3-— 1855.J 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE 



123 



. win error ju *«<? »«*,**«.* ~ ~ — T - -— 



ffLiLtoii. which if not corrected may be injurious 



fl^*V - i . AW « n onioG in miction. 



:. 



of the companies in question. 



that part of the table respecting the 



2 abode to 



j sn 



Improvement Company, where the rate of rent- 

 to repay a loan, principal and interest, in 25 

 . -a-#,..i at frnm a minimum of 61. IDs. 8d. to a 



at from a minimum of 61. 10s. Sd. to 



lis. It should have stood thus — 



8d. and maximum 71. Is. ; accord- 



of 71 



6L 10s. 



It 13 



an error in the tabular statement of Mr. i manure raised on the farm and by the farm produce 



. . . .<■ . l~a ~„„ u« :«;„».:-_«, a | one ma y De enough to maintain the laud iu a high 



state of fertility ? No system of farming is perfect, or 

 can become general that requires the robbing of one 

 farm or one territory to maintain a high fertility i 

 another. In order to constitute a general ays 

 farm must be self-supporting. For if this more p 1 1 . t 

 tillage so cleans, disintegrates, and fertilises the soii us 

 to fit it, after Wheat, to produce an average crop of 

 Wheat on the succeeding } ear, will it not fit it to pro- 

 duce a green or root crop with much less of tillage and 

 manure than is now applied ? 



Were we to follow out the system of Tull in its in- 

 tegrity — were our grain crops fallow crops as well as 

 our green and root ones — could we question that the 

 fertility produced in the soil by continuous natural 

 causes would, with our ordinary supplies of farm-yard 

 manure, give us as good crops as we now obtain at very 

 great cost ? 



wie ianowmg, as well as the succession of grain crops, 

 will be as easy.and as inexpensive, if not more bo, than 

 green crops. /. M. Goodiff. 



• Mtoiniiini . , 



h* to the rate of interest m the money market at the 



of the con tract." 



likewise stated in the table that only three- 



rths of the cost or " clearing lanus may ne cnargeu 

 the lands improved, whereas the company's act 

 the entire cost to be charged. 



Again in the editorial comment tnere is a mistake, 

 w l3i I may, perhaps, be permitted to rectify. It is 

 otarred, a The Lands' Improvement Company again, 

 lUhfmgh it em plovsastaff of superintending officers," &c. 

 Ab this, air, might naturally be interpreted to mean 

 that the company employ a staff of officers, or surveyors 

 who ba?e ,'the supervision of the improvement works 

 mtMlid by landowners by means of the company's 



it is right to explain that the company do not 



employ any such officers 



The Inclosure Commissioners for England and Wales, 



whose jurisdiction extends also into Scotland, appoint 



of the Government Inspectors to report, in the first 



joataiice, as to the increased annual value to be effected 



Si the proposed outlay ; further, occasionally to inspect 

 e improvements while in progress, under the land- 

 owner's own agents ; and lastly, to report whether the 

 works have been duly executed with good materials and 

 workmanship, and according to the plan, specification, 

 ind estimate previously authorised by the Commis- 

 ■oners. 



This company having decided, as was lately and most 

 idmirably set forth in your columns, to act simply as a 

 bridge over winch the floating capital in the money 

 market seeking investment may be passed for the 

 wrposes of lands improvement ; and considering that 

 Parliament had vested the highly important trust as 

 regards the efficiency of the improvements in the hands 

 of the Government Inclosure Commissioners ; and that 

 the gentlemen holding the position of « assistant com- 

 miaaoners" had become well known to the country 

 tinder the Government drainage acts, and entitled to 

 complete confidence as eminently practical and scientific 



agriculturists and engineers ;— the directors of the I - ~v — 



•ompany, after long and serious consideration, deter- great de S ree > is the « ase in the Clover year. 



mined that it would be vexatious to charge the works "" "~ *""* ^" * """" ,: ~ ~ " 



witt i the costs of any further supervision, and which 



Wild not, according to the evidence before them, lead 

 to any possible advantage to the landowner or to the 

 tods charged William Napier, Lands Improvement 

 umpany, 2, Old Palace Yard. WetiminRtw. F*h 90 



ON FALLOWS WITH GRAIN. 



One might well suppose that the promulgation of such 

 E. A *} P roduc tion as that set forth by the 

 S °. f WWeed ™> and sustained by such 

 JJM reasoning, would not only have produced innumer- 

 je imitators, but a revolution in all our systems of 

 «"ge, in all our field management, that at least it 



wooia have set every one a thinking, ever J ~ *- 



SJtie * CCUStomed t0 thia exercise of th 



rational 

 more 



p . ~.eir mental 



tfut there is much that stands in the way of 

 w progress in agriculture and, perhaps, in nothing 

 uian the want of a just appreciation of the advan- 



iKw f eCt i°. f fallowin g; yet Mr. Smith has pointed 

 ^tjese out sufficiently for practical purposes. 



