1844.] 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



739 



and many meadows not subjected to inundations, are 

 strewed over twice a year with a good quantity of peat 

 ashes ; the first time in March or April, the second time 

 after the first cutting of the Grass. Every time 3000 or 

 4000 lbs. per acre are used, which is continued for three 

 years, and the harvest of Grass is afterwards twice what 

 it has been before. Afterwards the meadows are at 

 times broken up, and planted the first year with Flax, 

 which is followed by Oats, amongst which Clover and 

 Grasses are sown ; and the field then rests as a pasture. 



If peat-ashes are used in manuring fields, they are 

 harrowed in with the seed or ploughed in shallow. Clo- 

 ver and Lucerne fields are strewed over with them in the 

 spring. The duration of their action cannot be stated 

 with accuracy, as it depends both on their quantity and 

 their chemical constituents. 



He who has much peat may burn it, for the sake of 

 obtaining large masses of ashes, in high cylindrical ovens 

 built on purpose and furnished with a grate. This has the 

 advantage that the fresh wet peat can be thrown on that 

 already burning. It would be very advantageous to 

 deprive the newly dug out peat, by a press, of most of 

 its water. The burning of peat is also done in large 

 heaps ; in which case, however, it must be already dry. 

 Care is always to be taken that the heat be not too 

 great, else the ashes will ' lose much of their value ; 

 silicates will be formed, which (as we know already) are 

 of no use to the plants. It is obvious that only such 

 peat is to be burnt as experience or chemical analysis 

 has proved to yield a useful sort of ashes. 



"ON DIBBLING WHEAT. 



I have read with much pleasure the remarks of 

 your correspondents, M T. B. Pearson," li A Constant 

 Reader," and the Report from Stow-in-the-Wold, of the 

 superiority of dibbling over drilling Wheat. 



In the autumn of 1836 I dibbled 3 J lbs. of chevalier 

 ten-rowed white Wheat, one corn in each hole only, in 

 rows 6* inches by 12, which covered 64 perches of land ; 

 the produce was 16 bushels. I lost a great many ears, 

 in consequence of the field being bordered by the public 

 road : persons passing took the liberty of gathering 

 them, out of curiosity, such sort of Wheat not having 

 been cultivated in the neighbourhood; but still every 

 ounce of seed produced 18 lbs. 3 oz. This was made 

 public through the pages of the Reading Mercury, and 

 recently by Mr. J. Brown, in his Address to Wheat- 

 growers and Agricultural Societies.* In February, 1842, 

 I sent the inclosed letter to the editor of the Mark Lane 

 Express, the republication of which might be productive 

 of good. I have had much better crops since I have 

 dibbled 4 inches by 9. As your *' Constant Reader" 

 calls upon some of your mechanical readers to invent a 

 dibble, 1 send you an outline of one which I have used 

 for the last six years : it is a very simple instrument, 

 and the dibbles being of cast iron screwed into the cross- 

 piece, after a little use they clean themselves well, unless 

 the land is wet and adhesive. I think it would be com- 

 plicated, if the dibbles were made to turn half round. 



Handle, 1 foot 

 long; stem, 2 feet 

 6 inches, morticed 

 through the cross- 

 piece, as well as the 

 handle; cross piece, 

 20 in. long, 3 in. 

 wide, and 1£ in. 

 thick; dibbles, li 

 in. diam. at the 

 shoulder of the 

 screw, and 3| in. 

 long from the 

 shoulder. The hole 

 made is hardly ever 

 more than 3 in. 

 deep, on account of 

 the soil tumbling in 

 when the dibble is 

 removed. 



had of 

 No. 2, 

 I have 



However, I beg to call the attention of your M Constant 

 Reader" to the advertisement in your columns, of 

 V Smith's Field and Garden Seed Dibble, or Hand 

 Machine," made by and to be 

 Messrs. Cottam and Hallen, 

 Winsley-streer, Oxford- street, 

 not yet geen the machine, but have 

 read a book descriptive of it. I have 

 such an opinion of its usefulness and 

 simplicity of arrangement, that I have 

 no doubt but it will be in general use 

 when known. It is a tube of copper 

 or tin, somewhat of this shape ; the 

 hole for the seed is made by pressing 

 down the cross handles, and the seed 

 deposited at the same time, in any 

 number the operator wishes ; it can be 

 adapted to Turnip and Mangold Wurzel- 

 seeds, Wheat, Barley, Peas, and all 

 kinds of garden seeds. It is now in 

 great request.— W. Bartlett, Surgeon, 

 Marlborough. 



