418 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



[June 22, 



FARMERS' CLUBS. 



Braintree and Docking.- At a late meeting of ^this 

 Society, Mr. F. Hobbs being in the chair, Mr. Smith, 

 of Deanston, delivered a lecture on draining. After some 

 general remarks arising from the occasion, he stated, 

 fhat in the « Gentleman's Magazine r," 1*0 years ago 

 there was a paper on the subject of draining in Essex 



Which described the work as P«"« l | d " lni *! \ d " P 

 with elm twigs, and which when opened fifty yea r. a fter 

 wards were found to be sound. These drains were three 

 feet deep and sixteen feet from each other I think 

 (said Mr. S.). draining was first introduced is .Essex 1 

 do not claim the invention, but I insider the me it to 

 which I am entitled consists in directing the work to be 

 done in a safer and more judicious manner. I first .at. 

 tended to the subject in Stirlingshire where ^rainm^in 

 the low lands had been introduced from Ireland lhe 

 character of this soil was alluvial, and of a very unpro- 

 ductive quality, and the drains were filled with turf and 

 stones. I soon had opportunities of extending thf > prac 

 dee to the upper Unds.aod of persuading my neighbour, 

 to adopt better plans of carrying out the work. I was 

 subsequently examined by a committee of the House of 

 Commons on thorough draining and subsoil ploughing, 

 and perhaps I cannot better illustrate my views of these 

 two important operations than by eiplaining a d agram 

 which is intended to represent the soil of the field above 

 the drains. The upper division is the soil a ffected by 

 the common plough; the second division is the so 

 moved by the subsoil plough j and the lower the so I 

 undisturbed by either operation. Now in the old sys- 

 tem of draining, to catch the surface water, the drains 

 were cut across the hill J to point out the imperfec- 

 tions of this plan is one of the objects of my lecture. In 

 an undrained state the cracks in the soil receive as much 

 water as they will contain, but in heavy rains they are 

 soon filled, and the superabundant water runs over the 

 surface and retards early sowing in the spring which ^ is 

 essential to productive farming, and it also unfits the .oil 

 for the safe reception of the seed. The purpose of 

 thorough draining is, therefore, to get rid of the water 

 rapidly, and to accomplish this, the distances of the 

 drains" as well as their depth, must vary, according to 

 the nature of the soil. Experience has pointed out that 

 in impervious soils 18 feet is a good working distance 

 and it will be found that in extreme stiff clay, drains do 

 not seem sufficiently to dry the land when first put down ; 

 the improvement in these cases is gradual, and may take 

 several years, but the result is certain. Drains rm 

 these soils should be two feet and a half deep. In work- 

 ing strong soils it has been the common practice to work 

 the ridges into a round form, in order that the water may 

 escape from the surface, and run off in the furrows ; by 

 draining it is intended that the water should pass through 

 the land, and this I have no doubt, can be accomplished 

 with certainty, If subsoiled and thoroughly drained, the 

 clay cracks in the immediate neighbourhood of the drains 

 —for clay contracts a sixth part of its bulk— which leaves 

 openings for the water to pass down ; you may trace these 

 cracks in the intermediate spaces between and down to the 

 drains : in dry weather for a long continuance these cracks 

 are so extensive that the land becomes like a sponge. 

 The admission of air carries on the process by its 

 chemical action, and divides the soil into minute particles. 

 In thorough-drained and subsoil-ploughed land, there- 

 fore, of whatever texture, the water readily finds its way 

 through the furrow-slice into the subsoil, and from thence 

 into the drains, and no longer passes over the surface. 

 This may be called theory, but it is fact drawn from ob- 

 servation. I have examined the soil most carefully by a 

 magnifying glass, to test the truth of this statement. But 

 I must observe, that clay land when first drained is not 

 like land of a more open texture, and caution is necessary 

 in opening the subsoil. At Castle Howard some land 

 of this description was subsoil-ploughed at the same 

 time that it was drained, and the result was injurious; 

 but when the subsoil plough was used from two to four 

 years after draining, it was successful. In recent drains 

 the water carries with it into the drains sediment, but in 

 a short time it percolates through the soil into the drains 

 in a pure state, leaving behind all matter held previously 

 in solution. It has been thought by some that in strong 

 adhesive clays the drains should not be more than from 

 18 to 20 inches deep. I say they should be deeper or 

 the water will be too near the surface. It is requisite to 

 good farming that land should be worked early, and 

 therefore the exit of water should be speedy. The fee 

 of the horses do great damage to land that ^charged 

 with water near the surface j and therefore the deeper 

 the water lies the less injury will accrue from this source. 

