——— — 
10.—1846.] 
THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
153 
THE TANK SYSTEM, 
Ic bos 
EIU 
DURBIDGE aw» HEALY having heated a con- 
Siderable number of Pits and other Horticultural Struc- 
tures, for the cultivation of Pines, Melons, 
Their Apparatus may be seen at work at the following places: 
—Hortieultural Gardens, Chiswick ; Royal Botanie Gardens, 
Glendinning, Chiswick Nursery; Messrs. Henderson, Pine- 
apple-place ; and in more than one hundred other places,— 
130, Fleet-street, London. 
The Agricultural Gasette, 
SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 1846. 
MEETINGS FOR THE TWO FOLLOWI 
Wnoxnspay, Mar. 11—Agricultnral Society of England. 
THURSDAY, - 
C. of " 
— 18—Agricultural Society of England. 
THURSDAY. — 19—Agricultural Imp. Soc. of Ireland. 
LOCAL SOCIETIES.—Parsonstown— Vale of Alford— Wells, 
FARMERS' CLUBS. 
y ‘ar.12—Rich: 
RDNESDAY, 
Mar, 9—Selby— Exmi 
—Cirencester—W. Mar 
e 
—Rochford Hundred—Fram- 
lingham — Aráleigh — Dork- 
comb—Swansea 
— 16—W. Hereford — Botley — 
Bakewell 
— 17—Bromsgrove 
— 11—Bratntree and Bocking — 
Harleston 
— 19—Blofield and Walsham 
Turre is more Foo» ror Stock at the present 
moment in many parts of the country than there 
was four months earlier in the season at the cor- 
responding period of last year. Having within the 
last fortnight repeatedly traversed the district 
lying within the lines joining London, Bristol, 
Manchester, and Hull, we can speak with confi- 
dence on the point. Never before have we seen 
so late in the season such an immense extent of 
Turnip crop still in the field. This, so far as it 
goes, is certainly matter for satisfaction, as it will 
enable the farmer to feed his. stock up to heavier 
weights than he might otherwise have been able 
to make them, and it will also enable him to keep 
a larger extent of his Grass land for hay. But we 
have noticed the fact chiefly that we might call at- 
tention to the condition in which these Turnip 
Crops at present are. They are worsening every 
day ; we have seen many fields in full bloom ; the 
bulbs are rapidly assuming a tough and almost 
ho ore e AE of their juices being 
sorbed in nourishin ingi 
FAM g the young plants springing 
will suffer fr. 
is not 
may plough them in to be 
composing them are m 
tributed throughout the soil in 
B they are concentrated in 
It is of little use to mow down th ; 
others will form, and the change Hoty phan ; 
In the texture of the bulbs cannot be retarded Die 
So long as this moist mild weather continues. The 
crop must be ploughed up and gathered into heaps 
as 1t ought to have been in November last, Young 
cattle in yards will eat the green shoots, and the 
bulbs should be cut up for sheep. We venture to 
assert, on an annual experience of upwards of 1500 
tons so consumed, that the farmer is well paid, by the 
greater economy of the process, for the expense of 
harvesting roots in autumn, and feeding both sheep 
and cattle under shelter; and we have now to add, 
to the advantage of this practice, a freedom from the 
risk of growth attending an abundant crop in a mild 
winter.—JM. 
As it is not improbable that Marz or INDIAN 
Conw will speedily find its way in considerable 
quantities into the British market, every one will 
ask the question—In what way can it be profitably 
employed? We shall endeavour to answer this 
question. The Maize is a plant belonging to the 
natural order of Grasses, and partakes of the general 
properties of the Cereal group of these plants, to 
which it belongs. It is a much taller and stronger 
plant than any of the other Cerealia. It is mo- 
neecious, and from two to four heads of fruit ripen 
on each plant, each head containing from 600 to 800 
seeds. [tis a native of America, but its successful 
cultivation is not confined to that country, as it is 
extensively planted in the south of Europe. It 
ripens in the month of September, and during this 
process requires a temperature that is seldom or 
never found in the north of Europe. It ison this ac- 
| count found impossible to cultivate it with advantage 
in Great Britain. There is, however, an inferior 
kind cultivated in some parts of North America, 
and also partially in Germany, which will 
sometimes ripen well in this country; but the 
inferior quality of the seeds, and the uncertainty of 
the result, render it anything but a desirable plant 
in British agriculture. It is not, then, as a native 
product that we must look to Maize for any advan- 
tage. 
