1844.] 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



511 





culture, regrets trie want or agricultural knowled e ! — 

 often are his hop^s and intentions frus'rated and Ins 

 property diminished by interested or erroneous advice, 

 of which, tiil too late, he cannot judge. When I see 

 landlords making returns of rent (in my opinion an in- 

 judicious operation), I think how much better would it 

 be to present their tenants with agricultural libraries. 

 Farmers, from the very nature of their occupation, and 

 their isolated position, are seldom able to travel from 

 county to county in search of facts; but how readily is 

 a multitude of agricultural experiments and experience 

 brought to their fireside by a selection of pood and 

 practical books ! Some may say, *' Oh, farmers are too 

 prejudiced to read." Experience has taught me the 

 contrary. Bring them the book, they will keenly, 

 anxiously, and with sound sense, scrutinise all that 

 concerns their pecuniary welfare. Reason tells us that 

 the farmer, born, bred, and mixing with others of pre- 

 cisely the same way of acting and thinking as himself, 

 cannot be expected to have so expanded a mind as a 

 manufacturer or trader, who is daily in contact with 

 strangers from every corner of the globe. 



It is to be feared, too, that jealous landlords form too 

 low an estimate of a farmer's character, and consider his 

 success and elevation as degrading them — as if his gains 

 were their loss. Let us hope this feeling will gradually 

 give way to a better, and that a farmer who follows the 

 hounds, and dresses and acts respectably, will be con- 

 sidered quite as likely to farm well and make as good a 

 member of society as one who imitates in every respect 

 one of his labourers. 



Where individuals are desirous of improving their own 

 estates without disbursing capital, I know of no plan so 

 good as allowing the tenant annually a certain sum out of 

 his rent for improvements, taking care that they are 

 really beneficial, which is very ea>ily ascertained and 

 arranged: generally speaking, tenants would most 

 readily contribute their share, particularly in the matter 

 of drainage. 



The national health is deeply concerned in agricultural 

 improvement, for it is notorious that perfect drainage of 

 land and buildings insures the absence of agues, fevers, 

 and other complaints, that are sad drawbacks to the 

 personal welfare and pecuniary comforts of our agri- 

 cultural population, to say nothing of the importance, 

 in a national point of view, of having a hardy, healthful 

 race in lieu of a debilitated and vitiated population. The 

 mind and the body are too sympathetic to be uninfluenced 

 by each other. Humanity, policy, and self-interest, then, 

 call loudly on us to unite for the worthy purpose of 

 national agricultural improvement.—/. J. Mechi, 4, 

 Leadenhall street. ' 



P.S. I shall publish annually a faithful and correct 

 debtor and creditor account of my farm, valuing the 

 crops and stock at one uniform average price (the 

 average price in the county of Essex for the last fourteen 

 years). This will prevent confusion, and admit of a 

 correct comparison of one year with another. The 

 quantity produced, and the cost of producing, will be the 

 principal and most interesting considerations. 



ON THE APPLICATION OF MANURES. 



^ {.Continued from p'ige 48/.) 



u Now, the improvement of the plants from repeated hoe- 

 sngs is indisputable ; that it is not promoted through the 

 roots is, I think, probable (proveable), for the hoeings 

 are not deep enough, the earth is not moved by them to 

 a sufficient depth to renew the decay and form a fresh 

 portion of carbonic acid, about the roots of the plants. 

 How, then, do they operate this improvement ? I say, by 

 letting loose the effluviae of the decaying animal and 

 vegetable matters contained in the soil, to the depth, or 

 to a very little more than the depth to which their 

 loosenings extend, (it is evident to the senses that 

 such effluviae do escape) and by these effluvia; being ab- 

 sorbed by the leaves* and not by the roots. 



