42—1846.] THE 
AGRICULTURAL 
GAZETTE. 701 
remedy, as those creatures do not make their appear- 
ance until August, by which time, if early planting be 
adopted, the tubers will be ripened, and may be taken 
up and stored away in safety before they arrive. There | 
is nothing new in the practice of leaving Potatoes until 
required for seed undisturbed in the soil wherein they 
are grown, for it has been practised by many farmers, 
particularly in Scotland, for a series of years with great 
success. Mr. Grey, of Dilston, a very intelligent and 
practical farmer, has long practised autumnal planting, 
and from his repeated experience states, that it yields 
on the average one-third more than spring planting. 
In 1844 and 1845, he made some interesting experi- 
ments on an extensive scale. The land was prepared 
in October, manured with fold manure below the sets. 
The Potatoes were planted in drill rows of 30 inches 
width, but leaving three rows unplanted for each in- 
termediate month between October and April inclusive. 
Three rows were similarly dunged and planted in No- 
vember, three at the end of December, three early in 
March, and the remainder in April. The resuit of the 
experiment is, that to produce 10 stone weight of Po- 
tatoes there required to be taken up— 
Of the October plante : 
~. 90 yards. 
2 5 
» November .. 
» December .. «+ $ 
» March $e 5 
p Apbo cae Women PE 
®his experiment clearly demonstrates that a loss 
learn, is likely to turn out a profitable speculation, the | 
great difficulty at present being in getting good eggs in 
sufficient quantities. They hatch from 80 to 90 per 
cent. of the eggs they procure, which is a larger amount 
than ean be obtained by natural means ; and when we 
consider that a hen will lay upwards of 200 eggs ina 
year, and will rarely incubate more than once in a year, 
although she will oecasionally bring out two broods of 
from 12 to 15 each, it appears that it will be far more 
profitable to keep poultry for raising eggs than it will 
be for rearing. We have no doubt, in a few years, that 
each large town will have an artificial hatching esta- 
blishment ; and that, by this means, a vast amount of 
food will be raised for our increasing population, We 
were told that the chickens were always fat, and, from 
the extreme cleanliness in which they were kept, and 
being fed regularly, and on the best food, have no doubt 
their flesh will be far superior to the general run of 
pouliry. They have turkeys and Guinea fowl hatched 
by the same means, the turkeys taking longer ; but have 
not tried ducks, not having the command of open water. 
— Chambers! Edinburgh Journal. 
Sale of Short Horns.—The following prices for calves 
were realised at Tortworth Court, near Wotton-Under- 
Edge, Gloucestershire, on the 13th October, at the 
Earl of Ducie's annual sale. 
Lor] NAME. | WHEN CALVED, |[PRICE—GUINEAS 
| 24,08 r NE AC EE 
|Fitzhardinge (white) ..|Nov. 19, 18 ES 
[Belus (roan. <. _ _ -.|Feb. 20, 1816 | Fifty-three 
Caledon (red and white) April 1, 1846 Twenty-three 
Th one 
long before practised by other farmers in C 
in Glendale, and on the Tweed.” An interesting dis- 
cussion ensued on this very interesting subject, during 
which it was stated that the practice of planting Po- 
tatoes in the autumn had been pursued at Trewar- 
thenick, the seat of G. W. F. Gregor, Esq., and that 
those planted in this manner last year, were entirely 
free from disease, and proved a productive and valu- 
able crop. Mr. Robert Hearle, one of the members, 
also stated that he planted a quantity of Potatoes early 
in November Jast, which proved excellent in quantity 
and quality, without any disease — whilst those he 
planted in the following spring were nearly all worth- 
less. The club were of opinion that Mr. Karkeek had 
adduced sufficient evidence to prove the efficacy of 
autumnal planting of Potatoes, as a palliative, if nota 
preventive, to the ravages of the Potato murrain—and 
most of the members stated it to be their intention to 
commence planting almost immediately. à 
Miscellaneous. 
