THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



57 



Job 



torDr»niner- . in V*ii that is desired, me 

 S V € *W « anTpartof *• country 



ff PHOSPHATE °f ^jn plants than any sub- 

 fetf^lTuw..' Factory, Deptford 



£*%»* . • • j£ percwt - 



Soda 

 Magnesia 



Ammonia 



»» 



gs. »• 

 is. per lb 



z 



amricattttral ffagtte 



7^iKJ^* F27 ' 



1841. 



». 



rfAnml 



iter**? 



Agric- Im^ 



I NuiSS^nEr" Quarterly Journal 



■ which 



if Vegetable ( 



combi 



ner 

 aws 



expect, 





Notwithstand- 



- . tL fL s there recorded, and the man 



We Chemistry and Physiology would lead us 



t2* render this a subject to which 



the expert Agriculturist may usefully direct his 



^drantige of steeping seeds in certain chemical 

 Jrt£*em to have been first pointed out by 

 r'Vi Ifefcai of Cartel, near Mavence. He announced 

 ^^fnlMr^^ V^^et u On the 

 ftkiuiion 'of Soil without Manure. 5 ' 

 Ik the extravagance indicated in its title, and winch 

 characterises it throughout, this publication records 

 WBewrpriang facts and testimonials on this subject; 

 tad these have lately been corroborated by the expe- 

 riment! of Mr. Campbell, of Dundee. A letter 

 deacriptive of the method of doctoring seeds adopted 

 by the latter gentleman, and of their consequences as 

 exhibited in the growing plants, has justbeen published 

 in the Transactions of the English and the Highland 

 Agricultural Societies— an extract from it will be 

 found in another column. Mr. Campbell's experi- 

 ments were performed upon seeds planted in the clay 

 taken from eight feet below the surface of the ground ; 

 tad though under such unfavourable circumstances, the 

 Wheat plants from them tillered into five or eight 

 , while those from unprepared seeds had only two 

 threestems apiece. That, however, which is broadly 

 tooted in the German pamphlet is also hinted at by 

 Campbell— viz., that steeping seeds in suitable 

 will render all future application of manure 

 "'• This is a statement which no practical 

 _ for one moment entertain, and therefore we 

 **\ 0td that it is not necessary to suppose it to be 

 ™ before we can believe that this process may some- 

 be beneficially adopted. 

 M teems probable, that by some such means as 

 £« "Bested by Messrs. Campbell and Bickes, the 

 {^^germination, which is one full of danger to 

 «d^¥ plant may in many cases be shortened ; 



*d^!IJ.i ra,) k' for ' owin 8 t0 the conversion 



4 ie seed into sugar, which is then pro- 

 it is at that time liable to attacks 



fanner 



5 i; P ant is at 



eraeriili, ot venmn - ln «ie case of the Turnip, 



to peri?* "J? 118 Vvbich would hun 7 " through 

 *™ ** ° r ^teaved stage of its growdi 

 •liweet* ^Tff il is onl y when its leaves are 

 But frw , U ls ha ? le t0 the attacks of the fiy. 



cxpemnents 

 PWeoexte 



^tyondf t0 . th . e futu re history of the plant 



1 to accoun P . enod of lts germination ; and it is 



■jtable subject We would recommend it now as a 



Tk mineral \l ex penment for Wheat growers. 



fiftieth of itv 1 e , nts of Wheat amount to about 



t ™ existence i? ht ' an(1 , from the mere fact of 



£* «» important seed ' li is probable that they 



*J« growth. A nue " c ? over "s germination and 



^and\by8oakiil rtlhci . al action to their quan- 



*J* tlit natural q ! eat ln certain solutions we can 



^ therefore incH ot lts mineral constituents 

 ^following are that influence. 



wJl?^ 8 cora po su . bstances which, besides the 

 alS 1 ^ ln Wheat :- lts organic structure, are to 

 ^|£ c ^d, phosph?' P , tasll > lime, magnesia. 



acid, silica, alumina, and 

 ibcmlil 7" m " aU ? * suc ' di . fi ? cult t0 dissolve 



It would 

 Wcroich 



in 



mineral l u Uieir r , ca tliaL l »e solution 

 in it Li U r ance8 J so trS 1 , proportions all these 

 We*nfl tt * l yincrea* heat . by being steeped 

 r 1 ' * lth °ut at ^ uantit H of its mineral 



^t thi* , ldl NatW urbln S the balance 



•«fcin!Iw be thebest as r si 8 ned ; and per- 



*toue "J restlI lg to know tt?. f Proceeding ; but 



^ Te ^alue of di(W„* dividual m£1 ™,i 



different sm ividual effects and 



"es as manure, we 



intend to try a series of experiments on the subject, 

 confining ourselves in each to the application of only 

 one of the salts, in the form of which the above sub- 

 stances must be employed. 



