1844.1 



THEAGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 





veget^ed at all ; that part of the field which was sown in 

 the latter part of the day looked for some time much too 

 thin, and likely for a failing crop, yet when harvest came 

 it was quite as good if not superior to the other that was 

 sown in the morning. He also further stated that he 

 *as now in the habit of sowing less seed than formerly, 

 and he found it to answer better. He also now, in drill- 

 jn<* his Wheat, gave it more room betwixt the rows than 

 formerly, and found it to answer better; he formerly 

 drilled his Wheat at G inches, but now, and for the 

 future, he would always give it 9 inches betwixt the 

 rows ; it thereby tillered better, and was better to hoe 

 and clean. At the conclusion of the discussion it was 

 unanimously resolved, — 1st. That it is desirable, in sow- 

 ing Wheat, to give it a firm bed, and therefore to have 

 the land ploughed a week or two before sowing ; 2d. That 

 in preparing the seed, it is important that it be thoroughly 

 mixed with the urine or brine, so that every grain is wet 

 before adding the lime, and then that the whole of it 

 should be well worked together ; 3d. Than the best time 

 for sowing Wheat is from the middle of October to the 

 middle of November. 



Castle Douglas. — We take from the Dumfries Courier 

 the following extracts on subsoil-ploughing, from a lec- 

 ture by Professor Johnston, lately delivered here : — The 

 under soil very often contains what the upper soil re- 

 quires. Take the example of lime ; it has a tendency to 

 sink into the earth, and is retained by the subsoil out of 

 the reach of the common plough ; and if thus a sufficient 

 quantity be found in the subsoil, all that is necessarv is 

 to use the subsoil plough. There is, however, no little 

 danger in subsoiling * without a proper analysis having 

 first been made. While one farmer near Edinburgh found 

 so much advantage in subsoiling as to make him declare 

 that he had turned up a second time the, whole of the 

 city dung, another farmer trench-ploughed a field, and 

 he declared that by such a process he had lost many tons 

 of Turnips per acre, and the reason of this loss was ob- 

 vious. When the soil was analysed it was found that he 

 had buried the upper soil, which contained 30 per cent, 

 of vegetable matter, under the subsoil, upon which he 

 grew his Turnips, which subsoil contained only 7 per 

 cent. The utility of trench-ploughing is true as a gene- 

 ral principle, but it is not universally beneficial. It 

 might be of advantage, before trench-ploughing, to pre- 

 pare the lands, so that the roots of plants might be 

 allowed to go down to the subsoil and feed thereon as 

 much as possible. Another question regarding the fer- 

 tility of the soil may be here asked. Must a soil be of 

 necessity fertile if it contains all the ingredients of a 

 soil possessing fertility ? Practical experience answers 

 in the negative ; and why ? Because there may be some- 

 thing in the soil noxious to the plant ; and if so, the 

 plant will not grow; and some substances in too large 

 quantities, as, for instance, common salt, oxide of iron, 

 or manganese will prove destructive. If noxious matter 

 is contained in the upper soil, the plant is always sickly; 

 and if this matter be absent in the upper, but present in 

 we subsoil, then the plant has a reluctance to go down ; 

 but : if it does enter the subsoil it sucks in the noxious 

 matter along with its aliment, becomes poisoned, and 

 cannot thrive j hence the cause why plants for a season, as 

 moraird, &c., appear healthy and fresh, but when they 

 ' eac » « certain stage, their roots having forced into poison- 

 ous subsoil, become blighted and die. The subsoil is not 



can.w dOC P tore 1 d . b ? 8urf a<* medicines. Lime to it is only 

 X-i akln S a Partial cure. Another cause of infer- 

 ari in 8 , exce , ss °f water. A great quantity of clay lands 

 notd , ° he in P er P e tual Grass, because they are 

 soil np though they contain all the richness of 



PrevenT^" 7 , abundant crops, the excess of water 



of ».?,, development of their riches. The presence 

 heat fw!" """I i the soil cold ' Evaporation draws the 

 hand if S ! d just as lt draws U from a Person's 



and duri m Water and ex P osed to the action of air ; 

