THE 
AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
449 
a EARLY HARVEST. 
RUMMOND’S IMPROVED REAPING 
SCYTHES continue to give great satisfaction, and are 
recommended with every confidence as being cheaper, quicker, 
and not so wasteful as the ordinary mode o owing grain ; 
are delivered free by the Subscribers in London, Liverpool, Hull, 
Newcastle, Cork, Belfast, and Londonderry, at 11s. 6d. each ; and 
when more than three are taken, at 11s. each. 
N. o order will be attended to from unknown corres- 
Pondents without a remittance. V. DRUMMOND & Sons. 
Agricultural Museum, Stirling, N.B., and 58, Dawson-street, 
Bublin.—July, 1846. 
BARROWMAN’S PLOUGHS.—Parties who were, owing to 
the g emand, disappointed in not getting these Ploughs 
last spring, are respectfully informed that a stock is now on 
haud. and orders can be executed forthwith, 
The Aguicwltural Gazette. 
SATURDAY, JULY 4, 1846. 
TINGS FOR THE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS. 
Espay, July 8—Agricultnral Society of England. 
URsDAY, — p. Soc. of Ireland, 
9—Agricultural Im: 
SD AY, — i 
xpxuspay, — 164 Meesing of the Eng. Ag. Soc. at Newcastle. 
Tiurspay, — 
'uvmspav, — 16—Agricul*ural Imp. Soc. of Ireland. 
LOCAL SOCIETIES. 
Ross—Wilts - (July 15) Flax Society, Belfast—Carluke. 
FA 
6—8t. Columb -Great Oakley 
Markat—Ci 
Try 
0 —. lletton — Tavistock— 
Chelmsford — Haleeworth — 
Wadebridge 
11—Dartford — Winchormb — 
Dervorive LIRAINAGE OF 
their inhabitants; but that with which we have 
more immediately to do is the immense loss of fer- 
tilising matter which is thus sustained by the land. 
e former subject, more immediately, and the 
latter, in a subordinate degree, is now being brought 
Pretty generally under public notice by the efforts 
of societies and individuals ; and, assuredly, when 
We consider the vast interests at stake, no efforts 
an be more truly benevolent and patriotic. Au 
excellent lecture * On the Health of Towns as in- 
uenced by Defective Cleansing and Drainage ; and | 
CORE Application of the Refuse of Towns to Agri-| 
cua Purposes," was lately. delivered* by Pro- 
A Goy, at the Russell Institution, in which the 
BONES of the subject which the reports of the 
i a ‘Towns Commission have published are 
x Sed and illustrated, in 2 manner very instruc- 
m t on the one branch of the subject, and in which 
C^ evidence as exists on the use of town manure 
Cre and on the Continent is brought to bear upon 
the other. The main facts are these :—That the 
average health of England is indicated by an 
annual mortality of two per cent. of her population ; 
that the average annual excess of deaths in thirty- 
Seven of our largest towns, during the years 1840, 
1841, and 1842, above the healthy standard of 
WO per cent., was 28,505; or, if we add other 
mos towns not enumerated, we may say 30,000 ; 
ae we add the population of Scotland 
TR reland, we may fairly estimate as the conse- 
PEE of adopting perfect sanatory measures, an 
me ^ saving of 60,000 lives to this country ; that 
every unnecessary death due to defective drain- 
tack Se., we may assume the occurrence of 28 at- 
an of unnecessary sickness ; that thus the loss 
Stir of all the preventable sickness and death 
n^ ly occurring in the United Kingdom may be 
Y estimated at 90,000,0007. 
«aed as regards the agricultural view of the sub- 
eet, w 2 > iuh i b 
Jeet, we must conclude by transferring the following 
Ex 
tract to our columns :— 
bra must now endeavour to estimate the other 
nch of national extravagance which I have 
moUght under your notice—to fix a value on the 
Ure which we are annually throwing into the sea. 
vem oui say nothing of the Jiquid manure which, 
drair ave been given to understand, is suffered to 
an ù away into the ditches, thence into the rivers, 
the Fn them into the sea, from fully one half of all 
the uimsteads of England ; I will speak merely of 
a Ta ppropriated refuse of large towns. 
lected Flanders, where manure is carefully col- 
Waste’ Instead of being, as here, suffered to run to 
Ore exereta of an adult are valued at 17. 17s. 
