V2 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



[Jan. 6, 



MEASUREMENT AND WEIGHTS* OF CATTLE AT BAKER STREET AND BIRMINGHAM, 1 854— continued. 





Nahes of Purchasers, 



113 

 116 



SHOWN AT BAKER STREET. 



Length. 





.■m mated Weight, 



Girth. 



CROSS-BRED OXEN. 

 Mr. W. Lambert, 3, Stockbridge Terrace 



P 



r 



yrs. 

 2 



mo. ft. in 

 5 4 11 



• • » 



4 • • 



119 

 121 

 122 



Fimlico 



— 31 r. Edwards, Tonbridge Wells 



CROSS-BUED HEIFERS. 

 Mr. T. B. Garner, West Brompton 



— T. Spencer, Southampton 



— J. Worsel, Folkstone, Kent 



• » • 



4 8 5 9 



u 



Actual Weight. 



fr. in. 'stones stones stones 



7 6 



S 9 



69 

 110 



72 



115 



76 



120 



St. lbs 

 68 8 



119 



st. 

 8 



lbs 







AND AT BIRMINGHAM, 



Length. 



Estimated Weight. 



Girth. 



Actual Wem 





Carcase. 



Loose pjt 



11 6 



st, lbs. 



yrs. mo.i ft. in. I ft. in. ! stones 'stones stones 



Average of this Class (4), at Baker Street, 3 yrs. 4 mo., 5 ft fi 

 (J ft. 5 in. 



?*• lbs, 



« • 



« » • 



P 



. . . 



2 

 3 



3 



8 

 8 



8 



4 10 



5 8 

 5 4 



6 4 

 8 6 



7 7 



59 



102 



77 



63 

 112 



84 



55 10 



103 8 



71 4 



S 

 9 



S 



o 



• • • 



81 P 



82 p 



(5 9 

 6 S 



LONG-HORNED COWS. 



5 3 I 7 6 I 74 1 78 I 81 

 5 5 7 7 1 78 81 83 



78 







2 





8 6 

 11 12 



Average of previous Class (6), 3 yrs. 2 mo., 5 ft. 3 in., 7 ft. 8 in. 



125 

 127 



128 

 129 

 132 



1;JJ 



EXTRA STOCK. 

 Mr. T. M. Stedwell, Twickenham 



— W. S. Jones, Featherstone Street, 

 City Road... 



— Taylor, Malton 



— Anstee, B -.met 



— Bannister, Thread need le Street 



— Wells, Sonthgate Road, Beivoir Town 





♦ ♦ « 



* ■ # 



• • « 



9 f • 



- > - 



» * 



* • • 



• • • 



• • « 



• • - 



• . . 



3 8 



4 11 



6 11 



59 



61 



63 



3 7 



5 4 



8 7 



90 



103 



108 



5 4 



5 5 



8 1 



88 



92 



97 



8 4 



5 5 



8 1 



88 



92 



97 



3 4 



5 6 



S 11 



110 



114 



120 



4 O 



! 5 



1 7 7 1 



1 72 



75 



78 



57 4 ! 8 



94 

 96 

 95 

 ♦95 

 68 



2 



3 

 

 2 



6 



12 

 15 

 15 

 15 

 10 



S 

 1 

 

 2 



S 



No. 9S by Mr. Slater, Kensington. 



— 100 by Mr. A. Todd, Coleshill, Birmingham. 



— 81 by .Mr. Roberts, Kenilworth. 



— 82 by Mr. Bond, Stafford Street, Birmingham. 



: 



Average of previous Class (II), 4 yrs. 7 mo., 5 ft. 3 in., 7 ft. 11 in, 



Total Weight 



• • • 



* t • 



...i 



i 



• am 



I 





] 6149 | 6341 | 6717 |6425 / 



• . . 



'i 



• • • 



I 



• i • 



I 



# • • 



i 



• ■ • 



1 2S78 | 3019 ) 3154 1 29C2 11 







Imperial weights are used. 



