THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



249 



»rrT\BLE YOUNG PERSON is willing to 



nESPECTABLfi , i a respectable Farmer who 



A U9i hi** ] J.^u ?I!'ai d for the board and lodging afforded 

 ^T^rrbimselfrepaiaj^ ^ Apr | CU Hural Instruction 



, ut the term, ■ by the a8sistance c f the Adver- 



& dorinf U>e nrw . i Advertiser is already possessed 



a «rini the rema. nder f Uural 1)ract ice f such as is 



5^ d ,r.ble knowledge oi^ ^ ^ ^^ ^ ^ ^^ 



i^bJk from books and ^s ^^ ^ Estate ._ Apply t0 



rf ^^^Chlaniele and Agricultural GazetteOmee. 



I 



plants. Liebig has shown that nitrogen is useful to chemical information conveyed by it. The composition of 





A-B- 



tri)e g grtniltnraLggytte^ 



SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1844 



1-rillS Grore Ferry. 

 rPfbtnham. 



** (.Wrenthun* 



.,_ I Cardiff. 

 April *7f Gloucester. 



Apnlt^girford. 



(■.Agricultural society orr-n^iana. 

 da», May 1 "^ Highland and Agricultural Society. 

 May 2 Agricultural Imp. Soc. of Ireland. 



FARMERS' CLUBS- 



April 30 Rayleigh. 



AT 



May 1 . Harleston. 

 •»««„<» flsleof Thanet. * 

 Way- -iRiehmondshire. 



Halesworth. 



Stone Ferry. 

 May 4 . Collumpton. 



May 3 J J 



We have to direct the attention of our readers to 

 the valuable paper in another page by Dr. Smith, of 

 Manchester. It is unnecessary here to refer in detail 

 to the various tables there given in illustration of the 

 composition of Agricultural plants, but there 

 are one or two points connected with them to which 

 we may advert. Dr. Daubeny, in his Lecture to the 

 English Agricultural Society, some years ago, spoke of 

 • system of scientific book-keeping capable of 

 adoption by farmers in manuring their land. The 

 principle of it lay in this : that with each crop, 

 whether of Corn, Roots, or Grass, grown upon and 

 carried off the land, a certain quantity of various 

 substances was removed from the soil. If all those 

 crops were consumed on the land, the greater part 

 of these ingredients would be returned to it in the 

 manure derived from their consumption ; and it would 

 be long before the loss of the small portions, amounting, 

 perhaps, to a 150th part of the whole, which go to 

 market in the shape of beef, mutton, bacon, &c, would 

 have any defertilising influence. But in many cases, 

 Hay and Roots, as well as Wheat, Oats, Barley, &c, 

 are sold off the farm, which would thus soon be run 

 out, were we unable to return to it in other forms — 

 those of farmyard manure, and various other fertilisers 

 —the materials of which these crops consist. A per- 

 fect balance, in which no waste on either side occurs, 

 can only take place when the exact amount of all the 

 ingredients of the produce removed from the farm is 

 thus returned to it in other shapes. 



Now, before we can adopt this perfection of cultiva- 

 tion, so far as the application of manures is con- 

 cerned,*, e., before we can adopt Professor Daubeny's 

 suggestion, and balance the debtor and creditor sides 

 ot our ma nur e and crop account in his system of 

 scientmc bookkeeping, we require a knowledge, first, 



or the composition of all Agricultural plants; and 

 ^eondjy.of the cornpo{?iti(m of al , known manureg< 



All the evidence* existing on the first of these sub- 

 jects is ?1 ven in a tabulated form in another page by 



tJn » ',?•' f y means of these tables > w e can ascer- 

 «in, within the limits between which plants vary in 



weir composition, the amount of all the substances 



S»Th T} he S0iI h y a 8 iven wei g ht ^ any crop 

 fnnlLi r[ armer: and il onl y requires a perfect 

 Knowledge of the second of these subjects-a knowledge 



ratilv t. ,np( ! SUlon of manures-to enable us accu- 



A UKW PP i y the losses which the soil thus sustains. 