The following is Mr. Bartlett's letter, alluded to 

 above :—" Having seen in a number of the ■ Farmers' 

 Magazine' for June, 1841, some remarks on the subject 

 of dibbling Wheat, by Mr. W. Lucas, wherein it is stated 



* With one error, quarter for quart. 



that the greater the number of Corns dropped into each 

 hole, the less was the produce ; that one grain invariably 

 produced more than two; two more than three ; thr 

 more than four, up to eight, which number seldom pro- 

 duced more than one stalk or ear, and that of an inferior 



_ _ __ _ & « _ » » * * 



se^ds are then sown by a machine which 60ws three drills 

 together. According to the method pursued here of 

 drilling with the common plough, a drill is formed by a 

 single furrow, and the dung and seed are covered in by the 

 plough in returning, so that the opening or formation of 



quality ; and having had some experience in dibbling the drills, the carting and spreading of the dung, the 

 one Corn in a hole, I can vouch for the truth of this sowing of the seeds, and the final covering of the dung 

 statement; the average froai one grain is from 12 to 15 

 ears. I have specimens by me of 84 stalks of Barley, 

 and 55 of Wheat, each from one grain — each stalk pro- 

 ducing a perfect ear. As I occupy but a small quantity 

 of land, I ain anxious to make the most of it ; and the 

 system I have hitherto pursued is spade husbandry and 

 artificial manures. In 1840 I dibbled 108 poles of land with 

 7 gallons of Beans, making the holes 4 inches apart and the 

 rows 18 inches asunder, dropping one Bean in each hole ; 

 immediately the Beans were planted and covered in, the 

 land was manured with one sack of good salt ; the pro- 

 duce when threshed was ten sacks, one and half a bushel 

 of Berkshire Ticks, of a superior quality, not having any 

 refuse whatever ; each Bean produced three stalks 

 nearly 7 feet high ; whilst growing they were declared 

 to be the finest sample ever seen in the neighbourhood. 



_ -_ . ng or tne aung 

 and seed by reversing the first-made drills, «re carried on 

 in close succession and with much regularity. 



The first culture bestowed upon the crop after sowing 

 is a good harrowing, just before the young plants rtach 

 the surface, for the purpose of destroying the annual and 

 other weeds that may be springing up. The subsequent 

 culture given during the growth of the plants consists in 

 horse-hoeing, hand-hoeing, and hand-weeding; the imple- 

 ments employed as horse-hoes are a common plough of 

 small dimensions, drawn by one horse, and a drill-harrow 

 or grubber, with coulters fur cutting and tearing up 

 weeds and pulverising the soil in the intervals between 

 the rows. The small plough is used for paring away a 

 portion of the earth from each side of the drills as close 

 to the plants as the plough c:in go without injuring them, 

 and the drill-harrow soon follows to pulverise and level 



11 After a good crop of Potatoes in 1840, which were the soil turned up by the plough, and to cut and drag up 



manured with gypsum when the stalks were about 

 6 inches high — a manure not beneficial to cereal crops, 

 consequently not likely to influence the quantity pro- 

 duced by the process adopted for the next crop— early 

 in March 1341,2 roods, 21 poles of this Potato land 

 were dibbled with 14± lbs. of Barley, (to which my 

 neighbours have given the name of « Bartlett's American' 

