7G 



THE AGRH ULTURAL GAZETTE. 



[Fkb. 3. 



blackfaced or Cheviotjfbeep ; these, if confined in warm 

 house*, would be injured in health, and alter a few gene- 

 rations, rendered 10 delicate by the natural transmission 

 of new habits, and even of physical conformation, as to 

 be unfit for their native pastures. Those nomadic tribes 

 accustomed to brave the wintry blast, and scrape up their 

 •canty food from under a coveiing of snow, would become 

 diseased, or perhaps die of ennui, it" confined in close 

 sheds and fed luxuriously. The Cheviot sh » farmer 

 well knows that the healthy condition of his flock is pre- 

 served by their being kept out on the hills as long as a blade 

 of grata can be cropped from the ground, and i * unwill- 

 ing to divide among them even a few plaid- fulls of the 

 bog hay which has been cut and stacked for them near 

 the stells, as long as they can procure any food for 

 themselves, lest they should become indolent and lose the 

 robust vigour which active eiercise imparts to them. 

 But some shelter is necessary for the mountain ?heep, of 

 which countless thousands have at different periods 

 perished from the waut of it. Until stells were built to 

 save them from snow drifts, there often was no chance of 

 saving them from being smothered in heavy snow-storms, 

 but mere nin, or even cold wind, unaccompanied by 

 much snow, are not dreaded if their range permits them 

 to obtain the shelter of a hollow, or even of a hill-side on 

 which the wind does not blow: necessity alone causes 

 them to enter any of the numerous stalls, which tbe good 

 sense and humaniry of the lute Lord Napii r, and other 

 land-proprietors in Sen?! md have so liberally built, where 

 the eddying winds are least likely to affect them. 

 Sheep, lik« those in the hill districts would feel a sense of 



suffocation if they were inclosed in a covered shed within 

 a close country ; and I think that all flocks, except the 

 individuals of them which sre actually fattening, enjoy 

 more health in the open air, but with liberty to rest under 

 some Mtoral shelter, or inch artificial shelter as consist* 

 with their liberty of ■ v» merit*, from wind or ralfl than if 

 housed. For ewes in young, air and exercise and perfect 

 freedom seem to be most necessary ; but whether near 

 the mountain or in the inclosed vale, an hospital should 

 be provided for the sick, a small park for the tups, an in- 

 closure for lambing end feeding-abed*, such as those re- 

 presented in your plate to tome extent. In short, the 

 principle of affording shelter to sheep \i most just and ne- 

 cessary ; though confinement in sheds is unsuited to the 

 nature and condition of the hardy vaiieties, which de- 

 pend on their fleecy great coats for warmth, and which, if 

 shut up in a warm place in their dripping raiment, would 

 emit morbific evaporations. High-bred Leicesters, or 

 other lowland sheep of the same indolent habit! (compa- 

 ratively with the mountain tribes) are only suited by their 

 nature to lowland districts, where hedge-rows and plan- 

 tations usually afford sufficient shelter, txcept in 

 extremely severe weather ; and therefore, except for the 

 pur|>ote of accelerating the process of fattening or shelter- 

 ing flocks of sheep when there is not sufficient Grass- 

 land for their keep, as in many of the purely tillage farms 

 of Great Britain, thatched sheds i be altogether dis- 



pensed with. You perceive, Sir, that my exceptions in 

 favour of your system are few, and only such as any prac- 

 tical sheep-farmer would admit to be reasonable. — Mar- 

 tin Doyle. 



Shed feediny of Sheep.— I am perfectly satisfied of the 

 fact, so fully proved by Mr. Childers' valuable experi- 

 ments, and dwelt upon in a Into Number of your Paper, 

 that sheep fed in sheds will produce much more mutton 

 in proportion to the quantity of food the? consume, than 

 others allowed to go at large in the open field, exposed to 

 all the variety of weather, and induced to take much more 

 exercise. 1 have tried such experiments myself, and 

 occasionally with much tttecess; frequently, however, the 

 whole advantage has been thrown away at the am], by the 

 sheep being attacked— as they are very apt to be when 

 confined for a length of time upon litter, which will hold 

 a good deal of moisture, though often renewed— by a 

 disease in the feet of so p ilnfal a nature, as to cause them 

 to lose more flesh before it can be cured than thev will 

 recover in a month afterwards. The disease is the sam. 



thou. h I think more virulent, owing, perhaps, to the higher 

 feeding to which the animal has been subjected, as that 

 known by the name of foot-rot, or root-halt, C ,,,,„,, | 

 sheep fe. I in rich pastures, and in damp seasons. This 

 circumstance is a great objection to the mode of feeding 

 sheep in my case, and it may be presumed to be so in 

 others ; and it is desirable to know both how the evil may 

 be prevented and cured.— John Grey, Dihton. 



