











1844.] 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



657 



G 



UANO for SALE, in Bags of 1 cwt. each, just 



landed, with a succession of cargoes to arrive.— Successive 

 """"re* experience has unquestionably proved that Genuine 

 r^no is the simplest, cheapest, and best Manure within the 

 rh of the Agriculturist. The only reasonable anxiety which 

 1 remains is to procure the Guano unadulterated, and to 

 D hflin such practical directions for using the Manure as shall 

 ? lit develop its productive powers. To secure to buyers these 

 •disDensable requisites, with each purchase will be given a 



■rranted chemical analysis of quality, and also a copy of the 

 W ^V,,tlv-Dublished Pamphlet, "Practical Instructions for using 

 rnano as » Manure, illustrated by Practical Results." 



llree parcels will be delivered direct from the ship or water- 

 •irieDremises ; smaller quantities may be had at the warehouses, 

 9i and 25, Billiter-street, or delivered within any reasonable 

 distance at a trifling additional cost. Apply to James Clark, 

 54, BiUiter-stteet. 



WHEAT-SOWING. 



FREDERICK BRAIN begs to call the attention of 

 the Agricultural world to his GUANO MANURE, prepared 

 ressly f or wheat crops : it abounds in all the ingredients that 

 are necessary for a good grain crop. He particularly solicits 

 nersons who found the Foreign Guano a failure last season to 

 eivebisa trial, it being much more powerful, and free from 

 adulteration, so justly complained of in the Foreign by Agricul- 

 turists, as well as by all the leading Agricultural Journals. 



Testimonial to Brain's Guano Manure.—' 1 5 a, Hawley Road, 

 Kentish Town, London, Aug. 15, 1844.— This is to certify that 

 we have subjected Brain's Guano to a most patient and rigo- 

 jous analysis, and find it contains all the necessary constituents 

 of a good manure, and is well calculated to give fertility to a 

 soil which is either naturally barren, or has been exhausted by 

 over-cropping, by supplying the land with those substances 

 which are absolutely requisite to a healthy vegetation : (it is 

 not adulterated, and can always be depended on, being of uni- 

 form composition.)— (Signed) John Mitchell and Frkdkrick 

 Field, Analytical Chemists, of the Royal Polytechnic Institu- 

 tion, London." 



Also, Brain's highly- concentrated LIQUID GUANO, for 

 Grass Lands, Gardens, Shrubberies, Hothouses, and Conserva- 

 tories, price ls.orf. per quart bottle, with full directions for use, 

 (enough for 80 gallons of Liquid Manure), to be had of most 

 respectable Florists, Seedsmen, and Chemists in town and 

 country. 

 Works, Thomas-st., Duke-st., Stamford-st., Blackfriars-road. 



ffije ag ricultu ral ffiraytto 



SATURDAY, SEPTEMB ER 28, 1844. 



MEETINGS FOR THE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS. 

 Thursday, Oct. 3 — Agricultural Imp. Soc of Ireland. 



Thursday, Oct. 10 — Agricultural Imp. Soc- of Ireland. 



FARMERS' CLUBS. 

 Sept. 30-Chepstow. I Oct. 5— Collumpton, 



Oct. 2— Harleston. | Oct. 8— Abergavenny. 



Oct. 9. — Monmouth. 



"~ We have read with an interest, which has doubt- 

 less been shared by the great majority of our sub- 

 scribers, the accounts of the agricultural improvements 

 effected by Mr. Mechi, the spirited proprietor of 

 Tiptree Farm, and we heartily hope they may fully 

 answer the expectations of their liberal and enlight- 

 ened promoter*. Some theoretical views on 

 drainage are proposed by Mr. Mechi in our Num- 

 ber for August 17, avowedly for the purpose of 

 inviting discussion; and therefore we have no scruple 

 m submitting our doubts as to the correctness of some 

 of them. The point particularly alluded to is the 

 statement at p. 562, in the middle column. Mr. 

 Mecbi's proposition is as follows ; — "The surface of 

 the drains should nearly equal the surface to be 

 drained ; so that if the surface to be drained were 

 nine square feet, the sides and top of the drain 

 should present an area of nine superficial feet." 