a ering the enormous additions made to this 
sonable ìn our towns, it will not be thought unrea- 
refine 9 to estimate the value of that part of the 
ithe se which now runs to waste at 27. per head of 
W population ; and supposing that in England and 
» the towns which are guilty of this extrava- 
ained in all only 5,000,000 inhabitants, 
ave an annual waste of at least ten mil- 
money, 
am now speaking of the gross value of town- 
Tanure, and not of dou which it would yield ; 
for there is no commodity of which the value is 
more dependant upon the expense of conveyance 
and distribution than manure. Thus, manure which 
on the field is worth 10s. a load, may have fetched 
in the place from which it was brought, only 1s. or 
1s. 6d., the difference being the expense of cartage 
and distribution. But, in the case of liquid ma- 
nure, the cost of conveyance and application would 
be so small as to inerease the relative value of the 
manure itself, and to yield a large profit on the 
capital employed. This profit has been variously 
estimated at from 12 to 15 per cent. 
* Hence, after all the cost of its application to the 
land has been defrayed, the refuse of towns which 
now runs to waste would have a high money value 
—a value probably exceeding, one year with 
another, that of all the corn and manure which we 
import. 
“ If this estimate were extended to the whole of 
the United Kingdom, it seems highly probable that 
the value of town-manure annually wasted would be 
equal to the loss and cost entailed upon the nation 
by premature death and unnecessary sickness. Ac- 
cording to this supposition, which does not appear 
unreasonable, the total annual waste from these two 
causes would be about 40,000,0007. ! 
* Such, then, are rude, but I believe by no means 
exaggerated estimates of the twofold waste oi 
health and life, on the one hand, and of the most 
valuable means of production, on the other, of which 
England is at present guilty, and it becomes a very 
serious question whether such extravagance can be 
persisted in without entailing the most alarming con- 
sequences. Our neglect of sanatory measures is 
obviously c! ble wit! i iderable part 
of the heavy and increasing burden of the poor-laws, 
which, though their ostensible object be the relief 
of destitution and suffering, must tend to occasion 
both by withdrawing several millions a-year from 
the labour-fund, which fund would probably effect 
much more towards the prevention of poverty than 
the best devised system of poor-laws can possibly 
do to relieve it. Sanatory measures would have 
all the certainty which attaches to measures of pre- 
vention, while the poor-laws are open to all the ob- 
| jections and the abuses which attach inseparably to 
the amiable but inefficient substitute for justice— 
charity.” 
In further discussing the interest which owners 
of land have in the conversion of their pastures ; 
having already exhibited the policy of breaking up 
down lands and cold pastures so soon as suitable 
tenants shall offer themselves; we arrive at the 
case of those of better quality—coop GRAZING 
Grounps. These comprised much of the Grass 
lands on the richer clays of the old red and new 
red geological formations as well as those on some 
of the clay members of oolitic series and on some 
parts of the London clay. The first are fóund 
developed to a great extent in Herefordshire ; the 
second in the counties of Somerset, Gloucester, 
Worcester, Warwick, Leicester, and Nottingham, 
as well as in Cheshire; and the third are found in 
Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, 
and in the counties of Rutland and Huntingdon ; 
and the last in some parts of Essex, Hertfordshire, 
Middlesex, Hampshire and Sussex. In the above 
enumeration we have not considered our alluvial 
pastures, for certainly they should still remain as 
meadows until all of inferior quality shall be under 
the plough. 
It is for the interest of individual proprietors that 
the poorer Grass land should be converted first, and 
it is for the interest of all that the “good grazing 
grounds ” remain till the last in the general exten- 
sion of arable culture. The question regarding 
them need not be entertained till our down lands 
and cold pastures are more generally under the 
plough. Nevertheless it may be for the interest 
of landowners to convert portions of good grazing 
grounds on their several farms—a higher rent will 
readily be given in consideration of this accom- 
modation, and no expense will be incurred, as in 
cases where the operation is extensive, for the 
erection of farm-buildings. And in the case of 
small estates it is questionable whether it may not 
be advisable to plough up the whole. "The follow- 
ing is a case in point ; we cannot give the details 
in the form of history,—the operations have not 
yet commenced, and we must, therefore, confine 
ourselves to anticipation and estimate ; neverthe- 
less the following statement will not be uninstruc- 
tive, as it will exhibit the mode in which a 
proposal for the conversion of good pasture land 
should be discussed. 
It is proposed to improve a small estate of about 
nated “good grazing ground.” It is proposed to 
drain it, build on it, execute good roads on it, and 
finally break it up. The first thing to be determined 
(the tithes having been already commuted), is an 
answer to the question—What increase in annual 
value may be expected from all these operations ? 