 from its superior quality) at 4 inches by 9, and deposited 

 at least 3 inches deep and covered in with the feet after 

 the manner adopted with Beans, and the land sown 

 with ashes (made by burning the weeds dug out in 

 cleaning the land, and others growing round the borders 

 of my little field, with fresh lime from the kiln ; by plac- 

 ing the weeds and lime in alternate layers and suffering 

 them to remain till combustion was complete) in the 

 proportion of 200 bushels to the acre. The crop was 

 particularly fine, more than 4 feet high, and the number 

 of corns in the ear varying from 27 to 37— some had 39 ; 

 the whole produce was 31 bushels besides 1£ bushel of 

 Tail-corn; the weight per sack 212 lbs., giving an in- 

 crease of 117 lbs. for every pound dibbled without 

 the tailing. 1 employ men to make the holes with the 

 dibble, which makes five holes at once, and children to 

 drop the corn ; they work by a line and change their 

 places every time, filling up the holes with their feet as 

 they pass each other ; the expense varies from 9 to 10 

 shillings per acre, according to the fitness of the land 



for the work. 



«« Besides the great saving of seed, the greater produce 

 per acre, and its superior quality, considerable advan- 

 tage would arise to the public at large, by giving employ- 

 ment to a greater number of persons, (who are, through 

 want of work, in absolute want of food,) if dibbling 

 was more generally adopted, as well as spade husbandry. 

 -W. B.,Feb.7,M2." 



SKETCHES OF EAST LOTHIAN HUSBANDRY. 



Beans.— Since the extension of thorough draining, 

 and the consequent melioration of the soil, and its better 

 adaptation to Turnip-culture, the extent of land devoted I 

 to this crop has been annually decreasing. Beans are, 

 however, regarded as peculiarly well suited for the pre- 

 paration of clay lands for Wheat ; and it is owing chiefly 

 to this circumstance that they are cultivated to so consi- 

 derable an exteut in East Lothian. 



Beans are always sown after Oats or Wheat. The 

 land intended for this crop is ploughed with a deep fur- 

 row in autumn, or early in winter, in order that any new 

 soil which may be brought to the surface may receive the 

 full benefit of the winter's frost. The manure to be ap- 

 plied to the crop is, in many instances, spread upon the 

 stubble, and ploughed in with the winter-furrow ; and 

 this practice is much approved of where the land is suffi- 

 ciently dry to admit of it, as it greatly expedites the work 

 when the period of sowing arrives. The mode of pre- 

 paring the soil for Beans varies very much in different 

 localities, and under different circumstances, the prepa- 

 ratory tillage being regulated, in a great measure, by the 

 nature and condition of the land and the state of the wea- 

 ther. In the case of dry and light soils, it is usual to give 

 one or more ploughings, and a sufficient number of har- 

 rowings, to pulverise the soil, and disengage all root- 

 weeds, *hichare carefully gathered off before forming 

 the drills; but at the early period of the spring, in which 

 Beans are sown, these operations are but seldom per- 

 fectly executed, even upon dry friable soils ; whilst upon 

 those of a strong tenacious character, such a course of 

 preparatory tillage would, except in very favourable wea- 

 ther, be altogether impracticable. On the latter class of 

 soils, therefore, the general practice is to form the drills 



all kinds of weeds to the surfaces. The hand-hoers, 

 women and boys, are then 6et to work, each takes a drill 

 and cuts up any weeds which may have escaped or had 

 been out of the reach of the previous instruments: weeds 

 growing up amongst the plants in the rows are pulled by 

 the hand. The horse-hoeing and hand-hoeing are re- 

 peated until the weeds are completely cleared off or de- 

 stroyed, or until the crop lias arrived at such a stage that 

 further tillage would be injurious rather than beneficial. 

 Where the soil is very wet, the plants are generally 

 earthed up in the same manner as is done in the culture 

 of Potatoes, but as the drills by being thus raised up 

 occasion some inconvenience in ploughing the land foi 

 Wheat after the Beans are removed, this last operation 

 is usually dispensed with, except the land is very flat and 

 liable to injury from the retention of surface water. 



When cutting this crop, which is always done by the 

 sickle, two rows are taken together by each reaper, and 

 the Beans are laid dovrn in handfuls across the drills, in 

 which state they remain a week or thereabouts, in order 

 to allow the stems to dry and wither, when they are tied 

 up In sheaves with short straw ropes, previously manu- 

 factured for the purpose, and distributed over the field. 

