20—1846.] 
THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
329 
oozing out of the upper, and the latter for the water 
from the lower half of the field. Use pipe-tiles of 
1}-inch bore, and of at least 3 thickness in the material. 
You may put in stubble above them, and then fill in the 
elay carefully and firmly.] 
Tenure of Land.—lt being desirable to remove 
every obstacle that might stand in the way of the only 
wholesome tenure for the cultivation of land by farmers, 
the tenancy by lease of some duration, and as engage- 
ments for a fixed rent for many years, with uncertain 
and sometimes great variations in the price of produce, 
are viewed as objectionable by some tenants, as well as 
y many landlords, a clause is subjoined adopting in 
some degree the principle of corn rent, but avoiding its 
complexity, and not liable to the objections made by 
many against carrying that principle to its full extent. 
After covenant from lessee for payment of rent reserved, 
“ And that in case the average price of Wheat during 
the first years of the said term o! years de- 
duced from the averages taken for tithe commutation 
shall exceed the assumed present price o; a quar- 
ter more than 5 per cent. and less than 10 per cent., then 
that the said lessee, his executors, administrators, and 
assigns shall and will pay unto the said landlord, his 
eirs and assigns, a sum of money as additional rent 
amounting to 5 per cent. on the sum or rent herein- 
before reserved yearly and every year during the re- 
maining or next succeeding years of the term 
hereby granted by equal half-yearly payments as afore- 
said. And in case the average price of Wheat deduced 
as aforesaid shall exceed the said present price 10 per 
cent. or upwards, then that the said lessee his executors, 
administrators, and assigns shall and will pay unto the 
Said lessor, his heirs and assigns, a sum of money as 
additional rent amounting to 10 per cent. on the said 
reserved rent every year during the years of the 
term hereby granted by equal half-yearly payments as 
aforesaid.” A covenant from the lessor is afterwards 
to be inserted that the rent shall be reduced in the same 
proportion in case the average price of Wheat taken 
and shown as aforesaid should fall below the present 
price in the degrees mentioned. The periods for ad- 
justment of the rent might be every three, five, or 
Seven years of the lease. And the adjustment might be 
carried further to a larger per centage of increase or 
reduction of rent in case of greater variations in the 
price of Wheat, if thought expedient.—H. 
Sooc.etíts. 
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY or ENGLAND. 
_ A WzrkLY Council was held at the Society's House 
in Hanover-square, on Wednesday last, the 13th of 
May ; present: the Right Hon. Lord Portman, pre- 
Sident, in the chair; Duke of Richmond, Hon. R. H. 
V Si 
Clive, M.P.; Sir Charles Lemon, Bart, M.P.; 
Matthew White Ridley, Bart.; Sir John V. B. John- 
Stone, Bart., M.P.; Colonel Austen, M.P.; T. Ray- 
mond Barker, Esq. ; H. Blanchard, Es C. Cherry, 
Esq. ; Colonel Challoner ; H. Gibbs, Esq. ; C. Hillyard, 
Esq.; W. Fisher Hobbs, Esq.; John Kinder, Esq. ; 
J. H. Langston, Esq., M.P.; Colonel MacDouall ; E. 
W. W. Pendarves, Esq., M.P. ; Prof. Sewell ; George 
Turner, Esq.; Geo. Wilbraham, Esq.; T. B. Batard, 
Esq.; Colonel Blagrave ; Capel Cure, Esq.; A. E. 
Fuller, Esq, M.P.; W. Hervey, Esq.; Rev. C. E. 
Keene ; A. Ogilvie, Esq. ; E. Parkyns, Esq. ; G. Par- 
Sons, Esq.; H. Price, Esq. ; J. Roddam, Esq. ; H. 
Smith, Esq.; T. Turner, Esq., and T, R. Tweed, Esq. 
