THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



171 



J^T^eTthe seed, may prove too strong 

 -ere!rw® cirnt . : ? t .? tn fiuee est that these seeds afte, 



gfrepHHf 



M .. \ictor iu -- attemp t to dissolve oZt 



k— #.aust in loUios. vi i . . 



manner 



_dus 



tecomnie 

 Gazette ; 



pour 



tried had not 



mention 

 an sug- 



** ^ a If would have been suffocated. I I 

 center and e f wou ^ adopt the pl 



* U ■? v M Lawe° . ™«* it should only be attempted 

 geatedbyMr.Lajre ^ ^ ^^ jfc. c/ory . [The 



^!TJjers alluded to arepowdered clay^bone-dust, 

 *""*" "ial ' "* ' 



drying rowers «.»-- -^ - -^- haye puf . 5 |bs# of each 



whether it is always in their favour, as some suppose, or 

 is thought near Dumfries occasionally against them. It 

 is to be hoped that another year will not have passed 

 over without these important points having been ascer- 

 tained, and made known through the Agricultural 

 Gazelle. — S. 



Potatoes. — A correspondent asked 

 seaweed had been used much in this 

 rums, aim unu tucui. auuwor year lueav uraius were manure ? It was not found to he of much value ; but on 

 s deep as the fall would allow, and the same result *a light loam with flinty gravel a foot below the surface, I 

 ved. My friends, the Moles, opened scores of their find that the salt mud from a tide-river is an 



manure for Potatoes. 



w.j —a i . , ma fter ccc. >> c nave -uv v '«o. «* 



At „ e i .nu,al ™'* r b j j bucketfol f water, 



of ,he , "'i \lt Vtat " it, about I of a bushel. It is all 

 1D d placed the * heat , >X 4 ^ ^ 



in the pound, and we can on y I 



prof 



• ,Z rround and we can only bop 



Se toT.f •« correspondent's unlucky seeds. 



IDC w« Ul :,„ „„ c fl .wni-If. and e? 



experiments ar 

 alone can teach 



™A'Ln,unication from - Rustic Robin" describes the 

 .A^nZs of ploughing in a mixture of lime and earth 

 £» lea. The superiority of the Wheat crop 

 after this manuring could be distinguished many fields off. 

 Cow- Wheat.— In the Chronicle for last year, a Cor- 

 respondent from the Isle of Wight mentioned that the 

 weed called Cow-Wheat had appeared in that island 

 amongst the corn, and he conjectured that it might .have 

 been introduced with some seed Wheat from Norfolk. I 

 believe that the plant in question is the Melampyrum 

 arvaise, which is indigenous to this county. Mr. Crow, 

 the botanist, says it grows " between Norwich and Cos- 

 sey, and B xley, near Norwich." I have made fome in- 

 quiries amongst farmers respecting this weed, and they 

 do not seem to know it ; hence we may conclude it is not 



Tery troublesome. — J. IVighton. 



Draining Materials.—" A Surrey Farmer " is entitled 

 to credit for bringing under notice the efficacy of Scotch 

 Fir poles as a draining ma'erial, but his plan of using 

 them is not to be recommended. I shall endeavour to 

 point out a cheaper, better, and more lasting one. In 

 the first place, sawing the poles lengthways is not only a 

 useless expense, but they will not last half so long as 

 when placed in the drains in a round state with the bark 

 on ; but I agree with him that the poles should be cut 

 when the sap is up. A few years ago I effectually drained 

 a piece of bog-land, not previously worth 2s. Gd. per acre, 

 and on which peat had been for many years cut for fuel. 

