202 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



[Mar. 30, 



kind of bailiff on the farm of a land proprietor, or of a 

 farmer who rents bis land ; or, what is very common, if 

 bis means do not permit him to enter one of the admirable 

 Agricultural schools, which have been many years in 

 active operation there, he binds himself— after his first 

 three years' drudgery— on his father's farm, or that of 

 some other person, to a more eminent agriculturist, in a 

 capacity which may be considered that of a principal 

 labourer; for no prudent farmer would think of employ- 

 ing him in a higher rank until he had obtained much more 

 experience, and the scientific information also which the 

 seminaries and model-farms are designed to afford. In 

 short, seven or eight years of patient industry must be 

 passed by these men in Germany before they can presume 

 to expect employment, even in the humblest capacity of 

 superintendence, and many more of practical occupation 

 in this lowest grade, before they can reasonably hope to 

 fill either of the two higher ones. And their expectations 

 as to amount of wages are moderate in a corresponding 



degree. 



These then are, I conceive, the true models for us, and 

 no efforts should be spared by our land proprietors to en- 

 courage the discipline of their tenants' sons in this way. 

 The pupils hitherto instructed in our schools have been, 

 for the most part, too much above the peasant class, and 

 filled with exaggerated notions of their own acquirements, 

 and very sublime opinions on the subject of salary, — im- 

 pressed with the mistaken idea that a smattering of scien- 

 tific education, neatness of execution in drawing maps, 

 correctness in book-keeping, acuteness in solving problems, 

 and such qualifications, important and essential though 

 they be — are of themselves sufficient qualifications for the 

 situation of land-bailiff, which requires so much experi- 

 mental knowledge, and so much experience. That nume- 

 rous model-farms may be so organised, and schools so 

 conducted as to educate the peasantry In a generally useful 

 and practical way, is my anxious wish. — Martin Doyle. 



ON THE SOIL AND CLIMATE OF THE SHORES 



OF THE MORAY FRITH.— No. II. 



{Continued frontpage 154.) 



Distribution of the Secondary Rocks — The prevalence 

 of one or other of the members of the great sandstone 

 series now described, influences much the agricultural 

 characters of the different districts. Thus, in Moray- 

 shire the upper silicious beds of the deposit preponderate, 

 and hence that district is distinguished for its light, sharp, 

 sandy soils J enriched, however, in very many places by 

 the lime or cornstone formerly alluded to, and by the 

 debris (especially towards tie Loch of Spynie and Use 

 Laigh or low grounds of Moray) of the lias shale, and by 

 rich modern alluvial deposits. 



Protected on the east and north by the higlTmountains 

 of Banff and Aberdjenshires, and on the west by those of 

 Inverness-shire, which attract and break the great vo- 

 lumes of watery clouds passing over the island from the 

 German and Atlantic Oceans, the district of Moray has 

 always been regarded as possessing a kindly soil and a 

 genial climate ; and farther back than the duys even of 

 George Buchannan it was described as a favoured spot, 

 and as the granary of Scotland. 



In Nairnshire, the silicious beds so greatly predominate 

 and are so near the extensive granitic and primary moun- 

 tains, intervening between the rivers Nairn and Findhorn, 

 that the whole upper covering of that county consists 

 almost exclusively of a fine loose sand, whence the soil is 

 " exceedingly light and porous, and the coating of vegetable 

 mould extremely thin. 



As we approach Inverness, the upper and middle 

 schists and freestones of the secondary series, thin out and 

 almost disappear, their line of bearing being prolonged 

 across the Frith into Ross-shire. And accordingly for se- 

 veral miles to the east and west of our Highland metro- 

 polis, the fundamental or most characteristic members of 

 the old red sandstone formation are alone to be seen, 

 namely, a chocolate or brick-red compact rubble-stone 

 and huge imbedded masses of a granitic and quartzose con- 

 glomerate ; the latter presenting themselves chiefly in 

 mural escarpments, or forming the rough summits of the 

 hills. The sandstone penetrates far inland into the Great 

 Glen, composing the beautiful and fertile valley of Urqu- 

 hart, on the north side of Loch Ness ; above which it has 

 been tilted up by the subjacent granite, into the mighty 

 dome of Mealfourvoney, an enormous rounded mass of con- 

 glomerate, overhanging a stupendous precipice of granite. 

