612 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



has generally several sets of mowers and their attendants 

 working at the same time, on contiguous farms. Nume- 

 rous contracts have been made for the present harvest, 

 not only in this, but in several other counties in the 

 south of Scotland. 



The scythe employed by the Aberdeenshire mowers, 

 and which is expected soon to become general throughout 

 this county, differs considerably from the common one 

 in the shape and length of the handles. It has 

 two short handles, one projecting from the other, which, 

 by placing the operator in a less constrained position, 

 render it more easily worked than the common one. 

 This scythe has no cradle or other appendage ; each mower 

 is attended by a woman, to make bands and place the 

 Corn in sheaves upon them, and a man immediately 

 follows to bind and stook the sheaves. A stout boy pro- 

 Tided with a large corn-rake having curved iron teeth, 

 can rake to three scythes. 



Reaping by the sickle is also sometimes, but not fre- 

 quently, performed by contract. The county is abun- 

 dantly supplied with reapers from Ireland and the High- 

 lands ; they are hired by the week, and paid according 

 to a certain rate of wages agreed upon by the farmers at 

 weekly meetings held at Linton and other places. The 

 average rate of wages for reapers during the last few 

 years has been about 9s. a week, not including their diet, 

 which is commonly reckoned at Sd. per diem. In the 

 generality of farms, four men are considered to be capable 

 of cutting and stooking an acre of Corn on an average 

 daily throughout the harvest ; these, at Is. M. each per 

 day for wages, and allowing 8</. for diet, make the 

 expense of reaping with the sickle 85. Sd. per acre. The 

 cost of cutting with the scythe is considerably less : a good 

 mower will cut down 1£ acre of Wheat, or 2 acres of 

 Oats or Barley, of an average quality and not much laid, 

 in 10 hours. Taking the Oat-crop for an example, the 

 cost of mowing, binding, stooking, &c, 2 acres, will be 

 as follows : — 



1 man (mower) .... 2*. Od. 



1 man or woman (gatherer) ..16 



1 do. (binder) ... 1 6 



1 man can rake to three scythes . 6 



T. Sullivan. 



Wages . 

 Diet 



Cost of cutting 2 acres 

 Do. of 1 acre 



{To be continued.) 



5 6 



2 6 



8 



4 



Home Correspondence. 



Drainage. — In looking over the strictures of n A 

 Farmer and Valuer," on my remarks on the Report of 

 the Debenham Farmer's Club, the first thing that 

 strikes me as extraordinary, is that an individual, who 

 it would appear is unwilling to give even the authority 

 of his own name to his statements, should expect that 

 his ipse dixit would affect the observations which I 

 made, backed as they were by what I conceive sound 

 reasons and the experience of the best practical drainers 

 in this or, I will venture to say, any other county. As 

 I conceive it to be the duty of every individual to con- 

 tribute his mite to the overthrow of error, and as I 

 think the cultivation and use of "plashings," as practised 

 at Debenham, a most grievous agricultural error, I shall 

 make no other apology for criticising the remarks of 

 your Stowmarket correspondent. He complains of tile 

 drains becoming choked with clay, but it must be evident 

 to every one acquainted with the subject, that that is the 

 fault of the execution of the drains, not of the tiles, as 

 no well executed tile drain can have " clay worked into " 

 it ; indeed, from the very nature of clay, there is no kind 

 of soil in which drains are likely to last so lone, and 

 there are many tile drains in this county, but especially 

 in East Lothian, in all varieties of soil, from plastic 

 clay to sandy loam, which have been in use for twenty 

 years, which are found to work as well as they did when 

 newly put in. I would recommend to " A Farmer and 

 Valuer, the next time he is induced to try tile- draining 

 whether by "chance or otherwise," to put the tiles out 

 of the reach of any working whatever. One of the 



. , - . , - - , — draining 



with straw and plashings, "has been in use in their 

 county for nearly a century, and found very beneficial." 

