414 



THE AGRICULTUR AL GAZET TE, 



[June 22, 



harvesting. We reckon we shall gain at least a fortnight 

 in both, as proved last year, with superiority of sample, 

 and avoidance of wet weather in September. 



4th. A perfect independence (by our efficient drainage) 

 of a very wet season, which has often ruined the crops 

 on this farm ; witness 1842, when the Oats yielded but 

 three quarters two bushels per acre, and an interior 



sample. . 



Lastly, The agreeable feeling of having a complete 

 farm, with good roads, comfortable homestead, and 

 good crops, instead of the former dilapidated, beggarly, 

 and poverty-struck land and premises. ^ 



The saving of horse and manual labour is consider- 

 ably underrated, when you consider the ready communi- 

 cation with each part of the farm, the abolition of all 

 short lands, the facility of ploughing or carting at almost 

 anv time with less power, the land being firm and mel- 

 low, instead of putty-and-paste-like ;-no idle days in 

 wet or cold weather, there being employment under cover 

 for men and horses, grinding, charT^utting or thrashing , 

 the facility, at harvest, of drawing the loaded carts into 

 the bays of our large barn, and at once depositing the 

 sheaves ;— the ease with which they are transferred from 

 both barn and stacks to the threshing machine, the 

 straw being delivered by the machine into a gallery over 

 the very sheds, yards, and stables, where it is required ; 

 no time lost or accidents in leading horses or cattle to 

 water, there being tanks in every yard, and a yard to 

 every stable— all the tanks filled simultaneously from a 

 single pump. There is another advantage of which no 

 valuation is taken, I mean the farmer or bailiff's time; 

 whilst writing up his accounts or arranging his plans, by 

 stepping from one room to the other, he can at once 

 see every man, boy, horse, or sheep, on any part of 

 the farm excepting four acres. Any accident, neglect, 

 maltreatment, or pilfering, is perceptible at a glance. 



The course of cropping will be regulated by markets 

 and circumstances. It may be stated generally, that on 

 the heavy land Wheat will alternate with Beans and a 

 little Clover and Tares ; and on the light land Barley suc- 

 ceeded by Rye for feed, and then roots, so as to have one 

 -corn crop, one green crop, and one root crop in two 

 years. Should Flax or Indian Corn be found profitable, 

 we may grow them. It is intended to adopt Mr. Hewitt 

 Davis's excellent practice (which is Jethro Tull's revived) 

 of a small quantity of seed with wide intervals. For 

 carrying out this, no instrument appears so well suited 

 as Newberry's dibbling machine, which will deposit 

 three pecks per acre of Wheat (and other corn in propor- 

 tion) at intervals of six inches in the row, and the rows 

 twelve inches from each other (Beans, Peas, and Roots 

 we mean to place twenty-seven inches between the rows). 

 By affording a sufficient space for frequent hoeing and 

 ■cleaning, this will do away with long fallows, secure 

 heavier crops (on drained land) and avoid that competi- 

 tion for support which produces, in luxuriant showery 

 seasons like the last, ruinously laid crops, and lean mis- 

 erable kernels, which diminish the value of the sample 

 by ten pounds in every hundred. We have found Cross- 

 kill's clod-crusher roller of extraordinary benefit in 

 pulverising our stiff land (disordered by drainage and 

 carting), and shall use Hill's pulverising plough with 

 Mason's knives : in fact, take every opportunity, by 

 means of subsoiiing, scarifying, &c, to obtain a fine and 

 deep tilth free from weeds ; nor shall we debar ourselves 

 from purchasingjguano or artificial manures, should such 

 a course appear occasionally desirable. Our great object 

 will be to grow the very utmost that the land can pro- 

 duce by forcing ; bearing in mind, that in doing so, we 

 virtually decrease the expense of rent, labour, seed, 

 tithes, rates, and other charges, thereby increasing our 

 profit, and improving the land for the future. We are 

 now using one bushel of bone-dust, dissolved in forty 

 . pounds of pure sulphuric acid, to all our root-crops, in 

 addition to other manure. 



The stock will consist of twelve head of cattle fed in 

 stalls or boxes (on the principle so ably stated and prac- 

 tised by Mr. John Warnes, jun.), with steamed or 

 •cooked linseed, clover, chaff, pulse, potatoes, &c. These 

 cattle will be considered our manufacturers of manure, 

 as the Lincolnshire farmers call them, and if ^they occa- 

 sionally pay for their feed or profit, so much the better. 

