1844.] 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



Hop Garden. — I am about to commence a Hop-yard, 

 but being myself inexperienced in the system, I have had 

 recourse to my neighbours for information. I find they 

 invariably recommend the removal of all the male (or 

 barren) plants, under the idea that as they never bear, 

 they are useless. I know practical men are often right 

 when they seem to be wrong, but I should have expected 

 that the perfection, if not the quantity and weight of the 

 Hop, would have been best secured by impregnation. I 

 should, therefore, be much obliged if you would favour 

 me with your opinion on the point ; informing me what 

 is the practice among the best growers in Kent, Sussex, 

 &c, and particularly how many barren plants it would be 

 desirable to have in every hundred. I presume it will be 

 necessary to plant them singly, and not two or three plants 

 together, as is the general course. I am myself inclined 

 to plan*-, ten per cent. I should further be obliged by the 

 names of the best kinds, Kent Hops especially; of the 

 hardiest and best bearing, and an intimation of the name 

 and address of the party from whom proper cuttings might 

 be obtained. I understand Hop-growers themselves, and 

 not nurserymen, provide them.— Hamulus, Bradford. 



How to store Cabbages. — Yeter Mackenzie tells us 

 " the Cabbages are put in heaps in a manner like cast- 



757 



iron bullets in an arsenal ;" but as few English farmers 

 have had the advantage of an education at Woolwich, and 

 as many of those of the interior have not even seen an 

 iron bullet, let alone an arsenal, they may not understand 

 how a pile of balls is made. As it may also give Cab- 

 bage-growers more confidence in storing, to be informed 

 that over a large tract of country it is generally done with 

 success, I will state the practice throughout the province 

 of Connaught and neighbouring parts. About a month 

 before Christmas the Cabbages (the roots being cut off), 

 are ranged as close as possible in parallel rows of any 

 length— say six rows ; on the tops of these, five parallel 

 rows are ranged ; on these again four rows ; on these 

 three, then two, and one row finishes the heap ; a little 

 straw is placed over them to keep the earth from them, 

 and they are covered about a foot thick with earth beaten 

 down so as to exclude air and rain; they are thus 

 finished off like the roof of a house ; no straw or any- 

 thing is mixed with them. Of course advantage is 

 taken of a dry day; and it is better to lay the tops down- 

 wards, that any moisture may drain from them. The 

 first rows may either be placed on the surface, or a pit 

 may be excavated to the tile.— J". M. Goodiffe. 



SeaB-ckthom.— "Will your correspondent" M. D P " 

 who, in your Gazette of the 26th of last month, alludes 

 to the plant called Sea Buckthorn, favour us with some 

 further particulars respecting it ? From the properties 

 he describes it to possess-of growing freely on sand- 

 hills and especially of not being liable to be attacked 

 oy rabbits— it would be most valuable in some localities. 

 Will it grow and be useful as underwood, and in inland 

 districts ? Perhaps » M. D. P.," or some of your cor- 

 respondents, wilt oblige us by describing it more par- 

 ticularly, and state if it is to be met with in any other 

 parts than those referred to. Upon inquiry, I cannot 

 nnd that it is known under the name in question.— An 

 Old Subscriber. 



A Correspondent, in the Number of the Gazette for 

 Oct. 26, asks who is the author of the saying that " who- 

 ever could make two ears of Corn, or two blades of Grass 

 to grow upon a spot of ground where one only grew before, 

 would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential 

 service to his country, than tht whole race of politicians 

 put together/' I beg to inform him that the King of 

 Brobdingnag made the observation to Mr. Lemuel 

 GuUiver.— Rd. S. 



months ; and trusted that some still more vigorous and 

 decisive step would be taken by the Council to insure the 

 payment of the subscriptions as they became due from 

 year to year, and thus remove .the anomalous condition 

 under which the accounts of the Society were placed by 

 the omission of annual payments, and the consequent 

 accumulation of arrears. 



Mr. Pym Mr. Fisher Hobbs, and Mr. Kinder 

 having stated the success which had attended the efforts 

 they had made in their respective counties of Bedford- 

 shire, Essex, and Hertfordshire, as Honorary Collectors 

 of the Society's subscriptions from the members residing 

 within those districts, expressed their willingness to con- 

 tinue their exertions in the care of such collection, and 

 to aid the Council in extending the system of such 

 friendly co-operation, through members of the Council 

 to other counties. Mr. Pym then gave notice, that at 

 the Monthly Council to be held on the 4th of December 

 next, he should move, " That county or district collec- 

 tors should be appointed for the purpose of getting in the 

 subscriptions of the Society." 



