LADIES' COLUMN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8351, 24 June 1905, Page 3

LADIES' COLUMN.

A LADY FARMER. j Tho Eon Mrs Oscil Howard at [ Dutcfclands, near &raat Sfissendoa. (I7ie Gentlewoman..) The Hon. Mrs Cecil Howard has made a name for herself as an expert practical lady farmer. She owns one of tho j most successful of pedigree Jersey I herds, and has the satisfaction of know- j ing that it has been founded and bred by herself. No prettier homestead exists in Dutchlands, which lies on the ! beautiful slopes of the Chiltern Hills, and is approached by a pretty drive down a country lane about a mile from Great Missenden Station. The land, about two hundred and eighty acres, provides the farm with corn and general produce, as well as a remunerative supply for market, bo well does Sirs Howard manage the business side of her industry. Of course, there are grazing paddocks which also supply hay, and the crops grown are barley, wheat, oats, peas mangolds and swedes. In this section Mrs Howard has won prizes at the dairy and other shows, not only for swedes, but also for an all-round exhibition of roots, corn, meat and poultry, butter and eggs — a feat that testifies to the character of Mrs Howard's supervision and her general ambition. Every profession has a beginning, but very few businesses are undertaken with so little education for it as in the case of the mistress of Dutchlands, who seems in fact, to be one of Nature's own lady farmers. Her start was in this way. Some years ago, Mr Cecil Howard and a friend, a practical farmer, attended a sale of cattle, and bought about fifty head, which they agreed to { divide by selection after the sale. At this time Mrs. Howard was a young married' woman full of youthful enjoyments, and had up to that date taken little or no interest in Mr Howard's de- | sultory farming. Very happily, as after events proved, when the fifty head of cattle arrived, and the time came for the choice in division of them, Mrs Howard was chosen by both parties to j select twenty-five for her husband. She, being called in, remonstrated on the absurdity of it ; but, on being told that she must make her selection, set to work and made it, and, to make a long story short, did' it so well that the farmer could not be made to believe that Mrs Howard knew nothing of cattle. This intuitive knowledge of utility form in animals gave her an incentive, and from that day she became an interested worker with Mr Howard- until he became so satisfied with her skill that he gradually left the entire control in his wife's hands. The herd of Jerseys was started with a single cow named Hyacinth, one of the best, Mrs Howard declares, she ever owned. Mr 3 Howard has been as successful in butter production as she has been in cattle raising, and many of the London clubs are supplied regularly from Dutehlands. In this way Mrs Howard finds a ready market for her poultry, porks and eggs. Some will say : — " Oh, it is easy enough for a woman to raise cows and manage a dairy, but what about horse breeding?" To these wo can reply that Mrs Howard lias been equally skilled and successful, and she finds a market for her polo ponies, hunters and thoroughbreds. One of her best . hunters •is Hagar, winner of two first prizes as mare with foal, and one first as a four-year-old hunter. She was regularly hunted for ton years, and is the winner of many jumping prizes. A very elegant creature is that two-year-old filly by Carthage out of Hagar. Mrs Howard bred six winners out of the first six foals bred at Dutchlands. Carthage, the pride of the stables, won a King's Premium last year. He stands fifteen hands two and threequarter inches, and he bears the blood of a Victorian Derby winner, Mrs Howard's views on many ques* tions must be of great interest to every woman in agriculture. One of her axioms is: "If you feed Jerseys well for show purposes, you get quite the value of their feeding in the extra supply of rich milk and butter, which reduces the expense of exhibition." Mrs Howard considers £20 the market value for a good heifer after calving the first calf, but a good bull should be worth £60 or more. These prices are not, however, her limit for show cattle, whioh she considers fetch any price according to the beauty and form of the cow or bull, and the successes of its herd at the time. The owner requires to keep the best animals, and not to sell them if a good milking herd iB the object. If the -best cows are sold, you have to part with them just as they are really profitable for the dairy, and so the butter-making would not pay. If, oh the other hand, cattle rearing for sale is the object, only sufficient cows should be kept to breed the calves. Mrs Howard has found that buttermaking has paid on account of the value of the skim milk for rearing stock of all sorts, as well as the^herd. She uses skim milk in rearing a herd of Berkshires, which repay her by fatten- I ing quicker in consequence, in addition to which their meat is found to be finer and of a better flavour. The highest record of butter given weekly by any cow that she remembers was eighteen pounds, the average of eight pounds being considered good. Mrs Howard has many excellent reasons to give for her preference of Jerseys over Shorthorns: "There is no difficulty in selling Jersey butter, which is easier to churn and less wasteful"; "two Jerseys can be well kept on what would keep one Shorthorn badly " j " the yearlings can rough it in any weather, and are better in open sheds in winter " \ "Jersey cows are gentler and more manageable, and Jer.sey bulls are so tame at Dutchlands that they can be led about by a, string." The Berkshire pigs have made themselves known by winning prizes, and they roam about the grass-land with the freedom of sheep. Of the Southdown ewes — about 100 .of them — some are sold and some are kept to supply the household with mutton; they are also found useful for manuring the arable land and keeping it free from weeds. In fact, Mrs Howard farms on the principle of wheels within wheels, and makes one thing supply another. Of course, this means unceasing thought and attention. Men employ an overseer for this, but Mrs Howard believes in being her own overseer, and so the pony cart or hack awaits her, and every corner of the farm, has to be visited daily. Mrs Howard is of opinion that the possibilities of women in farming are goodj and that any girl or woman may become an expert by means of education, even though she may not have had any knowledge of"' the work beforehand; her measure of ultimate success, however, depends upon her love of outdoor life and animals, her industry; and never-failing patience, and her general aptitude for doing , the work that is wanted at the moment it is wanted. Mrs Howard does not approve of the one-egg basket principle in farming, for while she agrees that every lady farmer should aim at some one direction of specialism, she considers that other branches must be undertaken and worked in with that special feature if the undertaking is to be successful. Good ■ dairying, she avers, can only be learnt by practical experience, and prizes cannot be won ' at shows without expense and trouble. { I&P3 Howard would not advise a lady ■'■ /' ' ■■■■ •. .•■■-. .

