330 THE 
AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
[Max 16, 
dividing the produce of the expedition proportionally 
between them. 
The Duge or Rtcumonp favoured the Council with 
the result of his own trials of the Tussac Grass on dif- 
ferent soils in the north of Scotland, on his estates near 
Gordon Case. The seed had been furnished to his 
Grace by Sir Wm. Jackson Hooker, of the Royal Gar- 
dens at Kew, and was sown in garden mouid, sandy 
soil, and peat. The peat consisted of a waste marsh or 
bog, covered in easterly gales with spray from the sea, 
on whieh nothing grew, and where snipes were the only 
tenants. It was found that not a single blade of the 
Tussac Grass grew excepting in the peat, where it was 
found to succeed well, and appeared a good Grass.— 
Colonel MaeDouall stated that his own trial of the 
Tussac Grass had furnished a result exactly correspond- 
ing with that obtained by the Duke of Richmond, none 
of the plants coming up excepting in peat. 
The Council ordered their best thanks to be conveyed 
to Lord Palmerston for the favour of his communica- 
tion, with a request that his Lordship, as well as the 
Duke of Richmand and Colonel MaeDouall, would from 
time to time lay before the Society the progress of 
their p i in the cultivation of the 
Grass in question, 
Crover Hav.—Mr. Josera BLUNDELL, of Maiden- 
stone Heath, near Hound, Hampshire, transmitted to 
the Council a sample of White Dutch Clover hay, 
stacked in 1841, along with the following explanation 
of the advantages which he had found it to possess as 
a fodder, in conjunction with Turnips, for his early 
lambs : —* Being a member of the Royal Agricultural 
I have taken the liberty of sending for inspec- 
tion a sample, or a specimen, of White Duteh Clover 
hay ; and although taken from the centre of a stack, 
and being a little too much heated to be a good sample 
of well.made hay, still I consider it a perfect specimen 
of the herbage and kind of Clover requisite for the 
making first-rate hay for the purpose of feeding early 
lambs, in conjunction with Turnips, &e. This sample 
was taken from a stack of 16 tons, the produce of 11 
acres of land, and grown in the year 1841 on my farm 
at Maidenstone Heath, Hound, Southampton. I shall 
feel obliged if you will present this sample of hay to the 
Council at their next meeting, my object being to in- 
form them of the sort of hay which I have found to be 
highly beneficial in the fatting of early lambs, for which 
purpose I have used it with great success for some 
years past. Should this communication be deemed 
worth notice by the Council, and any statement be re- 
quired regarding the cultivation of the Clover, or the 
makiog of the hay, I shall feel happy to furnish it at 
any time,"— The best thanks of the Council were or- 
dered to Mr. Blundell for this letter and the sample of 
Clover hay which accompanied it. 
Werps AMONG Wueat.—Mr. Futter, M.P., of Ash- 
down House, near East Grinstead, transmitted fresh spe- 
cimens in yellow bloom of a weed which proved very 
troublesome in his Wheat-land, and remained still in 
possession of the soi), having resisted all his efforts to 
effect its extirpation. It is known locally as the 
“hedge hog,” or “ periwinkle’ weed ; and is of so 
vigorous a character, that unless the Wheat-plant is 
very strong, it soon over-runs it. The weed comes up 
along with the Wheat, and stands the winter equally 
well, its growth (in. summer being of corresponding 
amount to that of the Wheat, to the plant of which it 
1S very injurious. The seeds are very rough. Mr. 
