THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



287 



THE CLASS OF PLANTS MOST LIKELY 

 TO ENRICH THE SOIL. 



Sir, — There is too general an idea abroad amoug farmers, 

 especially our moderns, that he who buys the most manure, 

 artificial or otherwise, is, and must be, the beat farmer. I 

 happen to think dififerently, and consider that he who gets the 

 greatest return for the capital expended displays the most 

 wisdom. The sorts and varieties of plants grown have, I 

 think, much to do with profit, with the same management. 

 It is a well-received opinion that plants absorb a considerable 

 amount of material from the air, as carbon, &c. Now, if the 

 leaf of the plant, as philosophers tell us, be the medium of 

 conveyance of matter existing in the air, what is the natural 

 inference but that we ought to grow those plants which pre- 

 sent the greatest surface to its influence ? Take, for instance^ 

 the turnip plant — how is it that with the same appliances 

 we get one quarter of barley more per acre (with a certainty) 

 after a crop of globe turnips than where swedes have been 

 grown ? The thing is clear to our mind j and as matter can- 

 not spring out of nothing, so no more can a good or more 

 superior crop come without a cause. I have grown most 

 varieties of the turnip for many years, and have always found 

 that sort to give the best return which had the greatest top or 

 most leaf. Some yeara ago there was, and with some even now 

 is, great anxiety displayed to get that kind of turnip which had 

 the largest bulb and the very small top. The after-corn re- 

 turns disappointed that choice as a natural consequence, be- 

 cause the nitrogenous medium had been curtailed. We should 

 aim at a bulb as large as possible, and a top as nearly resem- 

 bling the cabbage as may be. 



It does not follow, as some may suppose, that an increase of 

 top tends to injure the quality of the bulb ; far otherwise. 

 The large leaf supplies the bulb with the flesh-forming mate- 

 rial it could uot otherwise obtain ; and in winter affords to 

 that bulb a natural protection pleasing to behold. What 

 farmer at all observant, on a cold frosty morning, has not seen 

 the providential adaptation of the leaf to the bulb when that 

 leaf lias succumbed to the cold? lam not recommending 

 the giobe variety, or the swede, but that in either case the 

 leaf should be as large as possible. 



As regards the manurial properties of the leaf, I consider 

 them always worth as much, in the early winter, to plough in 

 as to eat. The same reasoning holds good with other plants. 

 A field of rape, because of its immense leaf, stands first as an 

 improver. Last year the writer had a field sown with it, and 

 at the same time seeded down with mi.xed grasses, and it kept 

 and fatted ten sheep to the acre during the summer. The 

 practical farmer will know what the high after-condition of 

 that will be; and this spring it will afford, from the stems 

 left, fine early food for sheep. 



On all inferior worn-out lands nothing can equal the fertil- 

 izing power of the rape plant. Let the land intended be well 

 autumn-cleaned, ploughed early in the winter, manured and 

 limed in early spring (not ploughed after keeping both on the 

 surface), and sown with rape, about 71bs. to the acre; and at 

 the same time seeded with mi.\ed grass seeds for two years 

 afcer grazing ; and no soil, I think, will refuse the benefit. As 

 regards the cereal crops, the same rule holds good ; the more 

 flaggy it is, as it is called, the less exhausting the crop. 



The variety called Scotch oat steinda pre-eminent in this re- 

 spect : in itself q\iite a favourite with the miller, from the oily 

 nature of the grain, and consequently high mealing qualities ; 

 and the straw so good, that it stands next to hay as fodder, 

 full of flag, and easily consumed by cattle ; while the Ameri- 

 can, Poland, Zealand, short white oats, and similar vuietiei 



with clean flinty straw, draw strongly on the soil, and the 

 straw is but of little value. 



Barley is appreciated because of the little injury it dees to 

 the soil, and is more flaggy than wheat. Wheat, when the 

 crop has fine clear straw, is, to every observant farmer, more 

 exhausting than the mildewed field. Beans, peas, and other 

 leguminous plants, are considered fertilizers from the same 

 cause — that the quantity of leaf-surface presented absorbs 

 carbonaceous and nitrogenous matter from the air ; and con- 

 sequently they gain more than they lose. And if the principle 

 be true, that in the process of combustion the same elements 

 return to the air which had been absorbed from it by the plants 

 or otherwise, the effort of the farmer (when confirmed by prac- 

 tice) should be to produce and cultivate those plants the agency 

 of which would profit without the direct aid of manures, in 

 many cases too costly. 



The subject is one of importance to the farmer, and these 

 few hints may lead abler hands to investigate it, and see 

 whether science and practice in this respect agree ; then, per- 

 haps, we may not object to a drum-headed-cabbage turniptop, 

 and kettle-bottom-sized. S. G. 



Normanton, Alfreton, March 16, 1858. 



FIARS' PRICES. 



We give below a table of the fiara' prices of grain as struck 

 up to Saturday, for purposes of comparison between counties. 

 From the various methods taken in striking the fiars, it can- 

 not be expected that a near approach to equality can be 

 reached. Some counties take the purchasers and others take 

 the sellers of grain, and one or two add to or deduct from the 

 prices after the averages are ascertained. In looking over the 

 various prices, the fiars of oats, beans, and meal appear to run 

 nearly on a par and with no great difference in value, but the 

 wheat and barley prices vary in a surprising degree. The 

 general average of wheat appears to be £2 Is. 2d. per qr. ; 

 and while Dumfries is 7s. 4d. above this, Edinburgh is 48. 

 3d. under it — in fact Edinburgh is within 8d. of beiug the 

 lowest wheat fiars' price ; and, in like manner, take the price 

 struck for barley in Wigtown, 333. lOd., and the Edinburgh 

 av.erages of the three prices struck, 24s. lid. — making Edin- 

 burgh for barley Ss. lid. below Wigtown. The first class 

 barley average in Edinburgh is stated at 27s. 3d. ; the second, 

 253. ; the third, 22s. 6d. ; while during same period the ave- 

 rage of all kinds sold in Edinburgh stock market would reach 

 283., or thereby, while first-class barley would certainly be 

 above 293. 6d. to 30a. of average : — 



fiars' prices— crop 1857. 



