46—1846.] THE 
AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
763 
several kinds grew on contiguous plots, each showed 
the disease at this period, though weeks sometimes in- 
tervened? 4. In the remarkable tendency to preco- 
cious growth distinguishing the disease ? wherein tubers 
in the very act of putrefaction, throw out strong and 
luxuriant shoots ? 
.— Have we not further evidence that this predis- 
osition is putrescent? 1. In the increasingly rotting 
character of the diseases of this plant for the last 
15 or 20 years? 2. In the increasing care required 
for some years past to prevent the tubers heating in 
store? 3. In the rapid rotting of the tuber (as noticed 
above) while throwing out shoots apparently vigorous ; 
as if manuring them? 4. Is not the success of autumn 
planting due to the shoots acquiring strong roots in the 
soil while the set is destroying, and thus gaining the 
means of more wholesome nutrition before spring 
growth? And 5. Is not this what might naturally be 
expected from inoculating the plant with dung juice (by 
the raw surface of the set) yearly for nearly a century, 
until the composition of the sap is in a state of were 
TEL ibl t 
p f any p i > 
and thus ready to act the part of dung upon its own 
shoots, as above noticed ? 
. Putrescent Manures.—Although open to more 
exceptions, is there not a sufficient preponderance of 
evidence of the recent ill effects of fresh and rank dung ? 
1. In the Scotch reports, and in those of the Gardeners’ 
Chronicle? 2. In the virulence of the disease in 
Holland and Belgium, where night-soil is largely used ? 
. In its not much less virulence in the Irish lazybed 
culture, under the rankest of manure? 4, In the com- 
paratively mitigated damage where soot and charred 
materials have been substituted for dung, and where 
the plant has been grown upon undunged peat, which 
is antiputrescent? (until this season, when the spawn 
of last year's fungi may be supposed to be carried in 
the sap.) 
F. Fungus (and infection).— The agency of fungi in 
originating the disease is also much questioned. 1. I 
this country the majority of cases where the tubers are 
first affected, would probably be against it; while, 
those in which it appeared first in the leaves, would 
give the predominance to fungi; and if we add, 3, the 
Belgian and Danish reports, in which the disease is 
attributed entirely to fungi, the majority will be large 
on thatside. On the other hand, 4, it is certain, that 
in many cases the decay has appeared before, and even 
without fungus of any kind; nor can the tendency to 
precocious growth (C. 4) be attributed to fungus. The 
results of investigation into the infectious character of 
the rot are not less conflieting, so far as regards the 
tubers; but in the leaves and stems, 5,it has often 
appeared first in small patches, extending, more or less 
rapidly, in all directions ; 6, other plants allied to the 
Nightshade family, though without tubers (as the 
Zomato, &c.), have taken the disease this season ; nor 
is it confined even to such species. Will nota general 
review and comparison of the cases (rather too complex 
sum up in one sentence) lead to the inference that 
the fungus is generated by the disease in the struggle 
between the vital and material forces; that it thus 
becomes a symptom, and a medium of infection by con- 
tact, and even aérial communication ? 
G. Soils.—Last season the disease appeared worst 
on rich, wet, and heavy soils, and least on those which 
were dry, gravelly, and peaty ; but this year, when the 
infectious spawn is likely to have been carried in the 
Sap we hear less of this distinction, The facts, however, 
as well as reason, warrant us in regarding dry and 
antiseptic soils as least disposing to putrefaction.—J. 
Prideaux 
bo 
Home Correspondence. 
Guernsey Cattle v. those of Brittany.—May I beg to 
draw your attention, and, through your valuable paper, 
that of the English press, chiefly that of the south of 
England, to the enclosed advertisement [see our adver- 
tising columns], cautioning English purchasers from 
being taken in by unprincipled dealers in French cattle. 
