THE A GRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



673 



CHEAP AND DURABLE ROOFING. 



BY HER 

 MAJESTY'S 



vaS pualiUes of ^IT * "^ ^^ " P ° f ; !' '» ¥*? «P-i«« ? of the present v . w i!l, it is 



ROYAL LETTERS 

 PATENT. 



F 



TO GARDENERS. NURSERYMEN, AND OTHERS. 



M'NEILL & CO., of Lamb's Buildings, Bunhill- 



^ • row, London, Manufacturers, and only Patentees of IM- 

 PROVED PATENT ASPHALTED FELT, for Roofing Houses, 

 Sheds, Verandahs, &c, and for Protecting Plants, and Covering 

 Garden Frames, beg to call the attention of Gardeners and others 

 to their superior article, which has been exhibited at the Great 

 Agricultural Shows of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and Ob- 

 taisbd the Pbizb for being the best and cheapest article for roof- 

 ing, &c It has been tested in the gardens of several noblemen 

 and gentlemen in the neighbourhood of London, and in different 

 parts of the country, to whom reference can be made. The Felt is 

 impervious to rain, snow, and frost, and a non-conductor of heat 

 and sound. Its advantages are Lightness, Warmth, Durability, 

 and Economy.— Price Oxi.r One Penny per Square Foot. 



Samples, with directions for laying on, and testimonials as to 

 its merits, sent free to any part of the town or country.— Patent 

 Felt Works, Lamb's Buildings, Bunhill-row, London. 



various qualities of grain. 



Such explanations as these will be generally given 

 ot the circumstances to which we call attention, and 

 we do not hesitate in vouching for their truth. In- 

 deed, many cases have come under our own observa- 

 tion, where the loss of a season has arisen from a single 

 paten— say an acre— or a few furrows in one field 



honed, induce us for the future to depend less upon the 

 "chapter of accidents," and more upon ourselves. 

 The gods help those who help themselves.—//. 



O.v the 11th of April, 1840, a Committee was 

 appointed by the House of Commons, on the motion 

 of the Hon. W. Cowper, « to inquire into the results 



s&ttt»jiss«^i*:5====^=^-K= 



£fte UQVitultutal ©f 



SATURDA Y, OCTOBE R 5, 1844. 



MEETINGS FOR THE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS. 

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



Thursday, Oct. 17— Agricultural Imp. Soc of Ireland. 



FARMERS' CLUBS. 

 Oct. 8- Abergavenny. | Oct. 9— -Monmouth.! 



The Barley crop of the present year is 

 decidedly a failure in quality throughout the greatest 

 part of the country. In ordinary seasons there is no 

 grain-crop which requires more judicious manage- 

 ment. Of all the cereal Grasses its straw is the soft- 

 est and the most succulent, and its grain the most 

 liable to sprout. Mismanagement of the soil prepared 

 for its growth, or neglect of the season, affects not 

 merely its quantity, but also its marketable value. 

 This is accounted for by the fact that the best samples 

 of Barley are made into malt, and by the necessity 

 which therefore exists that the soil prepared for it 

 should be in such a condition as to allow the seed to 

 germinate immediately, and at one time, so that 

 it may ripen uniformly and together, and that thus, 

 during the process of malting, it may all sprout at 

 onetime. 



During the past extraordinary season, however 

 many farmers have been unable to secure these 

 advantages; and the consequence is, that in some 

 districts, especially in the north of England, though 

 the other grain-crops have been secured weeks ago, 

 we find large flats of Barley yet uncut. In some 



lni\T have P atches ™ every stage of progression 

 from bloom toripeness; in others, plants of every age are 

 mingled together-the young shoots of summer over- 

 topping the ears which have attained maturity; and 

 ttese are unfailing indications of an inferior quality 

 of produce-of a coarse, light, uneven sample 

 it is impossible to notice these peculiarities without 



^ 3S5K int ° thdr Cause ' and »tt«npting to ascer- 

 tain w h e he r or not it wag possib]e tQ haye emed 



St - 1 T ?y - be Said that " aft er-wit ^ dearly 

 mav ,L k 2 1S not the less valuabIe for that': it 

 Son ^ Ch f fr if U Sh0uld induce us on a * ture 

 have si * J?£ d the rock on which we ma y Previously 

 crooVo p J hQ ? auseof the late and unevenly ripe 

 ext P r a i^ rle ^ lt wiU at once be said, was the 



rienced w 7 dro ^y weather which we ex P e ' 

