434 
THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
[June 27, 
8 quar:ers por vere. “Phe stubble was ploughed, p and 
in the spring of 1812 it was manured and grubbed or 
“cultivated,” and sown to ‘Mangold Wurzel, and it 
yielded an enormous produce of that root—certainly 
much above 30 tons per acre; in 1843 it was sown to 
Wheat, and yielded upwards of 46 bushels per acre ; 
in 1844 it was planted with Potatoes, but these partly 
failed, not on account of the soil, but because of the 
ry rot among the sets ; in 1845 it bore Wheat again, 
and never was a finer looking plant than that which 
covered it in the mouth of June ; but the weather of 
July laid it, and its produce was greatly injured both 
in quantity and quality. Clover seed and Italian Rye 
Grass were sown among the Wheat in 1845, and we are 
now consuming in the house the second eutting from it 
of a very luxuriant crop of Grass. We consider then 
that the rental of this field is not put too highly at 50s. 
Now, take No. 2; a field of much better quality 
in its original condition ; its rent was, in fact, double 
that of No. 8. 
It.was pared and burned in the spring of 1840, and 
sown to common Turnips, of which it yielded upwards 
of 25 tons of bulbs per acre ; in 1841 it bore Oats—a 
crop of 10 quarters per acre ;in 1842 it was sown to 
the White Belgian Carrots, and yielded 22 tons per 
acre of them ; in 1843 it was sown to Wheat, of which 
it yielded about 42 bushels per acre ; in 1844 it was 
sown to Swedes, not avery good crop (about 15 tons 
per acre) owing to the very dry spring and summer ; 
in 1845 it yielded Wheat, which would have been an 
extraordinary crop but for the rough weather of July 
and August, which laid it; and it bas been covered as 
has No. 8 with such another heavy crop of Rye Grass. 
We have put its gross annual value at 50s. 
But we need not enter into further detail. We 
are very confident of the accuracy of the figures 
placed in column 6, and what then do we learn 
from it ? This, that the farm is, on the whole, more 
than double its former value, and that some of its 
parts are worth four times their former rent. "To 
what do we attribute this? Partly to the advan- 
tage of good farm buildings and roads—in great 
degree to the influence of a perfect drainage—and 
for the rest to the conversion of its pastures—to the 
conversion of its pastures not simply considered in 
itself, but as affording opportunities for the applica- 
tion of capital and skill. ‘It is difficult, as we stated 
last week, to divide this whole result amongst its 
several causes ; but here is a fact which will assist 
us. ‘Nos. I2 and 13 (see col. 4) were dry, arable, 
and well farmed in their original condition; they 
have increased in value about 9s. per acre since 
1836. We will suppose” this to be attributable to 
their share of the advantages arising from good 
farm buildings aud roads.. Let us then consider that 
these advantages are worth 9s. per acre on the 
other fields, and subtracting this sum from the in- 
crease given in col. 7, which the fields 2, 6, and 8 
have respectively experienced in their value to rent, 
we have a rise in annual value of 14s., 265., and 26s., 
respectively, as the effect of drainage and conver- 
sion under the plough. ‘The first of these fields had 
not suffered so much from wet as the others, and 
putting 10s. per acre as the interest of the expence 
of drainage in its case, and 15s. per acre as the proper 
interest in the others, we have 4s., 11s., and 11s. as 
the acreable consequence of arable culture in these 
instances ; and the greater advantage in the two latter 
cases teaches the policy of breaking up the poorer 
lands first, especially if they are wet, and if their 
soil and subsoil together constitute a sufficient depth 
of improvable material. 
It is very certain, we think, that there are enor- 
mous advantages in store for the landlord, when 
men of capital, possessing good professional abilit 
shall offer themselves as tenants of his “cold Grass 
lands” on condition of his draining and erecting 
buildings, and permitting them to be broken up. 
We shall hereafter have a few words to say about 
some of these expences being, under certain condi- 
tions, borne by the tenants. 
Li 
ON THE DRILL HUSBANDRY OF TURNIPS. 
(Continued from p. 395.) 
From the above statement. it will be found that the 
quantity of manure applied is large and excessive, when 
compared with the supply which farmers on all poor 
thin soils have at their disposal, but to explain this, we 
have purchased for several years 100 cart-loads annu- 
ally, and the application of pulverised manures to our 
common Turnips enables us to concentrate our farm 
manure and that which is purchased to the production 
of a-superior crop of Swedes, and a few acres of Pota- 
toes and Mangolds, which crops oceupy 1-6th of our 
arable land, as described in section second, 
The effects of such a manuring, aided by the method 
of its application, is immediately seen on the young 
Swede, At its-first appearance (in prosecuting my ex- 
periments) I always observed that where this dunghill 
manure was applied, the seed generally brairded three 
or four days before those ridges which had none, or 
where pulverised manures were; and in the former ease 
the seed leaves quickly expanded and exhibited a bright 
green healthy appearance, while in the latter they con- 
tinued small, weak, of a bluish red dingy. colour, and 
hardly perceptible, making little or no progress iu put- 
ting forth the second or rough leaf. ‘This manife: 
superiority in the rapidity of the braird over the dung- 
hill manure shows thatit must primarily affect the plant 
at the instant it bursts from the seed, by supplying it with 
an aliment, effluvium, or exhalation, on which it feeds 
and thrives, as I feel quite certain that one-third of the 
young plants have not struck their tap roots through 
the intervening mould into the manure, until after they 
ean be readily traced with the eye, like a bright green 
cord laid on the top of the ridge. 
