

1844.] 



THE AGRKULTTRAL (J A Z E T T E. 



581 



-rrrr lediffereot crops, while on those] that it had become stopped up in eonae^eeftce tie fro* 



•"^ properlv drained hii crop* hare of a certain description of weed which ia sometimes found 



' - l ■ t — in drains.— Mr. Turner, agent to the Earl of Zetland, aaid : 



There ia a very important fact 



t; and he feels assured that, by 



drains in the whole of the land, 



7uI~oVgood throughout the farm. There ia 



^-t to which I wish to allude, as 1 am desirous 



m much light upon the aubject, and giving 



emotion as I can, hoping that it may in- 



— t^ try experiments, and thua discover 



'"j^nir - 1 and of advantage. Last year 



M t ni that the Duke of Portland had made about 



"•"T^rf drains in his pr, :y, 15 or 1G inches 



w that be was going to take them up, and sink 



When 1 saw ibis statement in the Mark 

 1 was unacquainted with the groua is upon 

 HZ* k was msde, and I therefore wrote to the agent of 

 V*7^ / Portland for informiition upon the subject. 

 iJZZwmd an answer in due course, in which the iUU 

 1 ptotrtdicted. The agent sUted that he did 



whose authority the assertion was made, 

 neither on his or the Duke of Portland's, 



if «n opinion upon mis subject is different from 

 2L rfllrnniU * I think that drains in clay land 

 ba mad* too shallow, so that the active soil is 



1 believe that drains 18 inches deep—or 

 \ they can be made without disturbing the 

 aenee~soil-- sxe the best.— Mr. Charnock then t>aid — 

 TW isoJmwiin who commenced the discussion spoke 

 iVo* stone drainage. Now I apprehend that no 

 draieege can be good and efficient unless you have 

 a tery eeneV&mbl*- fall to commence with. And it ought 

 f> be reeeUeetrd that the greatest portion of the drainage 



ted or to be fonrn in this county is on land 

 jach flatter surface than is desirable in making 

 drains of the deacription advocated by Mr. Lister. 

 Perhaps you will permit me to allude to one or two sub- 

 iacts which I consider of primary importance to the 

 attainment of effe< e and sufficient drainage. With 

 l Upset to tile», I think it highly desirable that the agri- 

 culturist* of tint county should be impressed with the 

 idleness and importance of choosing tiles of a 

 r, in preference to those of a larger description. 

 I eoeeeive that there are many objections to the use of 



tile* in the majority of casus. In the first pi ire, 



are of greater burden and more liable to sink into 



day on which they are placed than small ones ; and 



ia the next place they are far more expensive. With 



reference to the shape and length of a tile, much has 



d many opinions exp essed, but 1 consider 



this important question is yet almost unsettled. To- 

 day I iespected some specimens of tiles without any in- 

 ternal foot or sole, which 1 consider would answer very 

 *f , in a clayey soil ; and in places where this tile can be 

 need I should recommend its adoption, because by doing 

 without a sole you effect a saving of perhaps 25 per cent. 

 per acre. But there are other lands to which this tile 

 not be applicable. Then, as to the method em- 

 i ia the filling up drains, I may mention that upon a 

 fanner occasion I strongly urged the necessity of filling 

 up immediately over the tiles with some porous substance; 

 that is, suppose the drain were to be cut not less than 

 30 inches deep — but for my own part I should recom- 

 mend that it generally be cut 36 inches deep — then 

 I think thst it : s desirable to cover the tile over for 3 or 

 4 in rati with some porous substance, and nothing can 

 he need for this purpose better than loose stones or 

 ling, and then to have the clay trodden down so as to 

 prevent any substance from being washed by the water 

 into the drain. In speaking upon this subject, I will 

 J** take this opportunity of stating that I think it is 

 ••■table that the water should not filter down through 

 the drain, but that it should percolate from the arch at 

 tht bottom. And, from my own observations, I am led 

 to think that, in general, the great bulk of the water, 

 forttculsrly in wet soils, finds its way into the drain 

 from the oettotn. There are many matters connected 

 k this subject, which must remain in great doubt 



• *1 experiment shall have set the matter at rest, 

 end 1 will take the liberty of suggesting whether it is 

 ■* desirable that the Council of the Society should insti- 

 tute some experiments for the purpose of eliciting, as far 

 Practicable, information upon the various points con- 

 with practical and successful drainage. — Mr. 



