90. THE 
AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
[FEB. 7, 
toits receiving those amendments which may be 
considered advisable. 
It may interest our readers to know that Mr. 
Pacan does not leave the promulgation of his plans 
to the unassisted influence of his book, powerful as 
the statements it contains undoubtedly are, but he 
has personally, and, to a certain extent, successfully, 
urged them at county meetings in Fife and the 
neighbouring shires. We see from the Dundee 
Courier that he lately laid his plans before “ the 
Commissioners of Supply and the Justices of the 
Peace for the county of Forfar,” supporting them 
by reference to the road statisties of that county ; 
and they were very fayourably received, and the 
thanks of the meeting was conveyed to him, the 
chairman atthe same time expressing his sincere 
pleasure at finding such unanimous approval of a 
plan which he firmly expected at no distant day to 
see put in operation over the whole country. 
DEEP DRAINING IN STIFF CLAYS. 
TIPTREE-HALL FARM. 
As there still exists amongst agriculturists a strong 
doubt whether water will percolate through cold putty- 
like clays, I will, for the benefit of the community at 
large, communieate the results of my draining operations 
during the past year. I have drained 33 acres of 
some land Lrent adjoining my own, finding it unprofitable 
to farm such soil in its undrained state. The draining 
eost me 3/, per aere, including pipes and every expense, 
as follows :—Digging drain, placing pipe, and filling in, 
6d. per rod of 5i yards ; cost of pipes, of 1 inch bore 
and 15 inches long, 15s. per 1000. 
The drains are placed 33 feet asunder. We begin to 
eut as low as the ditch or outfall will permit, and work 
into the rising ground until we reach Five FEET in 
depth from the surface; the pipes are butted against each 
other —no stones or bushes placed over them—nothing 
but the clay is returned into the drain. I have several 
times examined these drains after rains during the last 
three months, and find they run admirably, like so many 
tea-pots—leaving the surface dry enough for us to plough, 
trench plough or subsoil, which we have been doing 
the last five weeks, in preparation for Beans, The soil 
is a very strong brown brick earth, varying occasionally 
to a yellow colour, with much iron in it. I should 
strongly recommend those who are doubtful about the 
best and cheapest mode of draining strong clays, to in- 
spect the drains on my Tiptree-hall Farm, which they 
are quite weleome to do at any time, and so satisfy their 
minds. The question of getting the water through x 
e 
Soils is a vital one to the interests of ag e 
springs are to be drained, the size of the pipe must be 
regulated by the quantity of water. It is well known 
in sewerage, that small drains, if not too small, will 
keep themselves clear better than larger ones; and as 
to expense, why, it must be bad policy to use large 
pipes and large cuttings, where small ones will answer 
better—no rats or vermin can enter l-inch pipes. It 
is lamentably painful to contemplate the condition of 
our heavy undrained lands during a wet winter. Look 
at them now, filled with water to the surface, conse- 
quently unable to receive or appropriate that best of 
manures, the heavenly rain. Every hasty or con- 
tinuous shower scours the surface, driving down the 
furrows in turbid and wasteful streams, the very essence 
of the soil—those finely i d, disintegrated, and 
valuable particles, which the farmer has, with so much 
perseverance and costly labour, exposed to the vivify- 
in ; g action of pherie al i 
But let us carry our perspective to the months of March, 
April, and May. Is the prospect less dismal and dis- 
tressing? No! the blessed sun shines on the sodden 
and saturated soil ; but it is dead and impervious to its 
invigorating rays. The imprisoned water having no 
escape downwards, can only be released as steam by 
evaporation, carrying with it the heat that should warm 
the soil, and leaving behind a death-like coldness, which 
is well attested by the sickly and yellow plants. Poor 
things, many die, leaving their hardier companions to 
struggle on in hopes that a parching summer may 
that naturally by gaping cracks, which man is too poor, 
too niggardly, too ignorant, or too prejudiced, to effect 
by cheap and profitable drainage.—J. Mechi, 4, Leaden- 
hall-street, 
ON THICK AND THIN SOWING. 
