604 
THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
[SEPT. 5, 
placing them thus(ona ground plan), witha light portable i 
eed 
ERE We ae 
crane, travelling upon a railway laid down upon the 
longitudinal wall betwixt the two rows of bins. By 
means of such an arrangement as this, the greatest 
facility would be afforded for filling and emptying the 
bins, or for mixing the contents of one or more bins 
together. Any one familiar with the use of cranes in 
warehouses, docks, &c., will understand how readily 
and expeditiously vast quantities of materials may be 
removed by them.— Henry Liddell, Beveriley-road, 
Hull, Aug. 1. 
Draining.—Having read your Leading Article of 
August 8th, on the draining lecture at Newcastle, I beg 
to ask whether I am not right in supposing that a 
shallow drainer must be he who does not go deep enough, 
and he must be a deep fellow who just hits the mark. 
The truth is, that as no physician, however learned, 
would undertake the cure of a patient without a per- 
sonal serutiny of his idiosyneracies, neither would Mr. 
Smith, of Deanston, Mr. Parkes, nor any other profes- 
sor of draining, tackle a field without ascertaining pre- 
viously whether its peculiarities required any particular 
depth of drainage.— Constant Reader. 
anagement of Farm-yard Manure.—1 beg, as “ A 
Constant Reader? of your Paper, to reply to an article 
of 25th July, on this subject, which is so glaringly in- 
consistent, that, as an agriculturist, I will not give it 
even the sanction of silence. Firstly, our “ Amateur 
Farmer,” of Beverly-road, Hull, proposes to build a 
Square tower, 25 feet in height, surmounted by a crane, 
which will answer the amusing purpose of hoisting the 
litter from the yard, and depositing it in the tower; there 
he hopes it will generate a fermentation analagous to 
that of a hot-bed ; and, of course, reduce his dung to a 
similar state. When the fermentation has ceased, and 
the dung is cold, the fibre of the straw being entirely 
broken down, he will spread it in sheds in layers to dry, 
preparatory to grinding in a mill, which must be erected 
for the purpose, and eventually (to complete this “ fa- 
vourite project? of his) to sow this elaborately pre- 
pared dung in a drill with corn, in the form of a “coarse 
powder ;” but your correspondent anticipates (and very 
rightly too) an excess of fermentation in his dung while 
stored in the tower; this he will prevent, with his usual 
ingenuity, by an over-dose of liquid manure, forgetting 
in his hurry to find a remedy for the natural offspring 
his “ favourite system” that by giving this cooling 
draught, although it is true he will first dirainish heat, 
it will ultimately heighten fermentation,—for, without 
moisture, fermentation could not exist; therefore, to 
add liquid manure to his tower of dung, is in effect to 
aid an already ruinous decomposition. But here, let 
d 
may have been unfortunate enough to join a lodge 
under the guidance of an unfit person, and where its 
laws were violated with impunity, should he thus rail 
against Odd Fellowship at large. If he ever belonged 
to the Manchester Unity, why did he not take the more 
honourable course of endeavouring, by example, to stay 
these irregularities. The things are widely different 
in description; Odd Fellowship is not a blind for 
drunkenness and excess, but to enable the many to 
alleviate the sufferings of those brothers who may be 
unfortunate enough to require aid, by an allowance of 
10s. 6d. per week, with the best of medical attendance ; 
it is well to place money in the savings' banks ; but who 
knows how early the hand of affliction may be laid upon 
us; the sum laid by out of the small earnings of a 
workman are soon expended, and he either becomes 
dependent on the casual benevolence of friends, or ends 
his days in a Union. My calculation as to the expenses 
differs widely from that of your correspondent, as with 
monthly meetings, oftener being unnecessary, such 
sums as 4/, 10s. in the first year, and 3/. 10s. cannot 
without excess be expended ; it is true they would be 
better, or less expensive held at school-rooms, but as 
in many eases these are not to be obtained, a respect- 
able inn is the only alternative left us. I cannot 
imagine how the statement of your d can 
