618 
THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
[Szvr. 12, 
about 4307. in the rent has been produced. 
See Vol. ILL, p. 163, where experiments in the 
applieation of * blue shale" to the surface of the 
and, at a cost of 30s. per aere, are described 
as resulting in an increased produce of 17 
bushels per acre of Wheat, and of 27 bushels 
per acre of Barley ; page 283, where Mr. C. 
Burness states his experience in marling light 
lands; his Wheat promised to yield one-third 
more on what had been clayed than on what had 
not been clayed, although managed in every other 
way the same; the quantity applied per acre is 
generally 50 loads, which is applied at a cost of less 
than 50s, per acre; and p. 235, where Mr. F. W. 
Overman testifies to the value of the same method 
of permanent improvement. 
See Vol. IV., p. 343, where Mr. Havrzn, M.P., 
states the profitable result of the improvements he 
had effected on Linslade farm, Buckinghamshire. 
See Vol. V., p. 113, &e., where Mr. RANDELL de- 
seribes his practice of burning clay soils, and the 
large and profitable increase of fertility consequent 
upon it; and p. 311, where Mr. Arwack asserts 
the experience of Norfolk farmers as to the pro- 
Jitableness of marling their light lands. 
See also Vol. VI., p. 478, where Mr. Pusey bears 
witness to the enormous returns from drainage and 
the use of burnt clay as manure in the case ofa very 
poor stiff clay soil. 
"These are a few instances selected from the pages 
of only one out of the many periodical works with 
which our agricultural literature now teems, and 
ey are conclusive, we think, as to the large 
profits derivable from a prudent investment of 
capital in the permanent improvement of the land. 
But it is certain that even in the case of land 
already perfect as regards its “ permanent" qualities, 
perfect as regards its texture, drainage, freedom 
from hedgerow timber, accessibility by road, con- 
venience as regards buildings, &c., it will still gene- 
rally, if not universally, pay well for the better 
though more expensive methods of cultivation, 
which in the course of time working men shall hit 
upon or educated men suggest. Weshall not refer 
here to published cases in which corroborative expe- 
rience on this head is detailed. Numbers of them 
may be found in every agricultural journal, maga- 
zine, or gazette. Cases where the application of 
some new fertilizer; the cultivation of some new 
i 
erop; a change in the rotation of crops; the use of b 
some new implement; the selection of more profit- 
able stock—all requiring an extra investment of 
capital ; or, it may ue, where the more economical 
application of manual labour, or the more skilful 
management of market transactions — matters 
requiring on the other hand only an extra display 
of energy, have proved eminently profitable. And 
to all thesé improvements, it must be observed, 
over and above their immediate returns, there is an 
z degree of permanence attached; for 
no increase can occur in the saleable produce of 
the farmer without a orresponding increase in that 
acture of manure. We have 
hich can arise either from our observa- 
or experience, of the profitableness 
” degree of cultivation than that which 
is generally prevale 
Which goes to the manu 
no doubt 
IN CATTLE. 
I am desirous of calling the attention of your readers 
toa singular disez 1 cattle, which shows itself ocea- 
sionally in in fields 
SINGULAR DISEASE 
The disease is most apt to come on in the spring and 
autumn, after sultry weather preceded by rain, but it 
is very capricious in its inroads, sometimes not appear- 
ing at the accustomed seasons, and at other times 
attacking animals at unusual periods of the year. Thus 
the farmer is subjected to heavy losses, owing to the 
impossibility of determining when it is safe to allow his 
cattle to graze in the fields, and at what seasons it is 
necessary to avoid doing so. The existence of the“dis- 
order is by no means of recent observation, for the 
farm has been in the occupation of the same family for 
nearly a century, and the grandfather, father, and son, 
have all in succession lost much stock from this cause. 
It is remarkable that, whilst horned cattle and horses 
are attacked, sheep appear to escape. 
I believe I may state, from a careful examination of 
the ground, that there is nothing in the character of 
the herbage which can account for so remarkable a 
pecul arity—no plant, at least of a poisonous quality, 
could be detected in it, though I visited the spot at a 
time when several cows were suffering under the dis- 
ease, from having been left in the field.* I am more 
disposed, therefore, to attribute it to a peculiar miasma 
emanating from the soil ; and I am confirmed in this 
jecture b; d ding that the inhabitants of the 
surrounding hamlet are very subject to liver complaints, 
which may arise from the same cause. The only ad- 
vice I could give the farmer was not to turn in his cattle 
before sunrise, and to remove them half an hour before 
sunset ; but perhaps some of your correspondents ma; 
be able to throw more light than I can pretend to do, 
both upon the causes of the disorder and the means of 
its prevention.—C, Daubeny, Botanic Gardens, Oxford, 
dug. 31, 1846. 