Home Correspondence. 



Spade Husbandry.— I trust you will be good enough to 

 give a place to the following remarks on spade husbandry, 

 which I am surprised to find so strangely neglected in 

 England in the face of our much and justly boasted 

 agricultural progress. I believe the advantages of this 

 mode of cultivation are fully admitted, the only objec- 

 tion being what is erroneously termed the expense. In 

 this, as in all other cases, ignorance and prejudice are 

 the greatest obstacles to advancement, for the spade or 

 fork is held to be costly only because men will not try 

 it. The Farmer's Almanac avers the expense of spade 

 and plough to be much more nearly balanced than is 

 generally imagined. Scientific men may astonish the 

 world by producing implements, but there is no real 

 digging machine but the able-bodied, expert, and in- 

 dustrious labourer. If you were to keep public atten- 

 tion fixed on this movement, we should soon have 

 enterprising agriculturists in many districts, fairly 

 testing the merits of the fork. Patience, perseverance, 

 and impartiality are all the requisites. The increased 

 comforts of our admirable agricultural population, the 

 diminution of poor-rates, the vast superiority of the 

 average yield of the land, the permanent improvement 

 of the soil, and the economising of human food, will be 

 found amongst the most powerful reasons in its favour. 

 I wish myself in an humble way to give proof of 

 my sincerity by practising what I preach ; and 

 I am seeking a small « garden farm, 5 ' for I hold that 

 agricultural returns depend more on the amount of 

 capital judiciously invested, than on the actual extent of 

 your farm ; so I am of opinion that 50 acres worked to 

 the highest degree will do much more than 150 acres in 

 a slovenly way without capital, skill, or energy. I may 

 add, in conclusion, that stock, the source of all profit, 

 must be kept to the largest number the land can carry, 

 for animal manure, liquid and solid, must follow the 

 fork. /. Hamilton. 



Deep and Shallow Draining. — A few weeks since, you 

 stated that probably the generality of agriculturists, as 

 well as Mr. Walton, were in favour of shallow draining. 

 I am no theorist ; I have drained rather extensively in 

 several counties for the last 40 years, sometimes 30 

 inches > 3 feet, 4 feet, and not unfrequently 6 and 10 feet, 

 according to localities and circumstances. In some 

 places 30 inches, or 3 feet, prove more effectual than 

 4 feet ; but the subsoil being, as Sir. Walton says, fine 

 and good, I prefer the depth of 4 feet— partly because 

 at 3 feet, in a dry season, both green and cereal crops 

 will send their roots for moisture into the drains. The 

 most durable and efficient drains, and in effect the most 

 extraordinary, are those from 6 to 10 feet, driven up to 

 the head of the spring, and often draining a great extent 

 of valley land. It is the height of gullibility to believe 

 that any distant practitioner can, without inspection, 

 dictate the proper space apart and depth of drain for 

 every locality. One fact of very remarkable im- 

 portance relative to 4 feet draining has not been noticed, 

 as far as I have learned, by any essayist in favour of 

 that depth. It is now well known that under ordinary 

 circumstances and weather, during a bright day, the 

 rays of heat will penetrate the earth to the depth of 

 4 feet, and that during a following bright night the 

 heat will be returned from the same depth ; but if 

 obstruction by a non-conducting hody.prevent the daily 

 radiation, whether it be at 20 inches or 3 feet, the heat 

 will be returned proportionately before the night be 

 passed, and the surface, being consequently colder 

 before day, will ba covered with hoar frost lono- after 

 it may have disappeared on the adjoining land. Every 

 observing farmer in his early walks may have remarked 

 this. In a soil such as Mr. Walton aoproves I have 

 proved the capillary attraction of the water upwards in 

 a drain to be from 6 to 9 inches, according to the nature 

 of the subsoil. Suppose this constant moisture above a 



contrast it with a dry space of 4 feet daily penetrated 

 by the sun's genial rays, and take your choice. Thomas 

 Landor 9 Burton. 



