36—1846.] 
THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
608 
(Thompson is quoted) amounts to more than 19 per 
cent. But, as Barley contains 12:1 per eent., and malt 
7°06 of water, 6 parts out of the 19 per cent. are water, 
80 that there is actually only lost 13 solid matter. Thus 
Water, 6 ; saline matter, 0-41 ; organic matter, 12:52— 
19. The elementary constitution of Malt is as follows : 
—C 44:78, H 7-06, N 1:62, O 44-76, Ash 177—100. 
Ina few wordsthen,by malting,in reference to Barley: 
the soluble.salts are much diminished, so that a larger 
quantity of the former grain would be required to pro- 
uce the salis necessary for animal purposes. The 
quantity of nitrogen is also inferior, and hence in equal 
weights the nutritive power of Malt must be less than 
that of Barley. The carbon is also lessened in quantity, 
while the starch and gum is diminished, and the sugar 
increased. 
Having briefly considered the chemical difference 
which exists between Malt and Barley, we return to 
Dr. Thompson’s practical experiments, These were 
Performed on two lean bullocks three years of age, and 
as near as possible the same in constitution. The 
Weight of one bullock A, was 9 cwt. 7lbs. ; of the other 
B, 10 cwt. 106 lbs. Both were fed on the same kind of 
food, excepting that the same amount of Barley was 
given to one, and malt to the other. Hay was found to 
be essential, for when Barley and Malt were given alone, 
the animals loathed it and left it unconsumed. In the 
first instance, 6 lbs. of Barley was given to A, and 6 lbs. 
of Malt to B, a quantity which was speedily raised to 9 
and then 12 Ibs. ; a quantity beyond this could not be 
Safely used. Experiments were carried on in this 
Manner with these animals from lst to the l4th of 
October, and the quantity of food consumed was, by 
A. of Barley, 198 ibs. ; of Hay, 312-7769 ibs, 
B. of Malt 198 Ibs. ; s — 91175 Ibs. 
, Under these circumstances the increase of weight in the 
animals was by A. 109 lbs., by B. 90:5 lbs. Inanother 
trial with similar conditions, A. gained 55 and B. 44 Ibs. 
Among many trials by Dr. Thompson regarding the 
production of milk, &¢., in cows, one is peculiarly appli- 
cable to our present purpose: 100 Ibs. of mixed Barley, 
hay and Grass, produced 8:17 lbs. of milk, and 1:95 Ibs. 
of butter, and the animal gained 80 lbs. in weight ; but 
when 100 Ibs. of malt and hay were given, the produce 
was, of milk, 7:95 Ibs., of butter, 1°92 Ibs., and a dimi- 
nution of 42 Ibs. in the weight of the cow. 
These experiments (noticed in the Gardeners’ Chro- 
nicle, April 4, 1846,) show in every respect the advan- 
tage of Barley over malt for feeding cattle ; that it is 
Superior used comparatively with malt in sustaining the 
Weight and strength of animals. This diminished power 
in malt is apparently to be sought for in the lessened 
Quantity of azotised and saline matter; as alluded to 
Previously, these two classes of substances are so essen- 
tial for the isl and reparation of the body, 
that without them in a due and proper proportion the 
System eannot be preserved in a healthy condition, an 
fit for the discharge of the duties it has to perform. In 
order to employ malt ad geously and ical], 
for fattening, it should weight for weight show an effect 
decidedly superior to Barley ; for not only (leaving out 
the question of duty) isit more expensive, on account 
of the cost of production from the raw grain, but the 
E i d aus a id bl 
processes to which it is cause 
diminution of weight, so that 100 parts of Barley are 
equivalent to about 87 of malt; this loss of valuable 
material for our-present purposes is, it is true, attended 
by inerease of bulk, yetit is not by bulk but by weight 
that we must estimate for the purpose of feeding. 
