Royal Caledonimi Horticultural Societi/. 105 



and it thus enables the farmer to plant double the land he formerly did in the 

 same time, at half the expense of horse labour. 



The other plough was at work on this farm all last Thursday (October 26.). 

 It is for taking up potatoes, and is drawn by three horses, working at an easy 

 pace, without stopping. It turned out half an acre of potatoes in five hours ; 

 which, consitlering the novelty of the invention, the number of persons who 

 came to see it, and the interruption to the pickers thus occasioned, was good 

 work. It has the breast of an ordinary Jersey plough. On the inner side of it 

 is a large circular wheel, which rolls on the bottom of the furrow, with teeth 

 which catch the ground as the wheel rotates : this gives motion to a small 

 catch-wheel, with cogs, that drive a lesser one, wiiich turns a shaft, to which 

 are attached four short arms with paddles. These paddles, as the plough ad- 

 vances, revolve with considerable velocity, catch all the earth, potatoes, or 

 weetls that niaj^ be brought over the breast of the plough, and throw them off 

 3 or 6 feet, in a perpendicular direction from the plough, leaving the ground 

 quite comminuted and level. This does away, in a great measure, with the 

 necessity of having men to fork out the potatoes ; and will enable nearly all the 

 hands to be employed in merely picking up and sorting them. 



It is not only for potato digging that I consider this invention important : 

 in some of the dry stiff soils, that require to be finely divided and comminuted, 

 where fallows are to be broken up, or for intermixing ashes, soot, lime, or any 

 powdered manure with the soil, it is the most efficient instrument I know. As 

 a first invention, it is very complete : your great mechanics will perfect it. — 

 Lc Couteur. Belle Viie, Oct. 30. 1837. 



SCOTLAND. 



Laivson's Agricultural Museum, Hunter Square, Edinburgh, still retains the 

 character of being a principal place of attraction and source of instruction to prac- 

 tical agriculturists and others. Among vegetable productions, we may notice a 

 gourd, from Rouen, weighing not less than 135 lb. imperial ; five varieties of the 

 sweet potato (Convolvulus Batatas); numerous specimens of turnip, of unusual 

 size; almost all the new or reccntlyintroduced superior varieties of grain, such as 

 wheat, barley, oats, beans, peas, &c., as well as hardy forage, herbage, and 

 economical plants generally; in which department 52 varieties of Italian rye 

 grass, grown by Mr. Robert Arthur, at North Berwick, deserve to be parti- 

 cularised. Some interesting specimens from residents in foreign countries, 

 including a rare, curious, and highly interesting collection from the gardens 

 and jungles of western India, by Thomas Williamson Rarasa}-, Esq., trans- 

 mitted gratuitously, through the Hon. East India Company, by the Govern- 

 ment of Bombay, on the grounds of national utility ; a packet from the foot of 

 the Himalaya, tiu'ough Dr. Duncan ; another from Calcutta, by Dr. Robert 

 Stuart, and two from Van Diemen's Land, by -John Saunders and Archibald 

 Thompson, Esqrs.; the latter containing samples of wheat, barley, oats, and 

 turnip seeds grown in that country. (^Edinburgh Weekly Journal, Jan. 3. 

 1838.) 



A Pinetum is being commenced by Mr. Gorrie in the neigbourhood of Lou- 

 don's Howe, near Annat, Perthshire. In this howe, Mr. Gorrie informs us, 

 the Haguenau variety of tlie Z-'inus sylvestris, sown or planted there in 1829, 

 is j)rospering beautifully. The plants appear more vigorous than those of the 

 common Scotch pine, and the young wood has a yellowish colour. We hope 

 Mr. Gorrie will try some of the Swedish variety of Scotcii pine, i)lants of which 

 can now be procured in abumlance from Messrs. Dickson of Chester, wiio im- 

 ported, some years ago, a large quantity of seeds. 



Art. IV. Roj/rJ Caledonian Horticultural Societij, 



The account of the December meeting of this Society, given in p. 58., 

 was copied from a newspaper, sent us, as we supposed, by the secretary. 



