1844.] 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



489 



should the hoeing cease?" Jc is evident that a late 

 horse-hoeing when the soil is permeated, as you describe, 

 with the roots of the Turnip, so that " a handful of earth 

 could not be taken up which was not full of these silken- 

 looking fibres," must break and destroy many of these 

 roots. Now, the question is, Is this breakage of the roots 

 beneficial or injurious ? The late Mr. Cobbett (as far as 

 I recollect), contended that it is beneficial, and following 

 tip the principles of Tull, advised the hoeing of Indian 

 Corn, &c. up to a very late period of their growth, assert- 

 ing that the temporary check from the breaking of the 

 minute roots is a trifling evil compared with the far 

 greater good derived from exposing the soil to the in- 

 fluence of the atmosphere, and from the greater vigour 

 soon gained by the plant when the broken roots have 

 pushed up new subdivisions. This seems an important 

 point in agriculture as well as horticulture, not yet satis- 

 factorily ascertained by actual experiment. In garden- 

 ing, except in the case of Peas and Potatoes (and the ad- 

 Tantages of confining their roots chiefly to ridges is not 

 very obvious), the practice I imagine is not to stir the 

 earth except very superficially, as in hoeing up weeds 

 between the crops of Cabbages, Lettuces, &c. The ex- 

 periment might be easily made by letting part of a plot 

 remain under the ordinary culture, and hoeing the re- 

 mainder dug between, up to the latest period of the 

 plants' growth ; and a similar experiment might be tried 

 as to horse-hoeing part of a field of drilled Turnips or 

 Wheat ; and I should strongly advise agriculturists and 

 horticulturists, who have the opportunity, to institute 

 these experiments, in order to ascertain what the facts 

 really are.— A'. [The question put by our Correspond- 

 ent is a very important one ; the evident advantage 

 which has attended the practice on our own farm, cf 

 horse-hoeing, as long as the leaves of the Turnip plant 

 will permit, would incline us to approve of Cobbett's 

 answer to it. Every fibre broken sends out a dozen 

 branches from the breakage, and thus any temporary 

 check which the plant may receive is soon swallowed up 

 in the increased vigour of its growth.] 



Fixation of Ammonia — In your first Number this 

 year, I forwarded to you a statement of some interesting 

 experiments made by Mr. Bree on the fixation of ammo- 

 nia by sulphuric acid in liquid manure, and that gentle- 

 man has since added some further particulars himself. 

 I had hoped long before this to have said something 

 further on the subject of experimental research in agri- 

 culture, but one thing or another has so occupied my 

 time that I have been continually prevented from turn- 

 ing my thoughts to a fresh communication. I hope, 

 however, soon to resume the subject. In the mean time I 

 wish to remind any of your readers who may have under- 

 taken the little experiment I proposed last year to the 

 farmers of Suffolk, that the time is drawing nigh when I 

 hope to have their schedules returned satisfactorily filled 

 up. By satisfactorily, I do not mean favourably to any 

 particular result, but fairly and accurately. I have 

 spoken with some persons who have undertaken the 

 experiment, and they tell me they can see no difference 

 between the patch manured with the addition of the gyp- 

 sum, and that manured without it. But let me remind 

 them all that Mr. Bree said he could see no difference in 

 the experiment he tried, and yet he obtained a most 

 marked difference by the scales. As yet I have only 

 received one schedule filled up— for Turnips; and in 

 this case the result has been decidedly in favour of the 

 application of the gypsum. Without entering into any 

 or the details, I will just mention what the result has 

 been ; though I must say, as I have said before, I put no 

 faith in the results of one or two, or scarcely in a dozen 

 such experiments. The results are estimated from the 

 acre, from the proportions actually obtained :— 



duced in a hurry to use any more of the former. As b\ 

 experiments only, similar to the above, the public can 

 be put on their guard against deception and imposition, 

 I think everybody ought, in justice to their neighbours, 

 to give publicity to any trials they may make of new 

 articles of manure, noting carefully the comparative 

 results. — J. Stanley, Whitehaven. 



Bushels. 

 480 

 640 



520 



560 



tons. 



15 



20 



16 

 17 



cwt. 



7 



2 



5 



1 



In 



lbs. 



16 



96 



26 

 8 



64 



*Jnmanured land 



Gypsumed dung 



Do. (only half the quantity of 



the manure applied; 



CTngypsumed dung 



Do - (gypsum added after it had 

 rotted) 6oo 



— -J. S. Henslow. 



