658 



the Duke of Buccleuch, to arrive at maturity much 

 earlier than any other perennial Rye-grass, and to produce 

 nearly double the quantity. The experiments made upon 

 it indeed show that it is decidedly relished by cattle in 

 pasture, and in hay ; having been given to horses, alon^ 

 with that of the common Rye-grass, in separate 

 bundles, it was uniformly preferred. When allowed 

 to ripen, it gives double the produce of common Rye- 

 grass, and the nutritive substance extracted from the 

 herbage, affords more saccharine matter than that 

 of the celebrated sort known as Pacey's." An in- 

 telligent and practical agriculturist in this neighbour- 

 hood has kindly favoured me with the result of 

 three years' experience in this kind of Rye-grass. " In 

 the first year," he says, " I sowed J bushel per acre with 

 10 lbs. of Cow-grass, and had an excellent plant of 

 both. In the following spring the Rye-grass was earlier 

 and more luxuriant than the Clover. I early stocked 

 the field with sheep and lambs, both of which did ex- 

 tremely well. So fond were they of the Rye-grass, that 

 they disregarded the Clover, and trod it under foot as 

 unpalatable ; nor would they touch it so long as the least 

 portion of Rye-grass could be obtained. I never saw 

 a field of the same size carry more stock during the 

 summer, (which was genial); nor could the sheep be de- 

 sired to thrive faster or to be more healthy. In conse- 

 quence of the Clover being refused, I sowed 1 bushel of 

 Italian Rye-grass and 4 lbs. of Dutch Clover the second 

 year, which answered equally with the first year's growth, 

 and was altogether satisfactory. I obtained in this year 

 about 40 bushels of seed after having grazed the first 

 crop, and shut up the field the last week in May. It is 

 Tery difficult to secure the seed without loss, especially if 

 it be allowed to stand to get ripe. I intended, and 

 fully thought I should have been early enough ; but I 

 was obliged to thresh it in the field upon large sheets, or 

 a great portion of the seed would have been lost. I 

 mixed the threshed hay of the Rye-grass with Barley- 

 Btraw and made it into a rick. The cart-horses ate it 

 with great avidity, preferring it to very good hay. In 

 the spring of 1843 I sowed 2 bushels of Italian Rye- 

 grass and 4 lbs. of Dutch Clover per acre, and did not 

 find too much plant. It has carried a fair number of 

 stock, but allowance must be made for the extreme dry- 

 ness of the season. I have lately carried a field of 

 Wheat grown on very good land, which had been fed and 

 stocked heavily two years with sheep. The straw is 

 short but the ears good. I am inclined to think that 

 the Italian Rye-grass had considerably exhausted the 

 land, or the Wheat would have been heavier. If the next 

 crop of Wheat grown after Rye-grass be light, I shall 

 then be convinced of it. I sowed 2 bushels last spring 

 with Clover-seed amongst Barley — the former is a 

 good plant, the latter a failure; I have, therefore, 

 little doubt about obtaining a plant in any season." 

 The excellent properties of this kind of Rye-grass I have 

 had confirmed by the testimony of two other very expe- 

 rienced agriculturists of this district, who have quite aban- 

 doned the common sort for it. In March the blades were 

 14 to 16 inches long, with the seed formed. It carried 20 

 sheep with their lambs to the acre, five weeks ; thus afford- 

 ing a healthy and very nutritious food ; sheep and lambs 

 thriving well upon it at the most trying season of the year. 

