THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



321 



A 



"==^fS77R4L^OLLEGE7&c.— At a Meeting 



I GR,C remittee held I the 6th May, 1844-Earl Bathurst 

 \ d tke Cornm ttee, « . determined on applying 



itCh*. « e ^ l ; r ed : o n^t the responsibility, and also the 

 !7 Royal Charter to limit ; i £ on ^ fQr the 



**S C h"m£ It s des ableTo fi. on a site for the 

 -refit • al lJ 'rnmmittee therefore invite Tenders of Farms, 

 CSij JJ« C £™? Addressed to the Seeretary/'-Signed, 

 SK >2 2 i^mmWee. Ronr. J. Brown, Hon. Sec. 

 fry order 



ter, 17th May, 1844. 



Zf)t gflrtctitatral <BWtte 



S^rtSD^F. il/^F 18, 1844. 



HE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS. 



Agricultural Society of England. 

 Agricultural Imp. Soe. of Ireland. 



MEETINGS FOR T 



fflirDMr, May 28 



Iicmwi, May 23 



u . n , MnlY May 29 Agricultural Society of England. 



SS^Miy S Agricultural Imp. Soc of Ireland. 



FA 



{Gloucester. 

 Cardiff. 

 rChepstOiT. 



£ Fair ford. 

 May Rayleigh. 



RMERS' CLUBS. 



M ay 30 



May 31 



June 1 



Richmondshire, 

 r Stoke Ferry. 

 \ HadleiKh. 

 J Wrentham. 

 L Debenham. 



Collumpton. 



K 



We do not intend to detail the facts, experiments, 

 and arguments, which induce those who study the 

 fubject to believe that much of the solid matter, the 

 carbon of vegetables, enters them through their leaves 

 from the air, as well as through their roots from the 

 toil. We allude to the subject generally, because it 

 explains the advantages which are derived from 

 many Agricultural operations, and more especially be- 

 cause it so clearly explains the benefit which, as 

 many farmers know from experience, often follows 

 the practice of Mowing Young Wheat at this 



season of the year. 

 The food which plants absorb by means of their 



leaves from the air is contained in a gas existing 

 there, called carbonic acid — so called, because it is 

 known to be composed of carbon, the substance of 

 wood, and of oxygen, the life-giving element of the 

 atmosphere. Now, it has been ascertained that under 

 the influence of solar light, plants absorb this car- 

 bonic acid gas, and decomposing it in their leaves re- 

 tain the carbon and exhale ihe oxygen. Light is the 

 agent in this process; on whatever part of a vege- 

 table it falls, there it effects a decomposition of this 

 , causing a deposition of carbon, the basis ofiuood. 

 ts tendency is thus to convert an herbaceous into a 

 woody substance. Deprive a plant of light, and, to 

 speak technically, you blanch it; it becomes soft, 

 juicy, colourless; give light free access to it, and it 

 hardens, assumes a colour, and in fact becomes woody. 

 >>ow, at this season of the year, on our best Wheat 

 lands, the plants, owing to the luxuriance of their 

 growth, completely hide the ground ; this, in dry 

 weather, such as we have at present, is certainly an 

 advantage, but the foliage of the Wheat plant, where 

 it has grown luxuriantly, hides not only the ground 

 but also the stem of the plant. After a shower at 

 this season, when every leaf is bowing under the 

 weight of rain-water, look towards the sun at a 

 promising field of Wheat, and you will see its light 

 reflected towards you in an unbroken sheet; none of 

 it can find access to the lower parts of the plants— 

 me leaves get it all to themselves, and as a natural 

 consequence, they grow most luxuriantly, increasing 

 uj i number, length, and breadth, until, with the load 



th * at £ r Whlch tIle weather sometimes lays upon 

 tnem, they ultimately become too heavy for the weak 

 neroaceous stalks below them, and the plants are laid 

 flat on the ground, to the great injury of the crop. 



