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12.—1846.] 
191 
has been mentioned, it was necessary to dig the furrows 
between the ridges sufficiently deep to carry off all 
the surface water, and raise some of the subsoil for ad- 
mixture with the Peat. A second, but much shallower 
digging and shovelling succeeded from the furrows, 
when the Potato-sets appeared over ground. 
Expenditure on the 40 acres, 
£ s d. 
Ploughing m I. on e .. «20 0 0 
Cross-cutting — .. m oe .. os oe 5 0 
Burning and spreading ashes ze E Bei 00 
PULS MAR IN 
e 
Ploughing into ridge ET.) 
Rent m E oe 412 0 0 
£172 0 0 
No. 1 attained such luxuriance, that, in the ensuing 
year, 70 tons of hay were obtained ; and so great was 
the quantity of seed, that I deemed it prudent to give a 
light threshing to the hay, which yielded 407. worth of 
seeds. The hay, being sapless from the weakness of 
the soil and from having fully matured its seed, was 
sold for lj. per ton. No cattle or sheep were allowed 
to tread on the aftermath, though it was so luxuriant 
that, in its decomposition from the winter's frost, it left 
several parts of the ground on which it had lodged 
scalded, in familiar phrase; a circumstance which 
proved that it would have been doubly advantageous to 
have turned on some light stock, when the ground was 
quite dry. The rolling of the Grass, on land containing 
a great quantity of humus and its elements, was in this 
instance superfluous and prejudicial. 
In the second year of produce, this lot of shallow 
peat, which had subsided some inches and acquired 
considerable solidity, yielded another heavy erop of 
hay, of which the seeds were lightly shaken out; but, 
as some natural Grasses had sprung up, they were 
neither so pure nor so abundant as before. I have no 
d or lection of the sum received for 
these seeds ; but estimating it at half the amount, and 
the hay (most of which was used for the fodder and 
litter of cattle on the farm), at half the quantity of the 
first season ; and, at the same price at which it was 
sold in the previous year, the account would stand thus : 
ay .. n oo .. £35 0 0 
Hay seeds .. y. ew 202-07, 0) 
£55 0 0 
Immediately after the removal of the hay from the 
field, a furrow-plough was set at work to clear and 
deepen the furrows, and the lands were top-dressed 
with the pulverised mould shovelled out from them. 
3d year :—There was no mowing, and as the ground 
was sufficiently compressed to bear cattle during the 
summer, it was grazed accordingly. 
4th year:—As the sown Grasses (especially the 
Holeus lanatus) were failing and giving way to the 
natural plants, this field was ploughed up for Oats and 
Potatoes. The cereal erop abounded in straw, but 
much wanting in the weight of grain. The part de- 
signed for Potatoes was very lightly limed before the 
Sets were planted, except a small portion which was 
manured with farm-yard dung. The part so treated 
was let at 37. per acre, and the other at 27. 10s.; the 
produce from the dunged part was much better than 
that from the other, confirming an opinion that the 
greatest amount of Potatoes is obtained from a soil (not 
deficient in vegetable matter) to which both lime and 
animal (or mixed putrescent) manures have been ap- 
plied.* Immediately after the removal of the Oat erop, 
‘late in September, hay seeds were sown on the stubbles 
(including a little White Clover), to whieh the drier 
parts of the moor showed a predisposition, though Fiorin 
Grass had already sprung up, and in the spring follow- 
ing the Potato-land was laid down with Oats thinly 
sown and Grass seeds, open furrows being left as at first. 
I now advert to No. 2. During nearly the same pe- 
riod, this lot yielded for two years coarse Potatoes 
(which in the second year were better than the first, 
from the more advanced decomposition in the soil) not 
deficient in quantity, but so bad in quaiity, that they 
were unfit for the sustenance of man. As seed for 
other soils they were, however, valuable, as Potatoes 
raised on peat moors generally are ; Oats succeeded, of 
little value; and a distribution of Grass seeds com- 
pleted the course. 
Without entering into any lengthened discussion as 
he ad ges or disadvantages of the system of 
Paring and burning generally, which I believe to be 
Sometimes both expedient an beneficial, though fre- 
quently otherwise, it is sufficient to remark that as the 
alkalies producable from the incinerated surface were 
Not in the present case absolutely wanted as principals 
of fertilisation, it would have been better not to have 
destroyed the organic vegetable matter, which by the 
agency of lime was easily reducible to humus, that great 
clement of sustenance to plants, The salts of ashes are 
fertilising, but they are very evanescent in their effects, 
and, therefore, when the surface herbage was easily 
Convertible into humus by the agency of the plough, 
instead of being for the most part dissipated, it was 
More prudent, Í conclude, to adopt the conservative 
Practice. Had there been no calcareous manure avail- 
before the dung is used. 
