580 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 





cultural Society of England were to publish a Regis! 

 of the Implements, with woodcuts of all those that prizes 

 were awarded to, at a small price, for distribution 

 in the agricultural districts, it would be conferring a 

 great benefit on the public at large.— Facile. — [The 

 American plough was very inferior to others exhibited — 

 at least in suitableness to English soils.] 



New and Old Land.—\t is well known that the soil 

 of an old garden is unsuitable for many plants, and that 

 a fresh or new soil is just as favourable to them. A list 

 of these plants would more than fill your columns ; but 

 I will select three common ones — Strawberries, Turnips, 

 and Potatoes. Every grower of Strawberries must have 

 seen how they delight in new earth. The old garden 

 mould produces leaves, but the new soil fruit, remarkable 

 both for quantity and quality. In this case, unexhausted 

 vegetable matter may be the cause of plenty. Garden 

 Turnips are never so sweet, or mild, or crisp, as those 

 grown in fields, where, perhaps, they are grown every 

 fourth year with a moderate allowance of manure. In 

 fields too, when Turnips were first grown, they were 

 grown from the same freshness of soil more easily and 

 of better quality than they have been grown since, with 

 all the advantages of modern farming. Twenty years 

 ago I was on a visit to a friend in a part of West Nor- 

 folk, where on a good soil Turnips were introduced about 

 1750. He related to me the experience of his uncle, a 

 strong-headed practical man, who remembered their 

 introduction. I made no note of his recollections, but 

 the substance was this :— White Turnips were grown on 

 this farm without manure, yet with ease and certainty ; 

 they were large, and so good in quality, that Scotch bul- 

 locks were fattened on them, with Straw and Hay, with- 

 out any artificial food. The old gentleman used to de- 

 ■cribe how they were gradually obliged to use manure, 

 and yet that the Turnips lost quality ; then they bought 

 Linseed cake, and after a few years introduced Swedes. 

 I once had a garden, in a part of which was a Grass plat 

 some years old, of about ten yards in width. This I had 

 dug over one autumn, for a crop the following spring. 

 Potatoes were planted in April, beginning ten yards to 

 the south of the Grass, the rows running across it as far 

 as ten yards to the north of it. They were a pretty good 

 common kind, and yielded well, but certainly half as 

 much again in the ten yards where the old Grass had 

 been. At the table the difference in quality was most 

 striking ; firmness, dryness, flavour, and a peculiar look 

 of the skin, were appreciated in parlour and kitchen. 

 Chemically speaking, what is this freshness in the soil, 

 and can it be restored by any of the appliances of sci- 

 ence ? Common manure has no such effect.— Rambler. 

 [So far as we know, your question has never yet been 

 completely answered. Among the reasons why plants 

 flourish better in soil new to them, than in soil on 

 which they have long been cultivated, are, 1st, the ex- 

 traction and removal from the old soil of those mineral 

 and other substances required as food by the plant, of 

 which it may be supposed the new land has an unex- 

 hausted store; and, p.rhaps, 2d, the accumulation in 

 the old soil of e.xcrementitious matter from the plants 

 grown there rejected by them as unsuited or injurious to 

 tneir growth.] J 



Steeping Seeds.-In the early part of this year you 

 promised to make use of Mr. Campbell's steeps, and in 

 due time to give the result of your trial, and your opinion 

 of the«r ments The time, I hope, has now arrived, and 

 you are prepared to pronounce your opinion respecting 

 these steeps ; and many are the small farmers who are 

 anxiously waiting your judgment, for the railways have 

 so reduced the supply of manures, and the feeding of 



S W a lT. U aCt ? rS ° f manure > has bee » so ruinous 

 of late, that it has become a great question with them 



*^uT Ur f e * \° ad °! t in lieu thereof - H the steeps 



hem to be th d 3S -n ff t CtiVe aS the Vendor Pounces 

 them to be, they will be most valuable to the poorer 



former who ought to be an object of your notice. P The 



5""f 8 ' ? ?' " *' ?™' *> &c ' can experiment for them- 

 selves It is said that Professor Johnston has given a 

 recipe for steeps at a much cheaper cost ; if 80 , you will, 

 perhaps, be so kind as to notice them.— J M TWhen 

 our Wheat is threshed out, we shall be able to state the 

 result of the experiment alluded to, and we hope to be 

 able at the same time to publish the experience of 

 our readers on the subject ; but our correspondent 

 has only to look at the correspondence on the subject, 

 which has already appeared in late Numbers of the 

 f G 7"f; t0 ascertain the slight degree of importance 

 to be attached to a single experiment. There is a great 

 deal of contrariety in the accounts we have already 



rfrnhlK ,'. Let the reSuIt be what ' " ithi n the bounds of 



orobahilit ♦■ u •»"»«-> wiiuiu me oounas or 



rest assurJd .ni* 7, * he8e J 8tee J ,8 > our correspondent may S"rj' ~ "T — ««™« > to disseminate info 