 I have no doubt his ancestors in the days of yore found 

 it very beneficial to live in a cave or a hut, but that is 

 no argument against the use of a modern house. Does 

 your correspondent carry out his principle by grinding 

 his ^ heat in a quern, in preference to what I presume 



•i?l v erm " march of intellect" nonsense— a flour- 

 ™n • Is his plough a crooked tree ? Does he prefer 

 the ancient wild breeds of cattle and sheep to the short- 



ancTeni J™ ^T*'" ? A11 these had the merits of 

 fh TaL I a8e ' an 2 0f bein S beneficial in their days; 



w5 at what S tr ^ l W n ° P atience * ith ™» who 

 intellect tW ! are P leased to term the « march of 

 intellect, they ought to know that it is to this 



thai it is M. Tl thC Slat ° 9 * hich *• hold." 

 that it is by this that we are enabled to maintain 



a population our fathers never even dreamed of" 

 that it is to bis, under Providence, that they are 

 indebted for a large proportion of their comforts and 

 enjoyments. Your correspondent says "that he does 

 not pretend to know how the water gets into the drains 

 except that it will run down hill." What an extra- 

 ordinary operation the draining of a perfectly level field 

 must be to him. I consider the quotation from Mr. 

 Smith's work on the advantages of draining parallel to 

 the declivity, quite unanswerable, and every one ac- 



quainted with the literature of agriculture knows that he, 

 as well as the other writers whose opinions I quoted, 

 are practical men ; the words about " written theories M 

 were altogether misplaced. I am not at all surprised 

 that a field drained in any way with " plashings " should 

 not be dry ; and with regard to the portion drained 

 obliquely, I think your correspondent's statements very 

 ingenious ; but if I had found the water running down 

 the furrows till it fell into the drains, I would have been 

 inclined to call it all equally wet, instead of dry. It 

 would appear that he has some indistinct notion of 

 another way by which water gets into drains besides 

 running down hill, notwithstanding his assertion to the 

 contrary, for he says M that unless the drains are made 

 not further than six or seven yards apart, the water will 

 not draw into them." I happen not to have the Num- 

 ber of the Royal Agricultural Society's Journal by me, 

 referred to by your correspondent. Does he mean to 

 assert that Mr. Pusey advocates the cultivation and use 

 of" plashings ? " [In conclusion, I have just to say what 

 I asserted before that tile-draining was nearly as cheap 

 as that with straw, and I now assert, in consequence of 

 information regarding some of the new tile machines, 

 that in a country where clay can be got, tile-draining is 

 cheaper ; and I would give u A Farmer and Valuer " an 

 advice I often see in the Gardeners 1 Chronicle, that no 

 one should write about things they do not know about, 

 far less about what they do not even pretend to know 

 about. — J. Girdwood, Featherhall, Midlothian. 



Allotments. — Since addressing you on the allotment 

 system, I have read with pleasure a letter published in a 

 provincial journal, from Sir R. Bunbury, calling upon 

 the landowners in West Suffolk to form a society for the 

 alleviation of the distress of the working classes. I am 

 rejoiced to find that one of the modes proposed to effect 

 this object is the allotment system, under the direc- 

 tion of a committee of management, whose duty it will 

 be to provide land for the labourer at a fair farming rent, 

 and not at the exorbitant price generally demanded for 

 small patches of ground. Should the praiseworthy 

 example of West Suffolk be followed by other localities, 

 it will be the means of extricating the poor man from the 

 rapacity of his neighbour, having land to let out, but too 

 idle to work it himself. I have often looked with pity 

 on the labourer, who, after having hardly earned his 

 daily bread by the sweat of his brow, has repaired to 

 his allotment to expend his remaining strength in the 

 vain hope of raising a few Potatoes for winter consump- 

 tion ; when I knew that his utmost exertions would 

 barely enable him to pay the rent, leaving nothing either 

 for himself, or to purchase manure for the following 

 spring, or buy a pig to assist the muck-heap. The allot- 

 ment system, to answer a benevolent end,, must be based 

 on equity, giving the small tenant every facility for turn- 

 ing his lot to the best account, instructing him how to 

 procure the cheapest manures, and how to use them to 

 the best advantage. As you have, in your notices to 

 correspondents, expressed a determination to bring the 

 allotment system fully before the public, I think I can- 

 not leave it in better hands, and will, therefore, not 

 trouble you again on this subject, unless anything un- 

 usual calls for remark.— Falcon. [We shall always be 

 glad to assist our correspondent, and others interested 

 in the allotment system, in keeping alive a discussion on 

 this subject by the detail of facts and arguments not 

 hitherto published. It is a subject which should be kept 

 constantly before the public] 



