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THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
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363 
22—1846.] 
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| than myself; yet I think that no farmer or landlord | years, thorough-drained last winter, 
first counting the cost with accuracy. 
Occasion I shall have great pleasure in 
to you the parti my experi 
Jects.— J. Manwaring Paine, Farnham, May 16. 
feel exceedingly obliged to Mr. Paine for this very valu- 
able communication ; and also for his promise of fur- though not thoroughly. 
ther information on the subjects referred to in it.] 
Home Correspondence. 
The Allotment System.—1t you will permit, I would |" 
Venture to say a few words on a subject, whieh, to the 
labouring class (to which I belong) is of some im- 
portance. T have often heard of the kindness of land- 
lords in granting to the cottager a piece of allotment 
ground ; at first sight it does, indeed, look well, and I 
do not question but it is meant well. But when we 
come to look at it closely, like everything else, it has a 
Wrong side. Now, let us first look at the rent charged 
for these allotment pieces: in many instances ls. per 
Perch, and yet itis said that this is a great blessing. 
hy do not they confer blessings like these on the 
farmers of 400 or 500 acres ? why honour one class so 
exclusively? I have ever been dependent on the 
farmers for work and wages, and I do indeed wish to 
See them prospering, but this shilling a perch (8/. an 
Aere) is an imposition. If land is worth that (and I 
have no doubt but, with proper cultivation, its present 
Value might be doubled), why is it so much under- 
Tented? The landlords are certainly standing in their 
Own light when they dispose of their property at 400 
9r 600 per cent. below its real value. If the cottager 
Who holds 1 aere can pay 8/.a year for it, why cannot 
the farmer who holds 500 acres pay 40007. ? and yet 
Who would say that he should do so? what landlord 
Would ever dream of asking so much? But some will 
Say that this is an extreme case that I am taking ; but 
it is often to befound. But granting that allotments are 
let at the same rent that large farms are, let us see i 
they are the great blessing which some would make us 
elieve them to be. Some have said how cheering it is 
to the poor man to have a piece of ground on which to 
employ himself at night after the labours of the day 
are over! Is digging his own ground no toil? As well 
may one say, how refreshing it would be to the man who 
has trayelled 30 miles a day, to have other three or four 
to go. Yet many have drawn such a fair picture of 
the enjoyment which the cottager derives from this, 
Qu if is no wonder that some well-meaning persons 
ave thought they were indeed the benefactors of the 
Poor in granting them a piece of ground, even at 87. an 
Acre. But I speak from experience when I say, that 
„a man works 10 or 11 hours a day, he is not able 
(giving himself justice) to work other four or five 
hours, although it be for himself. Ever since I was 
able, I have been employed in cultivating the ground 
with the sweat of my brow, and I am certain that, 
if I had had the labour to perform night and morn- 
ing which I see many others perform, I would have 
been ill-fitted for giving a fair day's work for a fair 
day's wage. I know I could not, and I know not 
one in ten is able to do it. And Lrefer the matter 
to any one’s arbitration who has himself had to toil 
with his two hands for his daily bread ; those who have | 9: 
never put their hands to the plough are not fitto be 
judges, for many of them can look on the labourer toil- 
ing with no more concern than they would on the steam- 
enginein motion, They think not'that he is soon overcome 
and unable to earn a comfortable living. But if a man 
were able to pass so much time in bodily toil, is it right 
that he should be obliged to do so? Is no time to be 
allowed him for the cultivation of his mind, which should 
always be progressing both in old and young? and 
which is the only thing which raises man above the 
brute creation. Few schools are planted to give the 
Poor an opportunity of improving in their early years, 
and matters are to be so arranged that they are unable 
to redeem their time when they come to find out their 
Own wants. Are these things for the profit of the 
farmer? Is it more for bis interest that his labourers 
Should’ be so uninformed? I presume none will say 
80 ; but if there are any such, who maintain that their 
Servants should not be as well educated as themselves, 
and who think that they themselves must always stand 
Out as lights shining in the midst of darkness, this 
Shows their own want of sound knowledge ; or, if not, 
of worthy motives.—G. S. A Dorset Labourer. [We 
an only say that labourers are not forced to take these 
allotments — nevertheless, they are gladly accepted ; 
that we quite agree in what has here been so ably said 
9f the importance of education to the labourer a$ well 
asto the farmer ; and that ls. à perch is, 
nary circumstances, a scandalous high rent for land.] 
