644 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



pulverisation of the soil, the course of management must 

 be varied according to circumstances, but the different 

 operations persevered in till the land is rendered per- 

 fectly clean, and has acquired a certain degree of mellow- 

 ness. No rules can therefore prescribe the eiact 

 number of ploughings, harrowings, &c. to be given ; all 

 these are regulated by the weather, and the nature and 

 condition of the soil. The present season has been 

 peculiarly favourable here for cleaning the land, and 

 executing all the operations connected with fallowing. 



Subsoil Ploughing. — Although the utility of subsoil 

 ploughing, in connection with thorough draining, as a 

 means of improving stiff clays, incumbent on retentive 

 subsoils, is beyond a doubt, it is scarcely at all practised 

 by the farmers in this county. With the view of ascer- 

 taining to what extent the operation is really beneficial, 

 the East Lothian Agricultural Society offered, in lo37, 

 the liberal premium of 21/. for the best Report of Expe- 

 riments on Subsoil Ploughing, as compared with common 

 ploughing. The prize was competed for, and obtained 

 by Mr. Brodie, of Abbeymains, near Haddington. The 

 land selected by Mr. Brodie for experimenting upon had 

 been previously drained in every furrow, 18^ feet apart. 

 It was fallowed in the early part of summer, and alter- 

 nate portions of the field subsoil-ploughed along the 

 ridges to the depth of 16 inches, immediately before 

 flying the dung and giving the seed furrow. These 

 f^V-nts extend from crop 1838 to crop 1843, both 



■«np B ™*i *; nd from Mr * Urodie's valuable Report it 

 \Kwl>§ h the P roduce of the first crop 



bin nnL tLT f re V' "Pon the subsoil-ploughed land 

 than upon that ploughed m .i, Q M Ai i b 



the increased product of the l£,° , "' ma " ner ' yet 



than compensated for the trouble .Sj 68 ye4rS *? T" 



t L a n „„ '.- ., c ., . cailtt expense attending 



the operation, as the following summary o. .j.,, u J}- 



the experiments shows. It may be proper to u 1Mrve 

 that alter the first crop the field was pastured with slic. ' 

 for two years, and then ploughed up in 1841 for Oats : 



Increase in Oats of 10 bushels per Scotch 



acre, at 28. 6d ^15 



6 cwr. Straw, at Is. Sd 10 



On Beans of [i bushels, at 4*. . , l*» 



Straw, i£cwt. t at 2«. . . o 



On Wheat, of 2 bushels, at G*. 6d. , ! o 13 



Straw, 5cwt., at 1*. sd. . , . . o s 



v 



0—^1 15 

 



6— 14 6 

 



4—114 



2. Dutch peat-ashes, inferior quality (gray) 100,000 

 parts consist of 



55,920 parts of silica. 

 3,148 „ alumina. 



5,376 „ oxide of iron, and a little protoxide 



of iron. 



4,340 ,, oxide of manganese. 



8,643 ,, lime, partly combined with silica. 



1,560 ,, magnesia ditto. 



0,228 „ potash. 



3,855 ,, soda. 



6,446' „ sulphuric acid, combined with lime, 



soda, and potash. 

 0,833 „ phosphoric acid, combined with lime 



and iron. 

 6,354 „ carbonic acid, combined with lime 



and magnesia. 

 2,992 „ chlorine combined with sodium into 



common salt, and with potash into 



chlorate of potash. 



100,000 parts. 



As both these sorts of peat occur in the vicinity of 

 the sea-coast, it is more than probable that their great 

 amount of common salt owes its origin to salt water. 

 They are conveyed from Holland to Belgium, where they 

 are very important for the growth of Clover, as it is 

 believed that it could scarcely be well reared without 

 the Dutch peat-ashes, which, however, would be the 

 case, without any doubt, if it was manured (instead of 

 the ashes) with gypsum, common salt, bone-dust, and 

 some other mineral substances, which are to be found 

 in the ashes. Great expense would probably be thus 

 saved. Still the Belgians believe that the peat- ashes 

 contain a substance unknown, which greatly improves 

 the growth of plants. Besides Clover, they use this 

 manure in Belgium for Rape, Potatoes, Flax, Peas, &c, 

 but never for Barley, which consequently, the great 

 aniw* it of gyp SUQ1 seems not to benefit. 



