380 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



Rot in Sheep.— I thank " N. D. D." for noticing what 

 I said respecting the rot in sheep. By what he says at 

 p. 323, little is known as to how the fluke gets into 

 sheeps' liver, or, in other words, the cause of the dis- 

 ease. What M N. D. D." has related about the origin 

 of the fluke and sandore is very interesting ; but, may 

 I be allowed to make a few remarks on one or two of his 

 observations ? He almost hints that the animal called 

 the fluke, which is said to cause the rot in sheep, 

 might arise from spontaneous generation, and M that 

 it has never been found out of the sheep's liver or that of 

 other animals." As regards the latter, there must be 

 a mistake, for he quotes from Cuvier that the " fluke 

 has been found in the eye of man." A friend of mine, 

 who has had much experience in the disease in sheep, 

 told me he has often found the fluke in sheep's gall. 

 As to spontaneous generation, it is a term often applied 

 when a thing cannot be traced to its proper origin. I 

 mentioned a plant called the Rot-weed, which is blamed 

 for causing the rot in sheep, and observed that they 

 might eat the plant containing eggs, or larvre of insects 

 which produced the animal found in their liver ; but it 

 appears that is wrong, for " N. D. D." mentions that 



the fluke and sandore are not produced from insects 



u they are perfect animals forming a genus of the second 

 class of the radiated animals." May not wet food en 



courage the growth of the fluke, and, as " N. D. D." 

 observes, render them " dropsical and finally kill them?" 

 — J. fVighton. 



Manures, and Steeping Seeds.—Some of your readers 

 may be amused at the style, as well as at the matter of 

 the following quotations from u The Curiosities of Na- 

 ture and Art in Husbandry and Gardening," published 

 in 1707. They show that the value of the inorganic 

 parts of manure, and the advantage of steeping seeds, 

 were well known at that time. "The whole secret of 

 multiplication consists in the right use of salts. Salt, 

 says Palissy, is the principal substance and virtue of 

 dung. A field may be sown every year, if we restore 

 to it by stercoration what we take from it in the har- 

 vest." .... " Seeing all multiplication depends on 

 •alts, the main business is to get together a great quan- 

 tity at little expense, that the profit may be the greater." 

 The author then describes a method of making liquid 

 manure, in three old casks, into which objects are sepa- 

 rately thrown, according to the ease with which they de- 

 compose. He further urges the importance of burning all 

 wild plants, and of carefully dissolving the soluble parts of 

 their ashes, and then proceeds — * Take as many pounds 

 of saltpetre or nitre as you have acres of land to sow. 

 For each acre dissolve a pound of saltpetre in twelve 

 pints of the water that sanks from the dunghill. When 

 the saltpetre is quite melted, throw in a little of those 

 -salts of plants (i. e. ashes) according to the quantity you 

 have of them. This liquor is then called the 'Universal 

 Matter,' because nitre is truly the universal spirit of the 

 elementary world. This is the main point of the whole 

 secret of multiplication. We will for the future call the 

 water that is got ready in the casks, Prepared Water, 

 and the water from which the salts are extracted from 

 plants, and the nitre, Universal Matter. For one acre, 

 take twelve pints of the prepared water, and mix with it 

 immediately the universal matter, in which there ought 

 to be a pound of dissolved nitre. The vessel into which 

 you put these liquors must be large enough to contain 

 the corn which you design for one acre. Then strew in 

 your corn into these liquors ; there must be two inches 

 of water above the seed. Leave the corn to soak for 

 twelve hours, and stir it up and down every two. If by 

 that time it do not swell, let it lie longer till it begin to 

 plump up considerably. One third less of seed than 

 usual will serve for an acre ; nay, you may safely use but 

 half as much, and mingle among it some straw cut very 

 small, that the sower may take it up by handfuls and 

 sow it in the ordinary way, as I have said already." The 

 explanation the author offers of the use of soaking seeds 

 is whimsical. He says that the first action is to "cut 

 the covers that infold the sprouts," and that the second 

 action is " to serve each grain of corn, as it were, 

 instead of a loadstone, to attract the nitre of the earth' 

 which the subterranean fires have reduced and driven 

 into steams and vapours in the low and middle region of 

 the air, for the nourishment of vegetables and of animals. 

 This is not a vain imagination, a chimera, or empty 

 notion."— C. Darwin. 