 As we shall grow annually thirty to forty acres of roots, 

 we hope to be able hereafter to produce food enough for 

 200 to 300 sheep, to be folded on the land or fed in the 

 yard, according to weather and circumstances, having an 

 especial regard to the well-established fact (as proved 

 by Professors Liebig, Playfair, and others) that 

 with warmth and dryness, a little food fattens 

 quicker than a great deal with cold and wet. All 

 our straw will be cut into chaff for litter. There 

 appear many advantages in this, such as the diminished 

 space it occupies, the readiness with which it absorbs 

 liquid manure, its more rapid fermentation, its avoid- 

 ance of frequent turning, its portability, both as chaff 

 and manure, and above all, the facility of commixing it 

 intimately with the soil in preparation for root crops. 

 In the tank we shall probably introduce a layer of earth 

 or gypsum between each layer of manure, particularly in 

 the summer season, so as to secure the ammonia. The 

 liquid manure will be applied by a water-cart to the 

 growing crops (the ammonia being first fixed by sulphuric 

 acid) and as the green crops are mowed for consumption 

 in the yard, the liquid manure will follow the scythe. 

 We have also used much common salt, especially on the 

 light land. — /. «/. Mechi, 4, Leadenhall-street, London 



(To be continued.) 



received into the constitution through the lungs during 

 respiration- and which is elaborated in and elimi- 



respiration, »«»" ««•— — - 



nated by black horseponds; namely, sulphuretted hy- 

 drogen. It has long been known that this gas, when 

 inspired, produces very injurious effects on health 

 and life, even though largely diluted with atmospheric 

 air. The experiments of Messrs. The'nard and Du- 

 puytren have shown that birds are destroyed in an 



atmosphere containing only T3 W h P art of this & as ' and 

 that air containing -jfeth part will kill a horse m a 

 short time. Sulphuretted hydrogen has long been sus- 

 pected to play an active part in the production of 

 malaria; producing in warm climates yellow fever, and 

 in the more temperate regions fevers of a bilious and 

 typhoid character, as well as ague. Until recently, 

 scientific men have failed to demonstrate its existence in 

 places known to be malarious ; Professor Daniel, how- 

 ever, in 1841, succeeded in detecting quantities of this 



gas in some specimens of water submitted to his notice 

 by the British Admiralty for analysis. These specimens 

 were from the African rivers, Bonny, Sierra Leone, 

 Monney, Congo, and the adjacent seas. Dr. Marcet 

 found the same gas in the waters of the Yellow seas ; 

 and Mr. Gardner, of London, also found it in water from 

 the Booney and Lagos. All these localities are reputed 

 for their insalubrity, and we have recently had melan- 

 choly proof of the same in the late Niger expedition. 

 The same causes which produce the yellow fever in the 

 African rivers are in activity in our own country, pro- 

 ducing malarious disease, modified by climate, such as 

 the agues and bilious fevers of the Fens of Lincolnshire, 

 the Isles of Ely, of Sheppey, and many other localities. 



The active agents in the formation of sulphuretted 

 hydrogen in these localities are, vegetable matter IB a 

 state of decomposition, sulphates, water, and heat. W T hen 

 vegetable matter, in a state of decay, is placed in con- 

 tact with sulphates in solution, these latterundergo decom- 

 position, oxygen is abstracted, and sulphurets are pro- 

 duced ; the latter in their turn yield sulphuretted 

 hydrogen with the first nascent hydrogen they encounter. 

 The final compound of these bases is probably a car- 

 bonate. That sulphuretted hydrogen is thus produced 

 is a matter of demonstration. Professor Daniel put 

 decayed leaves together, with water containing sulphate 

 of soda, in a jar, and subjected them to the action of 

 summer heat ; in three months sulphuretted hydrogen 

 was abundantly given off, and the salts decomposed. If 

 no sulphate be present either in the vegetable matter or 

 water, the gas will not be given off. 



