THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



459 



of the soil (Mr. James Taylor), all the other prizes were 

 awarded to Mesara. James and Rushmire Nicholls. 



The pigs exhibited were good, but without claiming any es- 

 pecial observatiou. 



Of cheese there was a bouDtiful supply, cousistiag of eleveu 

 CDtries of thick and twenty of thiu. The first prize of £4, for 

 thick, was awarded ro Mr. Stephen Hardiug, of Sanigar, near 

 Berkeley, an award anticipated by all who knew the general 

 excellence of the goods from that celebrated dairy. 



The second prize of £2 fell to the share of Mr. Martin 

 Neale, of Peddington, near Berkeley, aud Mr. Charles Brunett, 

 of Falfield, near Berkeley, came in for commendation. The 

 first prize of £i for their churn, Mr. John Smith, of Cam, 

 near Dursley, and the second of £2, Mr. John Harris, Lower 

 Cam, near Duraley. 



The prizes for poultry, the special gifte of Colonel Berkeley, 

 the President, and Mpjor Peach, the Vice-President, brought 

 a goodly array of plethoric geese : of turkeys there were none, 

 of dorkiugs only a few, but another year it is proposed that 

 additional premiums will be added. 



The Dinner took place at the Berkeley Arms, and was 

 well attended — in fact, the room, which is a spacious one, de- 

 fined the limits. The event already referred to, the lamented 

 death of the Duke of Richmond, uncle to Colonel Berkeley, 

 prevented the member for Cheltenham presiding on the occa- 

 sion ; but the chair was occupied by Colonel Kiugscote, C.B., 

 one of the members of the Western division, supported by 

 his colleague, J. Rolt, Esq., M.P., B. L. Baker, Esq., &c., &c., 

 and the proceedings of the day, which commenced under most 

 favourable auspices, terminated with equal tucceas. 



THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 

 OF IRELAND, 



CAPTAIN ball's CASE. 



At a meeting of the Council, held in Dublin, on Thursday 

 last, the Secretary read a decltration made by Captain Ball, 

 declaring that the animals exhibited by him were honafide his 

 propert}', aud in his possession at the time of entry and exhi- 

 bition. 



Chairman : Was there a letter written to Mr. Bell ? 



Capt. Thornhill : There was a letter written to him, 

 Btating that Captain Ball was required by the Council to make 

 the necessary declaration. 



The letter haviug been read. 



The Chairjian said : The regular course, I suppose, will 

 be to inform Mr. Bell that Captain Ball haviug sent forward 

 the necessary declaration, they were satisfied that he was the 

 owner of the animals. But what ought to be done with re- 

 gard to retaining the prize until the question was settled ? 



Mr. Wade then proposed a resolution to the effect that 

 Captain Ball having made the necessary declaration, he was 

 entitled to the prize. The resolution was passed unanimously. 



No explanation appears to have been offered by Captain 

 Ball, nor any communication whatever to have been received 

 from Mr. William Torr, Mr. Cusack, nor Mr. Owen, who were 

 employed to buy in the stock at his sale. 



THE BULL "STATESMAN." 



A long letter was read from Mr. Tod, in which, however, 

 he distinctly made " no claim to the prize," and a resolution 

 was passed to the effect " that Mr. Tod, not having furnished 

 the required certificate, he was not entitled to the Society's 

 prize as awarded to his bull at the Cork show, and that the 

 prize be awarded to the second in merit in that class." Mr. 

 Chute consequently succeeds to the first prize with " Duke of 

 Leinster," and Mr. Barcroft'a Sir Colin takes the second. 



THE TALBOT DE MALAHIDE CHALLENGE CUP. 