Sprengel on Inorganic Manures. --As your Paper is 

 not intended for Chemists, it is requisite that the facts 

 which it professes to give should be accurate and clearly 

 expressed The translation of Sprengel's lecture on 

 Mineral Manures in your last No. (Jan. 20) is, I fear, 

 wanting in both these essentials. Take the following 

 specimens :-;• By the action of quicklime, organic matter 

 is converted cniefly into humic acid. To .his, lime bears 

 a strong affinity, and if previously combined with water it 

 will lose it .gain through the above combination ; the 

 new compound however, will again combine with water." 

 W to say that lime bears a strong affinity to humic 

 acd, means, if # u means anything, that it bears a strong 

 resemblance to it, and no doubt it would be so understood 

 by nine out of every ten of your readers. The sentence 

 might perhaps, have been more intelligible thus :- 

 • Bf the action of quicklime, organic matter is converted 

 chiefly into humic acid, with which the lime then enters 

 into combination, forming a humate of lime, it having a 

 strong affinity for that acid." The next paragraph is full 

 of inaccuracies. We are told that caustic lime is soluble 

 in water, " but 752 lbs. of water at 168-> Fahr. are re- 

 quired to dissolve. 1 lb. of calcareous earth." Now, accord- 

 ing to Dalton, 750 parts of water at 60° are necessary to 



dissolve 1 pint of lime, and, which is a remarkable fact, 

 the hotter the water the less lime i r . will dissolve ; so that 

 •t 212", 1280 pints of water are requisite. But why take 

 the temperature 168° ? What the farmer is chiefly con- 

 cerned In is the solubility of lime at an ordinary tempera- 

 ture, C0°. And why use the words M calcareous earth? " 

 by which he evidently means pure lime, though most 

 people would think he meant limestone, or earth contain- 

 ing a quantity of carbonate of lime. He goes on ;— ** It 

 (lime) is easily soluble in water if free from carbonic acid, 

 and to this its action on the organic matter of the soil If 

 owing ! ! In order that substances may act upon each 

 other, one at least must be in a liquid state, and this 

 explains why caustic lime dissolved in water will injure 

 vegetation." Is a farmer to understand, then, that a 

 heap of quicklime thrown on a grassplot would not kill 

 the crass, but that watering it with lime-water would ? 

 The troth, probably, is, that quicklime destroys vegetable 

 matter, (i.e., causes theelement to form new combinations), 

 owing to its affinity for water and acids, and therefore, 

 when mixed with vegetable matter it converts the oxygen, 

 hydrogen, and carbon chiefly into water and humic acid. 

 —Crito. [Probably the error of naming 160° as the 

 temperature at which 1 of lime is soluble in 752 of water, 

 was owing to the figures in the original being mistaken for 



centigrade degrees, and so reduced to those of Fahren- 

 heit's scale.] 



Experiments trith Various Top.Dres.si/i/^.—TUe fol- 

 lowing experiments were tried upon a mixture of equal 

 parts of brick -clay and sand. The clay was dug from 20 

 feet below the surface, and clean white sand was intimately 

 mixed with it, and the whole was put into beds upon a 

 surface of white (lay, each partition being carefully divided. 

 Barley was sown on the 5 to of March, and the top-dress- 

 ings were applied on the 15th of April, as per Table, to 

 each partition, — with the intention of its being in a manner 

 a key to experiments with the same kinds of manure, sown, 

 in the same proportions, in the field, in square rods and 

 chums. The object of these experiments was to ascertain 

 whether certain salts, &c. were mere stimulants or ma- 

 nures. There being no animal or vegetable matter in the 

 mixed brick-earth and sand in the beds, if any efTect 

 resulted from these applications, the manures must be of 

 a positive character; but a perusal of the following will 

 give an idea of their relative effects, both upon the pure 

 earth and upon the arable land : — 





Manures. 



Nitrate of Soda 



Baltpetra . . , 



Carbonate of Ammonia 

 Muriate of Ammonia 

 (iuano 



Kiln-dust . . . 

 Pale Malt-dust . 



High-dried do. 

 Wood-ashes from Kiln 



Red-burnt Earth 

 Black burnt do. . 