Green Vitriol. — I have been using green vitriol on 

 my liquid manure tanks, and also on my long manure 

 made principally in my cow sheds, believing that it was 

 a cheap and valuable agent to fix the ammonia, and 

 also speedily to decompose and make ready for use the 

 long and green dung heap. Your able papers on 

 Coveney's manure lead me to the conclusion that 

 green vitriol is almost worthless as an agent ; it certainly 

 makes the dung-heap ready for use earlier than it other- 

 wise would be — an object to me ; but I suppose there is 

 no means I could employ to render the phosphoric acid 

 in it soluble. Shall I use up my remaining stock on the 

 dung-heap or in the liquid manure tank, or what do 

 you recommend me to do with it ? Can you also re- 

 commend me a cheap and efficient deodoriser for the 

 tanks, the stench from which is almost insufferable, 

 and must be injurious to the man who pumps their 

 contents into the liquid tumbler cart, one of Stratton's. 

 G. P n Bristol, Jan. 2. [You had better sell what green 

 vitriol you have remaining, and use charcoal dust or 

 sulphuric acid to fix the ammonia of your tanks-] 



Thin Seeding. — Messrs. Hardy, of Maldon, state 

 the result of their garden experi&ents as follows : 



•> 



Time of Sowing and 

 Transplanting. 



Sown 1st September 

 for transplanting 

 in Autumn ... ... 



Sown in Autumn 

 from October to 

 December 



■ • » 



• * * 



Grasses. — "Constant n will find the following mixture 

 good for permanent Grass, upon strong damp soil, viz. : 



Alopecuras pratensis 



Festuca durin tla 

 Dae Mis glomerata 

 Festuca pratensis 

 Loliutn italicura... 

 „ perenne . . . 

 Phleum pratense 



• » 



• • • 



• . . 



• * • 



■ ft 



• * • 



* • • 



■ • ■ 



■ - • 



lbs. 



3 



3 



6 



3 



6 

 12 



3 



• • 



• « 



♦ # . 



• • • 



I have sown the above 





Poa nem oralis sempervi- 

 rens ... 



Poa trivial is 



Medieago lupnlina 



Trifolium pratense 



„ perenne 



„ repens 



• • < 



• • » 



• . . 



• • ■ 



• • ■ 



• • • 



• ■ * 



• • • 



• • • 



• ■ « 



lbs. 



3 



3 



1J 

 if 



6i 



drain of 20 inches, with or without the sea below, and 



\ 



mixture along with Wheat, 

 Oats, and Barley, and likewise by itself. The seed will 

 always succeed the best by itself, but not to a degree 

 to compensate for the loss of a thin crop of Barley or Oats, 

 which is always worth harvesting. The ground should 

 be well prepared before the seed is sown ; worked 

 down into a fine state, to allow the roller to pass over, 

 without the soil attaching to it. The seeds should be 

 sown about the last week in April. If the seeds are 

 sown by themselves, you will have a good crop of 

 Grass for autumn use, to cut for green food or to eat 

 down with cattle. In cutting the first year, it will be 

 best only to take one crop from it, and eat the second 

 crop down with stock upon dry days ; by so doing it 

 gives the finer kind of Grasses a better chance of esta- 

 blishing themselves, than by allowing the Clover to grow 

 for a second crop. /. Daniels, Woodside House. 



A good road is a great saving in horse-flesh, carts, and 

 harness. If agriculturists would make a calculation of 

 the difference of draught on a turnpike, or through a 

 muddy lane or field, it would astonish them. In many 

 instances one horse in three would not compensate for 

 the increased friction and strain on a bad road. Taking 

 these matters into consideration, it becomes a question 

 whether the expense of keeping the ways about a farm 

 in hard working order would not be repaid in a twelve- 



month by saving the damage and wear and tear, both to 

 animals, waggons, and vehicles of every description. The 

 exertion required to drag a load through deep ruts is 

 most distressing to a team, and particularly injurious to 

 young horses, who are often lamed incurably by the 

 unnatural motion consequent upon the unequal draught. 