ON THE STATE OF HUSBANDRY IN LOWER 
ITTANY, 
WITH INCIDENTAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE CONDITION OF 
THE FARMING POPULATION THERE, COMPARED WITH 
THE SOCIAL STATE OF THE ANALOGOUS CLASSES IN 
IRELAND. 
By MARTIN DOYLE. 
(Continued from p. 416.) 
In the different countries at which we have glanced 
in respect to the reclaiming of wastes, it appears that 
the most generally successful results have been worked 
out by the peasantry themselves. In Flanders the cul- 
tivators of the wastes were small farmers, who did not 
exceed their means. * These admirable cultivators not 
only added generally to the extent of the soil which they 
tilled; exery year the plough was made to go deeper ; 
half an ineh or an inch was thus gradually added to the 
depth of the land already in tillage ; hence a. fertile 
loam, 18 inches or 2 feet deep, is now seen where the 
farmer originally found a soil not exceeding 3 or 4 inches 
in depth. ‘To do a little constantly, and that little 
well, has been the profitable maxim of the Fleming ; 
y acting steadily on this invaluable principle, that in- 
dustrious race have converted the most barren tract 
in Europe into the most productive land in the world.” 
It is unwise for any individuals to undertake the im- 
provement of large tracts when they have not first 
proved the advantages of reclaiming on small allot- 
ments, and senseless to attempt great undertakings with 
disproportionate means. The Bretons are never guilty 
of this imprudence, and. therefore no injury is done to 
he ity by the disk ing examples of 
failures. Whatever opinions may exist as to the wisdom 
of inclosing the British wastes on a large scale by com- 
anies or individual l , the i ion o 
such lands by cottagers is unquestionably remunerative; 
their industry costs them little or nothing of mone; 
capital; the labour which they expend is often but the 
surplus of their time which otherwise would be lost 
parish of Kidlington, Oxfordshire. 
The pastur 
prevails, is s 
on one side 1 
Thropp, a hamlet in the b 
mand when precluded from the privilege of turning 
sheep and eattle on them, 
To resume the notice of agricultural life in Britanny, 
the appearance of the rural parts is that of a eountry 
nearly deserted by its population; so secluded are the 
h itati 
1 followed by effusions into the 
cavities of the pleura and pericardium. Death often 
jpervenes in less than 24 hours, if prompt measures 
e not taken, and the spleen is in general diseovered, 
upon dissection, gorged with blood. 
Mr. Hall, veterinary surgeon in Oxford, informs me 
that the most successful mode of treatment is, internally 
hy purgatives, followed by oil of turpentine, and other 
stimulants, and externally, by blisters and setons ap-| 
| 
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plied to the chest. 
the peasantry, who are, however, of a 
social temper when they meet; each family has its 
isolated farm, or, at the most, three or four families are 
combined to constitute a village, in some secluded 
hollow, only accessible through narrow lanes concealed 
by foliage. 
The houses near Lannion and other parts of the Côte 
du Nord are slated, and present a respectable appear- 
ance ; but in some parts of Finistére and all the moun- 
tain districts, they are thatehed—mostly with Heath— 
which might explain the phenomena, but in neither instance 
was able to detect anything unusual, Hay made from the Grass 
is perfectly wholesome, 
| energy. 
| 
without chimney or windows, except a single pane 
imbedded in a wall, as if ventilation were dangerous, 
and smoke necessary to comfort : half naked and squalid 
children are brought up under the same roof with the 
cattle, and not always better fed or educated ; but, ex- 
cept with the poorest class of labourers, there is more 
furniture in the Breton than in the Irish farm-house 
of the same class, and always a good supply of linen, 
and with some an Oak chest, and press of Walnut or 
Oak, containing earthenware and glasses for extraordi- 
nary occasions.» Even farmers paying 20/. a-year rent 
(for the proprietary class is more comfortable) have 
their cattle frequently in the same room with them- 
selves; the better grades have, of course, sheds or 
houses for the cattle: but the whole family, however 
numerous, sleep in the general room, on beds ranged 
over each other, with curtains, perhaps, to afford some 
privacy, and the only rule of separation respecting the 
sexes is, that the girls sleep immediately above the bed 
in which the man and wife repose, and that the boys 
mount to the uppermost tier, which they reach by lad- 
ers. The servants eat, drink, and sleep with the 
family, and without any distinctions. 
