ANBURY. 



ANBURY. 



experience, that charcoal dust spread about 

 half an inch deep upon the surface, and just 

 mixed with it by the point of a spade, effectu- 

 ally prevents the occurrence of this disease. 

 ( Trans, of Lon. Hort. Soc. vol. i. art. 2.) That 

 this would be the case we might have sur- 

 mised from analogy ; for charcoal dust is offen- 

 sive to many insects, and is one of the most 

 powerful preventives of putrefaction known. 

 Soot, I have reason to believe, from a slight 

 experience, is as effectual as charcoal dust. 

 Judging from theoretical reasons, we might 

 conclude that it would be more specific ; for in 

 addition to its being like charcoal, finely divid- 

 ed carbon, it contains ammonia, to which in- 

 sects have an antipathy. Mr. Drurey, a practi- 

 cal farmer at Erpingham, in Norfolk, consi- 

 dered marl acertain preventive of this disease. 

 He, and several other judicious farmers also, 

 thought that tealhing, that is, giving sheep and 

 cattle their green food, turnips, &c., upon the 

 barley stubbles, intended for turnips as the 

 succeeding crop, will cause the anbury. (Mar- 

 shall's Rural Economy of Norfolk, ii. 33, 35.) It 

 is very evident that it would mix fragments 

 with the soil that would be liable to contain 

 the eggs of the weevil. The marl, approved 

 by Mr. Drurey, is probably the calcareous 

 mail which occurs at Thorp Market, in the 

 hundred of North Erpingham ; but as there is 

 a slight doubt, owing to the deficiency of accu- 

 racy in the statement, it affords me an opportu- 

 nity to impress upon agriculturists in general, 

 the great importance of employing more cer- 

 tain terms tfian they usually do. What can 

 be more indefinite than the statement, that 

 rnarl is a certain preventive of the anbury 1 

 For the very first question suggested to the 

 reader's mind is, What marl is intended? Is it 

 a chalky marl, or a clay marl 1 is it a mixture 

 of chalk and clay, or of chalk and silicious 

 sand ? for all these varieties of marl are known 

 in agriculture. The want of a correct nomen- 

 clature is one of the drawbacks and deficiencies 

 checking the improving progress of agriculture, 

 rmers ever thought upon this point, and 

 still smaller is the number who duly appreciat- 

 ed its importance ; yet it is an incontrovertible 

 fact, that no art or science can advance rapidly 

 until its technical terms are fixed, terse, ex- 

 pressive, and generally understood. Chemistry 

 attained a greater aid to its advancement by the 

 introduction of its new nomenclature by La- 

 voisier, than by any series of discoveries that 

 have since been made on its rapid and brilliant 

 progress. If a sulphate, an acid, or a metal is 

 mentioned, a chemist immediately has a defi- 

 nite idea of the nature and properties of the 

 substance alluded to ; but if a loam or marl is 

 spoken of, would any two farmers agree in their 

 idea of what description of earthy compound 

 was intended ! To make it well understood, a 

 long detail must be added ; and nothing checks 

 the imparting of knowledge more, than the 

 person capable of imparting it being conscious 

 that he must define every term as he goes on, 

 and that even then it is doubtful, if he shall 

 succeed in making himself intelligible. The 

 very name, anbury, usually applied to the 

 disease, which is the subject of this paper, is 

 another proof of the necessity of a reformed 



agricultural nomenclature ; for in Suffolk, the 

 same title is given to another disease which 

 merely affects the leaves of the turnip. Sir 

 Joseph Banks, Mr. Baker of Norfolk, and 

 others, agree that marl is the best preventive 

 I of anbury. And another evidence of the effi- 

 cacy of applications to the soil is afforded by 

 a gentleman in Holderness, a Mr. Brigham, 

 who had a highly manured clayey ridge, which 

 he had levelled the year before, and this grew 

 turnips entirely free of the disease, whilst in 

 the natural rich loam of the field they were 

 much infected. Francis Constable, Esq., of 

 Burton Constable, had a field that had been in 

 grass twenty years : this he pared, burned and 

 sowed with turnips, obtaining a crop perfectly 

 free from the disease. Two white crops were 

 then taken, after which turnips were again 

 sown ; a considerable portion of the crop was 

 then infected with the disease. (Spence's Ob- 

 servations on the Disease of Turnips, termed in 

 Holderness Fingers and Toes.) I have myself 

 tried the efficacy of common salt in preventing 

 the occurrence of this disease : its tendency 

 to keep the soil moist, and to irritate the ani- 

 mal frame, certainly checks the inroads of the 

 weevil ; and its generally beneficial effects as 

 a manure enables the plants better to sustain 

 themselves under the weakening influence of 

 the disease ; but it is not a decisive preven- 

 tive. 



With regard to the use of salt as a cure for 

 the disease, I am inclined to think, from the 

 results of experiments which I have instituted, 

 that unless the salt be applied very early, it 

 would be useless ; for the root soon becomes 

 so diseased as to be entirely past recovery. 

 (C. W. Johnson's Essay on Salt, p. 136.) 



I have a strong opinion that a slight dress- 

 ing of the. surface soil with a little of the dry 

 hydro-sulphate of lime, that may now be ob- 

 tained so readily from the gas-works intro- 

 duced throughout England, would prevent the 

 occurrence of the disease, by driving the wee- 

 vils from the soil. It would probably as 

 effectually banish the turnip-fly or flea, if 

 sprinkled over the surface immediately after 

 the seed is sown. I entertain this opinion of 

 its efficacy in preventing the occurrence of 

 the anbury, from an instance when it was ap- 

 plied to some broccoli, ignorantly grown upon 

 a bed where cabbages had as ignorantly been 

 endeavoured to be produced in successive 

 crops ; these had invariably failed from the 

 occurrence of the anbury, but the broccoli was 

 uninfected. The only cause for this escape 

 that I could trace was, that just previously to 

 planting, a little of the hydro-sulphuret of lime 

 had been dug in. This is a very fetid, power- 

 ful compound, and must be used with great 

 caution. 



Where dry lime purifiers are employed at 

 gas-works, it may be obtained in the state of a 

 dry powder; but where a liquid mixture of 

 lime and water is employed, the hydro-sulphu- 

 ret can only be had in the form of a thick 

 cream. Of the dry hydro-sulphuret I would 

 recommend eight bushels per acre to be 

 spread regularly by hand upon the surface, 

 after the turnip seed is sown, and before har- 

 rowing. If the liquid is employed, I would 





