740 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



a good way of using that ir-iiiu re — perhaps about the 

 best — as its substance is preserved in the soil, which it 

 helps to meliorate, during the process of decomposition. 

 I have been induced to send you the above simple state- 

 ment in regard to planting Potatoes on seaw.-ire a: 

 guano, not because I auppose there it any new discovery 

 involved, but from a wish to draw the attention of those 

 agriculturists who have the benefit ofseaware for manure, 

 to a mode by which they may raise excellent crops of 

 Potatoes at a moderate expense. I am well aware that 

 abundant crops of Potatoes are often grown, especially 

 on mossy or soft land, manured with a large quantity of 

 seaware alone ; but the quality is rarely good, and the 

 crop is generally late in ripening — in fact, scarcely fit for 

 anything but seed. On good dry land there is no doubt 

 that fair crops of Potatoes are raised with seaware for 

 manure, but even here large quantities of this manure 

 must be used. I propose next season to try Turnips 

 manured in the same manner, viz., with seaware ploughed 

 down in winter, and guano applied at sowing time, and 

 have sanguine hopes that the experiment will be a suc- 

 cessful one. — J. Paterson, l\ hitehouse, Arran, Oct. 17. 



Allotments. — There appears to be a project on foot to 

 regulate allotments by legislative interference — a scheme 

 pregnant with many evils, and contrary to the principles 

 on which this plan for the relief of the poor man should 

 be based. There are objections to any measure com- 

 pelling a parish to provide garden plots for labourers : — 

 An extra expense is entailed upon rate-payers, a con- 



lerable part of which must necessarily fall upon a 

 numerous class of men, who are hardly able to bear their 

 present burthens; the number of parish officers, already 

 more than sufficient for the management of parochial 





>res to the depth oi about 4 feet G, but stronger roots 

 extended below that depth and were traced from 5 feet 



■ 5 feet 6. The Wheat was a dwarfish variety, Red : 

 so that the roots were, as M J. C. C." remarks, conbi- 



rably longer than the stems. In the last two months 

 I . e asked many not unscientific farmers how deep 

 Wheat roots I I have not found one who could answer 

 the question, and I suspect if the Council of the Agri- 

 cultural Society were catechised, few, if any, would know 

 anything about it. Such being the case, I think you 

 would confer a benefit on farmers generally, if you would 

 embody the contents of " J. C. C.'s" information in your 

 Leading Article and make it known that the average 

 depth to which Wheat roots is 5 feet ; which would, I 

 suspect, be a stronger argument in favour of draining and 

 subsoil-ploughing, and other novel operations of agricul- 

 ture, than any other which can ba urged ; and will, in all 

 probability, astonish, even to incredulity, 19 out of 20 

 of your readers ; not to sny \)'J out of a 100. — J. R. 



Salt as Manure. — My neighbours are crying out 

 lustily against the depredations of the slugs amongst 

 their Potato crops, scarcely one being free from severe 

 marks. I have escaped this visitation ; I attribute it 

 entirely to having used salt las- year. After my ground 

 was cleared of the produce, I had it turned up rough 

 and sowed salt broadcast over it; I also used a consi- 

 derable quantity on my refuse heap, which accumulates 

 during seven or eight months, and is composed of any- 

 thing and everything 1 can collect on the premises, 

 which there is a chance of converting into manure. 

 — Falcon. 



Chidham Wheat. — In answer to your Correspondent 

 "Kirklington," I beg to inform' you that Chidham Wheat 



[Nov. 2, 



slovenly fields (which were between Cu 



affairs, would be increased. It may be said, an Act of is derived from a single stem of Wheat found in a hed*e 



Parliament to compel parishes to provide land for the cul- 

 tivation of the labourers and artisans, will improve their 

 condition, and decrease the pauper lists. But a difficulty 

 will naturally arise, as to who are the proper objects to 

 benefit by the proposed law. Now, keeping in n.ind 

 that the small rate-payers are part tenants in renting the 

 land, and will have to pay their proportion in the event of 

 there being any defaulters, they will expect, and with some 

 justice, a portion of it as gardens for themselves. These 

 applications will lead to constant bickerings and con- 

 fusion. Again, the wardens to be elected as managers 

 will be placed in no enviable position, and will find ob- 

 stacles thrown in the way of an equitable adjustment of 

 claims, which will prevent competent men from under- 

 taking such harassing duties as they will have to perform. 