 Air acts speedily upon the surface; as the ™ ter re " 

 cedes into the soil, the air takes its place, and thus land 

 deep drained is easily worked. The absorption of water 

 by the atmosphere is much more rapid at one time than 

 another, which one may witness by the rapid or tardy 

 disappearance of vapour from the chimney of a steam- 



/ThTv* in this county than I have seen else- 

 TeT xt'e i necessary to' establish the fu.l benefit 

 of draining .tiff soils: you must wait for two or toe 

 vears for the full effect. I have known in Stirling- 

 h re a progressive effect for 20 years in the conversion 

 '. '?._.,„ ;-f„ T,,™in soil. In regard to the 



of^ong I.S. into Turnip soil. Inward 

 expense of draining, you have all a practical knowledge. 

 In the strong clays of Scotland, the plough has been 

 Imnloved to 18 inches deep ; even 30 inches have been 

 opened bv the plough with twelve horses and six men, 

 Xirh enables 36 yards to be taken out for 2d. upon a 

 large ^scal "no spade is here used. Materials used for 

 pr^rf hi- the openings of the drains vary in different 

 "paces ltones P are the best if small, but they require 

 I eater care, and often fail from mud getting W. 

 SLV should be put over the stones then s^ ^ 



on the wet clay as a close cover, and then filled up witn 

 Ion soil/ Tiles, with or without soles or pipe. 



are now extensively used ; they should not be small, 



and «eat care should be exercised that they are suffi- 



dentTy burnt. Circular tiles, with a sols [^Tl est" 



cave, are preferred by some. I ^ in \^^Q^ 



The water with such a bottom *} U ° lc "^ the sieve wnen w Clg uc. „■_ ~~ r -r- ----- - --— 



Over the tile or pipe put stones, » f J " can f et ™£ n £ gravel and undecomposed vegetable fibre Boil the 



as to prevent mud getting in. In the *ay «moan * owder for five min utes in a porcelain vessel with pure 



ments of railroads the water gets into the « c ; b i f ™ Uter, pour it into a narrow glass vessel, and in two 

 breaks down the embankment by dividing the icUy. It the w , P , , «. 



not a judge. He then cut up both cheeses, when that 

 made by the acid was found to have a very unpleasant 

 taste in the opinion of some of the gentlemen, to an 

 extent that must preclude the use of it ; though a few 

 were of a different opinion. 



]\ r orth IValsham At the Annual Meeting of this 



Society lately held, Mr. Gower, the Secretary, read the 

 Report for 1844, from which we make the following ex- 

 tracts "The highly important discussion on the 



nature* of soils was exceedingly interesting, being most 

 ablv introduced by Mr. Mann. The following is a brief 

 analysis of the subject. The fertility of soils depends 

 upon a due admixture of its various ingredients, a 

 coarse gravel, a fine sand, and a powdery mass consist- 

 ing of various earths, and mouldering material, in the 

 state of finest division ; the relative proportions of these 

 ingredients may be duly ascertained. Let 400 grams of 

 dry soil be exposed to the heat of a spirit lamp m an 

 earthen vessel, until a chip of wood is rendered black by 

 charring, and its loss in weight will indicate the amount 

 of moisture that had been united m an insensible state. 

 Bruise the soil gently in a mortar and pass it through a 

 sieve that will retain a Mustard seed ; what remains in 

 the sieve when weighed gives the proportion of coarse 



I 





tue so? pipes abused ; if well burnt they are m estruct Me 

 and in ill cases cover the drain with ^^^^.^ 

 in- is of »reat importance— in many cases absolutely 

 Pessary I safety.' A very small fall wi 11 ^ even one 

 to four inches per mile is safe (?) but have more i > on 

 ran *et it After land is thoroughly drained it should 

 be forked flat, without furrows. The margin m, -the 

 furrow is always defective in produce. Experience 

 LX us this-that it should be flat, as you are sure to 

 have equal benefit or injury from rain ; and as water 

 takes nour shment from the atmosphere which descends 

 wkh the rain, it is thus distributed in equal proportions 

 Ind land is 'more easily worked flat, especially with a 

 Turn-wrest plough, and no injury occurs by the use of 

 hs instrument from the treading of the horses on the 

 ploughed soil, which in all cases should be avoided. Ho 

 stiff lands should be worked wet. With the turn-wrest 

 plough you also get a quarter of an acre more ploughed 

 per day -After a long discussion Mr. Pattison moved a 

 vote of thanks to Mr. Smith, which was seconded by the 

 Rev. C. Blair Warren, and carried with great cheering. 

 — Chelmsford Chronicle. 