 In respect to the whole of this class of produce, it has 

 been very sagaciously suggested by a near neighbour of 

 mine, that the distinguishing advantage appears to be 

 early maturity; but on the other hand may not the ques- 

 tion be asked, Are plants so nearly allied in nature to 

 Wheat equally valuable for ameliorating crops, with those 

 in which a more marked difference appears \ When we 

 consider that in no one quality is Red Clover much infe- 

 rior to any, and in many far more valuable than most 

 others, we need not wonder that it is and has been for 

 a long time grown to a far greater extent than any. It 

 is moderately early in its growth, its produce abundant 

 and nutritious, adapted for soiling, making into hay, or 

 for pasture ; and is considered by writers on Agricultural 

 Chemistry, as well as by practical farmers, as the best 

 preparatory crop for Wheat. The species called Cow. 

 grass is rather later in flowering, and appears in most 

 respects (if there be any difference), rather inferior ; it 

 is perennial, growing as a natural pasture Grass on some 

 soils, and on that account is sometimes preferred, where 

 land is intended to be left several years for pasture ; 

 though in most cases, like the Red Clover, it is lost after 

 the second year. Cattle grazed upon it are not so liable 

 to be blown or hoven as on the other, which may indi- 

 cate that it is not so succulent, but it renders it safer as a 

 cow-pasture. All things considered, the Clovers are per- 

 haps the most valuable of the green crops that are grown ; 

 but alone they are not sufficient to supply the want 

 that is felt in the present system of farming, of green 

 crops frequently alternating with Corn; for if too fre- 

 quently repeated, their growth is uncertain ; the land- 

 to use the common expression— gets sick of it. The 

 proauce of Cow-grass is very great, yielding when in 

 flower, per acre, on a rich black loam, 9 or 10 tons, and of 

 nutritive ma er , 6 or 7 cwt. ; but the long-rooted Clover 

 is greater still since a rich clayey loam yielded 30 tons, 

 and of nutritive matter upwards of 20 cwt. These 

 Clover-grasses contain the phosphate and sulphate of 

 lime; hence peat, wood-ashes, and gypsum, are said to 

 be excellent dressings for this crop, and have in many 

 cases succeeded in renovating Clover-sick lands. It 

 seems almost superfluous to observe, that the mode of 

 sowing is almost always broadcast, amongst Wheat or 

 Barley, being either harrowed or hoed in. The quantity 

 of seed per acre should be about 14 lbs. ; and if sown 

 with Rye-grass, it is perhaps preferable to sow them 

 separately, as the difference in weight of the two seeds is 



very considerable. On the clays the plant is more 

 certain with a Wheat than a Barley crop. 



Winter Tares or Vetches form an invaluable produc- 

 tion of spring and summer food for cattle. They are 

 very extensively used as a fallow crop; for if got off 

 early, and the months of July and August are favourable 

 for the operation, a good fallow may be made, without 

 the entire loss of a crop. Yet, as this depends so much 

 on the state of the weather, it cannot be concluded that 

 a complete fallow is unnecessary. For quantity of pro- 

 duce at one cutting, Vetches stand unrivalled, and their 

 quality is not less valuable. If ate young, a good second 

 crop may be grown in some instances ; but, as a general 

 practice, it does not appear desirable. An early variety 

 has been introduced within the last ^few years ; and al- 

 though decidely earlier (say two or three weeks), in 

 flowering it is scarcely equal in produce to the other. The 

 winter Vetch, so called in contradistinction to the spring 

 Vetch, though they are scarcely different in appear- 

 ance from each other, is usually cultivated by one 

 furrow, on the stubble. It is questionable whether 

 two ploughings would not be better, provided the 

 time after harvest permitted. It is usually sown 

 without dun?, and on rich kindly clays the crop will 

 be good without its assistance ; but land in poor con- 

 dition, and naturally light soils, should be manured. 

 When there is time to give only one furrow in autumn, 

 the dung should be applied on the stubble. The winter 

 Vetch may be sown alone, where it stands the winter 

 well, at the rate of 2 to 7\ bushels per acre, but a little 

 Rye amongst it — about 1 \ bushel — protects it from frost, 

 serves as a support, and augments the forage crop in 

 spring. It may be sown in August if the Wheat crop 

 will allow of it ; but there is the risk of its being so 

 forward as to be cut down by frost in January. It would 

 be well, perhaps, to sow some in August, and again in 

 September, ancj a third sowing in October, both for 

 security and a succession of spring food. It is preferable 

 to drill rather than broadcast, as there is an opportunity 

 of hoeing the land between them. As the great merit of 

 this crop is its quantity, it will produce disappointment 

 if sown on land in bad condition without manure, as I 

 found to my cost the year before last. It is stated that 

 in 3000 grains of the green herbage of the common 

 Vetch, there consists of — 



1 



EFT. 2- 



Woody or indigestible substance 



Water 



Nutritive matter 



Grains. 

