supplement. AGRICULTURE AS PRACTISED IN BRITAIN. 13ii 



two pounds ; Medicago lupulina, two pounds. If this mixture be sown without a crop, a bushel and a 

 half of rye grass may be sown along with it. 



8438. For drifting sands, tphich art- to be consolidated, and have a sward produced upon them by solving. 

 These are, B'lvmus arenarius, ten pounds, which should be mixed with clay and straw ropes cut into 

 pieces and dibbled into the sand. After a sward has been produced, the mixture recommended for rab- 

 bit-warrens, or light sandy soils, may be sown. 



8439. For dry gravelly situations, which resist a sward from all ordinary means. These soils may be 

 sown with Jgrostis vulgaris, two pounds; Pba. annua, four pounds: 2?riza media, four pounds ; .-/ira 

 flexubsa, one pound ; Trifolium minus vel procumbens. We repeat our strong recommendation of Mr. 

 I.awson, as an agricultural seedsman, to all persons residing near Edinburgh who have lands to lay down 

 in grass. We are not less anxious to recommend Messrs. Drummond of Stirling ; Messrs. Dickson and 

 Turnbull of Perth ; Messrs. Cormack and Son, and Mr. Gibbs. of Loudon ; and M. Vilmorin. of Paris, 

 to all those similarly circumstanced in their respective localities. 



8440. Mixtures of grasses for the alternate husbandry. From the result of an experiment made by Mr. 

 Shireffof Mungoswells (Quart. Jour. Agr., vol. ii. p. 242.), it appears decidedly preferable to use a mix- 

 ture of seeds, even where a single crop of hay, to be succeeded by a year's pasturage, is to be taken. The 

 grasses sown were cock's-foot. hard fescue, cat's-tail, rye grass, and red, white, and yellow clover. " The 

 rye grass was conspicuous for growing early in spring as well as late in autumn, and remaining compara- 

 tively unproductive in the summer months. The cock's foot, throughout the season, put forth new leaves 

 with rapidity, after being cut with the scythe, and produced culms to the hay crop only ; the fescue planted 

 thinly, and also grew rapidly after being cut ; the cat's-tail was later in producing flower-stalks, than the 

 other grasses used in the experiment, and, after being cut, did not put forth new leaves so rapidly as the 

 cock's-foot and fescue ; but, in every instance, it produced numerous culms, white blossomed, at the same 

 time as the red clover ; and where a part of the field was four times mown, yielded a rich crop of culms 

 to the last. The produce, as compared with that of clover and rye grass only, sown in the same field 

 in the same season, was about a ninth part greater, and the extra expenses of the seed about a fifteenth 

 part. Had the clover failed to grow along with the rye grass, as it frequently does, the difference in the 

 produce would have been much greater. The great advantage of a numerous combination of grasses is 

 that the failure of a crop is rendered next to impossible. It is also found that a mixture of grasses is 

 less injurious to the succeeding corn crop than rye grass only. The family of grasses. Mr. Shireff observes, 

 forms a useful class of machinery in the manufacture of productions for the dairy, the shambles, and the 

 manufacturer of clothing; but, in order to take advantage of the raw materials, air and moisture, so 

 bountifully supplied by nature, the most efficient machinery, must be employed. The husbandman who 

 clothes his fields only with rye grass and clover employs a limited machinery, the former being unpro- 

 ductive in summer, the latter moderately so in spring ; but when he, for this purpose, uses a variety of 

 plants, differing in their habits of growth and periods of luxuriance, a numerous and powerful machinery 

 is kept successively in full operation. 



8441. Yba aemoralis was found by Mr. Taunton to produce a thick sward in plantations where every 

 other grass was killed. He says, " its rich nutritive quality, its beautiful and perpetual verdure, and, 

 above all, its quality of flourishing under a dense cover of trees, appear to me to render it peculiarly 

 valuable for the particular purpose of rendering ornamental, and also of turning to a profit, the site of 

 grown-up plantations and thick groves, which are, usually, in a state of complete nakedness." (Quart 

 Jour, of Agr., vol. iii. p. 413.) 



8442 5768. Irrigating meadows with liquid manure from the common sewers of Edinburgh. This 



has been practised to a considerable extent in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, and according to Mr. 