Darlington.-^* Club held their monthly meet ng 

 on Monday last. The subject under discussi on was the 

 Be«t Method of Fallowing the Strong Clay Lands of the 

 D rfct. and whether it is desirable to break the Pan or 

 Old Sole of such Lands in Fallowing. Mr. Walton, the 

 Vice-Chairman, on introducing the subject, read to the 

 meeting a very interesting paper, written and presented 

 to the Club by Mr. George Davidson, now of Darlington, 

 when a very spirited discussion followed At the close 

 of the discussion, it was unanimously resolved :— lnat it 

 is better not to break the pan or sole to any great extent, 

 either by subsoiling or otherwise, unless the land be first et- 

 effectually thorough-drained, in order to carry off the water, 

 but at the same time, deep ploughing, on the majority ot 

 strong clays, is considered highly advantageous, and is 

 strongly recommended ; bearing in mind always, that the 

 first ploughing should be given in the autumn, or the be- 

 ginning of winter, so that such parts of the pan or subsoil 



nowaer lur ii\o uimw«.w- — r - - - 



water, pour it into a narrow glass vessel, and in two 

 minutes the sand will settle at the bottom, and the rest 

 may be poured off diffused in the water. The sand 

 dried in a porcelain vessel over the spirit lamp may be 

 weighed to ascertain its proportion. Ascertain the 

 weight of a paper filter. Place in it a glass funnel, and 

 pour the solution in fine powder in ; when the fluid has 

 passed through, dry the filter, and haying deducted its 

 weight, the result is the proportion of the powdery mass; 

 this°is the most important ingredient, and c»n.»in.tk 

 principal materials of nourishment for the plants. Rich 

 clays consist merely of this fine powdery ingred.ent w th 

 water, and an excess of aluminous earth Fertile 

 heavy soils should consist of at least one-fourth of hs 

 nourishing material, two-fourths of fine sand, one-fourth 

 of coarse |ravel and moisture. The amount of lime pre- 

 sent may be ascertained by dissolving 50 grains of the 

 fine powder in half a drachm of muriatic acid, and a 

 drachm and a half of water, adding another ounce of 

 water after three hours, then pass it through , . fi to and 

 drv it having deducted the weight of the filter , the loss 

 o height is g the amount of carbonate of lime which w« 

 prelerf, but now remains dissolved in the diluted ac,d 

 and the principle on the filter ,s aluminous earth. The 

 proportion of animal and vegetable matter may be ascer- 

 tamed by exposing anv known weight in a crucible to a 

 ^d tot! J taA. weight will be the amount of organic 

 matter which has been dissipated . .. . ■ « 

 tivation and manufacture of Flax, it was stated that r 

 an acre of land, which Ponced four coom bs ot ■ , 

 53 st 8 lbs.of fibrehadbeenscu ched,a„d d 7^ ^ ^ 



had been offered for it. ft was ™ th ore 



Flax been pulled earlier, it woa!d ,, ha ' e a , e produced more 

 per stone than it then was would he* p oduc^ ^ 



weight per acre ex hausted the Una » , for sheep . 

 have been off the -d >n t m to sow T ^ ^ 



feeding " a f"" ? sdes per acre recorded 



produced the greatest weight of ^Swedes p 



by the Club, the most str.k mg £cu *«'? ,n the plants 

 ment of the crop was unnd-weeAngy M> tta « « ^ the 

 previous to their being hoed : when j«> V .^ 



plants take stronger hold of he ground , the b P ^ 

 are easier selected by the hoe«vrt»» «" 2? ja . 



ginning oiwiiuer.wtuoi, auuu j#«.*»- r , j ' ro p„=ipr selected by the noeia »»—- -- . 97in 



L ma, be turned up by that ploughing may be exposed are ea ^'« s electea y owa ga r.dges at 27 ,n 



to the'frost ; the land also to be thorongh ly water- u - ^J^^ remar i s on ridging and c Wl »g « 



rowed and gripped, and afterwards well cleaned and cul- 

 tivated during the succeeding summer's fallowing. A 

 vote of thanks was then awarded to Mr. Davidson for 

 the valuable information which he has, from time to 

 time, presented to the Club : and the subject fixed for 

 discussion at the next monthly meeting, was fixed to be 

 the Comparative Advantages of Stall and Pasture Feeding 

 during Summer, for Draught Horses and other Cattle, 

 with the best and most profitable Green Fodder for Stall 



Feeding. 



