27—1846.] THE 
AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
451 
and this compresses it), Three men can work at one 
cart; if strong men they may fill 120 yards in a day. 
A man and pair of horses (for at least two carts are 
needed) works with them, and this adds another $d. a 
yard to the cost, 
he 2d operation (turning) costs ld. per eubie yard 
Measured before turned ;two men work at one heap, a 
Tight and a left-handed ‘man should work together ; a 
hay knife must be used to eut the heaps down in slices 
2 feet wide, and these are successively thrown up and 
mixed with 6 inches of the earth on which they lay. 
The 3d operation (second turning) will cost about 
3d. per yard, also measured before turned. The 4th 
Operation (loading and carting to the field), will eost 
ad. per yard to fill; and ‘four horses and carts are 
needed in travelling the distance of 500 yards. One man 
and horse are in the field emptying ; another horse is 
at the heap with the cart that is being filled ; a third is 
going full; and the fourth returning empty. Three 
mien will fill enough (i. e. 120 yards a day) to keep the 
whole going.* Two boys will be needed to lead the 
carts. The expense of horse labour, besides the 3d. a 
as putting two boys as equal in expence to one man, 
ae be 16s, a day, or rather more than 14d. per yard. 
ihe 6th operation (spreading) will be done by two men 
if the dressing be not very heavy, as fast as the dung is 
got ready, and three ploughs will suffice to plough it in. 
xm € expense of the spreading will therefore amount to 
3 out the half of three farthings a yard. We assume 
th aR cubic yards peracre to be the dressing, and 
5 i it is applied broadeast ; if applied in the drills, it 
eeds'in the spreading not two men, but one man and 
Rie women, Hach row of heaps is on three drills; 
th Man goes first, and, dividing every heap into three, 
8 women follow and distribute each in its:drills. 
esti € Shall now recapitulate, and in a second column 
ig the cost of each operation per yard, measured 
MES N ‘fully manufactured, of course allowing for an es- 
ated reduction of bulk. 
| m 
l | before the 
ch 
inure has 
Y 
3 | Day 
and - and 
Torse| work. |Horse 
wor jwork. 
l Ti i i Her xdi 
eng im yard, and carting to} 
S First teenie a as | 
4 pecond Turning ;. ;. .. 
5. Divi ig and Casting) 
Ona Ru Fiod ui 
TotalPiece-work .. 
Total Day and Horse-wor 
Wen all, the expense of manure-making, up to lite 
8 Spread on land, need not exceed 74d. per yard, 
measured just before being spread ; but 134. of this 
(or, if we subtraet the Spreading also, 24d. of this) is 
One at day's wages, andall the rest, which is properly 
Plece-work, may be bargained for at 424. a cubie yard. 
xm may just say one word here on the policy of 
meee men ina chain of operations; the force at 
Sou link, so to speak, being proportioned to the 
the ES Strain whieh is brought to bear uponit. Thus, 
ae hee carting, dividing in the field, spreading, and 
Tink ing in are such a chain, and if the foree at each 
will coc Da with industry to do the work which 
beon is to its share, then, though the first party only 
A Rürot easure work, yet their industry thus exerted is 
Y for that of all the others.— M. S. 
Snan Home Correspondence. 
much € Farms.—The following extract contains so 
in the hie and common sense, it may be worth a corner 
farmey eee Gazetle, e if we listen to the large 
mist, "2e Scientific agriculturist, the political econo- 
» good farming must perish with large farms; the 
dea that good farming can exist, unless on large 
ley i 
Eby : 
3 ms cultivated with great capital, they hold to be ab- 
ning ri ical 
Cleaning the we > arrang 
implements land, regular rotations, valuable stock and 
$2 bin 
Miis East Friesland, Holstein, in short, on the 
Con, i 4 
the iment, from the Sound to Calais, than we see on 
am (ue of the British coast, opposite to this line, and 
i Same latitudes, from the Frith of Forth all round 
MO eDoves 5 
er. Minute labour on small portions of arable 
% SR Pea s 
Oce an tion of the contrivances which will always 
‘UY toi the: practi i i 
to 9i the practical man, and which are useful as fillips 
hoe” industry of the men, I n See of r^ 
equa] Ber more than one cubic yard ; in fact, 1 
and qu 
method, Tetain liberty to pay them according to either of these 
ther S. If they have worked well and with a will, we pay 
" a 
largest, 9 way in which the sum due is brought out The 
tarts 120, mention that the men who at piece wages filled into 
ages, 1 cubic yards in a day, used formerly, when at day’s 
» rarely to exceed 100 cubic yards daily. 
through them, unnecessarily wide because they are bad, 
and bad because they are wide, in neglected commons, 
waste spots, useless belts and elumps of sorry trees, 
and such unproduetive areas, than would maintain 
the poor of the parish if they were all laid together and 
cultivated.” —Falcon. 