Agricultural Weeds.— It must be well known to every 

 -cultivator of the soil that these are of a more hardy and 

 vigorous nature than the plants which require the care of 

 Ins fostering hand, and are apt to gain the superiority, 

 and appropriate to themselves vegetable aliment not in- 

 tended for them. Hence it is of the greatest importance 

 to every cultivator of the soil to prevent, as far as prac- 



tS ? \ l • ? ? rowth of ever y kind of vegetable, except 

 IvZJx 6 cultivates - The number of plants known 



or nprpnni!r € 7v, 8r r t; they are either annual > biennial, 

 or perennial; the first two die the first or second year 



Ll'J?A K h '■ thd , r Seeds are P^cted, ^d areVo- 

 pagated by their seeds ; the latter are not only multi- 

 plied by their seeds, but also by their roots which re- 

 main inactive during winter, and put forth new plants in 



they get moisture, although they are not in immediate 

 contact with the soil; others, again, do not ZtTt 

 unless they adhere to some kind of earthy substance 

 and enjoy the reviving influence of the atmosphere* 

 Many seeds, however— even those of the most diminutive 

 size— will remain inactive for a long series of years and 

 vegetate afterwards, •'. e. as soon as any accident has 

 placed them in a favourable situation ; seeds which have 

 been proved to be not less than 1800 years old have 



1 germinated, and produced thriving plants. Again, many 

 seeds are accommodated with some kind of wing or 

 feather, by which they are conveyed from their place of 

 birtb, and disseminated over the fields ; for instance, the 

 seeds of the Dock tribe have little wings, some- 

 what resembling those of a bat, by which they are often 

 conveyed to a considerable distance in high winds ; others 

 are furnished with still better means of travelling, and 

 are able to take advantage of the slightest breeze for 

 shifting their position. It is proper that all Grass-fields, 

 hedge-rows, and waste ground, be kept perfectly free from 

 unprofitable herbage. The negligence which occurs in 

 this respect in many places, is often the cause of the 

 foul state in which neighbouring lands are to be seen. 

 Pastures are sometimes so closely overrun with weeds, 

 that the cattle can scarcely pick up a mouthful of pure 

 herbage, and the vegetable food applied, which should 

 nourish wholesome pasture, is consumed by useless 

 weeds.— J. Mel., Hillsborough. 



Turnips. — I am a dealer in Turnip seeds, and am 

 frequently put to considerable inconvenience by the va- 

 rious names by which my customers are pleased to desig- 

 nate the sorts which they may require. It is this incon- 

 venience, with the view of obviating the same, for the 

 benefit of myself and others similarly situated, that has 

 prompted me to trouble you with the annexed list of 

 names, trusting that you or some one of your numerous 

 correspondents will furnish, in an early Number of your 

 valuable Paper, a descriptive list with definite names 

 (other names being considered as synonymous) of the 

 different varieties ; which may be a means of preventing 

 error, to a great extent, both to the seedsman and the 

 sower. — West Briton. [With this communication came 

 a list of the names of 48 varieties, which we do not now 

 publish, in the hope that a mere notice of the important 

 subject referred to, will succeed in eliciting from our 

 farming correspondents descriptions of the appearance 



and merits, with the names of the different varieties they 

 may grow.] 



Fencing — The following method of making, in a very 

 cheap and expeditious manner, a fence to inclose ground, 

 I have observed adopted in this neighbourhood .-—First, 

 take some sapling Oak poles, about five or six yards 

 long, cut them into lengths of something more than a 

 yard, and cleave the thickest part into four, and the 

 middle into three, to produce stakes. Dig a trench two 

 spade-grafts deep, and make a bank with the sods, of two 

 s[ ade-grafts high, breaking them as little as possible ; 

 cut the sods sloping, not perpendicular to the surface of 

 the ground, and lay them sloping in the same direction 

 for the bank, so that, from the top of the bank to the 

 bottom of the ditch, shall be one sloping line ; let the 

 sods of the second spade-graft be placed on the top of 

 those of the first, but let the joinings be like those of 

 bricks in a wall, the joining between two sods above 

 over the middle of the sod below, and let all the earth of 

 the second spade-graft be thrown so as to back the fence. 