agriculture in opposition to those principles must bear the loss 
of his experiments. But at the same time that they could 
make that certain, it was equally proper that they should 
admit cultivation upon particular scientific principles, am 
without reference to the accumulated experience of centuries, 
to be equally destructive. There was required in agriculture 
a union of practice with science. Science did not consist in an 
aggregation of hard words in a book, Whatever a person tho- 
roughly understood was science; and whether it was couched 
in the most ordinary expressions, or whether it was necessary 
where there were not ordinary words to make new ones in order 
to give the idea a proper expression, it was equally thorough 
knowledge. And the Belgian peasant who, upon 4 or 5 acres 
of land, by a perfect system of manufacturing and rotation of 
crops, succeeded in producing an amount of vegetable produce 
which would astonish the farmer of 20 acres, although that 
Belgian peasant might never in his life have attended to a lec- 
ture upon abstract science, nor have become acquainted 
ed with 
its nomenclature, was still a scientific agriculturist ; his system 
of cultivation secured the fertility of the soil against diminu- 
tion—gave permanent employment to a great number of people, 
and allowed them to rear up their families in habits of industry, 
virtue, and content. aren 
The following, again, is a portion of the speech of 
Mr. Smita, of Deanston, in connection with the toast of 
“Green cropping, thorough draining, and subsoiling.” 
He said—He looked back with great satisfaction to what had 
been already accomplished by the Society. With the exception 
of Ballinasloe, he had attended allits meetings from the com- 
mencement. He could, therefore, bear testimony to the 
He was pleased to 
g 
be accounted for, where he says we often see in land- 
lords advertising the house “ four or five Odd Fellows 
Clubs held here,” as in the 211th law it states, no new 
lodge shall be opened, if proved injurious ; whilst there 
can be no doubt existing of its injurious effects on one 
already established at the same house. Trusting this 
will, in some measure, erase the erroneous impressions 
the statements at page 572 may have made as to the 
objects and stability of Odd Fellowship, with its 
abuses, I leave the subject to be impartially considered 
by your numerous readers.— 4m Odd Fellow, Star of 
Charity Lodge. 
Societies. 
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENT 
SOCIE 
Me 
Tue late Great Annuat Muerine of this Society at 
Limerick has been a very successful one. It has “ re- 
flected the highest credit on the Society generally ; but 
on the arrangements of the local committee especially,” 
fully bearing out the most sanguine anticipations. So 
says the Dublin Farmers’ Gazette, from whose columns 
we shall extract such portions of a long report as we 
can find room for. 
Council Dinner.—The following is an extract from 
ORD Devon’s speech in advocacy of the toast ‘ The 
s often delighted with the well-kept demesnes of 
me congratulate your worth ip on the 
efficiency of his system; and, if he is i 
to 
give his favourite project a trial, and grind his dung 
to be sown with a drill, I cannot recommend to hima 
plan better adapted to his system than the one he has 
proposed: a tower for dung, a mill to grind it, and a 
ill to sow it. Surely your Hull correspondent is 
gifted with considerable originality and power of inven- 
tion. Doubtless, he will soon favour your subscribers 
with another lecture on farm-yard dung, which, by the 
help of fermentation, compression, drying, and grind- 
ing, will enable the admiring pupils of his system to 
concentrate the dung for an acre of land into an accom- 
modating bulk for the waistcoat pocket.—A Cornish 
Farmer. 
Crops on the Clays of Nottingham, August 10.— 
WHEAT. BARLEY, | Oars. BEANS. DILLS. 
| 
Cutsuplight Inferior,and None |A miserable Very light 
andthin,butripens un- grown. failure, rub-|and bad, all 
heads pretty kindly. ish, 
g | 
POTATOES. 
| 
| 
| 
| Hay. 
| 
| spring. 
| TunNrIPs. | CLOVER, Pxas. 
some |Gotwellbut None Generally |Few grown, 
Parts grown lightinsome grown. speaking, a| but li 
again, and places, | i Crop ;| crop. 
inothers rot- | the second 
t | 
į 
| 
July 7. 
