252 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



[Apr. 20 



is great variety in the bones offered for sale, and it is only 

 by repeated experiments that their respective merits can 

 be ascertained. It has, however, been clearly proved, 

 in several instances, that land feels the good effects of 

 unboiled bonea for many years. Is this the case with 

 boiled bones ?— E. R. y Halifax, 



Societies. 



EOYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY of ENGLAND. 



A Weekly Council was held, at the Society's House 

 in Hanover Square, on Wednesday last, the 17th of April, 

 present, David Barclay, Esq., M. P., in the Chair, Thos. 

 Haymond Barker, Esq., John Raymond Barker, Esq.,\V. 

 R. Browne, Esq., Colonel Challoner, Capel Cure, Esq., 

 James Dean, Esq., A. E. Fuller, Esq., M.P., Humphry 

 Gibbs, Esq., Brandretb Gibbs, Esq., C. Hillyard, Esq., 

 Fielder King, Esq., James Marmont, Esq., Townshend 

 Mainwaring, Esq., M.P., William Miles, Esq., M.P., 

 Alexander Ogilvie, Esq., Henry Putland, Esq., John 

 Head, Esq., Joshua Rodwell, Esq., William Shaw, Esq., 

 Profeisor Sewell, Richard Trench, Esq., Thomas Turner, 

 Esq., Thomas Tweed, Esq., and Henry Wilson, Esq. The 

 following new Members were elected : — 



•Eyre, Robert, Lyndhurst, Hants 



■Gray, Rev. James, Rector of Dibrien, Southampton 



Spear, William, Totton, Southampton 



Smith, Rev. Alfred, Old Park, Devizes, Wilts 



Brampton, John, Cerne-Abbas, Dorchester, Dorset 



Hall, Joseph, Callington, Bromyard, Herefordshire 



Clutterbuck, Rev. James Charles, Long-Whittenham, Abingdon, 



Berks 

 Napier, Peach, Mousehole Foundry, Millbrook, Southampton 

 Mountain, Rev. Thomas, Beighton Vicarage, Chesterfield, Der- 

 byshire 

 Bottomley, Joseph, King's Villa, Pontefract, Yorks. 

 "Hankey, J. Barnard, Fetcham, Leatherhead, Surrey 

 Wight, James Lane, Ledstone Court, Bromyard, Herefordshire 

 Cotton, Charles Robert, Broughton Hall, Worthenburg, Malpas, 



Cheshire 

 Worthy, Samuel, Temple- Coombe, Wincanton, Somerset 

 Brown, John, St. James's Street, London 

 Lloyd, J. A., Leaton- Knolls, Shrewsbury 



Prize Essays. — Mr. Pusey, M.P., Chairman of the 

 Journal Committee, reported the adjudication of the So- 

 ciety's prize of 50/., for the best Report on the Agricul- 

 ture of Wiltshire, to Mr. Edward Little, of Lower Sheldon 

 Farm, near Chippenham, Wiltshire ; and the adjudication 

 of the Society's prize of 50/. for the best Report on the 

 Agriculture of Norfolk, to Mr. R. N. Bacon, of Norwich. 



, These Reports, containing a statement of the ordinary 

 course of cropping adopted in the different soils of each 

 county respectively ; the breeds of cattle, sheep, and pigs, 

 most generally bred or fed within them ; the state of their 

 •drainage ; the implements used ; the number of horses or 

 other cattle employed in the different operations of hus- 

 bandry ; the tenure on which the farms are generally held ; 

 the wages of labour ; the average amount of the Poor's- 

 xate ; and whether any and what alterations and improve- 

 ments have been made in the system of Agriculture pur- 

 sued within the county of Wilts, since the Report made to 

 the Board of Agriculture by Thomas Davis, and published 

 in the year 1811 ; and within the county of Norfolk since 

 the Report made to the Board of Agriculture by Nathaniel 

 .Kent, published in 1796, and by Arthur Young, in 1804. 