This proposition appears to be stated in much too 

 general a manner, for we do not perceive that any 

 necessary connection can exist between the area to be 

 drained, and the dimensions of the drain by which such 

 ^ea shall be effectually freed from the stagnation of 

 surface-water ; on the contrary, it appears to be very 

 evident that the proper extent of porous surface, as 

 well as of the internal dimensions of a drain, neces- 

 sary to dry a certain space of ground, must vary 

 according to the climate of the locality for which the 

 Jfrain is intended, and not according to the area to be 

 urained. To render this more evident, we have 

 extracted from the Meteorological Journals, pub- 

 ^ m ont hi y i n tne « Annals of Natural History," 

 we tollowing Table, showing the monthly quantities 

 oi rain -which fell in 1843 at Chiswick and Orkney 

 i^cuvely . The Table is as follows :— 



Months. 



January 



February 



March 

 April 



May 



June 

 July 



August 



September 

 October 



November 

 December 



of r ^ m tnis it will be seen that the total quantity 

 thoj. n . k? 1 y ear was one fourth more at Orkney 



comr.il i C ,. hlswick ; and b y Dr - Walton's Tables, 

 tietvVi u the Tra nsactions of the Royal So- 

 quamtt °c SOurces > we find that the annual mean 

 V^gLgLjgigJn^ jifferent parts of the country 



their Jet2u < Ji,T Cana wish to be understood as approving in all 



ttptwe: but th»t 7« ea8U "? which Mr - Mechi has ,atel y taken at 

 1»£ ', Ul hat does not "hinrtpr ,,« *v„«, v«»„„««„ &. strict. 



vary from (37 inches, amongst the mountains of 

 Cumberland, to 20 inches, in Essex ; the mean of 

 all England and Wales being 31 inches. No uni- 

 form rule as to the area of porosity or the internal 

 dimensions of drains can therefore be given, without 

 reference to the locality and climate for which the 

 drains are to be calculated. 



The next objectionable proposition of Mr. Mechi 

 is the assumption that the superfluous surface- 

 water should run off through the drains within the 

 same space of time in which it fell from the clouds. 

 Now if we attend to the actual state of things, as it 

 occurs in nature, we shall find that though water falls 

 during rain, in equal quantities over the whole sur- 

 face of a field, yet, as the drains by which it is to be 

 carried off are placed at certain intervals in the field, 

 the water must run into them unequally, some part of 

 it having to filter through a greater distance in order 

 to reach the drains than the rest. Whatever, there- 

 fore, be the area of porosity of the drains, the water 

 cannot escape as rapidly as it fell. And further, 

 it appears pretty certain that it is not even desirable 

 that water should escape so rapidly, even if 

 means could be found to enable it to do so. The 

 gentle percolation of rain-water through the soil, 

 accompanied by air and other gases, is probably 

 highly beneficial to vegetation. It therefore appears 

 that the conditions of perfect drainage are suf- 

 ficiently fulfilled, if the area of the drains be 

 such that all superfluous surface-water is in a con- 

 stant state of motion towards the drains till it is 

 ultimately carried off by them. 



If we now proceed to offer a very rough ap- 

 proximation to the size of drains necessary to 

 secure the condition of perfect drainage above 

 described, we shall probably find that the dimen- 

 sions of Mr. Mechi's drains, instead of being too 

 small, are unnecessarily large, and that great waste of 

 capital has been hitherto incurred in draining land, 

 from the drains having been made much more capa- 

 cious than necessary. We do not allude at present to 

 the large deductions for evaporation and for the con- 

 sumption of the plants growing on the surface of the 

 land, to be made from the amount of rain which falls 

 in any locality before it reaches the drains. 



But assuming for a moment all the water which 

 falls upon a given surface of ground in any locality 

 to be carried off by drains, let us inquire what the 

 size of the drains must be in order readily and surely 

 to effect this at all seasons. Referring to the same 

 meteorological journals as before, the following is a 

 Table of the greatest amount of rain which fell in 

 any day, and in any three days in each month of 

 last year at Chiswick and Orkney respectively : — 



Months. 