 The plan I adopted was this : it was a flat piece of ground, 

 and the land adjoining sloped gradually to it ; I cut a 

 drain seven feet deep between the dry land and the bog, 

 and two feet and a half wide at the bottom, the substratum 

 being gravel without any admixture of earth ; by this 

 means I cut off all the springs that fed the bog, and then 

 I placed at the bottom of the drain strong Fir poles (the 

 weedings of plantations), laying them horizontally end to 

 end on each side of the drain, leaving a space between 

 them of about ten inches, which, when completed, formed 

 a funnel ; and to secure the poles in their proper position 

 I had cross bars to keep them apart nailed into them with 

 spike nails, thus forming a sort of ladder which lay flat in 

 the bottom of the drain. I then placed other bars between 

 them, within a foot of each other, crossways without nails, 

 and afterwards the branches lengthways with their fibres 

 on. The surface sods, which were carefully preserved, 

 were then placed so as to cover the whole with the Grass 

 Bide downwards ;>id lastly, the drain was filled up with 

 the excavated soil. The poles at the bottom had better 

 DC ;of unequal lengths, by which means the nailed bars 

 V . kee P the whole line more firmly united. Where the 

 drain crossed the sloping land as before described, I had 

 some clay rammed in at the back of the poles at the 

 nnT 6 r "v V° P revent a nv of the water from percolating 

 UnA <r ,\ nn eK Thus l succeeded in draining more 

 pnniik 5 J * and at 01 »e-fifth of the expense, than I 

 couia have done with frequent drains, even if there had 



hilit/T St ? nequarryinthe field - With regard to dura- 

 '• l have no d oubt that Scotch Firs thus placed are 



- " "uuijl iijui ocorcn r 

 Fir m 1°' a chea per than, any other materials. Scotch 

 in frp an , SWer e( l uall y well if used in a similar manner 



denrtw? 1 s ; but the draius must be cut t0 the 



twenhr- u ° r five feet > and th *y must also be at least 

 I drai if? Wide at bottom ' The following year after 

 (of 40 x piece of ho S> »t produced thirty strikes 

 and W 1 " i P6r aCre ° f Muncorn (Meslin). It was pared 

 rate of t? Sad an allowanc e of lime made to it at the 

 ratimr n ii ee l ° ns an acre > the first crop nearly remune- 

 ■cre r> e * penses ' and the land is now worth 30s. per 



Kn^nl 9 Turni P*-—The most approved and now 

 WW at . ,0 P ted method of storing Turnips in Rox- 

 leaves a ' 1S aS follows : — The Turnips, deprived of their 

 both «\? r00tS, are laid in an ODlon g liea P> sloping up on 

 ones rn t S I° f pointf like a Potato-pit, and the outside 

 formed ti i C to 5 etner » and a smooth uniform surface 

 depth nf k P is then co^red with dry straw to the 



dow n hJ h 18 in ches t which is secured and bound 



*Ut IlZ 7* r ° pe3, Tarni P s stored in this way gene- 

 Should \t h i a " d are scarcel y ever touched by frost. 



tfnerali, V n Spring before the 7 are used » thev are 



th «J hai \h° me • at 8 P routed . but much less so than if 



*** hean ~ e f« n j pitte 1 in earth - ° f course the length of 



^ht^ii!!lS% Mft of J" r " ips - The 



^s;\sf ,y v bout k°^^ t: 



Moles, vvl November or Decern 



Swedes are now 

 ber. — A. J, 



^ered "2iS h 4 erev f r J go I see the trees and bushes 



lth the dead bodies of the poor Moles, killed 



without mercy or judgment. I have wet meadows, in 

 which they do me vast service. One of the meadows 

 was so wet that no Mole worked into it, but only bur- 

 rowed on the surface, barely deep enough to cover his 

 body with the roots of the grass and weeds, and this only 

 in the very dry, hot days of August — the only time when 

 worms could be found. I dug a few drains, and the nest 



summer found the Moles work as deep as the bottom of 



the drains, and into them. Another year these drains were manure ? 

 cut as 



followed _ , . . 4 



channels into the very bottom of these open drains, and the 

 meadow is firm and sound. In all my meadows, finding 

 the good they thus do, I never have them disturbed ; but 

 only in April send out a man to level their hillocks, then 

 roll them ; and I never have any complaint from the 

 movers. Depend upon it, they are very beneficial to all 

 lands, particularly to wet bog-soil. Where 4-feet drains 

 are made with inch-tile, they cannot enter, but would 

 work at that depth in all directions, and be of the greatest 

 possible use. The best open drains for meadows, if I 

 may call them so, are some I have met with — thus made : 

 The drains are cut about 6 inches wide, and as deep as 

 the fall will allow — 3 or 4 feet deep. In these finely- 

 broken stones were placed to within one inch and a half of 

 the surface ; over them nothing is to be laid, the grass 

 from the sides will run over the stones and meet, but 

 having no earth, they act most completely as surface- 

 drains, and as well as deep ones. They are most per- 

 manent, never out of order, never want anything done to 



them again. — P. 



