Marcu 21, 1857.] 
important to fertility, pai I would guard against paum.. 
posed gingly of those manures, only 
at judgment, when d hy 
ous to use artificial manures alo Soils o 
ire a different process of cultivati vate noe i iior 
are deficient in requisite mineral! substa 
But there is another point has to be nic se into consid- 
tion in speaking of the composition of soils. I refer to 
the atmospheric food which soils absorb, som mall 
and others in uantities. io d which is of the 
of fertile in a igh degree the 
elass has i 
er of absorbing ammonia, snd other fertilising ~~ 
from th mosphere, while barren y soils do no 
er. Moreover all hoa characterised * 
t fertility retain manurial substa or a muc 
ogu time hers which are what are called 
“hungry” soils. It is important to bear n> in mind, | t 
because it will influe our practic applying | 1 
manure to th b e frequently hear * discussion 
about the use of long ung, or winter and 
spring manuring, a d in agricultural discussions 
each man closes his opinion w ords, “ 
n it began—simply throu ugh not 
understanding that ‘the ‘salons of long dung are 
sh 
y right is 
to the other, because e doggedly 
to his opinion, and will not give the other 
credit for being a good fi It has often struck me 
ing 
tural meetings, that if you ask o 
farmer about another—is so and so a good farm 
is 
disparaging or jealous ma but it is the result of a t 
gg ee the en o 
w that one is as right 
the = bat ‘that they Ae Y deal with two different 
On one of the farms at Cirencester so the 
fields differ from ot in composition—some only |t 
in 2 per cent of lime, while others come under the 
ation calcareous soils, and contain as much as 
cent, 
54 per ce 
small farms—one of the oce upiers might say, “I find 
lime of the 
o 
fore, criticisms on farming must not be sain a 
icular cases. 
pan w me aa into sccount the crops we intend 
for 
THE AGRICULTURAL ot EEE 
tage in agricul It requires, indeed, 
insight into aor Sa manures 
acquaintance sag oe, as well as chemistry in 
en 
peculiar 
rder to enable an to give ¢ opinions on an 
particular subject | ia agricultural chemistry that may 
be referred to him ; and inasmuc matters 
and with respect to many pract we are totally 
i 
nt of the | unwise to 
speak too positively o particular age if we 
have not the extended experience of farmers wi 
tion to it, parme 0 a “4 ut throu ughout the 
country at lar In the I have cited, theoreti- 
wy Arbo the addition "of superphosphate would 
vagy no service to the Turni adr ut ponies yang 
i. hown that it r of 
cause for this gai from theor ry,a soa T ar iaa it 
to lie in the shorter period ena nar which makes 
superphosphates valuable to 
MANUAL TILLAGE IMPLEMENTS. 
So many machines having been contrived for 
mimicking the operations of sip tillage, perhaps 
ma awhile 
some | vented by Van Thornhoff i in 1785, which ged fo of two 
a hinge to iy digging- -fork, that 
ed ard, the spit of 
noticed in a previous paper th 
spades faxed side b 
betwee n the handles, which served 
a falarem De their lever- 
the spits. 
mo: ie efficient than the genuine tool 
itself. 
I have not — the rake among manual til 
implements, becau like the harrow after 
Plough, it simply pulerse the surface when the fats 
cipal o peration i already a accomplished : nor need I 
yptian 
be allo wed to digr the 
narration of my “steam pa ro reverie » ‘in oa 
o state what these operations are. The parent 
implement, in all probability—as Mr. Hoskyns tells u 
m4 E a ne 
ick © 
Modified for the ale of. traction by animal power, 
this took t of a plough ; having either a share 
that could throw aside a Aaronen w slice, or a sharp-pointed 
wedge that simply scratched and tore up the grou 
The latter class of plou still used in the East, 
assing over 
r present ne ag ert ploughs. But as 
ad path tools hav n i ed and adapted 
different countries, m so have that worked 
by the 
southern countri rope, as in Italy, Spain, 
and Portugal, and in the offshoots of the latte ag 0 rE 
d Brazil—the hoe almost exclusive implement of 
is the 
manual ee s ate gree 
effective; for while clea ragm 
tho: cvonghty inverts the ‘sol 20 a Dann i not oly: a fow 
inches, but 20 or 30 if „you please, the treadi ing of the 
5 
ae 
into powder, But in more northerly climates, the mois- 
ture of the soil forbids the trampling of the operator 
n the worked land, and increases the labour of culti 
omiin by ry him to stand on the “land side” of 
e hoe or mattock has been adapted, 
LF Sa in nthe shape of two varieties of tool which the 
orkm thrust hae instead of pull towards 
him. re the spade (or iag nak) and a pecu- 
liar modification of the original imple ert allow wing the 
operator to stand i é 
Aa the mere mye processes of reducing the ha 
ould to mm out pine. 80w ing and 
pants ir Sore when we have performed 
the deep, solid, be Suse work of “achat ne subdivid- 
ing and inverting. 