 The same structure extends around the inner basin of the 

 Moray Frith, called Loch Beauty, along the top of which 

 a beautiful and varied chain of sandstone-hills extends in a 

 curved line ; thence deflecting boldly off into Ross-shire, 

 and skirting along the southern flank of the great mountain 

 Ben Nevis. In the fine valleys of the Conon, Strath- 

 peffer, Ferindcnald, and Easter Ross, this belt of old red 

 sandstone is covered to a great depth by the soft argil- 

 laceous shales of the middle division of the series, so 

 highly charged with bituminous matter as in some few 

 places to contain small inflammable portions, and so much 

 up-heaved and dislocated by the granitic masses below, as to 

 present their strata at every possible angle of inclination, 

 and so broken as to be readily decomposed by the rains 

 and frost. Hence, the surface is beautifully varied and 

 undulating, and the rocks being seldom horizontal, the 

 water easily percolates between their joinings, so that the 

 drainage is good, and the ridges gently sloping, except 

 along the sea-shore, where there are occasional flat fields 

 of rich clayish loam. 



The Agricultural zone in Sutherlandshire is confined to 

 a narrow strip along the coast, seldom exceeding a mile in 

 breidth ; but it is a beautifully sloped acclivity, rising up 

 along the front of the red sandstone conglomerates, 

 which here rest immediately upon granite, and next 



the sea there are a few slight remains of the has 

 and oolitic shales and grit, which anciently extended far 

 out, if not across, the trough of the Moray Frith ; and in 

 addition to these, the soil is enriched by the cornstone and 

 other limestones, which are plentiful, especially near Brora 

 and Helmsdale. An enormous protruding mass of granite 

 composing the Ord of Caithness, over which the public 

 road ascends to a height of 1200 ft., interrupts the con- 

 tinuity of the secondary strata ; but behind it the old red 

 sandstone and its coarse conglomerate re-appear in the 

 high chain of prominently-marked mountains, which form 

 the boundary betwixt Sutherland and Caithness, and which, 

 observing a north-westerly course, fall into the Northern 

 Ocean at the fishing-station of Port Skerry. From this 

 elevated silicious platform the county of Caithness falls 

 rapidly towards the north and east, composing one enor- 

 mous undulating inclined plain ; the rocks at the further 

 ends dipping into the sea in low horizontal ledges, or cut 

 up by it into long lines of beetling cliffs and headlands. 

 The mass of the Caithness schists has not been disturbed by 

 granitic or trapean action from below, and hence the 

 rocks are nearly horizontal and impervious to water, and 

 the surface U in consequence disfigured by an immense 

 number of stagnant lochs and marshes, and by vast accu- 

 mulations of peat and bog, rendering the climate cold, and 

 the drainage difficult. Yet even here, though totally 

 devoid of trees and shelter, the persevering industry and 

 intelligence of the proprietors and tenants have reclaimed 

 and brought under the plough a large extent of land, and 

 the fat stock now reared in Caithness are not surpassed in 

 size or beauty in any part of the north of Scotland. These 

 spirited exertions are no doubt much favoured by the cir- 

 cumstance that in Caithness there is an immense develop- 

 ment of the mid-calcareous and bituminous shales which 

 are extensively quarried as fine paving-stones, and which 

 everywhere abound with the traces of extinct races of 

 vegetables and fishes ; and also that the outer promon- 

 tories are formed of members of the highest sandstone 

 series (similar^to those of Moray and Tarbet Ness in Ross- 

 shire), which are more easily cultivated and more clayish 

 in their texture than the hard dark-red beds of the inferior 

 sand-stones next the primitive mountains. Those middle 

 schists of Caithness are likewise prolonged across the Pent- 

 land Frith, into the Orkneys, where an exactly similar 

 arrangement exists as on the mainland ; there being first a 

 central nucleus of primitive gneis3 rocks near Stromness, 

 on which rests a great pavement of old red sandstone, 

 having over it deep beds of calcareous and bituminous 

 shales and grits, and these finally surmounted (especially in 

 the island of Hoy), by an enormous deposit of lighter 

 coloured and variegated freestones, but all banded together 

 into one great formation, by the dissemination throughout 

 the layers from top to bottom, of the same or similar 

 tribes of organic remains. In Orkney also we have the 

 further addition, which is rare in the other districts we 

 have been considering, of extensive dykes and veins of 

 secondary traps and porphyries, the decomposition of 

 which adds considerably to the Agricultural value of the 

 soil. — G. Anderson, Inverness. 



