THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



45 



mi 



»Ttf»g 



"j^eTlOZ. each, few remaining at the close of 



ij jtie unsold. 

 . iSine "the property of J. 13. G reen, Esq. 



held 



le , UD i°fi t h of August, Messrs. Nock and Wilson 

 ° B 1. «F Shropshire sheep, «* M.i-W T,™W 



at Marlow Lodge, 



Some 



Leintwaraiuc, r } &nd 2() ineag each . 



* the ^ were let for the season at 10Z., 12*., and 151. 

 "^ Tte ewes realised 48s., 55s., and 56s. each. 

 *■*' Nnel- and Wilson also held the annual sale of 

 Me8 M^ sheep, the property of the Earl of Dart- 



ghropshire ^ p. ^ ^ gth of September> when 



m0U . t*>. of 10 ewes were sold at 40s., 47s., 53s., and 

 •everal peu= «» 



of Langley Farm, Bromfield, 



6 Ve Understand that ir 



, Ti yd Roberts, _ _ 



c i\old 15 yearling Shropshire rams at an average 



t 1 0/ eacb and a number of draft ewes at an average 



f 'I ch The same gentleman also sold to one breeder 

 [a ewes and one yearling ram for 150/. ; the ram for 

 L and the ewes at 102- each. 

 uj e her prices than those mentioned above have been 



btained in isolated cases in former years ; but these 

 ° turns will show that the sales last year were more 

 generally successful, although greater numbers were 



ffered for competition than heretofore. We trust that 

 the information we have now supplied will have the 



ffect of directing still further attention to the useful 

 character of this breed of sheep. 



-— — 



Home Correspondence. 



In your impression of 13th 



entitled * Ireland's 



The Irish Flax Trade. 

 jnst, reviewing Mr. Locke's essay 

 Recovery," I observe the following passage : — " Ireland, 

 bo anomalous in many things, gives an instance of the 

 national characteristic, iu the fact that in the last year 

 she exported about 5000 tons of Flax (at 58Z. per ton), 

 with tow and yam, and imported nearly 9000 tons, at 

 65/. per ton. The yarn exported was valued at 

 105L per ton, whereas the imported (less than that ex- 

 ported) was valued at 180Z. per ton. This would seem 

 to indicate superior skill elsewhere in the spinning of 

 fine yarns, or inferiority in the quality of the native 

 raw material itself for the manufacture of some of the 

 finer linens." This paragraph having been evidently 

 penned by one unacquainted with the* circumstances of 

 our staple manufacture, should not remain without some 

 explanation, which, I trust, you will give me space in 

 your columns to make. There may be many anomalies 

 in the Irish national character, but I can safely affirm 

 that the linen manufacture exhibits no feature which 

 will not redound to the credit of the people of Ulster, 

 loth as regards their manufacturing skill and their 

 commercial shrewdness and activity. The reason 

 why we export 5000 tons of Flax, at an average 

 value of 582. per ton, and import 9000 tons at an 

 average value of 65?. per ton is simply because the home- 

 grown fibre, while the best in the world for the large 

 range of medium qualities of linen, is neither so coarse 

 as the Russian, nor so fine (except in certain districts) 