 Earth without dressing: 



- 

 2 & 



~< 



Ho 



a 

 m 



a 



a" « 

 6*35 



m 



>-3 



From the Natural Soil. 



Calculated Produce per 



Acre. 



c 

 - 

 c 





5! w«J 



3 or* 



2 a 2 



\>x3 



lbs. 

 160 

 160 

 160 



160 



3 CWt. 



bush. 

 40 

 40 



40 



40 



cab yd f 



80 



80 



23« 

 34 

 35 

 35 



qrs.bsh. qrs. b«m. 

 7 4 2 6 





32 



u 



35 



28 

 35 



32 



7 

 5 



6 



6 



5 

 6 

 5 

 5 



4 

 5 

 2 

 2 



A 



2 



5 

 



I 

 3 

 3 

 4 



27*. 

 35 



35 

 35 







— 4 



35 



! 



It will be seen from the above that the results were 

 similar, both as regards the bed of brick-clay and upon 

 the field. The sample of the produce from the saltpetre 

 upon the field was superior to any of the others, having 

 less proportion of offal. The produce of the nitrate of 

 soda was very inferior, with an enormous proportion of 

 off-corn ; this proves, so far as we can judge from so 

 small an experiment, that it is unfit for Barley on clay- 

 lands. The superior produce from the pale malt-dust, 

 in comparison with high-dried or kiln-dust, justifies the 

 idea that a large proportion of its manuring qualities are 

 carried off by the application of too much heat. The 

 superiority of the produce of black-burnt earth over 

 the red is worthy of notice, as it was undoubtedly upon 

 account of preserving its charcoal; ashes, containing 

 much charcoal, from paring and burning the surface 

 only, are m all cases superior to the red or mere 

 burnt earth, it being destitute of charcoal. If means 

 could be adopted for burning in a temporary furnace co- 

 vered with a sheet-iron, in the same manner as it is pre- 

 pared here in making pot-mould, by merely scorching the 

 turf from which a rich compost is made for strong- feeding 

 plants, it would open a new field for the emplovment of 

 our labouring poor. I am convinced in the common man- 

 ner of burning, too much heat in the fires is required to 

 allow the charcoal of the plants to be preserved. Consi- 

 derable caution is necessary in the application of saline 

 manures ; the evil effect of nitrate of soda is visible for 

 several years in the working of heavy clavs ; but saltpetre 

 is less so than the nitrate, as is muriate of ammonia less 

 so even than saltpetre, and it likewise prodiw , s a kinder 

 growth than either, being more like pale malt.dust in its 

 effect. I am informed it may be purchased at the whole- 

 sale houses at the same price as saltpetre. There is cer- 

 tainly an imitation of Nature in the application of saline 

 manures, or how is it that the fens of Lincolnshire, the 

 hundreds of Essex, the Channel Islands, and the flats of 

 Holland, are so much superior in fertility to soils of the 

 same mechanical texture in the interior of the country at 

 a distance from the «ea ?— or that animals fatten so much 

 quicker upon the alluvial lands reclaimed from the sea '— 





J* 



ppr 





or that they pine and die in the interior of America t 

 is n< t often given them ?— or that Sea-weed, where » 

 be proeured, is a. universally powerful manure? I** 

 not. a solitary experiment, either upon a i ar - e " ,l » 

 scale, but a multiplicity instituted upon various soil - ^ 

 in various seasons, the climate, in respect to distance '(Of 

 the sea, altitude, &c , being taken inio account JIjJ 

 alone can inform us of the truth in these matters 1_jS. 

 Iiivrs, Saicb)i<!geworth % Herts. 



Tests for Manures. — The season is now a 

 when artificial manures will be applied to the Und^" 

 I think you cannot render a better service to the Ae-i 

 tural portion of your readers than by pointing out a 

 by which the purity of earn kind may be suffieio* 

 ascertained by the farmer lor practical purposes. Ir"^ 

 matter of the highest importance to the welfare of Arn 

 culture that the general use of artificial manures aaE 

 cable by the drill should not be impeded by the ft S 

 which are continually practised by dishonest dealers, f 

 feel persuaded that tbe produce of the land mav beb 

 measurably increased, and at a much less cost" tan J 

 present, by the use of the manure-drill ami hone-W- 

 we need hear no more of worn-out soils; and the cieui! 

