684 
AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
[Ocr. 10, 
ample sufficiency of cretaceous matter. 
staple almost any vegetable will thrive and be luxuriant, 
unless we except the Carrot, which rarely spindles 
straight down. As this earth is retentive of manure, 
requiring it in very moderate proportions, there cannot 
be the slightest suspieion that, in a locality so dry also, 
and naturally well drained, the Potato could become 
diseased either by a redundancy of manure or of 
moisture. 
In 1845, after we had received the reports of a viru- 
lent disease which had first attacked the Potatoes in the 
Isle of Wight about the third week of July, I observed 
for the first time the leaves of my plants to be spotted at 
the end of the second week of August; then, also, the 
singular odour of decaying foliage was diffused through- 
out the i diate neighbourhood, in q of the 
general prevalence of the disease, which it was subse- 
quently proved had commenced in all the plots much 
about the same day. 
My crops were extraordinarily beautiful till then, 
but the spread of the disorder was fearfully rapid, and 
all that could be effected was to try how far the mere 
amputation of the haulm might arrest its progress. I 
had, therefore, a large portion of my red varieties cut 
over, but the whites were left untouched. At the time 
of digging and storing no difference was perceived : 
about one-fifth of all the varieties were blotched more 
or less. Those known to be bad were put aside, the 
others were separately stored on a floor of a perfectly 
‘dry barn, covered deeply with dry Wheat straw, and that 
with a rick cloth. Thus things remained till November, 
when a few more were removed in which the disease had 
progressed, others perfectly good were put into sacks 
for London, and the rest re-stored. Then the following 
i Totali 
p wi e 
(a). The diseased tubers, with prominent eyes, were 
planted whole, 5 or 6 inches deep, 12 inches apart, in 
Several rows one yard asunder, in an open plot of my 
garden ; but previously every tuber was covered with 
dry slaked lime, and the rows were dusted over with 
lime also prior to being covered with earth. Finally,a 
thin stratum of coal ash was laid over the soil along 
the course of each row ; it was applied, not so much 
with a view to protect, as to mark the row. 
Resnit,—The plants did not appear till late in April, 
and then with a few blanks from total decay of a very 
diseased tuber here and there. Dreading the loss of 
the whole, intermediate rows of early Lancashire Kid. 
neys had been planted by dibble, all dusted with lime 
and some soot, and these vegetated before the former. 
However, all grew finely, and had a most healthy appear- 
ance, considering the extreme drought, which so parched 
the ground that in digging the Kidneys the lime was 
found just as dusty as when it was applied, and almost 
every tuber had produced a secondary weak progeny. 
As to bulk, there was not half a crop. Disease of the 
leaf took place early in August, and iu this plot all the | - 
haulm was pulled up. 
The Potatoes from the diseased tubers were very good, 
fine, and mealy in quality, and so they remain: that 
speckled Potatoes are found among both sorts is a fact, 
but certainly not one in ten, My loss consists in the 
paucity of yield owing to drought. 
The proof from this intermixed experiment is this— 
disease does not propagate disease. No blotches were 
seen till August 5, then every plant was affected ; but 
of the two the affection of the tubers was, if anything, 
more prevalent in the Kidneys than in the late variety 
sown in November. 
(b). A plot of sound, * prolific " Kidneys was planted 
in another site, after Carrots, Parsnips, and Beet, all 
dusted and covered with lime and coal soot (the latter 
about one-seventh part). No manure, save the green 
herbage of the previous crops, had been given to the 
land, and this seems to have imparted moisture, for the 
Potatoes were larger and not so dry as in plot (a). 
Disease eame on here, and in a week or two I cut off 
the haulm, the lower part of whieh soon dried away. 
Tn one instance I found an affeeted young tuber here, 
before the spotting of the leaf appeared. 