Pig-Feedbig. — In my remarks on Pig-feeding, my ob- 

 servations were directed chiefly to fattening hogs to a 

 large size; the strong food recommended does not exactly 

 suit quarter porkers ; it is too heating, and produces 

 pimples, which give the appearance of disease ; therefore, 

 for quarter pork, I either use fine middlings with milk or 

 pure water, or reduce the strength of the Barley and Pea- 

 meal by adding an equal quantity of Pollard ; wash or pot 

 liquor is unpalatable to pigs during the process of fatten- 

 in°- on meal. I have tried various liquids — mutton broth, 

 the liquor from a round of beef, and good kitchen wash ; 

 but have always been obliged to take it out of their troughs, 

 and replace it with meal and milk or water. It will some- 

 times happen, from change of weather or other causes, that 

 the pigs get costive and are off their [food ; in such a case 

 I supply them with a little green food according to the 

 season of the year, as a few Cabbage leaves, Lettuces, or 

 Potato tops, or with Potatoes, and Mangold Wurtzel : if, 

 on the other hand, they are purged, I have a sod dug from 

 the road side and given them, or, which I sometimes think 

 is better, I let them into a yard where there are cinders, 

 mould, and brick and chalk rubbish. I think very little 

 of garden stuff as a means of keeping a pig in a good 

 growing condition ; it is no help farther than satisfying 

 occasionally the cravings of hunger ; sows will do on it, 

 or on grass, if there can be added daily a feed or two from 

 the wash-tub. As I keep sows I may as well add my 

 management of them. During the time of gestation their 

 diet is restricted to articles that will not produce obesity, 

 for sows as well as cows are apt to be attacked with what 

 is called the milk-fever ; and besides, unwieldy sows have 

 not that command over their movements that sows with a 

 less proportion of flesh have, and are very likely to crush 

 many of their young ones. For the first fortnight the sow 

 is fed in such a manner as to leave off with a good appe- 

 tite, and no better or more forcing food is given than 

 fine pollard or coarse middlings ; but as soon as all fever 

 has disappeared, and the pigs can take the milk as fast as 

 the sow can supply it, the finesfrmiddlings or oatmeal, or 

 sometimes boiled rice, when it can be procured at about 8s. 

 or 85. 6d. per cwt., are given three times a day ; the little 

 pigs are* cut when five or six weeks old, the sows are not 

 spayed if intended for quarter pork ; the operation both 

 throws them back and disfigures them. Many people re 

 commend a spayed sow for the poor ; I always recommend 

 a barrow pig, as growing to a larger size than the spayed 

 sow piff, and in being far snpe:ior meat to an old spayed 

 sow. These remarks, with what I forwarded you before, 

 are about all I can remember for a brief sketch. In choos- 

 ing a pig, look out one with a wide open chest, well filled 

 up from the ears to the tail, small toed, and with meat in 

 the fore arm down to the knee, and in the ham down to 

 the hock ; tail fine and short, with a small spread of hairs 

 at the end. Let the breed be more inclined to make 

 flesh than fat, and fine in the grain ; another peculi- 

 arity should be ascertained— the breed should be famed for 

 broad backs and small entrails; large-bsllied pigs do not 

 pull down the scale. You have now such a lecture on 

 pigs as I sometimes give to my inquiring friends.— J. Steele. 

 Rooks.— It is singular how long men will argue about 

 matters which facts only can decide, and when the facts 

 might be so easily ascertained. Thus it appears by an 

 article in the Agricultural Gazette of Feb. 17, p. 10/, 

 that it is yet a question whether Rooks do more good by 

 destroying the larva; of insects, or harm by eating gram. 

 Now, surely this is a point which admits of being decided. 

 What more easy than that a few sportsmen, when the 

 game-shooting season is over, should each shoot his halt- 

 dozen rooks daily for a week, when they have made their 

 morning's meal, and see by examining their crops what 

 they actually contain ; whether wireworms and other larva? 

 of insects, and slugs, &c. ; and by taking the average of 

 several days, calculate the good Rooks do in this way in 

 the season when they have no access to gram. Again, 

 let it be ascertained in the same mode, in seed-sowing time, 

 both in autumn and spring, what is the relative amount 

 of the grain and larvae of insects, &c, which then serve 

 them for food, and from these data the balance may be 

 easily struck as to the good or harm done by them, and 



some time back if 

 neighbourhood for 



admirable 

 It is ploughed in fresh from the 



river side, before the furrows are drawn for Potato plant- 

 ing, and has produced an excellent crop this season with- 

 out other manure. The tubers are large, clear skinned, 

 and of very good flavour. The hint is worth the attention 

 of those who live near any harbour, or arm of the sea. 

 Probably Thames mud would be equally useful on light 

 soils.— C. D. f Lav ant, near Chichester. 