Now in black horseponds we have all the circumstances 

 necessary for the generation of this deleterious gas ; we 

 have vegetable matter in a state of decomposition, and 

 also the sulphates in solution, such as sulphates of lime, 

 soda, potash, and magnesia: these latter are contained in 

 the saline matter of the urine, and when these ingredients 

 are warmed by the sun, during the summer and autumn 

 months, we have sulphuretted hydrogen generated in 

 abundance; this gas constantly being evolved from 

 the surface of such waters, renders the air above and 

 around highly pestilential. That sulphuretted hydrogen 

 does exist in and is evolved from the surface of black 

 horseponds, we have only to use as a test a piece of pure 

 silver. If a piece of pure silver be partly coated with 

 grease or varnish, and be suspended for a few days above, 

 or in the horsepond, or in any locality where the gas is 

 disengaged, it will be found to have acquired a colour 

 varying from the palest yellow to orange or brown on the 

 part uncovered, while the varnished portion will retain 

 its original brightness, showing by the contrast of colour 

 any change in the exposed portion. This change of 

 colour arises from the suphur combining with the silver, 

 and forming a sulphuret of that metal. The same change 

 occurs when a silver spoon has been used in eating an 

 egg — the egg containing a portion of sulphur. The smell 

 of rotten eggs is, in fact, sulphuretted hydrogen, given 

 off by the decomposing animal matter of the eggs. The 

 rapid tarnishing of silver or plated goods in towns 

 arises also from the same cause, this gas being evolved 

 from the sewers and drains in abundance. 



Although the amount of this gas evolved from the 

 black horsepond may not be sufficient to endanger the 

 life of the animal, diluted, as it must be, by atmospheric 

 air, yet, when so deadly a poison is mixed with the air 

 we breathe, it must produce an injurious action on the 

 animal economy, impairing the functions of every organ 

 in the body, and interfering with that regular process of 

 health, which it is the interest of every farmer to main- 

 tain in his feeding and fatting stock. To the existence 

 of such causes, also, may perhaps be attributed those 

 epidemic diseases which so often attack, and not unfre- 

 quently carry off much valuable stock, to say nothing of 

 the fevers which may arise in his own or his neighbour's 

 family from the same source. 



The farmer may devote his time and attention to 

 breeding and rearing the best cattle— providing the most 

 nutritious food — feeding on the best principles — erecting 

 the best-constructed sheds with regard to aspect and 

 warmth, with all the et ceteras conducive to profit ; yet, 

 if he neglect to keep up vigorous health in his stock by 

 supplying pure water, instead of water polluted with the 

 excrements of his cattle, all his exertions will be in vain 

 — his cattle will be longer in feeding, consuming much 

 food, and will never arrive at that state of perfection 

 which it is his object to attain. — Alfred Gyde, Painsrckk. 



notwithstanding all his attention to complete drainage 



minute pulverisation, thorough eradication of weeds' 



and strict adherence to alternate cropping — indispensable 



towards perfect husbandry as these unquestionably are 



his land will certainly and speedily become deteriorated 

 in condition, and his crops vastly diminished both in 

 quantity and in quality, unless the productive powers of 

 the soil be kept up by regular applications of enriching 

 manures. Close and severe cropping being the leading 

 feature of the agriculture on the strong fertile soils of 

 East Lothian, frequent and liberal manuring obviously 

 becomes indispensable. The collection and judicious 

 application of manure are, therefore, matters of no trivial 

 importance ; for it is obvious that on the quantity he is 

 able to accumulate, and the judgment displayed in its 

 management, much of the productive capabilities of his 

 land, and consequently of the extent of his own success, 

 will ultimately depend. 



The East Lothian practice of former times in the 

 management of dung, appears to have been extremely 

 defective. The great error consisted in giving too large 

 a quantity at once, and at very long intervals. At one 

 period the quantity of manure bestowed was very great — 

 sometimes triple, and always double the bulk now applied 

 — thereby surfeiting one field and starving others, or, to 

 use the words of an old agricultural writer of this county, 

 " The soil rioted in the midst of plenty for two or three 

 years, and fasted or starved for several succeeding 

 seasons. Hence the generality of fields were either too 

 rich or too poor ; either saturated with manure, or com- 

 pletely barren for the want of it." The practice of the 

 old farmers was, in other respects, equally injudicious. 

