476 



FARMERS' REGISTER— POTATOES— BIRDS AND INSECTS. 



facility and exactness what proportion of metal 

 they contain, and which of them may be worked 

 to advantage. Thus he will operate on sure 

 grounds, and be prevented from engaging in ex- 

 pensive and unprofitable undertakings. 



Chemistry will teach him also how to improve 

 the cultivated parts of his estate; and by trans- 

 porting and transposing the diflcrent soils, he will 

 soon learn some methocl by which each of his iields 

 may be rendered more productive. 



The analysis of the soils will be followed by that 

 of the waters which rise u|X)n, or flow through 

 them; by which means he will discover those pro- 

 per for irrigation ; a practice, the value of which is 

 suflBciently known to every good agriculturist. 



Should he himself occupy the farm, become him- 

 self the cultivator of his own estate ; he must of 

 necessity become a chemist, before he can make 

 the best of his land, or put it into a high state of 

 cultivation, at the smallest possible expense. It 

 will be his concern, not only to analyse the soils on 

 different parts of his farm, but the peat, the marl, 

 the lime, and tlie other manures, must be subjected 

 to experiment, before he can avail himself of the 

 advantages which they possess, before he can be 

 certain of producing any particular effect by tlieir 

 means. The necessity of analysis to the firmer 

 is evident, from a knowledge of the circumstance,, 

 that some kind of lime is really injurious, and 

 would render land, which had been hitherto very 

 productive, actually sterile. 



I allude here to the magnesian limestone, which 

 is common in many districts in England, }>articu- 

 larly at Breedon in Leicestershire, where the cal- 

 careous earth contains 50 per cent, of magnesia. 

 But, as the Earlof Dundonald has remarked, such 

 lime will be extremely usetui on what are called 

 sour soils, or such as contain sulphate of iron from 

 the decomposition of martial pyrites, as the magne- 

 sia will unite with the acid of that salt, and ibrm 

 sulphate of magnesia, (Epsom salt,) which great- 

 ly promotes vegetation. 



Besides, a knowledge of the first principles of 

 chemistry, will teach him when to use lime hot 

 from the kiln, and when slacked ; how to promote 

 the putrefactive process in his composts, ajid at 

 what period to check it, so as to prevent the fertil- 

 izing particles becoming effete, and of little value. 

 It will also teach him the difference in the proper- 

 ties of marl, lime, peat, wood ashes, alkaline salt, 

 soap waste, sea water, &c. ; and consequently, 

 which to prefer in all varieties of soil. A know- 

 ledge of the chemical properties of bodies will 

 thus give a new character to the agriculturist, and 

 render his employment rational and respectable. 



CULTURE OF POTATOES. 



From the Brilish Farmers' Magazine. 



A frequent change of seed is necessary. Any 

 sort may be continued fertile and profitable by re- 

 moving them from one county to another every 

 fourth or fifth year, or by raising them alternately 

 on very different descriptions of soil. In the culti- 

 vation of this useful plant, it appears ti-om many 

 experiments, that it requii'es ample s{)ace. In 

 field culture, placing the sets of the strong grow- 

 ing kinds in every third furrow, and those of the 

 dwarfer sorts in every second, are eligible distan- 

 ces. There are different opinions held respecting 

 the necessity of earthing up potatoes. On very 

 thin soils, however, it is absolutely necessary. On 



deeply ploughed, or trenched ground, earthmg up 

 the stems is certainly less necessary, because, as 

 the under ground runners, which produce the tu- 

 bers, are inclined to extend themselves as deeply 

 in the soil as the roots, they do not seem to require 

 any additional depth of earth immediatel)' over 

 them. But this depends entirely upon the open 

 porousness of the soil, and the manner oi growth 

 of some of the kinds. Plucking off the flowers 

 increases the size and number of tubers. It is 

 founded on a law of nature, disposing a plant, con- 

 stituted to produce at the same time both seeds and 

 tubers, to yield either one or the other more abun- 

 dantly, accordingaseitlier is destroyed. If tubers 

 be not allowed to form, many flowers and apples 

 will be the consequence ; and if the flowers be 

 destroyed as soon as they appear, the tubes will be 

 increased. It is bad management to plant the re- 

 fuse, or odds and eiuls of last year's crop, for the 

 sets of this. It' potatoes are planted at all, they 

 should be planted well. 



BIRDS AND INSECTS. 



From the Library of EiUertaining Knowledge, 



There cannot be any question of the immense 

 number of insects required by birds during the 

 breeding season. It is stated by Bingley, that a 

 pair of small American birds, conjectured to be the 

 liouse-wren, were observed to leave the nest and 

 return with insects from forty to sixty times in ar» 

 hour, and that in one particular hour they carried 

 food no fewer than sevent)^ -one times. In this bu- 

 siness they were engaged during the greatest part 

 of the day. Allowing twelve hours to be thus oc- 

 cupied, a single pair of these birds would destroy 

 at least six hundred insects in the course of one day, 

 on the supposition that the two birds took only a 

 single insect each time; but it is highly probable 

 that they often took more. 



In the case of swallows, on theolherhand, it has 

 been well remarked by an excellent naturalist, 

 (the Rev. W. T. Bree,) that they are to us quite 

 inoffensive, while " the beneficial services they per- 

 ibrm tor us, clearing the air of innumerable insects, 

 ought to render them sacred, and secure them from 

 our molestation. Without their friendly aid, the at- 

 mosphere we live in would scarcely be habitable 

 by man ; they feed entirely on insects, which, if 

 not kejit under by their means, would swarm and 

 torment us like another Egyptian plague. The 

 immense quantity of flies destroyed in a short space 

 of time by one individual bird, is scarcely to be 

 credited by those who have not liad actual ex])eri- 

 ence of the fiict." He goes on to illustrate this 

 •from a swift, which was shot. "It was in the 

 breeding season when the young were hatched ; at 

 which time the parent birds, it is well known, are 

 in the habit of making little excursions into the 

 country to a considerable distance from their breed- 

 ing places, for the purpose of collecting flies, which 

 they bring home to their infant progeny. On pick- 

 ing up my hapless and ill-gotten prey, I observed 

 a number of flies — some mutilated, others scarcely 

 injured — crawling out of the bird's mouth; the 

 throat und pouch seemed absolutely stulTed with 

 them, and an incredible number was at length dis- 

 gorged. I am sure I speak within compass when 

 I state that there was a mass of flies, just caught 

 by this single swift, larger than, when pressed 

 close, could conveniently be contained in the bowl 

 of an ordinary table-spoon." 