 an uudraifJi Smart breeze of wind the air sweeping over 

 in anow; ? ° f countr y is much coIder than that 

 t a oroughi; d 'TnJ ,mi I ar J n ever y res Pect, but in being 

 under tL , lned - A thermometer buried half an inch 

 da y, will ri! Ur . , ° f a drained fi eld, on a hot summer 

 exceed 80 de ' but in an undrained fi eld it will not 



for vegetation re l S * Bottom -heat is absolutely necessary 

 8 Ph*ere An^L Ce gardeners prefer it to a hot atmo- 

 more subierT* • fact is ' that the colder the ground the 

 ar *d the rain k !? t0 be 8aturated with the dew by night, 

 faUJ ng on on y * We freo . u ently see mist resting and 



that when rain falls it cannot be received into the soil, 

 but is forced to flow on the surface, carrying with it any 



Soluble SllWan™»G TOifKin it. i_ • f ., ,.. . J 



661 



soluble substances within its reach, into the ditches, 

 and from thence into the rivers, where portions of it 

 are thrown out or deposited along the banks of the 

 rivers in holms, giving to those alluvial soils their rich- 

 ness, or, what is still worse, carried into the sea and lost ; 

 whereas, in drained lands, the rain enters as it falls, and, 

 in the process of nitration, deposits its own riches, while 

 it loses the power to carry off the soluble portions from 

 the soil ; but, besides not carrying off valuable matter, 

 it sucks into the earth the upper air with its rich draught 

 of fertilising matter, and as it carries it away by the 

 drains it destroys the noxious matter in the subsoil down 

 to the level at which it escapes. Draining is assuredly 

 a most economical method of farming ;-in some locali- 

 ties the whole expense will be covered by the extra crop 

 of the first year, in others in two years, and certainly it 

 will never exceed five years ;— so that for a tenant to 

 dram, even at his own individual expense, the returns 

 would be profitable during a lease. Supposing a farm 

 to be fairly rented, in an undrained state, at 30s. per 

 acre, and that it would take the maximum term of five 

 years to cover the outlay, and that the draining had 

 improved the land to the extent of only bs. per acre for 

 the remainder of the lease, here would be a clear profit 

 of 3/. 10s. for every acre, or 700/. for a farm of 200 acres 

 so improved. There are different methods of draining 

 land. It should be done so that it would be permanent— 

 not merely to last a lease of 19 years, but to be efficient 

 for 100 years ; and hence landlord and tenant should 

 unite in the matter. If the land is rented at a fair price 

 undrained, and the tenant cannot afford to drain it 

 thoroughly, then should the landlord be at the expense 

 arid the tenant pay a fair per centage for the expendi- 

 ture. If the farmer is averse to this, and can supply 

 labour, then might the landlord furnish tiles, &c, and 

 the tenant the labour. But in whatever way it may be 

 done, it ought to be done thoroughly, so that it may be 

 both a personal and national benefit. Much money has 

 been wasted in draining, by the drains being too shallow. 

 The best practical agriculturists recommend that tile- 

 drains should not be less than 30, and stone drains not 

 less than 36 inches deep. Some persons object to these 

 depths, stating that they won't draw. This objection, 

 however, is long ago exploded, and the necessity of deep 

 draining made apparent by the depth to which sub- 

 soiling ought to be carried. The roots of some plants 

 require a great depth of soil. Wheat, for example, will 

 go down 3 feet ; and a great number of practical agricul- 

 turists subsoil to a depth of 22 inches. 





1 «*uing On On iivijuciiuj ace imsi icaiiug auu 



ce PtibIe causp P >'' ° f the land ' while > without any per- 

 ternation ovp " absent in another spot— and this al- 

 rea son i s in-Tt? consi derable extent of country ; and the 



the soils Tl f aUSC ° f the dam pness and dryness of 

 b J a Q excess f ? rmcr who refuses to drain is punished 



lieve s nature k a * nd rain ; while the farmer who re- 

 natur allaKs * drainin g is treated with kindness by 

 Exces * of ' lm P art ing heat and consequently fertility. 

 dow n, but it *\ DOt ° nly P reve nts the plants from going 

 tio n from ent ■ prevents the air so necessary to vegeta- 



ex Pected nniM ?u Under soil » and little S ood can be 

 *** be consinf S a I air be free, y admitted. Draining 

 ttents > for uni u foundati <>n of all other improve- 

 °! her toptW.!? * e excess of wat er be carried off, all 

 al, °* the air to em ? iU be Effectual. You cannot 

 °n, and by admitHn*" ■ soil onless the water be carried 

 ? an y noxious 8 „w g air you can change the nature of 

 d >ned land, th > £"*" COntai ^d in the soil. In un- 

 • * *rofe< sor : Jnh ~-- ges ?™ 80 niuch saturated with water, 



JS;«, ot * s ^Xio p u r g °n?„ b ' y jpwira* **"*-*»•*» 



HUbtefos. 