 Mr. William Stace, of Berwick, near Lewes, in Sussex, 

 announced himself as the author of one of the four essays 

 on the Discrimination of Soils, which had been u highly 

 commended" by the Judges ; and expressed the satisfac- 

 tion it gave him to place his essay in the hands of the 

 Council for any use to which the Journal Committee 

 might consider it as available in promoting the objects of 

 .the Society, •• thinking that any essay on that subject 

 might contain some fact or description of appearances that 

 vmight be found of service to the chemical inquirer, and 

 assured that every assistance ought to be rendered to the 

 scientific man that the practical man could possibly 

 afford." The Council ordered their best thanks to be 

 returned to Mr. Stace for the permission he had granted, 

 and his letter to be referred to the Journal Committee. 

 r Seedsmen. — Messrs. Thomas Gibbs and Co., of Half- 

 moon-street, Piccadilly, addressed a letter to the Council 

 in acknowledgment of their official appointment as the 

 Seedsmen of the Society, assuring the Council the mark 

 •of confidence the Society had conferred upon them in that 

 appointment, would stimulate them to persevere in their 

 endeavours not only to promote the interests of Agricul- 

 ture in general, but to introduce all such seeds as appeared 

 to them most likely to be useful, and to supply those only 

 in every branch of their stock, which they could guarantee 

 to be of the purest and most genuine description. 



Natural Manure. — Mr. W. R. Churchill, of Colli- 

 ton, near Dorchester, Dorset, transmitted to the Council 

 a specimen of soil which on exposure to the air had become 

 changed into a powerful manure for Grass-land, with the 

 following account of its occurrence : — " 1 took the speci- 

 men now forwarded to the Council from a very high bank 

 thrown up about six years since in a strong, sour kimme- 

 ridge clay soil, producing a coarse sedgy Grass and English 

 Furze, not worth more than five shillings a-year rent. 

 This bank was formed by a very deep ditch used for a 

 drain as well as a protection to a hedge planted upon it. 

 The substance in question appeared at a distance similar 

 to white stone, and on inquiry I found had not existed in 

 the bank when originally thrown up : there was a stratum 

 of.it about the middle of the bank in different stages of 

 formation extending more than four hundred yards. The 

 bailiff, in removing a bank in similar soil, but of better 

 quality, found a large quantity of this substance, and on 

 patting it over some, good meadow land of a loamy soil on 

 a clay bottom, he found it produce wonderful fertility, far 

 superior to other manures. How this substance is formed 

 is a mystery yet to be solved ; at all events, it is not an 



•original product of the soil, but is in a progressive state 



f of formation. It is full of hairy filaments, with a cinereous 

 white, soapy marl. It does not effervesce in sulphuric 

 acid, and is of a fatty nature, not tasting of saltpetre, 

 although generated by exposure to the atmosphere. The 

 great question would be to ascertain whether any artificial 

 process would expedite its formation ; for if by throwing 

 up heaps of this poor soil such a manure could be gene- 

 rated, the surrounding barren land might be greatly 

 meliorated and become worth cultivation : it is within 

 three miles of Weymouth, far removed from the chalk 

 formation. 



Artificial Manures. — Mr. Miles, M.P., called the 

 attention of the Council to the desirableness of including 

 in the model experiment, proposed to be tried this year 

 by various members of the Society, and which would be 

 brought before the Council for final consideration and ad- 

 justment of detail at their next meeting, a comparative 

 trial of the respective merits of the South American and 

 African Guanos, applied in equal quantities to the land. 

 An interesting discussion then took place on the facility 

 with which artificial manures of every kind could be adul- 

 terated, the various modes in which this practice was 

 systematically conducted in the metropolis and elsewhere, 

 the importance of the strictest scrutiny into the quality of 

 such manures, and if possible the application of some 

 simple and efficient test, by which the amount of adul- 

 teration in the sample of each of the different manures 

 intended to be purchased could at once be estimated. 



