they will supply on application. The manu-
facture of these packages, if they are adopted,
will doubtless be speedily taken up by other
firms in various parts of the country.

308 AGRICULTURE

The Department would ask fruit growers
to give the standard in fruit packing a care-
ful trial. After some experience shall have
been gained they will be glad to co-operate
with fruit growers in considering further im-
provements and suggestions for the encourage-
ment of this industry.

The benefit to producer and consumer
generally, of a universal system of uniform
weights, measures and packages non-return-
Confusion able would be untold. That one miserable
basket used in the Midlands and called "a
pot " is most confusing and tiresome ; as for
instance a pot of apples is supposed to contain
64 Ibs. ; a pot of plums or damsons, 72 Ibs. ;
of potatoes, 80 Ibs. ; beans or peas, 40 Ibs. ;
onions, 70 Ibs. ; spinach and other greens,
20 Ibs. I find in that useful annual u Farm
and Home Year Book " a list of fruit and
Terms used vegetable market measures, and in it an

in different . . r i r n • i

counties explanation or the following terms : bundle
bunch, bushel basket, bushel sieve, flasket,
flats, hand, junks, roll, sieve, half sieve, load

THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE 309

(this does not relate to a cart load, but is the
name given to a basket which holds three
bushels of beans), peck, punnet, pottle, pip,
pots, tally. Here is u confusion worse con-
founded " to the novice ! ! Why must we
continue this involved and intricate system,
when the metric would give simplicity itself,
after we were once accustomed to it ? By
way of parenthesis, at a Conference lately
held in Worcester under the auspices of
the Agricultural Organisation Society, one
speaker in condemning the much abused
upot " quoted a story of a salesman making
three fair-sized "pots" out of two, but of
course only paying the grower for two.
This slipshod system of dealing with fruit
and other produce necessarily offers ample
scope for abuse.

It is extraordinary what an amount of Marketing
knowledge one picks up by hard practical
experience, but to the beginner the way is
hard. In May 1900, at a meeting of the
Lady Warwick Agricultural Association for

3io AGRICULTURE

Women held in London, the subject of
u Marketing the Produce " was discussed at
some length, and an interesting article by
Mr T. L. Green appeared in the Woman's
Agricultural Times for the following July.
I give these extracts because they are typical
of the natural evolution of " marketing,"
which every novice appears to go through.

" It was suggested that the small producer
of garden or orchard produce should not make
the mistake of sending her commodities to
such large markets as Covent Garden, Man-
chester, Birmingham, etc., but should create
a special local market. The suggestion is a
wise one, and though, in my experience, local
markets are of somewhat limited application,
it nevertheless deserves adoption to its fullest
extent.

"Another suggestion was to take advan-
tage of the parcels post. This, too, is all
right if you can only succeed in obtaining
your customers. To obtain them, one com-
monly advertises for them, stating at the

THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE 3 1 1

same time the articles one has to dispose of.
I regard it as risky, and, in any case, expen-
sive ; whilst it is extremely easy to overdo
this form of trade. Where one succeeds a
dozen will fail.

UA third suggestion was, that the pro-
ducer should secure friends to take regular
supplies, and then to get them to give in-
troductions to others. This, too, is all very
well in a way ; but experience proves it is a
very unsatisfactory form of business. The
less one has to do with one's friends in trading
transactions the better. They will not always
pay you the price you require and deserve ;
they will not always pay you promptly ; and
you will find, in time, that they will give you
the maximum of trouble with the minimum of
profit. They will, in many cases, gradually
begin to ' talk,' you will eventually lose some
— probably the whole — of their custom, and
you will be worse oflF in every way than if
you relied on the open market.