 ness of cultivation resulting from their use will, jf M 

 entirely supersede the necessity for fallowing, at |m 

 materially prolong the interval. Farm yard manui 

 though undoubtedly containing all the necessary food g \ 

 plants, also contains the seeds of all pernicious w«tk I 

 under circumstances most favourable to their germinal^ 

 By great expense in preparation, and submitting to put 

 loss of manure in the process of fermentation, suchaa. 

 nure may be delivered on the land free from the aeedi of 

 weeds, but the cost much exceeds what most people iat- 

 gine, and what the same degree of fertility may be rrs. 

 duced lor by means of artificial manures applied bjtk 

 drill. A very great advantage arising from the useofta* 

 latter is, that on heavy land they may be applied at 1st 

 most favourable moment without the expensive, long, wk 

 injurious process of kneading it by the haulage of fare, 

 yard manure in damp weather, thereby producin 

 not unfrequently sterility rather than fertility. I 

 am well aware that the efficiency of artificial as- 

 nures containing only two elements can only be n* 

 sonably calculated upon after an accurate analysis of tie 

 soil to which it is proposed to apply them, and that raws 

 disappointment has arisen from the want of such cautioi; 

 but I am anxious that my brother farmers who intend topw- 

 chase artificial manures shall have the means of testing by i 

 simple process whether they receive what is proposed 

 be sent them or something wholly different. — A Farmer. 

 [We have some matter in preparation with referenced 

 this certainly very important subject, and no time will be 

 lost in publishing it. JBut the task is one of great dif- 

 culty and in part insurmountable ; for who is to be alive 

 to the ever-varying devices of fraud, w here there is a desire 

 to practise it. Moreover, it is not even easy to give plaia 

 and simple rules which farmers can employ. \Y*fWi 

 formerly a ready and simple test for common salt ia 

 nitrate of soda ; but we never heard of any one makiaf 

 use of it. So long as farmers will attempt to buy manures 

 cheaper than they can be made, frauds will be practiced. 

 Dishonest men are always to be found ready to chest 

 under the pretence of selling cheap, especially when it a 

 so easy to lay the failure of such agents as manures attk 

 door of Chemistry. If a fair price is paid, and only 

 venders of known respectability employed, there will * 

 no fraud.] 



Phosphoric Manure.— \ have received two orthrft 

 letters requesting me to state in your Paper the compoa* 

 tion of the phosphoric salts used in the experiments upoc 

 Turnips. The following is the composition : — The pW* 

 phate of potash, soda, and magnesia, weighed about 801* 

 per bushel, and contained about 50 to 60 per cent, of tw 

 pure salts, the residue being sulphate of lime. The pbo* 

 phate of ammonia was in crystals, and pure. Tbe supff' 

 phosphate of lime weighed 75 lbs. per bushel, and cc* 

 6isted entirely of superphosphate and sulphate of h>* 

 and no free sulphuric acid. In my experiments on ■*" 

 burnt bones given last week, it is important to rem* 

 that the bones were quite pure, reduced by grinding to 

 powder, and sifted through a muslin sieve. ThisaccouB 

 for the action of sulphuric acid not being so much sop 

 rior. Repeated experiments with the bone-dust of com- 

 merce have satisfied me that on my soil it is quite usel* 

 — J. B. Lawes. 



Sea-weed as Manure. — I beg to inform your corresjjr 



dent " M.T.," in reply to his inquiry in your last Ga«J 

 that I do not live near enough to the sea to avail «»)• 

 of the weed as d manure, but I have conversed witn . • 

 mers who are in the habit of using it, and their accoaa* 

 is, that for a single crop it answers well, but that it s*^ 

 to melt away in the earth. Nevertheless, the rep«J ^ 

 use of it must, in the end, materially affect the stap 

 the soil ; for, besides a great multitude of animalcu.es 

 small Crustacea always entangled in it, a consi 

 quantity of inorganic substances must be thus a^ 

 lated, for it contains potash, soda, sulphur, I J nlC ' r 

 magnesia ; from this last, indeed, there may be ^^ 

 danger, if carried to excess ; for every pint of sea- 

 contains about 40 grains of magnesian salts, and tn> 

 in large quantities is known to be injurious. t ^^ 

 weed is seldom carted before decomposition has vjjjn 

 because the quantity of water which it contains 

 fresh adds so much both to its weight and bulk ; *? f# j| 

 fore that process begins it would be useless. — I" 

 liar court. 



^octettes. 



AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF I RELA £!u> 

 At the Council Meeting, on Thursday, January W ^ 

 Secretary laid ou the table the list of Members o 