Oats Injured by Pickling, &c.—1n answer 
communicating | unpickled, especially 
ts on these sub- | the common can still 
[We | 800 yards. 
¢| to be turned into a dam for his mills. 
under ordi- | magnesia, 6 Ibs. ; 
to your 31 lbs.— T. Randell, Bradley, Fakenham. 
Oats. I have rolled 
The next is a piece of ground of 7 acres, 
reclaimed from wood and bog two years ago, and drained, 
It was sown with Sandy, all 
a considerable time, but 
since rolling has improved. The next is a field of 
10 acres, of old wood, trenched out last winter, sown 
with sandy, ofly about 4 acres pickled ; the difference 
very decided. 1 have also rolled this field as the soil is 
light. The last field is one of 154 acres, two years in 
Grass, pastured one, undrained, and liable to flood; soil, 
rich alluvial deposit, but soured through want of drain- 
ing ; sown partly with Sandy and partly with Potato and 
Hopetoun, mixed. 1 pickled. ‘The Potato and 
Hopetoun look worst. I have not rolled this field, but 
have harrowed part of it in accordance with your advice. 
The reason I did not follow it further was, I thought 
the weather looked too dry; and it was as well I did 
not, as we have had six days of burning sun and hard 
east wind. I find that my steward had only used 
14 gallons of water to 11b. of vitriol. The reason of so 
much of my land being undrained is want of level; and 
last autumn, when I proposed bringing ‘it up from a dis- 
tance of a mile, our neighbouring proprietor, Lord 
Glasgow, or rather his factor, interfered, on the ground 
of my taking the water past one of his mills, although 
the cut would be all on my father’s land. There are 
two small burns (Anglice, ditches), which are feeders to 
his dam. I then proposed carrying these over my cut, 
by solid masonary and iron pipes, so as not to lose him 
a drop of the water he has at present, for these feeders 
are supplied from the high ground, whereas it was the 
low that I wanted to drain, but he still refused, Would 
you be kind enough to give me your opinion on this 
question? It is rather hard that all my low fields are 
All the practical 
men I have talked to, and who know the ground well, are 
against him, even all his own tenants.— t. B.D. [You 
speak of /ying in the pickle. Now, we never let the grain 
liein the pickle. The solution of the vitriol is sprinkled 
over the Oats—they are turned rapidly and repeatedly, so 
asto wet every grai y dry sp lyin an hour, 
and are sown immediately. As regards the question of 
drainage, so far as the brook is now'supplied with water, 
which, by your proposed eut, would be removed from 
Lord Glasgow’s mill, his lordship would, we imagine, 
have a just claim on you for damages. But, obviously, 
all your land below the level of this mill may be drained 
as you propose without harm to any one; and doubtless 
all of it may be so drained if, as you state, the brook 
gets all its water from a distance. | 
To Preserve Turnips from Hares and other Vermin. 
—Sow every 30th, 40th, or 50th drill (the bribe must 
be proportionate to the numbers of the enemy) 
pickled, and looked badly for 
rook, 
yellow Turnip. 
years with the most complete success. 
to know anything of Liebig’s patent manure ? 
neighbours tried it last year on Turnips. I saw one 
of their fields frequently in the end of the season, when 
you could not tell the difference betwixt the produce 
of the patent manure, and that of the farm-yard dung. 
The same result was obtained by the other gentleman. 
The cost, and quantity applied, was the same as of 
guano. What the effect upon this year's crop of sets 
may be, of course, remains to be seen. Can you, or 
any of your correspondents inform me the best and 
most economical of the following substances for feeding 
calves, and other young stock, viz. :— 
Oatmeal ......at 2d. per lb, | Peameal ... 