 wZ^'/f not render applications of manure un- Th f e "formation ^conveyed in the "Quarterly Jou. 



l^S^^^'Z^J^^ the vigour of S££r£i* * P^ical farmers- "; 

 Drohahitr ;„, . : growth, which the use of the steep 



TwrneL't oX vn, ° ^ 8Ced ' be J USt as ft * ere a " en- 

 *™£^nSl&? wi * S ° maQ y »^tional parts 

 of manure, ~ K£tSK^ »^-*J use 

 be all the more required. Professor j "w» > ,ar7, WlU 

 tion on the subjec? will be found in No 29°^ "*$* 

 ral Gazette.} ^°' 29 ' A 9™ultu- 



HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 

 On one of the days of the late annual meeting of this 

 Society, at Glasgow, a public breakfast took nlarp m^u 



the auspices of some of the leading member, o the A e ri 200o^n7f "^J" he ""*• h « b* audiences o°f 

 cultural Chemistry Society, in order to have some con! "tent o n to hinT^ T f ?"* "^ P aid t»e utmost 

 T,r..Uon on agricultural subjects. The auestiou for dl [ JSSSJS. ft £?££££ ?s^ aTpSe! 



cussion was— The best Means of making the Practical 

 Farmer acquainted with recent Discoveries in Science, 

 and enabling him to apply these to the Cultivation of his 

 own Farm. — Sheriff Alison explained the object of the 

 meeting. It was of the highest importance that the 

 greatest amount of information regarding the science of 

 agriculture should pervade the community, as upon agri- 

 culture, as well as upon manufactures and commerce, 

 depended our national prosperity — national existence. In 

 Great Britain there were twenty millions acres of arable 

 land under the plough ; twenty-seven millions in Grass 

 and pasturage ; fifteen millions which could be rendered 

 arable ; and fifteen millions of mountain pasturage. 

 Supposing, therefore, the twenty millions to be under 

 crop, it appeared from Mr. M'Culloch that the average 

 produce per acre was three and a-half quarters of grain, 

 and by the recent applications of science the average 

 must now be more. Supposing that in addition to the 

 present twenty millions, ten millions more are improved 

 or put under crop, this would be equal to thirty millions 

 acres, and at the average of three and a half quarters per 

 acre, the produce would be one hundred and five millions 

 of quarters of grain or other nutritious aliment. Besides, 

 there are twenty-seven millions of acres of Grass lands, 

 besides the mountain pasture for the rearing of cattle. 

 The average consumption of grain by each individual in 

 Great Britain is estimated as equal to one quarter per 

 annum, so that even independent of the aid of science, 

 the soil of Great Britain is capable of sustaining one 

 hundred millions of inhabitants. And what then would 

 be the state of our manufactures ? The value of our 

 home consumption of manufactures was estimated at a 

 hundred and thirty-three millions per annum, and the 

 exports, including the colonial, fifty millions, the foreign 

 alone being thirty-five millions. Now, if the population 

 should increase to a hundred millions, the home con- 

 sumption of manufactures would increase to four hundred 

 millions a year — eight times the amount of our whole 

 present exports, and twelve times greater than the ex- 

 ports to foreign parts. It was thus demonstrated what 

 our agricultural resources were, and how essentially 

 necessary it was to attend to their development. During 

 the last half century the population had doubled, and 

 attention during that period had been chiefly turned to 

 the development of our manufactures, yet in the 50 years 

 ending in 1836, the amount of grain imported had been 

 gradually diminishing. It seemed to be a law of nature, 

 that as the population increased the power of producing 

 food was also increased. In Poland there were ten 

 cultivators for every one otherwise employed. In 

 the countries west of the Mississippi there were 

 seven cultivators to one otherwise employed ; in the 

 United States, an exporting country, three to one ; 