Results—Some tubers were, and are, spotted, but 
not to any extent ; the bulk remains in the ground, and 
as we only dig for use I cannot report the whole, The 
crop is great in respect to number of Potatoes, 
Proof.—Sound sown Potatoes, with lime, afford no 
Security. 
(c). Other Potatoes were planted in many situations 
—all with lime and without manure: the results the 
same—bulk sound, but all the sowings have preduced a 
few affected tubers, 
(d). In April a final picking of the store took place ; 
about a small barrow load of bad ones was removed, 
and these Potatoes, with a quantity of sproutings and 
some damp straw, I directed to be thrown near a ditch 
in a heap, to take their chance. In the spring this 
heap became a mass of verdure—the soundest of the 
Potatoes had vegetated amidst putridity from the life- 
less tubers, the decaying straw, &c.; and strange to say, 
this richly verdant haulm remained longer unattacked 
than any upon the planted plots. At last, however, it 
fell over, and withered. I then turned it with a fork, 
and found nothing more than a dozen of sound, but 
diminutive tubers. 
"roof.—Contaet with disease and rottenness is in- 
noxious ; but merely vegotable earth from decayed sub- 
stances, destitute of earths proper, does not suffice to 
produce and sustain a erop of Potatoes. 
(e). A row of Potatoes had remained in the earth 
from last season ; it comprised a beautiful Lancashire 
(we should, n , have 
could not be the primary disease ; it was a consequence 
of destroyed tissue. 
Resull.— These Potatoes are just digged for the 
table; a very few are touched, and these I shall plant 
soon : the sound are very good. 
Another large and solitary straggler had been left, 
and grew large; it was not early affected, and then re- 
mained to take its course. It died entirely away by the 
middle of September, and I then raised the Potatoes. 
The yield was the finest’ and most prolific in my pre- 
mises. Ido not, as yet, perceive a bad tuber, and I 
reserve the whole for planting. 
Proofs afforded by the two results of (e). Self-sowing, 
as it is termed, affords no absolute security, yet it is 
favourable upon the whole. An affected, destroyed 
haulm, affords no conclusive evidence that the tubers 
below it are diseased ; hence we may hope against hope, 
or rather, in despite of the woe-begone despondency 
with which too many writers entertain the alarmed 
public. Of very, very short crop through drought, 
there exists, however, but too much proof. 
"These experiments and their results are locally true 
and faithfully reported ; but I offer them only as such. 
—John Towers, M.R.A.S., Hort. Soc., 4c 
Home Correspondence. 
Salt a Manure for Potatoes.—\ have heard of seve- 
ral instances of sound Potatoes being grown where the 
land was previously dressed with salt, and one very 
striking instance has come within my own knowledge. 
Iam satisfied that all light soils that have borne dis- 
eased Potatoes this year, or that is intended for plant- 
ing Potatoes next spring, should be dressed with from 
10 to 15 ewt. to the acre, applied half now and half in 
the spring. I am adopting this course myself. Strong 
clay soils would be injured by salt.—.4 Constant Reader. 
[This application is simple and cheap, and, at all events, 
ean do no harm.] 
The Dolphin.—l am surprised to see a remark by 
Mr. Hewitt Davis, that the Russian Bean “appears 
never to suffer from the dolphin." I should have sup- 
posed that every farmer knew the “ dolphin" to be the 
best friend of his Bean crop, by devouring the aphides, 
or lice, with which they are infested. So well is this 
known by the Hop-growers of Kent, that they are in the 
habit of paying children to collect these insects (the 
larvee of the Coccinella) for the purpose of placing them 
on the Hop bines, which they will clear with astonish- 
ing rapidity.—J. Gedge. [“ The dolphin” is an aphis— 
a black plant-louse—you mistake the insect. ] 
Salt a Preventive of- the Potato Disease.—A very 
intelligent labouring man, who cultivates about 4 acres 
of land (partly as a market garden and partly as an 
allotment), informs me that he this year tried the effect 
of soot and of salt on small portions of his Potato crop. 