My las is contained a ar Agnes of Barrat’s 
steam- caltvsor, er is intended to 
ork a num 
ral gg ; but, as I showed, with an t unsatisfactory 
eas a reference to Usher’s steam- 
plong whioh (though it may be undes ewes & of the 
artly imitates the action of the caschrom—a 
s 
to be the — 
eS & 
rise 
inventors as being an 
that a tilling wes, the ought to copy manual digging as 
near] it ith a si oti 
on. 
Hereafter ka will notice some mechanical imitations of 
the spade, J. A. C. 
Home pecan a2 
u or any of your readers 
In the lower part 
the oath from draining deeper than 3 
taken ~ the 3-inch pipes with which it 
paes 1853-4. In many of them 
feet, ps ee just 
as laid in the 
I found a vain 
pi oe sub- 
Tu mae is not gray co use ee ang > Denney rovinces piim nee, soil is partly san d gravel, and siete 
for Wheat, at “hie | is not dependen on a chem d the “caschrom,” still existing in the Hebrides. The mixed with clay ; it w was in the sandy portions I ‘chiefly 
difere the ashes 2 Wheat and the hye rw oa described as und the so after relaying the pi e 
Turnip, but = ne mode of grow ah of plants. We have | with avery long dl of clay put on the top and well s š 
to calculate g we keep a plant in the soil irei connects the two oo prongs. In using de — the | Last year I mixed crop on this , con- 
we reap it, iti is not s upe of the composition pi ves it into the ground, ra sisting of alternate rows of M pm a i 
ts, but of the time they may have for assimilating | the clod of earth, and then, previously to sopibiliig the | the blank sp filled up with Drumhead and Kohl 
the soil. iy like Wheat, it is long in growth, | operation, takes a step backwards. this mode of | Rabi. W t wis' is, which of these 
the food p t in the soil is sufficient to supply | digging, the bad effect of the bigot—namely, the pres- | plants would be most likely to send their roots so deep ? 
pm aes wants ; aaia a little top-dressing might be | sing down again of the newly-raised soil by the man’s | I presum get so, wh it may not 
esirable to give ita start at first, but after that the feet—is avoided, The Highland ecaschrom or crooked | considered imprudent to grow thi t on loose land 
Toot has time to trate the soil ja search of food ;| spade consists of a large wooden tool, in shape like the | drained 3 to 34 feet rte In the first volume of the 
ptt we can t urnips, which letter |_; the shorter leg being s shod with a cutti ing | Royal Agricultural semi begroe there is an article 
ve a ting period—from three to pak, onths—of | share. The workman page the blade shitauaty into on the es ra drains by the roots of plants and 
might say the soil contains as much | the ground by means of his p trees. R. H., e. [We pates ees Ma angel Wurzels 
One 
as is sufficient for its growth ; vet possibly it anes 
six or twenty times the quantity required ; the 
=. question is—Can you get it into the plant i in 
time ? You will find the food ma abundant in 
fou may imagine ange 
cae tain opi ag phosphorio acid re 
wen 
Sufficient ag Meee: 
speseabospbases or soluble 
to the growth of Turnips and 
ow ae is met ee by 
e | perfectly inverted, as ease 
e | sible to the plough, its abs aoe to the co 
ool which 
, | ing spade, or to any to pene eran an er nd 
i perpendicularly, i is ve 
f| of the handle, and when the 
h advan- | digging it has been varied to suit all kinds 
be and turn’ w in separate pieces ; onl 
he subsoil ak of each spit . lifted ea ps upon the 
stubble or sward en eceding o e groun 
amn iaaa more intimate! 
divided than by the plough. Andi in wane ae Sjunsrå 
nch 
ws. 
w 
great ; resulting both from the 
ease with which the a: wields it, and the length 
of the horizontal clod w powerful lever enables | 
owever, in most general 
use is the rae (or digging-fork) with which the work- | and 
man es the “spits ” of soil in an arewan 
directio Pije rom the subsoil and raises them b 
lever-like motion, turns them over sideways by - twist 
I inversion has co 
Sak by med er into - tren 
ts them 
ch subsoil-e 8 
an after action of the tool, 
n 
according to the n required ; whet 
e 
send their re son iest dra 
he 
-| and perv d vith: Beans or 
=| coe 
for draining, saeavities: paring, roi but even for rte | ma 
of loose 
ns. We don’t know how 
elp you. You cannot adopt mi Aesi that ee 
not spoil the channel as nless soaking 
pipes in tar should k 
On Breeding Flocks,— 
. They are then put o 
8 or T sec ce 1 turned out again on the 
Grass land for or three w 
Pos year, however, under very 
ent, I lose one ewe out of five, 
In some meet — lambs, 
pear fa ples, that have been dead two weeks ; 
hers have been lost from — or guns births : ` 
and mavy lambs mature. In fact a 
thing, rren agg ne co favourable circu 
nees, h ei gen s bad ony it was pros- 
Last eie Sek pepe while this 
ree 30 will probably be the number, Ase this on the 
ame farm shepherd. The health of 
oe animals a sro rently seoetons, but the glossy-coated 
tron-like ewe of to-day will probably be hanging up 
only difference 
or connie in "the slaughter-house. The on 
