378 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



perience and shrewd observation. The labourer finds in 

 an allotment a means of turning his spare hours to ad- 

 vantage, and in a mode of labour which, from its very 

 character, being in the association of his wife and children, 

 under his own control and management, and for his own 

 immediate and personal benefit, becomes a benefit instead 



of a toil. He finds it the means of eking out his scanty 

 wages, of providing to a degree for an occasion of sick- 

 ness or other suspension from his employment, and 

 wages. He is enabled to bring from this source many 

 rare comforts to his frugal table ; and has himself, if be 

 is a man of feeling— aud why should he not be ?— an 

 opportunity of enjoying one of the richest of all pleasures, 

 that of making a small contribution to relieve an unfor- 

 tunate or a sick neighbour. It presents a good school of 

 industry for his children, under his own immediate in- 

 spection. It quickens his own intelligence, in making 

 agricultural experiments upon a small and useful scale ; 

 and rouses a spirit of wholesome emulation in his crops, 

 even with the master farmers. It removes him from 

 strong temptations to gambling, low dissipation, and in- 

 temperance. It gives him an interest in the soil ; it 

 attaches him to his home ; it involves him in all the risks 

 of the public safety, and makes him the friend of public 

 peace and order. It gives him the spirit of a man, rais- 

 ing him above the sense of slavish dependence, and the 

 dread of becoming a pensioner on public charity. In so 

 doing, it at once exalts him in the community ; induces 

 a most wholesome self-respect ; inspires a just regard 

 for the rights of property ; attaches him the more stroDgly 

 to his superior." — M. S. 



SKETCHES OF EAST LOTHIAN HUSBANDRY. 

 Drainage. — The peculiar features of East Lothian 

 farming are, — 1st. The removal of superfluous moisture 

 from the land by draining ; 2d. The thorough eradication 

 of weeds ; and, 3d. The preservation of the soil unex- 

 hausted, by means of a liberal application of manures, 

 and the general prevalency of the alternate system of 

 cropping : or, in other words, the great leading prin- 

 ciples of farm-man igement assiduously aimed at by every 

 good farmer in this county, are the keeping of his land 

 dry, clean, and in good heart — to use a common but sig- 

 nificant expression. Although these primary or funda- 

 mental principles of agricultural improvement may be 

 said to stmd or fall together, yet draining is universally 

 considered as the first in point of importance, being justly 

 regarded as the basis of all good farming. Draining is 

 one of those mems of improvement, regarding the utility 

 of which all practical men arc now unanimous. In a 

 previous Number of these Papers it has been stated that 

 the general character of the soil throughout this county 

 is a strong, stiff, tenacious clay, for the most part in- 

 cumbent on a hard impervious till ; from which it will 

 obviously appear that there are few districts in which 

 draining is more requisite, or in which its effects are more 

 apparent and beneficial. It requires no arguments to 

 prove — indeed it is generally admitted — that draining has 

 been the first decisive step towards that improved system 

 of tillage-husbandry for which East Lothian is now de- 

 servedly celebrated. 