 while in Great Britain, by the late census, there 

 was only one cultivator to three otherwise employed. In 

 Great Britain_tliere were tenmillinns of arable acres never 

 yet ploughed ; and, were science properly applied to agri- 

 culture, the same results would follow as had followed 

 the application of science to travelling.— Mr. Burnet, of 

 Gadgirth, gave instances of the benefit he had derived 

 from the application of the discoveries of science to agri- 

 culture. Land which some time ago was not worth 15s 

 an acre was now valued at 45s., and produced large crops 

 of excellent Wheat. In some cases where, by the ordinary 

 practice, thirty bushels had been obtained, he had, by the 

 application of ammoniacal manures, raised forty ; and by 

 applying saline manures, he had obtained fifty. He had 

 applied gypsum to Clover and Grass, and found his crops 

 doubled j the cattle preferred the Clover, and it remained 

 three years in the ground instead of two years. He had 

 tried gypsum with Turnips, and found it doubled the crop 

 of Aberdeen Yellows, but had little effect on the Swedish; 

 and he found also that gypsum had not the same effects 

 on the crops if the soil had been previously dressed with 

 manure mixed with sulphuric acid.-Mr. Colquhoun, of 

 rvillermont, said it is the duty of the landlords to make 

 he experiments-they are somewhat expensive, and often 

 fail at a first trial, and the owner of the soil, who is ulti- 

 ma ely to he the gainer, should pay the expense. He 

 had on this point said to an individual," You seem to make 



IS* x liT e ! ta ln your ! )usines8 ' and y et y°« *™ getting 



whnm 2* e ,S an ° ther individua1 ' your neighbour! 

 admitted [VhlTJ *??*?***' and «»tinue. poor." He 



ten of ht Li hk ' b " t thC 8GCret wa8 ' that n * ne ou * of 

 toth «rr?^ T 8 e f P erime «ts failed, but when the 



exnense S^f ' ^ ""*? bim ' elf of * and so ™ed ^ 

 expense. Science was of the greatest importance in ag- 

 riculture; but to make it available generally it must be 



H^nn I nJS U8trated ^ br ° Ught t0 the farm 7 r's hearth! 

 d^o^iT^^^ r ^ td in Culture would. in- 

 SffS^JS ° Wn dlstnct ' *> disseminate information. 



rnal" was 



puzzling for them/ It waV ^ e whT^ ^"l 

 doctor, and on telling the complaint you were troubled 



t W o t h ;T R ± Uld ^ t0 JV he Vari0us -dicines applicable 

 to the disease, and asked to choose for yourself, instead 



fo^o^ »*• tf 



it Jas undouoted that th."^ 



soil would greatly increase the farmer's profits but 



kniwld" 6 SC ° tti8h f 7 mer K WaS PUt iDt0 Posse P s"on of th 

 knowledge necessary for the proper application of science 



-not merely a practical know edge of agriculture, for 

 m that they excelled— they could not profit bv it One 

 great po int would be to spread the broad-sheet 'among 

 t far "?; Wherever he went, he had audiences of 



24, 



YORKSHIRE~7GRI^Ii^rL SOCIETY 



At the seventh Annual Meeting of this Sorietv Jw x. 

 occurred last week, at Richmond, " S2 

 discussion took place, after the Council dinne uno" he 



fr U om e th. n dr T age '.7 he . f ° ll0win S acco « nt «■ abSged 

 from th > Durham Advertiser :-Mr. Lister stated ?he 



mode which he pursued :-The substratum of the land 

 upon which I have drained is principally stiff clay, mv 

 practice upon which has been this :-The minor drains are 

 cut parallel to each other, and run directly up the hii 

 the depth of them being from 30 to 36 inches-the latter 

 depth where the clay is very stiff, as I consider the 

 more tenacious the clay the greater ought to be the 

 aepth. The mam drains run partly at right angles in 

 the hollows, being somewhat deeper than the others 

 Having a great abundance of stone at hand, I use it in 

 preference to other materials. I break the stones into 

 two sizes, viz., one about the size of road-stone and the 

 other rather larger. In the branch drains I lay a cover- 

 ing of the smaller stones from three to four inches deep, 

 and then cover them with a layer of the larger stones 

 upon which I put another layer of smaller stones, making 

 altogether a depth of 9 or 10 inches. I then put clay 

 where it can be had, and where not, turf : the clay where 

 used is well beat over the stones ; where turf is used, I 

 put part of what has been thrown out of the drain upon 

 the top of the turf and beat it well down— the object 

 of which is to prevent the finer particles of the soil being 

 washed into the dr,ain. I find no difference in effect 

 between covering the stones with clay and turf: the 

 effect of both, in my opinion, is the same, except that 

 where the drain is covered with clay it is much more 

 durable. I would recommend those who use tiles to lay 

 clay over them also where practicable. I am alluding to 

 a clay subsoil ; in many parts the clay is very tenacious. 