"These are somewhat negative criticisms,

312 AGRICULTURE

but I am coming to a personal suggestion
presently. To show, however, that these
and some other remarks are really under-
stood by the practical cultivator, reference
need only be made to one very pertinacious
and extremely sensible lady at Lady War-
wick's meeting. This lady gave her dis-
appointing experiences and repeatedly asked
for suggestions other than those alluded to,
which did not commend themselves to her
practical mind. In turn, she herself sug-
gested the formation of an association to
assist those who had produce for disposal ;
this association apparently to consist of town
and country members, the latter drawing up
and supplying lists (with prices) of the goods
they have for sale, and the former purchasing
these same goods. The idea is at least novel,
and it was a practical contribution to an
interesting discussion.

u My own view, however, of the marketing
problem is rather different from that of any
of the speakers. I am entirely in accord

THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE 313

with the notion of avoiding the wholesale
markets in the large centres of population,
unless a ' Stand ' in one or more such markets
can be obtained by someone who directly and
honestly represents the producer; and even
then I regard the experiment as risky and
likely to lead to boycotting and under-selling
by the other wholesalers in the same market.
But the only real way to reap adequate re-
turns is by the producers selling their goods
retail in the various centres. For this pur-
pose I believe London to be the best all-
round place at which to make a start. It
would be necessary to hire a shop, and to
place in it a suitable staff. The shop need
not be over large, but every care should be
taken to fix on a good town or suburban
district. The staff required would be in
proportion to the trade expected, or acquired.
At first it would be small. A man should
act as manager; there should be a boy or
two to go out on morning rounds to acquire
orders and to deliver the goods ; and there

AGRICULTURE

should be a female in the shop to do such
work as is constantly done by women-
taking the cash, booking orders from lady
callers, weighing up and arranging the lighter
goods, helping to keep the place tidy, etc.,
etc. The man's work would mainly consist
in buying, on the wholesale markets, such
goods as the producers themselves could not
supply, and, as much would depend on this
individual's honesty in buying, his wages
should be so arranged as in part to depend
on the satisfactory results he is able to show.
The rent of a good suburban shop would
probably be about ^50 to £60 per annum ;
the total wages of a couple of strong boys or
youths would be (at the most), £80 to ^100
(one boy would be sufficient at first) ; the
manager could be obtained for another £100
a year, plus a commission of 2-J-% to 5% on
the turnover ; and the female assistant should
preferably be the wife of the manager, both
of whom should live on the premises. In
return for her assistance in the shop, the

THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE 315

pair should be allowed to live rent free. A
pony and cart would complete the really
necessary staff.

"There is nothing visionary about a pro-
position of this kind, and I hope it may lead
to some further discussion. What is involved
is a system of co-operation amongst the pro-
ducers. There, I may say, I should be much
surprised if ladies did not show that they
could co-operate for the purposes of sale
much better than men. The proposition
also, of course, involves the expense in-
dicated ; but, in return, it places the pro-
ducers on a business basis, and it rests with
themselves to make it the success which is
being constantly achieved by the individual
small retail shopkeeper all over the country.
This man has to buy everything. If he
succeeds, why should not an association of
determined women succeed who would them-
selves grow a large part of the things they
sell?

" Is it possible for a number of ladies to

316 AGRICULTURE

form such an association? It would be a
grand feather in their i cap ' to do so. That
they could achieve financial success, I per-
sonally have no doubt."

The inevitable conclusion arrived at by

personal experience, and also from the related

experience of people and students I have

Retail known, is that retail marketing is considered

marketing . .

eminently unsatisfactory. The actual prices
received may be higher, but against that has
to be placed the time spent in packing small
orders, in delivering, in booking, in collecting
the money, in bad debts, in keeping the
accounts, not to speak of cost of baskets and
packages, and loss of these by depreciation
wholesale and waste. Whereas if an honest and

marketing

reliable Commission Agent can be found
at a suitable market to sell the produce, he
sends his own boxes or baskets which are
exactly suited to goods to be sent : a dozen
or more of these are despatched from the
nearest station. In a few days you receive
a return," notifying the quantity and price

u

THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE 317

of goods, with the commission and railway
freight deducted in separate sums, and on a
regular day once a week the cheque for the
week's sales. This means simplification of
labour, as the flowers or fruit are picked
and packed direct, a note of contents taken,
and the whole despatched from the spot on
which they are grown. Of course this is
only possible when the supply is large enough
and regular enough to follow out this
routine.

Here then is the opportunity for co-opera-
tion. Let a certain number of producers
combine and market their stuff co-operatively
a regular supply can be assured, and a
minimum of expense for carriage, etc.,
secured. .