It is only within the last ten or twelve years, however, 

 that the present system of thorough draining or furrow- 

 draining, as it is here more frequently termed, began to 

 be practised to any considerable extent. Before that 

 period, even the most correct; and spirited agriculturists 

 contented themselves with the old plan of cutting large 

 cross trenches, or drains, varying from 3 ft. to 7 ft. in 

 depth, through the hollow or low parts of their wet fields, 

 in order to intercept and convey to the nearest conve- 

 nient channel the water issuing from subterraneous 

 springs or spouts. These large transverse drain?, com- 

 bined with what are provincially called gau-furrows 

 (small open drains, or water-furrows, made through the 

 hollows, and at the headlands, for carrying off surface- 

 water), were previously considered to be the only effec- 

 tual means at the farmer's command for the removal of 

 superfluous moisture, from whatever causes such wetness 

 might proceed. The consequence of course was, that 

 much land, now perhaps the most valuable in the county, 

 remained in a very wet and comparatively unproductive 

 state; whilst the strong arable land became always so 

 thoroughly saturated with water, after a few days' rain, 

 that ploughing, and [other tillage operations, had neces- 

 sarily to be suspended for weeks together. Furrow- 

 draining having been, like all new improvements, re- 

 garded as an innovation on established usage, was very 

 cautiously and diffidently adopted at first ; but its sim- 

 plicity, efficacy, and superiority over the old system soon 

 became apparent and duly appreciated. The immediate 

 and ample remuneration it afforded also naturally excited 

 the self-interest of a wealthy and spirited tenantry, who 

 speedily set about the complete drainage of the wet por- 

 tions ot their farms with all the assiduitv and confidence of 

 commercial speculators. A large amount of monev has 

 consequently been invested, and is still expending on 

 draining. A considerable extent of the county has been 

 already thoroughly drained, but much still remains to be 

 similarly rescued from the deteriorating influence of 

 an excess of moisture. 



The extension of draining in this county is mainlv at-" 

 tnbutableto the ample capital possessed by the farmers 

 and to the comparative security of the tenure on which 

 they hold possession. Unquestionably furrow-drainin" 

 has had the effect of bringing much land, previously re- 

 garded as mere waste, into profitable cultivation—of 

 greatly diminishing the extent annually under bare fal- 

 low—of increasing, in a proportionate degree, the quan- 

 tity employed in the growth of Turnips, and of augment- 

 ing the quantity and improving the quality of the Corn- 



crops, besides many other advantages, too obvious and 

 too numerous to be noticed here. 



Aware of the utility of draining, and fully convinced 

 that it is, not only the basis of all subsequent improve- 

 ments, but also the source of immediate and lasting 

 remuneration, the first '.thing which engages the consi- 

 deration of a tenant, on entering a farm on a new lease, is 

 the condition of the land with respect to moisture. 

 Draining, if necessary, is his first operation ; even before 

 the old tenant takes his departure from the farm, his 

 successor, not unusually, has his men busily employed 

 in draining— first, the fallow and Turnip-land, if wet, 

 and next, such of the Grass-fields as he intends to bring 

 earliest under tillage. 



Draining is carried on during every season of the year, 

 and at all stages of the rotation, but the spring and sum- 

 mer months are generally preferred. Drains are some- 

 times made while the land is in Grass, immediately before 

 ploughing it up for Oats ; it is, however, whilst a field is 

 in fallow, or in the course of beiug prepared for a Turnip- 

 crop, that draining is generally executed. 



The points which first engage the attention of the 

 farmer on commencing to drain a field, are the situation, 

 direction, and dimensions of the main-drains, or conduits, 

 as they are called, which receive and convey the water from 

 the smaller drains. Their number, situation, end direc- 

 tion, depend, of course, upon the uniformity or irregu- 

 larity of surface which the field presents. Besides the 

 main-drain, into which the whole or greater portion of 

 the smaller ones are led, every considerable hollow must 

 have a leading or running-drain, so directed along the 

 lowest parts as to insure a uniform and sufficient fall for 

 the water into the principal conductor, or other conve- 

 nient channel, for its egress. The dimensions are regu- 

 lated by the extent of land from which the drain is 

 expected to receive water, the comparative wetness of the 

 field, and the materials to be employed in filling. They are 

 always made from 3 to 5 inches deeper than the ordinary or 

 parallel drains, that the water may have a regular and 

 uninterrupted fall from the latter, thereby preventing the 

 lodgment of mud, or the stagnation of water at the 

 junction of the drains. The breadth at top depends on 

 the depth, and the breadth at the bottom on the ma- 

 terials for filling or building. When built of stones, in 

 the manner afterwards to be described, the breadth at 

 top is usually from 1| to 2 feet, and at bottom 10 to 14 

 inches. The general way of forming main-drains or con- 

 duits is by building a little wall of flat stones at both 

 sides of the drain at bottom, 10 to 12 inches in height, 

 leaving an aperture or channel of about 8 inches wide. 

