AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
415 
» 2 
/ 95—1836.] THE 
A Clover crop takes up, for example, 77 lbs. of 
alkali per acre. Ifthe fodder is consumed on the spot, 
ihe greater portion of the potash and soda will return to 
the manure after passing through the cattle, and the 
land will eventwally recover nearly the whole of the 
alkali, It will be quite otherwise if the fodder is taken 
to market; and it is to these repeated exportations of 
thé producé of artificial meadows that the failure of 
Clover now observed in soils which have long yielded 
abundantly, is undoubtedly due.’ Now, if it be difficult 
io grow Clover even once in four or five years; or two 
dus together, how much more difficult is it to grow 
ops for 20 or 30 years on the same soil, removing 
very year from that soil on an average between 50 lbs. 
and 70 Ibs. of potash per acre? But Mr. Lawes says 
after a Clover crop has been taken away you cau get a 
better crop of Wheat. Without doubt, but this does 
not prove that Clover is not an exhausting crop. What 
if these crops take out wholly different proportions of 
Mineral elements, as in fact they do, And this surely 
‘has some little to do with the affair. 
Clover removes of potash .. et we ws d GIDS. 
Wheat removes of potash .. . os 24 
Clover removes of potash more than Wheat .. 53 
- 
a 
Clover removes of silica ++ E T 1 
Wheat removes of silica .. v. we eet CE 
Wheat removes of silica more than Clover 106 
Tintend to resume the subject next week.”— J. C. 
Nesbit, Agricultural and Scientific School, Kennington, 
London, May 15, 1846. 
ON GORSE AS FOOD FOR CATTLE, 
(Contitiued from p. 318.) 
9. The Mode and Expense of preparing Furze are 
the;next points which have to be considered, and to these 
I suspect may be traced the various objections which are 
made to its culture by those who are either unacquainted 
with its use, or unaware of its great value, when com- 
pared with other green crops, In order to assist in 
removing some of the imaginary difficulties attending 
the preparation of Furze, I think I cannot do better than 
describe the several methods which 1 have seen prac- 
tised in different parts of the kingdom. 
10. One of the simplest and most origiial is that in 
common use in the north of Scotland, where the Furze 
after being cut and thrown into small heaps, is either 
threshed with a flail on the spot, or carried home and 
afterwards threshed on the barn floor, in the same way 
as corn. As the object is merely to bruise the hardest 
of the prickles, it answers the purpose to a certain 
extent, but the labour required is against the practice 
being adopted when other means can be found to effect 
the same object. 
ll. Another plan, not half so laborious as the above, 
hat more bl i 
u is peculiar to certain 
districts of England and Scotland, and may be thus 
lescribed :—A large wooden block or solid bench, 24 
or 3 feet high, is fitted up in an out-house or shed, to 
which the Furze is brought for the purpose of under- 
going the process that is to render it fit for use. This 
consists in beating it tho- 
roughly by handfuls on 
the block, with a small 
wooden mallet, bound round 
with iron, and in some eases 
Shod with the same, until 
it is thought mio incbnve- 
ienee can possibly arise 
from the priékles. To tliose 
who are obliged to resort 
to the poutding plan the 
mallet and chopper com- 
bined will be found very 
useful. "his should be of 
oak, of a cylindrical form, 
^ about 10 itches long and 
7 inches in diaméter, bound roünd with iron in the 
Pieces of iion, 
Which cross one 
another at right 
angles, and pro- 
ect 4 or binches 
as figured in 
desi annexed 
Tawing. B 
either of discs zy 
implements the a 
Cost of bruising - 
Pi vary from ld. to lid. per bushel. An able-bodied 
ad will bruise about 20 bushels in the course of 
" 12. A third method of preparing Furze is nearly as 
Sat as either of the preceding, and is probably ihe 
don best tliat could have been devised for reducing it 
labo. proper state without. the aid of niuch tianual 
TM This is by crushing it wilh a large circular 
$ d placed on its edge, and so constructed as to be 
f drawn by one horse ina circular channel into 
yi lich the Furze is thrown, precisely in the way that 
pille are treated when bruised by the eider-iiill. 
dits DIS are in fact the same in principle, and 
"Mila: ut little in construetion ; the cider-mill of Glou- 
er, Worcester, aud Hereford being nearly identical 
with the whin-mill of Aberdeenshire and the north of 
Scotland, where cider is almost unknown. ‘The mode 
of erecting such machines will readily suggest itself to 
persons who have only a slight acquaintance with me- 
chanies ; but, with the view of rendering this account 
more complete and practically useful to those for whom 
it is intended, I have thought it desirable to subjoin 
the accompanying section and particulars. Supposing, 
then, it is intended to erect a Furze-mill, the first thing 
required to be done is to raise the ground within the 
circle where the crusher revolves, about a foot above 
the level of the floor of the shed, as shewn at aa, and fix 
in the centre a large stone 5, with a hole in the 
AROUND ms, 
top, to receive the gudgeon of the upright shaft or 
spindle c, which is to work init. The diameter of this 
platform need not exceed 5 or 6 feet, and around it a 
layer of flat stones is to be placed, as at d d, 15 or 18 
iuehes wide, and on a level with the floor of the shed. 