Ogilvy remarked, that he had found as the result of 
his own experience, that wild Mustard and all other 
weed: likely to infest a crop of Wheat, may be destroyed 
previously to the sowing of the grain, by having the 
land ploughed several weeks before sowing, in order to 
give the weeds an opportunity of vegetating by such 
exposure of the under-soil to external influences : 
weeds, at the time of sowing, having become so far 
advanced in their growth as to be irrecoverably injured 
by the harrows passing over them. 3 
Prizes ror SHEEP, —As the Society's prizes for 
mountain sheep to be awarded at the ensuing Newcastle 
Meeti are not exclusively designed for any particular 
variety of mountain breed of established celebrity, but 
open without exception to the general competition of 
“sheep best adapted to a mountain district,” Mr, 
Graver, Seeretary of the Newcastle Local Committee, 
zs deg a communication to the Council on the part 
oft ?2:eommittee, recommending that the general cha- 
kath 9! the Society’s prizes should be changed into an 
exclusive osein favourof the Cheviots, and that the offer 
of prizes now made to the Council by the members of 
such c e Tor the black-faced breed should be ac- 
d Mr, kchgon, as Seeretary of the North- 
nd Redesdale Cheviot Sheep Show, conveyed the 
its members that the Council would accept their 
a first, second, and third prize for the best pen 
of three 15 months old or shearling rams, of the pure 
Cheviot breed. The Council deeided—1. That the 
Society’s object is to have their prizes awarded, with- 
out distinction, to such sheep as, in the opinion of the 
judg are the best adapted to a mountain district, 
2. Ti by the bye-laws of the Society, no alteration 
gan now be made in the prizes offered by thejSociety. 
3. That, by the 27th regulation, namely—* In case any 
Lees n, or number of gentlemen, should wish to 
offer : e for any class of stock not distinetly spe- 
cified j 
ig the prizes offered by the Society, he or 
be allowed to offer such prize at the meeting 
stle-upon-Tyne. The stock which may com- 
that prize shall be exhibited subject to t 
ditions that shall be decided upon by the Council, and 
the prize awarded by such of the judges as the Council 
shall select. Animals exhibited for that prize shall not 
be prevented from competing for any of the prizes 
offered by the Society for which they are qualified.”— 
The gentlemen composing the two bodies in question 
are allowed to offer the prizes for Cheviots and black- 
faced sheep. The Council then instructed the Secretary 
to communicate with Mr, Glover and Mr. Robson ac- 
cordingly, informing them at the same time that by 
the rules of the Society June the 1st would be the latest 
day on which certificates for the entry of any stock 
whatever for the Show could be received. 
Grass Mrrnx-Pans.—Messrs. Epwarns and Pett, of 
15, Southampton-street, Strand, presented to the Coun- 
cil two glass Milk-pans of their manufacture—one of a 
dark, and the other of a light green colour. The ma- 
nufaeturers informed the Council that as the Milk-pans 
were cleaned with so much ease, the use of scalding 
water for the purpose of cleansing them was found to 
be unnecessary; and also that they were of such strength 
of material as to be enabled to stand a very severe 
blow without breaking. The average weight of the 
pans of dark green glass was 8 lbs, and the price 
3s. 9d. ; that of the light green glass 10 lbs., and the 
price at the rate of 8d. per |b. 
Mr. WrrHERELL ieated his p of the 
appointment of Auctioneer at the Newcastle Meeting, 
subject'to the regulations of the Council.— The Rev. 
John Barlow, Secretary of the Royal Institution of 
Great Britain, signified his willingness to give a free 
admission to Members of the Society on the occasion of 
the Rev. E. Sidney’s Lecture in the theatre of that 
establishment on the 15th of May, “On the Nature of 
certain Fungi attacking the Agricultural Produee of 
this Country."— Communieations on the growth of sound 
Potatoes from diseased tubers, from Mr. Fuller, M.P., 
and Mr. Wing, of Fordingbridge ; and on the storing of 
Potatoes of the “Hen’s-nest” variety in fine Lynn 
sand, from Sir M. W. Ridley.—A paper from Mr. 
H. B. Morris, of Ramsgate, on the Keeping of Farm 
Accounts ; which the Council referred, along with al 
other documents on this subject, to Colonel Challoner, 
Mr. Tawney, and Mr. Kimberley, as the Committee ap- 
pointed by the Council to report on the best mode of 
Keeping Farming Accounts.—The Weekly Council then 
adjourned to Wednesday next, the 20th of May, and 
the Members of Council and Governors present pro- 
ceeded to the business of the Special Council. 
