502 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 8 



In agricultural science, the only point that we 

 can recollect worthy of notice, that has occurred 

 duriniT the past year, is the advancement of the 

 principle, by the American a<j^ricu!tural writer, 

 Mr. Riiffin, that no soil whatever will continue 

 fertile, lor any length of time, that does not con- 

 tain calcareous matter. This, we believe, was 

 never distinctly stated as a principle by Kirwan, 

 Chaptai, Davy, or any other European chemist or 

 agriculturist. We refer to the review of Mr. 

 Rutfin's book, in p. 156.; and those who wish to 

 peruse his work entire will find it copied in vols, 

 viii. and ix. of the ^British Farmer^s Magazine,^ 

 where it is given a>: a series of originahcommuni- 

 cations to that periodical ! New -gricultural 

 machines are every year coming into notice, and 

 others every year Jailing into disuse. Such, we 

 may readily anticipate, will be the fate of the mill 

 for chopping turf, noticed in a future page, which 

 affords a fine example of the applicaiion of main 

 force, instead of skill, in the improvement of agri- 

 culture. A syphon to facilitate the milking of 

 cows has been patronized by the ' Society of 

 Arts;' and may, probably, lead to some useful 

 purpose. At the meeting of the 'Highland Soci- 

 ety of Scotland," at their great agricultural show, 

 held at Perth, on October 7, a trial was made of 

 two reaping machines; the one the invention of 

 Mr. Smith of Deanston, and th'^ other of our 

 correspondent, Mr. Bell. Mr. Eell's machine 

 clips, by means of fourteen pairs of scissors (see 

 the engravings and description of tin's machine 

 in vol. vi. p. 296) ; and Mr. Smith's cuts, or mows, 

 by means of a circular plate with a sharp edge. 

 (See the description and enijravino of this ma- 

 chine in our ^EncydopcBdia of yJgriculture,^ sec- 

 ond edition, p. 422.) Both these machines seem 

 to answer; but which is the most likely to come 

 into general use. does not appear from the report 

 of their trial. A gentleman who was present, 

 however, M. Rosenthal of Vienna, now in Lon- 

 don, inforn)s us that Mr. Bell's machine did deci- 

 dedly the most, and the best work. (See the 

 ' Constitutional, and Perthshire j:/ gricultural and 

 General Advertiser,'^ lor October 8.) An eco- 

 nomical mode of forming furrow-drains, and of 

 making draining tiles of peat, will be found in the 

 ' Quarterly Journal of Jigriculture,'' for Septem- 

 ber last (vol. vii. pp. 244. 256). 



Rural Architecture is making considerable pro- 

 gress in every part of the country; and the 'High- 

 land Society of Scotland' have lately adopted an 

 admirable mode of improving both cottage archi- 

 tecture and cottaije gardenino;; viz. that of offer- 

 ing premiums for the neatest cottages and the best 

 kept gardens; and limiting the competition to par- 

 ticular districts, and even, in some instances, to 

 particular parishes. This mode of makinir the 

 competition lor premiums local, deserves the par- 

 ticular attention of all societies the object of which 

 is rural improvement; and it shows the much 

 greater advantages to be derived from provincial 

 societies of every kind, than from central societies 

 alone, however wealthy and poweiiii! the latter 

 may be. This is admirably illustrated both in the 

 case of the provincial horticultural societies, and 

 in that of the 'HiiTthland Society.' What effort of 

 the 'London Horticultural Society,' lor example, 

 could have produced the results which we see in 

 Cornwall, Jersey, Yorkshire, and a hundred other 

 places more or less remote from the metropolis? 



The 'Highland Society,' for several years, had of- 

 fered premiums for improvements in cottages; but, 

 as the competition extended to the whole of Scot- 

 land, it produced no result; for a competitor in 

 those places where cottage-building was in a 

 backward state, though lie miglit produce a far 

 better cottage than any of those in his vicinity, 

 might yet find his cottage as far behind those in 

 another district, as it was in advance of those 

 around it. A great improvement in agriculture, 

 and in rural matters generally, lias taken place in 

 Scotland since the 'Highland Society' have adopt- 

 ed the plan of holding their shows in different 

 parts of the country; and this has taken place 

 precisely on the principle above mentioned; viz. 

 that of stimulating locally one part at a time, as 

 well as in endeavoring to stimulate tiie whole coun- 

 try at once. 



The improvement of furniture, domestic uten- 

 sils, and clothing is si ill kept in view by the gov- 

 ernment; and a '■Report of the Committee of Arts 

 and Manvfactures,^ forming a thick folio volume, 

 with illustrative plates, has just been published. 

 A summary of this ^Reporf will be found in the 

 'Architectural Magazine,'' for December, 1836. 

 A gardener would not expect to find much in this 

 'Report'' that would be of any direct use to him; 

 but in this he will be mistaken. In vol. iii. p. 250. 

 ofihis Magazine will be found an article compiled 

 bv us from a lecture given by Mr. Reinairle at the 

 'Royal Institution,' "On the Original Beauty of 

 Lines and Forms," which will, we think, be al- 

 lowed to be extremely interesting and valuable to 

 any gardener who profissses to lay out grounds. 

 Now, in the 'Reporf referred to (p. 51 — 53.) Mr. 

 Reinagle has given the essence of his system, 

 illustrated with figures. 



Railroads. — The number of railroads and com- 

 mon roads, in progress or projected, cannot fail to 

 have a wonderflil influence on the general im- 

 provement and prosperity of the country for ma- 

 ny 3'ears to come. The grand and characteristic 

 efi'ect of railroads is that of equalization. Not 

 only will the value of landed property be render- 

 ed comparatively the same every where; but the 

 comforts and enjoyments of each particular class 

 of society will becomparatively raised to the same 

 level. An immediate effect of the completion of 

 every line of railroad will be, the erection along 

 its margin of numerous villas ; and thus rural 

 architecture and landscape-gardening will be call- 

 ed into exercise, and displayed to advantage. 

 The prosperity of the country, it is now generally 

 acknowledged, has been promoted by the work- 

 ing of the 'New Poor Law;' and we look for- 

 ward to the establishment of' a rural police as a 

 beneficial public measure. 



An improvement which, we think, would be 

 second only to that of the railroads, and before 

 them, as far as (jardeners are concerned, would 

 be the equalization of the slopes of public roads;' 

 a subject on which we have alreadj' said much in 

 different volumes of this 'Macrazine.' (See vol. 

 vii. p. 450, and vol. xi. p. 627.) Were all hilly 

 roads reduced, so that no part of their surface 

 were sleeper than the steepest parts of the Holy- 

 head road, viz. one in thirty-six, it would be as 

 easy for three persons to travel from one point to 

 another in a gig, or any two-wheeled carriage 

 with one horse, as it is now with a four-wheeled 

 carriage and a couple of horses. This would 



