436 THE 
AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
[JUNE 27, 
but unfortunately the money paid for it does not benefit 
the grower, but leaves Ireland in the shape of rent paid 
to absentees. No country, however fertile and produc- 
tive, can stand a continued drain on its resources with- 
out a corresponding return to prevent exhaustion. A 
man can have no heart to work when he feels that all 
his exertion, and every endeavour he makes to better 
himself in the world, are paralysed from the want of 
encouragement and the neglect of his interests, Let 
us hope to see a united band rise up determined to de- 
yote their time, talents, and strength to the service of 
Ireland, casting politics and party spirit aside. There 
cannot be a doubt of the result of such a patriotic 
design. It would spread over a distracted country 
peace, tent 5 1l ip.—Falcon. 
Autumn-planted Potatoes—I1 am anxious to know 
what results have been experienced by others from the 
system of planting Potatoes in theautumn. I tried the 
experiment last November in two situations on my 
glebe, and gave every advantage of husbandry and 
manure. One of the plots has just been dug over and 
planted again, in consequence of the failure of 9-10ths 
of the plants ; the other still remains with about half its 
plants alive. The Potatoes which I put in in March 
are a most promising crop, far outstripping the autumn 
plants in growth, and hitherto not indicating a single 
failure.—Clericus, Isle of Wight. [We have many 
acres in this neighbourhood flourishing autumn- 
planted Potato crop.] 
Potatoes.—The following statement may be relied 
on:—A person near Ross got up his early Potatoes 
before the severe frost of July. They were all sound. 
He did not plant his late Potatoes till after that frost. 
These were sound also.— T. Randall, Fakenham, 
May 18. 
How to establish a Rookery.—Some of your corre- 
spond ave ionall p d a wish to hear of 
any mode by which rooks might be attracted to trees 
which they do not now frequent, and the beginning of a 
rookery be established. I think we have been success- 
ful here in an attempt of this kind, as we have induced 
a number of rooks to haunt our lines of old trees, and 
a pair have this year built a nest and are now far ad- 
vanced in the business of incubation, They and their 
young will undoubtedly return to the spot another year, 
and as no guns are ever fired near the place, we shall 
most likely soon have a rookery. The nearest nests of 
these birds are in two small assemblages about a mile 
and a half from us. We have formerly tried the plans 
of fixing nests and bundles of sticks upon the trees, but 
with no success. The rooks came, but only to pull the 
nests to pieces and to carry away materials, never show- 
ing any disposition to remain, Two years ago we de- 
termined to try what must indeed be a slower but 
seemed a more promising method. We sent to a dis- 
tant rookery, not nearer than ten miles, as the crow 
flies, for a number of strong well-fledged young nest- 
lings. These were brought home, carefully tended, fed 
almost every hour in the day for many weeks with 
coarse butcher’s meat and the few earth-worms that 
could be procured in that dry spring, while their thirst 
was satisfied frequently by water from a spoon. Being 
very sensitive of cold in the absence of the parent birds, 
they were kept in a warm stable, upon a bedding of hay, 
and some of that material was strewn over their backs 
when they had settled down to sleep for the night, 
When the sun shone the door was kept open, and they 
were carried outside to bask in its beams, which seemed 
todo them great good. It is recommended that not 
more than ten birds be taken for this experiment, and 
these as large and as strong as possible. They will be 
found to require a great deal of meat. If soaked bread, 
or paste, or Potatoes, or any other vegetable substitute 
be tried, they will immediately fall back in condition, 
and some will die. While the young bird is growing 
and its plumage maturing, it must have the most sub- 
‘stantial animal food, and that continually administered 
together with water. A careful woman will be the best 
nurse to such a family, As soon as they are strong 
enough they must have full liberty to exercise their 
wings by scrambling and flying on to the nearest wall, 
railing, or bushes. There is no risk of their leaving the 
place. This they will not do for nearly three months 
yet. Already their cawing will have attracted many 
wild rooks around the spot, which will show a kindly 
Sympathy for the orphans, but will not seek to allure 
them to any other place, as their own parents would do 
if within hearing. As soon as they can perch at nights 
high enough to be safe from cats, they may be left in 
the open air. It may be some weeks yet before they 
will learn to peck up their food from the ground, even 
when thrown down to them. Soon after they learn to 
do this they will begin to forage a little in search of 
food, and sometimes to take a flight into the nearest 
fields in company with wild rooks, but they must still | 
be fed as often as they return and clamour for food, 
and especially in an evening. The longer they continue 
to be fed the more will they become attached to the 
locality. At length, however, they will become entirely 
independent and will form a little flock of rooks who will 
continually come and rest upon the nearest tall trees 
and consider these as their home. They will goto roost, 
indeed, with the other rooks of the country, perhaps in 
some distant wood ; but they will frequently come and 
repose, in the winter months, upon their favourite trees 
during the day time. This they will continue to do not 
only for the first but in subsequent years. They will 
attract large flocks of strangers to come and rest in the 
same manner, If unmolested by guns some of them 
will be seen to break off and carry twigs:in the spring, 
but'very possibly none of the birds may be sufficiently 
mature to breed until a second season. Eventually, if 
there be any gratitude in rooks, some of them will come 
and form a settlement in earnest, as has been the case 
at this place.— R. Carr, Dunstan Hill, Durham. 