Failure of Crops.— We are all in despair in this 

 neighbourhood ; the most flourishing of the early sown 

 Turnip crops are daily disappearing. We hope in the 

 next Agricultural Gazette for advice on this serious 

 calamity, as it is a most unusual cause of destruction 

 which I am about to describe ; and we trust you will 

 suggest remedies, either to arrest the ravages of the in- 

 sects, or prevent the evil from spreading so rapidly, 

 should it appear next season. About a week since the 

 weather was cloudy, cold, and windy, and suddenly the 

 ground was partially covered with innumerable minute 

 frogs and toads, and the Turnips appeared to have 

 received a check in their growth. At this period my 

 crop was very flourishing ; in a day or two the finest 

 plants withered in patches, and now the evil seems 

 almost hourly to increase. The complaint, I grieve to 

 say, is very general, and as no remedy seems to be known, 

 what would you advise being now sown to replace this 

 valuable crop ? I send you specimens of the different 

 insects, in the several stages of existence ; pray name 

 them, and describe their habits-how they may be 

 destroyed, and in which state they commit the greatest 

 devastation We observe the Swede suffers less than the 

 Turnip ; and where Charlock abounds it is first attacked. 

 -A Cotswold Farmer. [We do not know how to help 

 you. Cabbages (the early York), Rye, and Vetches are, 

 as you probably know already, among the earliest of 

 our spring crops. How would it answer your purpose to 

 purchase young Savoy plants of the market-gardeners, 

 and prick them out in your Turnip-beds ? They would 

 be ready about Christmas. Your insects have been sent 

 to Burteola The subject of this communication is a 

 most important one, and any practical farmer who has 

 any suggestion to make, would benefit his " neighbours " 

 by communicating it through us.] 



Farm Implements.— Alter your remarks on the Im- 

 provement of Agricultural Mechanics, I wish you could 

 inspect the simple implements which enable 22 persons 

 to gain their living in comfort on 13 acres in my neigh- 

 bourhood, and two of these families, who had been in the 

 Liuon-houses of Hall.ngly and East Bourn, to become 

 rate-payers instead of rate-receivers. Thevhavenota 

 plough amongst them; the 3-pronged fork, 14 inches 



» 



deep, which the late Dr. Y^h 7 M7~^r^ =:=:= ====r- 

 Statistical Society at Liverpool V ^JT^ 5 *** 

 ground than an/plough ; a^d the Ld 1" If.* ^ 

 rably straight lines by a hoe-the Ver non H 

 being deposited by children ■ and . rnon u hoe -- - _ 

 enough to do this work, can the most' T tre L ** 

 moved by a horse be so advant geou e 1 th 1 *?*" 

 dividual occupier or the communitv 1' '" h f r ( ?\ l . he « 



stir tfc* 



mi 



dividual occupier or the communitv a* rnZ T , \ e ** 

 For, by the law of the land, oil huLn^be"n«t p ^ ? 

 who cannot support themselves must be °„ n n ,!5 N 

 of rates levied on the land, before one farthKT "* °* 

 the owner as rent. Witness Cholesbur' a f ™ «* 

 your Paper some time since. Wh no Then V? * 

 r^ b j letting willing hands do'nu' h^ ^ ? h ^ 

 within their power? for horses need not be kent 1 

 must Large farms have been the fashion of UteZ? 

 Will large farms, with fine agricultural machine d" 

 by fine horses, yield most rent, or send most pd^ 

 market ? On the contrary, my little tenants, P wftn ou u 

 plough, harrow, or any animal of draught, h«Te f or ! 

 series of years paid me more rent than fflT ' \ 

 tenants. In 1840 I took in hand 1000 ac^C 

 tenant, who also had a better farm in occuMtiJTi 

 another parish to learn why my rent was so low a n °d t U 

 poor-rates so high 5 and I think an investigation in to" Jj 

 result would be worth your pains. Not long"™ 

 J. Harrod, of Pevensey, who was in the Hallinelv (Tninn 

 in 1810, told the Earl of Devon, who came fromC a 

 on purpose to see him and other allotment tenant* that 

 he was supporting his family and wife and four children 

 m comfort on three acres, and hoped soon to hare 

 nothing but salt to buy for them ; and since then he has 

 reaped his Corn, and says he is satisfied any man'can «t 

 his living on three acres. My having employed more 

 manual labour on this 1000 acres than my tenant did 

 and let about 2G acres for spade husbandry, has 

 lowered the rates from 5s. 3d. to 2s. 6d. in the pound; 

 and, by the same means, the rates have been similarly 

 lowered in other parishes. By the general adoption of 

 my system, the incendiary fires which raged in Sussex ia 

 1830 would cease, and the Income-tax be rendered unne- 

 cessary, and 5,000,000/. out of 7,000,000/. of the rates 

 in England and W r ales would be saved by the produce of 

 a greater quantity of human food raised by the prong 

 than by the plough. — M. A. G. 