Odd Fellowship. —In reading your columns of last 
week I was not a little surprised to find such an un- 
worthy attack made upon an Order based upon princi- 
ples so sound, so at variance with everything in the 
shape of drunk and i lity, as Odd Fellow- 
ship ; it may be thatin the neighbourbood in which 
your correspondent resides, it has, notwithstanding its 
good intentions, fallen, through the imprudence of some 
of its members, into disrepute ; yet why, because he 
i i n he did not perceive that those improvements 
extended beyond the demesne walls. How pleased on the other 
hand he often felt, when after spending the evening at one of 
the many hospitable mansions which were open to him during 
the course of that tour, he walked out on the following morn- 
ing with the hospitable owner of the house; how gratified he 
was to see his friend meet with the smiles of the farmer of 
ten acres to whom a little attention had been paid—whose cot- 
tage had been improved by his landlord —whose little stock had 
received a small addition from the same friendly care, and who 
had been thus taught that his landlord had an interest in his 
welfaré. He could see the smile of gratitude brightening up 
the features of that farmer for the attentions which was paid 
him, and the certain foundations of contentment and happiness 
resting on a reciprocal basis of mutual good-will and kindli- 
ness. He was beginning from those instances, to see that the 
improvement of Ireland, with a soil fertile almost beyond 
others, was increasing. He was beginning to have hopes of this 
he was thinking that Ireland would soon rise to 
her position—high in the scale of the nations of the earth, He 
farmers, and showing them that they had interests which 
ihould be attended to—that the peasantry too should be made 
to feel that their lot was taken into consideration, and that all 
should experience that care and that attention which it was 
their solemn duty to bestow. > 
The following is an abridgment of Sir R. Kawr's 
speech, in acknowledgment of the toast “ Practice with 
Science :” 
He considered it most desirable that agricultural practice 
and science should be identified in Ireland, and through the 
exertions of that and similar societies, that the highest possible 
development should be given to each of those expressions. 
The practice of agriculture had been continued through such 
a succession of years, as to entitle it to be considered the most 
ancient, as it had always been the most honourable occupation 
of man ; but the science of agriculture, although to a certain 
degree sketched out at a very early period, had but lately com- 
menced to be properly cultivated, is did not by any means 
arise from the opinion that agriculture was of a low character; 
but from the difficulty of solving the problem of the application 
f science to agriculture, till science had arrived at the condi- 
tion which it had begun to hold, Tn overy other art they could 
place their materials in any condition which they chose; but, 
in agriculture, they must be content with the condition of the 
i vc., so proverbially variable; and the materials on 
which they worked were in every locality in process of altera- 
i ence it was that it remained for the present age to lay 
the foundation of a true science of agriculture. was certain 
that such were the arrangements of external nature and the 
bounteous wisdom of Providence, in a majority of countries, 
especially in their own, that it required but the industry of man 
enable him to reap from the overflowing ature a 
harvest suficient for his purposes; but this could not be per- 
manent, This fertility could only last for a certain period of 
time; and unfortunately in the most highly-cultivated districts 
in this country, although not so much as in others, this fact 
had been demonstrated, But their knowledge of the climate, 
of the nature of the soil, of the growth and the produce of the 
earth, should enable them to render agriculture subservient to 
their wishes, and not them sut ient to the ci of 
Hee Nature. He felt that they had arrived at that con- 
dition in science that they might say with e, as men of sci- 
nce, that they could assume the principles on which successful 
agriculture could ,be founded ; and any individual carrying on 
creased facility of intercourse afforded, he hoped that the time 
not far distant when they would have such shows annually 
in their city. oubt green cropping was one of the most 
important adjuncts, but without thorough draining and plough- 
ing it would be. impossible to have green cropping. The 
foundation was—commence by thorough draining Ireland. 