The crusher ¢ may be of granite or any similar hard- 
natured stone, 3 feet in diameter and 1 foot wide, erect 
on the inner surface, but bevelled on the outside to- 
wards the centre, where it is several inehes thieker than 
at the cireumferenee. It is fixed on an horizontal 
axle 5 or 6 inches thick, which passes through the 
centre, the outer end projeeting 1 foot or 18 inches 
beyond the crusher for the purpose of attaching the 
horse when it is required to be set in motion, while the 
other is fitted into the shaft c, in whieh there is pro- 
vision made, by an opening of 2 or 3 inches in length, to 
allow it to rise and fall, according as the quantity of 
Furze thrown into the trough may raise or depress the 
stoue, The main shaft may be 6 or 8 inches thick, 
bound with iton at both ends, and having a pivot in 
each, the lower one to work in a socket fixed into the 
stone in the centre of the platform, and the upper in a 
plate of iron attached to a large cross beam above. 
The cost of such à machine will of course depend 
very mitch on the facilities there may be for construct- 
ing it. Where stone is plentiful; as in Cornwall; I have 
known one, such as I have described above, to be 
erected for 4/. 10s., including stone, wood, and iron- 
work complete. 
13. A fourth method of crushing Furze is by using 
some of those machines constructed on the principle of 
a chaff-cutter, aniong which I would particularly beg 
to notice the ingenious otie invented by the Messrs. 
Ransouie’s, of Ipswich, and some years ago exhibited 
by them at one of the meetings of the Royal Agrieul- 
tural Society. It is intended to be worked ‘by hand, 
and in addition to a couple of strong revolving knives 
for cutting the Furze iüto certain lengths, it has the 
power to give an opposite revolving Motion to two 
cylindrical cast iron rüllers,s0 placed as to receive the 
Furze immediately it is cut, and effectually bruise it in 
passing between them, 
From the little experiénee I have had of tliis ma- 
chine, and the reports from others who Have tried it at 
iny request, Iam bound to state that it is ruoli too 
laborious for working any length of time by band, and 
in this respect it Fequires improvement, so as to dimi- 
wish the power which is requisite toset it in motion. I 
believe this is the greatest objection that can be urged 
against it j although another, which has been found to 
arise in its working, deserves to be also considered, and 
I should think niight be easily obviated. This is the 
Choking and clogging of the rollers, which from being 
smooth do not cateh the Furze so quiekly as they other- 
wise would if their surface were roughed in some way, 
aud arrangements made to give them a partial cleaning 
every time they tévilve. When these defects are suc- 
cessfully remedied, I have no hesitation in saying that 
this machine will be fotind extremely useful, and one of 
the best ofits kind. It costs from 8 to 10 guineas. 
Whichever method of bruising Furze is adopted, it 
ihust be borne in mind not to prepare any more than 
inay be necessary, as it is not good when it has been 
crushed and allowed to lie some time before being used. 
It will, however, keep fora day or two if packed loosely 
in a bin for that purpose, but the fresher it is the better 
it will be liked. — M. E-H. 
(To be continued.) 
ON THE STATE OF HUSBANDRY IN LOWER 
BRLIDIANT E -i 
WITH INCIDENTAL ‘OBSERVATIONS ON THE CONDITION OF 
THE FARMING POPULATION 'MIERE, COMPARED WITH 
THE SOCIAL STATE OF THE ANALOGOUS CLASSES IN 
IRELAND, 
y MARTIN DOYLE. 
is (Continued from p. 327.) r 
Ti is déeidedly the opinion of the French respecting 
the landes of Brittany that the reclamation of them is 
only profitable by degrees, aecording “as, they can 'eon- | 
veniently provide hands to till and manure to fertilise. 
In Hanovér, any individuals interested in the culti- 
vation öf a waste have the power of calling upon a 
tribunal to assign thenr in severalty such portions of 
it as may be deemed equivalent to their respective 
interests in that waste ; and a law to this purport 
would perhaps be more effectual for carrying ové the 
objects of the French Government in regard to the 
reclamation of the landes than the mere permission 
given to corporate bodies to alienate theiz rights of 
commonage with the approval of the Préfect of the 
Departement. A survey was taken by engineers with 
the accuracy of our ordnance surveys, and every sort of 
soil, heaths and bogs of course jnclasive, were described. 