 Drive the stakes, well pointed, through the sods of the 

 upper layer, and considerably into those of the under 

 layer, at about the distance of half a yard from each 

 other. Then take the straggling Furze, stubbed for the 

 purpose, and thrust the heads of them very forward into 

 the face of the bank, contriving that the two main 

 branches of the Furze shall be one on each side of the 

 stake. Over all this wind the longest Blackthorns, and 

 the fence will be sufficiently strong without binders.— 

 W. //., Reading. 



Small Farms.— Seeing by your answers to correspond- 

 ents in your last, that some questions have been put to 

 you on the best plan of cultivating a small plot of land, 

 so as to keep the greatest quantity of stock, I hope it 

 will not be thought out of place if I detail to you the 

 plan I follow on a field of 4± acres. The land is 

 good, being a free light soil, on a chalky bottom. Of 

 course I have not neglected Lucerne, but have devoted 

 one half acre to this, sowing it in drills 9 inches apart, 

 and hoed each time of mowing, which I am able to do 

 five times in the season. The remaining 4 acres I divide 

 into four equal parts, and cultivate as follows :-To make 

 my plan clear, however, I must begin my rotation where 

 most rotations end, viz., with Wheat. Say, then, that I 

 have my field well prepared for Wheat ; this grain is 

 accordingly sown in drills, with very little seed, and in 

 the following spring has Clover and Rye-grass harrowed 

 m with it; next year these are mown three times, and 



rnnJf TT g l gWe a g00d t0 P-dressing of well- 

 rotted dung which produces, next spring, a very early 



lwn P f?r Ul v Cr ° P V Ch i efly R ^-grass ; this is Either 

 Fin P ?< ' ° r f01 \ Hay ; and on the half first cleared 



WlUh T? 0C8 ' J?? /* dmig ' on the othe r I sow 

 Swedish Turnips, which have a dressing of guano ; the 



Potatoes are planted from the 1st to fhe 20th of May! 



Tht f„n Jr *?, 'V he ground in the same mont «' 



Jo d\^W? g J ear S C P ?u at0eS are Succeeded b y Man- 

 gold \\ urzel dressed with guano, and the Swedes by 



Vht^rV^i 7, hi8 f ° rms m * Preparation for 

 tt heat, as before alluded to, and I do not know that I 



could raise a greater quantity of more valuable produce 

 for the feeding of stock by any other plan ; it is also as 

 little expensive as possible, three diggings only in four 

 years being required. If I introduce Tares, as you 

 recommend, on one half of the Wheat-stubble another 

 digging is required, and though I am not insensible to 

 their superiority over Clover and Rye-grass as an 

 improving crop I think it is much overbalanced by the 

 extra digging and the price of the seed. I have also a strong 



m£L # a°1 R / e - graas «■ f00d for stock-nothing is so 

 much hked by horses, and on no green crop whatever will 

 hey do so much work : I mean this, however, to apply 

 to it m iti early growth J when it gets old, and ripens its , 



bear a crop of Corner. 



seed, the ground might 



stock would relish straw quite as much " P As it*** * n< * 

 general opinion that Potatoes do best'when l f?- " « 

 ground all winter, I propose to try the effect o! ~ •** 

 them up with stable litter raking off the lo^s r ^ 

 taken up, and digging m the short dung. I n BU rh * 



dressing of guano would be saved for rl>- x, Case '.* 

 Wurzel which follows. — Senex. 



angold 



Societies. 



ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY of F\Gt ivn 



[Report of Proceedings of the Weekly Councils" of u D# 

 and 29, concluded.] ' councils of May I$ 



The Right Hon. Earl Spencer, President, in the oW 

 Prize F.ssavs — \1V P«co« tvt n *-m . mair. 



mous decision of the Judges, in assigning the Sn^ ' 

 Prize of 50/. for the best Essay on* theVgricute'f 

 Cheshire to Mr. Wm. Palin, of Stapleford I Ha U 

 Chester ; and the liberality of Mr. John Arkell of Hn? 

 low Farm, near Gloucester, who, in announcing him*, If 

 as the author of one of the highly, commended Essav. 

 on the Discrimination of Soils, had presented his Essar 

 to the Society for whatever use the Journal Committed 

 might think proper to make of it, in promoting thl 

 objects of the Society. 5 



: Shrewsbury Meeting.— The stipulations entered 

 into by the authorities of Shrewsbury with the Secretarv 

 of the Society, in reference to the condition of the reso- 

 lution at the last Monthly Council, deciding on Shrews- 

 bury as the place of the annual country meeting of 1845 

 were laid before the Council, and having been read were 

 unanimously adopted. 