Allotment System.-— Two out of the three families, con- 

 listing of 22 persons, now living in comfort on only 13 

 acres of land, were paupers in the Eastbourne and Hel- 

 lingly Union Houses, in 1840. They keep books for the 

 insertion of the remarks of those who favour them by in- 

 spection ; and their books contain the signatures of nu- 

 merous farmers, clergymen, and members of both Houses 

 of Parliament, confirming the truth of the statement, and 

 the excellence of the crops they witnessed; and amongst 

 the most recent are the signatures of the Earl of Devon 

 and Captain Kennedy, Secretary of the Landlord and 

 ■tenant Commission, who kindly took the trouble of 

 coming on the 15th of June, from London, to examine, 

 in detail, this simple plan, by which, if it were general, 



™ll C 7 g li bG 8aved in ^or-rates in England and Wales 



•hoi nf a ?K tl V 0t *\ amount of the Income Ta * ' r <>* the 

 whole of the United Kiogdom.-iVf.^. G. 



the fTnwif" a/ " nd *"*»*--I beg leave to offer 

 Gra ffi J ? fT!??" 8 to y° ur notice <-I Reeled * 

 ^ualnaf; , Ti /° r 5 a * and divided * int ° two 

 ficial^nn^nd fh T d the 0M with Cotter's arti- 



xesu? t ' after 1' ? **"?* T^ " ith fine Sand 5 the 



^ a in te favTurof fij^***^ Tocure'd 



difference is so enormous, that I at least shall not be n! 



Societies. 



ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY of ENGLAND. 



A weekly council was held at the Society's House in 



Hanover-square, on Wednesday last, the 17th of July; 



present— The Rt. Hon. Earl Spencer, President, in the 



chair ; Duke of Richmond ; Earl of Essex ; Viscount 



Hill ; Hon. R. H. Clive, M.P. ; Hon. G. H. Cavendish, 



MP. ; R. Archbold, Esq., M.P. ; J. Baines, Esq.; T. 



R. Barker, Esq. ; J. R. Barker, Esq. ; S. Bennett. Esq. ; 



J. I. Briscoe, Esq. ; Sir A. de C. Broke, Bt. ; E. Buller, 



Esq., M.P. ; F. Burke, Esq.; Dr. Calvert; Rev. T. 



Cator; Col. Challoner ; F. C. Cherry, Esq.; E. Divett, 



Esq., M.P. ; T. B. Evans, Esq. ; W. Y. Freebody,Esq.; 



Sir J. S. Forbes, Bt. ; W. F. Hobbs, Esq. ; J. Kinder, 



Esq. ; W. Miles. Esq., M.P. ; E. M. Mundy, Esq. ; A. 



Ogilvie, Esq. ; E. W. W. Pendarves, Esq., M.P. ; E. S. 



C. Pole, Esq. ; Sir R. Price, Br. ; H. Price, Esq. ; P. 



Pusey, Esq., M.P. ; Prof. Sewell; W. Shaw, Esq. ; R. 



B. Sheridan, Esq. ; E. Thomas, Esq. ; J. Towers, Esq.; 



and T. Tweed, Esq. The following new members were 

 elected : — 



Ingram, H. F. Meynell, Hodness, Rugelev, Staffs. 



Piatt, Henry, Priestly Farm, Hitwick, Ampthill, Beds. 



Atkinson, John, Charlton, Salisbury. 



Olivier, Col. H. S., Manor House, Polleme House, Devizes. 



Farquharson, Henry James, Langton, Blandford, Dorset. 



Biddle, Waring, Long Ham, Wimborne, Dorset. 



Rayne, Robert, Flatts Farm, Bishop Auckland, Durham. 



Harvey, William Francis, Purbrook Heath, Portsmouth. 



Bailey, Edward, Martyrs Worthy, Winchester. 



Edwards, Henry, Winchester. 



Price. Charles, M.D., Brighton. 



Edgell, Richard Wyatt, Milton-place, Egham, Surrey. 



Baker, Major T. R., Wivley Court, Plymouth. 



Cartwright, George, Lyme Regis, Dorset. 



Adams, Samuel, Ware, Herts. 



Bro >kes, William, Elmstree, Tetburv, Glour. 



Gawner, Francis, Coombe Wood, Kingston, Surrey. 



Kingsford, John, Esher, Surrey. 



Page, James, Merton, Surrey. 