 *5an* and ^ seed - time - For instance, 

 fed off W?r°" lng *? the Cr °P of Turni P s not bein £ 

 pChft? tT lng " had not the ^vantage of being 



^M?thS, S C t0 all ° W thG fr ° StS t0 a?t u P° n the 

 obtained oL- C necessar 7 fine tilth could not be I 



clods to L i, m Waitin » for rain t0 en able the 



was lost i r »° J Up ' the P r °P er season of sowin 



*ay have \Z teewhere j a S ain > the crop of Turnips 

 an ^ the land J^u *? .sheep in pretty good time, 

 ^ence of rhp P lou ^ ed « February, but in conse- 



"ons in wp7 i P havin 3 been folded on som e por- 

 brought - Weatller > the whole surface could not be 



Tu 



to an even tilth 



farmer has waited on account of this patch, till al! 

 necessary moisture had evaporated. While thus we 

 acknowledge that the nature of the season was the 

 primary and nominal cause of these evil effects upon 

 the crop, it must, however, be contended, that as it 

 was by no means impossible to have prevented such 

 effects, this was not the real and blameworthy cause 

 Means exist by which the evil effects of the season 

 might have been counteracted—means which have 

 in many cases been successfully employed, and which 

 may, in future, be still more extensively used. The 

 true cause of the failure is our own imperfect culti- 

 vation ; and it is a matter of duty to call attention 

 to that in which our ordinary practice has been in- 

 adequate to meet the exigencies of the season. It 

 may be premised that many crops of fine Barley 

 have been obtained during the present year, without 

 any particular care or management. For instance, 

 upon deep sandy soils, and in cases where a winter 

 ploughing was given, and the surface rolled and sown 

 early— or when a fine tilth could be had by harrow- 

 ing and rolling, and sowing immediately after the 

 plough— a proper season was obtained, and vegetation 

 progressed favourably. Upon all strong soil?, how- 

 ever, and upon soils which had been trodden 

 in wet weather, or which, owing to the Turnip crop 

 having been taken off in spring, had been tho- 

 roughly affected by the drought, the ordinary ope- 

 rations of tillage were ineffectual. In these cases it 

 was that our cultivation was imperfect; extra diffi- 

 culties were not met by extra means. Instead of 

 waiting for rain to pulverise our soils, proper me- 

 chanical means should have been used to accomplish 

 this all-important object. For this purpose, there 

 can be no question the Beverley Clod-crusher 

 would in all cases have been sufficient. By its aid, 

 indeed, we have seen many hundreds of acres pre- 

 pared at a time when the implements usually em- 

 ployed were useless ; and on all these lands the seed 

 was deposited, and the grain has been secured in 

 proper season. 



For this implement we are indebted to the inge- 

 nuity of Mr. Crosskill, of Beverley. It consists of 

 23 serrated wheels or rollers, each 2| feet in dia- 

 meter, and placed upon a round axle 6 feet wide. 

 The roller parts or wheels act independently of each 

 other upon the axle, and in turning produce a self- 

 cleaning movement at the same time that they crush 

 the hardest clods, and convert them into a fine mould. 