To Halch Eggs.—1t has been generally supposed that 
heat is all that is necessary to ineubation, and that 
placing eggs in an oven which could be kept heated at 
a moderate and even temperature, eggs might be 
hatched to any extent. ‘his was the plan. adopted at 
the Eccaleobion, exhibited in London some few years 
since, but which, from the uncertainty of its operations, 
and the small per centage of chickens hatched to the 
number of eggs destroyed, rendered the machine useless, 
except as a mere exhibition, Many men of science and 
writers of books have also stated, for years past, that 
they have succeeded in hatching by artificial means ; 
but when the system is examined, it will be found that 
all their attempts for practical purposes have been use- 
less, and therefore abandoned. Let us first of all exa- 
mine the egg. Where does the germ lie? On the 
uppermost side, always floating on the top of the yolk, 
and against the shell. Which part of the egg does the 
hen sit upon? The top, and she affords no heat to the 
bottom, which rests on the ground, and is cool until the 
formation of the blood-vessels within the egg carries the 
heat downwards by circulation, and thus the egg be- 
comes warmer, and finally hot at the bottom, when the 
chick fills up the shell. Weare led to these remarks 
from having visited a model hatching establishment at 
Heathfield, Sussex, which is being carried on under 
the superintendence of . J. Cauhlo, and which is 
patented under the name of Caublo’s Patent for Artifi- 
cial Hatching. We were first shown the Patent Incu- 
bator, which consisted of two long counters filled with 
drawers, intended to contain 5000 eggs. The top of the 
counter is a reservoir of warm water, contained in 
water-proof cloth, and which rests on the top of the 
eggs, and answers the purpose of the hen, by giving the 
eggs “top contact heat.” The water is heated by a 
small fire of charcoal, which warms a large tank of 
water which communicates with the water contained in 
the cloth on the top of the eggs. This is kept constantly 
in motion by machinery, so that the heat is always at 
the same temp e f ly paid our visit 
to this int ing Bist ton the hatching-day, 
which is on each Thursday, and saw upwards of 500 
chickens leave their shells. The inventor showed the 
whole process. It appears he first began in America, 
and expended a large sum, and found he could only 
succeed by following Nature step by step. On leaving 
the hatching-house, we were shown the rearing-houses, 
to each of which is allowed an aere of ground, for the 
chickens to run over ; this is divided by netting, so that 
each hatch of chickens is kept separate, and, the day 
" 
.being warm and fine, upwards of 3000 chickens might 
be seen all running about at the same time. Great in- 
genuity is displayed in the construction of these rearing- 
houses, or places of shelter for the chickens ; they being 
provided with a series of warm-water pipes, under which 
the chickens get the warmth which the hen would 
afford them, Altogether, this is one of the most pleas- 
ing sights we ever beheld, and, from what we could 
Iymenans (light roan) .|May 13, 1846 
è h (whil ee|April 9, 1846 ,.| Thi 
Puritan (roan) .. — ..|July3,1846 ..| Fifty 
-June 8, 1846) # 
«June 8, 1846) Ẹ 
Colchicum (red). « 
Fifty 
(Colocynth (roan) E| Forty-eight 
[Capsicum (red & white)| August 27, 1846 | Fifteen 
Auctioneers, Messrs. Humphreys and Co., Stroud. 
preste 
Preservation of Swedish Turnips.—Having read and 
tried every method, I believe, that has been suggested 
as to the management of the Swedish Turnip when taken 
up previous to the winter, I have never been quite 
satisfied, as, whether they were placed with a good deal 
of trouble and labour in long piles, and covered with 
straw or straw and earth, or in round heaps and 
covered with earth, or between wattled hurdles, or 
topped and tailed and deposited in a furrow made by a 
double mould-board plough, and covered by the common 
plough, there have always been too many rotten to 
satisfy me. If deposited in a barn or building, it might 
answer very possibly, as in the case of Mangold Wurzel, 
which I have for several years managed in this manner. 
I do not remember ever having had a single rotten one, 
But for Swedes, it would bé almost impossible to store 
any great quantity, so mueh room would be required— 
as, for instance, for only ten acres. However, this year I 
tried a plan that does appear to answer, very simple 
and very cheap ; but only having tried it one year, and 
that year a remarkable one for its mildness, [ will not 
speak positively, and shall be happy to hear amy re- 
marks upon the plan, or any improvements suggested 
by brother farmers. The plan is this :—In December, 
or when you please, with the horse-hoe, only one of the 
side knives being on, and that knife reversed, you will 
be able to cut all the tap-roots and scarcely disturb a 
Turnip in the rows. This alone is of use in the spring, 
even if you do not wish to do more, asit will very much 
prevent the Turnips running to seed, and of course the 
tap-roots from drawing the ground. I tried two rows 
at a time, both knives on ; but my man found it almost 
impossible to hold the instrument sufficiently steady, 
and the Turnips were consequently disturbed in the 
rows. The tap-roots having been cut, I then pass the 
double plough up the centre between every six rows, 
and let the Turnips (which pull up, the tap-root being 
cut, as easily as possible) to one of my labourers at 
2s. 6d. an aere, at which he finding two children, pro- 
bably his own, he will make good wages, the average 
wages in this country being 2s. a day for a man, 
child on each side of him hands the Turnips to him, and 
he places them in the furrow made by the plough. 
One ploughing then with the common plough completes 
the business, by turning the earth to the Turnips and 
covering them to the necks ; if not quite so neat as you 
wish, a man with a hoe will quickly and easily make it 
perfect. By this means I believe the plants will resist 
almost any frost, will be ready when wanted, cannot 
draw the ground, and searcely a Turnip will be rotten. 
—Mr. Allix,in Eng. Ag. Soc. Journal. 