hoik Maize may be employed both as food 
for man and beast in various stages of growth, the 
seed is evidently its most important part. In che- 
mical composition the seed resembles all the other 
Cerealia, the relative quantities of its component 
parts alone differing. 1t has lately been made the 
subject of chemical analysis by Dr. Lyon PLAYFAIR, 
and he has favoured us with the result. Its com- 
position is as follows— 
Fatty mater 
Starch oo 
Water m 
1 
It will be seen from this analysis that it contains 
less protein, or nutritive matter, than Wheat, Oats, 
or Barley, but more than either Rice or Potatoes. 
It contains, in fact, three and a half times the quan- 
tity of nutritive matter that is found in Potatoes, 
and a very much larger quantity of starch and less 
water. It also possesses more fatty matter than 
any of those, which is an important consideration 
where the mere fattening of animals is considered. 
It will be thus found, as an article of diet both for 
man and beast, superior to Potatoes and Rice, but 
inferior to Wheat, Oats, and Barley. 
The question will now occur as to what is the 
probable price at which the Maize will be brought 
into the English market. A recent writer on this 
subject, in America, says, “It can be sold at the 
port ‘of shipment at half a dollar per bushel ; its 
freight across the Atlantic would be about 18 cents 
per bushel; and if admitted into England duty free, 
it could be ground into meal or flour at a cost of 
6$ cents more, making in all 75 cents, or three- 
quarters of a dollar. Allowing, in addition to this, 
25 cents for retail profits, the article could be sold 
at one dollar a bushel in the manufacturing towns, 
or about 4s. 4d. sterling. Now the bushel weighs 
at least 58 Ibs., which at 4s. 4d. is less than 1d. 
sterling per pound.” It is not improbable that 
Maize may be purchased at a less price than this, 
and if not eaten by man may be at least advan- 
tageously employed for feeding animals. In the 
countries where it grows, extensive use is made of 
it forthis purpose. In America, pigs are fattened 
on it, and the pork they yield is reckoned of a finer 
flavour than when the animals are fed on other 
food. Poultry of all kinds are very fond of it, and 
their flesh is much improved in flavour. Horses 
also, and oxen and cows may be fed upon it. When 
it is given to animals it should be first ground into 
meal, and then mixed with warm water so as to 
form a pottage. Horses prefer the unground seeds 
but they should be previously soaked in water, as 
when given to them dry they wear the teeth, and 
in young horses will sometimes produce blindness, 
from the exertion of the muscles of the jaw in 
masticating them. i 
Although Maize does not contain much protein, 
it may be still a question as to how far a certain 
bulk of other matters is not necessary to the proper 
digestion of food. The Irishman eats 10 lbs. of 
Potatoes to get at the same quantity of nutriment 
as is contained in one pound of bread. But 
would a pound of bread be found, in practice, a 
substitute for the 10 pounds of Potatoes? We 
question if it would. If bulk, then, be of conse- 
quence, we find that Maize meal has the property 
of uniting with a large quantity of water, and thus 
increasing its bulk. The writer above quoted says, 
“I carefully weighed out one pound of the meal, 
and gave it {oa person who understood the mode 
of cooking it. In the course of boiling, it absorbed 
about five pints of water, which was added at inter- 
vals until the process was complete. The bulk was 
again weighed, and gave as a result four pounds 
and a half" This is a large increase of weight, and 
if it be found that a certain bulk of. the more nutri- 
tious foods, as Oats, Peas, or Beans, are required in 
order to render the same amount of nutritious mat- 
ters digestible, then there would be a saving in 
using the Maize. These are points which might 
easily be made matters of experiment amongst our 
agriculturists, and those who would perform them 
would be doing a great service. 