It ean be no objeet to the Guernsey or Jersey breeder 
whether the English purchaser fancies French cattle ; 
but it is-of much interest to him that those cattle should 
not pass under the name of his own long-known valu- 
able breed. The Brittany breed, somewhat like our 
own in shape, are totally different in dairy qualities ; 
their milk is thin and blue, ours yellow and rich ; seven 
quarts have sufficed to yield a pound of butter ; they 
may average half a pound of butter a day some time 
after calving, ours one pound at least, In the last 
“Guernsey Agricultural Report” is an account of a 
cow of Sir W. Collings’ having given from ber first 
calving, in July, 1843, to July, 1845, 804 lbs. of butter ; 
whilst others have been ascertained to give for a few 
months 16 and 17 lbs. a week. This subject is of the 
more interest to the Channel Islands, as previous to the 
late changes in the tariff, our high privilege as English 
subjects of exporting our produets duty free in Eng- 
land, without costing more than his own to the English 
purchaser, was a source of wealth to the islands ; now, 
however, that these protections are removed, there is 
hardly anything remunerative to the producer here but 
the sale of our famed cattle, a good cow fetching up to 
207., but yet cheaper at that rate to the buyer than the 
Brittany, which may be bought in France for about 4/. 
On the whole we would strongly press on our English 
friends the mutual interest there isin preventing this 
fraud in cattle dealing.—N. Le Beir, Hon. Secretary, 
R. A. S, G.— Guernsey, Oct. 28. 
On the Drainage of Land.—I read with a good deal 
of interest the discussions on deep and shallow draining, 
earried on by Messrs. Parkes and Smith (of Deanston) 
at the meeting of the British Association, as well as the 
letters on draining with inch-pipes, which have ap- 
peared from time to time in your Paper from the pen 
of Mr. Mechi; and I must say that the facts adduced 
by the latter gentleman appeared to me to be sufficient 
to convinee any one who was unbiassed by preconceived 
notions, But a discovery I made the other day has 
staggered my faith in the sufliciency of inch-pipes in 
many cases ; and as the objection raised by that dis- 
covery applies equally to Mr. Smith’s mode of filling 
drains With broken stones, I will relate what I saw, and 
shall be glad to learn from those who have long expe- 
rience in draining with pipes or broken stones, that 
they have not found that to be a serious objection to 
these methods, which to me appears to be so, to those 
who are draining in a limestone soil. My menare now 
draining a pasture with drains 4 feet deep, 45 feet apart, 
the subsoil of which is a stony clay, containing many 
limestone’ boulders. Their course required them to 
follow an old main drain—they found it in many places 
almost entirely choked up by a calcareous deposit, the 
side stones and covers of the drain being in many in- 
stances cemented into one mass, and coming out of the 
drain as one stone, and where there were stones at the 
bottom of the drain to serve as nuclei, the deposit was 
frequently 2 inches thick, and the drain so completely 
choked up that the water had found its way over the 
top of the cover before it could get a passage. Now, as 
many persons are, no doubt, preparing to drain, who 
will be induced by the deservedly high reputation of 
Messrs. Smith, Parkes, and Mechi, to adopt their sug. 
gestions about draining, I will thank any of your corre- 
spondents who may have drained limestone or chalky 
soils, either with pipes or broken stones, to reply to the 
following questions. How many years’ experience 
have they had of these modes of draining ? have they 
ever examined any of their pipe or broken stone drains 
which have been made more than seven years ? do they 
find that the old drains made in this way run as well 
as the new ones? do they use lime extensively as a 
manure? The last question I consider the most im- 
portant, because, although lime is extensively deposited 
by all brooks and springs in limestone distriets, and 
of which any one who has been at Malham and Gordale 
and ascended the gorge at the latter place must have 
seen a striking specimen in hundreds of tons of calca- 
reous deposit which have there accumulated from the 
mere spray of the waterfall. Yet the deposit of lime 
must be far greater where quicklime is extensively used 
in limestone soils, as it is here. It is well known that 
carbonate of lime is very sparingly soluble in pure 
water, whilst water containing carbonie acid dissolves a 
large quantity ; now if quicklime be added to water 
containing carbonate of lime in solution, it immediately 
seizes the carbonic acid, and the lime is precipitated ; 
this property of quicklime was made the subject of a 
patent some years ago by a gentleman whose name I 
believe was Clarke, who entertained the idea that he 
would realise a fortune by purifying the water of Lon- 
don in this manner. I never heard that his expecta- 
tions were realised ; in fact this had long been acted 
upon by the calico printers in this neighbourhood, who 
require pure water for many of their processes. I 
shall be glad to have your opinion as well as that of some 
of your correspondents, on this matter, becauseitappears 
to me that small drains, like those made with broken 
stones or inch pipes, would in such circumstances be 
very soon choked by ealeareous deposits, and if so, it 
behoves persons intending to drain to consider whether 
they are so situated, and rather incur the expense of 
making a wide drain than run the risk of having it 
soon ehoked.— T. G., Clitheroe. 