 as the Belgian. Hence, to mske heavy fabrics, we must 

 buy the former, and to make fine lawns and cambrics we 

 must procure the latter. And because Irish Flax is the 

 best material for medium fabrics, the English and Scotch 

 spinners, and, to some extent also, the French and 

 Belgian, purchase it in our markets. As respects Irish 

 yarn exported, and valued at 105Z. per ton, while 

 Ireland imports yarn valued at 180Z., the explanation is 

 again simple. It is well known that of a given number 

 of districts occupied in the same branch of manufacture 

 scarcely two make the same article; each applies itself 

 to one particular description of the fabric and attains 

 ttach greater perfection in it than if a range of fabrics 

 of different textures were made. Thus, the great bulk 

 °* Irish spinners make the medium Nos. of yarn, the 

 ;~eotch spin the heavy and coarse Nos., and the English 

 e nner Nos. Some of the Irish spinners make yarns 

 equally fine with the latter, and their quality is admitted 

 w *>e unexcelled. But as they are the executions to 

 ™ general rule of medium spinning, the Irish manu- 

 facturers must naturally have recourse to England for 



auV'f rDS they rec L uire for the lighter and finer fabrics, 

 del' * i? 16 ^ nest cambrics they must procure the 

 Plan! hand ' s P im y^us of Westphalia and French 

 * * f 1 ^ which are very costly. The Irish yarns 



C\nm*r I *^*** t^*J \s\*ai*ijm jlix« liio" jn&ua 



in Ire! f epre . 8ent > of cou rse, the quality generally spun 

 exclu ' i *• e ^ ie * m P or ted yarns, consisting almost 

 above S tJ °J tQe finer Nos., raise the average value 

 linen ^ e eXDOrt ed. In whatever way the Irish 



^cu D y m t h nU ? CtUre ' be examined ifc wiU be fou,ld to 

 foreign r P^ce, not only as compared with the 



Briton i manu{a cture, but with that of Great 



Crri ; Mac Adam, jun., Belfast, Jan. 16. 

 anyfnTr Mountain Sheep.— Without entering into 

 P. 26 n i rep,y t0 tlle scientific inductions of « T.," 

 Wend u I P * U Wil1 be sufficient for me *° 8tate tllftt my 

 parturit D ° ° aUSe for com P laint ou the 8core of the 

 well saf' fi ? f his ewes > uut on tlle C( > ntrar y was so 

 has J:j7 d wuh his experiment that this year he 



admit that Fa f ly increased the number. I cannot 

 k p gemal *' ows as a natural consequence that a 

 dif&ealtv , , U8t neces sarily cause a large offspring and 



ln 8 from n UrUe of birth# 0n tlie contrarv > reason- 

 fiQr sinp nv °™ n ex P erien ce, I believe the feeding or 

 the size of H erUe8 of the mother have more to do with 



whi 4thevl >0Ung Pri ° r t0 birth than the male from 

 Samples r V ? proceeded - 0f tl,is there are numerous 



Gu «rnsev rTr t0 ever y one > as the smal1 bre eds of 

 * ith a krrr i y C0WS with a Durham bull, an ass 



ge Il0rse > lap-dogs with a Newloundland 



male, all these being instances where though the ulti- 

 mate result may be a large animal, the difficulties at 

 the time of parturition form the exception rather than 

 the rule ;— in fact the male has little to do with the size of 

 the young during the time of gestation ; he may impress 

 his size, colour, and constitutional peculiarities upon the 

 animal, but the size which it will attain prior to birth 

 depends almost exclusively upon the feeding properties 

 of the mother. Apart from all considerations of the 

 male, fat cows and small calves, fat women and small 

 children, lean cows and large calves, lean women and fat 

 children, are examples of daily occurrence. Neither do 

 I believe that high feeding has any influence, except an 

 evil one, upon the size of the offspring, for I could cite 

 an instance of a large dairy of cows stuffed daily with 

 Turnips, oilcake, and Linseed mash, which produced a 

 lot of poor nasty calves, whilst other cows, taking their 

 luck in the straw yard, produced comparatively 

 first-rate calves. Look, again, at the puny offspring 

 of many of our high and middle classes, as com- 

 pared with the fat, ruddy, chubby, hardy children 

 of the half-starved and hardly worked peasantry of 

 England and Ireland, and especially of Wales, and here is 

 further proof that underfeeding is better than pamper- 

 ing. In the example which " T." cites of his own want 

 of success, perhaps his stock suffered as much from their 

 predatory habits, received positive injury thereby, as 

 from being put to a large male. I grant all he says 

 against the mountain breed, they are especially . in 

 inclosed districts a perfect nuisance ; but even 

 that does not " kick the beam " against the 

 fine quality of their mutton, especially when that 

 mutton is formed among the sweet herbs and their 

 mountain Heather. Of * T.V argument in favour 

 of in-and-in breeding, I may remark, that by such a 

 course he may get fine quality and high feeding proper- 

 ties, and great aptitude under careful management to 

 lay on meat ; but most assuredly the constitution 

 will deteriorate, and if obliged to " rough it," animals 

 so finely bred will not do to compare with their 

 more plebeian brethren. I know an instance where 

 cows were bred in-and-in until they ceased to yield 

 milk sufficient to support their calves, and a few 

 weeks after calving would go quite dry ; still they were 

 always fat, and fat they would be even in the straw- 

 yard. In conclusion, however, I may remark that, in 

 speaking of putting mountain ewes to a large ram, I 

 spoke comparatively of Welsh as compared with En- 

 glish farming, or good ordinary Southdowns, such as 

 are seen in Wales, and not of the prize animals of Good- 

 wood and other places in this country. W. P. Ayres, 

 Whittlebury Lodge, Jan. 15. 