At the Conference at Worcester (to which
allusion has already been made) the working
of co-operative societies was touched upon at
some length, and later on the points were
summarised in the W. A. T.1 The following

1 Woman's Agric. Times.

318 AGRICULTURE

extracts may be useful for the consideration
of those interested in the question.

uThat a co-operative society should be so
carefully organised that it should be impos-
sible for it at any time to degenerate into a
limited liability company.
Co-operative cc That a co-operative society must have its

Societies r i- •

sources ot supply in good working order
before trying to find a market for the same.
That the supply must be regular, and the
quality of the highest.

"That a co-operative society, to be
successful, must have a good manager well
paid, and, if possible, a canvasser or agent,
who could both follow up the goods and trace
the reasons which caused dissatisfaction to
customers, and also watch the markets, and
advise the society as to sales, etc. That the
goods must be well graded and properly
packed.

"That co-operative societies should combine
to bring into force a uniform system of
weights and measures, as the present system

THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE 319

of different weights obtaining in different
counties led to fraud and confusion all round.

" That motor waggons were by far the
best means of transport, and that as they
were so expensive they should be owned
co-operatively."

In November of last year 1902 the Board
of Agriculture published a most interesting
report on the " Dutch Brined Vegetable Dutch Brined

Vegetable

Industry." l As the result of a deputation to industry
the Board, from the Biggleswade Trades and
Agricultural Association, as to the serious
effects of the Dutch competition on the brined
vegetable industry in the country, Mr R.
F. Crawford was instructed to visit the
Netherlands and inquire into the matter,
hence the report which is written with a fresh-
ness and absence of officialism which makes
the pamphlet almost light reading. There is
a chapter (p. 20) devoted to " Co-operation co-operative
amongst Dutch Market Gardeners," from

Societies

1 Report on the Dutch Brined Vegetable Industry, Eyre and i" , e . ,
Spottiswoode, 8d.

320 AGRICULTURE

which, reluctant as I always feel to
to admit that the foreigner shows a superior
mind, I think much could be learned by us.
Therefore I give it in full without apologies.

CO-OPERATION AMONG DUTCH MARKET
GARDENERS

An interesting feature of the Dutch
Market Gardening industry is the great
extent to which co-operative principles have
been applied to the sale of vegetables and
fruit. All over North Holland, the small
market gardeners have formed societies for
the joint sale of their produce, and in some
districts they have erected their own auction
marts. One of the largest of these Associa-
tions is that known as the " Westland."

The Westland is a district a few miles from
the Hague, which is given up almost entirely
to fruit-growing and market-gardening. The
usual size of the holdings is about 5 acres,
though a few run to 10 acres and upwards.
Rents are high, averaging about £5, los. per

THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE 321

acre, and when there are glass houses erected
by the owner, the gardener pays 5 to 8 per
cent, yearly on the cost of erection.

A short description of a market garden of
10 acres visited at Poeldijk may serve as an
example of the conditions existing in the
Westland In this case the occupier pays
^5, 175. per acre rent, and he has ten glass
houses on his holding for which he pays 5
to 7 per cent, on the cost of erection.

These glass houses cost 505. to 585. per
39 inches to build, or when built against a
wall, as is frequently the case, from 335. to
405. per 39 inches.

There is ua polder" tax of 135. per acre
on this holding, and the occupier also pays
income tax. The soil is a clay loam, which
the tenant has improved by the addition of
sand brought from the dunes, and by heavily
manuring it with horse dung.

On this holding large quantities of grapes,
also melons, tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, beans,
pears, plums, early cauliflowers, endive, and

VI.

322 AGRICULTURE

strawberries are grown. The tenant works
himself from early morning till night, and
employs five labourers, to each of whom
he pays i8s. a week. He keeps himself, a
wife and five. children on the profits from the
sales of his produce, but his outgoings for
rent, labour and manure are so heavy that the
standard of living of the family is necessarily
a low one.

To men in this position it is important
that their produce should be sold to the
best advantage, and to secure this result
it is recognised that the quality of the
articles produced should be maintained at
a high level, and that the middleman should
be as far as possible eliminated.

It is with these objects in view that the
Dutch market-gardeners have combined for
the joint sale of their produce, through the
agency of co-operative associations, of which
the u Westland " society is one of the most
successful.