Elections of Council.— On the motion of Mr 

 Raymond Barker, seconded by Mr. Shaw, the Council 

 resolved unanimously, that Philip Pusey, Esq., M.P 

 Chairman of the Journal Committee, should be requested 

 to accept the office of a Trustee of the Society, vacant bv 

 the decease of His Grace the Duke of Grafton. Mr 

 Thomas Lockley Meire, of Cound Harbour, near 

 Shrewsbury, was elected a Member of Council, in the 

 place of the late Mr. Edward Gough, of Gravel Hill 

 near Shrewsbury. ' 



Implements at Southampton. — Mr. Parkes, 

 Consulting-Engineer to the Society, communicated to the 

 Council the doubt and difficulty under which he this year 

 laboured in drawing up his report on the trial and exhi- 

 bition of Implements at the Annual Country Meeting of 

 the Society, from the circumstance of his acting at South- 

 ampton simply as the mechanical referee of the Judges 

 and not as formerly as an actual judge himself— an* 

 arrangement which, to a considerable extent, placed him 

 under the condition of an ordinary inspector of the im- 

 plements, and excluded him from the more immediate 

 communication with the judges at the trials which de- 

 termined their awards, and which was essential to his 

 being enabled to make a complete and satisfactorv Report. 

 I he following resolution was then passed :— » That it is 

 the opinion of the Council, after considering the letter 

 addressed to them by Mr. Parkes, that Mr. Parkes 

 should draw up the Report from the reports of the 

 Judges for which they are solely responsible ; but that 

 upon all trials which he himself viewed, it will be compe- 

 tent for him t# make any remarks he may think neces- 

 sary, as well as upon the whole mechanical appearance 

 of the Show. rr 



Mr. Shaw gave notice that at the next Monthlv 

 Council in December he should move :— " That the trials 



the ashes of plants, from various localities, to be made 

 under the immediate superintendence of Professor Gra- 

 ham, who had liberally placed his services on this occasion 

 gratuitously at the disposal of the two Institutions. The 

 consideration of this question was postponed until the 

 monthly Council in December. 



The communications of M. Hugues on his sowine 

 machine having been referred to the Journal Committee; 

 and his offer of a model accepted, thanks were ordered 

 for the numerous donations made to the Societv, and the 

 Council adjourned for a fortnight, until Wednesday, the 

 20ih of November. 



FARMERS' CLUBS. 

 Groomb ridge.- At the late annual meeting of this Asso- 

 ciation the following remarks were made:— Mr. Ham- 

 mond, of Penshurst, said that last year he sowed "a field 

 of Swede Turnips in rows. One part of the field he 

 manured with good rotten dung from the fatting stalls, at 

 the rate of 30 loads per acre. Close beside it he drilled 

 in guano, at the rate of 2 1 cwt. per acre. The Turnips 

 where the guano was placed were the best up till the 

 middle of the summer, when he fed them off, and the 

 crop in tbat field this summer was quite as good where 



the guano was put as where he manured it with dung 



Mr. G. Wickens had used guano on meadow land, and 

 one could tell to an inch where it was laid, the Grass was 

 so greatly improved.— Capt. Aitchison spoke from expe- 

 rience of the effect of manuring with soot on his land. 

 The eight-acre field, where the ploughing-raatch was held 

 last year, he sowed with Wheat, and top-dressed it with 

 soot, in the autumn, at the rate of 50 bushels to the acre, 

 and he had a most excellent crop of Wheat, and a finer 

 piece of young seeds he scarcely ever saw.— The chairman 

 believed, in this part of the country, mould taken from 

 hedges and mixed with dung or lime was a very favourite 

 manure with the farmers. Now, it occurred to him 

 that by spreading this mould over their land they sowed 

 a great many weeds, else where did the great quantity of 

 weeds found in the farmers' fields come from ? He saw, 

 go where he would, a great many weeds, and he was in- 

 clined to think that the mould taken from the ditches, 

 although it might be valuable to the land, contained a 

 great many weeds. He thought that artificial manures 

 were preferable in this respect : they did no harm.— Capt. 