The following diagrams will illustrate the appearance 
which the ridges exhibit in the different stages of prepa- 
ration :— 
Ei 
ES 
Appearance of ridges after 
the splitting process to cover 
the manure. 
a, a, position of EH b, b, position of manure 
after it is spread. after the covering process. 
I shall now deseribe my mode of drilling where: pul- 
verised manures are used ; but having already hinted 
my preference of the use of those manures on the flat 
or level ground on all the dry, poor, thin soils of the 
idland and southern counties of England, I shall first 
state my reasons for entertaining such an. opinion. In 
the first place, I have found, from experience on this 
farm, and have observed the same results on others 
in the neighbourhood, that when the land has been 
ridged up and pulverised manure applied, the braird in 
severe droughts suffers much, and even the young plants, 
after the thimning process, have died away to a much 
greater extent than on land drilled on the flat ; and I 
think it is very evident when land is put up in ridges 
for these manures (which in themselves are dry as 
dust), that a severe parching time will very soon pene- 
teate entirely through, and destroy any vegetation 
whieh may have begun in them. 
On the contrary, land in the flat or level, having less 
extent of surface exposed, and not lying so loose, must 
hold out longer against severe droughts, while ever 
variety of these manures istas completely and benefi- 
cially deposited in the soil,and the seed dropped with 
equal exactnessiand regularity over it, in the one ease 
as in the other. In the second place, few ridges are 
ut up less: than 24 inches wide, but in most cases they 
exceed that width ; this brings us to the great objection 
urged by nine-tenths of the practical men in those 
poor districts of England already alluded to, against 
ridging for Turnips of any kind, even with farm o: 
heap manure. They say the rows are too far apart; 
that much land is wasted, having no plants thereon. I 
perfectly agree with. this doctrine in so far as the width 
of the rows is concerned. being of opinion that/21 or 
22 inches for Swedes, and even for the common sorts, 
would be wide enough when moderately -well dunged 
with farm-yard manure, and 18 inches for pulverised 
manures. Experience, however, has proved to me that 
it is impossible to cover yard manure perfectly unless 
the ridges ave 26 to 28 inches wide. But the advan- 
tages are so great in getting the manure completely 
covered that the loss of ground should be disregarded, 
being counteracted in a great degree by leaving the 
plants rather closer together in the rows, and by the 
superior manner in which’ the land can be cleaned by 
the horse hoe. Again, those enthusiasts who.advocate 
the ridge system universally, and for every kind of 
manure, who, by the way, increase in number and 
obstinacy the nearer they have been bred to the north 
pole, argue thus :—“ If land is well cultivated and 
manured, 26 or even 30 inches is not too wide for any 
soil, for the plants will fill up. and if they have space 
enough and well worked ‘between the ridges with’ the 
horse-hoe, the bulbs as a natural consequence will all 
be large. This may prove very true on some deep rich 
loams in England and on the best Turnip soils of 
Scotland. Indeed, in the latter district; the Turnips at 
these widths incline to produce too many leaves, and 
about the Ist of October it is impossible to distinguish 
therows. This profusion apparently prevents the bulb 
swelling in proportion to the top, and altogether indi- 
eates that the plants are not far enough apart. But let 
every possible effort be made to produce similar 
erops on this farm, or on any of the still dryer and 
poorer soils alluded to, it will then be found the 
droughts in a majority of seasons eompletely frustrate 
allour exertions on the best of these lands, and the 
poorer, which is by far the larger portion, has neither 
substanee nor eapability to produce any Turnips beyond 
the size of a quart pot in the most favoured seasons, 
and however far apart they may be placed. Therefore, 
the great effort should be to get the land completely 
covered with such sized plants as that particular soil in 
average seasons is found to produce. "Thus a general 
rule, governing the width at whieh Turnips should be 
grown, is apparent for every district, and it is indispen- 
sible to the successful produetion of that. valuable bulb, 
It is this: when the plant is at its full expanse of 
leaf, which is just before the under or first formed ones 
get yellow and begin to fade, the ground should be 
completely hid by the foliage from the rays of the sun, 
and the leaves of the plants should be so intermixed or 
overlaying each other that the rows ought not to be 
readily distinguishable. Following this rule, I have 
never found 17} inches too narrow on this farm; for the 
crops produced from  pulverised manures, for the 
moment the under leaves turn. yellow, which is-about 
Ridges put up to receive the 
manure, 
H 
epic c uerit See 
e middle or end of August, the bulb rapidly progresses 
in size and to maturity, and the under leaves as rapidly 
fall, so that by the end of September the surface of the 
land is no longer hid'by the foliage ; in fact, the tips.of 
the longest leaves remaining do not now touch between 
the rows,—an incontrovertible truth that the power of 
the land is exhausted, and that the Turnips are at their 
