108 
THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
[Fzn. 14, 
tributed by a savings’ bank in an extensive agrieultural 
district, that of Buckingham, wherein the agrieultural 
population are especially. invited to become depositors. 
It observes, “ But the great mass of poor persons in 
the country are day labourers in husbandry, and to 
them particularly the savings banks hold out advan- 
tages they cannot have anywhere else, and frequent 
&nstances of money being stolen from cottages shew that 
they often can and do save, and they would do it more 
frequently, if they knew what to do, safely and unob- 
served, with their money when they had got it. It cannot 
be expected that married men with young families can 
do much, but as a young unmarried man earns as much, 
and needs not so much by a great deal, he therefore 
has some to spare every week if he pleases, and by put- 
ting this into the savings' bank he would, in a reason- 
able time, have saved him enough to enable him to 
marry with the hope of never allowing any one belong- 
ing to him to become a burthen to others.” As a proo 
of the regard which some of the agricultural body have 
for savings’ banks, the Alford Agricultural Society re- 
cently awarded two prizes to two female servants of 
good character, under forty years of age, never having 
been housekeepers, who had been the longest and most 
regular depositors in a savinzs' bank. It is satisfactory 
to know that our agrieultural labourers comprise a large 
portion of the depositors in savings’ banks, but they 
require to be more generally known to. be appreciated. 
They deserve more the countenance of those who pos- 
sess any influence over the classes of persons for whose 
enefit they are more especially intended. Industry 
and economy are the fruits of small savings. A cottager 
having a garden, a cow, or pig, is more likely to be an 
industrious member of society than his improvident and 
slothful neighbour, who has nothing which he can call 
his own. The impressions produced on the minds of 
the peasantry by affording them the means of acquiring 
property are great: the cottager, in every instance, 
has been more industrious, the wife a better manager, 
and the children raised in condition. I would strongly 
impress on the working classes how much happiness 
they may derive by small savings, and would urge 
others to follow my example, for it is by their condition 
that the real prosperity of the country should be esti- 
mated.—J. H. 
How is Phosphate of Lime rendered available as 
Food for Plants? is an inquiry made by your corre- 
spondent *P. Y.,” at page 43, who believes the term 
** atmospheric influences ^ used by modern agrieultural 
chemists, to be equivalent to the phrase “ occult qua- 
Aityj' used by ancient philosophers, and that, to the 
former of theseterms, modern @hemists attribute changes 
which they are unable to produce in their own labora- 
tories. To enter into a description of the changes which 
the components of the soil and manure undergo when 
exposed for a season. to the action of the atmosphere, 
would occupy too much space devoted to correspond- 
ents, but with reference to the one constituent, phos- 
phate of lime, which “P. Y." considers “one of the 
most insoluble substances in nature," I would remind 
him that phosphate of lime exists in the urine of man 
and most of our domestic animals, held in solution by 
carbonic acid. That by “ atmospheric influences,” i. e. 
the action of the oxygen of the air on the carbon of the 
decaying vegetable matter in the soil, carbonic acid is 
generated, which acid is in a great measure dissolved 
in the water in the soil, and it gives that sparkling ap- 
pearance and agreeable taste to good spring water, 
when compared with rain water, or water that has been 
deprived of its carbonic acid by boiling. The carbonic 
acid thus held in solution acts on and dissolves the 
phosphate of lime contained in the soil, and in this state 
of solution it is absorbed by the spongioles of the roots 
of plants. That phosphate of lime, as I have above 
stated, is soluble in water holding carbonie acid in solu- 
tion, and that this fact can be distinetly proved in the 
laboratory of the chemist, or * P. Y.^s" own drawing- 
room, if he will make the experiment, I think will no 
longer be questioned, if the experiment be made in the 
following manner :—If to a solution of bone earth in mu- 
:riatie acid, liquor of ammonia be added, the solution will 
become milky, and a white powder will fall, which is 
the earth of bones in an extremely minute state of di- 
vision. If this powder be washed by repeated effusions 
of pure water, and be afterwards well shaken with 
water which is saturated with carbonic acid, or through 
which a current of this gas is made to pass, a sensible 
portion of the phosphate will be found to be taken up 
‘by the water. This will appear on decanting the solu- 
tion and evaporating it to dryness, w lien a quantity of 
the white powder will remain behind. The mean of 
10 experiments made in this way gave 30 grains as 
he 
quantity taken up by an imperial gallon of water. What 
takes place in this way in our hands, happens also in 
the soil. Not only does that which enters the root bear 
with it a portion of this compound where it exists in 
the soil, but the superabundant water also which sinks 
through to the drains, carries with it to the rivers in 
its course a still larger quantity of this soluble compound, 
and thus gradually diminishes that supply of phosphate 
which either exists naturally in the soil, or has been 
added as a manure by the »griculturist.— 4/fred Gyde, 
Painswick. 