. on, of Kirby, observed, with respect to the shape 

 •t tiles, that most people were now in favour of pipe-tiles ; 

 •■t he would mention a case that occurred within his 

 °»n knowledge, iu order to show that they were not 

 J™* 1 t0 °* depended upon. It would be, perhaps, 

 f*°* n ^U in the earlier days of draining, the common 

 1B * was the only tile used, and this was made to form a 



1 think all parties 

 ought to take into their consideration when about to 

 drain land, and that is v. . respect to the after trea 

 ment of the soil. Suppose th* I is intended to lay the 

 land into permanent pasture, and that 

 to let a plough enter it, then 1 state *..h confident that 

 the nearer you place your drains to e hi 



1 do not mean with reference to shallowness ; bu ip- 

 posing that you sink, say . , 1 w< 1 the 



drain nearly to the top with stones. V r, how 

 I recommend this plan «.lb respect to pasture land, 1 

 ehould think thai I was diaplajing the utmost if noran 

 did I pursue the same system on an amble farm. 1 

 this istrj we are as yet but little acou* *d with the 

 advantages i • result from the use of the tube 



lough, and all persons who can lay aside tl 

 prejudices and use this plough, will take oeM to lay 

 their drains in such a manner as not to interfere 

 with the use of such a valuable implement, re 



is another circneaaUuce which I wish to mention to agricul- 

 turist* generally, as it seems to have been lost ghl • 

 by the champ i ons of the res, Imnoefdr* 



These gentlemen seem to ha\e f rgotten that we have a 



natural drain-maker at worn, i iami . the earth v m, and 

 at in time, however tenacious or strong the clay may 

 be, the soil must become more or less porous through n 

 exertions. 1 think, therefore, that it is utterly impossible 

 tor you permanently to prevent the water from ent ig 

 the drain. Some gentlemen have stated, and I have 

 seen the theory advocated by certain of the publ 



journals, that the water really passes down to the • of 

 the drain; and there are others who cont 1 that it 

 enters from the bi >m, but for my own part I am 

 opinion that it enters I drain at the sides. In forming 

 a well, you find the water comes in at the bi >m ; hut 

 the cases are not parallel, because parlieii when they 

 bore for a well merely sink to a spring. With regard 

 the best and cheapest material to be employed in making 

 drains, until the tune arrives when tiles may be obtained 

 for 20.v. per 1000, I think it is the duty of every Sfricul 

 turist to drain with stone where practicable. — Mr. 

 Etheridge stated that it was imposiible to lay down a 

 law suitable to every case. Sorely it must be adm 

 that there ought to be some differ ( nee made between 

 a surface spring and an under spring. The clayey 

 soil of Sussex ought to be treated differently from 

 the soil of Kent, or from that of Northumberland. 

 With respect to the description of tile to be adopted, he 

 considered the pipe-tile upon the whole to be disadvanta- 

 geous. It was well known that on all clayey soils they 

 were sure to meet with sand or other porous substances 



<ra on lana m enox o n with another d es cri ption, 

 the res was decidedly in favour of liquid manure. Too 



irl of Zetland had publiahed, in the Transactions of the 

 Society, the result of an I iperiment which he hod made 



th respect to the application of farm-yard manure to 



rass land. The quant of G rasa grown on a certain por- 

 tion of land so manured, together with its weight, 

 there stated. Now, when he read this stateaseni 

 dct cd to make a comparison between the produce 



f tins land and an equal portion which he caused to be 

 watered i liquid ma re. The Grass was dry. and 

 the waa thai he found fist quantity of .rasa 



oed on the land watered by t »c liquid manure 

 was i. rij double to that whloh had been rep o rt ed 



b, i 



1!» 



dahip. In 





it he watered 



e laud at i he i ate of 3j « yards to the acre, though 



genet ally speaking SO enohl yards were the uanti » 



wh he used, and with I - he was convinced that he 



■tainrd as good OfOps as any ag «< aid wish. 