For those of our readers who may not yet have got 

 in all their Wheat, for we by no means wish that it 

 should be a mere garden experiment, we shall first 

 state the plan we f propose to adopt, and should our 

 example be followed by any one, we shall be happy to 

 report next autumn the results of his experiments, 

 along with those of our own. 



It is intended to soak for 48 hours previous to sow- 

 ing, eight parcels of Wheat— say one bushel apiece- 

 each in a solution, to be obtained by dissolving 5 lbs. 

 of one of the following substances in such a quantity 

 of water as may be necessary thoroughly to cover the 



seed. 



The prices per lb., placed opposite these substances, 



are such as will be charged by any wholesale chemist 

 of whom they may be ordered. 



Silicate of soda 05. 6d. per lb. 1 Phos. of ammonia 2*. 6d. per lb. 

 Nitrate . .03 „ I Sulpbate . .03 

 Sulphate of soda 3 „ \ Muriate . .08 

 Phosphate .16 „ 1 Nitrate of Potash 4 



The Wheat, after being thus treated, will be hoed 

 in at the rate of two bushels of the dry seed per acre, 

 in drills nine inches wide, and a ridge sown with 

 Wheat in the ordinary way will be left as a standard 

 of comparison between each couple of adjacent plots. 

 The extent of the experiment, for those who may 

 not wish to hazard so extensive a trial, might be 

 reduced one-half without perhaps much impairing the 

 value of its results. 



We have no wish to enter upon the question, 

 What weekly suai is a just and sufficient wage 

 fob Agricultural Labourers ? nor shall we attempt 

 to determine whether the consideration of such a 

 question would be practically useful — whether, in 

 fact, the lowness of wages is, in the long run, at all 

 dependent upom the will of the employer ; but there 

 is one subject arising out of the relation existing be- 

 tween master and servant which we are anxious 

 should be thoroughly discussed in our columns, and 

 we shall therefore make a few remarks upon it, in 

 order that others may be induced to take the matter 

 up. We allude to the policy of paying for work 



BY THE PIECE. 



This mode of payment might be advantageously 

 adopted more generally, and for many more farm- 

 operations than it now is. During tbe past year we 

 have paid by the piece for turning dung in the yards, 

 for filling it into carts when ready for spreading on 

 the land, for hoeing Wheat and other grain crops, 

 Turnips, and other roots, &c. ; for harvesting Corn, 

 i. e., cutting, tying, and stookingit ; for pitching and 

 loading the Corn in the fields on the cart, and pitch- 

 ing it to the builder on the rick in the stack-yard, and 

 for harvesting all sorts of roots, i. e., with respect to 

 Potatoes, for digging and pitting them ; and with re- 

 spect to Turnips, Mangold Wurtzel, and Carrots, for 

 pulling them, cutting off their tops, and loading the 

 roots in one set of carts, and the leaves in another. 

 If we except horse-labour, the greater part of the 

 work on the farm was thus paid for by the piece ; 

 and there is this advantage in this system, that acti- 

 vity and spirit on the part of the labourer are thus 

 insured bv the powerful principle— self-interest 



It is of importance in certain complicated opera- 

 tions of husbandry, in which it may not be possible 

 to manage it wholly thus, that at any rate one of the 

 branches of which it consists should be paid for in 

 this way. By so doing— to take the case of the prepara- 

 tion of Turnip-land under drill-husbandry for the 

 seed-— the men at the dunghill who are loading the 

 carts being kept vigorously at work by self-interest, 

 and all the other operations being dependent on them, 

 those who are carting, the men who are spreading the 

 dung in the drills, and even the ploughmen who are 

 opening fresh drills and covering the dung in by 

 splitting the old ones, are forced to proceed with pro- 

 portional activity— an activity, too, which is not 

 merely the result of necessity, but the consequence 

 in some measure of interest in their fellow-work- 

 men, whose wages depend on their keeping them 

 fully employed. Similar cases to this occur at har- 

 vest-time, when those who pitch the corn to the cart 

 and to the rick are paid by the acre of ground cleared, 

 all the others being employed at day-wages ; and in 

 November, during root-harvest, when the profitable- 

 ness of the contract taken by the men in the fields is 

 made to depend a good deal on the activity of the 

 boys with the carts, and of the men at the heaps, who 

 pit the roots and thatch them, all of whom are work- 

 ing at day-wages. 



The following are the prices we have paid for the 

 above descriptions of work during the past year. The 

 wages which the men actually made are placed oppo- 

 site; and we must remark, that before any one can 

 pronounce these wages to be too high, (we are willing 

 to admit the price given was too high in one of the 

 cases,) he must know what sort of men they were who 

 earned them. 2s. 6d. seems a great price for a day s 



work of an A gricultural labourer, but it was earned by 

 filling 40 cubic yards of manure into carts, which all 

 men could not do :— 



Wages earned per day of 

 10 hours. 



For turning dung and earth com- 

 post, 1st time, \d. to id. per yard ; 

 for do. 2d and 3d time, irf. per yd. 



