THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



281 



tt Town. tructed in Agricultural Chemistry 



"»■ ^-'Tnrehend the Elements ofAnalys^ 



The 



of mismanagement in this branch of farming, lies, we 

 think, in the fact that a very inadequate idea is gene- 

 rally held by farmers, especially by those occupying 

 only small tracts of land, of the real value of such 

 parts of their produce as have not been bought or are 

 not saleable for cash in the market. The expense of 



fS^^uv^Tsn^^ PRESERVER. — Hundreds horse _ keep for instance, though often the subject of 

 \V R J^-^ calculation by farmers' clubs, *s rarely kept in mind 



SffiSS. above invaluah e .n»ru = — "„ ,„ yalu ' e 



B^SfiS ^r^vhonave for many years prove,, its 

 JL» expeneoeed Farrner ire 0ogar E . j ani , Q . 



KcT,» ,J - W * i"A nnon-bridgc; and of any Ironmonger in 

 HZSlw-MpriXX "vviu" iS and joints, 2/. u. 

 •he wnaBtry- 



^Tgciricattar al ff ayttt^ 



""SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1844. 



MTINOI FOr'ThTWo FOLLOWING WEEKS. 



1., Mav8 Agricultural Society of England- 

 U .dnmdat, May » "ienltoral Imp. Soc- of Ireland. 

 TaoVDAT, May 9 (Highland and Agricultural Society. 



— .„ \favl5 Agricultural Society of England. 



V^mpAT, May w J« ghla||d and Agri cultural Society. 



Tbob.0 -x * FAR MERS' CLUBS. 



rW. Market. 

 .) Vox turd. 

 *"' '[Wen Hereford. 



May 7 . Framlingham. 



Some weeks ago we spoke of the actual loss sus- 

 U ned by many farmers m permitting the liquid ma- 

 nu e from their stables, feeding-stalls, and pig-styes 

 to run to waste ; and of the great danger of loss to 

 which those of them exposed themselves who allowed 

 this waste to run into their horse-ponds. > This is a 

 subiect to which we shall not cease directing the at- 

 tention of our readers until we know our remarks to 

 have had a practical tendency. The completest 

 exposures of bail management in farming are rarely 

 self-applied; and there are two reasons for this: one 

 of them— the natural tendency of the mind to self- 

 justification— is cleverly illustrated in the admirable 

 work on Waste Manures, lately published by Mr. Han- 

 nam* the perusal of which we most cordially recom- 

 mend to our readers, and especially to such of them 

 as may be conscious that their practice under this 

 head is capable of improvement. Mr. Hannam,whohas 

 probably had more experience than any other British 

 farmer of the practical value of our home and foreign 

 fertilisers, was well qualified to make this, the first 

 public attempt to draw attention to the individual and 

 national losses consequent on the careless management 

 of farm-yard manures. We earnestly recommend his 

 book to the attention of Agriculturists ; the greater 

 part of it— it is a small octavo volume — may be made 

 practically useful by each of its Agricultural readers, 

 and the rest, on the waste manures of towns, is highly 

 deserving of public attention. We quote as follows : 



41 Although the economy of these manures is of the 

 highest importance to the cultivator, whose aim is to 

 produce much and cheaply, in few cases is their preserva- 

 tion attempted, much less accomplished. There are 

 those, however, who are apt to attempt an excuse for their 

 carelessness on this head ; but, as is generally the case 

 with men who are anxious, when in a difficulty, to save 

 themselves only, they impede each other. Thus the agri- 

 cultural Triton says, 4 This candle-end and cheese-paring 

 economy may do very well for small farmers, to whom a 

 small saving is a great gain, and whose labour, being their 

 only capital, may be safely and profitably invested in 

 attention to this matter. On a farm like mine, however, 

 where every operation is on a large scale, and where 

 everything is done on a system, we cannot attend to these 

 petty cares,— they would interfere with matters of more 

 consequence. ' 



41 On the other hand, the minnow — the man of small 

 means— i s apt to say> . Yes> undoubtedly, this is an inte- 



mt,D 5 question to the large farmer. He must indeed 



*ute as much manure as would serve for a farm like mine. 