To Fallen Pigs.—Having seen in the Agricultural 
Gazelle several articles on the different methods of fat- 
tening pigs, I trust you will pardon my giving you an 
account of my own experience in this matter, and re- 
questing you to give it publicity, for I feel assured that 
there cannot be a better or a cheaper mode, and one 
that might be adopted with greater advantage to the 
cottager. My pigs are fed once in the day with wash 
from the house, into which a very small quantity of 
pollard is mixed; and three times a day with Parsnips. 
These last are given in the same stateas they are drawn 
from the earth ; neither washed nor cut up, thereby 
saving much labour. I calculate that the produce of 
2} rods is quite sufficient for the fattening of one pig. 
The last animal killed weighed 24 stone 5 lbs., and was 
about 9 to 10 months old. The pork was declared by 
all to be excellent, well tasted, very tender, and delicate, 
although not quite so rich as the meat of pigs fattened 
in the usual manner.— x 
British Agriculture. —The question may be raised 
whether we make the greatest use of our knowledge of 
the art which cireumstances permit. Are all our fields 
well cultivated? Are all madg to yield the greatest 
amount of food? The shortest excursion through any 
agricultural district at once reveals the fact, that we 
have much progress to effect before farming can 
approach perfection ; and so very apparent is this fact in 
many distriets, that the question recurs to the mind 
whether the first principles in agriculture generally form 
[ our practice. The answer of the Scottish 
easant of the last generation in reply to an enquiry xe- 
speeting his aequaintance with farming, and the rules 
he would follow, might be of ‘use to some of the culti- 
vators of the present period, if they would adhere to 
the grand first principles as propounded by him. “ I 
know how to make dirty land clean ; how to make 
e lean land fat; which is 
alla farmer Nor was the old man 
very far wrong; for if the farmers of the present 
time would but fully and energetically earry out his 
agricultural code, the appearance of a considerable 
portion of our fair isle would be very different, and 
the produce very much greater than is now the case. 
In some districts the cultivation is wretehedly bad ; the 
tendency of the farm management is, in fact, suici- 
dal, and the rational observer doubts whether such 
occupiers can be the best judges, even in their own 
affairs. Acres upon acres still suffering from super- 
fluous moisture during winter, and drought in summer, 
fields found full of Couch, Thistles and Dock permitted 
to luxuriate, land covered with a * beautiful bloom” 
of Charlock, land often ploughed out to a state of com- 
plete exhaustion ; surely much produce which might be 
raised under a better system is lost to the community 
under circumstances such as these. With the improve- 
our land, there can be little doubt that our 
be made to nearly double its return, if it were but 
carefully and judiciously managed. One of our most 
esteemed writers has remarked that the greatest mis- 
fortune of a country is an indigent tenantry, as their 
necessities prevent them from making any improve- 
ments, and certainly such a condition of the occupier 
is a great impediment in the way of a better system of 
cultivation than that usually prevailing—is an effectual 
barrier against permanent prosperity, But fortunately 
this is not the condition of the majority of our farmers. 