 Let us suppose Parliament to have passed the Allotment 

 Bill, and a half-rural parish is desirous to act upon it. 

 Officers are appointed, and instructed to hire 20 acres of 

 land,and apportion them into equal parts,amongst GO heads 

 of houses, according to the number of persons capable of 

 working in their respective families. This isallveiy 

 good, provided you have only the above number ; but if 

 there are 300, instead of 60, who assert their right to the 

 indulgence, being themselves charged with a share of the 

 expenses, in the event of a failure in the receipts for rent, 

 what is now to be done? How are you to discriminate 

 between the various parties? You cannot say to the 

 hard-working man, who has never yet troubled the parish, 

 and who has been struggling through ail times to preserve 

 his independence, " You can live without an increased 

 income — we must pass you over, to relieve the parish 

 rates and get rid of an idle man." Take your idle man, 

 and what is the result ?— no rent, and an additional 

 charge to the industrious individual who was refused the 

 land. The Allotment System can only be applied with 

 success, either by individuals or a societv, apart from 

 parish officers or Acts of Parliament. The subdivision of 

 land into small holdings is a dangerous precedent, and 

 can never answer any good purpose. No man who is 

 dependent upon his daily labour should have more ground 

 than himself and his family can look after during their 

 leisure hours— and in few instances more than half an 

 acre. Spade husbandry having been proved to be so much 

 superior to ploughing, how comes it that farmers do not 

 more generally use the surplus strength of their 

 parish in this lucrative manner? Dibbling is done by 

 contract ; and why should not digging a field be executed 

 in the same manner as navigating — by g:uigs ? Here is 

 at once a fruitful source of occupation, which would 

 obviate the necessity of parliamentary allotments, and 

 render sufficiently effective the common practice of letting 

 garden plots. Prejudice exists against the spade as a 

 chief agricultural implement, on account of the expense. 

 However, an increased produce and lowering the rates 

 will amply repay the experiment, which I have no doubt 

 practical men will acknowledge ; and I hope soon to see 

 it more commonly in vogue. I am fully convinced that 

 a number of individuals may almost always be found, 

 resident in a parish, who will be ready to superintend 

 any plan which may be brought forward as a means of 

 alleviating the distress of their poorer neighbours, with- 

 out the assistance of legislative enactments. Persons 

 anxious to promote the welfare of working men, should, 

 before they advocate any plan which may increase the 

 rates, attend regularly all parish vestries in their neigh- 

 bourhood, which would convince them of the impossibility 

 of squeezing more out of the small rate-payers than is at 

 present annually obtained from them. — Falcon. 



Roots of Wheat.— I gratefully acknowledge the reply 

 of " J. C. C." to my query on this subject. I was not 

 aware that attention had ever been publicly directed to 

 the subject, and having this summer traced the roots of 

 Wheat to a depth of upwards of five feet, I was anxious 

 to know whether agriculturists were aware of the fact. In 

 forming a kitchen garden I bad occasion to trench a 

 Wheat-field, and found that the soil was matted with 



at Chidham in Sussex, on the farm now held by Mr. E. 

 Wyatt, and is called so after the place. In Hants some 

 call it Hedge Wheat. — R. Gibbs, Guildford. m 



On Harnessing Draught Animals. — On seeing the 

 print of a portion of a horse and draught-chains in your 

 columns, I was induced to read the paragraph relating to 

 it, and not approving of the plan of harnessing there 

 recommended, 1 was glad to see *' A. J.'s" objections to 

 it in No. 39. I agree with him to a considerable extent, 

 and yet am willing to give due weight to your argument in 

 favour of the plan to which he objects, even if it would do 

 so, to strengthen it by relating a nearly similar anecdote. 