 Within the last 20 years, however, very considerable im- 

 provement has taken place in everything relating to the 

 management of manure; indeed, it may be truly said 

 that a great deal more anxiety and judgment are displayed 

 in the collection and general management of manures by 

 even the worst farmers of the present day, than what 

 were shown by the very best some 30 years ago. But, 

 notwithstanding the increased attention now everywhere 

 paid to this valuable substance, it must be acknowledged 

 that very ample room still exists for further improvement 

 in the East Lothian mode of managing it. There 

 are undoubtedly many substances, both of a solid 

 and a liquid nature, either entirely lost, or allowed to 

 remain in a state worse than useless, which might 

 very easily be converted to the most useful purposes. 

 Large sums of money are annually expended in this 

 county in purchasing guano, nitrate of soda, and other 

 foreign "fertilisers," whilst considerable quantifies of 

 equally valuable substances of home production are either 

 altogether neglected or but partially employed. In point 

 of soil, cultivation, and produce, East Lothian, it is 

 freely conceded, ranks first in Scotland ; and in some of 

 these respects, particularly in its mode of tillage, it will 

 at least bear a comparison with the most improved dis- 

 tricts of England ; but the greatest admirers of the system 

 of farming here pursued acknowledge that, so tar as 

 relates to the general economy of manures, the practice 

 of the East Lothian farmers is not deserving ot similar 

 commendation. It is to be hoped, however, from the 

 general anxiety which now happily prevails an,on S st ^ e 

 farmers, to hear ar.d, so far as practicable and prohtapie, 

 to adopt the suggestions of men of science on this im- 

 portant subject, that in the management and application 



of manures, too, the spirited farmers of East Lothian 

 will not long remain behind their neighbours. In my 

 further remarks upon this subject, I shall restrict mysell 

 chiefly to details of the mode of managing farm-yard uung 

 and other manures, now pursued by the best farmers in 

 the county. The reader may then judge for himself, as 

 to the merits or demerits of our practice in this depart- 

 ment of rural economy. . 



Farm-yardDung.-U nli\z comparatively recent period, 

 muck, lime, and seaweed, were the chief, if not the omy 

 species of manures, used in this county. During l 

 last twenty years, bone-dust and rape-dust have Deen 

 extensively employed in Turnip culture J but t nese, 

 though once highly prized, are in their turn likely tore 

 superseded, at least for some time, by the various other 

 fertilisers now so much in vogue. But, n° twlths * n t ?"£ 

 the comparative cheapness and efficacy of many or w 

 new auxiliaries, it is still on the old " muck midden, 

 dung-hill, that the farmer's chief reliance is placed. 



The practice universally adopted throughout : i 

 Lothians, of feeding cattle of ail kinds and ages, exc y 

 milch cows, in open fold-yards termed cloaes,wwB 

 companying shelter-sheds, greatly facilitates the re . b 

 of straw, and the accumulation of dung, fre^h litter a 

 constantly required to keep the yards dry and clean, 

 straw given unsparingly as fodder, the excrements , o «^ 



ON BLACK HORSEPONDS.— No. VII. 



In concluding these papers, I have yet to mention 

 «■» agent which, acts as a vigorous poison when 



SKETCHES OF EAST LOTHIAN HUSBANDRY. 

 Management of Manures. — After the farmer has ren- 

 dered his fields free from superfluous moisture, the next 

 great object of his care is to enrich them with manures. 

 J Experience has taught every practical Agriculturist that, 



cattle uniting with the straw, and all compressed togs ^ 

 into one mass of animal and vegetable substances, 

 course, the yards occupied by cattle fed on I urnips 

 Oil-cake, contain the best dung. In the majority ' o i 

 newly-erected farm-steadings, the stable opens on one 

 upon some one of these yards, the dung and soiled 

 from which are regularly scattered over the yards, 

 cleaning out the stable every morning. .. , 



When the dung has considerably accumulated m 

 yards, or has become pretty well rotten, it is carteo ^ 

 at convenient opportunities, to the fields to whicn 

 afterwards to be applied, and there stored up m i b 

 heaps, here called middens. The carting of dung ir 

 the yards to the fields intended tor green crops, procc ^ 

 during the winter, as suitable opportunities occur, 

 when the ,tate of the weather prevents the other oi 

 tions of the farm from being carried on. Hard, 

 weather is, for obvious reasons, always preferrea i , 

 the work is proceeded with at all times during the wi 