 557 



2250 

 193 





No crop better repays the addition of any organic 

 fertilisers. The soil preferred by the Tare is clay, and 

 therefore it is of so much value where Turnips cannot be 

 profitably cultivated. The produce of Tares cut green is, 

 according to Middleton, 10 or 12 tons per acre, which is 

 a large crop ; and when made into hay, at about three 

 tons per acre. If sown in August and not cut off by frost, 

 they will be fit for use early in May. If cut green, Pro- 

 fessor Thaer observes, they draw no nourishment from 

 the soil whatever ; while made into hay, they afford a 

 fodder preferred by cattle to Pea-straw, and more 

 nutritive than hay or any other herbage. Horses, cows, 

 sheep, hogs, all feed and flourish upon them ; hogs are 

 soiled upon them in Sussex, without any other food. 

 They 'are liable to few or no diseases. Sometimes, but not 

 often, they are injured by mildew. There is a sort called 

 or known by the name of the " racers," which are highly 

 spoken of. It is stated of them, that being planted on 

 the 26*th of August, in the proportion of 1 bushel of Rye 

 to 2} bushels of Vetches per acre, the Rye sown on the 

 furrow and the Vetches drilled across, which seeds the 

 land all over beautifully, on a quantity of land of mode- 

 rate description, in a very exposed country, they had 

 attained their full maturity on the 5th of May, but were 

 fit for feed a fortnight before, surpassing all others in 

 that neighbourhood. This variety is undoubtedly more 

 hardy, and at least 10 or 12 days earlier in the growth 

 and fitness for feed — the early sowing thereby covering 

 the whole surface of the land before winter, the mixture 

 of Rye keeping off the frost and supporting the Vetch, 

 by which means a circulation of air at the bottom no 

 doubt promoted their early growth. From these remarks 

 it will be worthy of consideration whether it would not 

 be advisable, in the present peculiar season, when we 

 have, contrary to all past experience, lost both our hay 

 and Turnip crop, and especially that invaluable friend 

 the Swede, to sow a small portion of Rye as quickly as 

 possible; also some winter Vetches — the "racers" if 

 they can be got— with Rye mixed ; and it might be well 

 to try on suituble soils the Trefolium incarnatum ; these 

 might be followed next month by further sowings of 

 winter Vetches, so that there might be obtained food for 

 cattle from the middle of March through the spring. 





ON THE YOKING OF CATTLE TO PLOUGHS. 



In a Leading Article of No. 36 of the Gazette, there are 

 some remarks by a correspondent on the mode of harness- 

 ing cattle to implements, and in particular to the plough, 

 in which it is stated that the attachment of the draught- 

 chain to the back-band affords a mean of altering the 

 line of draught. From this assertion I beg leave humbly 

 to dissent: it appears to me that such attachment 

 should always be as loose and easy as possible, and 

 merely for the purpose of keeping the chains close to the 

 sides of the working animal. I think that far from 

 having the effect ascribed to it, of «' bringing the muscles 

 of the back into play, and increasing the capability of 

 the animal," the tightening and compressing of those 

 muscles by the forcible drawing down of the back-band 

 must have the directly contrary one of inconveniencing 

 and hurting him, and therefore of impeding his mo- 



tion. Ill-fitting and especially tightness of an^na* nf 

 the harness must, I think, always be productive of „„ 

 easiness to a greater or less degree, and consequent!* of 

 loss of power or force to a proportionate extent. &- 



Sl t e \ l e a ul l T - e * tremit r of the plough, to 

 which the draught-chain is attached, alwav 8 afford* th* 



means of altering the draught as the ploughman wishes! 