Dr. Thompson thus writes of malt :—“ The only ad- 
vantage which it seems to hold out in cattle feeding is, 
the relish which it gives to a mash, but as this depends 
entirely upon the sugar which it contains, and which 
has been produced from the starch of the Barley, it is 
obvious that the same flavour may be imparted by the 
addition of an equivalent amount of molasses or sugar, 
Should it be considered expedient."— William Procter, 
M.R.C.S.L., York, August 13. 
Home Correspondence. 
. Agricultural Improvement.—Many are the sugges- 
tions by the advocates of this subject. Some account 
for our backwardness by finding fault with the land- 
lord; some with their agents; and others with the 
tenantry; and I am of opinion much remains to be 
done by all. First, I would suppose the term or lease 
of an estate is nearly ended ; the landlord is inclined to 
let, and the tenant wishes to take the farm for another 
term ; but there arises difference of opinion (as is fre. 
quently the ease between buyer and seller) respecting 
the yearly value. The landlord advertises his farm, 
and, of course, has an undoubted right to put his pro- 
perty in the market,as much as the tenant has his 
Sheep or eattle ; but too often the term is so short, that 
he does not get so much for his farm as he would if the 
term was for 21 years, and the premises in good repair. 
Sevondly, the agent has great responsibility, and, no 
doubt, great influence with his employer, and much 
n may be done for the landlord by attending to the 
arm buildings, making such conveniences as would 
enable the tenant to save his manure properly, and 
Supply the land with a great portion of that 
Matter taken from it by his crops, instead of send- 
ing his horses at a distance for manure at such expense; 
also, by making 2] years leases, and drawing them u 
Without those conflicting and restrictive clauses which, 
if Strictly attended to by the tenant, would render it im- 
HS for him to pay his rent. "Thinking it sufficient 
M ihe landowner's property be kept from injury, the 
Solicitor or any other man cannot be competent to lay 
down a general system of cropping applicable to all FE) rest, 10/. besides having acquired habits of industry 
and situations. I believe a long lease would make the 
tenant exert himself and call the latent abilities into 
action. Thirdly, some have attempted to find excuse 
for the tenant by saying they are forced to take their 
farms on account of their families ; but this I sincerely 
believe to be a fallacy. I was, about 15 months ago, 
similarly situated in this respect, with a large family. 
My term being at anend, I had a wish to take my farm 
again, but not at too high a rent. Iam bound to say I 
was treated with as much kindness and respect as any 
tenant has'a right to expect. We could not agree in 
price, and the farm was offered to the public, and 
eventually let to another ; consequently, I was obliged 
to find some other residence. Under these circum- 
stances I was not the least alarmed ; for had it so hap- 
pened that I could not suit myself with an estate, 
had d ined to seek empl t for myself and 
family in some one or other of the 2465 classes or occu- 
pations mentioned by Mr. Almack. My opinion is this 
—that if the landlord keeps his property in good repair, 
and his steward offers it on good 2l-year leases, and 
the tenant farms it with sufficient capital, and educates 
his children in a proper manner, that then, and not till 
then, shall we see agriculture flourish as it ought, and 
supply the community in abundance, and our land 
now out of cultivation brought in, and giving yearly 
heavy crops.— Christopher Spear, Halton Barton, 
Aug. 20. 
Savings Banks, Odd Fellowship and Benefit Socie- 
ties.—Lest my silence might be misconstrued into an 
acquiescence in the plausible remarks put forth by 
your correspondents W. Brown and Prof. Henslow on 
e superior ad of odd fellowship and benefit 
societies, as compared with savings-banks, I will pro- 
ceed to make a few observations in defence of the latter. 
While I still adhere to the opinion that ings-bank: 
m 
and carefulness. A temptation to the alehouse soon 
runs up a shot ; a day's wages are soon lost, and thus 
5s. are gone without thought and profit. This sum in 
the bank would make an excellent beginning towards 
rent, or the other necessaries which I have pointed out. 