of this bed is used •w. unrir r-«i • — =^ 



for which purpose it answers .«*&*? T^ , 

 immediate vicinity on the lias form..- e cU * >• £ 



and apparently gJod for the pu^ Tot f"7* «* 

 is too ca narenuc o«^ i5 F . es of brick-m.W; 



formed. 



g 



peedC 



limi 



The Dolomitic Conglomerate the tM*J 



ries, is most irregularly distributed overTh?^ ^ 



e district. The chief portion, n f u' W . the »?*«* of 



--- » 



broad. 



the older 



of 

 red 



3 10 10 

 2 



Expense per acre of the operation , 



Proflt per acre on the rotation .... £\ io 10 



The manner of performing the other tillage operations, 

 such as harrowing, rolling, grubbing horse-hoeing, being 

 the same in this as in other parts of Scotland, does not 

 require any further notice in this place.— T. Sullivan. 



ON MINERAL AND INORGANIC MANURES. 



No. XXVI. 



By Professor Charles Sprexgel. 

 c. Peat- Ashes.— If we consider that the ashes of the 

 different sorts of peat are composed of different mineral 

 substances, mixed in very varied proportions, and that 

 there are amongst them substances either most nutri- 

 tious to plants, or such as decompose the humus, it will 

 be easily seen why their use as manures is at tini'-s very 

 beneficial, whilst at others they avail nothing, nay, even 

 are hurtful to the crops. The difference between peat 

 and wood-ashes consists especially in their great amount 

 of silica, oxides of iron and manganese, and gypsum ; 

 moreover they never contain carbonate of potash, which 

 is to be found in all ashes of wood and other plants, 

 because if they contain potash, it is always combined 

 with sulphuric acid. It is gypsum, chiefly, which con- 

 stitutes their value as a manure, which, however, has 

 been hitherto taken no notice of. 



Those sorts of peat which have a small specific weight, 



ThluTn I ,ght " gray - C0l0ur ' are c °™dered the best 

 whilst the red are considered worth little or nothing ; .til 



these criterion* are very deceptive, as at times the light and 

 gray coloured manure much less than the red and heavy 

 ones. V, hether peat-ashes will be a good manure can 

 be decided only by experiments on the fields, or chemi- 

 cal analysis, of which the latter is the surest, because 

 experiments on the field may be accompanied by circum- 

 stances which will prevent the perfect action of the 

 asnes. J have examined many sorts of peat-ashes— both 

 such as produced very little or no effect, as well as such 

 as many years' experience has proved to possess great 

 fertilising power, amongst which latter were several 

 famous Dutch peat-ashes. I place here the results of 

 these analyses as they not only best explain their 



nf ;«?'• *f 16y Can serve a g ric "lturists as a means 

 of judging the value of such as they have at hand. 



(gravVlfto M& eai ' a8h€ '' ° f ackn ™ledged best quality 

 8 14 J??' 000 P arts consisted of J 



47,140 parts of silica. 



MH » •lumina. 



l'oOO " ° Xld i e ' a * ud a Iittle P^toxide of iron. 

 13 634 " 0xide of manganese. 



4 940 " nT' Partly United "to silica. 

 *»>■*" .. magnesia ditto 



s P o°dr h n!; Ti bined * ith 'sul P huric acid. 



fntn ,n J C ° ffib , ined with Chl0rine 



into common salt 

 sulphuric acid, combined partly with 



lime partly with potash aud soda, 

 phosphoric acid mostly combined 



with lime, partly also with iron. 

 chlorine combined with soda into 



1,907 parts of common salt. 

 carbonic acid, combined with lime 



and magnesia, 

 carbon and remains of peat. 



0,200 

 1,013 



7,208 



1,992 



1,144 



4,091 



ft 

 II 



M 



ft 

 ft 

 ft 

 ft 



itf 



GEO-AGkicuLTURAL NOTES ON SOUTH 



GLOUCESTERSHIRE, 



(Continued J^r,.^ fi9R . 