 Further description is unnecessary, as the implement 

 is already well known, though far from being suffi- 

 cien tly appreciated. The pages of the Journal of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society have borne ample testi- 

 mony to its many uses and general efficacy in the 

 cultivation of all sorts of soil. Our aim, however, is 

 merely to call attention to its use as a pulveriser, 

 and as a means of enabling us to prepare the most 

 stubborn soils, and to make sure of a seed-time in the 

 driest weather. 



By its operation many were enabled last spring 

 to obtain a fine tilth, to preserve the moisture of the 

 seed-bed, and sow their Barley in due course upon 

 soils which otherwise could not have been prepared 

 for the crop till midsummer ; we may therefore rely 

 upon it as a most effective means of preventing those 

 disastrous delays to which we have called attention. 

 With an agent like this in our power, a season like 

 the past is not necessarily fatal to the prospects of the 

 crop; with such means at command, it was possible, 

 in a great measure, to have prevented the results 



1Urni Ps had L ~' v " " 1Lli ~ the plots where the 

 ful1 of clod* consumed in wet weather were 



t** aid of tl- Up °u ™ hich harrow and roller, without 



** already fi?V , no effect ' while the rest of ifc 

 these ciroum ♦ e rece Ption of the seed. Under 



bmmcJ um stances the sowing was delayed in ex- 



■ J ™ j. .^u _ ^ ^m ^— 



which we have now to regret. 





Pectati 



Elation of rolr. u T awwil, b Wtta uwayeu in ex- 



Seas °n was t,^ r r U K before P atience failed ihe "ght 

 ■ ^as an i rre V i consequence of this proceeding 



(} n an unevenl • gei 7 ninat ion of the seed, resulting 

 nke circum R Z nper i ln S cro P- In °ther cases, under 

 still longer-lTi 068 ' t , he P eriod of sowi "g was delayed 

 0f the ttoisb,r? ayed ' ? fact > until a g^at portion 

 P r °perly p ^ e escaped from those parts which were 



J° wn no plants*** SC n so that whe n the seed was provide means which will enable him to overcome 



l ? T ^veral w P l a PP eare d on the rough portions the natural difficulties he may meet with. The fable 

 i e f,ne st DhtV„ ? hlle 1 onl y a tithe of the seed on of the farmer who delayed his harvest for one week, 

 ils *as tU g ern l lnated >n proper course. Where" 1 "* " "* ------ 



;J*fc aft er LT* fres ^, P^nts continued to appear 



filled ,,. r ,* eek even tdl midsummer, and gradually 



Why, indeed, should we wait for a shower ? — wait, 

 too, for days or weeks, or, as last year, for months, to 

 effect that which we can, by mechanical means, ac- 

 complish in a few hours. To wait for the clods to 

 fall in pieces when we have the means of breaking 

 them at any time ourselves, is calling upon the 

 heavens to assist us without putting our own shoul- 

 ders to the wheel. We no longer wait for the winds 

 to waft us from shore to shore. When, indeed, they 

 are favourable, we make use of them ; but when 

 .otherwise, we employ a power which can move in the 

 face of them. And it should be the object of the in- 

 telligent farmer also to contrive operations, and to 

 provide means which will enable him to overcome 



HP the 



£ urse latesT g r r ° Und L the rou ghest plots being of 

 * e cr °P cLii n T h , fields at th * P^sent moment, 



consists 



in the expectation that his neighbours would lend him 

 their help ; and for another, when his neighbours 

 failed to come, in the hope that his friends and rela- 

 tions would come to his assistance ; and who, on 

 these also forgetting him, was at last compelled to 



1.1 11* 1 p 1 i I • 1 «* f 



of setting apart a portion of all waste lands which 

 shall be inclosed by Act of Parliament, or of any 

 lands which, under any Inclosure Act, shall have 

 been appropriated to the benelit of the poor, to be let 

 out in small allotments to the labouring poor of the 

 district, and also to inquire into the best mode of 

 effecting the same.* 



The Committee thus appointed presented a Report 

 to the House, based on the evidence of numerous and 

 competent witnesses. The evidence of Win. Miles, 

 Esq., MP., and the Report of the Committee, were 

 published in the " Labourers' Friend Magaz : ne ;" and 

 a few extracts from these, in addition to the facts 

 which we have already adduced, will amply sustain 

 our opinion of the benefits which the introduction of 

 the Allotment System is calculated to confer on the 

 labourer. 



