304 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



urine had no acid re-action upon litmus. I therefore 

 added 8 ounces more acid (by measure.) — Feh. 1 7. About 

 20 gallons collected, which had a strong acid re-action. 

 — 2Cth. The urine of a dark colour, but not putrefied. — 

 March 20. Barrel full, no putrefaction.— April 6. Solu- 

 tion nearly neuter, but slightly acid ; no putrefaction. 

 Applied to the land, as stated by Professor Henslow. 

 ( Vide " Agricultural Gazette," No. 1.) 



Barrel No. 2 (B.)— Jan. 27. One gallon of water, 

 and 5 lbs. of gypsum, which, by mistake, was burnt 

 plaster of Paris Feb. 17. Acid re-action; no putrefac- 

 tion. — 26th. No acid re-action. I then added 5 lbs. of 

 the hydrated gypsum, and, curious enough, five minutes 

 after, the solution re-acted upon the litmus ; no putre- 

 faction ; 30 gallons collected.— March 11. Solution 

 neutral. — 24th. Barrel quite full, and beginning to pu- 

 trefy. Alkaline re-action. Added 5 lbs. more gypsum.— 

 April 2. Urine putrefying, and ammonia escaping in 

 considerable quantity. Solution alkaline. Added 5 lbs. 

 of gypsum. — 6th. Ammonia escaping. Applied it to the 



land. 



Barrel No. 3 (C.)— Jan. 27. Added only 1 gallon 

 of water. The solution began to decompose about a fort- 

 night or three weeks from the commencement, and the 

 ammonia escaped freely until the day of application. — 

 April G. By direct experiment I found that 10 gallons of 

 this urine in a state of decomposition, required C0J 

 ounces, by weight, of concentrated sulphuric acid of sp. 

 g., 1.850, for neutralisation ; producing, according to 

 previous calculation, about 112 ounces of sulphate of 

 ammonia. 



In the first barrel it is clear the urea in the urine did 

 not decompose, and therefore no ammonia was generated. 

 The action of sulphuric acid upon fresh urine produces 

 a compound of urea, the nature of which is still unde- 

 termined ; but the result of my experiment proved that 

 the nitrogen was supplied to the plant, probably by its 

 conversion in the soil into carbonate of ammonia. The 

 action of the gypsum was unsatisfactory. 20 lbs. of 

 gypsum contain about 12 lbs. of sulphuric acid. If 

 chemical action had taken place to any extent, the 

 ammonia ought to have been fixed ; for although 54 

 gallons of putrefied urine require 16 lbs. of sulphuric 

 acid to neutralise the carbonate of ammonia, it will be 

 perceived that the urine in Barrel No. 2 did not decom- 

 pose until about 12 days before the liquid was applied, 

 in consequence, probably, of the anti-septic quality of 

 the gypsum ; but that, when decomposition took place, 

 the ammonia escaped as freely as in Barrel No. 3, 

 which it ought not to have done had the gypsum acted 

 upon the carbonate. It would have been more satisfac- 

 tory certainly, had double the quantity of gypsum been 

 used. The experiment was performed on what the 

 farmers call a light loam, which had beerr cropped with 

 Turnips, and fed off with sheep the preceding winter. 



The analysis of 400 grains of the soil, obtained 3 or 4 

 inches from the surface, and kept dry for a week, gave the 

 following result : — 



Specimen (400 grs.), Sp. Gr. 1.57 



Grains. 

 Moisture \j 



Siliceous and Calcareous Coarse Sand 

 Fine Sand 



Impalpable Matter, which contained— 

 Carbonate of Lime and Magnesia 

 Animal and Vegetable Matter 

 Oxide of Iron .... 



Alumina ...... 



27 



249 



17 



8 



6 



20 



73 



Silica . . 27 J 



Loss 



25 



too 



Of this field I had 7 patches carefullv measured by a 



land surveyor. The first 6 contained exactly 8 perches 



each, the last had unavoidably -J-th of a perch more, and 



this we accordingly gave to the benefit of the unmanured 



crop. As the field was not in my own occupation, I had 



not that control over the sowing which I should like to 



have had, and the consequence was that the seed (Barley 



and Clover) was sown the same day that the liquid was 



applied. The proportion used, and the important results 



obtained, will be seen by a reference to the First Number 



of the M Gazette," from which I deduce the following 



facts : — 



1. Ten gallons of urine, equal to 80 lbs., fixed with 

 sulphuric acid, produced over and above the same quan- 

 tity of land without any manure, .37 lbs. of grain, and 

 41$ lbs. of straw — 78| lbs. of produce ; being an in- 

 crease per acre of 1.580 lbs. of produce. By measure the 

 increase was 15 bushels per acre. 