ihaIt fu remedy for this » as far mers well know, is to 

 mow these broad leaves off. There is no chance as 



its nl- • or ! ,Inar y c are, of injuring the young ear; 

 drir? Uon ln i the plant ma y be easily ascertained by 

 it Z ct m cxce P e where the cro P is ver y ^rward, 



be r-,,7 V , er \ near ^e ground. The leaves should 

 tcvthl ^ T as P° s »ible, and for this purpose the 



^ allowed ^ Very Sharp ' The GraSS CUt offshould 

 *nd^i sapp ° 



man Jill 18 *£ process beneficial? The practical 

 weishr nf / r at the P lant is thus relieved from the 

 Water Jh- i • above h ' and also from the load of 



ground n " ^ied, and which bowed it to the 

 diateadv , btless > tn e plant does derive an imme- 

 *is is a v gG fr ° m the P r °cess in this respect; but 

 true answp r ^ mea8re answer to our question. The 

 \rhich a d fP en ds upon that chemical process in 

 of the nl! *\ have said > H S ht is an agent. The leaf 

 and renT g Cut off ' light has access to the stalk, 



nerbacenn/' ^^ that which before was soft and 



remain where it falls : it will soon wither 

 ear. 



harden 



ceous. 



The stem of the Wheat-plant thus 



Nay, here is a case in which a practical man, who 

 may be prejudiced against, as he thinks them, the 

 officious suggestions of scientific men, may fancy 

 that he has full scope for his sarcasm. « Well ! after 

 all your laboured efforts, after invoking all the aids 

 of Chemistry and Vegetable Physiology, you have got 

 no farther than the stage to which I, and my predeces- 

 sors for generations back, had long ago attained. You 

 have elicited nothing new —you have suggested 

 nothing by which I can hope to profit— you have but 

 confirmed me in the opinion that farmers must put 

 their own shoulders to the wheel as heretofore, and 

 not stand calling on science, theory, or Jupiter, for 

 assistance." 



Let us, nevertheless, simply state a useful 

 inference, which may fairly be drawn from what has 

 been said, to impress the truth of which upon our 

 readers these remarks have, in fact, been made. 



Here is an instance in which the deductions of 

 science, independently of the farmer, entirely a«ree 

 with and confirm a practice of which the experience 

 of farmers has long ago approved. This is, in fact, 

 an instance in which, had it not been forestalled by 

 experience, the suggestions of science might have 

 been adopted with great advantage. Let this one 

 instance be added to the many now existing, the 

 tendency of which is to excite and increase the con- 

 fidence of farmers in the results obtained by 

 scientific men. If a knowledge of these results were 

 generally diffused, and if confidence in them really 

 existed in the minds of the great body of the tenants 

 of land, the practice of Agriculture would undoubt- 

 edly improve with rapidity, in the true sense of the 

 word ; the expenses of cultivation would diminish, 

 and its returns increase. 



^Phtof 1 f be ? omes stron g and able to bear the 

 A H unm,!!!- J ar in a future sta S e of its growth. 

 ^ ultimVlr , y ' u P° n the strength of the stem 



^^ure depends 1VeUeSS ° f the Cr ° P in * great 



of tC? ot! v^ d ? an be derived fr om the perusal 

 * hic * ordin't No Plan has been suggested 



'Unces, wouhi , , ommon - sense, under the circum- 



^ of which p?!! ?t ° nC , e indica te, and the advan- 



ex P e nence has not long ago confirmed. 



i 



ROOKS. 



[A correspondence regarding the injury supposed 

 to be done to the farmer by the Rooks has lately been 

 published by J. M. Hog, Esq., of Newliston, Mid- 

 lothian. It was occasioned by the presentation, of a 

 memorial to that gentleman, signed by 54 farmers, in- 

 cluding some proprietors of land in that neighbourhood, 

 requesting him, as the proprietor of a very large rookery, 

 to allow means to be used for its diminution. Mr. Hog 

 says, in the course of his answer — 



" It is the result of my own deliberate conviction, 



formed from an observation of the habits of the bird 



from my earliest infancy, that the injury done by it to 



the farmer is of the most trifling nature. I believe it is 



a fact in which all naturalists will confirm me, that the 



almost entire food of the Rook is grubs and insects — 



that they prefer these by much to grain of any kind— 

 and that ic is only when hard pressed by hunger that 



they attack this species of food. I think I may call the 

 attention of every observing farmer to what all who 

 have watched their habits must have noticed, that at seed- 

 time they follow the harrows, picking up the worms 

 which are dislodged from the broken clods, not preceding 

 them, as they would certainly do were their object grain 

 instead of grubs." 



