72 



Bristol, the straw, sold as litter, or thatch, is taken there 

 too, and the Potatoes also supply the Bristol market. 

 The loads of dung which are brought back in the wag- 

 gons on their return from Bristol can form no equal 

 return for the crops thus carried away. The average 

 crop of Wheat per acre is about 20 bushels ; of Barlej 

 32, and of Potatoes 60 sacks. Eight tons of the latter 

 crop is considered an excellent crop ; it is equal to about 



80 sacks. 



The soil on this rock is sometimes limed by some : this 



is said to do good ; and by others it is said to be of no use 



at ail. It is a general practice on those farms which lie 



over the clay and slate alternating with this rock near 



Itchington and Tytherington ; the soil is there of a cold 



clayey nature. The district of this rock between Elberton 



and Lyttleton differs from that on the hill in being more 



sheltered ; it is covered with the Elm and the Ash in the 



hedgerow ; the soil is also generally deeper, and the land 



more generally in pasture. With these exceptions it is 



similar to the rest of the formation.— M. S. 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



[Oct. 26, 



ON LIMING LAND. 



[The following analyses, for the Monmouth Farmers' 

 Club, by Mr. Phillips, of the Ordnance Geological Survey, 

 show what great variety exists in the composition 

 of limestones within but few miles of one another.] 



No. I.— Limestone, Great Doward, Herefordshire. 



Carbonate of lime 



,, ,, magnesia 



Earthy matter and oxide of iron 



56.8 



39.2 

 4. 



, 100 



No. 2.— Limestone, Stanton, Gloucestershire. 



Carbonate of lime, with a trace of oxide of iron . . 54 6 



,, ,, magnesia 4V 



Earthy matter and oxide of iron 1.4 



No. 3.— Limestone, Whiteclift, Gloucestershire 

 Carbonate of lime 



100 



56.8 



1» 



„ magnesia 

 Eaithy matter and oxide of iron 



• 



41.9 

 1.3 



100 



No. 4.— Limestone, Stow Green, Gloucestershire. 



Carbonate of lime 93.6 



Earthy matter and oxide of iron . . . . , .1.4 



No. 5. — Limestone, I/ton, Monmouthshire, 

 Caibonate of lime . . ■ . . . 



Earthy matter and oxide of iron . . 



100 



. 99-3 

 7 



100 



Result of the use of the Stow Green Lime put on in a 

 caustic state in September and October upon the dry 

 sandy meadows along the bank of the Wye (except No. 5) 

 extending about two miles from Whitebrook to the 

 village of Landogo, Monmouthshire, No. 1 being near 

 "Whitebrook, and No. 6 adjoining the churchyard at Lan- 

 dogo. Nos. 1, 2, and 3 were covered with rotten dung 

 at the rate of 20 yards per acre between the years 1830 

 and 1834 ; the other meadows have not had any manure 

 in the memory of man. The average produce of hay 

 from these meadows when cut in season (without manure) 

 for the last 20 years has been only from 10 cwr. to 

 14 cwt. per acre. A part of each meadow was left 

 without lime, that a fair trial might be made, and the 

 whole of the trials (except No. 6) were taken within 

 three yards of each other ; indeed many of the trials 

 were within a foot ; the line where the lime was put 

 being so strongly marked that a perfect stranger might 

 tell which part was limed and which part not The best 

 plan is to put the lime in heaps of one or two waggon - 

 loads, covering the heaps with a thick coat of earth till 

 it is slaked, and then to haul or wheel it out in a caus ic 

 state, spreading it out of the cart or barrow. If the 

 place where the loads are put down is shovelled out 

 clean, there will in those places be the strongest crop of 

 Grass the following summer. Stow Green is within 

 three miles of these meadows, and the price of the lime 

 being 4s. 6rf. per dozen, or 1 Jef. per bushel, the cost of 

 manuring at the rate of 108 bushels amounts to 27s. per 

 acre. 