 It is then covered with strong flagstones prepared for 

 the purpose, care being taken that any interstices 

 between the covers are well filled up with small stones, 

 in order to prevent any earthy particles from getting into 

 the drain. This done, the broken stones are placed on 

 the covers to within 14 or 16 inches of the surface of the 

 land, covered With a little straw, and the earth ploughed 

 in from both sides. Where suitable stones cannot be 

 easily procured, large drain tiles, made for the purpose, 

 are substituted. Two of the common-siz=d tiles, placed 

 side by side in the drain, are sometimes employed for the 

 same object. When it is intended to make the main 

 drain very capacious, and particularly well-formed, a 

 mason is employed for the purpose ; but in the great 

 majority of cases the whole is done by some handy and 

 trustworthy farm servant. 



It is a very generally observed rule throughout the 

 county, in laying off ridges, that their direction shall be 

 longitudinal, or with the greatest acclivity of the field. 

 The driins ere invariably made in the furrows between 

 the ridges, unless the descent happens to be very rapid, 

 in v> hich case it is customary to cut the drains with a little 

 inclination, in order to lessen the force of the water ; but 

 it has been, and I believe is still, a fertile source of dis- 

 cussion amongst English agriculturists, whether surface- 

 drains are more efficacious in removing superfluous mois- 

 ture, when made up the steepest ascent of an inclined 

 field, than when carried in an angular direction across 

 the slope, if the practice of the best Lothian farmers 

 should have any influence in deciding such a contro- 

 versy, the advocates for the H fair up and down " drains 

 have unquestionably the best side of the dispute, except 

 where the descent is so great as to endanger the bursting 

 of the drains on account of the increased velocity of the 

 water; but such situations seldom require draining. 



Where the land is not very wet, and the farmer's time 

 or capital is limited, he frequently makes a drain only in 

 every alternate furrow at first, with the intention, how- 

 ever, of returning again, if necessary, on the furrows then 

 passed over, at a subsequent opportunity. But when 

 complete and uniform dryness is the object, drains are 

 made in every furrow indiscriminately throughout the 

 field, without regard to wet or dry appearances of certain 

 portions. Ridges on the strong clay soils are almost in- 

 variably 1/ or 18 feet wide; hence the distance of the 

 drains apart, where made in every furrow, is also 17 or 

 18 feet, and 34 to3G feet where made only in every alter- 

 nate furrow. 



The proper dimensions are determined chiefly by the 

 materials used in filling. The depth, when broken stones 

 are employed, varies from 28 to 32 inches, according to 

 the uniformity of the surface. When tiles are used, from 

 18 to 24 inches is deemed sufficiently deep. The breadth 

 at top is commonly 14 inches, being made as narrow as 

 barely to allow the labourer to work with freedom, and 

 the sides of the drain regularly sloped down, making the 

 breadth at bottom at about three inches when stones are 

 used, or about 6 inches in the case of tiles.— T. Sullivan. 



[The following typographical error occurs in oneof Mr Sullivai ■■>, 

 previous articles :— At page 343 itis said that the poor-rates of the 



parish have latterly amounted to 90/. per ann 



[June 8, 



belngV339/. gV., is a rate off,. 4A fortte tenant&h are ^JXH 



have been said, as any one may easily ascertain bv calrni?*- 

 th at this is a rate of lid. for the tenant's share.] calcu 'ation, 



ON BLACK HORSEPONDS._-.No. V. 



In former papers on this subject we have seen th 

 the urine of cattle contains many soluble salts and 1 



a portion of animal matter, capable of producing th 



ial results on the crops when applied to th* 

 soil, but that in many instances, instead of being th & 



most benefic 



used, it is allowed to escape into the horsepoud, ia whi h 

 it undergoes the putrefactive fermentation. 



I have endeavoured to show the profits which might 

 arise from applying these ingredients directly to the land 

 This is the first part of my subject. I now enter upon 

 the second, and point out the loss which endues from 

 allowing the cattle to drink them. 



When, tie animal body is supplied with fresh air 

 sound food, and pure water, and is not exposed to any 

 extensive caise of injury to the system, a healthy action 

 goes on until the natural decay from age commences • 

 but when any substance is received into the constitution 

 capable of producing disorganisation, disease and death 

 are the consequence. 