Swedish Turnips. — Mr. Alexander Ogilvie informed 

 the Council that during the nineteen years he had lived as 

 agent with the late P. L. Brooke, Esq., of Mere Hall, 

 Cheshire, he had experienced very great and uniform suc- 

 cess in the management of his Turnip crops, a result 

 which he attributed to the quality and amount of manure 

 he had employed, and the early growth he had given to 

 the plant by sowing the seed in immediate contact with it 

 in a state of active fermentation. One of his fields, from 

 which in 1840 he had obtained no less an amount of 

 Swedish Turnips (cleared of tops and bottoms) than 43 

 tons per statute acre, was a clayey loam with a retentive 

 subsoil, effectually drained with tiles some years ago by 

 cutting the drains not more than from five to six yards 

 apart. In 1839 it was broken up from pasture for oats, 

 the crop being good, and as soon as the oats were cut and 

 removed from the field, he had the stubble skim-ploughed 

 from three to four inches deep ; in that state he allowed the 

 field to remain a month or five weeks, and then had 

 it ploughed from sixteen to eighteen inches deep with 

 Smith's subsoil plough. After this operation, the field 

 was not again disturbed until the spring of 1840, when he 

 had it harrowed as soon as it was sufficiently dry. Be- 

 tween the end of March and the third week of May, he 

 had it ploughed and harrowed three different times. From 

 the subsoil ploughing in the autumn, the ground was very 

 mellow in the spring; and after it was three different 

 times ploughed and harrowed, the soil was very fine. The 

 next operation was forming the drills, which were about 

 30 inches apart. While this was going on, he had the 

 dung, in a moist state, carted out, and spread in the hollow 

 between the drills, with* some bone-dust sown over it and 

 covered in immediately (to prevent evaporation) by having 

 the drills split out over them. The quantity of dung per 

 statute acre applied, was from 26 to 28 tons ; and over 

 this dung, he had sown with the hand about half a ton of 

 the best raw-bone-dust per statute acre. After the dung 

 and bone-dust were covered in,from two to three inches from 

 the surface by the splitting of the drills, he immediately, 

 while the dung and ground were moist, had the seed sown by 

 a machine,attherateof3lbs.weightper statute acre, taking 

 care that it was deposited in the dung ; and thus, by being 

 so deposited, it vegetated immediately, and grew out of 

 the way of the fly in the course of 8 or 10 days. The 

 moisture of the dung and soil, and the heat occasioned by 

 their admixture with the bone-dust, forced the plants for 

 the first fortnight as favourably as if placed in a hot-bed. 

 At the end of this period, the plants were almost ready for 

 singling out, which, as soon as they would bear the opera- 

 tion, he had done with the hand-hoe from 14 to 16 inches 

 apart. — Mr. Ogilvie stated, that this was the method he had 

 adopted in Cheshire, during a period of 18 years, and had 

 never once missed a crop. He believed the lightest crop he 

 everhadduringthewholeof thatperiod,exceeded 36 tonsper 

 statute acre. Heneversowedlaterthan the last weekin May, 

 and whenever weight of crop was wanted, he thought it ab- 

 solutely necessary to sow during that month. The seed 

 was obtained of Mr. Skirving, of Liverpool. The plants 

 were twice horse-hoed, and once hand-hoed after 

 singling. In the previous season all the crop was removed 

 from the ground by the latter end of October. It was 

 ploughed and sown with Wheat during the first week 

 of November ; and it was in reference to this grain crop 

 that the unusual amount of manure applied to the Turnips 

 was found, in the result of produce in both cases, to be 

 both advantageous and economical. 



Draining Level.— Mr. W. B. Webster, of Houns- 

 down, near Southampton, presented to the Society one 

 of his newly-invented Levels for the purposes of draining. 

 This level is formed of an oaken rectangular rod, turning 

 upon an axis placed at the middle of its lower surface, and 

 by means of a plate and screw secured firmly at a hori- 

 zontal level or any given inclination. On its upper sur- 

 face, immediately above this centre of motion, is placed a 

 small spirit-level ; and at each end of the rod an upright 

 plate of brass, containing the cross wires. At the end 

 nearest to the observer, is placed an additional sight 

 moveable by means of a screw within a graduated groove, 

 which indicates by the value of its divisions not only the 

 line of horizontal level, but the rise and fall of distant ob- 

 jects above or below the place of observation. Mr. 

 Webster claims for this instrument the advantages of 



cheapness, great simplicity, and its requiring im ^ 



person for its use ; in addition to its capability t **** 

 by inspection the rise and fall of land intended ? 

 drained. a w bf 



Horse Wheat-Hoe.- Mr. John Bowers of tr 

 dean House, near Chichester, expressed his intent- 

 exhibiting at the ensuing Southampton Meetinein I i? 

 an instrument invented by the Rev. L. Vernon H 

 for hoeing the drilled Wheat on his own farm whiAw^ 

 been found practically useful for that purpose- «3y 

 Bowers had no doubt, from the experience he had v; ,1 



it would be found of great use, being very simple in ru 

 construction, and different in principle from all imJ? 

 ments hitherto invented for the purpose of hoeing 



Small Farmers. — Mr. Nicholls, as one of HM' 

 Poor-law Commissioners, having become extensiveiv J 

 quainted with the condition of the small Irish farmer*! 

 during his official connection with that part of the kbt! 

 dom, and convinced of the great advantage they mS 

 derive from the cheap circulation among them of a co*. 

 pilation on farming topics, adapted to their coraprehes! 

 sion, requirements, and actual condition, undertook the 

 task of preparing a work of that character, under the 

 title of the " Farmers' Guide," which had passed thrort 

 two large editions. The success of that publication, com. 