maximum.growth. Another unequivocal mark of the 
complete maturity of our earlier Turnip crops at this 
season, is the great number of the larger ones which 
first exhibit signs of disease in the leaves, and then 
deeay in the bulb, whieh in a few weeks is nothing but 
a soapy rotten mass. ‘But go into the best districts of 
Scotland at this period, and it will be found the Turnips 
there are 2 or 3 feet high in the tops, and the 28-inch 
ridges not discernible; so much for soil and a moist 
climate: therefore the cultivators must adopt those 
widths which the proper development of the bulb re- 
quires. I may farther add, that on the poorest of the 
Cotswolds, or of the chalk districts, such as Salisbury 
Plain, 15 inches may be quite wide enough for the pro- 
ductive powers of these weak soils. Jj 
I shall now deseribe my mode of sowing on the flat: 
or level when pulverizéd manures are used. The land 
having been left tolerably well pulverized, and allowed 
to remain 10 or 12 days, as already described, the 
ploughing commences for the last time, keeping as elose 
together as convenient, and are followed by drags, roller, 
and harrows, as may be needed ; but I generally find 
three or four turns of the harrows, and once over with 
the roller, sufficient, In dry weather lalways drill in 
the afternoon the land which has been ploughed’ the 
previous afternoon and same morning. Thus we pro- 
ceed regularly, and the field. is finished drilling about 
half a day after the ploughs leave it. It is of great 
consequence to finish off rapidly, in order to keep’ as 
much moisture in the soilas possible, and all kinds of 
Turnip vegetate more kindly on this farm, in land 
newly ploughed, than where it has lain at rest for a 
short time, however well it may be harrowed and pul- 
verized ; and I believe this remark will be found appli- 
cable to most soils in the kingdom.— W. Fernie, Man- 
chester. 
IMPROVEMENT OF ROADS. 
[Tux following article is extracted from The Plough.] 
—Second only in importance to the good cultivation and 
improvement of theland in any country, is the judicious 
repair and improvement of its roads, by which all the 
operations of agriculture are facilitated and economised, 
in the easy transit of produce and manures, and on 
which the safety and comfort of all who. travel along 
them so much depend, The system of maintaining 
parish roads by the contribution of labour, called “Sta- 
tute work,” of the farmers, one of themselves being the 
surveyor or overseer for the year of his parish or town- 
ship, has lorg been notoriously ill adapted to obtain the 
object of improvement to the roads, and has been by no 
means attended with advantage to the tenants and rate- 
payers, in point of economy. That a description of 
work, in the judicious application of which experience 
and something of scientific knowledge are required, 
should not be well executed in the hands of persons 
holding the office annually by rotation, each anxious to 
get off with as little as possible, and to do that little in 
some situation most beneficial to himself, is not to be 
wondered at. It would indeed be rather wonderful if 
neglect, ignorance, and partiality were not found to be 
in constant operation in such a system. © But besides 
the inefficient or wasteful application of the means: pro- 
vided for repairs, great inequality and injustice are 
found to prevail in maintaining the roads throughout a 
country, by its division into small districts, such as 
single parishes, and more commonly, townships of still 
smaller di i each maintaining their own portion 
without reference to the benefit which it derives from 
the roads, in comparison of other parties who contribute 
nothing towards their repair. One parish or township 
may be rich in mineral produce, coal for instance or 
iron ore, and yet have less road to keep than some ad- 
joining parishes or townships through which the whole 
of that heavy material is carried, to the grea: injury © 
the roads and expense in maintaining them ; thus'im- 
posing a heavy burthen on parties who derive no benefit 
from the article whieh ereates the evil. To obviate 
this inequality, and to provide a more scientific, and in 
the end a far more economical and efficient application 
of the funds for the repair of public roads, a bill has 
been brought into Parliament by Sir James Graham, 
the object of which is, to throw together a number of 
parishes into districts or unions for the maintenance © 
their public roads, each union to be placed under the 
care of a surveyor, to be occupied solely in that work, 
and to be appointed by a Board of Waywardens to be 
elected by the rate-payers, in like manner as the elec 
tion for Guardians of the Poor is conducted ; such 
Board of Waywardens to be in their turn subject to 
the direction and. control of commissioners, as in the 
case also of the Poor-law Boards of ‘Guardians. It 19 
no part of my object at present to enter minutely into 
the provisions of a bill which: may be found capable of 
improvement when they come fully under discussion, an! 
perhaps still more so when in operation ; but I should be 
glad to be allowed, through your columns, to draw the 
attention of your agricultural readers to the obvious and 
acknowledged defects of the old system, and to a ET 
deration of the promised, andin many respects appare 
benefits of the proposed change, ere they engage, wit 
true attachment to old customs and prejudices, 1n k 
course of opposition to the measure, Instances are no 