« The following new Members were elected :— 
Crallan, Thomas, Bolesworth Castle, Tattenhall, Cheshire 
James, Robert, Chalkside, Wigton, Cumberland 
Hobson, Dr., Park House, Leeds, Yorkshire 
Smith, H., Stamford, Lincolnshire 
Lloyd's Coffee House, London. I have given the master 
ample directions to ensure the delivery of the seed to 
your lordship. Dettleff's charge for the seed is 24, 10s. 
perlb. I beg to suggest that the best way to pay Dett- 
leff for the seed would be for your lordship to cause 
the sum, namely, 20/., to be paid to my account at my 
agents, Messrs. Cox and Co., Charing Cross, and ad- 
vice of the same to be forwarded to me. I will then 
pay over the amount to the man, and forward the re- 
ceipt to four lordship's agent. 
* The price charged at present for the seed appears to 
be high, but it takes a long time and much care to col- 
lect, as well as i ble personal i i t 
the poor man under the present circumstances of the 
colony. 
“ The portion of your lordship's property described in 
the note appears to be well suited for the growth of 
this Grass, if the blowing sand be not more than two 
feet deep near the beach, and fortunately rest on peat 
or peaty soil, no matter how thin. If the shore be 
bold, and the sea bank high and rocky, I should choose 
the most exposed points. If the spray, but not the 
actual wave, dashes over it, so much the better. I do 
not think that sowing it in the shifting sand would 
answer in the first instance, though when the Grass 
once takes root in any soil, the drift sand blowing over 
it, amongst it, and almost burying it, does not seem to 
injure it. I would try some in the sand that has been 
fixed by the bent, but as near the sea as possible. The 
Tussac loves the spray, and the finest plants are almost 
growing in the water. If the breezes from the sea 
carry a great quantity of moisture to the peat bog be- 
hind the tract of sand, I conceive the Tussac Grass 
would answer extremely well in it. We have Tussac 
Grass growing on peat bogs on exposed islands in the 
Falklands, in places 800 and 1000 feet above the sea, 
but these sites are exposed to the westerly gales, whieh 
are laden with moisture. Some of the finest young 
plants I have seen grew from seed sown in rich mould 
in my garden, 300 yards from the shore of a deep in- 
and harbour, and protected from the winds by a high 
turf wall. This artificial mode seems to contradict 
what I before stated. Nature prefers the first men- 
tioned places, but as the latter is a fact, I would recom- 
mend both to be tried. In the garden I was so suc- 
cessful with the plants from seed, that I proceeded to 
transplant suckers from the wild ones on the rocky 
shore to the rich mould in the garden, and I found 
them to thrive vigorously. I took suckers from these 
again, also from the plants raised by seed, and planted 
out more rows. Every plant answered admirably. 
cut them down, and they grew more bushy and spread, 
throwing out fresh suckers. I should soon have filled 
a paddock with the plants, but as it was necessary to 
change the site of the chief town; T had to abandon my 
garden, and begin new and arduous labours,which have 
occupied the time of all hands too mueh to spare any 
for experimental agriculture. In laying out a piece o 
ground for Tussae Grass, the following circumstances 
must be borne in mind. The plant grows in bunches, 
occupying from 2 to 3 and sometimes even 5 feet in 
diameter, and the blades of Grass, when full grown, 
are 7 or 8 feet long, The roots seem forced up 
from the ground, and I have been in patehes of 
fine full-grown Tussac, in which a man on horseback is 
almost concealed, I should, therefore, sow the seed in 
rows 2 feet apart, some in a. garden, and some on ex- 
posed points of peaty soil close to the sea, and within 
reach of the Spray, earefully weeding between the 
plants as they grow up. When they are 9 inches or a 
foot high the suckers might be separated and planted 
out 3 fect apart in rows. - As the plants grow large 
every alternate row should again be planted out, in 
order to leave room for a man, cow, or horse, to pass 
between the rows without treading down the plants. 
