FARMERS^ REGISTER— CULTURE AND ADVANTAGES OF RAPE. 773 



It is nffrecable, in an no;ricultural inquiry, to 

 bring any thing to a specific point, and this Ik the 

 result of the practice upon a well-managed farm, 

 in 1817, where manure is always dear, from the 

 great demand, and at a time that rape-seed hap- 

 pened to be low — nevertheless, a very fair return 

 appears, even at^er the payment of rent and taxes; 

 the rent of this farm being at the rate of 24s., and 

 the taxes at that of 6s. 8d. by the English acre; 

 which leaves a net profit upon each of £9 7s. 4d. 

 But the Flemish farmer is not always satisfied with 

 the profit on the seed. Oil-mills abound in such 

 numbers throughout this country, that he is gen- 

 erally the nianulacturer of what is necessary for 

 his home consumption, and not unfrequently lor 

 sale. The expenses of the oil-mill in its construc- 

 tion and management, the proprietors make a mys- 

 tery of; but the profit must be very considerable, as is 

 well known by the farmers who manufacture lor 

 themselves. Some establishments of this nature, 

 formed in the reclaimable bogs and mountains oi' 

 Ireland, would shortly spread the cultivation of 

 this profitable seed, which in many places can be 

 grown without manure, but generally on the burnt 

 Burface of the ground to be reclaimed; and by its 

 own refuse, (of cakes from which the oil has been 

 expressed,) capable of renewing the soil which 

 has produced it, and of preparing it for other 

 crops. In mountainous tracts, where limestone is 

 not to be found, but where frecpient mill-sites oc- 

 cur, it might prove an admirable succedaneum as 

 a manure, and act as a profitable improvement in 

 every branch of its process. 



It is but seldom managed in our countries as in 

 Flanders, but is sometimes there sown, as with us, 

 broad-cast. The general and approved method 

 is however, by trans|:)lanting, Avhich they alledge, 

 and apparently with great justice, to have many 

 advantages: one, that the seed-bed occupies but a 

 email space, whilst the land which is to carry the 

 general crop is bearing corn. By having the 

 plants growing, they have time to harvest their 

 corn, to plough and manure the stubble intended 

 ibr the rape, which they put in with the dibble, or 

 the plough, from the latter end of September to 

 the second week of November, without appre- 

 hending any miscarriage. 



The seed-bed is sown in August, and even to 

 the middle of September. In October, or sooner, 

 the stubble is ploughed over, manured, and plough- 

 ed again. The plants are dibbled in the seams 

 of the ploughing, (each furrow-slice being twelve 

 inches broad,) and are set out at twelve inches dis- 

 tance in the rows. Instead of dibbling upon the 

 second ploughing, in many cases they lay the 

 j)lants at the proper distances across the furrow, 

 and as the plough goes forward, the roots are co- 

 vered, and a woman follows to set them a little up, 

 and to give them firmness in the ground, where 

 necessary. Immediately after the frost, and again 

 in the month of April, the intervals are weeded 

 and hand-hoed, and the earth drawn up to the 

 plants, which is the last operation till the harvest. 

 It is pulled rather green, but ripens in the stack; it 

 is thrashed without any particular management; 

 but the application of the haulm or straw, is a 



considerable cost, Mr. Garnett has set a spirited exam- 

 ple of industry, and now begins to reap the advantage ' 

 of his enterprise. 



matter of new and profitable discovery: it is burn- 

 ed for ashes, as manure, which are fiiund to be so 

 liighly valuable beyond all other sorts which have 

 been tried, that tiiey bear a price as three to one 

 above the other kinds, and it is considered, that 

 upon clover, a dressing of one-third less of these 

 is amply sufficient. 



The Urine Cistern. 



The rape crop has been dwelt upon as one 

 suited to our countries, and extremely prized in 

 Flanders; but how much more valuable to us, 

 whose soil demands not such abundant and ex- 

 pensive manure. The urine cistern, (fr-om which, 

 in this district, the rape crop is manured,) is con- 

 structed to contain any given quantity, and is con- 

 tracted for by the bricklayers (finding materials) 

 at one franc (or 20 sols of France) per tonneau, 

 of 38 gallons English. The usual capacity of 

 the vault, as adopted on the fiirm of Vollandre, ia 

 for 1000 tonneaux, (cost about £45 British,) 

 which quantity for the rape crop will manure little 

 more than two bonniers, or about seven English 

 acres. But the cistern under the stables is nearly 

 of double size: ft*om this the exterior cistern is 

 filled, and between both, the farmer can fairly 

 count upon manuring in the best manner six bon- 

 niers, or twenty-one English acres; or perhaps 

 two bonniers in addition, of crops which do not 

 require so much manure. The whole of this 

 quantity (exclusive of farm-yard dung, ashes, 

 composts, &c.) IS produced by ei»rht horses, and 

 thirty-six head of cattle, housed winter and sum- 

 mer in well constructed stables, increased by the 

 adventitious aid of the rape cake, and the vidanges 

 from the privies. In a cistern of" 1000 tonneau.x, 

 it is not unusual to dissolve from 2000 to 4000 

 rape cakes of two pounds each; indeed neither in- 

 dustry nor expense is spared for the collection of 

 manure, as upon that depend the produce and fer- 

 lility of a naturally bad soil. The farmer who fails 

 to make those exertions, is sure to be left in the 

 background. 



In "the immediate vicinity of this well culti- 

 vated fiirm, one of a very difl'erent aspect pre- 

 sents itself: upon inquiring the cause, you are 

 told of the proprietor, "II n'aime pas les bons- 

 bons'''' — the exulting term for their favorite ma- 

 nure. 



The cistern is for the most part formed under 

 the range of stables, from each stall of which the 

 urine is conducted to a common grating, through 

 which it descends into the vault; ti-om thence it is 

 taken up by a pump: in the best regulated, there 

 is a partition in the cistern, with a valve to admit 

 the contents of the first space into the second, to 

 be preserved there free from the later acquisition, 

 age adding considerably to its efficacy. 



This species of manure is relied on beyond any 

 other, upon all the light soils throughout Flanders, 

 and even upon the strong lands (originally so rich 

 as to preclude the necessity of manure,) is now 

 coming into great esteem, being considered appli- 

 cable to most crops, and to all the varieties of 

 soil. 



May we not then press it upon the notice of 

 fiirmers of the British empire? In England and 

 Scotland it is little known; in Ireland not at all. 

 Where farm-offices are to be erected, the addition- 

 al cost of forming them upon vaults, and regula- 

 ting the flagging or pavement, so as to supply 