Linseed meal .. 2d. Barleymeal . 
Oileake........ ld. y Indian corn mea gd. os 
Are the feeding equivalents of these proportionate 
to their several (money) values !—J. L., Eskdale, 
N.B., May 16. [We should prefer the first to begin 
with ; then a mixture of the first and second; and 
lastly, we would take to oileake alone, when the calves 
are weaned, or to a mixture of Linseed and Peameal. 
We imagine the feeding equivalent of Peameal to be 
higher than that of Oats, but the latter is more suitable 
food for calves.] 
Inorganic Constituents of Wheat Crop.—Would any 
of your chemical correspondents kindly give an opinion 
as to the suitableness of the following manure for an 
acre of Wheat? Are the ingredients in due proportion, 
and what would be the probable expense ? Silica, 
189 1bs.; potash, 14 Ibs. ; soda, 153 Ibs. ; lime, 19} Ibs.; 
ia, 61 oxide of iron, 5 Ibs. ; alumina, 7 Ibs.; 
sulphuric acid, 5 lbs.; phosphoric acid, 23 lbs.; chlorine, 
[In refer- 
» 
question, Ist, there is no manner of accounting for the ence to Mr. Randell's enquiries :—1st, As to propor- 
difference in the present appearance of the Oat crop, 
except the pickling, as the further advanced is 
Seen to keep in a 
distinetly | his should not answer as well as the others. 
straight line along the ridge where the | quantities will never do for an aere; because not one- 
tions, analyses haye differed, and I do not know why 
But his 
Unpickled was sown ; 2d, it was all pickled late in the | fourth of the manure will come in contact with the 
evening and sown the next morning, with the exception roots of the plants, 
of 1 qr. 2 bushels, which lay in the pickle four days. | cost separately, 
particulars, I may inform you cheapest way would be to use bone-dust, 1 cwt. (which 
days is the healthiest of the should contain more than 23 per 
With regard to further 
that that in. the pickle four 
to be absorbed by them. 2d, The 
as specified, would be very heavy. The 
cent. phosphoric acid) 
whole pickled. [This is asingular fact.] They are sown with } ewt. of sulphuric acid, to render it soluble ; or 
1n a small plot of 3 acres, after Turnips; soil, good loam, 
but damp and undrained : the difference can be dis- | woul 
cerned at a distance of 500 yards; kind, Potato and | well as lime, 
cwt. of Lawes’ superphosphate of lime, which 
sntain more phosphoric anc sulphuric acids, as 
than his formula expresses. For the soda 
else 1} 
1 
he may use } cwt. of salt, which will contain also much 
more chlorine than he specifies : and the potash and 
magnesia may be supplied in the cheapest carbonates, 
i. e, common potash, and the common magnesia of the 
druggists. Or the magnesia may be supplied still 
cheaper in the *pittern," mother liquor of the salt 
works, reckoning a gallon for 1 lbs. magnesia ; price 
not above 6d. per gallon. 3d. The silica is not re- 
quired in one case out of ten ; and where needed, it 
would be useless, unless yendered soluble, by fusion with 
alkali, in much larger proportion than his formula. The 
alumina and oxide of iron are also generally more than 
sufficient in the soil, But in any case he should use at 
least four times more of the ingredients required than 
the crop carries off, until the land is so far supplied 
that the roots can always find it. After that, of course, 
it may be enough to restore just what the crop thas 
carried away. 4th. If he does not like the trouble of 
making this mixture, he may have it ready done, and 
much more uniformly (though in different proportions) 
in Liebig’s patent corn manure, prepared by Muspratt 
and Co. Liverpool. He can calculate the expense 
either way, for himself. But, I ought to add, that 
silicate of potash seems to me likely to increase straw 
rather than grain : and that we are far from Liebig’s 
opinion of the needlessness of organic manures in our 
elimate.—J. P.] 
