53S 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



A very "good company of some hundred yeomen dined 

 at " The Star," at xMaidstone, in the evening, under the 

 able presidency of Lord Holmesdale, a young nobleman 

 who had the strong recommendations of good sense, a 

 fluent address, some humour, and fine tact, to qualify 

 him for the office. But his Lordship of course is a 

 devotee ,• and if the Kent plough is destined to fall, 



there will be many a mourner over the sacrifice. The 

 reverend gentleman who returned thanks for " The 

 Clergy" gave the authority of scripture for its use ; 

 and when the party broke up, and people went their 

 ways for a quiet pipe, the landlord of the hotel offered 

 to quote the Georgics of Virgil in maintenance of the 

 same time-honoured invention. 



ON THE CAUSE AND REMOVAL OF SOURNESS IN LAND. 



Sour land is the most thankless and ungrateful of all 

 soils cultivated. In seed-time it consumes no end of 

 labour and manure, but returns little for it in harvest, 

 often less than the seed ! It will grow plenty of weeds 

 and coarse herbage, as some of our sour and bent grasses, 

 but corn and root crops it will notyield with profit. Some 

 cold wet clays, when full of vegetable matter, take on 

 such a degree of acidity when they are allowed to lie 

 long in pasture or plantation undrained, that they, when 

 broken up by plough or spade, send up a sour smell like 

 that from the sour slops in a pigs' tank. Of late years 

 drainage has done much to remove extreme cases of this 

 kind. Still, however, sourness in degree continues to 

 be experienced to a much larger extent than is generally 

 imagined, from stagnant water both in the soil and sub- 

 soil, while a corresponding loss is consequently sustained. 



In Germany, where "sour crout " is much used 

 among the rural population, they are familiar with the 

 practice of souring cabbage. In Scotland, where 

 " sowens " is much used, every girl by the time she gets 

 to her " teens " knows how to sour the " sids " or sift- 

 ings of oatmeal. In England every dairyman knows 

 how to sour his grains and skimmed milk for his cows 

 and pigs. But are we familiar with the practice of 

 souring land ? In both cases the principle of souring 

 is similar ; and with a view to illustrate the importance 

 of steam culture, drainage, and aeration as means for 

 avoiding the latter, let us examine very briefly both 

 practices. 



" Sour Crotjt."— (We quote from Dr. Macaulay's 

 Medical Dictionary.) "A preparation of cabbage, 

 which has been found useful as a preservative from 

 sea-scurvy, in long voyages. The soimdest and most 

 solid cabbages are selected, and cut very small. The 

 cabbage thus minced is put into a barrel in layers, six 

 inches deep, and over each layer is strewn a handful of 

 salt and carraway seeds ; it is then rammed down with 

 a rammer, layer after layer, till the barrel is full, when 

 a cover is put over it, and it is pressed down with a 

 heavy weight. After standing some time in this state, 

 it begins to ferment ; and it is not till the fermentation 

 has entirely subsided that the head is fitted to it, 

 and then the barrel is shut up and preserved for use. 

 No vinfegar is employed in this preparation." 



We give the above because one of the simplest recipes 

 in our possession for the making of a barrel of sour 

 crout for family use. In large concerns pits are made 

 of hewn stone or brick capable of holding several tons 



of the article, but in every case the principle of souring 

 the cabbage is tlje same. 



The second article ("oatmeal sids") is soured by 

 steeping in water. This is generally done in a large 

 stone vat or trough divided into two compartments, the 

 one for the article undergoing the souring process, and 

 the other for holding it after being soured and separated 

 from the '^ sids " or husks. In this case the souring 

 is effected simply by soaking in water, and as a 

 portion of the sour water is put back on every occasion, 

 the process of fermantation commences without delay. 

 Great cleanliness is required, and not a little skill, to do 

 the work properly, but details of this kind are unneces- 

 sary for our present purpose — the manner how vegeta- 

 ble matter is soured. Brewers' grains are soured in 

 pits for milch cows in a manner similar to cabbage, 

 while the food of pigs is soured '.by throwing in?fresh 

 slops, &c., into the sour tank. Beans, peas, barley, and 

 oats are soured for horses by steeping in casks in 

 water— the grain being generally mixed with chaff, but 

 sometimes alone, ground into meal, bruised or whole. 



In the above examples sourness is effected by the 

 formation of lactic acid. Into the chemical changes 

 that take place in this formation it will be unnecessary 

 to go. Suffice it for our present purpose to say that, in 

 the case of brewers' grains and minced cabbage, all that 

 is necessary is a certain amount of ramming or consoli- 

 dation, so as to exclude the atmosphere and produce the 

 proper kmd of fermentation, when lactic acid is the re- 

 sult. And in the other cases the atmosphere is ex- 

 cluded, and the same acidulous result effected by an 

 extra quantity of water. 



In the souring of land we will find, on examination, 

 exactly similar means being used to those above. In 

 this case we have to observe that sour land consists of 

 two substances, or rather two classes of substances— the 

 one mineral and the other vegetable, and that it is the 

 latter that has undergone the process of fermentation 

 that produces acidity or sourness. Mineral acids may 

 be present, bift these we are not considering at present. 

 The sourneos may not be purely that of lactic acid, as 

 malic, oxalic, and other vegetable acids are also found, 

 some of which may be naturally in the roots of some 

 plants, as sorrel, &c., &c. ; the former being produced 

 by fermentation ; the latter being the products, as it 

 were, of this fermentative result. 



Sourness in the case of land, it will thus be seen, 

 is a more complicated affair than in the case of 



