596 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



[Aug. 31, 



applied as ordinary manure; and the liquid manure 

 should have its ammonia fixed by sulphuric acid ■ or 

 sulphate of iron (see Gardeners' Chronicle, No. od), 

 and may be used in garden or field, as you choose]. 



octettes. 



ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY of ENGLAND. 

 On the last day of this Society's meeting at Southamp- 

 ton, Dr. Auckland delivered a lecture on Artesian Wells, in 

 the course of which he made the following remarks on the 

 means of improving land which Geology affords i— In his 

 address, last Wednesday, to the Council of the Royal Agri- 

 cultural Society,hehad spoken of the capabilities of perma- 

 nent agricultural improvement in Hampshire, and ot.ier 

 southern counties of England, especially in the districts 

 between the sea-coast and a line drawn from Dorchester 

 through Salisbury and Winchester to London, including 

 Wareham Heath, Poole Heath, the New Forest, and 

 Bagshot Heath. If the improvement of these wastes 

 py the mineral manures that lie beneath their surface 

 *ere taken up in a scientific manner, and on a large 

 scale, by great proprietor;, or by a land improvement 

 company, small portible steam-engines, and portable 

 tram-roads, may be employed to raise from shafts that 

 may be sunk in any pare of this district, and transfer to 

 profitable distances, and spread upon the surface the 

 chalk, and clay and marl, that lie at various depths under 

 the area of these sandy wastes. Thus the silt of the 

 Humber has, with very great profit, been lately trans- 

 ferred by tram-roads to be spread on the surface of barren 

 p-at. In Norfolk vast tracts of sandy rabbit-warrens 

 have during the last half century been converted to pro- 

 ductive Corn-fields, by adding to their surface a top- 

 dressing of marl, clay, chalk, or shelly sand and gravel, 

 locally called crag. The cost of such top-dressings ot 

 mineral manure need rarely exceed 10/. an acre, and the 

 benefit thereof is the conversion of waste into perma- 

 nently valuable arable land. On Lincoln Heath, waere, 

 not 100 years ago, a land lighthouse was erected to guide 

 the benighted traveller across a barren sandy desert, 

 the application of scientific agriculture and capital had 

 converted thousands of acres of unprofitable heath into 

 pleasant and productive Corn fields. The chalk hills also 

 that form the wolds of Lincolnshire, and the wolds of York- 

 shire, had been made rich by processes which were now 

 beginning to be introduced in Hampshire. On Thursday 

 last the Prussian minister had called the attention of the 

 assembled agriculturists of "England to the example of 

 good farming that is set them by the most illustrious 

 of living warriors, the Duke of Wellington ; and near 

 S rathfieldsaye may now be seen rich fields of Barley and 

 Turnips on naturally he;ivy clay lands, which two or 

 three years ago were reeking with moisture, and inca- 

 pable of that rotation of green and grain crops which all 

 good farming requires. The Duke of Wellington was 

 year after year improving his clay lands, first by thorough 

 draining, which is the indispensable precursor of all other 

 improvements, and after drainage spreading large quan- 

 tities of chalk over the surface of the clay. Not less 

 than 1000 waggon loads of chalk had, during the last 

 year, been brought from Basingstoke to the neighbour- 

 hood of Strathfieldsaye. Similar improvements of poor 

 sandy soils may be made by laying upon them a good top- 

 dressing of clay and chalk, in addition to ordinary 

 manures ; and Geology had ascertained the existence of 

 several kinds of marl and clay at various depths beneath 

 the poor sandy heaths which form so large a portion of 

 South Hants and Dorset and Berks. The place of these 

 day beds is often indicated by the oozing of water and 

 growth of rushes near the base of the sloping sides 

 of the shallow valleys or combes that traverse these sandy 

 plains, having their base frequently covered with peat. 