2. Fifteen gallons of urine, equal to 120 lbs., produced 

 32 lbs. of grain only, and 8 lbs. of straw — 40 lbs. of pro- 

 duce j being an increase per acre of 800 pounds. The 

 liquid was in this case evidently too strong for applica- 

 tion the day of sowing. Had it been used a week or 

 fortnight before, the result would probably have been 

 different. 



3. Ten eallons of urine and gvpsum, equal to 80 lbs., 

 produced 13£ lbs. of grain, and a loss of straw of 27 lbs. 



4. Fifteen gallons of urine and gypsum, equal to 120 lbs., 

 produced 12 lbs. of grain, and a loss of straw of 14 lbs. 



5. Ten gallons of urine, equal to 80 lbs., not fixed 

 with anything, and the ammonia allowed to escape 

 before application, produced 9 lbs. of grain, and a loss of 

 straw o( 18 lbs. 



6. Fifteen gallons of urine unfixed, equal to 120 lbs., 

 produced 19 lbs. of grain and 10 lbs. of straw — equal to 

 29 lbs. of produce; being an increase of produce per 

 acre of 580 lbs. With regard to the Clover, that «»hich 



mown with the Barley was of course taken account 



C. -ff.^iftstraw, «"d the layer has still to be noticed. — 



vmarket. 



Home Correspondence. 



Qorse. — I have used Gorse 14 years this season for 

 dairy cows, fattening cows, and horses, all of which it 

 suits equally well. — Sheep I have not tried it with. I 

 doubt whether they will easily be got to eat it, — they do 

 not like anything which has been much bruised with iron. 

 Whins must be bruised, and my machine is iron. — Three 

 bushels and a half per day, unmixed with any other fodder, 

 is sufficient for each cow. I have 24 cows in one house ; 

 besides the Whins, they eat per day one hundred weight 

 of hay and eight bushels of Swedish Turnip amongst the 

 24 cows ; being about four pounds and a half of hay per 

 cow per day, and 20 pounds of Swedes per cow per day. 

 On this, dairy cows are kept in excellent condition, and 

 the butter is remarkably good ; fattening cows will feed 

 fast. When Swedes fail or are scarce, I substitute about 

 four pounds of oil-cake per day to each cow, and as the 

 fattening cows get forward, I increase the quantity of oil- 

 cake gradually ; the most I give is 12 pounds per day to 

 large cows, and that only for the last month. — The Gorse 

 is first put through a common chaff-cutter, then bruised in 

 a mill similar to the old cider-mill; the revolving wheel 

 surrounded with fluted iron ; at the bottom of the chase 

 a plain iron plate.— It is sown as Clover seed, with a crop 

 of Barley or Oats — is fit to cut the November 12 months 

 after sowing ; it is then mown every year during the 

 winter, as wanted, with a common scythe, close to the 

 ground ; on good dry land will cut from seven to ten tons 



per acre The plant I use is called French Furze, but is 



very common in England. — I grow it on an old woodland, 

 stocked up, part a burning gravel, part a strong clay, but 

 very dry at bottom, and very hilly. Half an acre of this 

 land is on the average sufficient to keep a cow 20 weeks. 

 On rich loamy dry land I have no doubt nearly double 

 quantity may be grown. — There is no danger in using it 

 if it be well ground, and mixed with salt in the proportion 

 of four ounces per cow per day. — The mowing, carting, 

 cutting,and bruising, costs notquite a penny a bushel. — It 

 requires no manure, but in its consumption creates a great 

 deal. Will grow on poor hilly land, if dry, which will not 

 pay for cultivating. When once sown and well rooted, it 

 yields a great quantity of food for cattle at no other ex- 

 pense but the one above stated. I have cut the same 

 ground now for 14 years— have done nothing to it, and 

 with the exception of some parts of the burning gravel 

 which the hot weather has this year affected, it seems to 

 promise as good a crop as heretofore. I generally begin 

 to mow it as soon as Grass is gone, and it lasts till Grass 

 comes again. If there is an appearance of snow, I mow 

 some quantity beforehand, and it will keep thrown down 

 in heaps in the rick-yard ; but it must not be bruised till 

 it is wanted, as it will not keep after bruising. — The 

 quantity of seed to be sown per acre, is 20 pounds. Mine 

 is sown broad-cast, but I should recommend it to be 

 drilled as near in the rows as will admit hand-hoeing for 

 the first year or two, if the land is inclined to run to Grass. 