The Potatoes were planted in drills, and manure from 
the pig-sties was laid over the sets. In two of the 
rows soot was sprinkled, in small quantities, over the 
sets before the manure was laid on. In three other 
rows salt was similarly applied. When the Potatoes 
were got up, a short time since, only two or three were 
found diseased where the soot had been applied, and 
none at all where the salt had been used. Those to 
which nothing had been applied, except the manure, 
contained a large proportion of diseased Potatoes. The 
soil on which this experiment was tried is light and 
gravelly.—H. [We know the writer.] 
Details of Farm Management.—In your notice of 
the report made respecting Mr. Davis’s farm and 
system, I observe the recommendation to dress the land 
with manure only for green crops, and not for Wheat 
and other white straw crops, Among the green crops 
do you reckon Beans and Peas? Further to illustrate 
our recommendation, which startles us in these parts 
from its inconsistency with all our notions and practice 
hitherto—for here, we still farm as our forefathers in 
their simplicity did—would you suppose a case or two, 
and give minute and specific directions on such sup- 
positions ? and take, for example, a field, which in June 
is to be sown with Swedes, these to be followed with 
Barley and seeds next spring, which brings on two crops 
of Clover in the 3d year ; and thereafter in the 4th year 
comes Wheat, to be succeeded by Peas in the 5th year. 
Now, in such a case, at what junctures would be your 
manuring? Am I right in interpreting you to mean, 
“ before the Swedes; on the Clover in the spring of the 
3d year; and before the Peas”? After the Peas what 
would you sow? If Oats, to be followed by Beans, and 
these by white globe Turnips ; how, in his further case, 
should the manuring be determined? In one of your 
former Numbers, I noticed the expression of an objec- 
tion to the mixture of lime with farm-yard manure. Is 
that mixture really to be deprecated, and why? Here 
it isuniversal. How, without it, island to be treated 
which requires farm manure as well as lime? In the 
view, for example, of a crop of Swedes on land which 
requires lime especially.— 7. A. J., Brentwood.—[In 
our own case we dare not manure for Wheat, as the 
crop would infallibly be laid: indeed, on most of the 
lands we dare not so much as feed the green crops on 
the land, for the same reason, We should not adopt 
green erop from off it—or to speak more accurately, 
alternately a erop for sale and one for consumption on 
the land. Wheat would be the selling crop, and Beans, 
Mangold Wurzel, Cabbage, Tares, Clover, and in suit- 
able seasons Swedes, would be the crops consumed. And 
all these, excepting the Clover, would be manured. As 
it is, our rotation is this :— Wheat, Clover, Wheat, 
Swedes, Wheat, Beans and Carrots, Wheat, Mangold 
Wurzel,and of them all, except tlie Clover, are manured: 
Lime should never be mixed with farm manure ; there 
can be no doubt of our accuracy in this advice: in doing 
so you drive off the volatile parts—ammonia, &c., a 
fast as in the process of putrefaction they are formed. 
If the land requires lime, apply it after a green crop— 
amonth before your Wheat sowing, and it will thus 
have à whole year, during which to lose its causticity, 
before it shall have an opportunity of acting on the dung 
you apply to the land.] 
Small Farms.—Writing on a particular subject in 
detached pieces has the disadvantage of coming before 
the public at intervals, thus leaving a correspondent at 
the mercy of individuals who merely take hold of iso- 
lated passages to the destruction of principle. Labouring 
under this damper it may be advisable, after one more 
attempt to make myself understood, to leave the sub- 
ject in the hands of those who can render themselves 
more intelligible. “A Good Small Farmer” appears to 
have made his observations on large and small hold- 
ings, much in the same way that a novice would pro- 
nounce an opinion of the merits of two horses offered 
for sale without trying their paces, and most probably 
would purchase the worst. There can be no difficulty 
in pointing out large farms, say of 2000 acres, ad- 
mirably tilled, and on the other hand, those of 300 
acres in a disgraceful state of cultivation ; under such 
cireumstances a superficial observer might pronounce 
the large system of farming far preferable to the small. 