 Between Christchurch and Poole many such oozing 

 streamlets point out spots from which, by the aid of a 

 small steam engine and tram-road, clay may be brought 

 ■up" to reclaim the sandy wastes around each of these 

 centres of supply of fertilising mineral manure ; and the 

 efficacy of this process had been shown on a small scale 

 near Poole in little inclosures, made by a few indus- 

 trious peasants. In Hampshire he rejoiced in the occa- 

 sion of recording a much greater example of improve- 

 ments of this order now in progress on the property of 

 Sir W. Heathcote, who has already converted to good 

 arable land large inclosed portions^of the sandy surface 

 at Anfield and Cranberry Heath, by enriching them with 

 the permanent mineral manures of clay and chalk. Sir 

 s "W. Heathcote has also adopted on the farm he occu- 

 pies at Hursley, the practice of stall-feeding oxen, which 

 is essential to produce the great quantities of manure 

 that are required for the fertilisation of all soils that are 

 naturally poor, and without which the improved fertility 

 of the chalk and sandy lands in Lincolnshire could not 

 be sustained. The conversion of barren soils to fertility, 

 is an example of the practical application of geology to 

 the useful purposes of life, and the sciences of agricul- 

 ture and civil engineering must obviously be imperfect 



« ~t *u~:_ *. x j_ . , /. 



universality of the disease only increased the necessity 

 for discovering its cause ; and he expected to derive 

 much information on the point from gentlemen connected 

 with En-land and Ireland, as well as their own country. 

 He took°the opportunity to read a communication from 

 Mr Girdwood, of Bute, of which the following are ex- 

 tracts — •■ In 1838, while residing at Bute, I succeeded 



in some of their most fundamental points, without a 

 knowledge of the composition of soils and structure of 

 the earth. — Hampshire Independent. 



HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY'. 



At a public breakfast, on the occasion of the late 

 Annual Meeting of this Society in Glasgow, the following 

 interesting conversation took place, on the subject of 

 Failures in the Potato Crop: — Professor Johnston 

 stated that the disease in the Potato was not confined to 

 this country. It was experienced in France, Germany, 

 Holland, Prussia, Russia, and all over the Continent, as 

 ■well as in North and South America, showing that some 

 elementary principle was required to cure the evU. The 



1841, where I carried a sample of them with me; they 

 succeeded well in 1841 and 1842, and I had every reason 

 to expect they were going to turn out valuable field va- 

 rieties. Last year, however (1843), they were almost a total 

 failure ; still the few that did grow were preserved, have 

 been planted this year, and have become healthy and 

 vigorous. Again, on the same field last year (1843), a 

 plot of smooth beds showed symptoms of disease— in fact, 

 there was a good many blanks, and the whole plot was 

 stunted and weakly. I have this year, by way of expe- 

 riment, planted a portion of the produce of this plot ; 

 farther, I intentionally planted them late when the soil 

 was exceedingly dry, and after the sets had lam cut for a 

 week, they have come quite regularly, and look 

 healthy. I shall only further remark, that I have known 

 the plan of keeping those intended for seed in the ground 

 all winter, having tried it for several, years past with 

 uniform success."— Mr. Burnet, of Gadgarth, in stating 

 the results of his own experience, said he never planted 

 Potatoes without thoroughly draining and subsoil-plough- 

 ing the land. He had experienced no failures in the 

 Potatoes till last year, and that in only one variety, the 

 Rou^h Reds. This year he had experienced a failure in 

 another variety, the Russian Dons; but this description 

 of failure was very different from that of last year. The 

 general crop is extremely healthy ; but here and there, 

 sometimes one and sometimes two have failed. On ex- 

 amining the Potato which had been planted, it was found 

 to be quite fresh, with the skin unbroken but the plant, 

 which had at first grown up well had withered and died. 