Pigeons.— We have-a pigeon-house with many birds, 
of the rock sort chiefly, in it. About two years ago, 
two milk-white strange birds came in an almost starved 
state, and the rocks attacked them fiercely ; they were 
secured, and have been kept in a large wicker-cage, in 
a room in the house, and the lady who has them has in 
vain tried to obtain young pigeons from them. They 
build and hatch in the cage, then quarrel and forsake 
the young birds, ‘Sometimes the eggs are forsaken 
after a few days’ sitting. Thinking that boxes might 
induce them to sit more steadily, they were sup- 
plied, but to no better purpose. The cock appears to 
sit more upon the eggs, or at least as much as the hen. 
Can you oblige me by pointing out the best mode of 
proceeding to obtain young birds? and also by saying 
what sort you suppose they are—being white, with 
ruffs over the head extending down to the wings ?— 
Capuchin. 
Stugs.—Having seen two or three methods suggested 
lately by your correspondents for destroying slugs, I 
am tempted to send you the results of a very old- 
fashioned method for getting rid of these pests to th 
young crops. Finding that the slugs were very busy 
with a piece of Parsnips, I had the ground strewed 
with Cabbage leaves, and I had.an account kept of the 
result of the three first pickings from the Cabbage 
leaves, which was done about 5 o'clock in the morning; 
there were upwards of 4000 slugs taken from the leaves 
in the three mornings from off about 25 rods or poles 
of ground. I cannot think that there can be any 
remedy more simple or more effectual than this, espe- 
cially in a damp season, as this has been.—J. R., 
Bagshot. 
Transmutation of Corn.—Being one of those to 
whom the announcement of the transmutation of Oats 
into Barley or Rye was by no means, welcome, inas- 
much as if true, the fact would overturn many cherished 
opinions, and at the same time desirous of proving the 
accuracy of the statements set forth by many persons, 
above the suspicion of intentionally propagating an 
error, I determined last year to satisfy myself: by mak- 
ing the experiment. On the 16th of June, 1845, I 
dibbed a quantity of carefully-selected Oats on a space 
on the outside of my garden, and also on two other 
spaces the same quantity of Talavera Wheat and 
Barley. On the 15th of July I cut off the three crops 
almost close to the ground, and repeated the cutting on 
the 16th of August, on the 22d September, and in the 
first week of November. At the last cutting I noticed 
that several of the Oat-plants had perished ; whereas 
the Wheat and Barley had survived, and the remaining 
Oats as well as the Wheat and Barley had thrown up 
numerous stems, Early in the spring all the plants 
grew vigorously, and were in blossom in the first week 
of this month (June). No change, however, ean I dis- 
cover in the Oats, or in the Wheat and Barley. The 
Oats are still Oats, and not one of them has undergone 
the slightest metamorphosis, The strength of the plants, 
and the apparently increased number ‘of stems cf the 
three kinds of grain, as well as the early ripening of the 
crop, lead me to think that some good may result from 
the experiment, and that it may be found in many situa- 
tions profitable to sow at Midsummer, and feed off two 
or three times before winter. It should be borne in 
mind that the soil in which the above experiment was 
made is not what is understood as garden-mould, as it 
contains little or no manure, haying been burnt to a 
considerable depth the previous autumn, and has not 
been manured subsequently.—G. Lloyd, Warwick. 
At the request of my employer I sowed on the 18th of 
une, 1845, about one rood of ground in an orchard, 
with white one-sided Oats, and cut them first early in 
August, and again in October, each time previous to 
their coming into ear. The result is part Wheat and 
part Oats now in full ear. In support of transforma- 
tion I beg to state that two labourers were present at 
|the time of sowing, and being naturally rather incredu- 
| tous upon the subject, fully satisfied themselves that no 
other grain than Oats was sown, and in order to prevent 
seeds being deposited with the manure, the ground was 
dressed about six weeks previously with manure eol- 
lected from a common,where the cattle had no means of 
picking upany grain. I havestated the above particulars 
because disbelievers are apt to conjecture that the 
transformed grain must have been deposited along with 
the Oats by some means or ‘other. Dr. Weissenborn 
tried the experiment, and the result was Rye. He states 
“Jet any one sow Oats during the latter end of June, 
and the transformation in question will certainly take 
place.” In the present case part is Wheat ; the other 
part might not have been properly cut. In conclusion, 
| 
| 
| 
I would recommend all who doubt to try the experi- 
ment, bearing in mind that the crop must only be twice 
cut, and each time previous to the grain coming into 
ear. Since writing the above it has been suggested that 
the Wheat might have been sown by somebody unknown 
to us; but I give that idea no eredence, for had any 
one attempted that they most likely would have sown 
Rye, which was the grain we expected. I inclose for 
your inspection two ears of the Wheat and two of the 
Oats for your opinion.—George Robson, Gardener to 
R. W. Blencowe, Esq. The Hooke, Lewes, Sussex. 
[We should certainly prefer believing that some mistake 
by the experimenter, or some trick upon him, had been 
made or played, rather than that this is a real case of 
transmutation.. 