The terms of competition for this cup have been finally 

 settled. Lord Talbot has offered this special prize for compe- 

 tition to landlords who shall build the greatest number of 

 farm houses, and farm buildings suitable for tillage farms, 

 valued under the tenement (Irelaud) valuation from £50 to 

 £150 per annum. Should the tenement valuation not be in 

 force, the poor law valuation to be admitted. The conditions 



are — The competitora for the Challenge Cup must, previous 

 to the Ist of February, 1861, send into the Secretary plana 

 of their farmsteads, and an account of the expenditure thereon, 

 from which copies may be made, in order to enable the judges 

 to discharge their duty efficiently. The whole building must 

 be of stone, or brick aud mortar, and covered with slates or 

 tiles, and the timber of which the roof is composed is to be 

 foreign timber. The judges are to see that the house and 

 offices are built in a healthy, well-drained situation i 



FARMING ECONOMICS. 



MANGEL WURZEL. 



Dear Sir, — There is no difficulty in growing a heavy crop 

 on a stiff clay soil, provided it is deeply drained, very deeply 

 cultivated, and the land well filled with good manure. When 

 too busy to cart on the manure I have grown excellent crops 

 with 4 cwt. of guano and 2 cwt. to 3 cwt. of salt mixed to- 

 gether, and sown broadcast, then scarified or ploughed in. 

 The mangel seed I mix with wet sand for a few days until it 

 chips, and then drill it, drying it sufficiently so as not to stick 

 to the cups of the drill. I never miss a plant. I have now 

 (June) a good supply of sound roots, having lost none by frost, 

 the roots having been thrown into the carts as they were 

 pulled, and at once clamped and covered with straw. It is 

 more easy to grow a ci'op of mangel than to preserve them. 

 The more moist the land when they are pulled the better, be- 

 cause the fibres have then attached to them some adhesive 

 earth, which is most material for their preservation; They 

 are in the worst possible condition for keeping when they 

 come up dry, clean, and Iree from earth. They then in the 

 spring appear to dry-rot. It is very undesirable to let them 

 lie on the field when pulled : the fibres and earth attached to 

 them dry, and when thrown into the cart the earth leaves the 

 fibres. Although more difficult to cart off in wet weather 

 they will keep much better, aud probably I shall irrigate mine 

 just before pulling, in order that they may keep the earth at- 

 tached to them, if not otherwise sufficiently damp. Although 

 very desirable to protect them from frost, they ought not to be 

 finally shut in with earth until the heat has evaporated, aud 

 it is desirable to have draining pipes placed vertically along 

 the roof or ridge of the clamps. I find that by trench-ploughing 

 for mangel I mis with the surface soil a portion of the tena- 

 cious aluminous subsoil. The mangel multiply their fibres in 

 this, and as we novy take them out of the clamp they are fresh 

 and firm, having masses of this moist clay attached to them 

 by a net- work of fine fibres which they have pushed into it. I 

 thatch my clamps, and then earth over the thatch. A large 

 and successful farming friend of mine not only does this, but 

 thatches over the earth in order to prevent it getting wet and 

 freezing. One of the advantages of this plan is, I thiuk, to 

 prevent the heat of the sun acting on the earth in the spring 

 and summer — for we all know that in sunshine the earth at- 

 tains a heat some 30 to 50 degrees above that of the air. The 

 glossy thatch being a non-conductor acts the reverse of thia, 

 and thus keeps the mangel cool enough to retard vegetation. 

 If you do not thatch over the earth, place the clamp in the 

 shade of some fence or sun screen. 



Dear sir, yours faithfully, 



Tiptree Hall, June IStJi, 1860. J. J, Mkchi. 



The AGRicuiiTURAL Hall Company. — Shares 

 to the amount of sixteen thousand five hundred pounds 

 have been taken in this Company by members of the 

 Smithfield Club. But that amount includes those al- 

 lotted to the Directors, who are all members of the 

 Club. Mr. Samuel Sidney, a gentleman well-known 

 as a writer on agricultural topics, as well as a fluent 

 speaker at the meetings of the Royal Agricultural So- 

 ciety, and the Farmers' and the Smithfield Clubs, has 

 been appointed Secretary to the Company. 



G a 2 