ITo be continued.) 



v 



ON MINERAL AND INORGANIC MANURES. 



No. XII. 

 By Professor Charles Sprengel. 



{Continued from p>ige 187.) 



On very fertile soils, marl will avail little or nothing, 

 which is easily explained hy such soils being already 

 possessed of all mineral substances which are required 

 for luxuriant vegetation. Such a soil requires hut good 

 care to yield abundantly, and thus marl is superfluous. 



It is often the case that a marly soil is consider- 

 ably improved by the application of marl. This is easily 

 explained by the former not containing in sufficient quan- 

 tity all the mineral substances required for vegetation ; 

 it may be deficient in gypsum or magnesia, which the other 

 sort may supply it wiih, and thus make it more fertile. 

 And this fact affords (so it seems to me) an additional 

 proof that these mineral substances are a real food of 

 plants. 



In places where marl manure has been used for some 

 time, people have observed that the land which once got 

 marl, cannot be kept any more in a good condition by 

 merely manuring it with dung : it must be marled from 

 time to time, in order to make it yield good crops. On 

 this account people are very cautious in such places not 

 to manure a field with marl, the produce of which has 

 been hitherto satisfactory. Without doubt this pheno- 

 menon rests on the fact, that dung does not supply the soil 

 with a sufficient quantity of certain mineral substances, 

 especially not with lime, magnesia, phosphoric, and sul- 

 phuric acids. The accuracy, however, of the opinion 

 that a soil is not to be made accustomed to marl, is much 

 to be doubted, because if better crops have repaid twice 

 or thrice the expenses of the one application of marl, why 

 should this process not be repeated ? — the expense is re- 

 payed by abundant harvests. 



Very often the 1st application of marl has a greater 

 effect than the 2d, 3d, or 4th. Nothing is easier to be 

 explained than this ; for in a soil never before marled, the 

 lime of the marl will find much of the coal of humus to 

 dissolve, and thus bring powers into play which were 

 hitherto slumbering. Subsequent applications of marl 

 will therefore find less of carbonic humus to dissolve, 

 for a very long time elapses before a new portion will be 

 formed. The greater, therefore, the intervals at which 

 marl is applied, the more striking is the effect. Still, our 

 readers must not believe that we ought t j wait the whole 

 interval till the soil again acquires a large amount of coal 

 of humus ; on the contrary, it ought to be made a general 

 rule to repeat the marling as soon as the soil is deficient in 



those mineral substances with which the marl at our com 

 mand may supply it. It is easy to ascertain, by the con" 

 dition of the crops, whether the soil is thus" deficient" 

 There is certainly a means of obtaining from every m^i" 

 ing a similar good effect, viz. , to manure the soil not 

 only with dung, but at times also with mould or vegetable 

 earth, as it will thereby receive back that humus which the 

 last marling has decomposed. Large quantities, however 

 of this mould are thus required ; because, if the soil pre'- 

 viously contained only 3 per cent, of humus, this n\\\ 

 amount, in a furrow-slice six inches deep, to 40,000 lbs. i n 

 the Magdeburg acre of land ; and it is impossible (even if 

 it were to be useful in other respects), to supply the soil 

 by dung alone with such a large amount of hunuii 

 20,000 lbs. of dung yielding scarcely 2G00 lbs. of humus! 

 It is on this account that it is so difficult to replace the 

 humus once taken from the soil, and the greatest caution 

 is therefore to be taken as well in the application of marl 

 as of lime, for a hundred years may not suffice to remedy 

 what has been spoiled in a dozen. 