He was onlj able to manure \2 acres in Kl manner, 



but then he ought to observe that he cu the whole of 

 .it twicr the year, led each time he obtained a good 



crop. Two years ago he applied a qui ttv of this 



are— a c rate t % cubic yards an acre— to a fir Id 



s, and the rr t was, that ire crop waa enfonmlv 



out t! ! larger than any other in the count i? * iiiob he 



card of. That waa ti v experiment « aieh he had 



made with this manure on soil, tin rest having 



ecu laid on clayey land. ompton then stated 



that v i he begin to use this msnure he pumped it 

 out of the tank with a copp- 1 pump, la leas than li 

 months, however, the con ve matter in the manure 

 letely do red the pump. He then got one mode 

 of cast-iron, h less than two years this waa rendered 



useless. He then iered hii joiner to make him a 

 wooden one, and this had been found to answer the pur- 

 pose most satisfactorily. It had been now in use five 

 years, and did not exhibit any symptoms of decay. 



/ Inlaw 7 -It all — At two o'clock on Toes- 



day, in the Town- Hall, l)i Oinson, of L mlon. 



author of M Chemistry for the Use of the Agriculturist," 

 •., delivered a lecture on The I 'ty of a Knowledge 

 lemistry to the Agriculturist, as a Means of saving 

 him from the I nuds practised in the Adulteration of 

 Artificial Manure*. After ► neral observations, 



in the arte of which he showed the heposetbilily of 

 ascertaining, wi ut the aid of chemistry, the genuine- 

 ness of at cial roanurei, he ri plained the nature and 

 properties of gna . which is the deposit of fowls that 

 feed on fish. He illustrated the manner in which the 

 purity of this and other valuable manures of a ghly 

 fertilising character might be tested. The lust expert- 

 l related to the blue stone vitriol, or sulphate of 

 er, which, though not used as a fertiliser, is known 



in digging for drains, and let the person employed in to be of consider Ie importance to the agr ical turist s ia 



t an inch and a half in diameter. About two years 

 J»°^he had occasion to open an old drain formed of bricks 

 ^■•■aanner : ^e drain had almost ceased to be of any use, 

 fcalJf Wt * * D *«ous to discover the reason of the imperfect 

 q~*£ e of toe land where this old method had been adopted. 

 V» examining them he found that the bore or hole of 



of ir * o U M nearl * as PO*« ble nlled with thc oxide 

 J? B, t He °ught to have observed that the land was 



•wy though not quite level, and at first when the drain 



wa? k ed ' il wouid bc found sufficient to carr y off the 



oriaV h i ^ e K rou nd being impregnated with iron, the 

 ^^ eii coIlecled t and in the end, as he had stated, 

 7 fiUed up the aperture of the drain. This was the 

 of the experiment which he had made with 

 U, ajj ^V° lma11 pipe-drains, and he apprehended that 

 ■ g. D torn? °* * 8imilar description, it would not be a safe 

 which K j l ^ eno - He had also opened another pipe-drain, 

 *"*. °iJJ oeen formed for a period of upwards of 20 

 *-* w tdth of this drain was very considerable — 

 I bo fees than six inches, and upon opening it he found 



digging he ever so clever or practical a man, he would be 

 unable to remove this matter entirely away. The con- 

 sequence was that when the drain was filled up, ? is 

 matter would in all probability be pressed into the joints 

 of the pipe, which would soon become partially filled or 

 disturbed, and, owing to its small diameter, it would in 

 a short time become useless. He had not heard 

 any complaints with respect to double tiles, which 

 fitted into each other so as to prevent any matter from 

 entering at the joints. The tiles would cost generally 1 J . 

 or 1 bs. a thousand, but the price would depend in a great 

 degree upon the locality. The first item would be the 

 price of the clay, the next the labour, and the next the 

 quality and the distance the coal would hsve to be led. 

 He could show that where the common double tile is used 

 the expense ranged from 10*. to l!>s. a thousand.— -Mr. 

