No. 5. 



Subsoilim 



153 



sage. Their stable was situated between 

 decks, umlor the main liatclnvay — a location 

 favourable tor air, and to guard against in- 

 jury from the rolling- of the ship. 



"The following ample daily allowance 

 .was provided for eacli animal for fifty day;;, 

 viz: 10 lb:?, of hay, 10 lbs. of oil cake, one 

 quart of bran, one quart of crushed oats, and 

 10 gallons of water. The freiglit bill for the 

 cattle, together with the expense of fitting 

 up the stable, and for water casks, inde- 

 pendent of the food, was jCl-iO sterling, or 

 about §700; this, with the first cost of the 

 cattle, and expenses of Mr. Beckett, will 

 make the round sum of something like .'f};3()00 

 — a very generous outlay by the Society for 

 the improvement of the stock of our State. 



" The animals are very fine looking, and, 

 we believe, gave perfect satisfaction to the 

 President and other officers of the Society, 

 who were present on the wharf to witness 

 their landing. The cattle were driven out 

 to Lexington, to the farm of E. Phinncv, 

 Esq., where they will remain for a short 

 time, until the trustees of the Society de- 

 termine where to locate them most advan- 

 tageously fov the public benefit. 



"The iN^orth Devon cows were purchased 

 of Lord Leicester, of llolkham, Norfolk 

 county, England; the bull, from Mr. Bloom- 

 field, \Vanham,in the same county, of whose 

 stock Mr. Colman has stated that he had 

 seen none superior. 



" The Ayrshires were also thorough bred, 

 perfect in their kind, and the cows had the 

 appearanc3 of being fine milkers. Two 

 were purchased from the stock of Mr. An- 

 drew MacGregor, Damhead, near Kilmar- 

 nock, Scotland ; one irom Mr. John Young, 

 of Kilmaurs Maine, near the same place; 

 and one from Mr. Hamilton Capprainytone, 

 Draghorn; the bull from Hugh Kilkwood, 

 Highlongmair, near Kilmaurs, Scotland." 



Subsoiliug. 



To Ihe Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet : — 



Sir, — Within the last few years agricul- 

 ture has received, I am happy to believe, a 

 new impulse. Each one seems struggling 

 in the race of improvement to surpass his 

 neighbour. 



We find the practice of subsoiliug gradu- 

 ally coming more and more into use, and 

 wishing to avail myself of the greater expe- 

 rience of those who have followed the sys- 

 tem longer than myself, I will take the lib- 

 erty of proposing a few queries, in the hope 

 of receiving satisfactory ansv,ers from some 

 of your numerous subscribers: — When a 

 piece of sward is subsoiled for corn, is it 

 customary to use the subsoil plough again 



previous to laying the land down to grass, 

 or is one operation considered sufficient for 

 a course? if the subsoiliug is repeated, of 

 course it should be done at right angles with 

 the first. I observed with the Prouty plough 

 at the late Exhibition, that all the ground 

 was not e(iually broken, consequently a ridge 

 was lell in each furrow: is not this a disad- 

 vantage! Again, in manuring the sod where 

 the subsoil plough ibllows, will not the ma- 

 nure be apt to sink — a portion at least — to 

 the bottom of the newly stirred earth, and 

 by so doing get out of our reach, unless we 

 adopt a system of trench ploughing, and 

 thus throw np the subsoil, which probably, 

 in spite of the portion of manure absorbed 

 by it, would prove injurious to the ingoing 

 crop. I know that a great difference of 

 opinion exists, as to whether manures sink 

 or rise; both parties in my opinion are partly 

 right. The gaseous portions of all manures 

 have a tendency to rise, and spreading them 

 on the surface, constantly subject to the 

 alternations of sunshine and rain, would un- 

 doubtedly subject us to great loss, the mere 

 passing by a slaughter house, would, I should 

 suppose, prove this without further argument: 

 but that nearly all the salts, and a portion also 

 of the undecayed vegetable matter would, by 

 the use of the subsoil plough, sink too deep 

 into the earth to be easily recovered, I have 

 my fears; and this would be a loss that few 

 farmers can bear, as but few, if any, have 

 more than they can use. This objection has 

 caused me to hesitate about putting the ma- 

 nure on the corn crop, although fully aware 

 of the many advantages attending it; among 

 which, and not the least, I think is the saving 

 of loss by washing and fermentation in the 

 yard, and saving of time in hauling it out at 

 so short notice as one must when wheat fol- 

 lows corn, as in my rotations it does. 



Can any of your readers inform me of the 

 productiveness of the Guernsey parsnip in 

 this country? " Low speaks very highly of 

 its nutritious properties, and calls it the 

 large Jersey parsnip. Some place it for pro- 

 ductiveness as equal to the sugar beet, I 

 have endeavoured in vain to obtain the seed, 

 and should feel obliged for information where 

 it could be procured. 



A Constant Reader. 



November 3rd, 1843. 



The seed of the Oucmseij, or Jersey parsnip— the 

 panais long of the French — panais coqucne of Guernsey , 

 spoken of by Low, and alluded to by our correspond- 

 ent, will hardly be procured at any of our seed stores. 

 It does not seem well adapted to this country; it grows 

 too long, and is coarse and stringy. The hollow crowned 

 parsnip— the panais Lisbonaise, of Guernsey, is well 

 suited however to our wants, and the seed maybe pro- 

 cured at Coates' in Warket street. In his General 