Ardrossan After the Annual Cattle Show of this 



Society, a number of the members of the Society dined 

 together at Irvine, Capt. Montgomerie, of Giffen in the 

 chair. In the course of the evening the chairman stated 

 it would be in the recollection of the members present, 

 that, when making some remarks on the quality of ren- 

 net, at the meeting of the Society in November last, he 

 had observed in the Transactions of the Highland Society, 

 attached to the first Number of the new series of the 

 " Journal of Agriculture," among some experiments on 

 milk by Professor Traill, that he found sulphuric acid 

 produced a much larger proportion of curd than rennet ; 

 and that, though late in the season, he (the chairman) 

 would try the experiment on a larger scale, communicate 

 the results, and submit the produce to be tested by the 

 Society, which he now did, placing upon the table two 



ance of vapour from the chimnev of a steam- society, nuu... *« UU « «,«, F—"g "^ ■ «u tfc* 

 engine. Many suppose that on filling up a drain, the small cheeses-the one made with sulphuric acid, the 

 soil should not be put in close or firm; as it would pre- other with rennet. These cheeses, he stal 



drills. This crop having oeeu 8 .v.." = 0D 



distance, led to remarks on n*nj» b few . 



flat work ; the latter system was supported o y ^ tf 



U is evident, since this question .was »h rt« ., 



the Club, there are many converts to the ring j 



-Abridged from the Norfolk Chromcle. ^ 

 Maidstone.-^ the late monthly " e ^, ation of 



Society, the subject °f .discussion was tta ^ , e to 



the Hop. The question whether it was ^ 



summer dig or nidget deeply, first came under ^.^ 



tion, and it was believed that deep and *£ c0 „- 



tion was in all cases preferable. An , i mou , d) m 



veration followed on the nature and ^causes ^.^ 

 which an almost ridiculous uncertainty as W 



of cause and effect was o^mble. * ott id 

 planter present adduced some instance where th 



had followed particular circumstances, bu . 



every one of such instances, some otto p odace a 



lected where nearly similar «rcnmstancM .1 V 



quite opposite effects. The members ^ e co m- 



the subject for a considerable time ns «< ^ M 



cided with the opinion which wi-W many years 



planter, namely that " be had lived a IF* ( the 



and made a great many inquiries into the n rf wr 



mould in Hops, and had onlj. ^f^^othing abo« 

 tainty on one point, namely that : h. ^ knew ^ 



if » Tn the course of the evening several ^ 



'were thrown out as to Hop Culdvatto .£ >*£ th ., 

 ■That stripping is not considered de« tfcat 



o»ld nevir be pulled from weak h.l K 



vent in c »»«">» s*"- "**s •—••••■ b— •- , »-.» •" » 



by the practice of plug-draining. I say it is better to 

 put in the stiff clay upon the pipe or tile than looser soil. 

 The cracking of this stiff clay, if put directly upon the 

 drains, facilitates the passing of the water into it ; looser 

 stuff will melt down, pass into the drains, and choke 

 them. The clay should be put in a wet state over the 

 drains I have found two inches of sediment in the 

 bottom of drains. The drains may be placed at greater 

 distances if the land be subsoiled than otherwise. In the 

 „ery adhesive clays, the stillest I have ever known, the 

 Stance may be from 15 to 21 feet. There may be 



Small UUCCOGO HiG uuu "iauv nuu ouijjuuaav. v.~.—, 



other with rennet. These cheeses, he stated, were made 



under his own inspection, of equal quantities of milk, 



and on the morning of two following days the curd was 



produced by the acid about seven minutes sooner than 



by the rennet, and that of the former much more solid 



than the latter. The proportion of acid used was that 



pointed out by Professor Traill, ▼is., 40 drops to a tea- - - nd tne ruim-- ~- ~ % 



spoonful of rennet ; but the result he had not found the ^ ^^ t Y he niU is filled up for the nex d ( 



June : on the 28th of December there was a difference in * e J^^ wa8 unanimously ^OP { 



in the weight of 11 oz. in favour of the cheese made by follow ng r ^ ^ t pulvenz uo 



the rennet, and the same difference existed when weighed 



previous to sitting down to dinner. The rennet he could 

 answer for being of excellent quality : of the acid be was 



bine should never be P^n^-^p* 

 s„ch hills should always have , . UtttoM X ra ^ occ »« 

 to them in the snmmer. That where : a bine , n a 



it may be effectually supplied by ™™\ ( the neigb- 

 trench underground to its poles om each on ^ 



bonring hills, which plan ;""_££, being severed 

 hill the same year and the i runners ^ p. 



<■ 

 t 









i 



the 



llowing resolution was uu »"r„ nl ; 'rfzation oi «-" 



That deep culture and consequent P^ h and a 



soil is essential to the rapid growth of th ^ fleglect 



though instances have been stated »w» 