Mr. Miles says :— «< I first of all commenced taking 

 any interest in allotments about the year 1828, when 

 I was resident in Nottinghamshire, on a el ivey soil, 

 in the parish of Caunton ; there were about ei«mt 

 acres, or eight acres and a half, which had been left 

 for the benefit of the parish ; . . . I called the atten- 

 tion of some of the parishioners to it ; we called a 

 vestry meeting, and, under the 59th of Geo. III., we 

 offered to let this land in allotments to the poor. We 

 divided it into allotments of about a rood to each 

 individual. J was resident in the county, I think, 

 six years afterwards, and I can state from my own 

 experience that, though the soil was a stiff clay, and 

 certainly the last of all soils that I should have taken 

 for allotment gardens, by the assiduity and labour of 

 those poor people it was brought to bear the very best 

 of vegetables : good crops of Potatoes, and Onions, 

 and other vegetables. And 1 was informed by those 

 who had the allotments, taking a good deal of 

 interest, and going frequently to the gardens and 

 talking to the people, that it was one of the greatest 

 benefits that ever befel the inhabitants of Caunton 

 that the ground left for parochial purposes was 

 allotted to the poorer inhabitants of the place." 



Mr. Miles afterwards states: — About six years 

 after this I went to reside in Gloucestershire, where 

 I am at presen: resident ; 1 then prevailed upon my 

 father to allow me to give, in three different parishes, 

 allotments to the labouring poor. I invariably chose 

 the very best land I could/ and that nearest to their 

 own dwellings. I allotted in that way, in the three 

 parishes, land to about one hundred persons alto- 

 gether; and I can state that invariably in all those 

 places in which those allotments have been so given, 

 the benefits produced to the poor have been some- 

 thing perfectly extraordinary ; you have only to go 

 into one of those gardens, and take the chance of any 

 person who may be working there, however late or 

 early, and you will be exceedingly interested, first 

 of all in his manner of addressing you, and at the 

 same time with the benefits which invariably, he 

 says, have resulted from those allotments of ground 

 to himself and to his family. As I understood it 

 was the wish of the Committee, when last I appeared 

 here, that I should state what was the result of the 

 benefits to the poor man as nearly as I could, I went 

 to the garden of one of the first men I saw; I- 

 inquired what benefits had accrued to him as to the 

 sale of vegetables, and, at the same time, as to sup- 

 plying his family with food from his allotment. 

 He stated to me that he occupied a rood of land ; 

 that for that rood he paid 1/. a year; that he had 

 sold Onions last year to the value of 245. ; Carrots 

 to the value of 8s. ; and that his wife had sold 

 Gooseberries and Currants to the value of -2s. 6d. ; 

 that he had a wife and five children, and that he 

 had provided them from the allotment with every 

 description of culinary vegetable, with all their 

 Potatoes ; and had only purchased for the year one 

 sack of Potatoes for the whole consumption of the 

 family; at the same time I should mention that I 

 never go into those gardens but thanks are given to 

 me for what has been done." The 1/. per rood, rent 

 included, tithes and rates. 



The first branch of inquiry in which the Com- 

 mittee engaged was, " the effect of the arrangements 

 under which the labouring classes are now enabled 

 to hold and cultivate land on their own account," 

 and the Report states :— ** The evidence received upon 

 the first branch of their inquiry has been of uniform 

 tenor, and has led them to conclude that the tenancy 

 of land under the garden allotment system is a 

 powerful means of bettering the condition of those 

 classes who depend for livelihood upon their manual 

 labour, whether in manufacturing or agricultural 