Gas-tar Conerete.—The mixture I use is in the fol- 
lowing proportions :— 
Broken flints, to 4 inch guage m m -» 6 bushels, 
Powdered chalk, or slake and sifted lime ..1 ,, 
Road dirt (washed or powdered), and sifted stone 
or clean sharp sand .. m m .. 3) 
Coal-gas tar .. e N oe . +» 6 gallons. 
I level the floor"carefully, according to the purpose for 
which it is required. I have a board 4 feet square of 
slabs, with ledges 9 inches high on two opposite sides, 
and ledges 3 inches high on the other opposite sides. 
I throw down on this board 2 bushels of stone, and mix 
gradually with them 2 gallons of tar, till every stone is 
wetted, and then sift over it and mix with it one-third of 
a bushel of lime, and the like of sand. This mixing is 
done with spades, by a man and boy turning it over and 
over till it forms a stiff black concrete, which is imme- 
diately spread 3 inches thick evenly over the levelled 
space, and lime and ‘sand ‘sifted over it. Proceed till 
your space is covered, or a day’s work done; as soon 
as it will bear it, which, if thoroughly mixed, is imme- 
diately, roll it with a heavy iron roller, sifting sand and 
lime after the roller as tar oozes up from the conselida- 
tion of the stones. It does not harden so as to be used 
in less than a week, nor completely for a month ; but it 
is then hard as glass, impenetrable by liquid, by horse 
or pig, or by rats. Until quite hard, it should be fre- 
quently rolled—the more the better will it be. Rolling 
I have found to be the only method to obtain a solid 
body and even surface, If time cannot be granted it to 
harden, it should be covered with a coat of sand several 
inches thick, which may be afterwards removed. 1 
have had in use floors thus constructed for several 
years, quite sound and uninjured by horse and pig ; 
ave done some ‘in the last week, carefully noting the 
expense for the purpose of this communication, I fin 
it to be at the utmost 1s. per yard, allowing the highest 
prices and best materials, namely, flints broken to 
à an inch and sifted, delivered at 5d. per bushel ; lime, 
delivered at 5d. per bushel ; tar, 4d. per gallon ; labour, 
man 2s. per day, boy ls. per ditto; I allow 1d. per 
yard for carting sand, and for the labour of rolling at 
odd times after the floor is laid. Any light materials 
(provided they are hard and free from clay mould, or 
lime in Jumps) will answer the purpose equally well, if 
to be procured cheaper ; and to the powdered chalk 
fine powdered glass or stone, or scales from a forge, are 
good additions. Any farmer laying down such a pave- 
ment in stables, yards, or neat-houses, would be repaid 
in the first year by the saving of manure alone in quan- 
tity and quality, besides the advantages gained in the 
health and cleanliness of his animals. It is obvious that 
I have charged high prices for all the materials used. 
I have tried boiling the tar; no advantage resulted, 
and the cost and trouble were somewhat increased.— 
J. P. B.,June 19. 
West Indian Agriculture.— You were good enough 
some weeks back to refer me to various sources of in- 
formation respecting the coccus insect, of which you 
said the specimen I sent you from the West Indies was 
a variety. The situation in which the insect ensconces 
itself is so secure a one that I almost despair of suc- 
cess in contending with it by artificial means, The 
lower part of the cane leaf embraces the stalk so closely 
that it is not easily separated, and yet it is between the 
two that this terrible insect lives and commits its depre- 
dations, the precise nature of which is not very appa- 
rent, though the effects are wofully so, for the plant 
in which it has established itself inevitably withers and 
dies, To strip these leaves from the stalk would be, 
I apprehend, death to the young plants ; and yet there 
is no other means of getting at the insect. l'can only 
think that steeping in some poison must be looked to, 
and even this is a formidable operation where you have 
to deal with plants by the tens of thousands ; and I 
confess I fix my hopes more upon an improved tillage 
of the soil, and consequently a more vigorous and rapid 
growth, for I suppose in the great majority of cases 
disease is caused by an unhealthy condition of plant. 