The same deduction may be drawn from all our field 

 operations. In the month of February or March, if, either 

 from the poverty of the soil or weak growth of the plants, 

 it appears requisite, many will top-dress their Wheat 

 crops. It is usual to top-dress Red Clover (a tap-rooted 

 plant, and therefore one plunging deeply into the soil) 

 between the cuttings, with a view of increasing the im- 

 mediate after-growth ; Grasses are top-dressed. In Ire- 

 land, where they know how to grow as heavy a crop of 

 Potatoes, as well as to eat them, as anywhere else, a very 

 evident improvement takes place immediately after sho- 

 velling (moulding) the beds ; on the west coast of Done- 

 gal they very generally are at the trouble of carrying 

 manure in baskets, and laying a little bit at the butt of 

 each plant, previous to shovelling (moulding the second 

 time) the beds, the plants being at this time from two to 

 six inches high. They state that this is attended with 

 very beneficial effects; that it keeps the stalks green and 

 growing longer than they would be without this ap. 

 plication ; these people will also dibble in their Potato 

 sets, and delay manuring them till they are breaking 

 ground and they say they are less weedy and more pro 

 uuctive than if manured earlier.* In all these operations 

 it is impossible to attribute the results to any Action on 

 IflW i Cy mUSt be attr *°uted to the absorption of 



matter 8 !; K ,S !u ga , ged fr0n ° deca - vi "S animttl and vegetable 

 matters by the leaves of the plants. 



thVee^r^^^^^^ 



accord? nr S JhS S tf ,e . m | ln bwU from U,ree t0 five feeC ■** 

 for S!a2£j£2S S l h \*° il - a,1,,Win? N,e ^es. a ry earth 

 dibbled in thJ ' m«f '? ; Set8 are either ,ai<1 °" ln « su.face or 

 the furrows wh"!- Spr " ad °° *■ 8urtacc a,,d covered from 



la 1831, at Kiliybegs, i transplanted Potato - s from 

 a hot-bed into drills in a field ; the operation (as will al- 

 ways be the case when labourers are entrusted with 

 novel, and to them foolish work) was so indifferently 

 performed that the manure was scarcely covered, yet the 

 crop was ;tn excessively heavy one, and the Potatoes very 

 large. Three years ago I planted a small patch of Po- 

 tatoes in rows, the sets being planted in rows six or 

 eight inches deep. I spread short stable dung on the sur- 

 face, with the intention of digging it into the ground ; 

 this was neglected, and I believe they were not even hoed, 

 or at most not more than once ;• the crop was so very 

 heavy, under a treatment so widely at variance wiih re- 

 ceived opinions, that it led me to suspect that the planrs 

 had received nourishment through their leaves from the 

 tffluviae of the dung spread on the surface. 



A fe*- days ago I got into conversation with a tenant 

 of Mr. Greville's, near this town ; he was ploughing an 

 Oat stubble for a second crop of Oats ; 1 inquired, would 

 he not have had a better crop bad he sown it in February 

 or March? He said no; that Oats sown on poor land, in 

 the "darks"of April (when there was no moonlight), were a 

 better crop than if sown before the natural heai came 

 into the ground; (on the west coast of Donegal, as well 

 as in many parts of Ireland, April is considered a good 

 seed-time for Oats) — that if sown earlier it would perish 

 the plants — meaning that the plants in their earlier 

 growth would be sickly, (and if we admit the efficacy of 

 steeping seeds, the sickliness of the young plant must 

 upon the same principle be injurious to their future 

 growth) ; and that the later sowing would overtake it, and 

 prove a heavier crop at harvest ; this is the general 

 opinion of the smaller holders of land in Ireland, and is 

 the result of an experience which we have no right to 

 despise. I have for 25 years heard this opinion expressed, 

 and have hitherto contemned it as that of prejudiced ig- 

 norance and a lazy excuse. We are too prone in our 

 self-sufficiency to taunt with their failings the poorer 

 classes of Irish, and probably with as little reason as in 

 the present instance. To what, then, are we to attribute 

 this fact? and fact it is — but that in poor ground, in 

 the early season, the seed germinates so slowly that the 

 gases let loose by the ploughing escape, and the surface 

 becomes crusted, so as to prevent the escape of any that 

 remain before the germ has reached the surface ; when it 

 does get above ground the young leaves are therefore 

 starved. When the leaves of young plants look sickly 

 and yellow, which is, I think, falsely attributed to the 

 wire- worm, it is common to roll the ground ; this breaks 

 the crust (not crushes the worm) and the nourishment 

 the leaves consequently receive from the escape of gases 

 restore them to health. 