On the Potato Disease, &c.—1 suppose the cause 
may have arisen from minute or animaleulous flies. 
spawniag or depositing their eggs on diseased parts 
of the Potato-haulm, which upon hatching, the larvæ or 
young produced, descend or creep down and enter into 
the Potatoes, particularly those inclined to, or begun to 
rot, or become diseased from damp or wet. Microscopie 
i cannot make ; butan intelligent and to 
ended upon gardener assured me that in some dis- 
eased Potatoes he perceived them to be quite crammed 
with minute white maggots, and I have myself seen 
some few dimunitive ones slowly erawling on the outside 
of diseased Potatoes. A minute species of Beetle is 
reported to have been found also in diseased Potatoes ; 
but as insects-of that class live chiefly on animal sub- 
Ithink the best and most a: 
them dry and unfrosted, with a good s ng of lime 
over them after a moderate fumigation of Tobacco- 
smoke, so as not to give any flavour of it to those for 
dressing, but more largely for the seed reserved.—In 
addition, I will also notice the Turnip flies, to state that 
I think if the Turnip-seeds were to have a little fumigat- 
ing of Tobaeco.smoke just before sowing, that the 
s would not assail them to deposit their eggs, 
as perhaps they usually do, and that when the seeds 
vegetate and peep above the ground, I would sprinkle 
them over with a watering-pot [The watering-pot 
is not a farm implement], with a mixture composed 
of half an ounce of creosote, added to a gallon of water, 
iter plants and herbs are seldom molested by 
tead of the water substitute a moderately 
ion of some bitter herbs,as Tansy or Worm- 
gs of Quassia, omia little Aloes, 
the growing Potato-haulm may be occa- 
sionally sp led, and the trial of its efficacy may be 
made on the^young vegetating Turnips on a selected 
patch in a Turnip-field, for I do not believe that the 
mischief is done to the Turnips in the character of 
flies, but by their larvee or young; therefore, I do not 
recommend this as a remedy to destroy, but a preventive 
of the deposit of the eggs. By this plan I have sub- 
mitted, if attended to, I feel eonfident that in future nof 
only the cause may be removed and the prevention of 
the Petato disease be also effected, but likewise all 
farther injury to the Turnips from the Tarnip-flies. 
Let my plan be decided by trial and proof.— Henry 
Jenner, M.D., F.L.S., Berkeley, Dec., 1845. 
Allotment System.—A paragrap! 
system at page 363, by “a Dors 
the following remarks from my pen :—The writer in 
question asserts, that in many instances as much as 
ls. per perch is charged for land let to the poor in 
allotments. , Now, in answer to this, I can state, that 
in no one instance that has come under my observa- 
tion (and I have had opportunities of observing a great 
many) have I known of more than 10s. being charged: 
for the rood or of an acre, i.e. 2d. the perch. In- 
deed, in the parish in which I am living (a parish in 
Herts) the poor have allotments of land at 5s. the 
rood, i.e. ljd. the perch; whilst the average rate of 
rent paid by the farmers in the parish and neighbour- 
hood is 1/. the acre, exclusive of poor's-rates, &e., 
whilst in the allotments these are paid by the owners, 
But your correspondent considers it a question, whether 
an allotment of Jand let even ata reasonable rent be 
in reality a desirable thing for the poor man; and his 
reason is this, that it requires more labour to culti- 
vate than .a man, after being employed all day in a 
master's service, is eapable of giving, if he does justice 
to his employer. (As nothing is said about the size of 
the allotment, and as this is a material consideration 
just here, we will assume it to.be a rood or 4 of an aere, 
which, in.my estimation, should be the limit). 
the objection above may apply in some few cases, but 
in the generality of cases I deny that it does. If the 
man is single, or married and has no family, or a very 
young family growing up, so young that not one can 
handle a spade or pull a weed ; his wife an invalid, and 
himself engaged from years’ end to years’ end, in hard 
labour all the day long,—it may not be in the power 
of such an one to eultivate his rood of ground. But, 
ina parish where you would find one labouring man 
circumstanced as above, you would find 50 in totally 
Opposite circumstances ; you would find one with a 
strong and active wife,able to dig and plant and sow. 
Another, with:a numerous family, one or more capable 
of sharing in the labours of the allotment. A third, 
