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33—-1846.]. 
THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
THE 
POTATOES. 
SWEDES, &c. 
Eur APPEARANCE OF C R O PS—Continvep. 
COUNTIES. |No WHEAT. OATS, BARLEY, BEANS. PEAS. GRASS, HAY. | 
Dzvox Beyond an aver- Average. Deficient, er n Abundant, |Above an aver- 
age. 
| 
abundant/An abundant; Same as Oats. Vi Abundant, 
but thelcrop, but I am 
weather has|afraid yerymuch 
been so uncom-|injured by wet 
monly wet pe weather, 
M 
weeks, that I am 
afraid it will be| 
very much in- 
jured, 
^ 
MONMOUTH ,,.....|85 |A full average ; About 2-3rds of|About 2-8rds of Not a fourth of 
a crop. a crop. 
I think more, 
Nosta Warrs....|86 | Abundant, 
they looked bui 
middling, owing 
an average crop. 
Turn Deficient, 
PEDEI i 
Average, 
Fus .,.........-189 An average crop. | 
Tuzsmms ....2]899 Average 
but deficient inj, crop o 
bulk, A very heayy/A very 
n  soft|crop, except on 
colour; slightly|black land, but rich soft sheep-|stroyed by anin- 
si 
a cro} 
Until very lately] Same as Oats, 
t 
Deficient. 
An abundant |Nearly average, 
ex 
LANARKSHIRE > 
ROXBURGHSHIRE. -|91 [Rather above an 
Wieron 
About an aver- 
age crop on good 
soils ‘rather. de- 
ficient. 
rage. 
E 
[3 
Falow Wheat 
on drained land) 
injured by thejlight ou heavy folded. 
fly. s 
soils; on poor|straw, 
oils. Fully an|where it is good. 
with very short average. 
iv 
but those tl 
were sown early} 
are good. | 
| 
| 
Not a fourth 
a crop. 
Same as Oats, 
Deficient ; cut- Deficient ; cut] 
ting them up. |ting them up in 
many districts. 
A complete A failure. 
failure, 
very much de-|but 
ect infesting! 
fiy. 
the leaves and| 
ery little sown; Very little sown. 
hat 
Same as Oats. 
but wasted with| 
wet weather. 
of} Abundant,  |Half well ended, 
Good ero 
reat crop, Had an excellent 
appearance of ajni 
cro} 
Very deficient. |Present appear-|—X. 
be good for no-| 
thing. 
All blighted, ex- 
B s 
autumn. Salt 
lime (the Ameri- 
can receipt), has 
been of no use 
in retarding the 
Swedes and Tur-|— 
month|very good. 
but at 
Pasture A 
abundant. 
sum-|age 
injured by the|mer, and stillimati 
plenty of food 
for stock of all 
ki 
o! 
. dis 
Abundant. Abundant. Partial indica- 
tions of disease. 
| 
Deficient, Deficient. (Deficient; the 
murrain extend-' 
ing over every 
field. 
. SPEAR, 
Plymton — Saint 
Mary, Plymouth, 
. Rice, Abbey 
ps generally| Holme, near Wig- 
m. 
ance good, 
About 2-3rds of|— Monmouthshire 
a crop. Reporter. 
Irregular, and|—J. WILLIAMS, 
have in mostin- Brynibrya, near 
anceshad to be| Conway. 
Deficient,  and|—DaviD 
very unequal, |NANT, Dunino, 
TEN- 
= z 
St. Andrews. 
field. 
light Poor crop, and|Generally light, (Pastures ^ very|Below an aver-|A general wreck 
; no after-|—all diseased, 
ery|near an average 
en 
good crop;|Not such  an|Swedish Turnips|—— Kinnaird, 
above average. |abundant yp jal t a failure; muchty. 
as last ye: ndjother Turnips 
promise to be 
Much later than|—Joun HAXTON, 
usual; healthy, Drummond, Cu. 
an turn par. 
out well, if the 
next 3 months 
early and good ;|straw. 
land, it is infe-| 
rior and unripe. 
m crops an 
average crop. 
Em (Rhins|93 |Looked well tilllOn light soils|Not a  great|Very sown|Very few sown|Rather 
ct) the con- will be under an quantity sown] in this district, | in this district, [on light soils 
tinuous rains.|average crop, |here, but I hear during the y 
aec i the i dry weather, but} 
of firing.  Willgreatlydeficient.|of ^ it: being very generally 
be under  an|On heavier soils|rather a defici- abundant. 
averag 
crop if the wea-|sown. 
ther continues 
favourable, 
exce] 
early sown, 
crop,|there will be a ent crop, except 
early 
hay is a light Everywherethey managed, luxu. 
crop. are 
eased. rally, patchy and 
equal, fin 
autumn would 
still make good 
crops. 
scarce|Anaverage erop.| Within the last Swedes 
be favourable. 
average crop. |General crop far|stems. 
below average. 
Barely an aver- Rather deficient, Average, Average. Abundant. Average. Deficient. Also very defi-—D. GAIRDNER, 
age in point of cient, Hamilton. 
straw, it being 
rather short. 
Deficient ; not| Below an  |Wellpodded,but| An average Abundant. Below an isingb des irregu-|—JAMES BRODIE, 
filling well. average. short in straw, crop. average. the disease ap-|ar; also Tur.|Deanport, Has 
peared, nips late andjwick. 
irregulai 
Anaveragecrop, Searcely an Deficient, Good. Owing to avery|Very fine till|Very variable.|— J. €, Lower 
general failure|within the last| Where early District of Wigs 
9; 
rec over, r 10 days.sown and wellonshire, 
now  dis-|riant; butgene- 
where|— A. H. Mac 
week or two, dis-jearly sown look CLEAN, Auchnecly 
ease has mani- well; later sown,| Stranraer. 
fested itself. Its|very irregular, 
disease at a cer-|planted. 
tain stage pro-|mon Turnips ge- 
ducing a very|nerally late, but. 
noxious effluvia.|with goo: 
greater than any 
former year. 