Muca has been said and written, particularly of late 
years, on the many and great advantages of thin sowing. 
There is more zeal than discretion in this. The prac- 
tice is too indiscrimi ly ded; and I read 
with much interest the two articles at pp. 58 and 59, 
stating very fairly and judiciously the per contra side of 
the question. I am no advocate for throwing away 
seed ; but I am a decided enemy to saving seed, at the 
expense of the crop; and this was certainly done in 
Mr. Frazer’s case (p. 58), and I have no doubt in many 
other cases, if we could come at them. ‘The practice 
is a dangerous one—penny wise and pound foolish. 
The truth is, that a plant like Wheat, exposed so long 
to so many depredators, both above and under the 
ground, demands an extra quantity of seed, to provide 
against these and other contingencies of soil, season, 
climate, and the like. Some ought to be allowed for 
à 
difference in the Wheat crop this year, between the 
drained and undrained land on my farm, is fully one 
quarter of Wheat per acre and one load of straw, being 
more than the whole cost of the drainage. 
It is amusing to hear the doubts, arguments, and dis- 
beliefs of the majority of agriculturists, when they see 
a-small pipe the size of one's thumb placed at so great 
a depth as five feet in such a soil; whilst others eannot 
imagine that an inch pipe is large enough to carry the 
water. I have never yet, however, seen them run 
more than half fall, although possibly when, in the course 
of years, the soil becomes, as it will, more friable,water 
must have a freer access to them, We have the autho- 
rity of Mr. Josiah Parkes, whose calculations cannot 
be controverted, that one-inch pipes at 33 feet apart, 
and four feet deep, will carry off all the water that does 
fall from the heavens on a given space in a given time, 
I consider the disbelief as to the possibility of draining 
heavy lands a great misfortune and curse to our coun- 
try. If there are 24 millions of acres cropped annually 
with corn, and 12 millions of that land require drain- 
ing, Lam quite sure the inereased quantity of corn in 
a cold wet season would be 12 million quarters (I mean 
of Wheat, Beans,Oats, and Barley), and on Grass lands 
in proportion. 
here is something very absurd in the assumption 
that clays are impervious to water ; such opinions will 
not bear the test of reason, How often one hears “ Oh! 
but water can’t get through my soil ;” well, then, if 
water cannot get in, how does it get wet? Perhaps the 
same person will tell you that he has built a wall or 
shed of clay lumps well dried, and that it requires all 
his ingenuity to keep the water from getting into it, by 
thatehing, tarring, and a brick foundation. It is true 
clay already saturated with water will hold water on the 
Tapping the land when full of water is, after all, like 
tapping a cask—the liquor runs out at the bottom, and 
the cask dries at the top. The deeper the drain or tap, 
the greater the pressure from above. As the liquor 
lows the air must follow. If you doubt it, consider that 
no liquor ean flow out of a cask if you keep in the vent 
peg and prevent the air entering, Independent of the 
capillary reasons why deep drains act best (as explained 
in my 18th letter), we must consider: that the deeper 
the drain the more steep the ineline ; and we all know 
that water will rush quicker down a steep hill than a 
gentle slope. Those who consider l-inch pipes too 
small would find how soon such a pipe running con- 
; some for crows, larks, and other birds; 
and not a little, in but too many cases, for the game. 
Soil and season too ought to have a material effect on 
the proportion of seed sown. Strong, cold lands, should, 
if possible, be sown before Michaelmas—6 or 7 pecks 
an acre then (dibbled) will be fully equal to 2 bushels, 
or 24 bushels after; but into November, 3 bushels will 
not be too much, especially on light warm lands: for 
the poorer the soil, the heavier ought to be the seed. 
On such soil the plants will not tiller; and, I am in- 
clined to think, if tillering could be prevented on all 
soils, the better for the crop. 