the rate of abomt one inch per annum. It is a singular 

 fact that the same quantity of lime per acre, mixed with 

 30 yards of ditch-earth and road-scrapings, put upon 

 some of these meadows, has not produced so great a crop 

 of hay as the same quantity of lime put on in a caustic 

 state. A trial was made in one of these meadows with 

 20 cart-loads of unfermented, or raw horse-dung per 

 acre against 20 yards of rotten duug. The result was 

 decidedly in favour of the raw dung the first year ; but 

 the rotten dung had the advantage the second year, when 

 the trace of both was nearly lost. A trial has been made 

 in one meadow with scavengers' manure from Bristol, at 

 the rate of 20 tons per acre, and although it was delivered 

 upon the bank at 3s. per ton, the increase of hay did not 

 pay half the cost.— Communicated from the Report of 

 the Monmouth Farm ers 1 Club, by R. I V. Purchas, Sec. 



SKETCHES OF EAST LOTHIAN HUSBANDRY. 

 Oats. — The varieties of this grain commonly culti- 

 vated in East Lothian, are the Potato, Hopetoun, Early 

 and Late Angus, Sandy Dun, and several others. The 

 first-named kind, which was, it appears, introduced into 

 this county in 1801, possesses the greatest reputation ; 

 and although it is not so well suited to inferior soils and 

 elevated situations as some of the others, its grain is 

 more plump, weighs heavier, obtains a better piice in the 

 market, and yields a greater weight of meal than any 

 other variety grown in this quarter. Another very exten- 

 sively cultivated kind is the Hopetoun Oat, selected and 

 propagated by Mr. P. Shirreff, late tenant at Mun- 

 goswells, in this county. It affords a greater quantity 

 of straw than the Potato Oat, but is later in ripening. 

 The Early Angus is also much esteemed, and produces 

 a large proportion of straw, which is an important consi- 

 deration here. The preceding four varieties are those 

 held in the greatest estimation, and most extensively 

 cultivated in the low and fertile parts of the county. 

 The Sandy Oat is also grown to a considerable extent. 

 The Dun Oat was introduced from Fifeshire ; it thrives 

 better than most other kinds upon poor soils, ripens 

 early, and yields a good proportion of meal. It is, as 

 the name implies, of a dun and dirty gray colour, resem- 

 bling in appearance the white kinds that have been 

 injured by heating. Besides those enumerated above 

 there are several other varieties of the Oat partially 

 grown in different parts of the county, such as the 

 Poland, Blainslie, Flemish, Zealand, &c. The following 

 Table exhibits a comparative view of the result of an 

 experiment made with four different kinds of Oats by 

 Mr. Brodie, Abbeymains, as detailed in the nineteenth 

 Report of the East Lothian Farming Society. The 

 quantity per acre sometimes obtained in East Lothian 

 will also be perceived from the annexed Tabular view of 

 the result of Mr. Brodie's experiment. It will be 

 observed that the Potato Oat produced 90$ bushels per 

 Scotch acre ; the Hopetoun, 88 bushels ; the Flemish, 

 86 bushels ; and the Zealand, 85.^ bushels. _ 



in this county, many farms averaged upwards of 7 qrs. 

 per acre. A field in one farm which was summer-fal- 

 lowed and sown with late Angus Oats at the rate of 2\ 

 bushels to the acre, yielded, as I have been told by the 

 tenant, 13 qrs. per imperial acre. These are, however, 

 altogether extraordinary crops ; G qrs. are regarded as 

 a good crop, but 45 bush, are reckoned to be a fair average 

 produce per acre throughout the county. In the low and 

 fertile parts, the average is generally greater, but in the 

 upland districts it is considerably less. Angus Oats 

 weigh generally about 43 lbs. a bushel, and Potato Oa's 



from 44 to 46 lbs. ~ 



yields 3 pecks of m 



A bushel of Potato Oats usually 

 eal of 8 J lbs. each. — T. Sullivan. 



ON THE ACTION OF GYPSUM. 



The Number of the Agricultural Gazette, for Oct. 