Fogs and the Potato Disease.—1 can fully corrobo- 
rate the observations of “R. L,” on this subject. In 
the early part of August, 1846, there was not a diseased 
Potato to be found in the North Riding of Yorkshire. 
Late in August, I think on the 25th, a very thick dense 
fog prevailed. The air was not, however, at all chill ; 
but the heat and closeness was most oppressive. This 
continued all night, and anything similar to it I never | 
before saw with so high a temperat It occurred | 
on the following night. nthe morning after the fog 
the whole of the Potato-fields had precisely the disor- 
ganised appearance they have after a night of frost; 
they were dark green ‘and semi-transparent. They | 
soon became black, and the disease followed in a very | 
few days. I was making a valuation for a railway, and 
drove over a light land district every day in various 
they would investigate rather than theorise, some pro- 
gress might be made. I have mentioned the facts 
above to many persons, most of whom noticed the 
peculiar fog.— M. M. Milburn, Thorpfield, Thirsh. 
Drainage, &c.—1 am going to drain a field whose 
soil and subsoil together is about 18 inches deep, and 
lies on a cold clay bottom. I have been accustomed to. 
lay the tiles about 2 feet deep, but this is not half the 
depth advocated in your Paper. What advantage will 
accrue to meif I lay the tiles deeper, seeing that I now 
drain the soil and subsoil? If I m o deeper, how: 
mych? A tenant farmer in Flintshire, says the Chro- 
nicle for last week, has grown 45 tons of Swedish Tur- 
nips per statute acre! No one about me can grow, or 
rather I should have said does grow, more than half 
the quantity, and many not a third. Can you inform. 
me how they were grown, what manure was used, and: 
what quantity thereof per statute acre, and what kind 
ef seed was used ? [Perhaps our Flintshire correspond- 
ent may furnish these particulars.] I would not have 
troubled you to do this, but the heavy losses farmers 
about me have sustained in growing Potatoes have ren- 
dered it necessary for them to cease growing Potatoes, 
to lay land down in Grass, to keep more cows, and 
grow crops of Swedish Turnips for their cattle in the 
winter.—A Subscriber. [Your drains should be deeper 
than 18 inches—they ought to be at least 3 feet—be- 
cause that depth, aecording to Mr. Parkes's theory, 
gives you a greater height and therefore force of water 
above the drains (in wet weather) with which to over- 
come the difficulty it finds in penetrating the elay sub- 
soil. It thus requires a deep drainage, and especially 
in clay soils, to make an efficient one. About sulphuric 
acid and bones you may see a paragraph in last week’s 
aper. 
ida as a Manure.—Two questions are asked in 
the last Number. Ist. If guano being used three or 
four years as manure, does it appear to exhaust the 
land and cause a coarse herbage? I answer that I 
have top-dressed my lawn the last three or four years, 
the beginning of March, on a moist day, at the rate of 
5 cwt. per acre, and found great improvement in 
the quantity and quality of the Grass, and no appear- 
ance of the ground being exhausted. I have used Mr.. 