« The preliminary steps which exceeded the means of 
individuals were taken at the expence of Government 
wheréver the wastes designed for improvement were 
the property of the State; and of the municipal bodies 
wherever they were the property of communities, 
Roads were laid out in all directions ; deep and wide 
trenches cut across the turf bogs opened a communi- 
ation between their stagnant waters and the rivers. 
By this means alone their surface became sufficiently 
firm to admit of tillage. These grand outlines of the 
plan having been completed at the general expense, the 
wastes were divided into allotments of various sizes, 
though not of great extent, in order to meet the capital 
and energy of their future cultivators. They were then 
either let on long leases or sold in perpetuity for the 
best tent or price which they could command, and the 
rent or purehase money obtained for these allotments, 
justified we believe in every instance, all that had been 
expended on the preliminary fimp t? 
THe Dutch colonies of paupers are well known ; the 
system of settling the redundant population on wastes 
has been proved most beneficial to the püblie, and 
certainly in respect of soil and climate the waste lands 
of Irélind have a decided advantage, and unquestion- 
ably with respect to soil the moors of Brittany are 
i bl ess promising material to work upon 
than thé wort out and therefore very shallow bogs of Ire- 
land which contain a superabundance of humus iu-whieh 
the other tracts are comparatively so deficient; and 
the heaths of Hanover and the cold clays of the North 
of Holland are inferior to both. The only advantage 
which the landés possess is their dryness; but what 
peri dand ind i husband will. prefer a 
poor shallow dry soil of 2 or 3 inches to a deep vege- 
table mould, capable of raising the finest garden plants, 
together merely for the labour of first. draining it, and 
then blending the different earths which Providence 
has placed beneath his spade? That the Breton moors 
might be made to yield Turnips very well and to multi- 
ply the number and improve the quality of cattle we 
have tio doubt, but ineomparably more productive are 
the peat moors of Ireland eapable of becoming. 
Moors from which the superincumbent peat has been 
éüt away are convertible without much difficulty into 
very fertile soil. And in several instances deep turf 
bog is rendered doubly productive ; first, by yielding 
peat for fuel and then becoming good Grass or arable 
land. A ease in point will serve to illustrate this. A 
eotipany of distillers in Limerick, obtained some years 
ago about 250 acres of black bog with which we are 
familiar close to the river Shannon and not far from 
the city, for the purpose of supplying their establish- 
ment with fuel. This bog was so deep that the roof 
of the neat slated cottage which they built on it was 
hardly visible from the river until the peat around it 
was cleared away. 
Straight intersecting drains were cut at right 
angles, dividing the bog iuto parrallelograms of 
about 6 acres each, and ihe peat was then cut away 
in regular courses down to the bottom. When I visited 
that piace a considerable extent of elastic meadow lan 
had been gained by mixing about 3 inches of the sub- 
sóil With ‘the fibrous and refuse portions of the peat 
over it, aid manuring. The intention was to render 
the base of the whole bog, in the progress of time, 
Grass-land. The garden was à ;euriosity, from the 'pe- 
euliarity of its location in the midst, of countless masses 
of turf clumps ; the surrounding Thorn-hedge was 8 
feet high. Knight's Marrowfat Peas reached a ‘most 
extraordinary degree öf elevation, aud other vegetables 
were proportionably luxuriant ; Carrots were particu- 
larly-so, Among the flowers were Bélladonua Lilies, 
Potentillas, Siberian Larkspur, Giadiola grandiflora, 
Rockéts 15 ‘inches long, ‘Viger Iris, Paradise Plant, 
double flowering Pink, Monkey Plant, Celestial Rose ; 
Heaths, Eringóes, sweet-scented Pæonies, Dwarf Rho- 
dodendrons, and Pansies of a very fine description. 
Moorland on the slopes of elevated hills, if wet, is 
easily reclaimable by judicious draining, destruction 
of heath and coarse perennial woods by fire and a top- 
dressing of whatever fertilising miatter may be proeur- 
able. If streams öf water Can be diffused over it from 
the higher ground, here is at once a cheap and certain 
Soürce of civilisation; by collecting the streamlets,;ren- 
dering each spring available for irrigation, a large -ex- 
tent of surface thay be rendered früitful—iiot, indeed, 
in the herbage suited to sheep, but in abundant, though 
cöàrse Grasses, for Black cattle. There are strongly 
urged objections to irrigation in the mountain pa: 
districts of Scotland, where each ‘rill, it might -be sup- 
posed, would be valued inestimably for that ptirpose ; 
the shéep farmers miake no use of them in this way, 
alleging that, without oceasional top-dressing, irrigation 
exhausts the power of the soil. 
To render the watering of Grassland effective, hów- 
Svér, draining nitist precede it; und tliis is objectionable 
\ 