The late Mr. Coke effectually settled this question, 
so far as the light lands of Norfolk were concerned. 
He never drilled less than 4 bushels of Wheat an aere, 
at 9 inch- intervals, and that for along series of years, 
and on many hundreds of acres annually. All who 
remember the quality of the Holkham crops can attest 
the wisdom of the practice, The mode of depositing 
the sced, has, or ought to have much to do with the 
quantity. And here, I confess myself somewhat at 
issue with Mr. Frazer, who seems to regard dibbling 
as synonymous with thin sowing. It is no such thing ; 
for though I believe a thin seed may undoubtedly be 
got in better and more regularly by the dibble than by 
any other method, it is well to bear in mind that there 
may be, and is, thick dibbling, as well as thin. For 
instance, on kind working land, early in the season, I 
would, if possible, get the droppers to put but two, or at 
most three grains in a hole ; but as the season advanced, 
I would prefer double this quantity; and for the reasons 
already given. But setting aside the period of sowing, 
hi d 
| stantly would empty a large pond. Of course, where 
other half untrodden ; if there is any mildew, it will not 
be on the trodden part. I say nothing of the advantage 
of a full crop on the score of cleanliness ; the land wiil 
produce something, and if not corn, weeds. The smut 
described by Mr. Fraser as affecting one, and one only, 
of his experiments, has nothing whatever to do with 
either the time, the mode of sowing, or the amount of 
seed sown : it is solely dependent on the efficiency or 
inefficiency of the operation of cleansing and preparing 
the seed Wheat ; I speak not at random, but from long 
and careful investigation of the subject; the disease 
may be produced by any one who chooses to take the 
trouble, or it may be prevented on the same terms. 1 
will engage to produce a clean crop with five pecks, and 
a smutty one with five bushels, of seed an acre, or vice 
versa. Reverting to our main subject, Iam far from 
denying the fact that great crops have occasionally been 
raised from a very small quantity of seed, and that if 
I have a new sort of grain given me, however minute 
the amount, I should undoubtedly dibble it, in garden 
ground, in single grains, and at comparatively wide in- 
tervals. But what has that to do with my general field 
crop? I have it immediately under my own eye ina 
small space of ground, and if half the plants fail, I can, 
by transplanting, bring them together so as to fill up 
the blanks. I did so last year in the case of some 
* Britain's Defiance” Barley kindly sent me by Mr. 
Briggs, of Swinstead, I planted in the way I have men- 
tioned upwards of 160 grains; from some cause or 
other, to me unknown, only 80 plants survived to form 
the crop ; had this been field instead of garden culture, 
I should not have had anything like so many, and where 
then would have been the sense of saving the seed ? 
Having stated what I consider to be the relative merits 
of the three methods of sowing in general use for Wheat, 
I may be allowed to add that, as a general rule, six or 
seven pecks an aere, well dibbled, are equal to eight ov 
nine drilled, and to 10 or more sown broadcast. I shall 
only add, in conclusion, that these remarks apply prin- 
cipally to Wheat, and not to Barley, in which crop I 
readily admit that a thin seed may not only be applied 
without so mueh risk, but occasionally with advantage. 
However, this must greatly depend on the fineness of 
the tilth, and other considerations of season, climate, 
&e., not neeessary to go into here.—Samel Taylor, 
Whittington, Stokeferry, Norfolk. 
Xfome Correspondence. 
Superphosphate of Lime.—Should you think the fol- 
lowing experiments in Turnip culture likely to be of use 
to your readers, I have the permission of Mr. Edward 
Strouts, of Kingsdown, near Sittingbourne, the experi- 
menter, to request you will publish them :— 
No. 1. 55 bush. of sprats, ai 
[m 
5 cwt. of superphosphate of lime 
5 bush, of sprats and 4 cwt. of su) 
phate of lime 3 
5. 55 bush. of sprats 3 
6.55 do. do. 2. le. Bd, 
ofdung,3,.25.0d. +. we 9 
x 
. The same, 
No. 1. Cream Globe m - 
2. 
