1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



501 



found amonsr the ihrmers thenisselves. The em- 

 ployment ofslefim in agriculture seems lo be no 

 lonutT u chiiuera, US it wns thoiiirht to i)e at the 

 lime when vvc lirst moniioned the suliject in our 

 third volume. We reler lo the article ''jiloutihino; 

 by steam," j). 4S8.; and to various; sub.-^equeiit 

 paraijraphson the suhject ill this volume. The ed- 

 itor ol'ihe ^Saiisman'' truly observes that, "ifeveii 

 half the advantages of the steam plough are real- 

 iz>^d, some millions of acres of boif in Scotland 

 will be reclaimed, and the arable surllice of that 

 country doubled ; and we have seen in p. 489, 

 that about 3,000,000 of acres would be added to 

 the arable surface of Ireland." 



The important uses of the Deanston subsoil 

 plou<rh fsee p. 1308, fig. 1187, of the ' First Jd- 

 ditional Siipplemenf lo our '■Encyclopaedia of y/g- 

 riculture,^ cannot be too strongly impressed on the 

 minds of gardeners as well as fiirmers; because 

 loosening the subsoil, without bringing it lo the 

 surface, is fully important to oardeners, especially 

 in arboriculture, as it is to farmers in agriculture. * 



Another agricultural improvement, perhaps of 

 equal importance to the use of the subsoil plough, 

 is the system of thorough under-draimnfr adopted 

 in Scotland. This system will be found described 

 in the • Quarferly Journalnf ylgricultare,' vol. vi. 

 p. 325, and 51-5.; and also, in a concise and mas- 

 terly manner, in Mr. Le Fevre's ^Report.'' To Air. 

 Smith of Deanston, is alsodue the invention of this 

 itnproved mode of effectually draininir land; and 

 his plan will be found noticed in our ninth volume, 



* To show how well the use of the Deanston plough 

 is understood by Mr. Shaw Le Fevre, we quote his 

 own words — "Smith's subsoil plough is a necessary 

 accompaniment to draining; and, when that is done 

 eliectively, it seems calculated to render the most ste- 

 rile and unproductive soil fertile and profitable. There 

 is no difficulty more fatal to the practical farmer than 

 that of cidtivating a thin shallow soil with a stiff reten- 

 tive subsoil. Whatever pains may be taken with the 

 tillage of the former, however expensive the dressing 

 which may be used in its cuitivation, the nature of the 

 subsoil will always counteract its beneficial effects. 

 Many persons have endeavored, by trenching, to obvi- 

 ate this difficulty; but, where the subsoil is of that ste- 

 rile nature which requires exposure to the atmosphere 

 for along period to malve it productive, few farmers 

 have been found bold enough to repeat the experiment. 

 Mr Smith's most ingenious invention, by breaking the 

 subsoil without bringing it to the surface, renders it 

 pervious both to air and water. The same chemical 

 changes which take place in a fallow, owing to its ex- 

 posure to the action of the wind and rain, are thus 

 brought into operation in the subsoil, whilst the surface 

 soil is in the ordinary course of cropping; and when, 

 after a few years, by a greater depth of ploughing, the 

 subsoil is mixed with the upper soil, it is found to be so 

 completely changed in its nature as to be capable of 

 producing every kind of corn. 



"The advantages of this sj-^stem of husbandry are so 

 apparent, that no farmer will be at a loss to appreciate 

 the merit of the invention. I believe it to be quite as 

 important an improvement in the management of clay 

 lands as the introduction of the turnip system has been 

 W!th reference to light soils; and, as the experiment 

 has been tried for twelve years, and with uniform suc- 

 cess, I cannot but anticipate its ultimate adoption in 

 those districts of England where, from the cold reten- 

 tive state of the soil, the greatest extent of agricultu- 

 ral distress has hitherto prevailed, and where draining 

 is essential to preserve the soil in a state of cultivation." 

 {Le Fevre's Remarks on the present Stale of Jgricvl- 

 ture, Sfc.) 



p. 448., and ffiven at lenjitii in the 'Firsst Atldi- 

 tinnal SiipplemenV to our '■JUncyclopadiu of y/gri- 

 cidturc,'' p. 1347. 



The greatest agricultm-al novelty of the past 

 year is the cultivation of beet ft)r the purpose of 

 manulacluring sugar. We refer to a paragraph 

 on this subject in a fiiture page; and, also, id an 

 article in the British Farmer^s Magazine lor Oct. 

 (1836 vol. X. p. 3li9.) We cannot conceive it 

 possible that this manufacture shoidd answer in 

 any country where there is a trade in the sugar of 

 tropical climaies, subject to only a moderate duty; 

 bni more especially in this country, where, we 

 should thinii, there is not a sufficiency of solar 

 liirht and heat to produce a maximum of sugar in 

 any plant whatever. It is possible, however, that 

 we may be mistaken in this supposition, since it 

 is alleged thai more sugar is produced fi-om a o-iv- 

 en qnantitity of beet-root grown in the temperate 

 pans of France, than in that grown in the warm- 

 er provinces of that country; and since we know 

 that the cultivation of the beet, as a sugar plant, 

 has been tried in the Isle of France, and turned 

 out far from satisfiictor}^ While this is passing 

 through the press, we find that the French have 

 succeeded in procuring potash from beet, in the 

 proportion of one sixth part to that of the suijar 

 which the root yields. 



The exhibitions of agricultural and horticultu- 

 ral produce, by the seedsmen of Edinburgh, Stirl- 

 ing, and Perth, are continued, as usual, with the 

 same successliil results; and the 'Hiijhland Soci- 

 ety,' who hold their exhibitions in different parts 

 of Scotland, had, this year, the one before men- 

 tioned in the month of October, at Perth, which 

 was remarkably well attended by the practical 

 farmers of that district, and by many proprietors 

 from different parts of Scotland, and also from 

 England. The partial failure of the potato crop, 

 for three successive years, in many parts of Scot- 

 land, and also in several districts both of England 

 and Ireland, has called forth various remedies; the 

 most rational of which appears to us to be, that of 

 burying the tubers intended lor sets in thin layers, 

 mixed with soil, in a cool cellar, or in thoroughly 

 drained soil, in the open air, where they will be 

 kept plump, till wanted to be cut into sets. Tak- 

 ing up the tubers before they are quite ripe, and 

 exposing them, thinly strewed on the ground, to 

 the action of the atmosphere, will [)e found a use- 

 ful adjunct to this practice. Afler the tubers are 

 cut into sets, care should be taken never to let 

 them lie together in such quantities as to endan- 

 trer their heating. The supposition of insects be- 

 ing a cause of failure of the sets, and, also, that the 

 kinds and varieties in cultivation are worn out, 

 appear to us alike unsupported by facts. Insects 

 seldom attack either plants or animals till they are 

 in a state of disease or decay; and there is no rea- 

 son to suppose that healthy sets from a healthy 

 potato, of any given variety, or healthy cuttings 

 ol"any healthy variety of willow, poplar, or vine, 

 will not produce healthy plants to the end of 

 time. 



The most curious piece of agricultural quacke- 

 ry, which has occured diiring the past year is, 

 the success which has attended the sale of the 

 seed of the variety of borecole called the cow 

 cabbage, which has been brought forward under 

 the highly sounding nameol the "Waterloo (Jaesa- 

 rean evergreen cow cabliage." (See p. 441.) 