s tor me, however, I have but such a small place, and 



«ep so little stock, that it is not worth while to make any 



pla ? rr i? §ements » or to take the trouble of altering my 



wh'? S "k < * oea eacu cover the beam in his own eye, 



that K eXp ° SeS the raote inijis neighbour's ; forgetful 



, ' b - v f aCQ exposing the other, we arrive at the truth, 



«w conclude that if the business on a farm be so extensive, 



and tK Pr0V r ement in the STStem would be equally great ; 

 ... nat lf tQ e size of another be small , the effect of a small 



Drarr g r° Uld be more apparent. This the intelligent 



I aa 8CeS ' ' If >' says he ' * b y J udicious economy, 



on od ma " ure for one extra acre on a farm of 50 acres, 

 ma e f a tnousan d I gain, by similar management, 

 to onf ' 2 ° aCres ; and ttie value of the saving is as great 

 reallv * • rm . as t0 the other. What is saved is gained 

 with tr. m ° aSe ' for if tue lana w hich may be dressed 

 cron . a manure * av ed be left unmanured, I injure the 

 manure T • nish the fertility of the soil; or if I buy 

 either ' lncrease the crop but injure my purse. In 

 putting 36 ' am callin S to Jupiter for aid, and am not 

 that e»t my ° Wn shoulde r to the wheel ; I am paying for 

 obtain ? produce > wh »ch I might by judicious economy 



1 neglect t K° C0St ' End am in fact farmin S badl y J since > if 

 °ther till ^^ manures on m Y own farm, and buy no 

 and if I b^ C am n0t P r °ducing as much as possible, 

 possible ' "^ maaure » ^ am not producing as cheaply as 



AnoAe^^ e ^ t ^g eneral inefficacy of cxposure s 



a nd Uaeof iSS ° f i Vaste Manures, a Treatise on the Nature 

 various Airriciil 2 d n Fert »hzer S> " by John Hannam, Author of 

 10(1 Longmans f ' Ze Essa > s * Longman, Brown, Green, 



by the members of such clubs in the full money-value 

 which certainly belongs to it. If it were, more care 

 surely would be taken to economise the labour of the 

 horse on most farms, not merely by cheapening its 

 food, but by yoking it advantageously to efficient 

 implements more easily worked than those in general 

 use, and more care would also be taken to economise 

 stable manure, which besides labour is an important 

 produce of horse- keep. The sum spent in stable 

 management, though large, would thus be productive 

 of a more profitable return. The value of manure, 

 generally an unsaleable commodity, is another point 

 upon which inadequate views are often held ; at least 

 so we must conclude, so long as we see in some dis- 

 tricts heaps of it left for months on waste land, till 

 they sink to one- third of their original size, and get 

 thoroughly washed of all their soluble ingredients. 

 Perhaps if, as in some well cultivated parts of this 

 country, the farmer were required on entering his 

 land to pay a full value— 3s. to 5s. per cubic yard— 

 for all the manure left by his predecessor, he might be 

 induced habitually to entertain a higher opinion of 

 its value, and thus to take means for carefully 



preserving it. 



In order to attain this desirable object^ we purpose 

 soon laying before our readers two series of state- 

 ments, the one detailing all published or known expe- 

 rience of the value of such portions of manures as are 

 generally wasted— the effects which it has been ascer- 

 tained they have on the growth of various crops; and 

 the other, detailing the results of inquiries into the 

 composition of that which is thus lost, by comparing 

 which with the composition of various saleable ferti- 

 lisers, guano for instance, we shall be enabled to put 

 a money value upon the losses which many farmers 

 sustain in this way. Do not let any one wait, how- 

 ever, till he sees what sort of case we make out against 

 him, before he adopts means for economising the 

 manures which he may now suffer to waste. We 

 can safely pledge ourselves to prove the great loss he 

 now sustains, and he will greatly profit by at once 

 putting a stop to it ; if, however, he require first 

 to be convinced of this, let him purchase Mr. 

