508 THE 
AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
[JULY 25, 
tilizers ; a mill'for reducing the manure and mixingjit 
with other ingredients, would be very simple and easy 
of construction. 
Fold-yard manure reduced to a coarse powder, has 
one property not common to any other fertilising sub- 
stance, and that is its capability of holding moisture in 
a state of mechanical mixture, and in consequence of 
its open texture, of keeping the earth imbedding the 
‘seed in a moist friable condition, for a longer period 
than any other description of fertilizer. Guano, or any 
mineral fertilizer when mixed with it, would not so 
‘immediately be washed below the roots of the plant. 
I shall be much gratified if anything I have said 
should direet the attention of practical men to the sub- 
ject of manufacturing and storing up manures by some 
such plan as I have described. I would suggest for 
iheir ideration the desirabl of ining the 
effect of pressure on manure when placed under circum- 
stances similar to that in the bins, and what period of 
time would be required to render it a tolerably dry 
mass by such pressure ; also, when it is taken out of 
the bins, whether the elements of the manure are so 
completely combined as to lose nothing by exposure 
when subjected to a further drying in the air. Iam 
inclined to believe that no material loss would be sus- 
tained by such exposure, and that manure so prepared, 
that is, on this process from first to last, would save an 
immense amount of labour, cartage, &e., in all proba- 
bility the saving in one, or at most two years, would be 
equal to the expense of erecting the towers, &c.— 
Henry Liddell, Beverly Road, Hull. 
Home Correspondence. 
The Garden Farm.—l have, within the last two 
years, taken in hand 20 acres of land with the object in 
view of uniting a profitable occupation with a large out- 
Jay in labour. For this purpose I cultivate it wholly by 
the spade. It has been drained during the past winter 
and dug over about 10 or 11 inches deep ; and, in the 
course of this operation, upwards of 1100 eubie yards of 
stones have been removed. These I am now selling off 
` the land at a price which will pay the expense of digging 
them ; but still the cost of culture hitherto has been 
very great. To repay this, and to justify a continuance 
of the spade-husbandry system, I must adopt a mode of 
cultivation calculated to yield large returns. The sys- 
tem on which my plan is based is that described by Mr. 
Morton as adopted by Mr. Dimmery, of Stincheomb, 
"Gloucester, His rotation was—1, Wheat ; 2, Turnips; 
3, Potatoes: and this I propose to adopt with this alter- 
ation, that between Turnips and Potatoes, and between 
Wheat and Turnips, erops of Cabbages, Tares, Rye, 
&c., might be taken, useful in early spring for the cattle 
in the stalls. I propose also, in ease Potatoes should 
prove a hazardous erop, to substitute Beans, Peas, Flax, 
Chicory, or any other crop for which I can obtain a 
ready sale. To maintain the fertility of the land under 
this heavy cropping, it will be necessary not only to buy 
guano or bonedust, soot, &c., but also to purchase con- 
siderable quantities of oileake, Linseed and Bean-meal, 
&e.,for the cattle fed on the farm, on whose manure 
the permanence of the system will much depend. These 
cattle I intend to purchase in autumn, stall-feed during 
winter, and sell in spring. This will, I think, answer 
the purpose better than attempting to keep them on 
throughout the year. Where the plan of breeding is to 
be adopted, or where a dairy is kept, a different mode of 
eropping will be required. Portions of Lucerne or 
Sainfoin, successions of Rye, Vetches, Rye-grass, &c., 
will be required throughout the summer ; early Tur- 
nips and Swedes will be wanted in autumn, &. I 
should be very glad if you could induce some of your 
readers who have had experience in the spade cultiva- 
tion of land for dairy purposes, to give me some of it 
through your columns.— M. S 
Kohl Rabbi.—Some time ago I sawin your Paper 
some account of Kohl Rabbi. I recollect, many years 
ago, planting about 1-10th part of an acre in a Turnip 
field of 15 acres, consisting both of Swedes and white 
Kinds, but the hares eat all the Kohl Rabbi. In April, 
1845, I sowed about a pound of seed in the corner of a 
field which was very poor. I transplanted them in 
Turnip drills 28 inches apart, and about 2 feet distant 
in the rows. One part of them I planted in two drills 
where the Swede Turnip had missed, but unfortunately 
the cows got into the field and eat nearly the whole of 
them in preference to the Turnips. Those that were 
left I think yielded more weight than the Swedes, and 
were eaten at the same time. Some of them I planted on 
the 7th July, in very cloddy land, but still they came to 
a very good crop. All animais seem amazingly fond of 
the plant, and prefer it, I think, to Swedes. Large 
quantities of it are grown in the gardens in Germany, 
and I saw them about 4 lbs. weight in June ; and I ap- 
prehend these must have been sown in the autumn, like 
the Scotch Cabbage. They seem with the Germans to 
be largely consumed as a vegetable. On the whole, I 
think the plant as good or better than Swede Turnips, 
and possesses the advantage of transplanting with safety. 