If a drop of alcohol or sulphuric acid is allowed (o fall 

 into the serum of blood, or into an aqueous solution of 

 the white of eg^, we quickly see a white curd precipitate 

 thrown down — the proof that decomposition has taken 

 place. Touch the skin with a slick of moistened nitrate 

 of silver, (lunar caustic) and the spot will shortly assume 

 a blueish or violet colour. Immerse a piece of flesh in 

 sulphuric acid or solution of potash, and the flesh will 

 become shrunken and dissolve like a crystal of salt: the 

 tissue has become disorganised. The body of the aniaial 

 which drinks at these black horseponds is exposed to 

 similar causes of disorganisation, which, without acting 

 so intensely, or with such immediate effect, bring at 

 length, with no less certainty, premature decay ; and 

 though the action is slow and gradual, i'; is frequently 

 the more dangerous and inevitable, as it is more invisible. 

 The cause being unsuspected, no availing efforts are made 

 to check the consummation of the work of death. It is 

 true these causes produce only local diseases when they 

 are confined to the surface, or, when attacking some 

 organ placed at a greater depth, they intercept its com- 

 munication with the general circulation ; and in this case 

 the organ itself may be greatly compromised, without 

 the general life suffering any greater disturbance 

 than the fever which arises from the disarrangement of 

 the equilibrium in the organic functions. But if sub- 

 stances of a more active nature be introduced into 

 the system, disease of an active character, followed by 

 death, is the immediate consequence. Tims, if an inor- 

 ganic poison, as arsenic, be introduced into the stomach 

 of an animal, disorganisation of the coats of that organ 

 will be the consequence— a portion of the poison passing 

 into the circulation, and destroying life in a very short 

 period ; but if organic poisons are introduced into the 

 system through the stomach, little or no appearance of 

 disease is to be detected in that organ, yet death is the 

 consequence, from its producing disorganisation of the 

 vital fluid. The same effects are produced when the 

 poisonous matter is introduced beneath the skin, or 

 placed on a wound ; thus, when putrid animal matter 

 is placed on an abraded surface, the absorbent vessels 

 carry the poisonous matter into ths system, and vomiting 

 and debility, often followed by delirium and death, is the 

 consequence. This is well illustrated m the disease 

 which often follows a punctured wound received during 

 the direction of a body in a state of putrefaction. I lie 

 poisonous effects produced by eating imperfectly pre- 

 pared sausages, and putrid meats, are of the same class. 

 Liebig states that several hundred cases are * n ° wn 1Q f 

 which death has occurred from the use of this Jinao 

 food. These sausages, he says, are prepared from 

 blood, liver, bacon, brains, milk, meal, and bread mixea 

 with salt and spices; this mixture is stuffed I into pre 

 pared intestines, and boiled or smoked, and, it proper j 

 prepared, may be preserved for mouths, furnishing 

 nutritious diet; but when the spices and salt are > - 



fittest, and particularly when they are not satfici« J 

 smoked, they undergo a kind of putrefaction, which oeg 



at the centre of the sausage. The death following P°* on V » 

 with these sausages is very lingering, and m art ca 

 remarkable symptoms. There is a gradual w ' istm = , , . 

 muscular fibre and of all the constituents of the u_j* 



Lruzeice iut(iiuu/e uc irui*->, ^ «>w.j ~» -■- canton 



an account of a fete given in Andelfingen, m we ^ 



of Zurich, in the month of June, at winch ao i> rf 



persons were present, who all partook raore , .° t vea l 



the repast provided, which consisted of cold roast ^ 



and ham. As they returned home, some wer ^ 



with vomiting; next d.y, a greater »^ be !; ^^ d in 



of general uneasiness, sickness, and alinliaJ ' were 



about eight or ten days all those who were presej 



confined to bed ; of these many died ; other* ^ 



severely from symptoms of fever, of a typnom ^ 



with diarrhoea in a severe form, accompaniea j ^ 



lirium and loss of the hair during recover y. ^ 



post mortem examination of those who died, u . 



membrane of the intestines was found to be sou 



and in some cases ulcerated. con . 



Such are the symptoms and effects on the hun iuon 



stitution, when animal matters in a state of decomp^ ^ 



StltUtion, wiieti auiLueu maucia iu « »— con - 



have been received into the system ; and wuen bat e 

 sider that our domestic animals in many resp . 1 10 

 their bodies constituted as those of man, are su j 