Dynamometer.— Mr. Clyburn, director of the Earl 

 of Ducie's iron-works, in Gloucestershire, addressed to 

 the Council a letter on the subject of the trial of Dyna- 

 mometers recommended by the Council, on the report of 

 the Judges of Implements, at the Derby meeting, in the 

 autumn of last year, to be entrusted to the Duke of 

 Richmond, the Hon. Capt. Spencer, and Mr. Jaques, 

 with a request that after the successive trials they had 

 each made of the Dynamometers sent to ihera, they 

 would report to the Council their respective merits when 

 applied to the draught of agricultural implements; the 

 instruments being submitted in the first instance to Mr. 

 Parkes, the consulting engineer of the Society, for the 

 purpose of having their mechanical adjustments, and 

 graduation of scale under the strain of given successive 

 weights, duly ascertained previously to the trial. Mr. 

 Clyburn stated that one of his self-recording Dynamome- 

 ters having been completed for the trial, was now for- 

 warded to the Society, with printed instructions for its 

 use. The Dynamometer sent by Mr. Clyburn, would re- 

 cord a strain of draught up to 12 cwt. Its principle of 

 action being self-recording, was different from that of 

 other Dynamometers, the box containing the instrument 

 being supported on wheels, which communicated, by their 

 axil, a progressive revolution to the recording cylinder 

 within it as the draught proceeded, and its registration 

 was made continuously by the pencil moving over its 

 ruled surface : the average amount of draught being ob- 

 tained by inspection of the indications thus obtained of 

 the mometary variations during any given time and 

 space. The Dynamometer of Messrs. ( Cottam and Hallea 

 had also been duly forwarded for the trial. This instru- 

 ment in its original form is described and figured in Mr. 

 Handley's paper on Wheel and Swing Ploughs, (Journal, 

 i. 143), and its improvements detailed by Mr. Pusey in 

 his paper on the Draught of Ploughs (Journal, i. 219). 

 Mr. Slaney having informed the Council that he had 

 tried a very simple and cheap Dynamometer, made by 

 Messrs. Drummond, of Stirling, with very satisfactory 

 results, the Council agreed to recommend the purchase 

 of this instrument, at the next monthly meeting, for the 

 purpose of adding it to the others for trial. The Council 

 resolved, that, as much time and care would be required 

 for the proposed investigation into the practical merits of 

 these instruments, and the estimate of their relative value 

 accordingly, the trial should be postponed until the 

 autumn of the present year. ^ 



Destruction of Rats. — Captain Forbes, R- N* 

 having called the attention of the Council to the damage 

 and loss sustained by farmers, in consequence of the 

 ravages effected by the common rat and other injurious 

 animals, Mr. Meyer addressed a letter to the Council on 

 this subject. He stated, that having for the last twelve- 

 years devoted his attention to the study of the natural 

 history of the rat, as found in different countries of Europe, 

 he had arrived at a complete knowledge of the sagaci y, 

 nature, and peculiar habits of that destructive animal, 



* * . ■ . . . i n .U . nir 



proposed to the Council, that various farms intestea w 

 rats should be selected for the trial of these preparations, 

 in order that he might have an opportunity of proving 

 their practical value, and of entering afterwards into any 

 general arrangement with the Society or its members, 

 had already extensive contracts with the principal >» 

 Iudiamerchants for cleansing their estates and plantatio • 

 He referred to the certificates then submitted to the Cou - 

 cil,in evidence of the successful result of his proceeding 

 at Buckingham Palace and Gardens, Windsor Castle, an 

 Frogmore Lodge, at the Mansion House, Newgate, 

 Macclesfield Workhouse, and at various other P ubI,c ^g 

 private establishments in this country; and to U> 

 given to him by the officers of the Royal Households ot 

 the Emperor of Russia, and the Kings of Prussia ana 

 Denmark.— Colonel Challoner stated that, ha ! 1D S 

 ceived from the Hon. Mr. Murray and other parties c o 

 nected with Her Majesty's Household, the most undent- 