Lord Faversham's Ox at Birmingham. — If I had 

 known that you would have published the weights of 

 the beasts shown at Birmingham, I would also have 

 sent you the weight of the white ox (short-horn) shown 

 at Birmingham, and fed by the Right Hon. Lord 

 Faversham, of Duncombe Park, in this county. The 

 particulars are as follows : 



Live Weight of the Ox : — 162 Imperial Stones Measure. 



feeder, and put the once chopped Gorge upon it with a 

 shovel ; the straw pulls it on, and it gets quite as much 

 cut and bruised as is useful for horses, cows, calves, and 

 sheep. I think no one who fairly tries this plan will 

 ever give it up again. I should much like to see a light 

 sand farm of say 200 acres well cultivated, and with 

 sufficient capital for boxes, &c, farmed so as to have 

 160 acres corn and green crops, and the 40 worst of 

 Gorse. The number of stock it would keep profitably, 

 if in boxes all the year, would be very great. I began 

 by saying I would be brief ; but I have made a sad loag 

 story of it I fear. It may be useful, howeverf to your 

 " Constant Reader." W. D. F. 



Law Expenses. — I have lately purchased some hill 

 land, to the purchase of which no objection was made 

 by any one, the title as clear as part ownership is in 

 England. The sum amounted to 480/. ; the law ex- 

 penses for this 480Z. were 74Z. ! John Ay, Winscombe. 



Chronicles of a Clay Farm. — I have lately been re- 

 reading this work, which is well worthy the attention of 

 all interested in agriculture, whether landlord, tenant^, 

 or implement maker. I think Mr. Hoskyns is on the 

 right track when he says that steam cultivation must be 

 done by a cylinder of claws revolving independently of 

 the draught, and there is little doubt that it will some 

 day be accomplished ; but as yet I fancy the weight of 

 the engine, if constructed as portable engines and loco- 

 motives now are, would be so great as to prevent its 

 working, except, perhaps, when the ground is very hard. 

 Supposing that it takes as much power to cut up a 

 breadth of 9 inches of soil into a fine mould, as it does 

 to turn over a furrow of that width (and I do not think 

 you can allow less), tnen, if the cylinder were 6 feet 

 wide it would require 16-horse power, viz., two to every 

 9 inches. It is pretty good work for three horses to 

 draw a seven-horse power portable engine along a road^ 

 and I do not think six horses power would be more than 

 sufficient to move so heavy a machine along a stubble 

 field ; we have then a 22-horse power engine besides 

 the revolver — how is such a cumbrous affair to be turned 

 short round each time it arrives at the end of a field ? 

 Of the expense I say nothing, as I think if it can once 

 be accomplished the cost may be reduced afterwards. 

 I must apologise for trespassing so much on your space ; 

 but being interested in agriculture, I am anxious to 

 know if Mr. Hoskyns can overcome the difficulty I have 

 mentioned, and I have no means of communicating 

 with him but through your columns. A Farmer in* 

 Embryo. [The difficulty to which you allude has long 

 been the acknowledged hindrance to the progress of 

 steam culture.] 



Length. 



Girth. 



Carcase. 



Loose Fat. 



• 



feet inch. 

 6 



feet in. 

 8 8 



Actual Weight, 

 st. lbs. 



108 5J 



st. lbs. 

 16 13} 



I should have liked this to have appeared in your Paper, 

 as it appears his lordship's ox had more loose fat than 

 any beast shown either at Baker Street or Birmingham 

 except No. 32, which had 17 stone. Walter Taylor, 

 Malt on, Yorlcshire. 



Payne 9 s Defiance Wheat. — Mr. Mechi asks of your 

 correspondents whether the value of Payne's Defiance 

 Revitt Wheat is, as a rule, 1 0s. per quarter below other 

 Wheats. I have grown it for two years, and the millers 

 who buy nearly all my corn, and they are perhaps doing 

 the largest business in the county, have always con- 

 sidered that, weight for weight, the Revitt is 5s. per 

 coomb under value. This, coupled with the fact that I 

 cannot grow a larger acreable yield thau of the old 

 sorts — Spalding, for instance — has led me to eschew the 

 growth of Revitts for the future. T. R. Ellis, Oxnead 

 Hall, Buxton, Norfolk. 