The neighbouring arable lands in good cultivation 
have been examined, and it is expected that this 
property may be made better than it is by 21s. per 
acre, or 1057. per annum on the whole. Now the 
proprietor expects 107. per cent. for what money 
he invests in this way, and he must therefore en- 
deavour to effect the desired change in the value of 
his estate by the expenditure of 1000 guineas. 
The Drainage he expects will cost 4/. per 
acre, or on the whole . é E ID 
And he will have to spend in improving 
the old roads and making new ones about 150 
The buildings he has to erect must there- 
fore not cost more than P M M 500 
Or else his whole expenditure will exceed £1050 
at which he has pitched it. 
The plan proposed for these buildings must be 
adapted for the veryhigh cultivation of so small a farm, 
in order that the expected rental be forthcoming. 
Mr. Warnes’s system of box-feeding isto be adopted, 
as its superiority has been considered fully esta- 
blished over the other methods in vogue. The cat- 
tle stalls will therefore consist of a space of 45 feet 
by 80 feet, with a floor of burnt clay, enclosed by 
walls, and divided into 32 spaces, each 8 feet by 
10 feet, arranged so that a passage shall adjoin 
each, and covered by a roof supported by the 
pillars dividing the “ boxes.” Accommodation 
will thus be given for 32 head of large cattle, or for 
12 oxen and 200 sheep, or for any other anange- 
ment of stock of equal size and consuming ability 
that may be desired. To this, of course, is annexed 
stabling for a sufficient number of cari-horses, a cart 
and implement shed, and a threshing and straw barn 
and granary; and the plan involves the erection of 
a steam engine to work the machinery, but the 
good policy of this erection may be doubted, unless 
it is desired the proprietor should be able to 
make additions to his little property. Now, this 
transaction, though on a limited sails perfectly 
illustrative of the method in which a decision must 
be made in the case of good grazing grounds. The 
probable increase in the: value of the land must be 
estimated, and ifit should prove à large per centage 
on the estimated expence attending the operations, 
then, provided the landlord has a trustworthy and 
capable tenant for the land, it should be broken up. 
'This method of procedure affords, we think, the 
only limit which can in reason be put to this pro- 
ceeding. It may answer well in practice to adopt 
a simpler method of determination, as, for instance, 
that Grass lands of 40s. per acre annual rental 
should remain in pasture (and certainly they ought 
till all of inferior quality be converted), or that 
Grass land capable of feeding an ox of a certain 
weight per acre per annum should remain, but 
these are certainly arbitrary, and may be inaccurate 
guides; the only method of making an intelligent 
decision is by careful calculation of expense and 
returns under the circumstances of each case. 
In reference to the landlord’s interest in the con- 
version of his pasture land, we may safely arrive at 
this conclusion, that, after deducting all those por- 
tions of his estate whose conversion to arable land 
would injure to any great extent its landscape 
beauty, as wellas those portions which it is advis- 
able should remain on each farm, as a convenience 
for the tenant ; having deducted, moreover’, all those 
portions which he is perfectly convinced would not 
yield him: so much more rent as would pay a suffi- 
cient interest on his necessary outlay for buildings, 
drainage, &c.—then, with the rest, it is the interest 
ofthe proprietor to proceed, beginning with those 
parts of poorest sort, and building and draining and 
breaking up as fast as his own means will enable 
him, and as fast as he can obtain tenants of the re- 
quisite trustworthiness, intelligence, and capital. 
AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS OF NEW 
YORK, U.S. 
REPLY OF COLONEL H. S, RANDALL TO A TREASURY CIRCULAR, 
PUBLISHED IN THE “ CORTLAND DEMOCRAT.” 
Tur average net profits of agricultural production, 
where a considerable section of country is included in 
the estimate, must necessarily be, to some extent, con- 
jectured. The United States census, though giving 
gross amounts of products, does not give the number of 
acres cultivated, the amount of labour, or the animals 
employed to obtain them. Dairy products, for example, 
are stated, but not the number of cows milked, acres 
depastured, or labourers employed. On sheep alone 
100 acres which lies on the clay of the new red 
sandstone formation—its rental is at present about 
30s. per acre—it is nearly all in Grass, and though 
not of first-rate quality, it may properly be desig- 
are we enabled to obtain the product per animal. It 
appears that in 1840 the number of sheep in the State 
was 5,118,777, and the product in wool 9,845,295 lbs., 
or less than 2 Ibs. per head. It is to be hoped, and it 
ment 