For filling well-made dung intoi 

 carts, 7«. 6d. per 120 yards . ../ 



For hoeing Wheat, 2s. 6d. to 35. per 

 acre; for twice hoeing Turnips 

 (singling them, &c), 5s. to 7«- an 

 acre 



For harvesting Wheat (cutting, ty- 

 ing, and stooking), 7«. to 8s. 6d. 

 an acre • • • • , 



For pitching and building Corn on*| 

 the carts in the field, and pitching 

 to the builder on the rick, ls. 4d 



per acre 



For harvesting roots (pulling, cut- 

 ting off tops, and filling them into 



carts) 



Turnips, per acre, 6s. ... 

 Swedish Turnips, 8s. ... 

 Mangold Wurtzel, 9*. to 10s. 



Men. 



| Worn, 

 s. d. 



2 6 



10 



Boys. 



2 6-3S. 



2 6 



6d to lOd 





ls to ls 6d 



__„_. o _ 16 



Carrots, 21s. . ' |2 







2 





 

 

 



10 

 10 

 10 



10 



6dtO 

 6d to 

 6d to 

 6dto 



\0d 

 lOd 

 \0d 

 IQd 



The price paid for harvesting the Mangold Wurt- 

 zel, as proved by the wages earned by the men during 

 a short November's day, is, we think, the only case in 

 which too large a sum was given ; though in the ab- 

 sence of knowledge of what sort of workmen the la- 

 bourers were, those who have been accustomed to pay- 

 ing for work by the piece will be more likely to agree 

 with us in saying so than those who have been 

 hitherto accustomed to pay only day-wages. 



There is one advantage in this system of payment 

 for work, viz.— the independent feeling which it im- 

 parts to the labourer; he is then no longer bound to a 

 master, unless his own agreement be considered in 

 that light; and at the same time his master has, 

 within the limits of that agreement, all the hold upon 

 him which he would have under any other mode of 



payment. ... 



The above prices are not stated as giving m our 

 judgment the wages which farm-servants ought to 

 earn ; these necessarily vary with the capability of 

 the men and the customs of the country. In discus- 

 sing practical subjects of this kind, we are careful to 

 avoid assuming a dictatorial style, for we are well 

 aware, in the practice of the farmer, how principles 

 which might seem of almost universal applicability 

 are nevertheless entirely at the mercy of the varying 

 circumstances of different districts. We have merely 

 stated our experience in this matter, in the hope that 

 our practical readers will enable us to publish theirs. 

 We had written thus far, when our attention was 

 directed to a paragraph on this subject in Mr. Pusey's 

 article " On the Agricultural Improvements of Lin- 

 colnshire," in the current Number of the English 

 Agricultural Society's Journal. It is from the pen of 

 a Lincolnshire Agriculturist, and we quote it entire, 

 as it entirely agrees with our own views of the sub- 

 ject. It will be perceived that the price given for 

 loading manure is greater than that mentioned in the 

 above table. Before, however, any inference can be 

 drawn from this, we must know what sort of stuff the 

 manure was, for it varies much in weight:—- 



" Whether Mask' work be more in practice in Lin- 

 colnshire than elsewhere, I, from my retired habits, 

 know not ; but it is a practice highly beneficial, both 

 to the farmer and labourer ; the one gets infinitely 

 more work done, and the other more wages and better 

 habits. For instance, in filling the carts with 

 manure by the day, the labourer seldom fills more 

 than eight or nine loads ; whereas, for days together, 

 this year, I had 160 loads of manure, each load 1J 

 cubic yards, filled by 1 labourers at 1 Jrf. per load, and 

 spread upon the fallows with nine carts, nine horses, 

 and nine of my own men, and generally finished by 

 2, never later than 3, p.m.— sharp work, of course, but 

 the labourers push everything else on— no creeping; 

 and they thus earn 2s. 4tf. a day, and have ample time 

 to do a little work in their own gardens in theevenmg. 



ON THE AGRICULTURAL VALUE OF LAND. 



{Continued from p. 42.) 



Although it thus appears that few means of improv- 

 ing the texture of a soil are so efficient as drainage, yet 

 there are cases where the faults in its mechanical 

 properties are of a kind that drainage will not remedy. 

 It a clayey soil have the water removed from it, by 

 which every winter it was worked to a paste, and, 

 therefore, every summer dried to a brick, it. will un- 

 doubtedly be greatly improved— it will be made more 

 friable : the land, however, will still be clayey. If, again, 

 sandy land be wet, drainage, although it will improve the 

 soil, will not make it heavier, its lightness will still be its 

 fa*dt. The only way to remedy this is, in the one case, 

 to add lime, ashes, and other substances tending to make 

 the land looser; and, in the other, to add clay, marl, and 

 other substances whose tendency is to make the soil 



heavier. . , 



It is found in nature, and is the case in practice, that 

 the more compound a soil is, the more valuable it is ; that 

 the fertility of a soil is, in a degree, dependent on the 

 variety of "its component parts. This may he because the 

 merely mechanical properties of a soil, whieh consist ot a 