to start a farm unless her capital is ample and assured, as also an income for three years outside of anything the farm may provide. Tho amount Mrs Howard could not fix, as it would depend, she said, on the county selected, and tue branches undertaken . It would, as a general rule, be madness to attempt the starting of a Jersey farm in England on so small a sum as £500, though possibly with great -care and waiting a very gradual development, such a sum might, in economical efficient hands, be . sufficient. . In any case, the capital should not be drawn upon for living expenses while the farm is being established. Mrs Howard's influence at Dutchlands is seen and felt everywhere, and in consequence she has little trouble with her servants, who, finding her capable, are only too willing to follow her instructions. Mrs toward, it is needless to say, does all her own buying and seumg, and, as is usual with Jarge herds of representative stock, periodical sales are . held. She is also very keen on her herd books, which are models of detail, accuracy and completeness, and the pedigree of each animal is given very fully, as also their prizes. Mrs Howard has further proved that poultry pays, and keeps an average of two hundred and fifty hens : Orpingtons, buff and black ; dark Dorkings, Indian and black-red English game. Some of tho aristocratic frequenters of the Epsom racecourse every year — though they are unaware of it have the option of lunching off a Dutchlands chicken, a speciality she provides to the order of several of, the London clubs in Derby Week.

•i Another profitable branch is -made of the pheasantries, where five hundred hens provide from .twenty-seven to thirty eggs a-pieco in the season that are sold, only keeping sufficient for stock for the ensuing year, which entails rearing some two thousand birds ; from among them some five hundred young pullets will be selected, the rest are sold. Her keeper makes his own hurdles for the pens for the poultry .and pheasants. Mrs Howard is devoted to her dogs, which have the freedom of Dutchlands. One or two very handsome Chows make models in copper on the grand staircase, others black or yellow lie on the Persian rugs, and two noble greyhounds of the colour of ripe corn spread themselves gracefully on "bunks" and rugs prepared for them in tho drawing-room. Unless Mrs Howard wishes, so well behaved and drilled are these huge pets, no visitor would know of their existence after the greeting of welcome which the canines always accompany their mistress to give on the arrival of a guest.