Can any of your readers give me any account of its cul- 
iivation ?—A Farmer. 
Tolls.—l perceive you avoid answering legal in- 
quiries, but as the following is purely relating to agri- 
culture, and solely affecting the interest of the farmer, 
I trust this will elicit a reply. Last year I paid toll 
for different loads of guano, which I very reluctantly 
submitted to. Now, has the toll collector a right to 
demand pay for admitting a load of guano to pass his 
gate? 1 understand there is an Act which expressly 
says that all fertilisers are toll-free, which he appears 
to know: but he persists in charging for the bags con- 
taining it, observing that if it were shot into the body 
of the cart like farm-yard manure, there would be no 
charge, or if I will swear that the bags are used for 
manure themselves. Now, this I cannot do, for the 
bags are never buried in the soil, perhaps they come 
into my kitchen, or sometimes the hind’s wives get 
them, Now I should not purchase the bags, it is the 
guano alone, and if it was not for the sake of the latter 
the former would never be sought after ; besides, I 
pay the same price for bags as guano, and consider that 
he has no claim upon them for toll, because they are a 
means by which the guano is rendered moveable, as a 
cart composed of wood, iron, &c., is of manure ; and 
can he refuse to admit a cart-load of manure free of toll 
because’ the farmer. will not swear that the iron, 
&c., about his cart will be worn entirely for agricul- 
tural purposes. Some of that very iron may afterwards 
be made into articles of convenience for household pur- 
poses, as the guano bags, for aught I know, are. Would 
you try to remove us this imposition, for it is a general 
thing in this quarter, and considered too bad ? 
above is illegal, could I compel him to refund his 
charges?—Inkhorn. [We imagine the toll-man is 
wrong. Can any of our readers furnish experience 
bearing upon the point ? 
Savings’ Banks v. Odd Fellowship.—** J. H.” (see 
page 437), with respect to Savings’ Banks says—“ They 
must be made to supersede money clubs, sick clubs, 
odd fellowship, and the building society. That savings’ 
banks are excellent institutions, no one, I suppose, will 
deny, and one would think the time they have been in 
operation that no market town throughout England 
was without one. Let us compare the mechanic de- 
positing his sixpence per®week’ in a savings’ bank with 
one paying that sum to an odd fellowship institution. In 
the first place he will have at the end of the year 17. 6s., 
and depend upon it if sickness lays him up, that sum is 
soon exhausted; in the other, if unable to follow his 
daily avocations, 10s. a week, and a doctor found until 
recovered, If death ensue, 107. to bury him, and 57. for 
his wife, besides assisting the widow and orphan. With 
regard to wasteful expenditure much has been cur- 
tailed, and what remains cannot well be avoided at pre- 
sent. That the directors are alive to it, as manifested 
by their exertions, all must admit who know anything 
about odd fellowship ; and as for “ promoting evil for 
good,” I deny it in toto, or why should so many clergy- 
men join the body. “J. H.” may depend upon it that 
they know its principles and understand them as well as 
he does. Its exact principle is to benefit our fellow 
creatures, our fellow labourers, should ill-health 
prevent them from gaining a livelihood ; and it is to 
such institutions that hundreds have had cause to feel 
thankful. That the poor-rates in many parishes have been 
considerably lessened by their existence is well known. 