 Hannam's little book upon the subject, and read it, 

 and in the meantime we quote for his consideration 

 the following passage from it: — 



" 1 know many farms where the horse-pond is the 

 receptacle of the drainings from the yard, and many 

 villages where the street-sewer receives them. It fell to 

 my lot to witness a fox go to ground in a farm-yard not 

 100 miles from this place. On examination, a drain was 

 found which led from the centre of the fold to the street- 

 sewer. This drain was large enough for a hound to enter, 

 yet all efforts ' to bolt ' the fox were futile, as it was found 

 that there were branch drains from the sewer communi- 

 cating with most, if not all, of the farm-yards in the 

 village. I was curious enough to trace the mam drain to 

 its terminus, and found that a large pond was the place of 

 deposit for the urine, and other fertilising matters, made 

 in the cattle sheds and yards of so many farms. Not one 

 of the parties who cut these drains, 1 should say, ever con- 

 sidered that by doing so, he cut a hole in his pocket which 

 drained his purse as effectually as the manure heap. Ihe 

 case I mention is but one of many which maybe met with 

 daily, and which, too numerous to be particularised, are 

 on that account often overlooked, though they are not the 

 less worthy of consideration. For instance, I have little 

 doubt but that as much fertilising matter is annually de- 

 posited in the pond, to which I have alluded above as 

 would pay the whole of the poor's rates of the parish in 

 which it is located/' 



AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENTS. 

 I will give you a succinct account of my draining 

 operations at Tiptree-hall Farm. The land is of such 

 various qualities and so particularly qualified thereby for 

 the retention of both top and spring water, that the Essex 

 people considered it never could be improved even to be- 

 come of tolerable goodness. About two-thirds of it was 

 a strong yellow loam subsoil, in a state between putty and 

 bird-lime, according to the season, here and there mixed 

 with a hodge-podge of stones, to which its attachment was 

 so affectionate that there was no separating them, and it 

 was only by the constant use of water that the land 

 drainers could get their spades in or get rid ot this 

 adhesive substance ; at intervals might be found veins o 

 silt (the reverse of adhesive), and here and there the soil 

 would assume a rusty appearance, indicating iron, witna 

 bluish or slaty character ; then a patch of gravel occasion- 

 ally amongst the loam, in which would rise a srnal weak 

 spring, sufficient, however, to ruin the crops in ita i imme 

 diate neighbourhood. Over this subsoil and between it 

 and the cultivated soil, was a hard, dry, «d ^perviou. 

 pan, formed of the subsoil, but. hardene d .™ d ™*?™ 

 solid by the heat of the sun and the constant action of the 

 ploughLle. The soil itself partook in some considerable 

 degree of the nature of the subsoil, being, however ^ame- 

 liorated by mixture of manures and by cultivation. Still so 



great was the fear of the wretched subsoil that the pan 

 was never disturbed, consequently, there being but nine 

 or ten inches of cultivatable earth with an impervio us basis, 

 a dry summer burnt all up, and a wet one ruined the crop 

 by rotting the roots. A showery season was the only 

 suitable one for this description of land. 



Now, however, after draining, in the short space of a few 

 months, we are subsoiling to the depth of fourteen or six- 

 inches, and working it like a garden ; the water having 

 .left it, and the frosty air following the water, it is as mel- 

 low and friable as could be desired. In fact, during the 

 last month, whilst our neighbours were unable to 

 move, we were harrowing on our Wheat and Beans 

 as in a rich garden, the earth crumbling down after 

 the drill Ike sand, very much to the astonishment of the 

 tenant and labourers ; and this after so much carting and 

 disturbance, and so much of the subsoil thrown up, that 

 two months previously it was thought a whole summer 

 would hardly suffice to condition the soil. The drains 

 cross, at a very acute angle, the slope of the land ; they 

 are four yards apart, with a leader to every fourscore rods 

 —the leader being rather deeper than the other drains, 

 but not wider. Still, as it never runs full, it proves m 

 practice my subsequent proposition, that »• the filtration 

 of water, in strong soils, is far inferior to the velocity of 

 its passage through the drains." Each acre contains 

 twelve score rods, and costs ten pounds, lequiring 3200 

 pipes and 360 bushels of stones. 