 I do not feed with Furze on a Sunday, as the cows do not 

 like it unless it is given them fresh from the mill. — Richard 

 Spooner, Worcester. [The above is a connexion of the 

 answers in a short catechism on this subject which has 

 been published in various papers, and also as a placard.] 



Peat- Drains — Allow me to state, as a further proof of 

 what is said in Nos. 30 and 48 of the Gardeners' Chro- 

 nicle of last year, as to the durability of peat draining, 

 that I saw some peat-draining a few days ago which had 

 been made 30 years ago at Nateby, Lancaster, and they 

 were as perfect and as sound as they were when laid down 

 in the drains ; they are laid in the same way as those de- 

 scribed in No. 48 of the Gardeners 1 Chronicle of last year, 

 on shoulders; that is, there being a bearing of about 2 in. 

 on each side of the drain for the covers to rest upon, so 

 that there was a drain of 6 in. clear in width, and about 

 6 in. deep for the water. The peat-draining covers are 

 10 in. long, 7 in. broad, and 2 in. thick. Inert peaty mat- 

 ter remains for years exposed to water and air without un- 

 dergoing any change as to decay, but it grows stronger 

 after having been sometime inserted in the drain. At 

 the present time there is a difference of opinion as to 

 which is the best sort of peat for the purpose of draining 

 with. The black peat appears to me to be the best, as in 

 the drains alluded to, some of the lighter coloured sorts 1 

 found were not so stiff as the black, and they appeared 

 almost as hard as stone when taken out of the drain. I 

 am informed by the man who made those drains, that 

 those peat covers had not been made on purpose for drain- 

 ing with, but were taken from the stock which had been 

 made for the firing of the farm-house Facile. 



Leases.— Would it not be a much wiser plan for land- 

 lords, instead of tying down their tenants as to the rota- 

 tion of crops, &c. &c, to fix what amount of stock 

 should be kept upon the farm, in thriving condition ? If 

 a farm was kept stocked with a proper number of horses, 

 cows, sheep, and pigs— all well kept— and no straw or 

 manure sold off, a farm must improve. It would be easy 

 to have a fixed fine, as is now the case if the terms of a 



lease are broken, for non-fulfilment of the agreement as to 

 stock.— W. D. F. 



Bigg's Sheep-dipping Composition I should be very 



glad to call the attention of such of your readers as keep 

 ■heep to this plan of dipping them. I tried it first five 

 years since, and most of my neighbours now use it from 

 seeing the benefit to my flock. Every one who wishes for 

 the comfort of his animals would, if this were all, use it ; 

 but I find it improve the health and wool of the sheep 

 very much ; if. frees them from all cutaneous disorders, 

 kills the ticks and lice, and inasmuch as they nrver lose 

 time and strength and temper by rubbing and scratching 

 themselves, they use much less food, and have more time 

 to *leep — W. D. F. [A knonn correspondent.] 



mis- 



name- 



£May_ii, 



Moles. — Your correspondent " BrW/Miaslji 



informed: " The tenants of the Duke of Buccleuch"" ~ ~ 

 resolved to destroy no more moles. His tenants inl!^ 

 and the adjoining counties form two classes viz • till 

 farmers, and sheep-masters. "W. B.'s » information conS 

 refer only to the latter class, who pasture sheen 

 the Cheviot hills. A former Duke of Buccleuch hd 

 his pastoral grounds extensively surface-drained. It 

 soon found that the Moles rendered these drains uselew* 

 by working peaty-soil in, which stopped the water. Mo£ 

 had been caught on the tillage-grounds from time i 

 morial ; but till now, they had been allowed the full ranre 

 of the hill pastures. The Duke, to prevent the waste 

 of his expenditure on drains, ordered an extensive de- 

 struction of the Moles. The Cheviot pastures were ex* 

 tensively improved by this draining, and enabled to 

 support much heavier stocks ; but in many places the 

 herbage proved unwholesome, and induced a disease 

 known to shepherds by the name of " Pining." The 

 pasture, especially in dry seasons, became too astringent 

 and inflammatory diseases caused serious loss. Sheen 

 are known to require a portion of saline or alkaline 

 matter, and the surface on which they tread requires to 

 be rough enough to prevent over-growth of their hoofs. 