Chiswick. 





1 



Orkuey. 







Inches and decimals 



CO a 



Inches and decimals 



-A 



s >> 



n — 



- 



of rain on each of 

 3 most rainy days. 



! 5"5 



of rain on each of 

 3 most rainy days. 



w 



5 "3 









1-91 







I s 



Jan. 



0.87 0-67 



37 



0-29 010 



081 



T20 



Feb. . 



0.32 



0-20 



0'09 



, 61 



59 , 0*57 



036 



1*51 



March . 



029 



012 



1-16 



0-57 



0"92 ; 0*71 



051 



2 14 



April 



0-26 



0-28 



0-26 



SO 



029 



0'26 



35 



0'90 



May 



021 



008 



006 



0-35 ' 



0-49 



0-37 



040 | 



1-26 



June 



22 



0-23 



0*35 



080 



041 



041 



0-47 



1-29 



July 



1-26 



053 



0-57 



2*36 



1-12 



0-55 



0-2/ 



1-94 



August. 



23 



0-64 



020 



0-79 



0*57 



013 



0'12 



0-82 



Sept. . 



024 



050 



0-16 



0-90 



086 



0-65 



045 



r96 



October 



1-03 



0-61 



095 



2'59 



0-36 



0-25 



025 



0-86 



Nov. . 



052 



0*20 



0'24 



1 0*96 



0-29 



036 



024 



089 



Dec. • 



1 0-88 



034 



052 



1-47 



0-60 



0-47 



0-53 



1 1 60 



N.B. In the above Table tne three days' ram were never con- 

 tinuous, but the three most rainy days are picked out of each 

 month promiscuously. 



From the above Table it appears that though the 

 whole quantity of rain which fell in 1843 was much 

 greater at Orkney than at Chiswick, yet that on 

 particular days more fell.at Chiswick than at Orkney. 

 Probably the soil would be less saturated with rain 

 at Chiswick than at Orkney, so that the extra 

 quantity which occasionally fell would be more 

 rapidly evaporated, and therefore the extent of drains 

 requisite to free a given space from water would still 

 be greater at Orkney. We do not, however, at present 

 take into account the amount of evaporation. It 

 appears that on only two occasions in the last year 

 did the rain which fell at Chiswick in one day ever 

 reach one inch, and only once in that year at Ork- 

 ney; if, therefore, drains are calculated to allow 

 one inch of rain to run off in three days, they would 

 have been sufficient last year for either Chiswick or 

 Orkney, without reckoning the amount carried off as 

 vapour by evaporation, or for the supply of vege- 

 tation. What area of drains, then, is necessary in 

 order that the land shall be freed from one inch 

 of surface-water in three days? Supposing the 

 drains made at intervals of 18 feet, each would 

 receive the water from a distance of 9 feet on each 

 side of it, each foot of the length of the drain would 

 correspond to 18 square feet of ground, and these 

 covered by one inch in depth of water, would carry 

 exactly one cubic foot and a half for each longi- 



tudinal foot of drain. Hence at the end of a drain 

 300 feet long, (which is the length recommended by 

 Mr. Mechi), there would be 450 cubic feet of water 

 1 to pass ofl in three days. This comes to 1 cubic 

 foot of water in 10 minutes, or 172 cubic inches of 

 water to be discharged every minute. But as 

 Mr. Mechi says that a drain should not run above 

 half full, let us estimate the quantity of water to be 

 discharged at double its actual amount, or at 344 

 cubic inches per minute. Assuming a very small 

 velocity in the water running out of the drain, viz., 

 that of only 30 feet or 360 inches per minute, the 

 area of the end of the drain would not require to be 

 quite one square inch. This sectional area, corres- 

 ponds to that of a circular pipe not quite one inch 

 and a quarter in its internal diameter, which would 

 be all that would be necessary to hold double the 

 quantity of water which, according to the above 

 hypothesis, is ever likely to run through it in the 

 climate of Chiswick. It is evident that the upper 

 parts of the drains might safely be composed of tiles 

 of even less than an inch diameter, so far as their 

 capacity for holding the water likely to run into them 

 is concerned. Thus, the quantity of water which 

 would run through the drains made by Mr. Mechi 

 on Tiptree Farm, if only half full, would be above 

 ten times the quantity likely ever to find its way into 

 them at one time. 