If it be desirable to expedite and strengthen the growth 
of the Turnip against the ravages of the fly, so, I pre- 
sume, must it be desirable to invigorate the cane plant 
against its various enemies, I am happy to say that 
during my short stay in the west I saw that a very de- 
cided improvement in the character of cultivation was 
on foot, and that men's minds are not merely open to 
conviction, but eager for it ; that not only the plough, 
but various other implements are multiplying, and that 
there is every reason to hope that whilst the soil will 
thus be brought into a better state of cultivation, the 
planter will be rendered more independent of manual 
labour, of which it seems to me that under the new 
system of things it is absolutely impossible to command 
a sufficiency to work the estates according to the old 
methods, It is true that hitherto the cane has ap- 
feared to demand a peculiar kind of cultivation which 
could not be afforded it, otherwise than by the use of 
the hoe ; but I doubt not that as agricultural informa- 
tion is diffused, it will be found that that implement will 
supply most if not all that is wanting. Indeed, this 
point may be said to have been fully d d not 
Probably something may be here allowed for the rich- 
ness of the soil, resulting from the disintegration of 
igneous rocks, and something to the less severity with 
which it has been cropped ; still the success of imple- 
mental culture may be said to be here firmly established, 
and I doubt not that the result of cach experiment will 
induce an extension of the system. For my own part, 
I look upon it as the only thing which can save the 
West Indies from the ruin which threatens them. The 
old system has been carried, if I mistake not, nearly or 
quite to the limits of its capabilities ; I judge more par- 
ticularly from the island of Barbadoes, and yet the same 
estates still make adequate returns ; this cannot be said 
to be the case with the great majority, and it is a rare 
thing indeed for a small estate to hold its own, The 
fact is that a West Indian estate must be highly culti- 
vated if it is to be remunerative ; and in most instances 
a very high state of cultivation is maintained by the 
planter, who may truly be said to be indefatigable to a 
degree which would surprise many who have never 
visited the islands. But it is clear that high cultivation 
y manual labour, even where it can be obtained, must 
be very expensive, more so than can be met by low 
prices of produce, with the most deplorable uncertainty 
of result, owing to the great uncertainty of weather 
which often, at the end of the cane’s growth, ruins all 
the well founded hopes and expectations of the pre- 
ceding 10 or 12 months; not to speak of those 
numerous enemies with which the cane is affected, such 
as that which led me to take up my pen to address you, 
and which actually caused the gentleman from whose 
estate the specimen sent you was taken to plant his 
erop over five times last year, and after all without 
establishing a crop. Yet this is an estate in the very 
highest state of cultivation. When I speak of high cul- 
tivation you will observe that I am speaking of the old 
system. Ifeel convinced that the condition of the land 
may be still further improved by a more scientific cul- 
ture, and particularly by deepening where the soil will 
admit of it, and by admixt oth with hanical 
and chemical views. For instance, I have seen much 
land of a deep tenacious character deficient in cal- 
careous material, yet lying on beds of the finest marl. 
I need not say what must be required in such cases. 
Again, I have seen fine soils of this heavy character 
thoroughly tilled by implements and bearing luxuriant 
canes, which, however, have not ripened so as to make 
ood sugar. I apprehend in such cases that a very 
large dose of lime or marl would be well bestowed, an 
so on. But the planter is grievously hampered for 
means to carry such imp: ts into tion, 
without running into debt, which he knows would be 
his ruin ; he has the greatest difficulty in keeping his 
estate supplied with cash for the weekly labour, and for 
extra work he is quite unable to pay. Under such cir- 
cumstances it is clear that he must have recourse to the 
i l i as I con- 
c 
mosi S o! 
ceive, especially the substitution of implemental instead 
of manual labour. It is maintained, however, by many 
that this is no saving at all, for that in such islands a8 
Barbadoes, where pasturage does not abound, the pro- 
viding for the keep of the beasts employed would be an 
inereased burden. I shall not attempt to discuss this 
subject here, but I feel convinced that you will agree 
with me that this must be a mistake, and that on every 
account it must be the true interest of the agriculturist 
to feed a large portion of stock on an arable farm, 
where farm-yard manure cannot be purchased, and to 
feed it well up to its work, I should be heartily glad 
to assist in drawing attention to our West Indian colo- 
nies, with the appearance of which I have lately been 
much interested, of the capabilities of which I think in. 
the highest possible manner, even under existing Cit- 
cumstances ; but of the fate of which (many of them, at 
any rate), I entertain the liveliest apprehensions.—P- 
The Necessity for an Extension of Savings’ Banks im 
Rural Districts must, I think, be at once manifest 
These excellent institutions, to confer the fullest advan- 
tages which they can be made capable of extendings 
must reach the homes of the masses of our labouring 
g must. become more 
advantage. He accordingly proposed to the gentlemen 
Dumfriesshire the isl 
e 
S 
in the different parishes of the county. 
was applauded, his dati 2 
steady, however, in the pursuit of his object, and a 
cipating the benefit to be derived from it, he formed t t 
Ruthwell Savings’ Bank in his own parish, and Ad 
only were his expectations of its success fully realise f 
but he could be proud of being the founder of ut 
society that gave the impulse which has fast Spree 
through the kingdom. ‘hat so praiseworthy an ine 
ample should not inspire with zeal the clergy and d 
influential residents in our parishes, in England, Wale& 
only upon estates througl the different 
islands, but in an especial manner in 'the island of St. 
Kitts, where the canes appear more luxuriant than any- 
thing I saw in the northern group of islands, and where, 
4 d, the cultivation is exclusively impl E 
Ireland, and Scotland, where these institutions exten 
in carrying it out more generally, is truly surprising, 
While I have in former communications pointed D 
the advantages to be derived (and which are derived by 
DNE 
$ A d 
p ly few) from sayings’ banks, it is lamen 