 But the want of Mole-hills, and the increased smoothness 

 of the pastures, which soon followed the draining, both 

 prevented their access to portions of fresh earth and 

 allowed their hoofs so to grow, that their overgrowth 

 aided by the inflammatory character of the herbage, in- 

 duced foot-rot. Some of these sheep-masters, about 

 15 or 20 years ago, ascribing the disease of their flocks 

 to the want of succulent herbage, which they imagined 

 was produced by the Mole-hills, dismissed the Mole- 

 catcher from their pastures ; but as the quality of the 

 herbage was much more altered by the drainage than by 

 the want of Mole-hills, this remedy was found inadequate 

 in dry seasons, while in wet seasons the pasture was so 

 injured by the Moles stopping the drains, that, as far as 

 I can learn, in every case they soon recalled the " moudie- 



The man who catches Moles for me told me, to- 



man. 



day, that he spends ten weeks every summer among the 

 Duke's hill-tenants. On tillage-land, which is naturally 

 so dry as to need no artificial drains, I never saw Moles 

 very numerous ; but where under-draining has been 

 needed and effected, Moles multiply rapidly, and if not 

 destroyed, soon render the drains useless, and greatly 

 injure the drilled green crops. My farm had formerly 

 been well drained, and had lain several years in 

 pasture. Mole-catching had been neglected. The 

 drains gradually became useless. I drained anew, and in 

 cutting through numberless old drains, I found all choked 

 with mud, wrought in by the moles. As mole-hills were 

 chiefly on the top of old drains, this often aided me in 

 discovering the course of a drain. My first drilled green 

 crops were so overrun by moles that about a third of the 

 plants were thrown out, when in rough leaf, and, but for 

 the aid of the "raoudie-man," I might have harrowed 

 them over. The earth-worm is truly the farmer's friend. 

 As the mole lives on the earth-worm, he is the farmer's 

 foe. Let « B. W." look over to the " green Isle," where 

 Moles do not exist, and the view will convince him that 



we need not their aid G., Dumfriesshire. 



Wheat-crop. — A neighbour of mine has a field of 

 about 6 acres, which was sown with Wheat in the autumn 

 of 1842. The following spring it was an early and 

 luxuriant crop, and continued so until the straw began 

 to change colour, when it fell, from its great bulk, and, 

 never having been able to rise again, became flat on the 

 ground, and was with difficulty cut by the reapers. 

 Before its removal from the field the greater portion of 

 the grain was left on the ground. The land is of excel- 

 lent quality, capable of producing from 30. to 40 bushels 

 of Wheat or Barley per acre. At the proper season the 

 stubble was ploughed, and sown with winter Vetches; the 

 self-sown Wheat also came up, and at this moment a 

 most luxuriant prospect appears for a Wheat-crop next 

 harvest. My recommendation was, at the end of March, 

 to graze it with sheep as close as possible to the ground, 

 and keep it as a Wheat-crop for the ensuing harvest, 

 instead of cutting it as green food for horses. I 

 owner prefers the latter.— M. Sayce. [Perhaps if our 

 correspondent's advice had been taken sufficiently ear y, 

 it might have been advisable to take the chance of a crop 

 of Wheat ; but now, as the Vetches must be pretty -strong 

 on the ground, we should advise the cutting of the cr P 

 for horses, &c. It is well to abide by the principle or a 

 alternate system of husbandry.] 



Stall feeding Cows.— 1 observe many of your core- 

 spondents speak in high terms of the advantages ot si - 

 feeding cows; and if increase of manure and the pro ^ 

 able employment of green crops are the only pom ts ^ 

 considered, they are probably right. But are they a 

 that after a time all these animals are found to n - 

 tubercles on the lungs, and would, if not killed, die 

 sumptive ? In the como.encement of the dlse * se £ 

 yield more milk, fat kindly, and the meat is said t 

 sweeter ; but can either the milk or the flesh be so wnu 

 some ? Every medical writer cautions us against em P e ^ 

 ing as a wet nurse a person who shows the slights ^^ 

 dency to consumption ; is it not reasonable to rejec ^ 

 wise the milk of animals kept in confinement and dep 

 of three of the great essentials to health, pure a,r >l be 

 of light, and exercise ? S .me practical chemist B»ig ^ 

 found who would analyse the milk, and inform us * 

 it differs from the milk of animals who are fed in tne f 



air.— X. .«nndent* 



Superphosphate of Lime. —One of your correspon 



complaius that bones will not dissolve in sl,, l ,hur Either 

 unless they are previously reduced t«» powder. 

 his sulphuric acid was not good, or he had not i 