The Editor of M Liebig's Chemistry of Agriculture," on 

 the authority of " Davis's History of China," says — " In 

 the case of everything except Rice, the Chinese seem to 

 manure the plant itself, rather than the soil;" and Liebig 

 himself says, •• How infinitely inferior is the agriculture of 

 Europe to that of China !" And again he says, " The 

 agriculture of their country is the most perfect in the 

 world." In speaking of guano he also says, "Thus in 

 Arica, where so much Pepper (Capsicum baccatum), is 

 cultivated, each piantis manured three times : first, upon 

 the appearance of the roots ; second, upon that of the 

 leaves; and lastly, upon the formation of the fruit (Hum- 

 boldt) ; from this it will be observed, that the Peruvians 

 follow the plan of the Chinese in manuring the plant 

 rather than the soil." Yet Liebig always supposes that 

 plants are fed by the roots, and is even at the pains of 

 bringing ammonia from the air, with every shower, 

 to supply them with azote, which he states to be 

 washed down to them with the rain-water, and adduces 

 what I must think a very questionable proof; he says. 

 " In the year 1834 I was engaged with Dr. Willrand, 

 Professor of Botany in the University of Giessen, in an 

 investigation respecting the quantity of sugar contained 

 in different varieties of Maple-trees whicii grew upon 

 soils which were not manured. We obtained crvstallised 

 sugars from all, by simply evaporating their juices, with- 

 out the addition of any foreign substance ; and we unex- 

 pectedly made the observation that a great quantity of 

 ammonia was emitted from this juice when mixed with 

 lime, and also from the sugar itself, during its refine- 

 ment." Now, if the sugar had been obtained from the 

 ascending sap, this would be a very sufficient proof that 

 the ammonia had been imbibed by the roots from the 

 ground ; but as there can be no doubt that it is from the 

 descending, and, if you will, elaborated sap, that the 

 sugar was obtained, it might be asserted with more pro- 

 bability that the ammonia had been sucked in by the 

 leaves ; and it does appear more agreeable to the evan- 

 escent nature of ammonia, that instead of descending 

 into the depths of the earth to seek the roots, it should, 

 when the shower which had lodged it on the surface had 

 ceased, with the first blink of sunshine ascend into the 

 air, and, on approaching the leaves, be sucked in by their 

 pores ; and were it not even so volatile, Liebig himself 

 would admit that the evaporating moisture would com- 

 municate a similar state to it. Now, we find precisely 

 the most rapid growth of plants is in'the spring months', 

 when the showers are not so heavy or continuous as to 

 sink into the earth, but are succeeded instantly by a hot 

 tun ; and this is called proverbially growing weather. 



On the same principle I can well account for the 

 effect which is said to attend the steeping of seeds in 

 chemical solutions, and the success which their experience 

 has taught the Chinese to reckon on from steeping their 

 seels in liquid manure until germination begins; the 

 seeds absorb a quantity of concentrated gases, which are 



all the gases have escaped, which have been set in 

 motion on the moving of the earth in the sowing of the 

 seed ; the plant thus acquires an early robustness, which, 

 under ordinary circumstances, m -untaius its superiority 

 through its whole growth over plant* which have not been 

 so treated.— T. M. G., Revenue Police, Granard, 

 Ireland. 



inches h'^ 5 t K he K re the !) ' a " ,s -PI*". oTbe^e they ire six ***** T"* * ^"""J ° f concentrated gas, 

 roodhusba U drv e tn edS T affain COVVT ^> »»<! it is reckoned g raau *''y let loose to feed the shooting germs ; these also 



y io give them athird covering from the furrows, break through the surface and attain some growth before 



SKETCHES OF EAST LOTHIAN HUSBANDRY. 



