434 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE, 



idea that salt was applied even moderately and 

 with judfrnient. He had observed in the au- 

 tumn of 1845 a vi^heat crop on some land warped 

 from the Humber at PatriniTton, in Yorkshire, 

 the soil of which was quite white on the surface 

 ■with crsstalized salt, the result of powerful 



object of the cidthHitor to obtain from the earth 



those vegetable and animal productions which 



contain the elements of the food of Man, so it is 



the object of the scientific farmer to apply to the 



earth, in the form, of manure, the dements of 



the food of plants, in such kind and in such 



The crop might average perhaps j proportiotis as chemical analysis shows each 



■ ' kind of plant and each kind of grain respect- 



and I believe that no living 



evaporation 



from 20 to 24 bushels per acre. This was the 

 first crop of wheat taken off the reclaimed land 

 after rape allowed to seed, which is ijsed in 

 these salt crop districts as the precursor of 

 •wheat, and is considered to take more salt out of 

 tiie soil, and to fit it more quickly for wheat than 

 any other plant. These crops of rape are fre- 

 quently prodigious ; salt, therefore, in such excess 

 as actually to lie crystalized on the surface, is not 

 injurious to rape, and may possiby be very ad- 

 vantageously applied as a hand tillage for rape 

 in soils which do not contain it. On first drain- 

 ing these warp lands from 4 to -5 feet deep, the 

 water, after rain, i.ssues so stroufj of salt as nearly 

 to float an egg, and for years afterward the wa- 

 ter of drainage tastes brackish. That crops of 

 all kinds — of 'wheat particularly — are vastly in- 

 creased by draining, he had occasion to know 

 from the effects produced on Mr. W. Marshall's 

 estate at Enholmes, Patrington ; but on the un- 

 drained lands, and therefore on soils not de- 

 prived of their salt by drainage, .5 quarters of 

 •wheat per acre, without the application of any 

 manure, were a very common produce on this 

 remarkable soil. The common earth-worm es- 

 tablished itself in great numbers after drainage, 

 but he had never observed any gi^ubs or wire- 

 worms in those soils. 



Sir R. Peei. having proposed the health of 

 the Dean of Westminster — 



Dr. BucKL.\ND, iu returning thanks, addressed 

 the company to the following effect : At this late 

 hour I will trespass upon your time — which ha.s 

 been so long and so profitably occupied in hear- 

 ing the results of the application of scientific 

 principles to practical Agriculture — no farther 

 than to express my conviction of the soundness 

 of the principles which have been set forth by 

 the three practical agriculturists who have laid 

 before us the results of their scientific manage- 

 ment of lands which, under ordinary treatment, 

 ■were sterile, but in their hands have been rap- 

 idly rendered prolific in an unusual degree. It 

 •would be waste of time to enter into proofs of 

 •what is now universally acknowledged, and has 

 been exemplified by the great improvements 

 immediately resulting from drainage in the 

 farms cultivated by Mr. Woodward, Mr. Mechi 

 and Mr. Huxtable, viz.. that drainage is the 

 foundation and first condition indispensable to 

 the profitable cultivation of all lands that are 

 naturally wet ; for on such lands, without drain- 

 age, all applications of manure or attempts at 

 improvement of any kind are vain. But the 

 land once drained is in fit condition to become 

 the subject of any and all tlio profitable experi- 

 ments we have with .so much pleasure and 

 profit heard described by the individuals who 

 have made them. The best test of the truth of 

 theories founded on the inductions of Science, is 

 an appeal to practical results, such as have been 

 detailed to us ; it has been my good ibrtune to 

 in.spect on two occasions the farm and farm- 

 yard management of Mr. Huxtable, and thereby 

 to be able to bear testimony to the reality of the 

 results he has enumerated in no exaggerated 

 terms. The great point he has established in 

 practice, and which all the experiments of sci 



ivcly to require ; 



man has carried the combination of science with 

 practice, as to these points, farther, or with more 

 perfect success, than Mr. Huxtable. Dr. Lyon 

 Playfair has stated valuable results of chemical 

 analysis, indicating the proportions of various 

 kinds of nourishment in the seeds of plants we 

 use for food ; and has told us that scientific cook- 

 ery has become the most recent addition to the 

 subjects of the laboratory ; and that while the 

 farmer ought rather to study to supply flesh to 

 the cook, than tallow to the chandler, the cook 

 must also learn from the chemist the most effi- 

 cient and most economical prescriptions for the 

 preparation of that best result of agricultuial ex- 

 periments, viz., nutritious and wholesome and 

 savory food for Man. 



The health of Sir Robert Peel having been 

 proposed by Lord Talbot, drank with enthu- 

 siasm, and acknowledged in a brief but admira- 

 ble speech, expressive of the strong interest 

 taken by the Right Hon. Baronet in advancing 

 the Agriculture of his country and promoting 

 the welfare of the Farmer, notwithstanding what 

 had been said to the contrai-j-, the meeting sep- 

 arated, leaving a conviction on the minds of 

 those ■who were present that it ■^^'as one of the 

 most interesting and important that has ever 

 been held in England. 



Incombusticlk Wash. — Slake some stone- 

 lime in a large tub or ban-el, with boiling water, 

 cover the same up to keep in all the steam. 

 When thus slaked, pass six quarts of it through 

 a fine sieve. It will be then in a state of fine 

 flour. Now to six quarts of this lime add a 

 ([uart of salt and one gallon of water; then 

 boil the mixture, and skim it clean. To every 

 five gallons of this mixture add one pound of 

 alum, half a pound of copperas, by slow de- 

 grees, three-quarters of a pound of potash, and 

 four quarts of fine sand or hard-wood ashes, 

 sifted. This mixture will admit of any coloring 

 matter you please, and may be applied with a 

 brush. It looks better than paint, and is as 

 durable as slate. It will stop small leaks in the 

 roof prevent the moss from growing over and 

 rotting the wood, and render it incombustible 

 from sparks falling upon it. When laid upon 

 brick-work, it renders tlie bricks impei'vious to 

 rain or wet. 



Malaga Raisins. — These are all made by 

 merely drying the large white Muscadel grape 

 without tlie addition of any ingredient. They 

 are all raised within two leagues of the South- 

 ern Spanish coast, and do not succeed farther 

 inland. The Lexica raisins, used for puddings, 

 are, however, produced in the interior. They 

 are gathered when ripe, and spread out upon 

 the ground to dry, which usually requires 15 

 days, during which time they are never re- 

 moved, althouiih the drving proce.s.? is reUirded 

 by the dews, which difficulty would doublle.'HS 



entific men have indicated to be the ba.sis of ^ ., . . 



practical Agriculture, is this, that as it is the be removed by the use of portable awnmgs. 



(834) 