Towards the close of his letter he states his intention 

 of applying for information as to the food of the crow 

 to Charles Waterton, Esq., the celebrated naturalist. 

 The following is a portion of that gentleman's letter, in 

 answer to Mr. Hog's application.] 



*' 1 hold the Rooks in great respect. "We have innu- 

 merable quantities of these birds in this part of Yorkshire 

 — and we consider them our friends. They appear in 

 thousands upon our Grass-lands, and destroy myriads of 

 insects. After they have done their work in these 

 inclosures, you may pick up basketsful of grass-plants, 

 all injured at the root by the gnawing insect. We prize 

 the birds much for this ; and we pronounce them most 

 useful guardians of our meadows and our pastures. 

 Whenever we see the Rooks in our Turnip- fields we 

 know then to our sorrow what is going on there. We 

 are aware that grubs are destroying the Turnips ; and 

 we hail with pleasure the arrival of the Rooks, which 

 alone can arrest their dreaded progress. I have never 

 seen the least particle of Turnip, or of Turnip-tops in the 

 craws of the Rooks, either young or old. If these birds 

 feed on Swedish Turnips in Scotland, they abstain from 

 such food here ; so far as I can learn by inquiry. Per- 

 haps they may be taking insects at the time that they are 

 seen perforating the Turnip. Dissection could set this 

 doubt at rest for ever. No farmer in our neighbourhood 

 complains that his Swedish Turnips are injured by the 

 Rook. The services of the Rook to our Oak-trees are 

 positively beyond estimation. I do believe if it were not 

 for this bird, all the young leaves on our Oaks would be 

 consumed by the Cockchafers. W r hilst the Ringdove is 

 devouring the heart-shoot of the rising Clover in spring, 

 you may see the Rook devouring insects in the same field. 



" The faults of the Rook, in our imperfect eyes, are as 

 follows: — It pulls up the young blade of corn on its first 

 appearance, in order to get at the seed-grain still at the 

 root of it. The petty pilfering lasts about three weeks, 

 and during this period we hire a boy at threepence a-day, 

 sometimes sixpence, to scare the birds off. Some years 

 we have no boy at all. Either way, the crops are appa- 

 rently the same in quantity every year. In winter the 

 Rook will attack the corn-stacks which have lost part of 

 their thatch by a gale of wind. He is a slovenly farmer 

 who does not repair the damaged roof immediately ; and 

 still we have farmers in Yorkshire of this description. 

 The Rook certainly is too fond of our Walnuts ; of 



course, it requires to be sharply looked after when the 

 fruit is ripe. Inbreeding time, it will twist off the upper- 

 most twigs of the English and Dutch Elms, and some- 

 times those of the Oak in which its neat is built, for the 

 purpose of increasing it. This practice gives the tops of 

 the trees an unsightly appearance, and may injure their 

 growth in the course of time. Sycamores, Beeches, Firs, 

 and Ashes, escape in great measure the spoliation. It 

 ought to be generally known that, in former times, the 

 North American colonists having banished the Grakles, 

 (their Rooks), the insects ate up the whole of their Grass, 

 and the people were obliged to get their stock of Hay 

 from Pennsylvania and from England. And in the island 

 of Bourbon, the poor eastern Grakles disappeared under 

 a similar persecution. The islanders suffered in their 

 turn ; for clouds of Grasshoppers consumed every green 

 blade, and the colonists were compelled to apply to 

 Government for a fresh breed of Grakles, and also for a 

 law to protect them. Thus it appears from history that 

 the sages of the East, and the wise men of the West, did 

 wrong in destroying their Grakles. They were severely 

 punished for their temerity, by the loss of their crops. 