Is it from want of energy or from lack of knowledge 
that the lands of many are dirty, wet,and lean? If so, 
the subject, although merely practical, may not inap- 
propriately be placed before them.—J. Birdett, Writtle. 
Account of One Acre of Land -at Aldwinkle, All 
Saints, near Thrapstone, Northamplonshire, cultivated 
with Space Husbandry; by Thomas French. — 
This land was an allotment of enclosure in 1772, and 
remained in the same state, as Grass, from that time, 
until about 13 years ago. It was then ploughed up; 
nature of soil, good rich light loam. The first year, 
1833.4, it was dug up all over two spits deep. Every 
year since, one spit deep, generally by himself and his 
on. When a labourer was hired to help, he con- 
siderered a fair day's work by a good man, not scamped, 
at 8 poles a day ; wages from 15. 8d. to 2s. per day, and 
two pints of beer; after the rate of about 40s. per 
acre, Eight poles per day + 160 == 20 days work. 
1833-4.—Journal of eropping after Ist year, dug all 
over two spits deep ; planted with Potatoes ; 2d year 
(1 spit deep), Mangold Wurzel; 3d year (1 spit deep), 
Cabbage; 4th year (J spit deep), Barley; 5th year 
(1 spit deep), Peas; the last six years successively 
with Wheat; 6, 7, 8, three first years, Britannia 
Wheat, Old Brownhammer, Golden Drop ; 9, 10, 11, 
three next years, with Bristol Red; always 1 spit deep. 
The average of the Wheat crops carefully taken was 
6 grs. 4 bushels. One or two years the produce was 
8 qrs. The seed Wheat was always drilled in rows 
9 inehes apart, and 4 inehes apart in each row. Seed 
used about 3 pecks, instead of 8 usually sowed by drills 
I 
5 1845 : 
6 qrs., although 
finest straw he 
healthy appearance he expected full 8 qrs. ; but it was 
much beaten down and laid, and on 2 or 3 rods on 
which he had used manure the yield was the least. 
Dissolved Bones.—One of your correspondents asks 
whether sulphuric acid and bones form a useful manure 
Sor Grass lands ; for bisinformation I state that in both 
the last two years I have sown small plots of Grass 
with bones digested in acid mixed with ashes, and never 
pereived any advantages resulting from the appli- 
catio, Without attempting to explain the cause why 
superphosphate of lime, which is so very efficacious in 
the produetion of Turnips, should have failed upon [my] 
Grass Land, a result entirely at variance with our ex- 
peetations, I will merely state that as a manure for 
Grass it is [according to myexperience] of comparatively 
trifling value, and is not to be recommnded.—/. Bir- 
ditt Writtle. 
Foativties. 
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY or ENGLAND. 
A Werxuy Councit was held at the Society’s House 
in Hanover-square, on Wednesday last, the llth of 
February, present : Tuomas Raymonp BARKER, Esq., in 
the chair ; B. Almack, Esq., T. B. Browne, Esq., Rev. 
T. C. Browne, F. Burke, Esq., F. C. Cherry, Esq., C. 
Cure, Esq., W. Cuthbertson, Esq., G. P. Fearnhead, 
Esq. A. Fraser, Esq, A. E. Fuller, Esq., Mia 
H. Gibbs, Esq. W. Leveson Gower, Esq, W. 
G. Hayter, Esq., M.P. ; E. Hussey, Esq., J. Kinder, 
Esq., Sir Robert Price, Bart., M.P. ; Prof. Sewell, Sir 
Richard Simeon, Bart., S. Solly, Esq., T. Thomas, Esq., 
T. R. Tweed, Esq., and J. L. Wight, H avid Jones, 
Esq., of Glanbrane Park, Llandovery, marthenshire, 
vas elected a Governor, and the following gentlemen 
Members of the Soci i— 
Ferrabee, John, Phænix Iron Works, Stroud, Gloucestersh, 
Newman, Sir Robert William, Bart., Mamhead, Exeter. 
Seiland, Major-General, Walton-upon-Thames. 