Home Correspondence. 
The Confessions of an Advocate for ** the Policy of 
Phin Sowing.’’~The discussion at the Wetherby 
armers’ Club on the policy of thin sowing, reported in 
Your Paper of July 11, induces me to offer a short ac- 
eee of some experiments made by myself during the 
ast two years, my reason for having done so, and the 
Tesults, I may state that when I first met with Mr. 
pu Davis's pamphlet some three years since, and 
s d iption oj imp he had carried out 
on his farms near Croydon, by means of draining, deep 
Ploughing, and clean cultivation, in combination with 
An sowing, I thought either that the facts were exag- 
Berated, or that the whole was mere humbug. However, 
- er some consideration, I wrote to Mr. Davis, and 
subsequently paid two visits to his farms. The crops I 
En there, and the condition of the land, were satisfac- 
ud evidence to my mind of the correctness of his 
atements, T was, moreover, so favourably impressed | 
With the absence of all reserve, aud the facilities afforded 
me as regarded an examination into the minutis of his 
Practico, that I determined, being about to enter on a 
ee of naturally kind, light land, but in a very foul, 
xhausted state, to adopt his mode of cultivation ; and 
Accordingly, in the autumn of 1844, having ploughed 
Y Clover leys deeply with Barrett and Exall’s D. P. 
Plough, which I have found a most valuable implement, | 
uy Wheat was drilled at the rate of 6 pecks per acre, | 
Tors 9 inches apart. When the plant was well up, 
an: €wt. of Peruvian guano mixed with fine mould was 
Own over half the crop, the same quantity over the re- | 
inder in the following April ; during the winter the | 
ae looked so thin and unpromising as to cause me 
ae anxiety, but after being deeply hoed in the spring 
ee up to harvest, proved a most satisfactory crop, 
very heavy in the sheaf, One half the crop is not 
et threshed out, but I have no doubt of its being more 
than an average crop, and the price it has brought 
proves it to be a good sample. Early in April, 1845, I 
had a field of 5y aeres, from which the whole of the 
previous crop of Turnips had been carried off in No- 
vember, drilled with Oats in rows 9 inches apart, and 
not quite 3 bushels of seed per acre; 3 ewt. of guano 
were subsequently sowed over the crop broadcast. This 
crop yielded 52 quarters of Oats, and rather more than 
3 loads of straw per acre; so much for the first year. 
T last autumn sowed 30 acres of Wheat with precisely 
the same proportion of seed, except three small pieces : 
1, broadeast, 2} bushels seed; 2, dibbled in rows 1 foot 
apart, 1 bushel of seed ; 3, drilled in rows 6 inches 
apart, 2} bushels seed per acre. On the whole crop 
à ewt. of Peruvian guano was sown with 1 ewt. of 
gypsum, part in the autumn, the remainder, as before, 
in the spring ; the whole erop was deeply hoed in April. 
The result is more than satisfactory; the thin sown 
crop is decidedly superior to the others, has kept its 
colour throughout the spring, is remarkably heavy in 
the ear, and stands up well, whilst the thick sown 
good deal laid. So far as to mere facts : practical agr 
culturists of long experience may feel disposed to e 
sider the results of two years' erops as entitled to but 
little weight. Still, as I have myself felt the difficulty 
of getting at facts, which may be a guide to those who 
léave the beaten traek, I am induced to think that 
every experiment faithfully reeorded has its val 
am, moreover, happy to be able to make this a 
ledgment to Mr. H. Davis of the extent to which, in 
my opinion, we are all indebted to h I would, more- 
over, express a hope that no ene will eonsider this still 
open question as unworthy of trial, and, above all, will 
not lose sight of the important considerations which are 
so intimately connected with the system of Mr. H. Davis, 
who, as a preliminary step to the success of thin sowing 
insists on clean, deep cultivation, and hoeing the grow- 
ing crops. It may fairly be inferred that all who in- 
tend to give his system a fair trial, will adopt these 
suggestions, which, if more generally carried out, would 
improve most essentially the condition of British hus- 
bandry,and prove the means of giving more constant 
employment to the labouring classes, on terms profit- 
able to the cultivator of the soil. The remarks made 
by Lord Portman at Newcastle on the defective cultiva- 
tion of certain parts of the county of Durham must be 
admitted to be not only true, but too generally appli- 
cable to other parts of the kingdom. Rigidly clean cul- 
tivation is still the exception, not the rule ; after having 
given the subject some consideration, I have a strong 
impression that, provided we improve our cultivation, a 
reduction in the large amount of seed now so generally 
ployed, may, in I with early sowing, prove 
a source of increased production, and is well deserving 
of being tested by agriculturists of every grade.— 4f 
riber, and Member of the Royal Agricultural 
| or, in other wor 
to one in the pit. 
| and about 150 in the pit. ink a better way 
of storing Potatoes can be adopted than that given at 
p. 518 of last week's Number, The thinner they are 
| laid in the pit the better : sa; about 1 bushel laid close 
| to another in a long row, and u 
if the soil be dry, put no straw ! 
and the soil, but cover the soil over with litter or Potato 
tops, to keep the soil dry.— R. R. 