here was not a more profitable expenditure of money or 
labour than that employed in thorough draining—money so 
expended was in fact better disposed of than money placed in 
the bank—for it would ultimately bring wealth and prosperity 
to the country. In his opinion what they required was em- 
ployment for their labour, It was clear that this could not be 
done without capital, and an admixture of larger farmers with 
the small. How were they to introduce the former without 
dispossessing the latter? There was no great difficnlty about 
it. He would introduce the large farmers upon the waste lands 
He came down to Limerick by posting and he passed through 
arich and interesting country which would be rendered more 
productive if a system of green cropping were pursued—and 
Ireland would become as prosperous in her agricultural condi- 
tion as Scotland. He did not, however, in coming along the 
road see more than 50 acres of Turnips, though he was satis- 
fied that the country would have grown many thousand acres 
of Turnips. 
Farmers’ Clubs. 
Mamsronn: Aug. 13.—The hon, Secretary brought 
up the report of the agricultural members of the club; 
who had visited the farm of Mr. Barnes at Staplehurst- 
The Chairman produced a letter from Mr. Barnes, in 
which he requested, as the secretary had objected to 
give the Maidstone Journal report, and as no report 
had appeared in the Gazette, that the society should not 
approve of any official report on his farm. The hon, 
Seeretary said that he had withheld his own report 
from publication in the Gazette, in deference to the 
gentlemen who had been deputed to report officially. 
The hon. Secretary then read the report, which was as 
follows :— Report : Mr. W. Barnes, of Staplehurst, hav- 
ing invited the members of the Maidstone Farmers’ 
Club, and also those of the Weald of Kent Farmers’ 
Club, to inspect his mode of cultivating clay lands, it 
was agreed that the members of the two clubs, after 
inspecting Mr. Barnes's farms, should dine together at 
the South-Eastern Hotel, and afterwards avail them- 
selves of the opportunity for a little friendly discussion 
on agricultural topics. This design was carried out on 
Tuesday, the 28th July. All the agricultural members 
of the two clubs having been invited, it was not perhaps 
necessary, in strict regularity, that any official report 
should be made ; but as only about one-fifth of the mem- 
bers of the Maidstone Club were present, and as any 
imp: in the cultivation of clay soils is of great 
importance to Kent, the agricultural members of the 
party consider that some description of Mr. Barnes’s 
practice may not be unacceptable to the members gene- 
rally who were absent. The party, about 60 in number, 
assembled on the morning of the above day,at Cross-at- 
hand gate, and were conducted over his three farms by 
Mr. Barnes, who took great pains to point out and ex- 
plain the particulars of his practice, more particularly 
where it differed from the practice of his neighbours. 
Two of Mr. Barnes’s farms lie very wide apart in the 
parish of Staplehurst, the other being in Marden. 
These farms partake very much of the character of all 
Weald of Kent clay farms ; the soil, probably the most 
stiff, retentive, and impracticable of any in England, an 
especially requiring to be laid perfectly dry, and sub- 
jected to the ameliorating agencies of the sun, the rain, 
and the frost. The farms are generally, excepting the 
home farm, divided into small inelosures, by A 
hi 
ak timber growing in thick hedges and coppices, W 
have the double effect of keeping the land in. shade, and 
of robbing it of its fertility. It will perhaps startle an 
open land farmer, when he hears that in the Weald of 
Kent, the average size of the fields, in several parishes 
on this soil to which open cultivation is so ER > 
is under five acres! A very small proportion 9 h = 
Weald is drained ; the land is laid in warps OF n dm b 
and everywhere may be seen the effects of the is O= 
ward circumstances by which the Weald d Wheat 
rounded. Oat crops 18 ins. or 2 ft. high; S di 1 Med 
crops in proportion, meet the eye !n PEDIS E 
Where a single tree stands alone; the effect of its s hade 
on the crop may be traced almost as Ede n D 
circle had been drawn round it by aline. These are the 
circumstances under which Mr. Barnes frequently grows 