Coe, Robert, Tilney, Lynn, Norfolk. 



Burness, James, 64, Cornhill, London. 



Hony, Rev. W. E., Baverstock Rectory, Salisbury. 



Morrice, George, Eling, Southampton. 



Withers, Richard, Luzborcugh Farm, Romsey, Hants. 



Ashhurst, John Henry, Waterstock, Oxford. 



The names of 22 Candidates for election at the next 

 meeting were then read. 



Destruction of Rats.— Dr. Ure, F.R.S., commu- 

 nicated, through Mr. Pusey, M.P., the following results 

 of his experiments on the best mode of preparing phos- 

 phorus as a poison for rats : — 



" In the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society 

 there was published, several months ago, a prescription 

 for preparing a poison for the above purpose, by an 

 English gentleman resident in Germany. That prepa- 

 ration consisted essentially of phosphorus mixed with 

 flour and sugar. It has been tried by a friend of mine 

 in Derbyshire, who has a most extensive farm, and found 

 to answer the purpose well ; but there is a great diffi- 

 culty in preparing it, from the insolubility, and even im- 

 raiscibility, of phosphorus in water, attended with no 

 little danger of fire. The process I have found to suc- 

 ceed perfectly is as follows : — Melt hogs'-lard in a bottle 

 plunged in water heated to about 150 deg. Fah. ; intro- 

 duce into ithalf-an-ounce of phosphorus for every pound 

 of lard ; then add a pint of proof-spirit, or whisky : cork 

 the bottle firmly after its contents have been heated to 

 150 deg., taking it at the same time out of the water- 

 bath, and agitate smartly till the phosphorus becomes 

 uniformly diffused, forming a milky-looking liquid. This 

 mixture being cooled, with occasional agitation at first, 

 will afford a white compound of phosphorus and lard, 

 from which the spirit spontaneously separates, 

 and may be poured off to be used again, for none 

 of it enters into the combination ; but it merely 

 serves to comminute the phosphorus, and to diffuse 

 it in very fine particles through the lard. This fatty 

 compound, on being warmed very gently, may be poured 

 out into a mixture of Wheat-flour and sugar incorporated 

 therewith, and then flavoured with oil of Rhodium, or 

 not, at pleasure. The flavour may be varied with oil of 

 aniseed, &c. This dough, being made into pellets, is to 

 be laid in rat-holes. By its luminousness in the dark, 

 it attracts their notice, and being agreeable to their 

 palates and noses, it is readily eaten, and proves certainly 

 fatal. They soon are. seen issuing from their lurking 

 places to seek for water to quench their burning thirst 

 and bowels; and they commonly die near the water. 

 They continue to eat it as long as it is offered to them, 

 without being deterred by the fate of their fellows, as is 

 known to be the case with arsenical doses. My friend in 

 Derbyshire bought a pot of Mr. Meyer's rat-poison, and 

 found it to be an analogous phosphoric preparation. 

 The present mode of preparing it is the result of my own 

 experiments, made with the view of diffusing phosphorus 



through a mass of flour and sugar, &c, without the risk 

 of fire." 



The paper in the Society's Journal, referred to by 

 Dr. Ure, will be found in the third volume, page 428, 

 and was communicated to the Society by Captain Stanley 

 Carr, of Tiischenbeck, near Liibeck, in the duchy of 

 Lanenburg. It may be an easy guide for those members 

 of the Society who are desirous of following Dr. Ure's 

 prescription, and may not have a thermometer at hand, 

 to know that a temperature of 150° of Fahrenheit is 

 equivalent to a degree of heat midway between that at 



which (according to Schiibler) white-oi-egg coagulates 

 and white wax melts. 



Mr. Miles, M.P., stated the success with which Cap- 

 tain Carr's remedy for destroying rats had been tried by 

 himself and others in Somersetshire, and the extraordi- 

 nary manner in which they came to eat it. 



[The remainder of our report of the proceedings of the 

 last and present Weekly Councils, and of the two inter- 

 vening special Councils, are unavoidably postponed.] 



AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY ASSOCIATION. 