In describing the different modes of ploughing, I shall 

 first suppose the land to be nearly level, as is usually the 

 case after summer fallow, or alter the separation of 

 drilled crops from the ground. As the furrows which 

 divided the original ridges are then nearly or altogether 

 obliterated, the foreman, provided with three or more 

 poles of a known length, marks off the field in the usual 

 manner, into parallel and equal divisions, corresponding 

 in size to the iutendeJ ridges. The form of the ridges, 

 and the situation of the intermediate furrows, are care- 

 fully preserved from year to year, especially when the 

 former are much rounded or elevated in the crown, as is 

 the invariable custom in strong retentive soils. The 

 position of the furrows are never altered except in situa- 

 j tions where the land happens to be very dry and light. la 

 ridging up such of the fields as had been recently furrow- 

 I drained, much care is takeu to have the furrows directly 

 over the drains, in order to facilitate the escape of sur- 

 face-water into them. It will be recollected, that drains 

 are now invariably made in the furrows, either in each, 

 or in every alternate one, as may be found necessary or 

 convenient at the time. When the furrows are oblite- 

 rated or not distinctly visible, from the effects of subse- 

 quent tillage, the situation of each drain is accurately 

 ascertained by digging with a spade until the tiles or 

 stones employed in filling it are reached. The feirings, 

 which afterwards become the crowns of the ridges, are 

 then drawn midway between the drains, In ridging up 

 land for Wheat or other Corn crops, after having been 

 Marly levelled down while undergoing the process of 

 summer fallow, or the operations preparatory for green 

 crops, the method of ploughing termed gathering, is that 

 generally adopted in heavy soils, as giving to the ridges 

 a greater degree of curvature than what can be done in 

 any other way. Besides the common mode of marking 

 off land with the aid of poles, before ploughing it into 

 ridges, the following simple method is practised in 

 some parts of the county, and in Berwickshire, for 

 the same purpose : — A stout pole, called a marker, 

 equal in length to the breadth of the intended ridge, is 

 fixed to the plough at right angles to the line of draught ; 

 one end of it is attached by a simple contrivance to 

 the beam a little before the coulter, while the other pro- 

 jects either towards the right or left-hand side of the 

 ploughman, as may be required, and is kept steadily in 

 its place by means of a rope passing from the outer end 

 to the collar of the horse, on the same side as that to 

 which the pole projects. A small coulter or harrow-tine 

 is attached perpendicularly to the outer extremity of the 

 pole, which traces a mark or rut on the ground as the 

 plough moves onward, parallel to the line of draught, 

 and sufficiently visible to serve as a guide for the plough- 

 man in drawing his next line. When arrived at the 

 headland, he alters the pole to the side opposite to that 

 on which it was last, proceeds with his plough along the 

 track newly made by the marker, and in doing so, traces 

 another track with the pole exactly parallel to the last 

 In this manner the whole field is gone over. By adopt- 

 ing this device, it is only necessary^to mark off the first 

 feiring with the aid of poles in the usual manner, at the 

 proper distance from that side of the field parallel to 

 which, it is, intended to run the ridges, as the marker 

 traces the line in which the next and every succeeding 

 feiring is to be drawn. This plan has been found to 

 answer very well on light friable soils, and in situations 

 where, on account of the inequalities of the surface, a 

 considerable number of poles would be required in laying 

 off ridges in tl»e ordinary way. 



Much pains are everywhere taken by the ploughmen, 

 in forming these ridges, to give them a uniform degree 

 of curvature, and to have the furrows as straight, shal- 

 low, and narrow as possible, as the land is then usually 

 sown out with Clover and Grass-seeds. The first two 

 furrow-slices around each side of the feiring, or crown, 

 are ploughed shallow ; the next few something deeper, 

 and the remainder gradually lessening in depth towards 

 the furrow ; the ridge thus obtains a regular degree of ro- 

 tundity or elevation. In ploughing the last^or, hinting 

 furrow-slice of a ridge in strong wet soils, one of the 

 horses is usually unyoked from the plough, in order to 

 prevent any injury to the laud from treading upon it. 

 Sometimes, when the soil is of a very stiff nature, the 

 horses are yoked one before the other while finishing the 

 ridge, both walking in the furrow. No footmarks are 

 permitted to appear on the land after being ploughed. 



When land is thus formed into ridges, it is afterwards 

 ploughed, without marking them off anew until the fur- 

 rows are effaced by subsequent tillage. In ploughing 

 lea or Grass lands, the system of ploughing, termed 

 casting, is that universally practised. When this 

 mode is pursued, the feirm^s are always made in the 

 furrows, and in a manner somewhat different from that 

 adopted in the case of gathering. In casting ridges the 

 assistance of poles is entirely dispensed with, a com- 

 mencement being made by taking a slice from the le W 

 hand side of the furrow in which the feiring is to De 

 made ; small-furrow slices are next ploughed from each o£ 

 the adjoining ridges-one resting upon that first ploughed 

 and the other falling into and occupying the situation of 

 the original furrow ; two slices of ordinary dimensions 

 are then ploughed up to these from each rid*e after 