New lied Sand.tont.-Tto M^ occurring a3 



it does almost exclusively along the sides or i\„ hills and 

 highlands capped by the lias, does not cover any *». y 

 great portion of our district. The beds of which it is 

 composed are of three kinds, sandstone, red marl, and 

 magnesian conglomerate. The first of these is the least 

 extensive of any. It occurs in a narrow band, overlying 

 the marl along the edge of the coal strata, which it also 

 covers between Stapleton and Winterbourn by Frenchay 

 and Hainbrook. It is a sandstone of a dark-red colour, 

 much more crystalline in its appearance than the indu- 

 rated marls of the second member of the series. It fre- 

 quently contains small siliceous pebbles, or rounded 

 masses of flinty matter. It is a soft stone when first 

 quarried, but acquires hardness on exposure to the air, 

 and is then used as building-stone. A yellow sand oc- 

 curring in this member of the series is dug at Bristol, 

 and sold for the purpose of strewing on the floors of 

 cottages. The red marl of the new red series occurs along 

 the edge of the hills capped by the lias. Thus, from 

 Henbury, where it overlies the magnesian conglomerate, 

 we trace it along the edge of the highland by Over, Al- 

 mondsbury, Elberton, Lyttleton, and Oldbury, where the 

 tract is of considerable width. A section from this spot 

 towards Thornbury, shows that here also it overlies the 

 strata of the magnesian limestone, on which that town 

 is built. From this its western boundarv, which has been 

 all along its junction with the alluvial deposit, it proceeds 

 in a very tortuous course, by Rockhampton and Hill, to 

 Berkeley, where it overlies a sandstone of the old red 

 series The junction-line of the two runs from Berkeley, 

 south by btone-common, under the edge of Whitecliffe- 

 park, by Falfield, to Moreton, where it again overlies the 

 dolomitic conglomerate. The junction of the marl with 

 the clay of the old red sandstone from Berkeley to 

 Moreton is very obscure; indeed, in tracing it on the 

 map one is guided more by the undulations of the sur- 

 face than by any sectional appearances. The red marl 

 occurs also in the neighbourhood of Newport, where it 

 joins on the old red sandstone and the lias, overlying the 



des'cXd b t 7 n S 0VerI ? id b y ^e other. I have alreadv 

 descubed the line of its unction with the lias from 

 Raynham-fields to Wickwar, where it terminates in a 

 long narrow valley, at the bottom of which abed ofmag- 



bed of 1^ ,S CXp ° Sed - In the marl at Wickwar a 



^?^£S^ m 8ection of * is «*° - »* 



Hin r0 ^ W,Ck r r a narr ° W band extends ™ '« a s Bury 

 a D ar I k 8trata * «»gne.ian limestone again 

 appear. From Chipping Sodbury, where it again com- 



iTmT' VVeTt H dS i al0n ? T thG Cdge ° f the ^"sLder the 

 Has, by V\ esterleigh and Liston to Wick, where it sur- 



which the rocks of the cLf i^o^T^ ban" 

 extends below the edge of the lias, from Kevnsham 



s built on it From Bristol it runs by Stoke Gifford as 

 far as Itchington, bounded on the one side by the lias 



descrTbe^ ''^ J ^ **** ° f 8andst ° ne ^«™ B 



6,600 f„ 



100,000 parts. 





This rock consists in 



rocks, mountain limestone; oM^ed'YaX" 01 the J old * 

 stone grit, yarying in size'from that o? IZl'^f *®> 

 - the human head, and cemented by a v e lo ° wi h ° ^ 

 1-coloured mixture of the carbonate of Hmi . i 0r ' 

 nesia T it varies considerably in ap^ ^ "huH" 

 he Thornbury district, while at Rockhampton it i'L 

 hard and splintery that it is difficult to form a wS 

 specimen, near Thornbury it consists of l ar « >rL£ 

 masses chiefly of mountain limestone, hardly ken T 

 gether by an earthy cement. 3 pi *" 



The Agricultural Character of this formation differ. 



considerably on the three members of which it 1, Z 



posed The soil on the first of these is of a «««££ 



red colour ; it is a light sand. Near Hanbrook it "of. 



purple-red colour. When taken in the fingers it ; £ 



them like a mass of paint. This land is wholly aniT 



where shallow, as is generally the case, it i, ^ 



dependent on the weather. The season cannot be too 



wet for it. Even on this land, however, drainaw hu 



been attended with benefit. The general rotation 



followed, when any system at all is adopted, ii the 



four-field course of Wheat, Turnips, Barley, seeds- 



but here, too, whenever land has by this manijrt 



raent become sufficiently in heart, this rotation is left 



for one more severe. Thus, after Barley, seeds ire 



taken, which are, during the first year, mowed and 



then seeded ; during the second year depastured and 



broken up for Wheat ; after Wheat Barley is taken ; 



then Turnips and then Wheat again, which is followed in 



the usual way by Turnips, Barley, seeds, and so on. 



