58 . THE AGRICULTURAL. GAZETTE. 
(Jan. 24, 
measure to supply the deficiency through the m 
of a Journal like tlie Agricultural Gazette, which has 
already rendered most essential service to the art. I 
ought, perhaps, to apologise for intruding upon your 
columns, having nothing new to communicate : but the 
reiteration of ised truths is frequently of immense 
importance, and believing, as I do, that English agri- 
culture generally is susceptible of an almost indefinite 
progression, one is naturally tempted to contribute even 
the smallest mite towards its advancement ; and if, by 
the means of a mass of accumulating testimony, as re- 
corded in your pages, in favour of recent agricultural 
improvements, the cultivators of the soil could be in- 
duced to provide a profitable employment for all our 
labouring population,a great blessing would be conferred 
upon the whole community. A mere cursory glance at 
the difference in the results of good or bad farming will 
clearly demonstrate that there ought to be no surplus 
labourers; neither would there be, were the land pro- 
perly treated. I do not write theoretically merely, as n) 
usually employ about 100 labourers, and can, therefore, 
speak from actual experience, that it does answer to cut 
down useless trees, to grub up hedgerows, to drain deeply 
and thoroughly where draining is required, to cultivate 
deeply upon all soils, and, in fact, to carry into the farm 
. the garden practice of the cottage allotment system. In 
sending you these desultory remarks, I should premise 
that I do not look altogether fori diate returns in 
I tried, with gre: 
but as might be expected no results followed—it was a 
complete negation. 
Like many other farmers, until lately I allowed the 
best portions of my yard manure to poison my horse- 
ponds. Now I have built tanks in all my yads, and 
placed shoots to carry off all the water that falls from 
the surrounding buildings. The contents of the tanks 
are carried during the winter season upon the adjoining 
pastures it: one of Crosskill’s water-carts ; as yet I have 
had no opportunity of testing its efficacy, but, that it 
must be a most valuable manure no doubt can be enter- 
tained. Perhaps.some of your readers, who have: had 
more experience in this matter than myself, ean inform 
me of the most economieal mode of applying it in large 
quantities. I intend to try to make a substitute for 
guano with this rich liquid ; and the plan I propose to 
adopt is to build a shed, behind my largest tank, which 
holds nearly 4000 gallons, for the reception of dry ashes 
and other absorbent materials,and to saturate them 
occasionally with the liquid. I expect this wiil form an 
excellent manure for any crop. The contents of this 
tank consists of the draining of a yard in which I keep 
some 150 or so of sheep, besides the drainings from the 
pigsties, stables, &c. ; not a drop is now wasted. 
T have found the subsoil plough and Crosskill’s elod- 
crushing roller of great service, and I think them quite 
ues ALIAM oh 
T 
E 
the investment of my capital (though this desirable re 
sult often happens, especially in draining)as I farm my 
own or my father’s land; yet, whenever a tenant has a 
sufficiently long lease, with mutually protecting clauses, 
I consider his course ought to be precisely similar to 
that of a person who cultivates his own grounds. I do 
not intend to touch upon Hop-ground culture, as that 
would not interest many of your readers, excepting to 
state that as it swallows up all my farm-yard manure, I 
am necessitated to look about me for the best substitutes 
in dressing my corn fields. I now give you the results 
of a few experiments :—1.. With regard to Potatoes : In 
with your d relative toautumn 
and winter planting, I planted on 1st of January last year 
about an acre in some recently trenched ground having 
asubsoil of chalk; the remainder of the field was planted 
in April; the sets of the former were put in about 7 inches 
deep. I searched diligently, yet I never could find a 
single set injured by the frost, The crop was not 
large in any part of the field, but it was decidedly best 
in the winter-planted part. I had also 3 or 4 acres 
planted in rows 6 feet apart between young Hops ; here 
I had a very good crop, almost free from the prevalent 
disease, there being not more than 1 in 50 affected. 