 we",! u al yses might be compiled of these, and 



a co^L P rJr ps h , ereafter be able to P resent one ; but 

 iE? ? n of the darin s exten * t0 which their 



•usceDtfhp nis carried, and of which most of them are 

 would hp % Ti 1 convince an y °ne that such a table 

 comm«wL i J ttIe yalue compared with the system re- 

 S ™ir£i ^° pti0n by W - H Hyett, Esq., in 

 miV' ° n U The Fe 'tilisers of Commerce," (page 

 assistant "f generall y a * hand, such as, with Mr.Gyde's 

 dare-mi P ro P°ses to establish in Gloucester- 

 cheaD ami W lhe farmer's command, for obtaining 

 <**sinir h punctual analyses of manures before pur- 

 to a sci P mffi m V WOuld be of the greatest use, not merely 

 *iopt Prnfl ^ er ' who would thus °e enabled to 

 fceepinr, h, ♦ * Dauben y's system of scientific book- 

 nomical'tAn m r" specially to the practical and eco- 

 risk of a! , an ,anner ' who would thus be saved all 

 "town hi icf 8,10 * hich > as M r. Hyett has clearly 



Besides L ? re8e ^ t ex P os ed. 

 * made in n mi Q eral u in 8 redi ents of plants, allusion 



^enta also j" 1 ™' 8 tabJ es to their organic con- 

 ***»! corriiL i We refer t0 this now , in answe r to 

 *• .abject V™* Wh ° have a PP lied ^ us upon 

 Te 8«able foo.1 ,, g en ' the mogt nourishing part of 

 ?°P ^ a „L ?° n Wnich > therefore, the quality of a 

 Nation thP L measure de pends, requires for its 

 ^^^^^^nce of nitrogen in the food of 



o f ..?** Dr. Smith^ofT^ " 



^Pjrimtnu on th- il* paper ' Mr ' Soll y* s ▼^u»ble Report 

 •BMtthta by the Hortio' u gan, , c c °n»titu en ta of Plants" has 



9 c H °rticalturftl Society. 



a plant only when presented to it in combination with 

 other substances, as in the form of ammonia, and its 

 salts; and he has also shown that a supply of ammonia 

 exists in the air. It is not necessary, as some of our 

 correspondents appear to suppose, to assume that this 

 ammonia is absorbable only by the leaves of plants; 

 the probability is, that it is mostly taken up by their 

 roots, being brought to the ground in rain-water. To 

 the practical Agriculturist, however, speculations as to 

 the offices of the several parts of plants are of com- 

 paratively small importance; whenever we have 

 ascertained by actual experience the effect of certain 

 manures, the mode of their action is nearly immaterial. 

 We know that salts of ammonia, the sulphate (essence 

 of soot), muriate, phosphate, &c, do possess, under 

 certain circumstances, extraordinary fertilising influ- 

 ence. These circumstances are, the non-existence of 

 them already in the soil, and the absence of anything 

 there, such as caustic lime, which would volatilise 

 them, or otherwise spoil their efficiency. If we know 

 the state of our soil with regard to these circumstances, 

 then, knowing the value of these manures, we have 

 sufficient to guide us in their application, independently 

 of any theories as to the mode of their action. 



But ammonia is obtained from other sources than 

 these ; it is evolved during the decomposition of 

 animal matter, and it is therefore impossible reason- 

 ably to suppose that the animal matter of fresh bones, 

 which is a source of it, can be useless. Some experi- 

 ments have apparently shown that the simple phos- 

 phate of lime is superior as a manure to bones which 

 contain a good deal of animal matter ; but Experience 

 is a safe guide to follow only when we are able to read 

 aright what she tells us, and when we know the cir- 

 cumstances under which an appeal has been made to 

 her. In a soil already sufficiently supplied from other 

 sources with ammoniacal salts, the simple phosphate 

 of lime, which is a necessary element in the food of 

 plants, whether it be obtained by boiling bones or 

 burning them, might be equally efficacious as a 

 manure with the unboiled bones full of animal matter; 

 but the result would be reversed, and with perfect con- 

 sistency too, in the case of another experiment in 

 which the boiled and unboiled bones were tried on a 

 soil deficient in organic matter, and therefore likely to 

 be benefited by the application of animal manure. 