Egyptian Wheat ( Triticum compositum).—! send you 

 the inclosed sample of a small patch of Egyptian Wheat, 

 obtained by dividing and transplanting from 9 grains, so 

 very diminutive and poor, that for a time I thought it 

 useless to put them into the ground. I have beaten out 

 the graiu from five ears, and I find in the smallest 70 

 grains, and in the largest of them 176 grains. I am not 

 a judge of the quality of the grain, but I think it has 

 been somewhat injured by being cut a day or two too 

 early. The straw is about 5 feet in length ; the piece I 

 send is cut from the second joint from the root. — Henry 

 Moule. [The ear sent is a very fine specimen of the 

 variety.] 



Analysis of Onion. — In answer to Mr. Jackson's 

 query as to the mineral ingredients of the Onion, allow 

 me to state that Fourcroy and Vauquelin found in it 

 sulphur, citrate of lime, and phosphate of lime. There 

 is also reason to believe that it contains much muriate 



of potash. — G. W. Johnson. 



Preparation of Seed. — I have, this year, a field of 

 Oats, the centre part of which was drill-sown with seed 

 that had been steeped for 24 hours in the contents of a 

 cess-pool (in which the water from the cow-byer, stable, 

 &c. collects), and subsequently sprinkled in the usual 

 way with lime : on one side of this centre portion the 

 corn was sown by the hand, and on the other drilled, the 

 seed being, in both cases unprepared ; the result has been 

 that the plants from the prepared seed have not one single 

 blighted, or black head of corn ; but on both sides of it, 

 where the seed was unprepared, they abound. The seed 

 was thrashed from the same stack, the land in the same 

 state of culture, and sown the same day.— t. u. 

 Johnson, Ayhleyheads, near Durham. . 



Egyptian Barley.— A young friend of mine had six 

 grains of Egyptian Barley given her last spring, vnicn 



little gi 



iuey iiavc tuiereu greatly, turn «v« •»•*• t" -„ 



to 70 good ears of six-rowed Barley, of about ,6.5 grams 

 each. Call it 60 only, and here are 4200 grams from 

 grains, or 700 for one — S.H. 



Potato-crop.— I have read in your Paper the comma- 

 nication of one correspondent who attributes the failure 

 of this crop to the tubers being unripe as one caosj 

 and this I know from experience to be erroneous, ado 

 33 years ago, I lived in a district where a considerate 

 breadth of land was annually planted with early Fotaroe 

 for the Manchester market ; and about the end .01 Jua«i 

 when the small Potatoes were not disposable at manreH 

 the Potato-growers picked the largest of the small one 

 out, and threw them on the ground a few days to naroe . 

 and to green a little by exposure to sun and air. r 

 ingthem after this to answer the purpose of seed w e , 

 adopted the practice, and have ever since saved .\ ne * 

 Potatoes from the earliest and second sorts in this man 

 ner, and have not had one failure in the whole time. 

 This year I planted from seed saved this way at ; ▼arm 

 times from the beginning of April till the ™ ldd * e * 

 June, and in all the various plantings, * ltho »^J* 

 shoots of some of the latest had been broken oft tine , 

 previous to planting, I have not one in a hundred w 



Can you not urge for gener 

 .. -A_j l— •» that Aencul 



grains ot Egyptian .barley given ner !«<• »i»»"d» — 

 he planted in her little garden about three inches aparx. 

 Phey have tillered greatly, and now the produce amounis 



8 



They 



has not come. — J.Jackson. e « n eral 



adoption what I have sugges'ted here, '/ that , Ag " C f 

 • ~ * ' *iould employ a chemist, who, <" 



Chemical Analysis. 



I 













tural Societies should employ a chemist, wbo, * 

 certain fixed rate, should analyse soils and manures 