 piled with the view of imparting useful information to the 

 small Irish farmer, and stimulating him to the adoption. 

 of improved methods of cultivating his land, had induced 

 Mr. Nicholls to undertake, with the same disinterested 

 motives, a work which might prove advantageous to the 

 same class of farmers in England, exceeding in number, 

 and he believed in extent of occupancy, the larger ao4 

 more intelligent class of farmers, taking the country from 

 end to end. In this compilation, Mr. Nicholls hid 

 endeavoured to form a compendium of all informatioa 

 essentially necessary, in a practical sense, to the parties 

 for whom it was intended — excluding everything of i 

 speculative or dissertational character, and recommending 

 to their notice those points and details only, which had 

 stood the test of experience : having been careful to bets 

 brief, simple, and clear as possible on every topic Ai 

 he had given the copyright of the work to Mr. C. Knight, 

 he had no further interest in its distribution thin 

 a desire that the small farmers for whose use it 

 was compiled, might be enabled to reap whatever 

 benefit it was calculated to confer ; and in order to 

 render its publication as cheap as possible, Mr. Knight 

 had included the work under the title of " The Farmer," 

 in his series of " Guides to Trade, Service," &c. ; cir- 

 cumstances which he hoped would facilitate its circula- 

 tion, and induce landed proprietors to purchase it for dis- 

 tribution among their tenantry, as had been done to some 

 considerable extent in Ireland, with Mr. Nicholls' previous 

 publication. Mr. Nicholls concluded his communication, 

 by hoping that, as the efforts of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society of England were unceasingly directed to the pro- 

 motion of improvements in every shape, they would grant 

 him the satisfaction of finding that his little work, intended 



within its own sphere to accomplish the same object, would 

 not be considered altogether unworthy of their approbat -.on. 

 —The Rev. John Barlow, Secretary of the Royal Insti- 

 tution, communicated to the Council a general mvitatoa 

 to the Members to accept a free admission to Professor 

 Solly's Lecture, in the theatre of that establishment, co 

 the ensuing Friday evening, the 19th of April, on the 

 Chemistry of Vegetation and its general application to 

 Agriculture.— Mr. Ermen, of Manchester, « dd " !8se ; * 

 letter to the Council on the subject of the prev a lent ; d* 

 ease in Potatoes.— Mr. Shaw communicated a letter from 

 Viscomte de Secqueville, on the subject of a rnonumen 

 intended to be erected in honour of M. Dombaste. or 

 Charles Morgan presented copies of the P rize - St1 ^' 

 his show at Court-y-Bella, on December 18, next. * • 

 Hutchinson presented a copy of his work on the r.acuw 

 Drainage of Land.— Messrs. Gibbs and Myers, copies « 

 their collection of results in the trials of guano oy i rf 

 correspondents.— Mr. Purchas, copies of the tiepc » 

 the Monmouth Farmers' Club.— Professor Bernays, cop~ 

 of his Lectures on the Theory of Agriculture.-- id - 

 tistical Society, Labourers' Friend Society, and uuenw 

 Agricultural Society, copies of their proceeding ^ 





Mr. Nowell, a copy of his work on Self-supporting W 

 of Industry and Mental Discipline; for f ^r^cll 

 other communications, the best thanks ot tne 

 were ordered. The Council then adjourned to we 

 next the 24th of April. , ^ 



AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY 



IRELAND. op0Q 



At the meeting of the Council, on the ™ lhl *T' alt- 

 considering the premium sheet, and the rules ^ 

 tions of the approaching Cattle Show, it was orcr ^ 

 the article offering premiums for male a nimah, ^ 

 so framed as to require that the animal sbouia ^ fl 

 the country for a definite period, and at a prui rfanW 

 after the Cattle Show ; and also that it be »? , » sir fefen ce 

 the judges of breeding stock to give a deciaeu ^ 

 to such as shall appear in a healthy but not ; over ^ 

 dition ; the Society being anxious to »•'*■. ^sto 

 evil effects both upon the utility of the "ndifiou^. 

 and upon their breeds, of keeping bulls w i too ^ ^ 

 tion. The half-yearly meeting of the fcocieiy 

 to take place on Friday, the 19th inst. 



FARMERS' CLUBS. disC0J - 



Becctes.-M the last meeting .the sobjec t on q( ^ 

 sion was Mr. Stace's Prize Essay on the K°'*"° dc d ** 

 for Heavy Lands. The rotation therein recom>* . . „ 



a continual course of cropping J this, at nrs , i r^ ^ 

 extraordinary, that it was thought impractical , 