WEIGHT PER ACRE, tons, cwt. Ibs. 
. . 16 7 96 
13 8i 
» n t 9 
gU pt Me —— 19 2 96 
4, Purple Short Top Swedes piccm 
5. E n 14 19 32 
6. Skirving's Swedes 22 18 64 
7. Purple Short Top s. e. 5 80 
This shows that sprats and superphosphate of lime 
(No. 4), at the cost of 37. 11s. 3d. per acre, beat sprats 
and dung, at the cost of 5/. 3s. 9d. per acre, by up- 
wards of 2 tons, at a reduction in expense of 1/. 12s. Gd. 
And that the superphosphate of lime (No. 3), at the cost 
of 17. 17s. 6d. per acre, beat sprats only (No. 2). at the 
cost of 27. 1s. 3d. per aere, by near 3 cwt., besides the 
saving in expense and saving in carriage. "The heaviest 
weight, 25 tons, was obtained from the acre of Skirving's 
improved Swedes, with dung and sprats ; but I am con- 
fident if these Turnips had had the No. 4 mixture that 
the result in favour of the superphosphate of lime would 
have been stil more decided than with the Purple 
Short-top; for we have no Swede Turnip grown in this 
part of Kent that equals Skirving’s in weight. Mr. 
Strouts had also a most excellent piece of white and 
green Globe of near 20 acres, grown with sprats 
t 
experience proves that there is a g 
withthe process of dibbling, whieh is more congenial 
to the Wheat plant than either drilling or broadeasting. 
The advantages are twofold. 1. Regularity of depth. 
2. Solidity of bottom. The more the seed furrow is 
trodden, and the less it is broken the better. My 
experience on a scale of from 50 to 100 acres of 
Wheat annually leads me to classify the three modes 
ave mentioned, in the following order :— 
l. Dibbled.—For levelness of crop, weight of grain, 
and small proportion of dross. 
2. Drilled.—Not so level either in its growth or 
quality of grain, with more dross. 
3. Broadcast.— Far inferior, in every respect, to the 
preceding. No one in Norfolk resorts to this plan who 
has a shilling in his pocket to hire dibblers or a drill. 
Another serious evil attending a thin plant of Whent, 
though seldom adverted to by thin sowers, is its extreme 
tendeney to mildew ; 1 have such a dread of this worst 
of farm seourges, that I would sow thiek to prevent 
mildew, to whieh let me add, good solid treading, no 
matter how sown. The efficacy of this latter any one 
can prove by experiment, however small, even in a 
garden : sow a few rows of Wheat in drills, tread well 
one half of the patch across the rows, and leave the 
m 
and superphospl of lime, in the same proportions as 
in Nos. 1 and 4, but these were not weighed ; had they 
been, I think the effect of the superphosphate would 
have been more marked than with the Swed fries 
Tylden, Milsted.—P. S. My own experiments last year 
with superphosphate of lime are equally decided and 
favourable ; but feeling so satisfied as to its value from 
my previous Turnip erop, I did not attempt to weigh 
any. [Our readers will see at page 61 a para- 
graph in reference to the experiments on superphos- 
phate of lime to which Sir J, W. Tylden here alludes.] 
How to Remove a Bad Taste from Milk.—l keep’ at 
resent two milch cows, both of which should calve 
about April, and, consequently, they are not now giv- 
ing very much milk; about six weeks ago, the milk 
whieh had stood for cream was found to have both a 
bad taste and smell, and as, at that time, they were 
allowed to go out during the day a little into a meadow 
to which I had applied a dressing of Liebig's Grass 
manure, my man was of opinion that this had affected 
the milk ; I did not think this could be the case, but as 
there was very little picking for them in the meadow, 
and by trampling they were probably doing harm, and 
as, also, prejudice is not very readily overcome, I di- 
rected that they should be kept up in the cow-house 