The Dalys Wonder Potato (see p. 253). — The 
Messrs. Chambers, of Edinburgh, have again been 
kind enough to place in our hands a letter concerning 
this Potato, addressed by Mr. Dinwoodie, of the Town 
Head, Kirkmichael, to Sir Adam Ferguson. The account 
Mr. D. gives of this variety is as follows :— The Daly's 
Wonder Potato, which you (Sir A. Ferguson) sent me 
about 10 years ago l have cultivated every year 
since. I have had a most abundant produce from it, but 
for some years I considered it watery and not so well 
flavoured as other kinds that I had been in the habit of 
cultivating, and for that reason I did not plant so many 
as the always superior crop they produced would have 
induced me to do. Three years ago I found that they 
had improved very much in quality, and thinking that by 
planting a few more Potatoes they would pay me better 
than Turnips, I planted 8} acres, 4 of which were the 
Daly’s Wonder, and the remainder other kinds. I had 
a very good crop of all the sorts, but as I did not keep 
an accurate account of the weight of each that year, I 
cannot state the comparative difference, but imagine 
that the Dalys would be 18 tons per acre, and the other 
sorts about 14 tons per do. In the year 1844, I again 
planted 8} acres, 5 of which were the Daly’s Wonder, 
and the remaining 34 what are here called Old Blues, 
Irish Johns, Buffs, and Highland Early. I had a most 
abundant crop. ‘The land was dry, and of good quality, 
averagely manured. I had of Daly’s Wonder 20 tons. 
per acre. The other sorts again averaged 14 tons per 
acre. Last year (1845) I planted the same number of 
acres upon land of the same quality, and proportioned 
nearly in the same way, and gave it an extra dressing 
of manure, 38 yards of good dung mixed with 2 ewt. of 
guano per acre, but all would not do, the erop became 
affected with the murrain, which was, however, about 
two weeks later in making its appearance on the leaves 
and stems of the Daly’s Wonder than on the other sorts. 
When I took them up at raising time, I intended to 
have sent all (except the Dalys), direct to the Potato 
mill, but this I could not get accomplished for a few 
weeks as the mill was quite filled with Potatoes going 
fast to decay. ‘Those I had intended for the mill I laid 
down on the land in narrow pits with a number of 
air-holes in each, but at the end of three weeks when i 
opened them they were nearly all rotten, so that all the 
money I received for about 4 acres of Potatoes was 
only 13l. (none of the Daly’s Wonder were among them). 
At raising time, the Dalys were slightly affected ; I 
have had a quantity of them in the house during the 
winter, and also in pits; and a few in drills I allowed 
to remain in the ground until the spring, all of which 
have kept exceedingly well—indeed I do not think the 
disease increased after the tubers were taken out of the 
ground. There was no difference between the Potatoes 
that remained in the drills all winter and fhose taken 
up at the usual time. The Daly's Wonder is now gene- 
rally known in Dumfriesshire and Galloway as the surest 
variety to grow, and the most productive. It is my 
impression that the one half of all the Potatoes planted 
this year are of that variety. As I never heard of any 
having been imported to this country except those you 
gave the tenants on the estate of Kirkmichael, I am of 
opinion that it is the produce of them that has spread 
over these two counties, and I have no hesitati 
saying that you have thus been the means of conferring 
on the country a great blessing." 
The Profits of keeping well-bred Cattle. —I have 
just read a paper in the Gazette of the 2d May, by 
** Falcon,” on the great agricultural meeting at New- 
castle, in which he seems sadly annoyed that dukes and 
lords are carrying off all the prizes for wellfed stock. 
I wish to make a few remarks for his benefit. I live in 
a part of the country proverbial for being cautious. 
(Aberdeenshire), and I may with safety say, I thin! 
there are few counties that have made such a 
improve stock as it has of late, and that not by any of 
the dukes or lords, but by good practical rent-paying 
farmers, for the clear view of making money (they 
have, no doubt, been greatly assisted by a few proprie- 
tors, who attend to farming themselves, and can afford 
to give high prices for stock to commence with in the 
south). I entirely agree with “ Falcon,” that pampered 
animals should be excluded from competing as breed- 