It has been further observed, that the better the crops 

 succeed after the application of marl, the sooner the ex- 

 haustion of the soil takes place. In order to explain this 

 phenomenon we must observe, that a greater mass of 

 vegetation encroaches upon a greater amount of the 

 mineral substances of the marl. The weight of any crop 

 is always ina direct proportion with the weight of the mineral 

 substances which the soil has yielded towards its develop- 

 ment ; because in 1000 lbs. of Clover there is always twice 

 as much potash, phosphate of lime, sulphuric acid, &c, as 

 in 500 lbs. Even the carbon of the soil is more en- 

 croached upon by 1000 lbs. of Clover than by 500 lbs., and 

 if we observe that after luxuriant Clover, corn will grow 

 better than after one of a poor extraction, this results 

 from the former always leaving a larger weight of rooU 

 behind in the soil. As it may well be supposed that by 

 marl more coal of humus may be decomposed and con- 

 verted into vegetable nourishment than the plants may be 

 able to consume at the time, we must take care not to 

 use too much of this mineral, as that humus which has 

 been decomposed and is not used by the plants, is liable 

 to loss by volatilisation and extraction by water, and the 

 coal of humus is to be considered as a treasure not to be 

 drawn upon but by necessity. It is, indeed, one of the 

 most important substances for vegetation, because through 

 its instrumentality Nature has guarded plants against being 

 deficient in nourishment ; in it many nutritive substances 

 for plants are stored up. Notwithstanding this, however, 

 it is often considered asauseless ingredient of i he soil, and 

 every one tries to get it decomposed as fast as he can. It 

 is the coal of humus which chiefly heats the soil, by its 

 detention of the rays of the sun; it is this, also, which 

 loosens the soil, and supplies it with moisture, as it pos- 

 sesses great hydroscopic power : its value is rarely suffi- 

 ciently appreciated. If, however, marl is used with dis- 

 cretion, we never need apprehend that the soil will be de- 

 prived of its strength, because, even if the plants growing 

 more luxuriantly should deprive it of more mineral sub- 

 stances, yet the greater amount of vegetable matter will fur- 

 nish us with the means to prepare more manure, and 

 we can thereby return what has been taken from the sou. 



(To be continued.) 



MECHANICS AS APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE. 



[The following is an abstract of a lecture on this sub- 

 ject delivered by Mr. Cottara, on March 8th, at the Koya 

 Inslitution-the President, Lord Prudhoe, in the chair.j 



To state that within the last few years the character oi 

 English Agriculture has materially changed is, l' erDa P 5 ' 

 superfluous. The great problem that we now attempc ia 

 solve is, how to draw from the land the greatest posa.oK 

 product at the least possible expense ; and this not 

 one vear or for two, but for many years in succession, i 

 this consists Agriculture as an art. Subordinate tc tun, 

 however, each in different degrees, but all more or 

 subordinate, is a long range of subsidiary science . 

 is the recognition of the importance of these J ttD "? ^ 

 sciences wherein consists the improved c^iaracter ^^ 

 Agriculture of the dsys we are living in. It ia n ^ 

 at the present time to cultivate our lands as ei 

 pirical experimenters or as the indolent fo" **" 

 established practices. Of science, in more in rf 

 shape, we call in the aid and assistance. i« n 



the particular science of chemistry, and its bean 15 ^ 

 the all-important subject of artificial fcr V" 83 ubo!tf i, 

 manures need scarcely be pointed oat. * eJ . 



first of Davy, afterwards or Liebig, have : not ^ 



pended in vain. The importation even ot forei D fctcb 

 has become a large element of English commerce. ^ 



bones from the comment of Europe, and guano { rf 

 islands of America ; and doubtless in tins dep ^ 



traffic new sources will be discovered and maoe ^^ rf 

 In the desert between Egypt and byna u and 



unnumbered horses and camels that have wi , 



haustible. Over and above the ^P^J^YvoveP 

 all matters of drainage, that science has U1 % iebi 

 manures that chemistry has w^"^.^*"!* 

 scarcely shown the importance cf the p" v p iy 



Professor Buckland indicated an lllUe ;" ' *hic& 



froressor nucuwuu "'«^»»-" -•- „ rt _ rn r,teB. * ulv 

 in those remarkable fossils called fV~ o( ]iw* ( 

 analysis has shown to be rich in the ph« ^^ties ° 

 Beds of coprolite underlie whole areas of U» & subsflU 

 Huntingdon, Bedford, and Cambridge, " ni * he sur face 

 plough could reach, and may be .broug" * gt8 ,j. 



and exposed to the decomposing "^1°*,^, a wb<* 

 sphere. In the Spanish province of Estrema^r 1, ^ ^ 

 stratum of phosphated rock has been d.scove ^ 



equally conspicuous with that of chemistry an 