there is little of it in the soil, on account of the difficulty pipe-machine, &c., it occurs to me that it may be of use 
P 
of other veg 5 
they are more quickly brought into useful aetivity by 
the excess of humus injures vegetation, the burning of 
elevated moors to which lime cannot be conveyed at 
all, or if so, in quantities insufficient to deeompose the 
humus, and produce the effects so remarkable in No. 1, 
may, on the whole, be considered indispensable to their 
improvement. On moory soil, resting on a calcareous 
bottom, or much combined with lime or other caleareous 
substance artificially, the burning of the surface has 
the best effects, if it be judiciously executed, and not 
followed by exhausting cropping, for this is the prin- 
cipal evil of the practice; with insufficiency of fertilising 
manure, it will on the whole be found the most cheap 
and expeditious prelimi to their liorati 
The deep mosses often abound in Heath, which is 
most cheaply got rid of by simply setting fire to it. In 
autumn, when in a growing state, the application of fire 
reduces the entire plant to ashes, which allows the 
natural Grasses to vegetate the ensuing year. Deep 
bogs, which are not to be subjected to the terribly 
expensive process of claying and cultivating, cannot so 
easily and quickly be brought into condition for yielding 
rass by any other method. Even a sprinkling of 
lime on land so cleared (if sufficiently drained), will 
with the ashes cause an immediate springing up of 
Grasses. If Grass seeds be harrowed in, so much the 
surer will be the supply. But as the fertility occa- 
sioned by the deposits from ashes is of extremely short 
duration, burning the surface of any soil merely for the 
sake of its ashes, without any real necessity for doing 
so, and a certainty that the ashes are good in their 
qualities, appears to me a wanton destruction of vege- 
table matter. Then peat produces hardly any ashes ; 
its combustion, therefore, effects but little towards yield- 
ing manure, and unless the object be to clear the 
ground of plants that are decidedly prejudicial and 
obstructive of culture, or that they cannot be removed 
so readily by any other means, or that no other manure 
than what arises from the burning of the surface-soil 
can be obtained, it is gross mismanagement to pare 
and burn ; and if this assertion be generally true in the 
ease of peat soil which abounds in organic matter and 
humus, it is, à fortiori, more injudieious to reduce to 
ashes the comparatively small proportions of vegetable 
substances contained in light gravelly or sandy moors 
as some farmers in England persist in doing with far 
less satisfactory excuse than the Breton husbandman 
may plead for the same practice. 
Home Correspondence, 
Entailed Estates.—'lhere can be little doubt that, 
under present circumstances, the ‘most energetic culti- 
vation of our farms is necessary. Certain retarding 
causes, however, exist, which (unlike the malt-tax) 
might, I conceive, be removed without injury to any 
single interest; whilst their concession would be a valu- 
able boon to the iculturist, whose perity for a 
few years is, to say the least of it, dubious. In parti- 
cular, I beg to mention two concessions which my own 
experience justifies me in saying would be of great 
benefit. The first is, that farmers be allowed to malt 
their Barley for cattle feeding, suitable precautions 
being taken by the excise that such malt be rendered 
unfit for illegal purposes. The second, that holders of 
entailed estates be empowered to burthen them with 
the cost of draining and other improvements of perma- 
nent benefit. As a reader of your Paper from its com- 
mencement, I am well aware that whilst theory is 
treated with the most liberal courtesy, actual practice 
is the test to which you insist upon its being subjected; 
you will, therefore, I trust, excuse my giving my own 
ease as an illustration of the injuries done by the re- 
strictions of entail, the prohibition from malt being 
common to every stock feeder. I hold under a gen- 
tleman who is restrained from letting his farms for 
terms longer than 7 years, who is a widower without 
male heir, and whose landed property passes from his 
family in the event of his dying and leaving no son to 
inherit. A considerable portion of my farm would be 
greatly improved by thorough-draining, subsoil-plough- 
ing, and liming, but under present cireumstances these 
improvements cannot be prudently undertaken by my 
landlord or myself. It would be preposterous in me to 
attempt it unassisted,as the nature of the subsoil renders 
draining here a laborious and most expensive opera- 
tion, and being confined by lease to a five-course shift 
of husbandry, no probable increase of crop could in- 
demnify me during my lease for my outlay upon at 
any rate three-fifths of my land. Situated as my land- 
lord is, he (however willing) cannot be expected to in- 
cur expence ; he is but a life-renter, and naturally 
demurs to laying out capital, which by his decease must 
be for ever alienated from his own family. But were 
he allowed to burthen the estate with the expenditure, 
judicious improvements might be effected, which I think 
I may venture to say would ensure a proportionate in- 
crease in future value ; I, as tenant, should be enabled 
to contribute my mite of increased supply, and possibly 
with profit to myself ; and my poorer neighbours, being 
employed in the work, would gladly become increased 
consumers of increasing produce, at the same time that 
they would for so many years be drawn from competi- 
tion in an overstocked labour market.—Curly Tail. 