I hope our friend “J. H.” will possess a better feeling 
towards an institution which has a benevolent object in 
view ; for in comparing savings’ banks to sick societies, 
they are well adapted for two classes of people who are 
nearly as different in circumstance and character as 
“ chalk from cheese" — JV. Brown, Merevale. 
Potatoes.—Last October I planted a piece of ground 
with Potatoes, good and bad together. They have pro- 
duced a good crop, with no disease in it whatever. 
think it worth while to mention this, because I believe 
many persons have incurred serious losses by throwing 
away partially-diseased Potatoes.—C. M. 
Burnt Clay.—In your Gazette a fortnight since, you 
have given an extract of a communication of Mr. 
Pusey’s to another Journal, and the subject is one re- 
quiring elucidation. Burning the surface of the culti- 
vated arable land is practised to a considerable extent 
in this country with very varied effects, its benefit being 
highly lauded by some, and doubted by others. I con- 
fine the question entirely to burning the surface soil, 
and not to hedgerows and banks, which are commonly 
full of vegetable fibre, producing on that account dif- 
ferent results. I have enclosed with this note two 
samples of precisely the same soil (mild brick earth), 
which has undergone the action of fire by burning 
several clamps of bricks upon it. The soil directly 
below and in contact with the burning bricks is, as you 
will perceive in No. 1, red, and is of the depth from 12 
to 24 inches; immediately beneath this, and to the depth 
of 12 inches or more, the same soil is black (No. 2). I 
have applied several hundred yards of both these burnt 
earths to arable and pasture land, and to several vege- 
tables in my garden. The red has no apparent effect 
in stimulating vegetation. I believe that it has an 
effect upon the grain. I wish this, however, to be con- 
sidered a speculative opinion, requiring further proofs. 
The black, which from its distance from the fire under- 
goes less heat, and has no direct contact with the at- 
mosphere, is undoubtedly an active and potent manure. 
If applied to old pastures, it brings out white Clover. 
It adds largely to the quantity and quality of Potatoes, 
and seems beneficial especially to the leguminous 
family, and in ploughing last autumn through the 
bottom of a brick clamp, some Wheat was put into soil 
almost entirely composed of the black mould. The 
bladeZof these plants has been throughout the spring 
and summer of a dark green, and so extremely luxuri- 
ant that the crop’ will fail. It seems, therefore, pro- 
bable that we burn too fiercely the soil for agricultural 
If the | in 
the surface, they should be in excavations of a mo- 
derate depth. The chemical difference between the 
red and black I have no means here of ascertaining. I 
must leave that matter for your attention. I am in 
the practice of covering all my farm-yard mixings with 
these burnt earths to the depth of 5 or 6 inches, which 
preserves the compost from the action of the sun, and 
keeps the mass moist for any necessary length of time, 
and very much facilitates the mixing of the manure in 
the soil to which it is applied. I am sorry to add, that 
my Potatoes planted last October show decided evi- 
dences of the disease of last year. Since Friday the 
22nd of May till Friday the 10th inst. (seven weeks), 
we have had scarcely any rain—a few slight showers 
only—no storms.— Henry Divon, Witham, July 13. 
Hotieties. 
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY or ENGLAND. 