 They repented and repaired the damage ; and, so far as 

 I can learn, things have gone on well betwixt themselves 

 and the Grakles, and betwixt the Grakles and the crops 

 ever since. In 1824 I saw immense flocks of these birds 

 in the low meadows of the Delaware. I defend my 

 sable friends, the Rooks, here in England, on account of 

 their services to the land. Should the adverse party 

 effect their extirpation from Scotland, and then suffer by 

 the ravages of the grub, I will, at any time, be happy to 

 send you a fresh supply of these useful and interesting 

 birds. — Charles Waterton." [In a separate communica- 

 tion Mr. Waterton refers to what he has already written 

 on the Rook, in his M Essays," to which I would request 

 attention. As he is now engaged in writing a second 

 volume, for the benefit of Mrs. Loudon, it is to be hoped 

 he will find a place for this subject — as indeed he gives 

 me reason to expect.— J. M. //.] 



TURNIP CULTURE— No. I. 



The system which it is our intention to describe is 

 in full operation, and has been in practice in various parts 

 of the kingdom for many years, so that it is no new 

 thing, no mere fancy. 



The science of Agriculture is founded on those fixed 

 principles which regulate the operations of Nature, and 

 whether the farmer knows them or not — whether he 

 endeavours to carry out these principles or not — Nature 

 will constantly proceed in her own way acting upon them ; 

 and any striving against her, whether in ignorance or 

 not, must result in loss. It is then of the greatest im- 

 portance for us to know the principles which regulate 

 vegetation, and, before proceeding to describe the mode 

 of cultivating the Turnip crop, it may be well first 



to inquire into the nature and habits of the plant itself. 



We shall thus be likely to ascertain the kind of cultiva- 

 tion and the condition of soil which it requires to make 

 it grow in perfection. 



The leaves of the Turnip plant are large, with thick 

 fleshy veins, rough and prickly, having the power of 

 evaporating or imbibing a large quantity of moisture ; 

 and it is said that the plant, by virtue of these Jarge 

 leaves, receives a great part of its nourishment from the 

 atmosphere. The roots, which are sent out laterally 

 from the tap root, present a fine silk-like appearance, 

 and extend to a great distance, till they meet with the 

 obstruction either of other roots or of uncultivated land. 

 When the soil is well cultivated, they extend to the 

 distance of two or three feet from the centre of the plant, 

 ramifying in every direction, crossing and re-crossing 

 each other, forming a complete net-work over the whole 

 of the cultivated soil. This may be observed in the soil 

 between the rows, when it has been deeply and re- 

 peatedly horse-hoed or ploughed and harrowed ; but 

 when the soil has not been well pulverised between the 

 rows, the fine filaments of the roots cannot push them- 

 selves in search of nourishment. 



The bulb is that part of the plant for which it is cul- 

 tivated ; it generally takes a globular form, sometimes 

 more of a cylindrical shape, conical at the root, and 

 globular or even flat at the top. The bulb, when it is 

 ripe and fit for use, has a fleshy substance full of juice, 

 generally of a sweetish though sometimes of an acrid 

 taste. When fresh, the Turnip bulb contains about 89 



per cent, of water. 



The roots of all plants that are cultivated by the 

 farmer push over a large horizontal extent in search of 

 nourishment ; an extent which is limited generally by the 

 distance at which the plants are placed on the ground, 

 i. e. provided Nature do not fill up the space between 

 them by natural plants (weeds). When this distance is 

 great, the roots are most extensive, and the plants are 

 proportionably luxuriant ; but when the plants are thick 

 on the ground, their roots extend and intermingle with 

 the roots of those that are nearest, and are limited in 

 their growth and bulk. Hence a necessity of having only 

 the plant we cultivate growing in the field, and of extir- 

 pating weeds of every description, during the whole pro- 

 cess of the growth of any crop. 



The spongioles which are at the termination of the 

 small fibrous roots, take in nourishment from the soil; 

 and as the fibrous roots spread over the whole of the 

 cultivated land, it is evident that if we give to this active 

 soil a regular and equal supply of manure, and at the 

 same time make and keep it in as perfect a state of cul- 

 tivation, and the greatest possible deptb which circum- 

 stances will allow, we may expect the greatest return 

 which the active soil, under .its present condition, can 

 produce. 