The object of the " Westland" society,

THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE 323

as set forth in the printed rules, is to
promote the sale of market-garden produce
of the Westland by supervising the quality,
quantity and packing of the produce; by
holding auction sales ; by exporting goods
of first-rate quality to foreign markets in
order to direct attention to the character of
Westland market-garden produce; by im-
proving the system of cultivation, and by
taking any steps which will further the
disposal of the crops.

The society has a registered trade mark
in the form of a blue diagonal label, which
each member is allowed to afHx to the
produce he brings to the auction, provided
that the goods have been previously passed
by the Committee, whose duty it is to
see that they are properly packed ; that the
contents of the packages, bags or baskets
agree with the weight stated on the label,
and that the articles are sound and of good
quality throughout.

The Westland society consists of a federa-

324 AGRICULTURE

tion of seven branches, five of which have
erected their own auction halls with borrowed
capital, while in two cases the auctions are
held in hired buildings. Sales are held every
night in summer, three times a week in the late
autumn, and once a week in winter. These
sales are largely attended by dealers and
commission agents from Rotterdam, Amster-
dam and the Hague and Delft, who arrange
for the transport of their purchases to these
towns, either for local consumption or for
export.

Members of the society bring their
produce to the auction mart in barges,
and arrange their goods on the stands.
When a large consignment of potatoes or
other vegetables is offered for sale the
purchase is made by sample, in other cases,
the dealer sees the entire lot of the article
he buys.

Each lot of produce to be put up for
auction is entered on a delivery note by
the member concerned, and this note is

THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE 325

handed to the clerk, who subsequently
passes it to the auctioneer.

All goods purchased at the auction must
be paid for in cash ; credit is seldom given.
A purchaser is also required to leave a
deposit to cover the value of the sacks,
baskets or other packages.

The auctioneer is in each case the president
of the branch society. He receives nothing
for his services, as the post is considered
one of honour. The only paid officer of the
society is the clerk.

The funds of the society are derived from
a yearly subscription of is. 8d. per member,
and from a commission charged on the amount
realised for the goods sold.

In the case of what are known as large
auctions, which include large consignments
of potatoes, Brussels sprouts, beans, peas,
gooseberries and plums, purchased by sample,
the commission is fixed at i per cent., and
for small auctions or sales of small quantities
of grapes, fruit, cucumbers and other pro-

326 AGRICULTURE

duce, 2 per cent, of the sale price is
deducted.

The sum realised by the sales is distributed
at the end of each week amongst the members
who have sent goods to the auctions, each
receiving the amount for which his produce
was sold less the commission mentioned above.

In 1901 the value of the market-garden
produce sold through the agency of the
auctions held by the seven branches of the
"Westland" society amounted 10^44,250.

Some of the branches of the " Westland "
society have recently established trial grounds
for experiments in the improvement of market-
garden produce, and for the testing of various
manures.

These experimental grounds are supported
by a subsidy from the State, and grants in
aid are also made by the local authorities.
They are inspected regularly by the directors
of the State horticultural schools, and are
managed by a committee of market-gardeners
elected by the society.

THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE 327

Associations of the type of the " Westland"
society, though on a smaller scale, are to be
found throughout the market-garden districts
of North Holland. Several of them are in
operation in the districts of Alkmaar and
Bovenkarspel, and the greater part of the
cauliflower and cabbage crops grown in the
neighbourhood of these places is disposed
of by co-operative auction sales in buildings
erected by such societies. The principal
object of them all is to sell the produce of
their members to the best advantage, and to
maintain the reputation of Dutch produce for
uniformity of quality by the inspection and
marking of goods offered for sale. Unsuit-
able produce is either rejected, or, if it is
inadvertently passed by the examining com-
mittee and a well-founded complaint is
subsequently made by the purchaser, the
producer is either compelled to take the
goods back or to allow compensation to the
purchaser on a scale fixed by the society.

In the case of one co-operative auction

328 AGRICULTURE

mart near Bovenkarspel, a black board
headed "Black List" is placed in a con-
spicuous position outside the mart, and on
this the president of the society writes the
name of any member who has endeavoured
to pass inferior produce, and the name
of any dealer who is in default in his
payments.