 Stephens (Practical Irrigator arid Drainer, p. 76.), it is one of the greatest improvements ever made in 

 agriculture. The inhabitants of Edinburgh, however, are of a different opinion, and according to a 

 pamphlet on this subject published in 1839, entitled Papers relating to the Noxious Effects of the Fetid 

 Irrigation around the City of Edinburgh, it appears that no horse or other animal will eat a particle of 

 the produce of these meadows, either while growing, or when first cut ; and the cows when first put to 

 eat it have for some days an absolute loathing, and can hardly be got to feed upon it ; but when they do, 

 it causes an immense flow of milk, which is kept up by this grass, and what is called dreg (brewers' 

 wash) ; but whenever the supply of this grass becomes short, they are found to be incapable of digesting 

 the usual fodder of cattle, and completely diseased, and get unfit for any purpose almost. (G. Si. is It), 

 p. 270. ) 



8143 5820. To destroy moss in old turf. " It is a singular fact, but not generally known to agricul- 

 turists, that by merely lifting the turf of an old pasture field that is overrun with moss, and ploughing 

 and loosening the subsoil, and then laying the same turf down again, the whole of the moss will disap- 

 pear the first season, without applying either water or manure to the surface." (Stephens on Irrigation 

 and Draining, p. 59.) 



8444. Renovating defective meadows. The late Mr. Sinclair, of the New Cross Nursery, had perhaps more 

 experience, as he certainly had more science and skill, in this department, than any other man. In his 

 excellent work the Hortus Gramineus Woburncnsis, he recommends first ascertaining that the meadow is 

 completely under-drained ; then stirring the surface, by harrowing it. in all directions ; the best harrow for 

 which is unquestionably that of Finlayson. After this he gives a thorough top-dressing of rich finely 

 divided compost ; he again harrows and cross harrows, and then sows from two to six pecks per acre of 

 grass and clover seeds. For a meadow of low rich alluvial soil, he employs meadow fox-tail, meadow cat's- 

 tail, meadow fescue, rough-stalk meadow grass, crested dog's-tail grass, sweet-scented vernal grass, and 

 perennial red clover. In two years such a meadow will be thoroughly renovated, and will bear abundant 

 crops of hay. 



8445. — 5992. New fibre plants. Mr. Taylor of Holbrooke, near Ipswich, sowed five rods of ground 

 with the seeds of i'lda Abiititon, a malvaceous annual, and received from it at the rate of 15 cwt. of sale- 

 able fibre per acre, which he had manufactured into excellent ropes. il/alva crfspa. M. peruviana, and 

 M. mauritiana also produce fibre which might be applied to the same purpose as that of Slda Ab'utilon; 

 more especially 3/alva crispa. a very common annual in British gardens. (G. M. 1840, p 38.) 



8446 6101. Camelina saliva, an annual, a native of Siberia, has been long cultivated on (he Continent 



as an oil plant, and has lately been tried in this country by Mr. W. Taylor, F. L. S., of Holbrooke, mar 

 Ipswich, with great success. In 1839, Mr. Taylor obtained upwards of 50 bushels of seed from an acre, 

 which produced at the rate of 12 lbs. of oil per bushel, worth 2s. 6rf. per gallon, and 44 lbs. of oil-cake. 



8447. Madia sativa, an annual, a native of Chili, cultivated in gardens as a border flower, has also been 

 grown on a considerable scale in 1839 by Mr. Taylor, who obtained 33 bushels of seed from an acre, 

 which being crushed produced 250 lbs. of oil, and 410 lbs. of oil-cake. The oil alone was worth 9/. 

 (Gard. Mag. 1840, p. 38.) 



8448 6111. "Buckwheat is ground generally into grits by means of handmills. or lever hammers, and 



is made either coarse or fine. The coarse sort is used for gruel, and the fine sort for cakes and biscuits. 

 In some places they even make use of the first grinding with the bran, more or less, in addition to the 

 finer flour, for baking household bread. It also serves to fatten hogs or poultry in a short time. The 

 principal method to cleanse and separate the husk is, to pour boiling water on a given quantity of cleaned 

 buckwheat, to stir the mass about w ith a stick, and draw the water off, then to pour cold water upon it, 

 having first stirred it about well. In a quarter of an hour after, the buckwheat is taken out with the 

 hands, and the water squeezed out. In the summer it is dried in the sunshine, and in winter in a warm 

 room, and spread on the floor. As soon as it is quite dry, it is ground in a hand-mill or a stamping- 