 I think that the surface-water ought not to run into the 

 drain through the filling in ; for then the water must make 

 its way between the active soil and the subsoil, which 

 would be a very imperfect drainage. I differ with Mr. 

 Arkell, who wrote the Prize Essay in the " Royal Agri- 

 cultural Journal/' vol. iv. He says that land lying in 

 ridges is more easily drained, from its lying in a round 

 form, one of these ridges only requiring drains 16 yards 

 apart ; whereas if the surface was level it would require 

 the drains to be placed at a distance of six or eight yards 

 from each other. I think this is not the fact ; but a level 

 surface would be as easy to drain as a round one. The 

 active soil of my land is from six to eight inches deep ; 

 I do not use tiles ; and I do not think I could fold 

 sheep upon the Turnips advantageously, except in a 

 favourable season. Not having to lead stones more than 

 half a mile upon the average, I estimate the average 



expense of my draining per acre C*., Oi ratiirr Ir«»r It- 

 is difficult to say what is the comparative improvement, 

 because my mode of management is so materially altered. 

 I used to have open summer fallows ; now I grow Tur- 

 nips, and carry out the four-course shift. I may observe 

 that land drained is greatly improved by using the 

 subsoil plough. The result of two experiments this 

 year, according to my estimate, is, that my Wheat on 

 the drained and subsoiled land will yield about 40 bushels 

 per acre, while the land of the same character in the 

 adjoining field, which has not been subsoiled, will only 

 yield about 20 bushels per acre. — The Chairman, the 

 Earl of Zetland, said : In offering a few observations upon 

 this subject, I do not wish to throw any doubt upon the 

 statements which we have just heard from Mr. Lister. 

 My object is to state to you the result of the many- 

 inquiries that I have made, especially in Scotland, and I 

 will just observe in the outset, that according to the 

 statements which have been made to me, the plan of 

 drainage which Mr. Lister has supported will not succeed 

 so universally— that it is not, in fact, calculated for every 

 kind of soil. My own opinion is certainly in favour of 

 the svstem of drainage recommended by Mr. Smith, of 





the system of drainage recommended by Mr. fcmitn, oi 

 Deanston. I should recommend that in particular ands 

 a drain at least 24 inches deep should be cut, and that, in 

 filling it up, parties ought not to put the clay imme- 

 diately above the tile. I have lately returned from a 

 visit to Scotland, and while there 1 have conversed with 

 the farmers upon this subject, and, amongst other things, 

 I find that one of the plans advocated by Mr. Smith is 

 universally condemned by the agriculturists with whom I 

 have spoken— namely, that of placing the clay imme- 

 diately above the tile. All those that I have spoken to 

 on the subject— at least all those who have tried this plan 

 in that part of Scotland where I have been— are opposed 

 to it. When I spoke to a farmer in Stirlingshire upon 

 the subject, he replied, " Oh ! there is not a farmer in 

 this part of Scotland but would condemn that system." 

 To give you an illustration with respect to this plan of 

 Mr. Smith's :— A tenant of mine in Scotland, in draining 

 part of his farm, turned up some stiff clay. He did not 

 puddle the drain, but filled it up as it came to hand. 

 The clay was of a very strong and tenacious description, 

 d this was placed immediately above the drain, as re- 

 wmmended by Mr. Smith ; and if I remember aright, 

 the drain was formed 24 inches deep. This land was 

 drained only 10 years ago, and the gentleman to whom 

 I have alluded informed me that this year he was going 

 to take up all these drains, because he found that the 

 water lay upon the top of the ground, and that, too, 

 immediately over the place where the old drains 

 were formed. It could not percola'e through the clay, 

 and he had come to the determination of taking up the 

 old drains, and of throwing six inches of loose stones 

 on the top. Where the old drains existed he was only 



an 

 comm 