Land Draining Company.—Observing a question 
asked in a late Gazette, by a gentleman at Leominster 
as to the expence of erecting a tilery, with sheds, kilns, 
to him, as well as to others of your readers who are 
wisely intending effectually to drain their properties, 
if I direct their attention to the operations of the 
“West of England Land Draining Company.” The 
purpose of this company is to undertake the whole 
trouble and cost of effectually draining farms or pro- 
perties at so much the acre, the company supplying the 
necessary engineering skill, the best workmanship, and 
the draining materials, and thus being enabled to offer 
the landlord, his tenants, and land agents the utmost 
security that the work will be thoroughly and perma- 
nently executed, They have been hitherto acting on a 
small seale, experimentally, but their operations have 
given such great satisfaction to both landlords and 
tenants, and they have received such pressing invitations 
to extend their operations, that they are now prepared 
to embrace a wider sphere of action. The course pur- 
sued by the company is, when offered a certain number 
of acres to drain, to send down their own engineer (Mr. 
Parkes, of the Royal Agrieultural Society, is the chief) 
to make a survey of the land, and an estimate of the 
cost according to the nature of the soil, &c., a copy of 
whieh report is forwarded to the applicant, and when 
approved of by him and by the directors of the company 
a contract is entered into by which the company bind 
themselves to execute the work at so much per acre, to 
be repaid either on the completion of the work, or b; 
future instalments. Thus without risk of failure from 
unskilful workmanship, &c., and without trouble to the 
landlord, tenants, or land agents, the work is performed 
in the most permanent and effectual manner. The 
pipe-tiles are either manufactured by the company at a 
ilery erected for the purpose, or contracted for at some 
existing tilery, and the draining work is conducted by 
labourers living on the spot under the control of an 
experienced foreman sent down by the company, the 
whole being superintended by the company’s engineer 
or inspector. The first report of the company will 
shortly be published, and will show the great satisfac- 
tion which their work has hitherto given. If publie 
money is lent for the promotion of draining, the security 
offered by such a company for the due applieation of the 
publie funds, will greatly exceed that which. private 
individuals can offer. Further information, with a list 
of directors, &c., would be supplied by the secretary, 
Thomas May, Esq. 9, Bedford-eireus, Exeter; or 
J. Parkes, Esq., Engineer to the Royal Agricultural 
Society, Great College-st., Westminster.—.4 Drainer. 
Wages of Agricultural Labourers.—1f it would not 
interfere with your fixed arrangements, I would suggest 
that since you have succeeded in gaining such a corre- 
spondence with Farmers’ Clubs as abounds in matter 
directly touching their interests, that you should, from 
time to time, request the correspondents of Farmers’ 
Clubs to add to their contributions the wages of the 
agrieultural labourers of their respective neighbour- 
hoods.— Archibald Irving, Border House. 
Mixed Crops.—For the last two years I have adopted 
a system of mixed cropping on a portion of my early 
Potato erop, which I have found to answer remarkably 
well. The plan pursued was as follows :—The Pota- 
toes were planted in the usual way, in rows, about 
21 inches apart, horse-hoed twice, and earthed up about 
the latter end of May, with a double mould-board 
plough ; immediately after they had been earthed up, 
rows of Drumhead Cabbages were planted (2 feet 
6 inches from plant to plant) between every second 
and third row of Potatoes, leaving a space between the 
rows of Cabbages of 3 feet 6 inches, and giving nearly 
5000 plants to the imperial acre. In planting the Cab- 
bages, only just sufficient earth was scraped together 
to cover their roots, consequently they made but little 
progress during the growth of the Potatoes, which were 
not at all injared by them. After the Potatoes were 
taken up, which was about the beginning of August, 
the Cabbages had the benefit of all the soil, their 
growth was very rapid, and the result was a very fair 
crop—a great many of themi weighing from 15 to 20 Ibs. 
each. Last year I had about 25 acres planted with 
Potatoes, from the produce of which I have not sold 
50 bushels, and all I have remaining sound is about 
enough to plant the same extent of land which I pur- 
posed doing this year but for the alarming aecounts 
of the disease. In consequence of the disease having 
made its appearance in this ye crop, I have 
come to the determination of lessening my Potato 
tillage to about 15 acres, and recollecting the old 
adage, “that half a loaf is better than no bread,” 
I shall try the following plan, which I think 
will be preferable to the one I have hitherto pursued. 
I intend to prepare, manure, and to ridge up the land 
in the usual way at 21 inches apart, but only to plant 
every alternate ridge with Potatoes, leaving the inter- 
mediate ridges to be filled up with the Drumhead Cab- 
bage between the earlier crop of Potatoes, and the re- 
mainder with Mangold Wurzel and Swedish-Turnips 
between the later varieties. Whether the Potato crop 
fails or not I confidently expect that the Cabbages will 
average from 10 to 12 lbs. each, which will give a crop, 
independently of Potatoes, from 22 to 26 tons per acre. 
Mangold Wurzel or Swedes singled out to 1 foot apart 
from plant to plant, and 3 feet 6inches from row to 
row, averaging 34 lbs. each, will give upwards of 19 
tons per acre. If the Potato crop fails (which seems 
very probable at present) the advantages of this system 
must be apparent, but supposing our worst fears should 
not be realised, and the Potato crop is not diseased, even 
then I imagine that the system will be a profitable one, 
and that 2 acres planted in alternate rows with different 