 Salvin then said, by delaying to drain the land great injury 

 was inflicted upon the farmer. The cost of manuring 

 an acre of land with artificial manure amounted to more 

 than per acre, and should this manure be put on the 

 ground before it was drained, the consequence would be 

 that in many cases it would hardly ever reach the seed. To 

 show the increased productiveness of lsnd after drainage, 

 he stated that while in Kent he was informed by an agri- 

 culturist, that upon part of his farm the average produce 

 formerly was not more than 24 bshls. of Wheat per acre; 

 whereas, after it had been drained, the same land pro- 

 duced 40 bushels.— r. Crompton then spoke on the 

 subject of liquid manure. Within the last four years 

 he had constructed four tanks for the purpose of collect- 

 ing the liquid manure from his fold-yard. The first was 

 a very small one ; and here he would impress upon any 

 gentleman who intended to construct a tank not to fol- 

 low his example, but to make it large in the first in- 

 stance. He should recommend him to make it about 

 half the size of the area of his fold-yard, and then it 

 would contain all the liquid manure that ran from the 

 yard. Two of these tanks were erected in stiff clayey 

 soil, and two in poron* land. Those in the clayey land 

 held water immediately, while those in the gravelly soil 

 had to be cemented before they became sufficiently 

 tight. He filled these tanks three times a year, but he 



had found by experience, that if they had been sufficiently | e . ffer J^f " f ". ^ 

 large, so that he could empty them at one season, the | simple character, and 

 benelicial effects would have been far greater. W ere ne 

 enabled to water the whol • of bis Grass with this manure 

 in the spring the effect would be truly astonishing ; 

 he was convinced that if applied in the proportion of -.0 

 cubic yards to an acre of Grass, it would be found to 

 produce as heavy, if not heavier, < pa than any <\"™^7 

 of other manure that could be applied. Indeed, 

 the crops were so heavy that were they to be greased 



hi an y districts, being used in the preparation of grain 



>r seed. He said that, some six years ago. whilst at 

 K heater, he was waited upon by some farmers to test 

 something which was offerrd by the agent of a London 

 drysalter as blue vitriol, at .'ijrf. a pound, the usual price 

 I 7d. or /. a pound. At the first sight he could 

 not tell whether the article was blue vit 1 or not, but 



y applying a common chemical test — namely, by dissolv- 

 ing a portion of real blue vitriol in a glaas, and a portion 



f what was called blue vitriol in another glass, and add- 

 ing to each a little ammonia (or hartshorn) — he at once 

 detected theimpoMtion, the solution of the genuine article 

 remaining perfectly blue, while the spurious one turned 

 black, and he thereby discovered that what was offered 

 was green vitriol, or sulphate of iron. In order to render 



ie latter less easy of detection, it had been powdered, 

 and he cautioned agriculturists, as a matter of prudence 

 and a check to imposition, never to purchase anything 

 they might, require in a ground state, if it could other- 

 wise be obtained. Turning to the subject of guano, Dr. 

 it. said, when pure it contained two highly fertilising 



ropcrties in great abundance, namely, phosphate and 

 urate of ammonia, as well as very fine bone-dust; 



nd he showed by an experiment, that when genuine, 

 it would dissolve in diluted muriatic acid or spirit 

 of salt. After some remarks on nitrate of soda, 

 a valuable stimulant for many kinds of Grasses, 

 he tested it by applying a qnai i red-hot coal. The 



pure was shown by a beautiful bright blaxe, unaccom- 

 panied by any noise ; whilst, when adulterated by com- 

 mon salt, the presence of the salt was ascertained from 

 the dulnets of the blaze and a continued crackling. Thia 

 test did not apply when nitrate of soda was adulterated 

 with common washing soda. It then required that it 

 should be dissolved in wBter, and the presence of the 

 washing soda would be indicated by effervescence on the 

 application of oil of vitriol; while salt was readily 

 diisolved again in ammonia. The concluding experiment 

 related to gypsum or sulphate of lime, and it proved that 



ire gypsum would not effervesce on the addition of oil of 

 vit ol, but when common chalk, with which it is often 

 adulterated, was present, it was indicated by rapid 



effervescence. All the experiments were of the most 



were all performed by means of 

 two of three common tumbler glasses. 



£ 



they would prove injurious to themselves 

 tested the quality and quantity of the G-~" * 



the land watered by this manure with that 



Miscellaneous. 



F . pcrimenl* on Irrigation The first field "Fo- 

 mented upon in irrigation contains about one-and-a-naif 

 a. re imperial measure, wh was lying a few years ago 

 in a state little better than useless. From its proximity 

 to the farm-steading, it had for many years been .used u> 



„ a park for the calves, which were reared upon the farm 



produced on j for a few week., until they were wesned and pu to 

 at of Grass other pasture. But, as • proof of lU grea. sterility, 



He had 