To raise from seed appears a more uncertain and much 
slower method than that of planting out suekers from 
the finest plants, 
“ With regard to the value of Tussac as a fodder, par- 
tieularly for winter, I will mertion a few faets that may 
bei 
= 
Downes, William Henry, New House, Much-Wenlock, Salop 
iael Sir Robert Frankland, Bart., 15, Cavendish-squari 
ondon 
Smith, Timothy, Moyland Hall, Sheffield, Yorkshire 
Chrisp, James, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 
Brewer, John, 8, Upper Bedford-place, London 
Burrell, Bryan, Bolton House, Alnwick, Northumberland 
Steevens, John, Oxford 
Colbeck, Henry, Low-Weetslid Farm, Benton, Newc.-on-Tyne 
M.P., 8, Chesham-str., Belgrave-sq. London 
Adbolton, Nottingham 
yy, Rev, Francis Wm., Rector of Lawhitton, Launceston 
Anderson, Robert, Grey Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
The names of 25 candidates for election at the next 
Meeting were then read. 
.lussac Grass.—Viscount PALMERSTON, M.P., trans- 
Mitted to the Council the following communieati 
the subject of Tussae Grass, addressed to his Lordship 
y Lieut. Moody, Governor of the Falkland Islands :— 
** Government House, Port William, 
5 Falkland Islands, 8th Jan., 1846, 
* I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of a 
Note from your Lordship, dated 5th April, 1845, and 
ave much pleasure in attending to the wishes therein 
expressed, I beg to state that the person who collects 
the Tussac seed is a poor man, named C. J. Dettleff (a 
Native of Hamburgh),whom I am encouraging to make a 
ade with it, I am forwarding 8 lbs. of the seed by the 
Merchant brig“ Hebe,” C. S. Anderson, master, bound for 
“ondon ; agent for the brig in England, Captain Faith, 
tis green all the year round, Frost 
does not appear to injure it, nor does snow cover it. It 
is a soft, succulent, and highly nutritious Grass, ex- 
tremely relished by all animals, cattle, horses, sheep, 
and pigs. Cattle and horses fatten upon it in a sur- 
prising manner. They eat the whole blade down to the 
root, which, by the way, they relish most. They will 
eat old dry Tussae thatch from off the roofs of houses. 
The tracts of wild cattle and horses in the Falklands 
extend from many miles inland to the exposed sea- 
beaten points covered with Tussae. There is an island 
in Berkeley Sound that can be reached at low water 
from the main. The area of this island is as nearly as 
possible 800 acres, and there are about 400 acres of 
Tussac Grass upon it; the remainder of the island is 
thinly covered with coarse wing Grass and Rush, on 
peat bog, a very wretched piece of pasture land, afford- 
ing scarcely any nutriment., Last autumn I caused 
the Government herd, consisting of 800 head of cattle 
and about 60 or 70 horses, to be placed on this island 
for the winter months, A small house is at the ex- 
tremity of the ford, in which I placed a guard. Tl 
animals remained on the island nearly six months, with 
no other nutriment than what the island afforded. To- 
wards the end of that time they began to get poor, and 
the Tussae was eaten down to de roots. By next 
autumn it will have entirely recovered, I'am com- 
pelled to let the cattle graze the "'ussae from want of 
hands and means to make different arrangements ; nor 
© 
do I consider any other plan a matter of sufficient mo- 
ment in the present state of the colony, as to warrant 
the outlay requisite to economise properly this in- 
valuable food. But, in England, where labour is cheap, 
I would aet differently. The cattle eould be folded in 
an adjoining paddock to the field of Tussae, and fed 
over the wall or fence by men cutting the Tussae in 
bundles, commencing with the upper row and passing 
regularly through the field ; by the time they had eut - 
the last row the first would be ready to cut again. 
Had sueh a plan been adopted by mein the island I 
mentioned above, I feel confident the 400 acres of Tus- 
sae would have amply supplied the 800 head of cattle 
for 12 instead of 6 months ; it is incredible how much 
is injured by being trodden down and eaten too close, 
and the horses, from preferring the root,do more mis- 
chief than the cattle. I have no data to say decidedly 
how many animals one man could cut food for in a day, 
and to attempt to do so might only mislead your lord- 
ship. Iought to mention that the plant is of slow 
growth, and would probably be three years in coming 
to perfection, during which period, however, it might 
be cut annually with advantage. When once full grown 
it springs up rapidly after being eut down, the blades 
reaching their full height of 7 feet by the end of sum- 
mer, though cut down in the spring. I kept up a 
favourite horse in a loose box one winter, and had him 
fed entirely on Tussac cut for him and given green. 