In the remarks annexed to these tables, Dr. Smith 

 has very satisfactorily explained how the experience 

 of a farmer, when read aright, may inform him as cor- 

 rectly of the wants of his soil as the chemist could, 

 though assisted by sensitive tests and accurate 

 balances. 



GEOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE. 



(Continued from page 234.) 



The connexion, which the Geologist had observed, of 

 certain plants with certain formations, was explained, for 

 he knew the constituents of the rocks from which the soils 

 in which they grew were derived, and he saw that those 

 substances abounded in the ashes of the plants 

 which flourished on them. From his knowledge of the 

 chemical composition of a given variety of rock, which its 

 external characters often indicated to his experienced eye, 

 he was enabled to give a much better estimate of the pro- 

 portion of substances essential to vegetable life which 

 would be found in a soil derived from its disintegration, 

 than could be obtained from the analyses of soils made by 

 eminent chemists of the old school, who confined their in- 

 vestigations to the amount of silica, alumina, lime, and 

 humus. A soil, for instance, derived from the detritus of 

 granite abounding in feldspar he will expect to be friable, 

 from the large quantity of silica present in all granites, 

 and to be rendered fertile by the presence of a fair propor- 

 tion of alumina and potash. In the detritus of a rock 

 containing hornblende as well as feldspar, he knows that 

 there will be an increase in the proportion of the fertilis- 

 ing ingredients, potash, magnesia, and oxide of iron. 



Geology is said, again, to be useful to Agriculture, 

 by leading to a more systematic classification of soils. Of 

 this there is great need, for the Agricultural nomenclature 

 with regard to soils and mineral manures, is lamentably 

 defective. From this cause arises much of the contra- 

 dictory results we hear of, from experiments with the 

 saline and mineral manures. The farmer of West Norfolk 

 tells you that he improves his light sandy soil by claying 

 it ; the farmer of East Norfolk produces the same results, 

 on the same soil, by the use of marl. In each case the 

 substance applied is nothing more than chalk detritus, 

 mixed sometimes with a little clay ; sometimes it is the 

 solid chalk itself. In Scotland marl consists of masses of 

 fresh-water shells, accumulated in the beds of ancient 

 lakes. In Cheshire it is the red marl of the new red series, 

 which contains much peroxide of iron, and is often gypseous 

 and saliferous. In Cornwall, disintegrated hornblende 

 rock is applied to the land, under the name of u marl.' 

 In Germany the marls used for the improvement of soils 

 contain much magnesia. In describing such mineral 

 manures, greater precision will be attained by stating from 

 what group of rocks they are derived, and by adding to the 

 usual names of soils, that of the geological formation to 

 which they belong ; stating, for instance, whether our sands 

 are those of the new red series, the plastic clay, the green 

 sand, or the crag ; and whether our clays belong to the new 

 red series, the coal measures, or the lias. But the value of 

 such a geological classification of soils depends upon the 



a given rock being known, that of the soil derived from it 

 may be approximately inferred. 