With regard to the use of Maize as food for man': 
there can be no doubt of its adaptability for this 
purpose ; the Indians of many parts of America live 
almost entirely upon it, it forms the staple diet of 
the slaves in America, and is eaten by all classes in 
many parts of that country. In the parts of Europe 
where it is cultivated, it is used as the staple food 
of the inhabitants. It may be cooked in a variety 
of ways. The meal may be made into porridge, 
and eaten with milk ; it makes puddings and cakes 
of all sorts, and may be advantageously added 
to Wheat flour for making bread. [Bread made 
from 1 part Maize flour and 2 parts Wheat, is in 
appearance like “second” bread, but much more 
agreeable in taste.] It must, however, be borne 
in mind that unless bulk can be proved to 
be of essential service, it is not, as far as its 
nutritious element, protein, is concerned, a cheaper 
article of diet than Wheat itself. It is the fact 
that Wheat possesses so exactly the proportions 
of protein and starch that are required by the sys- 
tem of man in these climates, that has made it the 
staple article of food in this and other European 
countries, and must give it a preference over Maize, 
or any other hitherto proposed substitute.—Z, Æ. 
THE POTATO ROT. 
Tmar the disease was caused by atmospheric in- 
fluence, there can be little doubt, Much has been 
written and said with regard to the cause; minute 
fungi having been found in the decaying Potato, the 
source was attributed tothem. That parasitical fungi, 
similar in their nature to those which produce mildew 
and dry rot, were the real cause of the malady, is the 
general opinion of many whose extensive knowledge 
entitles it to respect. It has been stated that one of 
these plants belong to the genus Botrytis, and is de- 
scribed as entering by the breathing pores of the Po- 
tato leaves, passing down through the interior of the 
stem into the tuber, where its spawn fixes itself, tra- 
versing the cellular mass, separating the cells, causing 
alteration in their chemical condition, and thus pro- 
ducing decay. In other cases, in diseased portions of 
the Potatoes, where the spawn is not apparently distin- 
guishable by the most practised observers, it is sug- 
gested that the juices of the plant may be vitiated by 
the parasite which destroyed the leaves, and that parti- 
cles of it too obscure to be distinguished by the eye 
might be circulated with the juices, producing disease 
by irritation. Without the aid of the microscope, the 
presence of the parasite is not to be detected, unless it 
makes its appearance outside the Potato in the form of 
mouldy tufts ; hence it is inferred that it is produced 
exclusively from within. The evidence of the best 
microscopical observers is conclusive on the point that 
in diseased Potatoes the spawn of fungi is found in 
large quantity; and it is well ascertained that these 
parasites spread rapidly in warm and damp situations ; 
under such circumstances producing infinite mischief, 
which is to be successfully resisted by dryness and a 
low temperature. But the mildew theory does not ap- 
pear to have been well established ; for it is difficult to 
conceive why fields of Potatoes near each other, and 
even the same kind of Potatoes in juxta-position in the 
same field, should have been differently affected—cer- 
tain varieties more injured than others; and how is it 
that when sound Potatoes are pitted or heaped where a 
diseased one may chance to be amongst them, that if 
mouldiness is able to appear it rapidly establishes itself 
on the sound Potatoes, especially if the temperature of 
the pit is high, and will rapidly extend throughout the 
entire mass ? as 
peculiar weather was observed over the whole of 
the north of Europe, as well as in America, where the 
disease had declared itself. About the middle of June 
we had a few hot days, followed by cold, and after the 
beginning of July the weather again became suddenly 
hot, which as abruptly changed into cold, continuing 
throughout the end of July and greater part of August, 
with a great want of sunlight along with the rain, and 
low temperature that prevailed. Such a combination 
of untoward circumstances would appear ill-suited for 
the healthy growth of the Potato—a plant absorbing a 
large quantity of water; its whole construction is 
formed with a view to its doing so, and to enable it to 