The committee of management, in their Report, read at 

 the half-yearly general meeting of the Association in 

 January last, announced to the subscribers that Professor 

 Johnston had shortly before then obtained premises for a 

 laboratory, and had engaged several experienced che- 

 mists to assist him in his duties ; and they expressed a 

 belief that when the arrangements were completed, and 

 when it became known to members of the Association, 

 and to the public, that they were ready to begin work, 

 full employment would be given them. The committee 

 will now briefly narrate what has been done by them- 

 selves and by Professor Johnston to carry into effect the 

 objects of the Association. Following the two great 

 leading principles on which it was founded, namely, the 

 diffusion of existing knowledge as to the application of 

 chemistry to agriculture, and the enlargement of that 

 knowledge, the committee will notice, first, what has 

 been done in the way of lectures and other methods of 

 affording information; and, secondly, what has been 

 done by analytic investigations in the laboratory for the 

 guidance of agriculturists and the advancement of the 

 science. 1. It maybe remembered that the committee 

 in January last announced, that by way of an opening to 

 the business of the Association, Professor Johnston had, 

 at the solicitation of a number of leading agriculturists 

 in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, agreed to give three 

 lectures on subjects of general interest. These lectures 

 were accordingly given, and by the numerous assemblages 

 of both landlords and tenants which they produced, 

 proved the deep interest taken in the objects of this 

 institution, as well as the eminent qualifications of Pro- 

 fessor Johnston for the duties of the office he had under- 

 taken. These lectures in Edinburgh were, after a short 

 interval, followed by invitations from various local 

 agricultural societies throughout the country to Professor 

 Johnston to deliver similar lectures at the great towns 

 with which they were connected. The subjects of lecture 

 were the General Theory of Manures — Food of Plants — 

 Uses of Manures — Mode of applying them — Methods of 

 improving the Soil— the Benefit of Draining— the Use 

 of Lime — the Qualities and Use of Guano — and the 

 Feeding of Stock. The committee cannot doubt that 

 one result of these visits by Professor Johnston to. dif- 

 ferent districts was to stimulate and extend the desire 

 among both proprietors and tenants for information on 

 the subject of scientific agriculture. Within the last 12 

 months no less than seven or eight periodicals have been 

 started in Scotland, and three of them within the last 

 three months, exclusively devoted to the diffusion of 

 information on the subject of Agricultural Chemistry and 

 its practical uses. Farther, it deserves to be mentioned, 

 that several of the parochial schoolmasters in the west of 

 Scotland, perceiving the wishes of the farmers, that their 

 children should imbibe some knowledge on these subjects, 

 and at all events a taste for them, for which one lesson 

 in the week might suffice, prevailed on Professor Johnston 

 to compose a little treatise of a popular nature for their 

 use ; and one of them has recently applied to him to 

 learn whether during the vacation of his school he may 

 be permitted to attend the laboratory in Edinburgh, with 

 the view of making himself more familiar with the science. 

 That this is not to be traced to any fanciful idea of his 

 own, is clear from the fact that the farmers of his neigh- 

 bourhood have agreed to raise a sum of money among 

 themselves to defray his expenses. If either this year, 

 or in a future year, a sufficient number of such applications 

 were made, the committee are happy to announce that 

 Professor Johnston would be willing to give a gratuitous 

 course of lectures to schoolmasters during three weeks 

 of their autumn vacation. 2. The committee have the 

 satisfaction of stating that the advantage of knowing 

 something of the chemical nature of soils, manures, and 

 other substances connected with farming operations is 

 now becoming universally acknowledged and acted on j 

 in proof of which it is enough to mention that during 

 the last six months no less than 242 analyses, of one kind 

 or another, have been performed by Professor Johnston 

 and his assistants — being on an average more than one- 

 and-a-half for every lawful day. When the delicate 

 nature of many of these analyses is considered — some of 

 them requiring many days for their performance, it will 

 be acknowledged that in this department a very large 

 amount of work has been accomplished. The subjects of 

 these 242 analyses were as follow :— Soils, 90 ; Guano, 

 77; Waters, 25 ; Ashes of Plants, 14 ; Marls, 9; Mis- 

 cellaneous, 27. The committee may here refer to some 

 of the cases of analyses made in the laboratory, in order 

 to point out to persons who are not members of the 

 Association the practical benefits derived from such 

 information. They will give some instances under dif- 

 ferent heads:— 1. As to Analysis of Soils. Mr- F-> a 

 proprietor in the west of Scotland, having sent some 

 samples of soils from his estate for examination, wrote 

 as follows to Professor Johnston, after receiving the 

 analysis :— •'« From your analysis of my soUs it appears 

 that they are deficient in magnesia and the P hos P^ te f.» 

 which accounts fully for the very beneficial effects of both 



these substances when applied to my soils as a manure. 