Instance of Grass-land broken up.—1n. describing 
how this farmer intends to break up 11 aeres of land of 
two kinds of soil in the same field, I shall only give the 
methods adopted by him on previous occasions, and 
which have always succeeded. The field he has now 
under hand lies at the junction of the forest marble 
with the great oolite, and is in consequence variable, 
part on rock and part on clay. The clayey part has 
been well drained. He intends to plant the part on the 
rock with Turnips, and the other part with Swedes. 
His process will be as follows : To pare and burn the 
turf in the spring, as early as the weather will permit, 
and haul away half the ashes to be drilled with Turnips 
on other land. To rafter-plough, and leave it for a 
month or so to the infiuence of the sun and weather ; 
then drag it, to pulverise it as much as possible ; and 
after having harrowed it, to plough it clean, with a 
slight furrow, and then drill white Mustard with a por- 
tion of the ashes, on the lightest part, reserving the 
other portion for Swedes, The Mustard will come up 
soon, and be ready for sheep in about a month after 
being sown. The Mustard is to be eaten off with sheep 
in folds, and the land immediately ploughed, dragged’, 
harrowed, and then Turnips are to be drilled with the 
remaining ashes. Of course, between the time of sow- 
ing the Mustard on the lightest part and its being eaten 
off with the sheep, the stronger portion will be culti- 
vated and drilled with Swedes. Both the Turnips and 
Swedes will be eaten off with sheep in folds ; the Tur- 
nips first, and the Swedes afterwards, and sown with 
Wheat, unless circumstances render it desirable to re- 
serve them until nearer spring, in which case the land 
will be sown with Barley ; but the former plan of sowing 
Wheat is most usually practised. This method has 
been adopted by him on other lands before, and he has 
always had abundance of green crops and Turnips, and 
plenty of good corn afterwards.— Mr. Bravender, in 
Eng. Ag. Soc. Jour. 
Metropolitan Sewage Manure Company: Analysis 
of Evidence.— The Sewer Water has a high money 
value.—Ammonia in a state of salt is worth, at the 
lowest computation, 16s. a ewt. Now, upon the low 
computation that only one ton of ammonia (which is 
equal to three tons of any salt of ammonia) passes off 
into the Thames each day from this sewer, 487. worth 
would be thrown away; in the same way, about 
a ton of earthy phosphates, or bone earth, ‘the com- 
mercial value of which is not less than 3/. a ton ; sa; 
the same for the potash thrown off ; we shall have 54/. 
worth passing off every day, actual money value. The 
quantity of solid matter in suspension, say it amounts 
even to double the quantity I have found (I have found 
nearly 50 grains per gallon), say 100 grains, would 
yield daily about 16 tons (of course taking for granted 
that the calculation of the delivery of this sewer is cor- 
rect), it would yield daily 16 tons of solid matters in sus- 
pension, which at 10s, per ton would be worth only 8/., 
so that we have for the liquid manure an excess of 
value 467. over the solid. The daily loss is 547. for the 
liquid ; and the total loss would be about 64/7. (Accord- 
ing to this ealeulation, the annual value of the sewage 
water, which at present passes into the Thames from 
the King’s Scholars’ Pond Sewer, is 23,3607.) — Pro- 
Jessor Miller, of King’s College. . Report of Select Com- 
mittee on Metrcpolitan Sewage Manure. 
Calendar of Operations. 
OCTOBER. 
Ir will soon be time for the farmer to think of harvesting 
such portions of his root crops as he intends to consume in the 
buildings. The following observations on the subject have 
already been published in a past volume. 
Fig. 1. 
Fig. 3. 
dat ti od a 
H | 1 f if 
H tt H H 
i} i H i 
n 8, d, 
.2). These act somewhat as chimneys, and facilitate a due 
ventilation of the heaps, thus hindering any tendency to heat- 
heaps, n that which is 
afforded by the interlocking of the bushy eaves of their respec- 
ive roofs. en, however, a series of heaps has thus accu- 
mulated, as in fig. 1, a rough dead-wood hedge should be con- 
structed around them (see section in fig. 2), and the space 
between it and the hurdles, which may be 12 or 18 ins., should 
be loosely filled with straw. 
ave annually kept many hundred tons of Swedes, 
Carrots, and Mangold Wurzel in this way, without losing any 
i i à It fulfils the three con- 
from 17s. to 25s. per acre—that of Swedes and Mangold Wurzel, 
rom 6s. to 10s. For this sum the contractor pulls the roots, 
cuts off the leaves, fills the roots into carts, and gathers and 
loads the leaves also. 
‘n the operation of harvesting Carrots the spade is required ; 
it is pressed into the ground, and used as a lever by the right 
hand, while, by the left, the root is pulled up. Each man lifts 
two rows as he proceeds, and four men forming a company, 