 both as to depth or shallowness, and width or narrow 

 ness of the furrow-slice. It appears to me, therefore 

 that the draught-chain should form one straight line 

 from the collar to the plough-beam, and that any angle 



at the back-band must tend to a loss of power. A. J 



Roxburghshire, * ' ** 



[We still think that the use of the back-band in the 

 manner recommended by our correspondent, is a relief to 

 the draught animal. It is true that an incidental advan- 

 tage of it consists in the means it affords of regulating 

 the depth at which the plough shall work ; but this is 

 not the use chiefly insisted on ; if it were, "A. J.'s" 

 indication of the arrangement at the bridle of the plough, 

 as being the legitimate means for this purpose, would be 

 conclusive. The use of the back-band in the manner in 

 which it is represented at work in the above figure, which 

 we reprint, obviously tends to divide the strain of the im- 

 plement between the shoulder and the back. The strain 

 upon the shoulder is not so great when the back-band is 

 thus at work as if the draught-chain were perfectly 

 straight. To be sure, the strain thus imposed upon the 

 back is greater than the differential advantage thus ob- 

 tained by the shoulder ; but not only is the horse, we 

 think, better able to sustain the greater strain thus put 

 on a fresh set of muscles than he would be to sustain the 

 smaller additional strain which would have been sus- 

 tained by an already overloaded set, but the pressure 

 thus placed on the back makes him, we think, better 

 able to overcome whatever strain may be placed on his 

 shoulder. Does it not give him a firmer footing ? One 

 of the chief advantages which the use of the cart 

 possesses over that of the waggon, consists not only 

 in the horse, as it carries part of the load, not having 

 the whole of it to draw, but also in the firmer footing 

 afforded by the weight on the cart-saddle, which wou d 

 enable him more easily to draw the whole weight, would 

 make him, h fortiori, better able to draw that which is 

 thus diminished. Asa proof of this we may relate an anec- 

 dote, the particulars of which were detailed to us by an 

 eye-witness. A horse in a cart was drawing stones from 

 out of a quarry, the approach to which was a descent. 

 When the cart was loaded, the labour connected with it 

 was found to be beyond his power. In order to remedy 

 the evil, the stones were placed more forward in the 

 cart, thus not only placing more o the load on the back 

 of the horse, and leaving less for him to draw but fin* 

 ing his footing, and therefore enabling him to put fort* 

 greater exertion. But « A. J. may say ^ that tj he* Van- 

 tage thus afforded the animal lay altogether i the first 

 of these particulars, not in the second. H e canno£ say 

 so of the next measure that was taken, for it wa found 

 that the horse was still unable to extricat e A« J^ 1 M 

 man was ordered to mount him ; the advantage wh^ 

 the animal obtained by the additional weight, w con 

 sequent firmer footing thus given to him so much ex 

 ceeded the disadvantage which we must presum 

 experienced from having an additional load to «^» 

 the' next effort he put forth was success <f J^J by 



tage of any arrangement by ^- b ™ d °ranght of cart or 

 which the strain, whether it be in the uraugu 

 plough, may be partly laid upon the back J thndra 

 animal, and only partly on its shoulders, is inu 



apparent.] 



ON MINERAL ANdInORGANIC MANURES. 



No. XXVII. 

 By Professor Charles Sprengel. 



(Continued from page 644.) 



3. Dutch peat-ashes, worst quality (yellowish gray/ 

 100,000 parts consist of— 

 70,400 parts of silica. 



4,134 

 6,131 

 3,930 

 4,096 



0,200 

 0,040 

 0,420 

 3,395 



1,246 

 0,464 

 5,544 



tr 

 li 



tt 



it 



it 



it 



alumina* 



lime. 



magnesia. ^L n *\Ae 



oxide of iron, and a little protox.de 



of iron, 

 protoxide of manganese. 



potash. 



sulphuric acid, combined with lime 



and potash. - JA u-.- 



phosphoric acid, combined with lime 



and iron. ,, . * n 



chlorine, combined with sodium in» 



common salt. .. . 



carbonic acid, combined with Htne 



and magnesia. 



100,000 parts 