EETING AT Newcastiz.—We have but one or two 
remarks in addition to our last week's report, These 
refer to certain implements which we omitted mention- 
And first, we ought to have noticed the self- 
clearing roller, or harrow and clod crusher, as it is 
termed, exhibited by Messrs, Barrett and Ashton, of 
Hull, which consists of two cast-iron hollow cylinders 
placed one before the other; in these cylinders are 
fixed wrought-iron tines at certain intervals, and spaces 
the most convenient, to give the whole length of the 
rollers an uniform pressure on the clods. As the cy- 
linders revolve in working, the tines pass between each 
other, and are continually cleaning themselves, which 
contrivance prevents the implement clogging up, even i 
the land be wet. The clod crusher works on two wheels 
of large diameter, which are, by simply turning a 
handle, raised or lowered, to regulate the pressure of the 
rollers on the land, and also for use in removing the 
machine from one place to another. This implement 
evidently acts on the same principle as the Norwegian 
harrow of Messrs, Stratton, of Bristol. We have no 
doubt of its efficiency. 
And we must also mention a drill machine, exhibited 
by Mr. J. Geddes, of Cargen Bridge, near Dumfries, 
N.B. It acts on the same principle as that of Mr. 
Vingoe, of Penzance. The same idea, though some- 
what differently developed, has occurred, nearly at the 
same time, to two gentlemen at opposite ends of the 
island. In this machine the motion of the sliding disc 
(see page 489, col. c) is obtained in a way similar to 
that which Mr. ‘Vingoe has adopted. An ingenious 
method for allowing the coulters to rise and fall with 
the unevenness of the land was exhibited in the flexi- 
bility of the coulter funnels—a method, however, which 
we do not prefer to the plan more generally in use. 
Messrs. Smith, of Stamford, Lincolnshire, exhibited a 
hay-making machine, capable of being easily lifted out 
of work at any moment, 
We have only to add that a full and corrected report 
of Mr. Grey's speech at the Pavilion dinner will be 
found in another column, and that a list of errata in 
last week's report will be found under the head of 
* Notices to Correspondents.” 
HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
A the late general meeting of this Society, the Right 
Hon. Viscount Melville in the chair, the Secretary laid 
before the meeting the premiums offered for 1846. 
referring to the Report it would be observed that under 
the Class A, premiums in money or gold medals were 
offered for reports on subjects connected with the 
science and practice of agriculture—with woods and 
plantati ith the imp t of waste lands 
—and with the illustration, improvement, or invention 
of agricultural implements and machines, Class B, 
which was entitled “Crops and Culture,” included 
remiums for new varieties of plants adapted to field 
culture, seeds for corn and other crops, Turnips, green 
crops on hill farms and small possessions, and ploughing 
competitions. Class C embraced those distriets of the 
country in which the Society's premiums for live stock 
were this year in operation. These districts were 19 in 
, and, in addition to what might be raised 
within their own bounds, they would collectively receive. 
a sum from the Society amounting to above 5007. The 
cottage premiums would be found in Class E, while the 
list closed with those to be awarded at the Inverness 
Show. The whole sum offered amounted, with the 
auxiliary local contributions, to 22507. The Directors 
were anxious to impress on the publie the utility an 
importance of some of the premiums referred to, but © 
which proper advantage, as appeared to them, has not 
been taken. This might have arisen from the smallness of 
the sums, compared with what was offered with other sub- 
jects of competition ; but they were not on that accoun 
the less important. They would allude particularly tO 
the medals offered for seed for corn and other crops 
which were given, when applied for, in six differen 
districts ; they had been found to produce most bene- 
ficial results, but only two districts had this year made 
application for them. The Directors would also notice 
the premiums offered for green crops on hill farms, A 
on small possessions, the advantages of both of uo. 
had been experienced. For the first, however, i 
were but two applications this year, and for the latte 
ls 
four, The Secretary proceeded to report that medal 
t ful RES p itions D. 
5 
purposes, and, as far as the fact above narrated goes, it 
is also probable that only as much air as is necessary 
to keep up very slow combustion should be allowed to 
enter the heaps of soil. To accomplish this in the safest 
manner, I suggest that instead of the fires being upon 
S p in ploughing competiti Tt 
been awarded to about 60 persons. This contani (ie 
be a most popular premium, and was well worthy of t 
bati i of the society, as being 
PP ni Y taped 
the only one, with the exception of that for cot ae 
which directly connected the Society with the ngricu 