 Aitchison was of opinion that the farmers were too apt 

 to spare the labour of turning the mould heaps suffi- 

 ciently often to destroy the weeds. His mode was to 

 turn the mix hills three times at least, and he was satis- 

 fied it paid the farmer. Thus the whole of the seeds 

 were brought into life and destroyed before being carried 

 into the fields. 



Saffron Walden. — The following are portions of a 

 speech by Ph. Pusey Esq., M.P., at a late Meeting of 

 this Society : — He said there was one subject that occu- 

 pied the attention of the country — the improvement of 



of implements he in fnrnm ™a^7.7~ " l «*~ "7 " ,ai * the condition of the agricultural labourer ; and on that 



as t'rSociety m ay find be. t LanS [to Th"* ^ ^^ * ™ l V?* *- ^ ° Ut S ° me «""•»*>« for 



stands .n/nn Ifi ;T .° the Clrcum - ^eni to pass their opinion upon. He would say that he 



Meetings o? the Society ^ ^ *' ^^ Com «l ***** ' redit "" due to L " d ^hn Manners" for hi! 



Shrewsbury Mf/ttvp f..i c„ ™ . endeavours to revive the old amusements of the peasantry 



of the GeW^ *1 ^country. v He might quote a practical authority' 



£oc 



.. ktm. 



ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY of ENGLAND. 

 The Council resumed their sittings for the Session, 

 at the Society's House in Hanover-square, on Wednesday 



£ ' ^?J? lh ° f November - Present— William Miles, 

 £sq., M.P., in the chair; Viscount Hill, Colonel Austen, 

 Ihoraas Raymond Barker, Esq. ; Samuel Bennett, Esq. ; 

 French Burke, Esq.; Humphrey Gibbs, Esq.: T. B. 

 Brandreth Gibbs, Esq.; Stephen Grantham, E.q. ; 

 Henry Handley, Esq. ; W. Fisher Hobbs, Esq. ; W. H. 

 «yett, Esq. ; John Kinder, Esq. ; Francis Pym, Esq. ; 

 James Allen Ransome, Esq. ; Professor Seweli, William 

 &baw, Esq. ; and Professor Sollv. 



Henry Drummond, Esq., of Albury Park, near Guild- 

 loru, Surrey, was elected a Governor, and the following 

 gentlemen Members of the Society. 



Jobmw ™*?? *£*• WjChetwynd, Ombersley, Worcester 

 oik, * « "Mey, Gwynfryn, Aberyatwith, S. W. 

 g} D J«, Moses, Mainland. St. Lawrence, Jersey 



tonS "' L ° rd ' Whittl ^ bur y Lodge, Towccster, Northamp- 



Thomson Henry, Primrose, Clitheroe, Lancashire 

 jwper, John, Foscott, Buckingham 

 ™it, John, Dartmouth, Devonshire 

 shire Thora as, Vicar of Badby, Daventry, Northampton- 



oS?^ e ^ amin « Colebr °°ke Park, Tonbridge, Kent 



kS&JSSR dcl " *"* Sedbury Park « cliepstow ' 



SmS!? 1 i l,cliard ' Lymington. Hants. 



^ &;!!' 1 ?' J*cker. f Hemcl Hempsted, Herts. 



""»ams, Leigh, Farnham, Surrey 



Comnt^ CI:S T V . lr - R * Barker . Chairman of the Finance 

 the Z ! l\ la l d before the Council the Report of 

 mouth \ 3 S n L ds , 0n the Ia8t da y of the Previous 



7 ; S°" . wh , Ich il appeared that the «">»«* 



balance! h^'P' 1 i "?\ 77 °° l " and the current «*" 

 was J" tU S hands 0f the b ™ kc ", 928/. This Report 



P*jm nts nfn rmed ' J"? u CheqUeS ordered for lhe «*>«• 

 (n, n recon "»ended by the Committee. 



to the W STEX Ca J led the Mention of the Counci, 

 large amount of arrears of subscription still re 



mumcation to the Council in reference to the arrange- 

 ments of the Annual Country Meeting, to be held at that 

 place next year ; and Mr. Brandreth Gibbs reported 

 the result of his personal visit to Shrewsbury, and his 

 interview with the owner of the fields intended for the 

 trial of implements, and which had been now placed, 

 agreeably with the instructions of Mr. Shelley and Mr. 