Bell, Matthew, M.P., Wolsington, Neweastle-on-Tyne. 
Cuthbert, William, jun., Beaufront, Hexham, Northumb. 
Cookson, William, Benwell Lodge. Neweastle-on-Tyne. 
Arundale, Charles, Seaton Bum Farm, Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
Overend, Willson (J.P.), Sheffield. 
Butland, William, Cliff Cottage, Langharne, Camarthen. 
Wynne, William W. E., Mount Sion, Oswestry, Salop. 
Angeworth, William, The Hoy, Bridgenorth, Salop. 
Tutton, Rev. Henry, Rectory, Filleigh, South Molton, Devon. 
PCN 
ops 
04 
$ 
nockshire, 
m, W Yorkshire. 
Williams, Evan, Rhayador, Radnorshire 
Lee, Edward, Stocksfield Hall, New yne. 
Stevens, J. Curson Moore, 2, Harcourt-buildings, Temple. 
Muggeridge, Henry, S ew's-hill, City. 
tle-on-Ty 
Pattison, Jacob, 
Read, George, 
ich. 
W., R-N., Howick, Northumberland, 
es, Church-Knowle, Wareham, Dorset. 
Gibson, George, Kendal, Westmoreland. 
Jones, John, Blahnose Villa, Llandovery, Carmarthenshire. 
The hames of 11 candidates for election at the next 
meeting were then read. 
Tha following communications were received :— 
1. A letter from Mr. Rodwell to Lord Portman, the 
President of the Society, containing his further results 
in the cultivation of the varieties of Italian Rye-Grass. 
i. A statement from Mr. Shepherd, of Shaw End, 
near Kendal, of the extensive depredations committed 
by rats ia that part of the country, and of the means 
taken for their destruction. 
3. An offer from Mr. Brayley, one of the librarians 
of the London Institution, to deliver lectures before the 
Society, on the origin and the natural history of clay ; 
or more generally, if required, on the process and re- 
sults of the disintegvation of rocks, as connected with 
the production of soil: the subjects to be treated in re- 
ference to the geology, mineralogy, and mineralogical 
chemistry of the arts and of agriculture, and illustrated 
by specimens, maps, diagrams, drawings, and numerical 
tables, as well as elucidated by the exhibition of such 
direct experiments as the topies investigated may 
require. 
4. A letter from Mr. Bullen, Secretary to the Royal 
Agricultural Improvement Society of Ireland, transmi 
ting the prize sheets of that Society for the ensuing 
year, and calling the attention of the members to the 
prizes placed at the disposal of the Council of that bedy 
by his Excellency Lord Heytesbury, for the encourage- 
ment of thorough-draining in Ireland. 
“5, A recommendation from Sir P. Micklethwaite, 
Bart., that it should be suggested to railway companies 
to remove two spits of the top surface of the land on 
which the superstructure is to be placed, for agricul- 
tural purposes. s 
6. Mr. Turner communicated his plan of forming a 
new and economical manure. 
The Council then adjourned to Wednesday next, the 
18th of February. 
a 
Farmers’ Clubs. 
SUBJECTS FOR DISCUSSION. 
9, WHAT ARE THE BEST WHEATS TO GROW ? 
Agricultural Gazette 1844 and 1845, and “Journal of the 
ty,” vols. land 2. he reader will 
English Agricultural Society, 
find in these works reports of numerous experiments on the 
ive productiveness of various varieties ; we do not state any 
guides to a 
tural Society offe: 
to be more productive than the standard eties of those 
localities, then it receives the prize. But is this method likely 
sine the best Wheats? What is to guide the judge in 
sclecting two samples for trial out of the 20 exhibited ? Med 
nte: 
differ most in their anc 
externalappearanee which indicates their composi 
not necessarily the heaviest, plumpest, whitest, d: 
which contains most food. ositively, if we take as OUT 
criterion (and it is the only true one) the quantity of food which 
ia] 
7* We donot see vizes 
, how 
| for the ensuing year. 