But another most important element must be taken 

 into account in determining the real size of drains 

 requisite in any given locality, viz., the large portion 

 of the water falling upon the ground which is 

 converted into vapour, or taken up by plants before 

 it can reach the drains. In the varied circumstances 

 of different fields at different seasons and under 

 different management, perhaps nothing but actual 

 experience can inform us whtt allowance it is safe to 

 make for this mode of carrying off water in esti- 

 mating the amount which must be carried by drains 

 from a given surface. 



It would, therefore, be very important to have 

 registers carefully kept of the actual discharge of 

 surface-water, together with the velocity of the current, 

 from the main drains of a certain number of acres 

 of land, compared with the fall of rain at the same 

 place and during the same period, measured by 

 the rain-gauge. The depth of the drains below the 

 surface, their length, and number should also be 

 stated. If these particulars were carefully noted, 

 we have little doubt that it would be found that drain- 

 ing has hitherto been made a far more expensive 

 operation than it need be. These remarks, we hope, 

 may turn the attention of our agricultural readers 

 to the formation of a true theory of drains on the 

 most economical principles consistent with perfect 

 efficiency.— T. T. 



ON THE BEST SPRING CROPS FOR FOOD. \ 



[Br the Rev. R. Morris.] 



Trifolium incarnatum. — All allusion to the Annual 

 Crimson Clover must not be omitted ; of late years it 

 has been sown as a new plant, and was at first highly 

 extolled, its growth being peculiarly rapid in April and 

 May. It floes not appear, however, to keep its ground 

 in public estimation. It is thus described by Loudon : 

 — An annual and native of Italy has been recommended 

 by an Italian professor to Sir J. Sinclair, but it is not 

 likely that such a plant, which, even as an annual in our 

 garden borders, has not a fourth of the vigour of the 

 common Clover, should ever be worth culture in this 

 country. This may be rating it much lower than it de- 

 serves; yet it is undoubtedly the fact, so far as its cultiva- 

 tion in this neighbourhood is concerned. It has been 

 tried by myself and others on the clay, where it has 

 not succeeded, from the great uncertainty of its 

 growth, at all, and from the meagre quantity it has 

 yielded. Still, as it can be sown on a Wheat stubble 

 without the labour of ploughing, and as it will come in 

 in the month of April, for ewes and Iambs, if it should 

 not fail, it may perhaps be prudent to plant some of it 

 this season, on a warm dry soil. 



Rye-grass is usually sown with Clover ; it is a hardy 

 Grass adapted to most descriptions of soils, and though 

 perhaps of much less value than Clover, as a spring crop, 

 it is earlier, producing (at least at first), food of a better 

 quality than the Clover itself does alone. The expense 

 of seed and cultivation being small, and the uncertainty 

 at all times of getting the Clover to stand, causes 

 its almost universal use, as a Grass seed, to mix with it. 

 " It has been cultivated for a great many years, certainly 

 previous to the year 1677, and it is only lately that any 

 other species has been tried as a substitute for it, in 

 forming artificial pastures. One peck of Rye-grass, with 

 14 pounds of Clover per acre, is generally considered suffi- 

 cient for sowing artificial pastures.'* The sorts most 

 generally preferred are Russell's and Pacey's ; bat 

 the Italian species is considered far superior to any 

 other. " It is described as peculiarly excellent. It has 

 been sown with Barley without injuring the crop, and by 

 sowing a little thinner, it is found not to choke the 

 Clove*r in the first crop, whilst its quick growth enables 

 it to keep a-head of it in the second, racing hay 

 little inferior to the first." At a Meeting of the = Edin- 

 burgh Agricultural Society, it was stated by Professor 

 Traill, that it was proved in the experimental garden of 