 12, contains a communication from Prof. Henslow, 

 qualifying the statement which it was asserted he had 

 made respecting the fixation of ammonia by gypsum. No 

 very strong recommendation of gypsum appears to have 

 been given, and, in the absence of some expected returns, 

 Prof. Henslow contents himself with directing the atten- 

 tion of practical men to this important agricultural expe- 

 riment. The theory — for such at present, perhaps, it 

 must be termed — will scarcely be looked upon as very 

 plausible, since Sir J. Herschell says of it, M 1 never tried 

 the experiment, and have even some small doubt of the 

 fact that carbonate of ammonia in a liquid or vaporous 

 state will decompose solid crystallised sulphate of lime, 

 though I do not deny that it may." 



In order to arrive at some practical conclusion on the 

 subject, I placed about a tenth of a grain of gypsum and 

 an equal quantity of carbonate of ammonia, with two or 

 three drops of distilled water, on the stage of my micro- 

 scope, and the result leads me to think that we may safely 

 go even beyond any measure of praise which gypsum has 

 hitherto received. A double decomposition of the two 

 bodies was immediately effected. The sulphuric acid of 

 the gypsum took up the ammonia, and after a few minutes 

 prismatic crystals of sulphate of ammonia were abun- 

 dantly formed, while the carbonic acid, liberated from the 

 ammonia, formed minute, crystals of carbonate of lime, 

 which thickly clustered round the dissolving portion of 

 carbonate of ammonia. Is it right to infer from this 

 position of the crystals, which the microscope discovers, 

 that ammonia has a greater affinity for sulphuric acid than 

 carbonic acid has for lime ? or, if the reverse were the 

 case, should we not find the newly-formed crystals of car- 

 bonate of lime congregating round those of the sulphate. 

 This state of things may be illustrated by the following 



diagram : 



Carbonate of Lime. 





Names. 





Hopetoun 

 Potato . 

 Flemish 

 Zealand 



— 



r. 







cq 



'5 



a 



o 



Pi 



A * 

 it'2 



1.97700 



1.88850 



1.91309 

 1. 79850 



174 

 180 

 165 



151 





7344 



7927 

 7186 



6780 



43 



U2 



Per Scotch Acre. 



11,005 

 9798 



9800 



7824 



cfl 



3 



■ 



0> 



u 





— 



Carb. of 

 Amm. 



Carbonic 4 

 acid. 



Ammonia 



— Lime. 



Sulphuric 

 acid. 



Sulph. of 

 Lime. 



88 



3 7 1 1 42 2 

 44 





5566 



4927 



D0|3986 . 



86 3756 13.5 5122 



85i3764-44 4350 



Quantity of 

 hay on the 

 limed part 

 per acre 

 more than 

 on the part 

 not limed. 



REMARKS. 



From this trial it appears the 

 more lime used the more 

 Grass. 



The limed part of this mea- 

 dow may now be traced by 

 a stranger. 



Oats are most generally sown after Grass, which has 

 lain for one or two years, the land being ploughed the 

 previous winter, or as early in spring as the state of the 

 weather and the labour of the farm will admit, in order 

 that it may receive some of the winter's frost, which 

 materially facilitates the process of harrowing. This is 

 especially the practice on strong clay lands. On the 

 lighter and more friable class of soils, where the furrow- 

 slices are liable to be too much levelled down by the in- 

 fluence of the weather, many farmers defer ploughing a 

 part of the lea until about seed-time ; the seed is then 

 sown as soon as practicable after the land has been 

 ploughed. Oats are sometimes, but not frequently, sown 

 after summer fallow, but often succeed Turnips. Oats 

 are also, under particular circumstances, taken after 

 Oats ; this, however, but iarely occurs, and may be con- 

 sidered a deviation from the general practic 



Sulphate of Ammonia. 