Spaciat Councit.—Lord Porrman, President, in the 
Chai 
The agreement of the Society with the authorities of 
Northampton, was duly ratified by the Council, and 
completed in duplicate agreeably with the terms of the 
Charter. 
The following arrangements were made for the Dis- 
tricts of the Country Meeting. 
1848.—THE YORKSHIRE District (comprised of the County of 
York). 
1849.—TnE Eastern Disrricr (comprised of the Counties of 
Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cambridge). 
1850.— Tng Western Districr (comprised of the Counties 
of Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall). 
Farmers’ Clubs. 
Pnonus : A Lecture on Manures was delivered by Mr. 
KanxEEK, of Truro, at the late annual meeting of this 
club. We make a few extracts from the report of the 
proceedings given in the Cornwall Gazette. The lec- 
turer observed of the action of lime on the soil, that it 
sometimes was to supply a valuable mineral ingredient 
absent from many of the slate soils ; but it more fre- 
quently aeted by liberating the siliea, potass, phosphate, 
and carbonaceous matter to be adu:inisted to the wants 
of vegetation, If a chemist wished to liberate potass or 
silica from the soil he was analysing, he mixed it with 
lime, and then heated the whole together, by which 
means he rendered soluble in acid or in water, all that 
was insoluble before. * The farmer,” said the lecturer, 
* when he limes his land, performs exactly the same 
operation as the chemist; he liberates from the soil 
more of the alkaline and earthy phosphates, &e., in one 
year than could be extracted by any other means in 
three or four years.” But it generally happened that 
no equivalent was furnished to the land for that which 
was removed by the crops ; and hence the continuance 
of the system of liming was no better than a rapid me- 
thod of exhausting the soil. When considering the 
organic elements of plants which were derived, partly 
from the atmosphere, and partly from the soil in the 
shape of manure, Mr. Karkeek showed the importance 
of preserving the various manures made on the farm, 
which contained the various alkalies, phosphates, and 
other earthy salts, as well as nitrogenized and car- 
bonized elements. Farmyard manure, with others of 
like nature, contained all the elements plants required ; 
and by applying them to the soil in proper quantities, 
ses of the principal 
ined in the various 
; Showing that by 
the preservation of the manure, the farmer might obtain 
the raw material of guano at home, instead of importing it 
from abroad. For this purpose the lecturer recommended 
the farmer to collect together road scrapings, weeds of 
every kind, old banks and marls, to mix with the liquor | 
of their dung heaps, which would fix the volatilised por- 
tion, and prevent its wasteful escape into the atmo- 
sphere. All the more valuable parts of a dung heap 
would either run away, or fly away, unless means of 
prevention were adopted ; and the substances he had 
named contained salts of various kinds which absorbed 
and fixed the ammoniacal parts of a dung heap, as well 
as could be done by the application of gypsum, sulphuric 
acid, or any other chemical ingredient. This was a very 
important subject for the farmers’ consideration; many 
of them willingly paid pounds yearly in the purchase of 
guano, but grudged the expense of a day’s work for a 
man, to preserve the raw material on their own farm- 
ards—allowing it either to escape into the atmosphere 
or into the water-courses, spreading disease and death 
among themselves, their families, and their live stock. 
Another part of the lecture treated of the conditions for 
manuring land generally expressed in leases. These 
the lecturer strongly condemned as injurious to the 
farmer, the landlord, and the country generally, by tend- 
ing to perpetuate bad farming. In one lease, a tenant 
was bound, by way of manuring the land for Wheat, to 
use 100 butt loads of mixensyconsisting chiefly of the 
scrapings of the road, the field, and the farm-yard. 