There are modifying circumstances which will disturb 

 conclusions as to the fertility or sterility of a soil, drawn 

 from the nature of the rock on which it rests. These 

 arise from the effects of the transporting power of water 

 during the existing geological epoch, or that which imme- 

 diately preceded it. In the first place, there are alluvial 

 deposits — some of them now in the act of formation- 

 composed of the fine earthy matter brought down by 

 rivers in a state of suspension, and deposited in estuaries 

 and sheltered bays, where there is still water. Such de- 

 posits contain, in a state of fine division — a circumstance 

 in itself highly conducive to fertility— particles derived 

 from all the formations drained by the river and its tribu- 

 taries. From the variety of ingredients contained in them, 

 they are invariably productive. There are, however, 

 degrees of fertility among them dependent on the geolo- 

 gical structure of the whole district through which the 

 rivers depositing them have flowed, by which, more than 

 by the nature of the adjoining rocks, their chemical charac- 

 ters are affected. 2dly, there is that more generally distri- 

 buted detrital deposit, long called diluvium, and now known 

 by the names of northern drift, moraine, and boulder form- 

 ation, which appears to have been formed during a geolo- 

 gical epoch immediately preceding that in which we live, 

 partly by the trituration of ice, partly by the transporting 

 power of water. This deposit consists principally of de- 

 tritus derived from the subjacent or neighbouring rocks* 

 mixed, however, with much that has been transported 

 from distances of several hundred miles, which may be 

 traced with precision to its parent rocks. It is of very 

 variable depth, frequently covering the rocks with only a 

 thin film, and within very short distances attaining a depth 

 of several hundred feet, composed of clay, sand, loam, 

 coarse gravel, and boulders — the clay usually in the lower 

 part. The clay, particularly where calcareous detritus is 

 mixed with it, affords the means of improving the sandy 

 portions which generally constitute the surface. A largo 

 portion of the county of Norfolk is covered with this de- 

 posit, furnishing soils varying in value in their natural 

 state from 3s. to 40s. the acre. The district of Holder- 

 ness, in Yorkshire, likewise consists of it; and it occupies 

 extensive areas on the skirts of all the principal 

 mountain chains and hills of these islands. It is obvious 

 that such a deposit must not only modify the characters 

 which the soil would derive from the detritus of the sub- 

 jacent rocks, but must often completely make them. In 

 some cases, as in Wales, it covers hard and barren rocks 

 with a deep soil, either fertile in itself, or capable of being 

 rendered fertile ; in others, it has overwhelmed rich tracts 

 of red marl with coarse gravel and boulders. In any geo- 

 logical classification of soils, therefore, we must not only 

 note on what formation they rest, but whether they are 

 alluvial, or belong to this northern drift, diluvium, mo- 

 raine, or whatever name we choose to adopt out of 

 its numerous synonymes. The altered character im- 

 pressed upon sedimentary strata in the vicinity of igneous 

 rocks is another circumstance which must greatly modify 

 conclusions derived from the position which they hold in 

 the series of deposits. The mere induration thus produced 

 must materially influence the character of the soil derived 

 from them. A well-burnt tile will not fall to pieces after 

 a shower, like sun-dried clay ; and ground tiles would pro- 

 duce a soil very different from the clay of which they were 

 formed. — J. Trimmer. 



(To be continued.) 



"WOODEN SHOES. 



BY MARTIN DOYLE. 



(Continued from page 235.) 



The wages of French labourers, male and female, may 

 be stated generally as the same in amount with those paid 

 in Ireland, and therefore the people of each country may 

 be said to have the same limited funds for the purchase of 

 shoes. Yet, while the poor Irishman and his wife and chil- 

 dren are in continual discomforts in this particular, the 

 meanest beggar in France, from the infant to the grandsire, 

 has the feet perfectly dry and warm. The wind is blowing 

 keenly from the north-east ; the Frenchwoman has her 

 window open ; she sits spinning away merrily in a tempe- 

 rature in which one of my countrywomen would be codling 

 over the fire, or tramping to the bog for baskets of turf. The 

 French children under the same circumstances are playing 

 about indifferent to the cold ; the Irish children are 

 cowering with the dog and cat over the ashes on the 

 hearth, and shrugging up their shoulders to their ears in 

 the attitude of misery; and why this difference t — because 

 the French have their feet dry and warm in their wooden 

 shoes, and the toes of the others are cold and wet, and 

 therefore causative of chilliness the whole day. 



I have seen an old Norman woman of 80 sitting at her 

 fruit-stall in the streets during frost and snow, when the 

 thermometer stood at 15°, and apparently very comfort- 

 able, because with good woollen clothing, her feet were in 

 wooden shoes, resting on a little pan containing no more 

 charcoal than would roast a tom-tit. I have remarked 

 hundreds of delicate-looking females sitting in their 

 shops, plying their needles with the doors open, in the 

 severest weather, with no other covering on their heads 

 than a muslin cap, and without a cloak, while I was muf- 

 fled up in a heavy coat, and yet trembling with cold. They 

 did not feel it because they had their feet cosily covered 

 up in wooden shoes, and had a dish on the counter to- 

 warm their fingers now and then, or to supply beat to tne> 

 lower extremities at intervals. Wooden shoes, wita itne 

 lower orders in France, are a substitute for the warmtfi i or. 

 fuel, which is terribly dear in most parts of that con "try, 

 and thia consideration should with our philanthropists be 