The style of drainage applied to this part of the farm is 

 as follows : — 1st, a double turn of the plough takes out 

 nine inches ; then a narrow spade (sufficiently wide to 

 admit the drainer's foot) takes out ten inches; then 

 comes a still narrower spade (fourteen inches long, three 

 and one-eighth wide at top, and one and a half at bottom), 

 which removes thirteen inches more— making the whole 

 depth from the surface thirty-two inches. The dram 

 being well cleared out, we first fill in the drains, to the 

 depth of ten inches, with clean gravel- stones, and then 

 place, on the top of these stones, a drain-pipe, thirteen 

 inches long and three inches wide outside, having a two- 

 inch bore. This fits so exactly into the space made by 

 the last or narrow spade, that it not only rests on the 

 stones, but binds against the sides of the drain, thereby 

 preventing the stones being choked by the superincum- 

 bent earth, but also forming the earth above it into an 

 arch; which in the stronger soil would, it is presumed, 

 retain its form even if the pipe were broken or decayed. 

 As this is a plan of my own, and contrary to the enter- 

 tained opinions, that the tiles should be at the bottom, I 

 will give my reasons for so doing. 1st. It is cheaper. 2d. 

 It is more durable, and less liable to choke. 3d. There 

 is a larger area of space for the escape or filtration of the 

 water ; this I consider of the utmost importance. It is 

 evident that the filtration of the water must be according 

 to the area of the pores presented to the air in the drains. 

 This might be illustrated by saying, it is of little use 

 having a large passage unless you have enough sidedoors 

 to admit a sufficient number of passengers to travel down 

 it. The pores, in contact with air, which are constantly 

 admitting the water by its superior gravity, should form 

 a superficial area equal to the sectional surface of the un- 

 occupied space in the pipe or drain (reduced to an area) ; 

 the velocity of passage in the drain being certainly, in a 

 general way, equal or superior to the velocity of percola- 

 tion. It must be considered, that in dense subsoils, the 

 continued winter rains expand the particles and render 

 filtration more difficult— especially during the first year 

 or two after drainage; therefore, I prefer deep and nar- 

 row stone drains, protected from earth by a pipe over 

 them, because they afford ready access to a large and po- 

 rous surface ; filtration going on both on the tops and 



sides at the drain. . , 



I would observe, that even on the recently drained 

 strong loam, but little surface water ran away; most of it 

 percolated, except in cases of the ground being frozen 

 hard, and of very heavy and sudden rans. It appears to 

 percolate tolerably clear according to the season-but on 

 this point my observations must be more extended. On 

 cutting across some of the drains that had been made six 

 months, the stones were found to be washed as clean as 



the gravel in a brook. ..,„£„j 



The other third of this farm was tne reverse of the first 

 two thirds, and required an entirely different system of 

 drainage. It is mostly black, sandy, and boggy soil, with 

 numerous springs ri.ingat various points where obstructed 

 by perpendicular walls or veins of dense clay or hard 



gravel — sometimes both. 



The drainage here has been effected by a person 

 named Pearson, from Warwickshire, a man of extensive 



k 



estates by his judicious sub-draining of the springs. 

 His plan is to take his fall from the lowest point, and 

 gradually work up to where the spring shows itself, hav- 

 ing previously ascertained the whereabouts by digging, and 

 by those plants that invariably show themselves over a spring. 

 As springs are generally attended by sand-beds, a single 

 drain will often lay dry a large extent of ground. In on* 

 case where there was a swamp of four acres, the drain was 

 opened at two feet, and continued in a trench till it 

 reached eleven feet in depth ; the sand boding up at 

 intervals like water in a caldron, of course it was neces- 

 sary to shore up the sides ; and when his level was accu- 

 rately taken, he commenced laying his pipes on hay (two 

 half pipes, four and a half inches diameter - *« P 

 together, being internally nine inches by four necessiry 

 but so strong was the force of the wWi^ orrhe& with 



the 



and 



amed Pearson, from WarwicKsnire, a man oi «^.v™»i„ 

 nowledge and ability in this department of drainage, 

 rho I understand has essentially improved Lord Digoy s 



drain two feet.. In these ^ arcn- .- r , ^ thc 



firmly loaded to the top of tne area 