Specimens of the rules of these associations
are given in the appendix. It is claimed for
this system of co-operation that it has largely
reduced the commission and charges formerly
paid to middlemen, that it has served to keep
up the standard of quality of Dutch produce,
and that it has prevented the under-cutting
of prices which arises when individual pro-
ducers compete against each other in the same
market. Goods sold under the registered
trade-marks have an established reputation
on home and foreign markets, and the enforce-
ment of a high standard of quality by the
marking committees has made it difficult for
an individual to spoil the market for his fellow

THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE 329

gardeners by " topping up " inferior produce
or by giving short weight.

The village halls where the local auctions village hails

. r as auction

are held are a novel feature, and might be marts
worthy of a careful consideration in organis-
ing small holdings or co-operative settlements.
The absence of water for the transit of barges
might have the effect of adding to the expense
of marketing, but probably motor transport
will very shortly solve this vexed question
effectually.

In conclusion one may affirm with assurance
that better times are coming for the intensive
farmer, be he man or woman ; the signs point
to a very definite awakening ; to a desire for
co-operation, for system, for organisation, and
to a determination to get out of the land
more value, more satisfaction generally. With
brains and fixity of purpose, there appears to
be absolutely no reason why the " Lighter
Branches of Agriculture " should not be pro-
fitable and advantageous from every point of
view.

WOMEN'S AGRICULTURAL
SETTLEMENTS

CHAPTER VI

WOMEN'S AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS
IN the preceding sections the work which The housing

., ... . r .. ,. question

women can do, and the possibilities or liveli-
hood, have been discussed at considerable
length, and now in conclusion it is but right
and proper that the question of housing
our agricultural sisters should occupy our
thoughts. They must live close to, or
amidst their work ; and it is certain there-
fore that cottages will have to be built for
them, since already in the country these are
all too few for the present population, and
many of the existing ones hardly deserve
the name of a living place.

When the Lady Warwick Agricultural Agricultural

Scheme for Women was first initiated, this °

333

334

AGRICULTURE

important point was realised, and a Scheme
of Agricultural Settlements was outlined, as
the logical sequence of the Training at what
was originally called her College, for those
students who did not marry, or who had
not homes to which to return, or who might
desire otherwise.

As the main principles appear to be suitable
for adoption now, five years later, I give the
plan in full, and criticise what strikes me as
unnecessary.

" It is proposed to establish Women's Agri-
cultural Settlements in different parts of the
country, within easy distance of a certain
market; e.g., either:—

The large manufacturing towns in

the Midlands.
2. Near a railway station in direct

communication with London.
A Women's Agricultural Settlement shall
consist of a certain number of holdings or
cottages (from six or ten to twenty), standing
in a certain specified amount of ground (from

u

u

AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS 335

one to four acres), in a district not extending
over too large an area.

" Each cottage or holding shall be occupied
by two Women Settlers, either as partners
(in which case the holding will be held
jointly), or as i head ' and ' subordinate '
(in which case the head woman will be re-
sponsible for the rent and work done).

" A Lady Superintendent will have the
control of each Settlement, as far as the
business arrangements are concerned, though
each settler will have complete individual
freedom.

" The Superintendent will be duly qualified
as having a knowledge of horticulture or
dairy work, and special capabilities for or-
ganisation, as she will advise the settlers on
the production of their gardens, and make
all business arrangements for the marketing
of produce.

"Women will be eligible who can show
practical experience of gardening, or of
dairy work, or who hold certificates from

336 AGRICULTURE

the Royal Horticultural Society, or from the
Technical Instruction Classes, given under
the County Councils in Horticulture, Dairy
Work, Beekeeping, etc. (and students from
the Agricultural Training College). They
must also possess incomes of from £10
to ^50 a year. The partnership of two
women thus circumstanced will enable them
to live healthy lives on the cheap holdings,
and add gradually to their incomes, though
it is not likely that fortunes will be made.

u The settlers will be expected to cultivate
the ground attached to their holdings in
some of the following ways : Flower, fruit
and vegetable farming ; bee and poultry
keeping ; bottling fruit, jam-making ; home-
made wines; or dairy work, with butter and
soft cheese making, etc.

"The district must determine the nature
of the produce.

uWhen Dairy Work is carried on, the
butter and cheese will be made in a co-
operative creamery.

AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS 337

u

In each Settlement there will be a Factory,
Creamery, or Central Office and Club Room,
under the control of a Lady Superintendent,
where the work of the Settlement will be
done by co-operation. In fact the co-operative
principle will underlie the whole scheme.

uThe produce will be conveyed to the
market or station regularly by the Settle-
ment cart.

" There will be a Central Office in London
to direct and control the business arrange-
ments of the Settlement and College, and
the whole will be under a Committee of
Management."

The Lady Superintendent savours too much Lady Super-

,. TIP -IT* intendent

or autocracy, too little or co-operation ! .Be-
sides, I hardly know where such an official
could be found. Five years of the closest
work amongst women brings me to the
melancholy conclusion that organisers amongst
women are almost as rare as true saints, which
Mr Churton Collins told us were only to be
found one in a million. It may be that the

VI.

338 AGRICULTURE

next generations may produce them, but the
present one seems to shrink hopelessly at
anything savouring of responsibility, and as
to directing others, the women of to-day
would rather not attempt it under any cir-
cumstances. Nothing but a special training
in tact and infinite patience will give the
power to do this without getting all the
Settlers u by the ears." Therefore let us
embrace co-operation by all means, let the
Settlers have an equal start, but let each
work out her u own salvation " : in time the
natural lines on which a Settlement can be
run successfully will present themselves,
and doubtless the woman who possesses
the greatest energy and grasp and creative-
ness will be the accepted, if not the accredited,
leader — the President of the little Re-
public.

A co-operative A co-operative creamery may be desirable
after the Settlement has been well established,
but at first one would suggest doing without
it, and the Factory and Central Offices both

AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS 339

in London and on the Settlements. A small A club
Club run on very simple lines, with per-
haps a restaurant and certainly a tea-room,
would commend itself as a useful and non-
expensive adjunct, and one which the re-
quirements of the present time seems to
demand. Under capable management it
ought to pay well, and this would be a splendid
way to learn business on purely co-operative
lines, as a small society might be formed to
run it, and shares issued. Then it would be
to the interest of all Settlers who were
shareholders to support it and make it pay.
If the locality were favourable for retail
custom, produce could be sold at the Club
and orders taken.

To go into further details would be unwise,
as there is no precedent for these Settlements,
and it always seems a pity to tie up new
schemes with rules and regulations and red
tape. When once it has been proved that
the principle of the thing is right, it is wisest
(one would say) to let the details work

VI. Y*

340 AGRICULTURE

themselves out on their own natural lines,
always supposing that the u Man at the
Helm," who, at any rate, is morally responsible,
is keeping a fixed and steady look out, not
only on his own ship, but also on those who
pass or overtake him, believing that he can
always learn from others, and that his range
can never be too wide and liberal if he would
carry his ship safe to port.
women's The idea of Women's Settlements has been

settlements • i- i i i i

ridiculed greatly ridiculed, as being contrary to the
regulations which govern society. This of
course must be conceded, but since the
" surplus million of women " must be con-
sidered and provided for, surely the Settle-
ments offer inducements and possibilities of
a useful life leading to a definite end, which
does not exist at present in many schemes
for the Betterment of Women. Above all
we want business, not philanthropy, and
women to be taught and helped to main-
tain themselves in the station of life in
which they are born, instead of sinking into

AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS 341

degradation and misery which is, alas ! the
unwritten history of not a few.

One word in conclusion. I have tried to
show in the foregoing pages the possibilities
of a healthy, happy life — which exists for
women in Outdoor Work, and I have given
practical experience and facts to prove my
arguments. Perhaps I may be permitted to
add that now, after five years of the closest
experience in this branch of work to the
u trained capacity," I am more than ever con-
vinced of its soundness and its infinite possi-
bilities. This would lead me at all times to
advocate it strenuously as a career for those
who have any love for the country and for
country life.