 The jerk to extricate the wheels from the slough ot 

 despair^ is enough to rupture every sinew and spring 

 every joint ;~ premature old age, or rather crippled 

 youth, follows rough usage and over- work both in man 

 and beast. Farmers must acknowledge 1854 to have 

 been a remunerative year, with a bountiful harvest, more 

 than an average, taking one crop with another ; in 

 thankfulness for such a blessing, farmers should open 

 their purse strings, give liberal wages, and employ labour 

 in improvements, though it may not produce direct 

 profit— indirectly it will, if expended in repairing roar' 

 dressing hedges, opening ditches, collecting and stifle 

 burning rubbish, and other odd jobs— fit "occupations 

 when /rost, snow, or the wet state of the land 

 make it injurious or impossible to till it. At these 

 times how many poor industrious men are turned 

 adrift because ploughing and harrowing cannot be 

 followed, instead of which their valuable services should 

 be turned to account in different ways, giving them an 

 interest in what belong to their masters. There are 

 unusual drains now thinning the population of the able- 

 bodied, war, pestilence, and emigration. It would be 

 wise to prevent the last of the three as much as possible, 

 by finding plenty of work for the labouring classes at home. 

 It is natural for men to wish to improve their condition, 

 and they well know the facilities which exist for so doing 

 out of England, and are, therefore, only too glad to 

 leave the land of their birth, where it is* so difficult to 

 provide the necessaries of life for their families. At 

 the same time, many who emigrate would rejoice to 

 remain at home if the slightest encouragement was 

 given them ; a prospect of employment all the year 

 round, with fair wageg, would induce many an honest 

 fellow to struggle on, rather than settle in a new 

 country. Often is the following remark made — " The 

 land wants plenty of hands and would pay for the 

 labour ; it is, therefore, hard upon us to 'be starving 

 when we ought to be earning a livelihood, and putting 

 money into our own pockets as well as our masters.'' 

 This is true enough. The want of either energy, money, 

 or charity, operates to continue the mistake of allowing 

 the best men to go away, rather than use their sinews 

 in improving property, because the return is not imme- 

 diately visible, but indirect. There will be no use "in 

 shutting the stable door when the horse is stolen." 

 Falcon. 



Payne's Defiance Rcvitt Wheat Although I have 



grown on one field a fine crop of this Wheat, ourmiilers 

 declined buying it, except at a redaction of 10*. per 

 quarter, as compared with other red Wheat, and I hear 

 the same complaint from others. The weight was good, 

 about 62 lbs per bushel. Can you or your correspond- 

 ents enlighten me as to whether this objection is well 

 founded ? I think the Kev. S. Smith, of Lois- Wee Jon, 

 grows this kind of Wheat. /. J. Mechi, Dec. 28th. [A} 1 

 the cone Wheats, and excepting perhaps the Apr* 

 Wheat, all the bearded Wheats are of a coarser sort 

 than the common whites and reds.] 



Sulterranean Application of Liq 'd Manure. -~ 

 Amongst the curiosities of agriculture may be men- 

 tioned a new system of growing agricultural produce by 

 applying liquid or sewage manure to th* subsoil under- 

 the roots, about 16 to IH inches deep. The plan hft%* 

 am told, been patented by Mr. Wilkins, at w e in vi ' 

 tation myself and some other gentlemen investigate 

 the operation, and estimated the results. On one side 3 

 number of plots or beds of soil were planted on th* 

 patent principle with Mangold Wurze), Beet R° ot > 

 Hemp, Potatoes, Cabbage, Lucerne, Italian Rye-g^ 

 and Celery, each plot having opposite to it a similar t? ed 







■*> 