But what is the fact? the individual with 2000 has not 
so much spare land as the man with 300 acres; because 
the former has sufficient capital to work the soil pro- 
perly, and the latter is unable to do justice either t0 
himself or his landlord. Thus the small farmer has 
more waste land on his hands than the large farmer, 
and does not procure remunerative crops, which of 
course precludes the possibility of his paying a fair rent 
The generality of tenants have hitherto entered upon 
their voention with very inadequate means; and if the 
same calibre of men are still to continue in occupation, 
in order that land may be made to yield its quota o 
provisions for the increasing wants of mankind, it mus! 
be portioned out according to the capital to be ex- 
pended upon it. I advocate the small farm plan be- 
cause the class of men who employ themselves in agri- 
cultural pursuits are those who cannot command capital; 
and thus the owners of property do not receive the 
value of their possessions. Perhaps * A Good Small 
Farmer? will be kind enough to answer the following 
questions. Does not a farm of 100 acres require the 
outlay of a certain number of sovereigns to insure à 
profitable return? Ifa tenant occupies 150 acres, ani 
has only ready money for the cultivation of 100, is nof 
his farm too large? If 50 acres out of the 150 are in 
a neglected condition, is not the landlord deprived of his 
just dues 1!— Falcon. 
Clay-yrinding Machine.—l see in a late paper at 
inquiry respecting a mill to grind clay, in reply to whieh 
you say you are not aware of any other than the ordi- 
nary pug-mill, Iam glad to have it in my power t0 
give Ruyton the information he requires. Having 9 
very strong clay to deal with in making bricks, on the 
Duke of Bedford's property here two years ago, a mi 
| for the purpose of crushing the small stones which had 
escaped the men in tempering the clay was put up. 
consists of two cast-iron cylinders, and is worked very 
easily by one horse. It will pass enough for about 
3000 bricks a day, and saves much hand-work. Stones 
less than an inch square are perfectly crushed ; larg! 
stones are likely to injure the machine by straining it 5 
but when a stone of larger size gets in the horse 
habitually stops, and the stones are easily removed. The 
crushed stones are mixed up with the rest of the matte! 
after passing the cylinders by a set of spikes moved by 
the same machinery. The difficulties in managing this 
stony clay have been greatly reduced since the mill was 
used ; but still there are difficulties in burning from. the 
unequal composition of the material, requiring the heat 
to be very carefully managed. 'l'he machine was made 
by Mr. Bodley, of Exeter, and should your correspond- 
ent wish to see it, or to have any further prrticulars, I 
shall be most happy to render him all the assistance 
can.—John Benson, Tavistock, 
Buckwheat.—Observing in your Paper of the 26th 
inst. an article ding the cultivation of Buck- 
wheat as a substitute for Potatoes, 1 am induced;to 
send you'a specimen of the result of my attempt to cul- 
tivate this’grain in a valley of Wiltshire. In June Jast, 
finding my pigeons very fond of Buckwheat, which 
could not procure in the neighbourhood at a less price 
than 2s. 8d. per peck, I sowed some seed (then and 19 
the first week of July) in four spots : Ist and 2d, a light 
garden soil ; 3d, a newly-made piece of garden grount, 
with road-dirt, pond-mud, &e.; 4th, a stiff clay in 4 
field. From my four sowings I have plenty of straws 
but hardly a handful of grain. Thus it would seem. 
that the cultivation of Buckwheat requires some little 
care and consideration beyond what it is necessary ue 
bestow on the raising of other grain.—J. G. [Buck 
wheat requires a soil not too rich, as your garden 
such a rotation as you name, If our land were stiff, | was, nor stiff, as your field was. It likes a sandy soil 
l l ly a corn and and should be sown the first week of June, not of July-] 
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