 Miles, the stewards of that department, under proper 

 cultivation for that purpose. Mr. Gibbs also reported 

 that Earl Spencer and Mr. Taylor had undertaken the 

 trial of the Wheat, selected at Southampton for cultiva- 

 tion in reference to the Society's prize. 



Prize Essays -Mr. J. A. Gordon, of Naisb, near 

 Bristol, addressed a communication to the Council, in 

 which he proposed to place the sum of 30/. at their dis- 

 posal as a prize for the best Essay on the Influence of 

 Electricity on Vegetation. The Council ordered their 

 thanks to be given to Mr. Gordon for this liberal offer, 

 and referred the consideration of the subject to the next 

 monthly Council. Mr. Shaw expressed his regret to 

 find that all the Essays to which the prizes of the 

 Society hud been awarded, had not been published in 

 the Journal ; for, although the one in which he was 

 himself much interested-- On the Mechanical Proper- 

 ties of the Plough "-had been placed, he was informed, 

 m the hands of its lamented author, the late Rev. W. L. 

 Kham, for revision and extension, and remained incom- 

 plete at the time of his decease, there were other Essays 

 to which prizes had been awarded, but which had not 

 yet been published— The Chairman explained to Mr. 

 bhaw that, independently of the Essays, which it was 

 thought not desirable to publish under their present 

 form m the Journal, there were teveral others whose ap- 

 pearance was delayed in consequence of the extent to 

 which the pages of the Journal had been occupied by the 

 Prize Reports on the farming of the various counties 

 /It selecteti f° r consideration ; that on the county 

 of Norfolk having proved so voluminous that its author 

 had preferred it* entire publication on his own account, 



to the requisite abridgment of its details for the 

 Journal. 



Ashes of Plants.— The March is of Northamp- 

 ton, and Sir John Johnston Bart., M.P., commu- 

 nicated to the Council a proposal, on the part of the 

 British Association, that the Society should join with that 



on the subject— the Speaker of the House of Commons 

 who told him in 1830, when outrages took place, that 

 they would all remember that there were about 30 parishes 

 in Hampshire, known as the cricket parishes, and in 

 these parishes no disturbances occurred. Emigration 

 was talked of as a remedy for the evil felt ; but he thought 

 those who talked of this were not aware that the popula- 

 tion had flowed to Canada, the United States, and other 

 parts, to the amount of 100,000 a year. He did not 

 think this could be looked on as a national remedy for 

 what was called the l< surplus population." Then they had 

 the allotment system proposed, and on that subject he 

 would speak confidently. He was aware that there were 

 objections to it on the part of the farmers ; he found 

 that was so when he carried it into effect 14 years ago ; 

 but that was passed away, and the farmers, he believed, 

 no longer feared allotments. For the last 14 years he 

 had had 400 or 500 allotment tenants and it certainly 

 had answered extremely well. But still, this must be re- 

 garded as a palliation ; it was not a sufficient remedy for 

 the present want of employment ; that remedy was to be 

 found in the employment by the landlord of the surplus 

 population of the villages during the season, in permanent 

 improvements of the soil. He learned this from his 

 relatire Lord Kinnaird, who, 30 years ago, used to 

 employ a number of labourers in improvements on his 

 estates ; Mr. Pusey had done the same himself : and he 

 believed, if he could get this principle established in 

 every parish, we should hear no more for some years of 

 a surplus population. He did not think gentlemen were 

 aware of how far money would go in improvements. If 

 they had men for 10s. a week for the winter months, for 

 300/. they might employ 50 labourers, and they would 

 not only benefit them but all the other labourers, because 

 as a little corn thrown in would sometimes spoil the 

 whole market, so if they withdrew these labourers they 

 rendered employment better for all the others. Then the 

 question came, Where were the landlords to find funds 

 for this purpose ? He knew this country well, and he 

 knew there was not a place from Plymouth to Berwick in 

 which landlords might not make improvements ; but 

 when the tenant was short of money, the landlord gene- 

 rally would be short of money too. But he would tell 

 them how to find funds. There were many districts 

 where there was a great superfluity, not only of useless 

 but of mischievous timber, and if they would cut ihat 