 As to other kinds of Potatoes, he had planted them this 

 year both whole and cut, and there were no failures. He 

 had planted about three acres with guano alone, and 

 without any farm-yard manure, and they had come up 

 invariably vigorous and healthy, except in a very few in- 

 stances, where the land was not pulverised ; and he 

 attributed this, not to the Potato, but to the hardness 

 and roughness of the land, the rest of the field being the 

 most healthy crop he had seen. Another experiment he 

 tried was this :— Last year he planted a variety of 

 Potatoes, and particularly those that were likely to fail, 

 between October and the end of September, at a depth 

 of 12 inches (!) some of them with manure on the top, 

 and some without, and the result was, that those varieties 

 which had failed before failed again. About three- 

 fourths of the crop, however, was good. With regard 

 to the failure that took place in the winter-piaiuea 

 Potatoes, it was somewhat different from that which 

 took place in the spring.planted Potatoes. They began 

 to vegetate in spring, but instead of sending up a sprout, 

 it came only a short way, and formed a tuber on the 

 top.* A less proportion of those planted in spring were 

 good ; and he had invariably found that Potatoes left in 

 the ground came up fresh and vigorous without any 

 failure at all. — Mr. Alexander, of Southbar, had grown 

 Potatoes very extensively, and could say from his own 

 experience, that he never had a failure but where the 

 Potato was ill-treated by previous management, by being 

 heated, or otherwise. They were pitted in too large 

 quantities, and these bins all heated more or less. He 

 had never seen a failure in Early Potatoes, which was, 

 in his opinion, accounted for by their never being stowed 

 away in such large quantities ; and they were, besides, 

 never so ripe. He found great advantage from putting 

 in Potatoes early, while the land was still moist, and then 

 covering them over with dry gypsum. — Mr. Allison, of 

 learns, said, he believed vegetable life was just like 

 animal life, in so far as it would be injured by bad treat- 

 ment. He had seen whole Potatoes grow frequently 

 where cut ones failed, though if the latter did not fail, 

 they produced better crops than when whole. He also 

 found that the Potatoes were stronger for seed when they 

 were reared from whole Potatoes. If they were raised 

 for two years from whole Potatoes, his experience led 

 him to believe that disease would be cured ; they should 

 just allow them to remain in the ground, and never 

 touch them. — Mr. Anderson, who has the management 

 of large estates in the northern parts of Ireland, had 

 watched narrowly the progress of Potato-growing for 

 many years. He had found that where the land was well 

 drained and pulverised, failures seldom occurred. His 

 plan on his own farms was, to drain thoroughly, pul- 

 verise the soil, open the drills, and put in the sets, and 

 cover all up in half an hour with the plough ; and with 

 this treatment he never had a failure ; and when he left 

 them exposed to the sun he found that they always 

 failed. He tried the practice of digging the Potatoes 

 before they were too ripe. The farmers around com- 

 plained of this, and would not take their seed from him, 

 because they were not ripe ; but he had derived great 

 advantage from the practice. He employed careful 

 people, too, to select for seed those Potatoes that had 

 not been injured, and he never planted a Potato that had 

 been injured by the grape or otherwise. In stowing 

 away seed Potatoes he used a long pit, two and a halt 

 feet wide at the bottom, and well drained, covering it well 

 up to keep out the air, and never opening it till the seed 



. * . .i «n.!i_ i.i.- _ .» _ n _*..*._ r__ „„ Q ,1 



if it dried into a mealy, starchy substance, then it was 

 considered good, and sown; but if it was watery, then it 

 was rejected. He had sometimes got the farmers to 

 wash the seed in pure fresh water, and then had the 

 ground pulverised all over with lime, &c. He might 

 say that, during many years, he never had a failure in 

 Potatoes, except in one instance, when, during his ab- 

 sence in Scotland, they were allowed to become too ripe, 

 and the land-steward put a large body of them together, 

 when they heated and rooted. In Armagh, through a 

 great part of which he had travelled investigating this 

 subject, he found that where the land was thoroughly 

 drained and subsoil-ploughing attended to, there was no 

 failure. — Mr. Sterling, of Kenmure, gave some interest- 

 ing details regarding the introduction of the Potato into 

 this country. He said Gerard, an old English botanist, 

 raised seedling Potatoes in 1590 ; they were planted in 

 the open field in England in 1G84 ; and they were 

 planted in a similar way in Scotland by Thomas Pren- 