Was this escape to be ibuted to the free circulati 
p upon every large farm.: The 
subsoil plough that I use is similar to Smith's, of Dean- 
ston, and in order to do its work efficiently requires five 
horses at least, where the land is hard. I cannot ima- 
gine how Mr. Mechi contrives to subsoil his land with 
two horses; it is a secret I should like to under- 
stand, and should be glad to adopt, if by so doing 
I could break my ground regularly 18 inches deep. It 
is certainly ver: ‘kable, that itl ding t 
most unequivocal testimony in favour of subsoiling, it 
should be so little practised; but I hope a few years 
more will bring it generally into use. I now invariably 
subsoil my fallows for Turnips, since I have derived so 
much benefit from its effects; excepting, indeed, that 
on every alternate fallow I employ a Seotch iron swing 
plough, which a friend in Northamptonshire recom- 
mended to my notice: its maker's name is Crawford, 
near Glasgow. With this plough, drawn by six horses, 
I can plough 14 inches deep below the unbroken level 
surface of the ground, without bringing up the under- 
soil. It is a capital instrument, and well worthy the 
attention of every farmer who has not tried it. I may 
observe here, by the way, that subsoiling and very deep 
ploughing enables me to prepare the stubbles for Tur- 
nips with very little after trouble, inasmuch as the 
E 
© 
of air and light? A portion was manured with guano, 
but this was quite as free as any part from the disease. 
2. With regard to the application of guano, and after 
using during the past year upwards of 30 tons in va- 
rious ways, I can give my most hearty testimony in its 
favour as a most valuable manure. I applied it in 
several places on Wheat with various success. On a 
field of Chidham Wheat I put 4 ewt. per acre, mixed 
with ashes and gypsum ; it was sown broadcast at 
Michaelmas, and harrowed in with the seed. It ope- 
rated very beneficially, and produced a good crop, and 
there were no symptoms of blight excepting on the 
spots, about 3 feet in diameter, where the sacks were 
put down. Here the straw and corn were blighted, 
evidently from receiving an over-dose. On two fields 
of red Wheat, I used it with equal success as a top- 
dressing in March, and grew an excellent crop, both as 
regards quantity and quality. But in another large 
field of Chidham Wheat, I left 2 acres, in two dif- 
ferent. parts unmanured, when the field was sown in 
October, and upon these parts I put 4 cwt. of guano 
er acre in the spring. During the winter these 2 acres 
were much behind the rest of the field, and continued 
so till about three weeks after the guano had been hoed 
in, when they took a start, and grew with such rank 
luxuriance, that they could be distinguished from the 
opposite hill, nearly a mile distant. At harvest the 
whole field was more or less blighted, but the guano 
parts were much worse than any other. For Oats it 
answered admirably, and I grew an enormous crop ; 
and it did equally well when I used it upon Barley and 
Sainfoin. .But for Turnips it has succeeded far better 
than any other manure ; indeed, I never grew such 
Swedes and Turnips before, which I attribute chiefly 
(making an allowance for the general excellence of the 
crop this year) to the use of gudno and the subsoil 
plough. In one field I tried 4 ewt. of guano against 
20 tons of rieh farm-yard dung, combined with 1 ewt. 
of guano, drilled with the seed, in which the former cer- 
tainly has the advantage. This result, considering the 
high price of dung in this neighbourhood, is nearly as 
five to one in respect of cost in favour of guano, 
Another very excellent manure was a mixture of 
lbushel of j-inch bones and 2 bushels of dry wood- 
ashes, combined with about 12 gallons of strong liquid 
tank manure. These were mixed up together in a shed 
during winter, and covered over with a coating of gyp- 
sum 2 inches thick, aud then another layer of dry ashes 
of about the same thickness, for the purpose of absorb- 
ing and preventing the eseape of the ammonia during 
the decomposition of the bones. Of this mixture, I 
ploughed in about 30 bushels per acre upon.a very poor 
eld, and with the Swedes I drilled 2 ewt. of guano; 
this combination has produced me the finest erop I have 
grown this year, it being a far larger crop than ever 
was seen upon the land before, and quite equal to the 
erop in much better soils. I might mention too, that 
p of the soil is concerned; aud as regards 
the more easily getting rid of Couch and other deep- 
rooted weeds it is equally serviceable, though no farm in 
a good state of cultivation ought to be infested with 
such rubbish. I am now instituting a course of experi- 
ments with various sowings, or rather drillings and 
dibblings of seed Wheat, from 1 peck to 2 bushels per 
acre.—J. M. Paine, Farnham. 