By saving a little money, a great gain may be effected 
by laying in Potatoes, and other articles of consump- 
tion, at the best hand; and there are many other ways 
of saving by means of a little cash beforehand. Sup- 
posing a labourer has occasion to borrow, what is so 
likely to obtain him credit as his having been a regular 
saver in the bank? If he has been unfortunate, what 
is so likely to get him a character as his beginning to 
save? But the ad ges of such institutions are in- 
numerable ; these I have already pointed out in former 
communications ; and I trust your correspondents will 
entertain the same opinion with me with regard to the 
superior advantages of savings banks over benefit 
societies and odd fellowship, even on “ safe principles.” 
A rey. gentleman, a no mean authority too, has given 
it as his opinion, that all benefit societies will not be 
able to withstand insolvency, “an end," he says, “at 
which, I fear, without exception, every one is certain 
to arrive at last,” so that I am not surprised at your 
correspondent adopting the term “safe principles” in 
regard to these societies. Savings banks, on the other 
hand, as has been observed by an able writer, “ are cal- 
culated to serve the country in the best of all possible 
ways, by enabling every man to serve himself ; they 
hold out encouragement to youth, comfort to middle 
life, and independence to old age, and a perpetual op- 
portunity to men to improve their condition from gene- 
ration to generation."—J. H. 
Management of Manures: Manure Bin Towers, 
see p. 907.—1 have sent you an oe E showing 
P 3 4 
must be made to supersede the former societies, as 
effecting a larger share of good among the industrious 
classes, I am far from being disposed to cavil at the 
latter, or to dwell on the petty abuses which have been 
charged against them by some. The principle of both 
societies, so far as its extent goes, is admirable. But it 
aims only at a prospective provision, which is in very 
many cases rendered uncertain by a premature death ; 
and that in fact while it provides only for sickness and 
the consequent incapacitated, it denies the emergent 
wants of those who lay by in store. While some are 
some imp of the manure- 
grab, described in the article which appeared in the 
Gazette of the 25th ult. Further consideration of the 
utility of manure bin-towers induces me to think they 
will afford great facilities for carrying on the manufac- 
turing of farm-yard manures, which, if rightly under- 
stood and earried on ina methodical manner, would 
effect the entire saving of all the fertilising matter pro- 
duced in a farm-yard. I conceive the most important 
part of the process to be that of collecting the litter 
and other matter, in an incipient state of fermentation, 
or rather, in such condition that when heaped together 
ES 
6 
alleviated in distress from the natural 
which human frailty is exposed, a larger proportion of 
the members of these societies who have contributed for 
a lengthened period, do not derive the smallest benefit. 
Besides, in nearly every instance, the allowance granted 
to the infirm by these societies is inadequate for their 
support, and if they seek for relief from their parishes 
they are denied, and that, too, on the plea of the small 
pittance thus allowed them. But there is a predomi- 
nant evil with regard both to odd fellowship and benefit 
societies. I have always had an inveterate prejudice 
against their meetings being held at public-houses. The 
number of societies thus held, and the amount squan- 
dered away in those places are facts almost incredible, 
though of course there are exceptions. Besides the 
cruel waste of hard-earned money, the mischief to 
morals is still more serious, by the encouragement of 
intemperance. The garb of effecting good serves as a 
cloak for promoting evil. The objects which the sav- 
ings-bank, the temperance society, the societies for im- 
proving the condition of the labourer and improving 
the dwellings of the poor, and even the Society of Odd 
Fellows and Benefit Society, seek to attain, are all to 
some extent in consequence defeated. But I do not 
speak in disparagement of these societies ; by an ex- 
tended principle and better management increasing 
ood may be done by them. I should rejoice to see 
benefit societies and the societies of odd fellows more 
generally conducted by the clergy, notwithstanding the 
recognition by them of, and the interest which they 
at present appear to take in, odd fellowship especially, 
according to your correspondent W. Brown. With 
regard to savings-banks, it is ded by Professor 
Henslow, that “ with his present wages the agricultural 
labourer can seldom derive much advantage from them.” 