Potter's, Mr. Brain’s, and foreign Guano ; all answered. 
very well. The 2d question is—Have Potatoes planted 
with guano alone suffered in the same way as those with 
farm-yard manure? I answer they have, as I had both 
in the same field last year. They were a very fine crop 
to all appearance when raising them on the 30th Sep- 
tember ; but on examining they were found infected, 
They were carefully pitted, but all rotted very quickly, 
I have now planted a quarter of an acre in drill 
whole Potatoes, 13 inches asunder. I first put on each 
Potato-a little coal ashes, and having drawn a little 
earth over them, strewed guano all along over them, 
and closed the drills with a covering of 7 or 8 inches, 
The seed was sound. Time only ean tell the result, as- 
I was always of opinion (from constant observation of 
the unaccountable manner in which the finest and most 
healthy looking fields of Potatoes were in 24 hours 
seriously attacked and infected), that no human know- 
ledge can account for the cause, let learned men say 
what they please.—4. Riall, Westgrove, Clonmell. 
Erratum in last week's * Calendar of Operations.” — 
In the comparative experi on cattle-feeding, re- 
corded in p. 749, there is said to be a loss of 9s. on the 
three heifers :— 
fI btalicoatle ‘ease ana Paige. 
152 stone of beef, at 6s. 6d., was .. 
^. £48 19s. 
. 49 8 
Resulting in a loss on the lot of on 0 9” 
instead of a profit. There was an exactly similar blun- 
der about a year or more ago, where a profit was 
stated as a “loss,” In both these instances it appeared 
as though the exp was pred ined that 
there should be a loss, and inverted his calculations. 
accordingly. If it were worth while I could dilate om 
the uselessness of nine-tenths of recorded experiments ; 
there is scarcely one in which some material item is 
not omitted or mis-stated. I fear farmers are not yet 
sufficiently unbiassed in their experiments, which often 
seem rather intended to support a preconceived theory 
than to arrive at truth for its own sake.— From a Core 
respondent. [The error was an accidental republica- 
tion. There can be no scope for any available exercise: 
of * predeterminatiop ” in a ease where the balance for 
or against the favourite practice is so small as to be- 
greatly exceeded by the infiuence of the other circum- 
ional dif- 
stances affecting the experiment, as lif- 
ferences in the animals tried, &c.] 
ction of Soap-ashes on Potatoes.—This year Mr. 
directions, and the destruction was awful. As soon as | Stevens, a farmer living at Ealing, near the Green Man, 
the sun set the smell of the Potato-fields was so power- | on the Uxbridge-road, planted some Potatoes in land 
ful that we could detect them several yards before we | manured with soap-ashes, the other part of his land 
came opposite to them, and we did not observe one| being manured in the common way. Half of the 
single field which was not affeeted—one the least so had | Potatoes that grew on this latter part were diseased,. 
a north aspect. There was a very striking circum- | and unfit for use, and the remaining half were very in. 
stance, however, also alluded to by “Ri L.” I observed 
a field which had had Potatoes sown with Barley, and 
ferior, and boiled badly. On the other land (in the land 
manured with the soap-ashes), only one-third of the Po- 
several of the ungathered plants had grown in the | tatoes were affected at all, and the unaffected ones have- 
corn, and not a single plant of these, even in the slight- | turned out excellently, boiling mealy and ‘well, and being 
est degree, diseased. I drove past this field until the | in every respect as good as any he ever had. The soil 
Barley was eut, and they entirely sustained their cha- | is very stiff and heavy, and Mr. Stevens attributes the 
racter of freedom from disease. I profess not to ex- | result in this last ease to the effect of the soap-ashes on. 
plain this, nor to build any theory whatever upon it; but the land.— 7. : 
I mention it as a curious and interesting fact, and if| —Beet-Root for Sugar.—Will any of your correspond- 
every writer on the Potato disease would accumulate | ents oblige me by the inf tion, how the tus and 
and publish facts, one of these would be worth ten | workmen are employed, whilst the crop is growing gilt 
thousand theories. My firm opinion is that no one has, | I am not mistaken, the Beet-root becomes deteriorated: 
so far, approached to accounting for the disease, and if | for the purpose of making sugar, as the spring of the 
