710 



FARMERS' REGISTER— POULTRY— LIGHT SOILS, &c. 



cross clikli, and empty all their water furrows into 

 the main drain, (as al)Ove the cross ditcli OP,) 

 the g:reat width of the iicds will still jiermit the 

 ploLiohing; to he carried very near, hy |)loii<rhin<i- 

 across the end, in turning;. In such wide beddinii' 

 each water furrow will he a more effectual drain 

 than the four or five which would l)e made hy the 

 usual narrow beddinp;. As their location is i)er- 

 nianent, there will he but little trouble in giving 

 them good outlets, cut with hoes or spades. 



For laying off corn rows on these wide beds, 

 the following plan is very expeditious, and suffi- 

 ciently accurate, if executed by a careful and 

 skilful ploughman. The soil being well plough- 

 ed and harrowed, and in good order for planting, a 

 single-horse trowel (or shovel) plough is so guided 

 by the ploughman's eye, as to draw a furrow pa 

 rallel to the water furrow on each side of the bed, 

 and three feet distant from the middle of the water 

 furrows. These two outside lines being drawn, 

 the ploughman runs one between them, (as the 

 splitting rows are laid off, when setting poles are 

 used :) two other rows are then made by splitting 

 between the central and outside rows, which will 

 make all not quite five feet apart, except the two 

 on the sides of each water furrow, which will be 

 six feet. Sometimes it is expedient to have the 

 beds crooked in part or the whole of their course, 

 so as to keep parallel with a crooked outline, and 

 preserve greater length of ploughing — and this 

 mode of marking off tlie rows, will suit for crook- 

 ed as well as for straight beds. 



It is not probable that every different plan for 

 draining which has been described, can be advan- 

 tageously used on one piece of land, as cjrcum- 

 stances will generally direct some one of the me- 

 thods to the exclusion of another. But still all the 

 different circumstances may occur to a farmer in 

 different places, if not at the same. R. n. 



DISEASES Og POULTRY. 



From the Annalcs des Sciences Naturelle.s. 



From a series of oliservations made on the dis- 

 eases of domestic poultry, Mr. Flourens makes 

 the following conclusions: — 1. In these aniirials, 

 cold exercises a constant and determinate action 

 on the lungs. 2. The effect of this action is the 

 more rapid and more severe, the younger the ani- 

 mal is. 3. When cold does not cause acute and 

 speedily fatal inflammation of the lungs, it produ- 

 ces a chronic inflammation, which is pulmonary 

 consumption itself 4. Heat always jjrevents the 

 attack of pulmonary consumption: when the lat- 

 ter has taken place, heat suspends its progress, and 

 even sometimes arrests it entirely, and effects a 

 complete cure. 5. Pulmonary consumption is ne- 

 ver in any stage, contagious : fowls affected with 

 that disease were notall day alongwith the healthy 

 fowls, but at night roosted in the same places, 

 without communicating their disease to them. 6. 

 Lastly, the action of too long confined air exposes 

 these animals to abscesses of the cornea, and in- 

 flammation of the ball of the eye. These abscess- 

 es and inflammation are also caused in a still more 

 cruel manner, by cold, especially when accompa- 

 nied with moistui'e. 



In France, they estimate the consumption of 

 bread, including that used with soups, at 2 lbs. 

 and a quarter per jierson ; whilst, in England, it 

 is not quite 13 ounces. 



ON THE UESTIIVG OF LIGHT SOILS, AND CON- 

 SOLIDATING THEM WITH THE PRESSER. 



Froiii the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. 



The attention of Scots agriculturists has been 

 strongly drawn to tlie evident signs of exhaustion, 

 which almost the whole of the lighter soils in the 

 country has of late years exhibited. The wheat 

 has been a failure ever since 1826; the crop has 

 been weak, ill ripened, and in many cases blighted, 

 even in places where blight was never before 

 known, and insects, the origin of which appears 

 to defy the researches of the most experienced na- 

 turalists, have destroyed the grain, notwithstanding 

 all the efforts of the most skilful flirmers. The 

 falling off in the weight of green crops, potatoes 

 and turnips, as well as the artificial grasses, is not 

 less remarkable. In our fathers' days, three cut- 

 tings of clover were not uncommon during the 

 first summer after laying down the land to grass; 

 but now we rarely see a good second cutting. 



These are matters of great importance both to 

 landlords and tenants, and to the country at large. 

 They are now exciting great attention among 

 practical men; but although I have heard many 

 ingenious theories and schemes for remedying the 

 evil, proposed and discussed among men possessed 

 of .scientific as well as practical experience, yet, 

 after all that I have heard, the conclusion left on 

 my mind comes shortly to this ; namely, that those 

 lighter soils which in former times never missed 

 either a green or a corn crop when properly pre- 

 pared, have lost their productiveness solely through 

 the too frequent use of tillage, whereby such soils 

 have become so much pulverized that they are in 

 a soft, and as it were a puffed up state, quite unfit 

 for carrying the frequently repeated crops which a 

 modern rotation prescribes; and such being the 

 cause of the evil, the remedy lies in resting, av\(\ 

 thereby restoring to the soil, its wonted strength 

 and consistence. 



What I recommend then, is, to throw a large 

 proportion of every fiirm into grass to lie as cir- 

 cumstances may suggest for a period of years not 

 less than Jive, before it be again sulunitted to ano- 

 tlier rotation of crops. This mode of restoring 

 the soil may apjiear to man)' farmers who have 

 hitherto trusted chiefly to grain for the payment 

 of rents and expenses, as a plan to which they can- 

 not resort, unless their landlords relieve them, 

 during the regenerating process, of part of their 

 rents ; and no doubt in many cases this may be 

 absolutely necessary, and certainly when the tenant 

 cannot do his part without such relief, it will be 

 the \s iscst policy in the landlord to give him the 

 relief he I'cquires. But, in other cases, where the 

 farmer is in circumstances to bear a little present 

 sacrifice, he should look forward to the future in 

 the certainty of reaping great crops when the time 

 of breaking up arrives for his recompense : he 

 may throw his whole farm into grass, and continue 

 to pay his full rent, and yet not be a loser. This 

 fjct has been ascertained by positive experience, 

 that for years past, t>y keeping a well regulated 

 breeding stock of cattle and sheep, chiefly the lat- 

 ter, 7nore money may be drawn from an acre of 

 light land in beef and mutton, than by any rotation 

 of corn crops. Of course, the circumstances of 

 each case nuist dictate to the larmcr the mode iii 

 which he ought to set about the laying out of his 

 farm, and the proportions to be put into permanent 