Another was bound to dress the land with 100 bushels 
of lime ; another was not allowed to employ lime oftener 
than once in nine years; and another was obliged to 
carry so many loads of sea sand and dung, and road 
serapings. "These ridiculous clauses should be set aside, 
founded as they were upon obsolete and unprofitable 
systems of husbandry, equally inconsistent with modern 
improvements and with prudent discrimination of the 
characters of the tenantry. That certain restrictions 
were necessary, no one could deny ; but they should be 
so framed that while the tenant was prevented from 
doing injury to the estate, he should not be so fettered 
as to bar improvement. Mr. Karkeek also alluded toa 
clause generally inserted in Cornish leases, restricting 
the farmer from selling his Barley and. Oaten straw. 
This he considered to be a wise and necessary restriction, 
for the ashes of straw consisted for the greater part oj 
silicate of potash, and if this article was sold off the farm, 
it was robbing it of those very essential materials on 
which the success of corn crops greatly depended. 
“Nothing,” he said, “could justify the selling of 
straw except the applying to the land, for every ton, 
the value of the same in some chemical manure con- 
taining those ingredients removed from the farm,”— 
Mr. TretHewy said as Mr. Karkeek had made some 
allusion to the soil on the Carnwinnick estate, and the 
use of bone-dust there, it might not be amiss to state 
that the use of bones had been found very serviceable 
there, and that their effect, ten years since their appli- 
cation, was still visible. He would also observe that 
where they had continued the use of bone-dust, it had 
also been successful, not only with Turnips, but with 
the following crops of corn and Grasses.—The Cnarn- 
MAN asked Mr, Trethewy if he had tried lime on Carn- 
winnick where he had previously tried bone-dust.—Mr. 
Tretuewy said— Yes ; he had carried 100 bushels of 
lime last year, in addition to other manures for Turnips. 
The first Turnips looked very stunted and ill; but, 
after a time, they made a start, and they were now the 
best Turnips in the field. This land had been pre- 
viously dressed with bone-dust, and was also dressed 
with bone-dust in addition to the lime, for Turnips. 
There was nothing in the shape of mineral manure 
carried besides the lime. Perhaps it might be well for 
him to say that, some 20 years since, some of this land 
was broken and limed, but it was a total failure. It 
was then tilled—some to Wheat, and some to Turnips 
—but the crop was very inferior, and-the land was 
allowed to go to waste again ; and he believed it would 
have so remained to the present moment, had not bone 
been brought into use. They had taken repeated crops 
successively on the same ground, but not in regular ro- 
tation—merely as they suited best. That was done in 
order to destroy the young Furze, which was constantly 
sprouting. It was well known to most persons who 
were in the habit of farming rough land in this country, 
that there was great difficulty in destroying the Furze ; 
and, indeed, it was thought almost impracticable, be- 
cause they could not get a second crop, until bone-dust 
came into use. Now, he found no difficulty in produc- 
ing a crop of Turnips from that land—either from fallow, 
or from Wheat or Oat stubble ; he had grown Turnips 
repeatedly, after Wheat or Oats, with a single plough- 
ing—the land ploughed down in November, and not 
touched again till the seed was sown. The quantity of 
bone-dusthe had used was about 2j qrs. per statute 
acre ; and no other manure but that.—Mr. KARKEEK : 
But you consumed part of your Turnips on the ground 
with sheep.— Mr. Trernewy had meant to say that 
they carried nothing in on the farm but bone-dust, 
and lately, some guano. He had made of late a deal 
of yard manure, which had been principally carried for 
Wheat every year; and he had been successful in 
growing Wheat after Oats with yard manure. e 
found this the best method of keeping back the Furze- 
He took two ‘white crops following, and then a crop 
of Turnips.—Mr. Donte said, it appeared that Mr. 
Trethewy had formerly carried lime on his lan 
without effect ; but, after the soil bad been bone-dusted, 
the lime produced a good effect.—Mr. KARKEEK said 
Mr. Trethewy had been not only carrying bone- ust 
on the farm, but had also been manufacturing manure: 
All the organic and inorganic elements had been carried 
on the farm, in yard manure. When the lime was ap- 
plied, the land had been under cultivation for 5 or 6 
years. lle thought the plan adopted by Mr. Collins, 
of Truthan, for bringing waste lands into cultivation, 