Be this, however, as it may, it U clear that gypsum may 

 be most successfully used for the Illation «»•»* 

 have tried the experiment on a larger scale by placing 

 100 grains of each of these compounds m Soz.of «li. Wirt 

 water for about 30 hours, and on evaporating t he fil tew* 

 supernatent water to dryness I obtained 67 grams of jm 

 phate of ammonia. I find, also that sheep-d lung none 

 rated, and then similarly treated with sulphate of hme 

 yields a soluble sulphate at the expense of »£»£"£ 

 and I therefore only add, that the result of these experi 

 ment. has induced me to order three tons of gypsum fr 

 my glebe farm, though but a few days ago I"^'^ 

 make a purchase, under the impression that the ad«.ru.e 

 mentso" dealers' are, like American stones-remarkable 

 if true.—/. B. Reade, Stone, Aylesbury. 



Home Correspondence. 



attaC >\°Lotchman wTo h's been over the greater part 



immmm 



lered a deviation from the general practice. art ot cultivating me u. s « - absur d . and I will venture 



Oats are for the most part sown broadcast, either by England, tbe comparison r ■ . ^ the game as the 



4 

 5 



1838; 

 1835 



6 



18401 108 



3d 



20* 



This piece has a barn in it, and 

 adjoina the turnpike-road, near 

 the village of Landogo ; although 

 the part limed has had no manure 

 since (now eight years) a stranger 

 may at once see the great differ- 

 ence between this and the part 

 not limed ; the limed part being 

 ▼ery superior in hetbage and 

 produce. In fact, as long as 

 there is a blade of (irass upon 

 the limed part the stock will not 

 touch the other. 



The lower part of No. 3 was this autumn (for the 

 first time) dressed with lime from Stow Green, varying 

 from 108 bushels up to 360 bushels per acre, and with 

 lime from Whiteclift at the rate of 72 bushels per acre, 

 in quarters of an acre adjoining, with a strip in the 

 centre without anything put on. From a trial made this 

 autumn it appears that lime in these meadows sinks at 



„, j „ ._ 7 _ T „ ww ^ j 



the hand, or with the broadcast sowing-machine; but 

 where there is a great prevalence of annual weeds, parti- 

 cularly of the Wild Mustard or Charlock (Sinapis arven- 

 sis), it is not uncommon to sow in rows with the drill- 

 machine, which admits of the land being afterwards 

 hand or horse-hoed, and the weeds destroyed. In this 

 case, the surface is first well reduced by the action of the 

 harrows, after which the seed is deposited in parallel 

 rows across the ridges. A single turn with the harrows 

 is then given, and the land water-furrowed. 



The period of sowing Oats is usually from the begin- 

 ning of March to the middle of April ; but this, of 

 course, is mainly regulated by the weather. In some 

 seasons the sowing of the Oat crop is concluded by the 

 end of March, whilst in others comparatively little is 

 done till the month of April. The quantity of seed va- 

 ries according to the quality of the land, variety of seed, 

 and other circumstances, from 3) to A\ bushels of the 

 Angus kind, and from 3 to 3J bushels of Potato Oats per 

 acre. The latter variety tillers better than the farmer, 

 or indeed any other kind, which renders a tmall allow- 

 ance of seed sufficient. 



Engiana, mc w* r «»- — . , e as lne 



,o fay, that if Sussex were cultivated the ^ same 



he points out the remedy. »• ^"^r. waning 



onlv one-third of the land in crop, if so muco 



a Corn crop, as if a crop of Hay or Gr •« '« J^,, ta 



t lirrl* value True, there are few good mea uu 



meat is more in demand, and we can have Corn i 

 ported from Scotland or Ireland more convenient!) M 

 £ an have meat or hay for the great me ropoli . Go^ 

 mar sh lands in Kent and Sussex can be , let . I I 

 acre, besides pajing retee, tithe, and _ tae., - ^> |aud 

 amount to 20,. more ; and I vrould ^, CouW sue 

 be more profitably employed in grooms Cora . bg 



is no doubt, a great deal in every district that _mi, , 

 proved, but There isalso on the » Stratbern Farmer^ 



r . U,,^*- farm n«r • ori.l 1 f faf 03 GTS Y> V Ul " 



The produce obtained per acre varies very much with route some excellent farming ; ^f if ^ r ^['^ b °ourhood^ 

 P In 1832, which was a very productive year | more to the best farmers m their own neig 



the seasons. 



? 