WHEAT SOWING. 
[From the Inverness Courier. 
We are indebted for the following valuable observa- 
tions and experiments on Wheat-sowing to our distin- 
guished countryman, J. Baillie Fraser,’ Esq., of 
Reylig :— 
A good deal has been written lately upon the ques- 
tion of thick or thin sowing of Wheat. All inquiring 
farmers know the small but valuable pamphlet on this 
subject by Mr. Hewitt Davis; and there have been in 
the last twelve months many notices either by that 
gentleman, or descriptive of his system and crops, in- 
serted in the various agricultural periodicals. In the 
two last Gardeners’ Chronicles (the agricultural part) 
there have likewise been inserted, letters from that 
spirited, though perhaps enthusiastic, agriculturist, Mr. 
Mechi, of Leadenhall-street—all strongly in favour of 
thin sowing and dibbling. I own that till lately I was 
altogether of these gentlemen’s opinion ; and certainly 
theory, and even common sense, strengthened by the 
result of small experiments, are all in favour of the 
thin sowing or dibbling system. But there are some 
contingencies which do not appear to have been taken 
into account in the lati of t| gentl 
and as facts are worth a thousand arguments, when 
rightly noted, I propose giving you, instead of reasons 
and arguments, an account of some facts which have 
oceurred in my own practice this year, and which show 
that the best calculations and reasons may be set oc- 
easionally at fault. 
Last season I sowed about 68 acres of Wheat at the 
dates and under circumstances following :— 
No. 1—Oct. 26. 
5 acres imperial, after Potatoes, of which 1 acre, dibbled 
with 1j bushels of Hopetoun Wheat, duly steeped in 
blue vitriol steep. 
3 acre, dibbled with 4 bushel—same steep. 
The rest—say 9$ acres, were drilled with about 2 bushels 
per acre—same steep. 
No. 2—Noy, 19. 
ipe years’ Grass, sown with 6 quarters 2 
bushels Hunter's Wheat, pickled as before, with broad- 
cast machine. 
20 
No. 3—Nov. 22, 
11 acres, part new land, after Potatoes, with additional ma- 
nure for the Wheat, sown with 3 quarters of Hopetoun 
Wheat, steeped as above, with broadcast machine. 
No. 4—Nov. 2 
104 acres imperial, after two years’ Grass, sown with 3 
quarters bushels Hopetoun Wheat, steeped as before, 
with broadcast machine. 
No. 5—Feb. 12, and thereabouts. 
13 acres, after Turnips, 4} quarters Talavera, steeped as 
aboye, and drilled at about 8 to 9 inch 
care, the so-called electro-culture, 
1e time. 
a crop of Oats, with Talavera— 
No. 6. 
64 acres, very old lea, after 
broadcast machine. 
No. 7—Feb. 18. 
2 acres, after Potatoes, drilled, with 2} bushels of April 
Wheat, steeped as the rest. 
68 imperial acres. 
The whole of the lots brairded beautifully ; but as 
the season advanced, in May and June, the whole, ex- 
cept No. 4, were observed to be arrested in their 
growth, and to recede, as it were; yellow spots and 
plants made their appearance, and it was obvious that 
much of the plant was disappearing rapidly. Upon ex- 
amination, which was made at intervals, repeatedly, 
over all the fields, it was found that at the root of every 
sickly plant, there. were one or small worms—not of the 
hard sort, known as wire-worms, but red and soft ; in all 
respects, except in size, like the common red ground- 
worm, used as bait in trout fishing. These appeared to 
have sucked the substance out of the plant, in a ring, 
a little above the roots, so that it died away above 
ground. To such an extent did this mischief proceed, 
that in some of the fields large patches, extending to 
half an acre or more, appeared quite divested of plant, 
and in others they assumed a miserable, dwindling 
aspect, so as to forbid, almost entirely, the hope of a 
crop ; and had it occurred to this extent earlier, it 
might have been thought best to plough down the Wheat, 
and sow some other grain—but it was too late, and the 
only hope lay in the tillering out of the surviving plants. 