 A fellow pupil called to me, "Try if you are stronger 

 than I am, and pull out this roller." I attempted and 

 failed. Our tutor looking on said, " I can tell you 

 what will enable either of you to accomplish the task. 

 Let one c,et on the other's back." We severally did so, 

 and could perform it with ease. I am confident no means 

 of adjusting the rope to our bodies would have enabled 

 either of us to have pulled the roller from whence it was, 

 without some additional weight to have given us firmer 

 footing. Now, in the plan of harnessing recommended, 

 the object being to relieve the shoulder at the expense of 

 the back, there can be no additional weight.(!) My prin- 

 cipal objection to your plan appears to have been hitherto 

 overlooked. I think it must be apparent that in this 

 method of harnessing, the greater the tension, the more 

 the back-band is drawn down, the more will the neck-col- 

 lar be raised against the animal's windpipe, thereby tending 

 to choke him. As a proof of such tendency I may per- 

 haps be allowed another anecdote. Three or four years 

 ago, whilst riding, I met my carter half way up a Devon- 

 shire-hill, with a load of coal. I stopped him to give 

 some directions for the morrow, and remarked that 

 the back-chain was too tight— the horse would choke. He 

 replied, " Oh no, sir, I was obliged to load forward to 

 get from the vessel's side." The drag-staff was down, but 

 the shaft-horse, a remarkably staunch yet nervous animal, 

 refusing to yield, within two minutes fell on his side. 

 I consider the usual method adopted in this country of 

 attaching the trace^to the collar, cramps and confines the 

 shoulders more than necessary, and that it would do so 

 much less if attached higher up the collar, and thus 

 render the carriage-horse less unfit for riding. It is the 

 tension or draught on the lower part of the shoulder I 

 consider that makes the harness-horse so stilty in his 

 action. This I have in great measure prevented in my 

 carriage-horses, by using the swing instead of the fixed 

 splinter-bar, and believe I shall entirely do so, by using 

 Bencraft's patent names. This invention is a boon to 

 the coach-horse. I would recommend a somewhat simi- 

 lar contrivance for the use of the cart-horse also. — B. 

 Chilo. 



Scotch Faming.— It may be interesting to some 

 English brother farmers who read this Gazette, to hear 

 from one who has just crossed the border for the first 

 time, an account of a few variations which meet the eye 

 in Scotland, from the farming practised in our u ain dear 

 land," as most of us consider Scotland the mother of im- 

 proved agriculture. It was chiefly a bird's-eye view I 

 could take of the country as travelling by coach, with 

 the exception of having a talk with one or two farmers. 

 The first thing which must attract attention on entering 

 Scotland is the intelligent physiognomies of the children. 

 Tbis remark may appear rather inappropriate, but I 

 believe that education is the foundation of all good farm- 

 ing. Another thing which struck me was the curious 

 appearance of perhaps from twenty to forty stacks, and 

 sometimes more than eighty, near the farm steadings, 

 about half the size of our round ones, but most of them 

 not thatched nearly so well as those in England. The 

 part I first went through was East Lothian from Berwick, 

 and then nearly through the heart of Mid-Lothian to 

 Edinburgh, from there across the Firth of Forth to St. 



foul with previous crops. I noticed also that tber* 

 ploughed the farmyard manure into the ground in a verv 

 green state, which no doubt, where the land is stiff has 

 the beneficial tendency of keeping it open. Another 

 novelty was that every plough I saw was made of iron 

 and in some few fields they were working one-horse 

 ploughs, I suppose to open a seed furrow for Wheat. 

 The land I saw varied nearly as much as in England' 

 although none of it required more than a pair of horses 

 to work the plough, which cannot be said of many parts 

 of England. By inquiry I found the Scotch do nearly 

 all their weeding at the summer fallow, and at that time 

 employ large numbers of women. What surprised me 

 exceedingly was not to see one Corn-drill, but quantities 

 of Wheat being sown broadcast. If I had seen pressing 

 in vogue, or any other mode more adapted for light land, 

 I should not have been surprised at the absence of the 

 drill. 



they 

 chaff- 



me that this looks something like the son going a-head 

 of his mother— comparing the best farming of England 

 with that of Scotland. The Turnip crops are much 

 better here than in most parts of England ; and I believe 

 they have an average crop of Potatoes, which they pit in 

 the fields, where you may sometimes see heaps a hundred 

 yards long. I was disappointed in not seeing many of 

 our improved implements introduced into this far-famed 

 country. The land certainly does immense credit to the 

 farmers, taking into consideration the climate they have 

 to contend with. — Titus Oats, 



I Sbocietfcs. 