tice, a day labourer, at Kilsyth, in 1728; they were 

 introduced to Ireland about 1610, by Sir Walter 

 Raleigh. In reference to the taint in Potatoes, he might 

 state that there was no failure 30 years ago, although 

 it was often roughly treated ; now disease existed in 

 almost every country where the Potato was cultivated, 

 whether in Europe or America. The oldest varieties, 

 viz., the Rough Red and the Common Red, are most 

 subject to disease; the Cups, one of the newest sorts, 

 blossoms, but seldom bears apples in Scotland ; it is 

 one of the most healthy kinds, but within the last two 

 years has begun to fail in Ireland. He believed 

 the disease in this plant was caused by our having 

 allowed it to bear seed annually for so long a period of 

 years— not, as some, supposed, by having encouraged it 

 to put forth its productive powers below the surface, 

 but by allowing it to shed its seed to waste on the 

 surface of the soil ; he believed that the taint did not 

 arise from fungus, or disease by contact, for his friend 

 Mr. Houston had this year manured a patch of Potatoes 

 with a cart load of decayed ones, and they gave promise 

 of a good crop. The strongest presumptive evidence 

 which he could offer in favour of his views was, that the 

 late varieties, which blossomed freely, are those which are 

 tainted with this disease, whilst the early varieties, which 

 rarely blossom, are free from it. Why then does not the 

 farmer pluck the blossom in his Potato fields, when it 

 has been proved that this practice gives an extra weight 

 of produce ? It is because he is not convinced that by 

 allowing the seed to ripen he exhausts not only his soil 

 but his Potato plant, and loses starch from the tubers. 

 He at one time thought that by plucking off the blossoms 

 of our present stock of Potatoes, the disease might be 

 arrested or cured ; but he learned last week that some 

 varieties raised from seed a year or two ago ^e^ready 

 decaying-thus proving that a » corrupt tree could not 

 bring forth good fruit." Under these *™™*™»** 

 saw no alternative but to get a fresh supply of. leed-and 

 the sooner the better-from Peru or any other native 

 country of the Potato, where freeh plants Jare ton 

 allowed to come up every successive year. U nless « me 

 thing were done, the Potato might ^generate »^8«th«. 

 -Sir Robert Bateson, from Ireland begged toj^ a ew 

 facts from his own experience. On one occasio 

 Potatoes in the drill daring ^f'^l^ grew 



pying the ground with other crops ; bat he ««wg 

 P .U be found ad-'-ageo- o Uy - e^fie. ^ ^ 



purpose. He planted .teum ' sIy> but, strange 



without a single miss, and most vigo ,, ^ 



to say, they cont nned I growth t • ^ p caused bjr 

 ♦Wp nlanted in the spring, remap p rtrnrnP s. to 



those' planted in the spring 



Mr being planted deeper than -J^T^ iKr. 

 protect them from fce tro*t. He lea TllU 



Lid, of Berry, which wa ™*T * tbem in tbe 8nn 

 gentleman ra.sed his 1 P^atoes a B f p f d . he the n stowed 

 Till they became dried and unfit j '» r '» ; f ilure . H e 

 them away, and when plant e d never kn w^ 

 found that whole Pot. .toes new > ^ tfa cut 



alter crop, and much smaller ^ ^ ^ shaws 



a sm 



ones. 



:r uiu F , « _ s a i ew bun.™ 



UUM . It was his P^'^Xs as be entirely disap- 

 became ripe, to dig the potatoes, f Barr0 . 



proved of ripening too muc h M ';*£»», were le ft 

 "ban, could conhrm th c. .that ^ 

 in the ground the whole bei planted) 



failed ; and tbe later Potatoes ^ ,„ 



and tbe less ripe they were the les sj J ?Q . 



fail. He had always «£»**£ £ st for seed, and the 

 tato, the worst in q"^" the be* fae d 



least likely to prove failure- * > > i(Jeathat the 

 tried to raise Potatoes £°» «£?• ™ after innumerable 

 plant bad become degenerate. °, 8 of plan ts, he bad 

 trials,, and rising many thousands «£» ^Oon, 

 never produced 



s.n^le healthy variety ; therefore, 

 never produceu o..= sin ie j geed to 



they must look tosometh.ng < H„hte opinion, the only 

 produce healthy Potatoes and, , » b>s ^P» ^ other 

 bing Ukely to do this wei i the introa ^ w 



m0 de of treat-en t . J\ ^ be *» ,„ dressing 



produce a more healtny iou. i of goda 



Ik. Potato with nitrate of soda, ana » i , ted , 



This gave a crop which, when p 



His Potatoes, dress 



the Potato 



had more vitality than when raised^ Aocom^ ^ 



yard manure 



a 



in 



lu. 1=;; .aid 'I person who m 



ard manure.-Mr. Aiexanoar .» » J . e rson W 

 ureal deal of starch got his Potato" r t£) 



= ?..:-Khnnrhood. and it was found that the o 



was to beplanted. While catting the Potato for seed , •^^^j, , n d it was found that t^^- -^ 



* The depth at which they were planted was evidently one ( f or 8 tarch was the worst for see 

 cause of the failure of the winter-planted Potatoes. 