This did not take place till late, when the wetness of 
the season, aiding the good condition of the land, 
brought on some fields in a wonderful way, and as the 
ears made their appearance their size bade fair to com- 
pensate for the spareness of the stems in several 
quarters. I have seldom seen larger heads, and more 
promise ofa fine sample, In other fields—especially 
those after lea—the defalcation of the Wheat plant per- 
mitted the Grass and annuals to get up to such an ex- 
tent as nearly to smother the remaining ones. In con- 
sequence of this necessity on the part of the plant, to 
make good its losses where it could, the ripening was 
delayed, and this with the cold wet season, rendered the 
harvest alate,one. I shall now give the result of the 
several lots as above set down. j 
No. 1 was desperately ‘attacked by the worm; the 
acre that was dibbled was almost wholly destroyed, and 
though it was planted again from the thicker patches of ` 
other lots, the dry weather at the time, and the growth: 
of weeds, rendered it useless. It gave no crop to speak 
of. The other dibbled half acre also suffered, and at 
least one-third was destroyed. The rest gave a heavy 
crop. The drilled 34 acres were greatly damaged, but 
still yielded fairly. 
No. 2 (after two years’ Grass), was almost utterly de- 
stroyed ; and the old Grass sprung up so vigorously, 
that, being valued just before reaping, it was reckoned 
worth 40s. per acre as hay alone. It was reaped 6th 
October, and has since been nearly thrashed out. The 
produce is about 2 quarters per acre of indifferent - 
Wheat, but a great quantity of excellent fodder. 
No. 3 suffered likewise a little from worm, and was 
poor in some of the patches of new land ; but it was 
reaped 16th October—will probably produce 4 quarters 
per acre of very good Wheat. Some guano and some 
soot was used in the poorer parts as top dressing, with 
but questionable effect. d 
No. 4 was the only field that suffered nothing from . 
worm—it grew well, though not luxuriantly, from the 
first—was reaped llth September, and will probably 
yield about 3% quarters per acre. 
No. 5, after suffering so severely from worm, that in 
many places the drills could scarcely be traced, recor 
vered and tillered out so as to cover the ground wellin . 
most places, and yielded luxuriantly—strong straw and 
long heavy head. It was once hoed between the drills, 
which did much good ; and in some places soot or guano 
was applied, but it was difficult to mark the effect— 
reaped 18th September. 
No. 6 was so severely assailed as to bare several 
patches so completely, that Barley was sowed on them, 
and reaped separately. TheWheat, however, recovered, 
and was reaped a heavy crop. 
No. 7. This April Wheat also had its share of the 
worm, but in spite of this, and though last sown, it took 
and kept the lead of all, recovering hetter where injured, 
and ripening sooner. The crop from the 2} bushels, on 
barely two imperial acres—of which } to } was destroyed 
—will be at least 9 quarters. 
Tt is a remarkable fact, that the only smut found in 
all these Wheats, was in the 5 acres first sowed; and 
there there was a considerable quantity—not one smut- 
pall in all the rest ; nor was there any serious quantity 
of rust.. I believe the loss, on the whole, from worm, 
will not be under 1507. to 1707. 
Now, what is to be deduced from the foregoing facts 
—on which you may depend—in regard to thick or thin 
sowing? For my part, it appears to me that they act 
both ways. The thin sowing, where the plant was per- 
mitted to remain and thrive, certainly produced well; . 
and former experiments, on a small scale, led to a simi- 
lar conclusion. But then, in such a case as this jus 
related—when the plant is attacked by wire or othe? 
worm,what becomes of your erop? From a thick braid, 
a good deal may be taken, and yet leave a sufficiency to 
give a crop ;—but look how it happened with my dibbled 
acre, dibbled, too, far too thickly, as appears from 0 
seed sown. It was a clean sweep, and too late, also,{t? 
remedy, by putting in another corn crop ; nay, even the 
ravages of rooks, or other casualties, may tell fatally 
upon a thin plant, while, on a well covered field, they 