I will assume the agricultural savings-bank deposit 
and there are many of this class—to be in the same 
position as the agricultural labourer who contributes to 
the benefit society, and partakes of the “ annual feast ;” 
and compare the advantages derived by the former over 
the latter, by saving 2s. a week (and he can deposit 
to as low as 6d.), and going regularly on for ten 
years, he would at the age of 28 have in the bank 
both savings and interest, about 60/. He will thus find 
hard work grow easier, because it increases his gains. 
He will necessarily contract such habits as will make 
his savings useful. He will shun idleness, and turn 
away from the alehouse. "Though he may look forward 
to the comforts of marriage, he will be in no hurry to 
bring upon himself the charges of a family. e may 
safely embark his capital in a little concern which will 
render him prosperous in society. He may increase his 
little stock in the buying of a pig, a cow, a horse, or 
improve his allotment to advantage. One shilling 
a week saved by a farm labourer of the age of 14 or 18, 
will, with the interest, amount to 20/. in seven years. 
It is true that a savings bank holds out the best pro- 
spect, as I have before observed, to those who are 
young and unencumbered. If the ploughboy of 12 years 
of age can lay by 3d. a week till he is 14, then 6d. 
a week till he is 16, and then 1s. a week till heis 18, he 
will have accumulated in the bank, including the inte- 
| 
| 
in the they will be readily excited into fer- 
mentation. Itis very certain that if collected in this- 
precise state, no loss of the fertilising matter can 
have taken place, because the elements of the 
straw, animal matter, &c., have not been de- 
veloped by decomposition aud formed into new com- 
pounds, that may be dissipated in the air, or washed 
out by rain-water. Another very important point 
in the manufacturing of. manure is that of collect- 
ing the urine, and other liquid manures. I am of opi- 
nion that if collected, undiluted with water, no more: 
would be produeed than could be absorbed by the ma- 
nure in the bins ; it would be necessary, before pump- 
ing it up into them, to hollow out the surface of the 
manure into the form of a basin, and making the bottom: 
full of holes, so that the liquid could penetrate the 
mass ; without this precaution, the liquid would flow to- 
the sides of the bin, and there find its way down the 
sides of the wall, instead of being absorbed by the 
manure. The watery portion of the liquid manure is 
the solvent holding the fertilising matter in solution ; it 
is also the medium by which the insoluble matter is. 
held suspended in the liquid manure. Now, if this. 
water can be got rid of by evaporation, the solid matter- 
will remain mixed up with the manure in the bins. I 
think it is very probable that a large portion of the- 
water will be so got rid of, and for this reason: the 
temperature of so large a mass of vegetable and animal 
matter as would be contained in one of the bins, would 
be many degrees higher during the greater part of the 
year than that of the atmosphere outside of it, and there- 
fore evaporation would go on so long as there was this 
diff. o p I d position of the 
manure has been rightly managed before theliquid ma. 
nure is pumped upon it, there will not, I apprehend, be 
any loss of its fertilising elements, the volatile matters. 
(in both liquid and solid manure) will have been con- 
verted into a fixed substance, and no change can then 
take place by the evaporation of moisture from the 
organic matter with which they may be combined. 
After the lapse of a certain period, the contents of a 
bin might be inverted by emptying one bin into another; 
this could be done very readily by means of a grab and 
crane. If the process here suggested for the manufae- 
turing of manure was carefully carried out, there is T 
think but little doubt that the whole of the solid and 
liquid manure produced in a fold-yard would be con- 
verted into matter containing double the quantity of 
fertilising ingredients to be found in an equal bulk of 
ordinary farm-yard manure. If the process were 
carried still further, so as to reduce the mam 
to a coarse powder, and without any loss of its 
fertilising elements, we shall have found out, not the 
philosopher's stone, but thing nearly equivalent to- 
it in the production of a powerful fertiliser of known 
value, uniform, or pretty nearly so, in its effects, and of 
extreme portability and facility of management ; and I 
do not at all despair of seeing this accomplished. 
Science, skill, and capital have effected greater wonders. 
than this. The manure-bin towers might be built of any 
height, if pressure should befound to accelerate the manu- 
facturing of th nd th ber of binsi d 