This is the least injurious of the departures from the 



»^ular course ; for cases occur in this neighbourhood 



where fehAj^ goo d condition has been cropped durinr 



successive years .-; th Wheat| till exhausted . Turnipi 



and Swedes are always sown broadcast. Mangold 

 Wurzel, which is far from being generally cultivated in 

 the county, I saw growing on this soil, for which it is 

 admirably suited. The gritty nature of the soil, by ad- 

 mitting the action of the atmosphere, causes the rapid 

 decomposition of the manure in it, and thus fits it for 

 the growth of bulbs and tubers requiring large supplies 

 of nourishment. The lightness of the soil on this rock 

 renders it very easy of cultivation ; in this it is greatly 

 superior to the soil on the marl. The surfr.ee of the 

 marl being generally exposed on the side of hills, has an 

 undulated appearance ; this renders the soil easy of 

 drainage, and the greatest improvement might be effected 

 in this way, over the whole of the district. It is chiefly 

 in pasture — not above one-sixth is under arable culture. 

 The fields are not large, and they are frequently crowded 

 with trees. Eoth the Oak and Elm flourish here; 

 the finest Elms in the county occur on this formation, 

 near and in Stoke Park. 



When so small a portion of the land is arable it if 

 seldom cultivated on any fixed system, and it is only in 

 farms that r.re almost wholly arable that any regular 

 rotation of crops is adopted. The kind of Wheat sown 

 is the old Red Lammas, or for a spring Wheat, the Unite 

 Essex. These two, with the Blue Cone for the stiff 

 clays on the lias, are the three standard Wheats in tnii 

 district, and, indeed, over tha whole county. Between 

 the sandy and clayey strata of this formation, I went over 

 several fields of a deep sandy loam, either produced by 

 the mixture of the two, or due to the disintegration of a 

 stratum peculiar to itself. The land here is of a most 

 valuable kind, combining the good qualities of that on 

 either side of it; wet will not sour it— heat will w 

 injure it. It is admirably fitted for the growth of lur- 

 nipa, of Wheat, and of Oats and Barley. Little of u"» 

 marl is drained ; the pastures during winter are accor - 

 ingly soaked. The establishment of a tile-^nw 

 Winterbourne by Dr. Fox, and the adoption by mm^ 

 a system of drainage on his own farm, will, it tt . 

 hoped, be productive of good. The soil on the dolomi" 

 conglomerate, the third member, near Thornbury, wne 

 the rock has an earthy character, is of a light s j 

 nature. Near Bristol and Wick, where beds of : « J 

 occur in the rock, it is a stronger soil, and more erw 

 It is there almost entirely pasture. In the n « , S B " il u 

 hood of Thornbury about one-third is ■ rable .> f tll . e ^A l 

 frequently very shallow and easily burnt. Most o 

 arable land is devoted to the Potato culture, this di» • 

 with the surrounding neighbourhood, being tne 

 supply of the Bristol market in this article or i 

 Wheat is grown the first year, Barley next, then e 

 seeds or Potatoes ; if seeds, they are broken up for ^ 

 toes, if Potatoes they are followed by y *»eai. ^ 

 Thornbury district is much crowded with EJm-«e^' d 

 the fields are generally small. Lime is used on this i 

 generally once in a rotation,and is a most pronttoie « 

 —if/. S. 



intht lit 8Cc f tl0 » of thM ; marl * there exposed contains 

 in the lower part of it a great quantity of gypsum, which is 

 arranged in layers corresponding with the planes of stra- 

 tification, and, being connected together by vertical veins 

 and fi ssur e 8 , a reticulated appearance is presented. No 



use is made of this gypsum in an agricultural way, though i*vuu, „. u«. V1 ~-. « ~ _ - m 



its value as a fertiliser has been fully proved. The clay i ceived, reminds me of an old sporting P^ase 



Home Correspondence. . ft 



Drainage.— The castigation which my. ren V re- 

 favour of one of our beneficial old practices nj ^ ^ 







? 