They have no proper apprehensions of the propri 
of life, and though the cattle may be in their proper 
places outside the domestic roof, and the hearth bright 
with blazing logs, and the family assembled cheerily on 
their stone benches beneath the majestic chimney, re- 
lating tales and plying the needle or the distaff, there is 
a real want of many domestic comforts which an Eng- 
lish labourer would consider indispensible to his self 
respect. 
A dog always chained near the house, lives like 
Diogenes in a tub, or rather an old cider cask on its 
side, and his confinement is the more pitiable from his 
uselessness ; for there is no occasion whatever for vigi- 
lance against thieves in a country where they are un- 
known: yet the dog, true to its nature, seems to think 
it is its bounden duty not to dream away existence in 
the sloth of a sinecurist, and barks incessantly. 
A kitehen-garden, with Apple and Pear trees, which 
the Bretons are learning to graft and cultivate more 
generally, behind the house, or at one end, gives an air 
of comfort, which in some measure counteracts the dis- 
agreeable look of the yard, which is always in filth up 
to the very threshold. 
The eart-shed serves for a threshing floor, though 
this is more frequently on an open space adjoining the 
house, like the Irish “ bawn,” and the want of a properly 
prepared floor necessarily renders the grain extremely 
foul; indeed, Oats are universally intermixed with. 
stones throughout the whole of this province, and of 
Normandy also : the want of accommodation for storing 
and threshing corn is one of the most obvious. The 
Buck-wheat (sarragin) is threshed as soon as possible 
after it has been cut; but as the straw is only fit for 
litter, at any time, it sustains little comparative injury ; 
the grain is stored with the other kinds in lofts and out- 
houses, and not rarely on the once beautiful Oak floors 
of the fine old chateaus which have fallen into the 
hands of the peasantry. 
The operation of threshing is curious, When the 
sheaves are laid down in a large circle and opened, and 
the sign of the cross made by the principal workman, a 
ozen or more men perhaps set-to with their short, 
heavy flails, advancing from the outer part of the ring 
to the centre, without ever missing time in the stroke, 
or interfering with each other however close they may 
be. The blows are very frequent, and given with great 
If they slacken from fatigue a reanimating 
voice sets them going again, until the time has arrived 
for turning and shaking the straw. Another mode 
which I have seen practised is this: two or three men 
moving in line backwards, thresh the breadth of sheaves 
spread, from the centre to the circumference; these 
are followed by a woman or old man who turns the 
sheaves, which again are threshed by the succeeding 
file of men ; and so on until the grain is completely 
beaten out, and a new layer of sheaves laid down. 
Though the labourers are habitually sluggish and apa- 
thetic, they are capable of great exertions on emergen- 
cies ; in harvest time particularly, when they put forth 
° | all their energies to save the fruits of the earth. 
friendly interchange of manual assistance then takes 
place between families, and social intercourse of the 
most generous and pleasurable nature rewards the un- 
bought labour, 
M. Sousvestre relates a beautiful trait of Christian 
benevolence which he witnessed in harvest. A pro- 
prietor farmer was perplexed, from the insufficiency of 
reapers at a critical moment. A neighbouring peasant, 
against whom he had taken some law proceedings, came 
to him one morning with 14 men. When the other eX- 
pressed his surprize and thankfulness, and offered apo- 
logies for recent differences, the humbler farmer alluded, 
as his reply, to some of the Christian precepts respect- 
ing charity, and on the necessity of bearing each others 
burdens; and declared that no man could be a real 
Christian who would willingly allow the corn which 
Providence in his bounteousness sends us, to be lost. 
He refused all recompense beyond the ordinary hospi- 
talities, and seemed quite unconscious of having done 
anything unusual or meritorious, 
The women work in the fields and stables, &c., and 
go to market, They spin, knit, and manufacture every 
article of clothing beneath the domestic roof that can 
be made without mill machinery, and thus du e for 
themselves eonstant occupation, whieh renders them in 
some degree independent of shops and markets. 
(To be continwed.) 