Agriculture ; Us Practice with Profit, elucidated in a 

 Contrast of Oriental and British Usages ; in a Cor- 

 respondence with the Royal Agricultural Society of 

 England, By Henry Newnham. London : Roake 

 and Varty. 



The first letter in the series here published is from Mr. 

 Raymond Barker, who, as Chairman of the Finance Com- 

 mittee of the English Agricultural Society, requests from 

 Mr. Newnham, a member of that Society, the paymeut 

 of the arrears of his subscription for the years 1841, 42, 

 43, and 44. Mr. Newnham, it appears, had thought 

 that " the Association was, with respect to annual sub- 

 scriptions, based on the same principles, and governed 

 by the same laws, which obtain in similar bodies, as for 

 instance the Royal Institution, and in associations such 

 as clubs ; and he therefore considered that continued 

 absence from its meetings, and the discontinuance of 

 annual payment of subscription, constituted the esta- 

 blished mode of seceding from its association." And 

 in his answer, extending over 21 pages, he states the 

 reasons which four years ago induced him to form the 

 resolution of resigning his membership. The reasons he 

 adduces did not satisfy the Council of the Society that 

 any exception from the operation of its ordinary rules in 

 this matter should be made in his favour ; and in the 

 remaining letters of this correspondence, the reader is 

 informed that Mr. Newnham, having "no inclination to 

 have aught to do with the lawyer of the Society," paid 

 up his arrears, and received an official acknowledgment 

 of the same from Mr. Hudson, the secretary. 



It is to the second letter, the chief feature in this cor- 

 respondence, that we would direct the attention of our 

 readers. Excepting one point, on which, however, though 

 he classes it amongst his reasons of withdrawal from the 

 Society, Mr. Newnham does not appear to lay so much 

 stress as it deserves, we think it not difficult to justify 

 the Society from the charges here brought against it; 

 their truth may be admitted without rendering its Coun- 

 cil blameable for impolicy, injustice, or want of skill in 

 conducting its affairs. 



the facts, the accumulation and classification of which 

 constitute science, is stronger far than that on which most 

 of the crude notions are built of many of our thorough^ 

 practical men. We have now men who can testify from 

 experience to the profitableness of uniting practice with 

 science ; and this testimony is unaffected bv the lamenta- 

 tions of others, who may be insolvent as farmers, not 

 from having adopted such a union, but from breaking it 

 and attempting to carry on their business unassisted* by 

 one of its essential elements— experience. Natu-al 

 chemistry— for so Mr. Newnham dignifies the results of 

 agricultural experience— which points out the advantage 

 of chalking clays and marling sands, and of employing as 

 manures farm-yard dung, peat-ashes, rags, lime, &c, so 

 far from having been neglected, has been much enlorced 

 and explained by the application of chemical science to 

 agriculture, under the auspices of the Society. 



The second reason which Mr. Newnham gives for 

 having seceded from the English Agricultural Society is 

 11 the encouragement which/' he states. " they have held 

 out to the substitution of mechanical power for human 

 labour." He alludes to their annual award of premiums 

 to further the improvement of our agricultural mechanics. 

 His objection, if reasonable, must apply not only to- 

 Agriculture, but also to all industrial employments ; 

 and there were, doubtless, many patriotic and well- 

 meaning men who objected half a century ago to 

 the improvement of the machinery of our cotton and 

 woollen factories-to the very means, in fact, as they 

 have since turned out, by which the numbers of those 

 employed in these factories have been a hundred-fold 

 increased. This result has depended on no accident pecu- 

 liar to the cases in which it has been realised ; it is merely 

 a consequence of the natural connection which exists be- 

 tween an improved and cheapened means of production 

 and an increased consumption of produce ; and we be- 

 lieve that in Agriculture, also, any means which cheapen 

 the cost of production are thus productive of national 

 benefit ; it may be difficult to follow them through all 

 their influences, but we may depend upon it that they 

 will terminate in causing what is termed higher farming, 

 and in the employment of more labour than ever. Mr. 