INDEX

Acidimeter, the, 1 42, 1 50
Agriculture, Irish Board of,

298
, the lighter branches

of, n, 46, 190, 329
Apiary, arrangement of the,

251 ; outline of work in,

277
Appliances, labour - saving,

37».?6

Association, British Bee-
keeper's, 241, 267, 289
— , the Westland, 320,
322, 326
-, for Women, Agri-

cultural, n, 309, 333
B

Bee-keeping, 241 ; neces-
sary appliances for, 254 ;
handling the bees, 254;
beginning, 274

Bee, the queen, 245 ; the
worker, 248 ; cells of,
249

Bees, varieties of, 259
Book, Cowan's Guide, 273,

274

— , " Farm and Home

Year," 308
"Broilers," 199
Bunyard, Mr G., 42
Butter-making, 107, 113;

salting, 1 1 7
, milk, 1 16

Cattle, breeds of, 84 ; food
for, 92, 124, 141 ; hous-

' ing> 97
Cheese - making, 137 ;

seasons for, 141, 148 ;
utensils for, 147 ; soft
cheese, 166; utensils for,
168

Cheeses, 146 ; Bondon,
171; Camembert, 169;
Cheddar, 147, 162 ;
cream, 170 ; Gervais,
171 ; Pont 1'Eveque,
170, 172 ; Wensley-
dale, 162

343

344

INDEX

Churn, Bradford's Dia-
phragm, 112

College, Swanley Horti-
cultural, 9, 17

Collins, Mr Churton, 337

Company, the Anglo-
American Poultry, 199,
200, 228

Cooker, Parish's steam, 221

Cortez, 3 1

Cow, a typical dairy, 91

Creamery, a Co-operative,

^ 338

Cream raising, 104; ripen-
ing, 1 08 ; temperature
of, in, 113

Cultivators, the Planet, 37,

^ 40-44

Cypher's Duck and Broiler
Plant, the, 197, 204

D

Dairy, the, 24, 71, 102 ;
financial aspect of, 73 ;
utensils, 114, 123, 136 ;
rules for, 128 ; bye-
products of, 174

Dig8ing» 36
Drones, the, 247

Egg production, 222

" England, Rural," 46
Exhibition, the Victorian
Era, 9

Farm, a dairy, 74 ; locality
of, 75; climate for, 79;
soil, 79, 82 ; manure for,
81

-, an ideal poultry, 206

Foundation, honey - comb,

271

Fruit-growing, 45, 50, 63 ;
an illustration, 52 ; sum-
mary on, 60

G

Gardens, market, at Poel-
dyk, 321 ; North Hol-

^ land, 327

Gardeners, Women, 14,
22, 27 ; dress for, 64

Gardening, market, 1 1, 32 ;
essential knowledge for,
35, 63 ; Dutch, 320

H

Halls, village, 329
Hives, 26 1

INDEX

345

Hoe, Vipan and Headley's

Horse, 39
" Honey Bee," Cowan's,

244
Hostel, the Lady Warwick,

n, 17, 18, 32, 47, 57,

61, 66, 188, 2,5

I

Industry, the Dutch brined

vegetable, 319
Incubators, 212, 223

Labour, manual, 12
List, the black, 328

M

Marks, Canadian fruit, 297

Milker, the Lawrence
Kennedy, 76

Milking, 99

Milk - selling, 120; de-
livery, 125

treatment of, for

butter-making, 108

Tester, the Gerber,

122

Movement, the Woman's, 5

Packing, 56 ; bad, 296 ;
fruit, 298, 300

Perry, Messrs G., & Co.,
306

" Petits Poussin," 200

Plan, Mr G. Palmer's
patent, 205

Plough, Howard's allot-
ment, 38, 39

Pollen, 250

Posts, typical, 23 ; agricul-
tural, 49

Poultry, different breeds of,
192
- fattening, 223

foods for, 220, 222

keeping, 187; how

to start, 190; housing,

196, 213, 233
Produce, the marketing of,

295, 310 ; retail, 316
Propolis, 250

R

Rennet, 139, 150

Separation, hand, 105 ;
steam, 106

Settlements, women's agri-
cultural, 333 ; ridiculed,

340

346

INDEX

Societies, Co-operative, 318
Students, 26
Superintendent, the lady,

, 337
Swarm, how to hive the

bee, 275
Swarming, 284

Training, for gardening, T 7,

28, 32 ; for dairy work,
178
Transport, 46, 49 ; motor,

5°

W

Warwick, the Countess of,

9, ii

Wax, Z49

Women, Pioneer, 3, 6, 15
Worcester, Agricultural

Conference at, 309, 317

1'RINTFD iiV

TURNBULL AND SPEAKS

EDINBURGH

m
• o

CO

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