Gorse. — In your answer to "a Constant Reader," 



January 8, there are several points in which I think 



you have not had perhaps experience in Gorse feeding. 



I will state them as briefly as I can. The common 



Ulex europreus is the best in every point of view, both 



in quality, quantity, and hardihood, even if the immense 



trouble and expense of growing U. strictus was not 



sufficient bar to its introduction. The sowing direc- _ 



The plan, however, of cutting the laboured so zealously in the matter were entitled to the 



If the soil it 



tions are very good. 



alternate rows annually is very bad. n me sou it is 

 rown on is sandy you may cut it every year ; but if 

 not well qualified for Gorse, every other year. But 

 instead of cutting the alternate rows in the troublesome 

 manner you mention, mow half your plot each year with 

 a scythe, and simply rake it up as you would any green 

 crop. The expense and trouble of this is no more than 

 so much Lucerne, &c. By mowing regularly you save 

 all the expense of separating woody stems, as there will 

 be none. The mallet and block is very well for a poor 

 cottager with one or two cows ; but to use Gorse upon a 

 Urge scale, as it ought to be on all light sandy soils, as 

 one of the very best and cheapest foods for cattle, 

 horses, and sheep through eight months in the year, get 

 a good strong chaff-cutter that will cut half-inch chaff 

 (I find llansome and Parsons, of Saiford, the best I 

 know). If with a horse-power attached, this will cut up 

 a good cart load in a very short time onceover, the man 



r* i • * • * * rm » ± l1- 



£otittit$. 



• ^ 



Highland and Agricultural. — At the late half- 

 yearly general meeting of this Society, the Duke of 

 Buccleuch in the chair, 78 new members, 49 of whem 

 are tenant-farmers, were elected. 



Agricultural Statistics. — Sir John M'Neill said he had 

 the pleasure of reporting to the society what might be 

 considered as the completion of the inquiry, and he 

 might state with confidence that in no part of the United 

 Kingdom had there yet been collected a body of agri- 

 cultural statistics so worthy of trust or so complete as 

 those which had now, through the instrumentality of the 

 Highland Society", been collected for Scotland. While 

 congratulating the Society upon their success, he did 

 not mean at all to assert that the returns which had 

 this year been obtained were complete and perfect. 

 There were, necessarily, some defects for which they 

 were not responsible. He might instance the fact o£" 

 the impossibility of giving the entire area of the country 

 from the w r ant of such a survey as would alone enable 

 them to do it with accuracy; but when they had obtained 

 a trigonometrical survey of Scotland, they would be able 

 to give returns complete as regarded the area. There 

 was another imperfection also in the returns, which was 

 not likely to occur again. To obtain accurate returns 

 of stock in all parts of the country it was necessary to* 

 follow the same system which was adopted in enumerating 

 the population — to take the numbers upon one day. But 

 from the late season at which the authority was given,, 

 and from the difficulty of obtaining correct returns of 

 occupants, it was impossible to accomplish that this year. 

 The tables would be forwarded to the Board of Trade, 

 and he trusted that the board would have no objection 

 to publicity being immediately given to the results thus 

 obtained. He thought the tenant farmers who had 



mmediate benefit of the Scotch tables. 



The Duke of Buocleueh said they were deeply indebted to the 

 gentlemen who had acted as enumerators in the different districts. 

 They had done their duty in a most excellent manner. But he 

 should be doing an injustice to the position be held as their 

 chairman, andai to his position as a men.ber of the society, if 

 lie did not express most distinctly- his own individual opinion, 

 nnd, he was sure, the opinion of every one, of the invaluable 



t vices which had been rendered to them by their secretary, Mr. 

 Hall Maxwell, His labours had been labours of love— purely 

 gratuitous, and highly honourable to himself. He thought they 

 could not do less than pass a vote of thanks to Mr. Maxwell for the 

 manner in which he had conducted the inquiry (cheers). — 

 Lord Panranre thought they should also bear a public testimony 

 to the zeal of the tenantry of Scotland, through whom alone 

 these statistics could have been furnished. He concluded by 

 oding the proposition to give a vote of thanks to the 



cretary for his zeal in conducting the investigation. The 



motion having been unanimously adopted, Mr. Maxwell returned 

 thanks. 



Tlie Chemical Department. — Dr. Anderson reported 

 that continued progress was being made in this depart- 



feeding having gloves on. Then lay straw on the ment. They had just completed a very extensive in ves 