 The sheaves, on being tied, are made up in stooks, in 

 which they remain till ready for stacking. Bean-stacks 

 are made of a small size, with a funnel or wind-kiln, as 

 it is called, through the centre of each, to which there is 

 a free access of air from without, by means of a low tress 

 placed at the bottom. 



The period of sowing Beans is usually from the latter 

 end of February to the middle of March. The quantity 

 of seed depends in some measure upon the quality of the 

 land, and the size of the Bean ; four bushels per acre is 

 the general allowance. It is a common practice to mix a 

 small quantity of Peas or Vetches with the Beans before 

 sowing. The best quality of Vetch-seed is obtained by 



this means. 



The produce per acre varies from 25 to 40 bushels per 

 acre, but 30 bushels are reckoned a fair average crop. 

 The usual weight of Beans is G2 to 68 lbs. a bushel. 



Beans are used to a considerable extent in teeding 

 horses and cattle ; for the former they are generally 

 boiled with Barley or mixed with Oats, and for the latter 

 they are always made into a kind of coarse meal. It has 

 been already'stated that the bread of the farm-servants 

 here consists of a mixture of Beans and Barley ground 

 together. Tbe straw is much valued as fodder for farm- 

 horses. — T. Sullivan, 



Home Correspondence. 



Seaware.— About mid-winter last, some seaware having 

 come on the shore attached to my farm, I had it carted 

 and spread, in the proportion of about 45 one-horse 

 carts per Scotch acre, on poor sandy land, in Oat stubble, 

 intended for green crop this season, and ploughed in 

 without loss of time. In spring the land was again 

 ploughed, harrowed, and otherwise prepared for a crop 

 of Potatoes. When the drills were drawn, African 

 guano— about 5 cwt. to the Scotch acre— was spreid in 

 a part of them, and a very little loose earth drawn 

 over it, after which the Potato-seed was planted and the 

 drills covered up in the usual manner, both where there 

 was no manure but the seaware, and where there were 

 both seaware and guano, as above described. The 

 Potatoes were planted on the same day. Those where 

 the guano had been put were much earlier, and abun- 

 dant in foliage, than those planted on the seaware by 

 itself; indeed, the drills were covered long before any 

 other Potatoes in the field — for I may observe that there 



sous tnererore, me gene™ «... » w «~- ~~ — - , was also a considerable quantity of that root planted on 

 on thi wSurro^, without any previous tillage ; but good stable manure there. That which attracted my 

 whatever preparation the land may undergo, the drills particular attention was the very marked superiority ot 



in which the seeds are deposited are formed precisely in 

 the same manner by the common plough. They are 

 commonly 27 inches apart. 



When the dung has not been ploughed in with the 

 first furrow, it is stored up in the field during the winter, 

 and turned over to accelerate the fermentative process a 

 short time before being required for use. The manner 

 of applying it is as follows :— A sufficient number of 

 drills being formed the dung is carried from the heap in 

 single-horse carts, the horse walking m the interval of 

 every third drill, and it is dragged out into small heaps, 

 proportionate to the quantity to be applied per acre. 

 , Three or four women follow each cart to distribute the 

 I dung equally along the intervals of the drills, and the 





the crop where the seaware and guano were applied, over 

 that where seaware only had been used. 1 now regret 

 that a comparative trial of the weight or bulk of the 

 Potatoes thus p'.anted was not made. The fact is, those 

 planted on seaware and guano being earlier at maturity 

 than where seaware only, or stable manure had been 

 applied, they were dug and used in the house and by the 

 pigs immediately after the early Potatoes were done. 

 The man who lifted them, however, states that he believes 

 there was nearly a half— at all events a third— more 

 Potatoes on the land manured with seaware and guano 

 than on that with seaware alone, and they were a very 

 large crop, and of excellent quality. Covering the sea- 

 ware by the plough, as soon as it is laid on the land, 



is 