EAST CUMBERLAND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



At the late Annual Meeting and Show of this Society, 

 Mr. Ellison, one of the Judges of Stock, gave the result 

 of his experience in using bones and guano with respect 

 to the Turnip crop. He had used four tons of guano 

 this year, African and Peruvian, and from the appearances 

 of the Turnip crop the African had answered as well as 

 the Peruvian, although there was a wonderful difference 

 in their price. He also had some Turnips sown with 

 bones, which were likely to yield about 23 per cent, less 

 than those which had been sown with the guano. Now 

 this was singular, after what he had heard a very res- 

 pectable farmer state, that on his farm the only effect 

 on Grass was to make it a greener colour, and that 

 though it made Corn greener for a while at first, it 

 had no material effect upon the quantity produced. This 

 soil was on a thin limestone bed, but he had tried it upon 

 peat moss, and it acted equally well. With respect to the 

 permanency of its effects, he could not yet ascertain it so 

 well, and it was a known fact that bones were permanent 

 in their effect. Corn from land which had been bone- 

 manured would be stronger than from that produced by 

 farmyard manure. But if they might believe a gentleman 

 who had spoken at a meeting of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society, the effect of guano was permanent, and therefore 

 great benefit might be expected from its, introduction. 

 He would now say a few words with respect to Potatoes. 

 He held an agency in Lancashire in 14 townships, and 

 had therefore had ample opportunities of obseivation, 

 and he might say that Potatoes there were a very failing 

 crop indeed ; and in his opinion it could be attributed to 

 nothing but cutting the Potatoes before planting them 

 as seed. It was a common saying with many people 

 whose Potato crops had failed, that they had been 

 carried off by the dry rot. But it was no such thing.(.j 

 He was satisfied that it was an insect which penetrated 

 through the Potato when it was cut, and ate «p all its 

 juices, so that it was impossible the stem could flounsn. 

 He had examined Potatoes in this way, and on taking 

 them up, after being a fortnight or three weeks m the 

 ground, the inside of the Potato was found like a sponge, 

 and perforated with small holes. He had this year six 

 acres of Potatoes, and they were all planted whole, tie 

 had also an acre in which the seed was cut, by way ot 

 satisfying his neighbours, and enabling them to judge ol 

 the difference of produce between the two modes, lne 

 six acres were as good as heart could wish for, while the 

 acre in which the seed was cut was not half a crop. 

 There was a tenant whom three years ago he threatened 

 to turn off his farm if he continued to cut his Potato 

 seed. He had seen him the other day, and he told him 

 that it would have been 90/. in his pocket, if he bad 

 followed his advice, as he had lost 30/. a year by the old 

 practice. A very effectual mode to prevent the worm 

 amongst Potatoes was to wash them. Experiments ot 

 this kind had been made, and those Potatoes which had 

 been washed when laid up for seed were found to be 

 entirely exempt from this disease, which arose from the 

 egg of an insect being deposited in the eye of the Potato. 

 By washing the Potatoes in the autumn, the ova were ot 

 course washed our, and all danger obviated. 



FARMERS' CLUBS. 

 Monmouth.— At the late Annual Meeting of this Club» 

 Mr. Crawfurd made the following remarks :— The first 

 consideration In Agriculture is climate ; this is more ot 

 a grazing than a corn country \ our green fields are un- 

 equalled, but our corn-growing is surpassed in many 

 countries. An English meadow will fat a large ox, 



.while many other countries have not pasture to 



Andrews, through the fertile county of Fife ; and in that feed a rabbit. That shows our prodigious advantage 

 distance I am glad to be able to say I only saw two J over other countries as a grazing country. Our country 