Experiment on Winter Fallow and Subsoil Ploughing* 

 — This experiment was tried upon four fields, in all about 

 40 acres, consisting of drilled Bean stubble, and Oat stub- 

 ble. The method adopted was the following :— Imme- 

 diately after harvest, the fields were ploughed across, in 

 drills, by furrows from-nine to ten inches deep, laid toge- 

 ther, and the subsoil-plough ] sed once between the 

 drills seven or eight inches deep, the horses in the subsoil 

 plough being yoked one before the other, to avoid treading 

 on the ground subsoiled. During the dry winter wea- 

 ther, the drills were reversed, and the subsoil-ploughing 

 between the drills was repeated as far as the season would 

 allow it to be overtaken. By tliis plan of working, the 

 ground was kept much drier, and a much larger surface 

 exposed to the action of the atmosphere than is attained 

 by the common method of winter ploughing ; and the be- 

 neficial effects were evident even during the winter, from 

 the ridges appearing drier and white, long before ground 

 ploughed in the common way. Besides, the constant 

 souring by the winter rains, so detrimental to clay ground,, 

 was in a great measure avoided, and the spring work ren- 

 dered comparatively light and easy. At seed time, the 

 ridges were ploughed up and down in the usual way with 

 alight furrow— the seed furrow, of course across the drills, 

 which, however, were never harrowed down nor interfered 

 with, the action of the plough carrying forward enough of 

 earth to fill up the hollows in the drills, and no more was 

 ploughed in a day than could be sown and harrowed. In 

 this way the rest of the field was left in the drills, and there- 

 fore less likely to be injured by the heavy rains of last spring. 

 Part of the ground was sown broadcast, and part drilled by 

 a single-horse plough, with a drill barrow placed between 

 the stilts of the plough, the single-horse plough crossing 

 the drills as in the broadcast, without being harrowed 

 down. By this method the ground was rendered so fine, 

 from not being so deeply ploughed, that the Grass seeds 

 required only to be bush-harrowed, and the spring labour 

 was rendered very light indeed. Notwithstanding the 

 heavy rains of last spring, the Barley sowing was made 

 very easy by this method of winter fallowing, and the 

 same advantages were obtained in the Turnip ground, 

 which had been similarly treated. The crop of Barley 

 produced on the ground prepared as above, was a third 

 more in bulk than that after Turnip ground treated in the 

 usual way— the one being 35 threaves, and the other 48 

 threaves, per acre. The drilled Barley and the broad- 

 cast were nearly the same— if anything the drilled being 

 more productive. In the Turnip field the following mode- 

 was adopted:— The winter drills were once ploughed 

 across, and after being harrowed and rolled, the ground 

 was immediately drilled up for receiving the dung— the 

 rest of the field remaining in the winter drills, and thereby 

 not suffering from the severe rains of last spring. A 

 specimen of the Turnip may be seen in Messrs. Drum- 

 mond's Museum. It may be useful to mention, that by 

 taking the mould board off a common plough, it can be 

 used as a subsoil-plough.— Polmaise, Stirling, Sept. 1843. 

 Spade Husbandry.— Your late Agricultural corre- 

 spondent, the Rev. W. L. Rham, does not appear to 

 have considered the subject of Spade Husbandry in all 

 its bearings. I therefore trouble you with a few general 

 observations upon that subject, which occurred to me 

 after reading his paper. Both policy «d philanthropy 

 teach us that a labourer, able and willing to work, 

 ou<rht to be enabled to support himself by his labour 

 instead of being, as unfortunately too many now are a 

 useless burden upon the land. But, in framing laws and 

 regulations for the protection of property, we are too apt 

 to lose sight of the only right a man who is destitute of it 

 can claim as his inheritance— one more potent than all 

 others-the right to live. When it is proposed to inclose 

 and cultivate commons and waste lands, we are told that 

 the lord of the manor has his vested right, and that the 

 copyholders have their vested rights, m the waste, which 

 cannot therefore be disturbed; but, surely, some plan 

 might be devised to make all this unproductive land bene- 

 ficial to the community, without injustice to either lord 

 or copyholder. Why may not an Act of Parliament be 

 passed empowering the guardians, or the principal rate- 

 payers, to inclose all waste lands in their respective 

 parishes, granting to all who now have a right of common, 

 and to the lord of the manor, a certain portion of the 

 land as freehold, in compensation for whatever loss they 

 mav sustain by the inclosure, the remainder to be a PP r <?: 

 priated to the support of the general poor ? Tue benent 

 derived by those who now possess common-right is so 

 trifling, that a small quantity of freehold property i ^ulct 

 be a fair equivalent ; the surplus would therefore be icon 

 siderable, and if well cultivated on the Spade ■ Husbandry 

 system by the able-bodied poor who are ^""f^ 

 the labour of others, the produce would contribute to the 