 Newnham here digresses into an account of the various 

 practices of Indian Agriculture, a chief feature of which 

 appears to lie in the custom of paying for labour accord- 

 ing to the produce of the land— the fraction of the pro- 

 duce which falls to the share of the workman being 

 inversely proportional to the abundance of the harvest. 



Mr. Newnham's third reason for withdrawing from the 

 Society, viz.— its disregard of the subject of parochial 

 assessment, however accurate his views on the matter 

 may be, is obviously insufficient, if we consider the nature 

 of the tie which holds the Society together. The exclu- 

 sion from the subjects of the prize essays of a matter of 

 such vital importance to Agriculture as the present mode 

 of assessing the poor's rate is a consequence of the law 

 which, we believe, lies at the foundation of the Society's 

 existence — the law which forbids the discussion of mat- 

 ters to be brought before Parliament. 



The liability which hangs over every farmer who com- 

 mences the work of agricultural improvement — his lia- 

 bility to an increased charge as respects all parochial 

 rates — involves the apparent injustice and obvious impo- 

 licy of assessing that man most for the support of the 

 poor who employs the greatest number of them, and 

 him least on whose non-employment of them the exist- 

 ence of pauperism may chiefly be chargeable. It would 

 be well, we think, if security by legal enactment from 

 this liability were given to agricultural improvers for 

 terms of years, varying according to the permanency of 

 the several descriptions of improvement which they may 

 have effected. 



If we have hitherto been exhibiting reasons for with- 

 drawing from the Society, the entertainment of which 

 may appear reasonable to many minds, and may even to 

 some justify the step which Mr. Newnham has taken, we 

 fear that the sympathy which that gentleman has thus ex- 

 perienced will not continue to follow him while he details 

 his fourth reason for seceding. He withdraws from the 

 English Agricultural Society " because they have altoge- 

 ther overlooked and disregarded the science of Astro- 

 nomy ! " Had the word been Astrology, it would have been 

 more in keeping with the singularity of the idea. A capa- 

 bility of prognosticating the weather, which he thinks a 

 skilful application of Astronomy to Agriculture (! ! ) would 

 confer, would doubtless,in our variable climate,often prove 

 of great service to farmers ; but this is to be obtained, 

 not by carefulness in recording astronomical observa- 

 tions, but by wide-spread and lengthened series of ob- 

 servations of the meteorological appearances which pre- 

 cede meteorological changes. And to this subject the 

 Society has devoted a reasonable share of ita attention,, 

 by offering a prize for the best Ess*y on Weather 

 Prognostics. 



The first objection raised by Mr. Newnham to the *. vs ««— .v. 



proceedings of the Society, is the effect which he in- But Mr. Newnham must speak for himself ; the follow- 

 sinuates they have had of diverting the views of farmers in^ is his illustration. snmp.wHaf in Hinr?™ ni,r OCfl Ai n ™ 



us 



the 



from the results of ordinary experience, or from what he 

 calls natural chemistry, to the theories and speculations 

 of scientific men, as the proper foundation of practice. 

 He refers especially to the expectations which have been 

 held out, that the progressive advance of chemistry may 

 aid in developing the resources of British agriculture. 

 His motto is "Practice with Profit," in contradistinction to 

 that of the English Agricultural Society, which is "Prac- 

 tice with Science." It appears to ns, that he supposes 

 the motto of the Society to be expressive of the end for 

 which they labour, instead of being expressive, as it is, 

 merely of the means by which they propose to obtain a 



mereiy oi me means Dy wnicn tney propose io uuu&ui a ary easterly wind ; wnat sorr or seaauu u« mcoc ouu- 



profitable end. It is too late now to rail at science as malies portend in Crab (June) for sowing the Swedes : 

 visionary and baseless. The evidence in support of] or what may be their effects on the coming harvest ?— 



ing is his illustration, somewhat in Hindoo phraseology^ 

 of the advantages of applying astronomy to Agricul- 

 ture (/). It may sound sensibly enough to the ears of 

 those who have lived long in tropical climates, and who 

 look for the annual changes of the weather as regularly 

 as for the months which there they severally characterise; 

 but to English ears it certainly appears to be sumciently 

 ridiculous. 



" Neighbour, let us discuss according to our atmo- 

 spheric tables the probable season to come. la Taurus 

 (April), we had excessive drought. In Gemini (May), 

 we have had nipping cold and long continuance of 

 dry easterly wind ; what sort of season do these ano- 