He ate it greedily, and was always in excellent condi- 
tion ; but, as a general rule, I should consider it soft 
food for a horse doing any work. 
“ When it is d that this invaluable provision 
of Nature thrives luxuriantly where scarcely any other 
vegetation will exist, that it is most nutritious and mueh 
relished by cattle, itis impossible to resist feeling the most 
earnest desire to see it extensively tried in those por- 
tions of the United Kingdom which, in climate and soil, 
bear some resemblance to the Falkland Islands. I 
might easily expatiate on the extreme beauty of its 
vegetation, covering rocky storm-beaten *promontories 
and small islands with a dark rich verdure, always re- 
minding me of tropical luxuriance ; but its importance 
in a practical point of view is what I am desirous of 
making fully known to your lordship, and to all inte- 
rested in agricultural pursuits. I should wish to send 
a large quantity of Tussac seed to England every season, 
but the settlers here are, as yet, far too few in number, 
and far too busy to spare time to collect it. It appears 
to me it would be money well laid out, if one of our 
leading Agricultural Societies were to send here an in- 
telligent person, to remain the six summer months, col- 
lecting seed. He would be absent from England about 
a year, and the whole expense would not exceed 3007. 
He should bring either a wooden or iron house, 10 feet 
square, with a small stove 3.3 tons of coal ; provisions, 
such as biscuit, pork, coffee, and sugar ; gunpowder, 
shot, warm clothing, bed and blankets, a folding table, 
two stools, and a military canteen. More things would 
be an incumbrance. Dettleff, whom I have mentioned 
above to your lordship, usually goes from the settle- 
ment on foot, and takes ouly a good dog and a stick. 
He is absent about two months, sleeps under a rock, 
lives on wild geese and rabbits, and occasionally a calf, 
and invariably returns in the best possible health. A. 
person from England might, however, fix his little re- 
sidence on a small Tussac island, close to the settle- 
ment, and at present reserved by Government, and in 
one summer collect such a quantity of seed, with 
Dettleff's aid, as would more than cover his expences, 
to say nothing of the advantage of baving a good autho- 
rity at home that could be referred to at any moment. 
Thave given a close attention to this Grass for four 
years, and though at first it may appear a dreamy kind 
of enthusiasm, I do not hesitate to say, that should it 
be found on trial to succeed in the United Kingdom as 
well as it does in the exposed portions of the Falkland 
Islands, it will raise the annual income of many landed. 
proprietors from hundreds to thousands. A Tussac- 
fed ox is in the finest order here at the erd of the 
winter, though never housed or cared for in any wiy. 
In the Falmouth Packet uA pt AE) s 
aper of 23d August, 1845, I have been shown a,para- 
rub stating nt i Matheson, M.P., of Lewis and 
Achany, sent some Tussac Grass seed, procured from 
the Falkland Islands, to Stornaway, and that Roderick 
ckman of Colb, has been perfectly 
I shoul? be 
be glad to h 
bogs, as the bog of Allevand, Chalmop. f 
to mention that I would sow the seed very early in the 
spring, and not too deep. I need not say that it will be 
a source of pride to me to be of any service to your 
lordship, either in procuring seed or affording informa- 
tion at any time." (Signed) * R. C. Moopr- 
LORD PALMERSTON, as a Member of the Society, par- 
tieularly called the attention of the Council to that part 
of the communication which had reference to the eol- 
lection of the seeds of the Tussac Grass, and thought 
that if the Royal Agricultural Societies of England and 
Ireland considered it worth while to act upon Governor 
Moody’s suggestion of sending out some person to the 
Falkland Islands for that purpose, they might make an 
arrangement together for sharing the expence and 