*Joiigh drainage and with the aid of manure*. 

 ■Peciallv art fini*l n™ Q ^JL** r~ii_„ i 



>w very 



worked 



In Ireland, I believe 



»"y superseded in Great Britain the 



rsL i ' once s ° g enerai - - «™, - rare » B 



mrkri £„ L Say from time immemorial, the naked 

 £M? fellow has been and is still but little practised, 



on 



tl«hi»f T ". " ana 1S 8MU DUt JlttIe practis 



ft» « ependeDCe for the ^novation of laud being „„ 

 ™prod Uctlve unworked fallow> thftt ; . n the ^ nd 



7-8 left uncultivated to riot in all 



f°pay termed waste 

 f »e weeds of 

 ■lentirely to 



^•Qfi Of tUc* r,. 



the wasteful 

 by the Irish) luxuriance 

 many years accumulation, trust- 

 slow, unassisted, natural disinte- 



JJ*" surface w t 



!»!• land - The 

 **Phons, has beei 



r^^Wy, however 



e future fertilisation 

 :op, with very few 



■■•"een tilUrf »v. 7. ~«-w^ uu uuc m uie way u 



torfaopt'i, —"7"^ -«^y w«u— by which succes- 

 ses n ft v„ been exposed to atmospheric in- 



flaen 



uue DcestotK A e ii i , —i"^^^ ^ i»uuuHpij«ric ni- 



While urTJj i uU d y th of > at leasfc . the surface soil, 

 m**^ ' FS ,. ot tne subsoil have been exnos^rl fni.^« ft i 



J, rect atmospt 

 l »e drainage o 

 s wptus water. 



^tha tQd r !T" suosoil nave been exposed for several 



**» tinm T! C i atm0S P heric acti0D > drinking in at the 

 4tta 



* h »,thatlf U,pie IaCt established b y th « Loia-Weedon 



* m *y s&v rauaver »ge production of cereals during, 

 ■* Perfect ui\ m ^ ni ™ited number of years— a good 



* W ^eat in ,l ge Cowing) of the land is all sufficient ; 

 2** c«realR ? l>er Wheat 8oi,s ' and > without doubt, of 



S*"»Wid tn T T 8 ° il8 ada P ted t0 them ' 



CSMactt T exhauatiD gcrop». 



^ ^xpen^o ; 7 clear, y indicate that much of the 

 !^lcn J^ m . thetilla ge 



And 

 Does not 



We have adopted Tull's views in the tillage of root ra 

 and green crops— why have we refused to adopt them i favour 

 in our cereal ones ? Simply because they were not so ' 



obvious. In the spreading tops of those plants we saw 

 a necessity for allowing them room to expand; this was 

 plain to the physical vision, the mental one we did not 

 employ, and we forgot to search beneath the soil, where 

 we might have found the roots of the latter demanding 

 as large a field for the collection of their food as the 

 former ; and yet we call them exhausting crops, and 

 say, from the size of their leaves, they are more severe 

 on the ground. Is it so ? When we contemplated the 

 upright growth, the narrow unexpanded leaves of our 

 cereals, we never gave a thought that they might, for the 

 indrawing of their proper aerial food, require as wide 

 an expanse as the more spreading leaves of our green 

 crops. We did not consider that in their more lofty 

 growth the air was more likely to stagnate in their close 



proximity than when it swept over the lower growing 

 plants. 



Can we wonder that under the Norfolk system the 

 land should become Clover sick ? — one twelvemonth of 

 fallow in four years ; from the sowing of the Barley 

 crop to the ploughing up of the Clover for Wheat, an 

 untouched induration of the soil, a light single ploughing, 

 and then 12 months more of induration. During the 

 Barley summer the surface is baked, and its interstices 

 choked up by the finer particles of the Boil ; the dews 

 and. light rains that fall on it cannot enter it, but return 

 again to the heavens from whence they fell. So, in a 



No one 

 supposes that the dews which lie on 'its leaves in 

 the morning, or the light showers that rest on them, 

 are absorbed by the soil ; even the portion of them that 

 may be drunk in by the leaves of the plants soon again 

 perspires and is lost in the air. The same events even 

 more fully occur in the Wheat year. The surface has 

 been right well puddled by the winter rains— what, then, 

 has been the atmospheric inflow ? What has been its 

 action on the collapsed soil and its mineral contents? 

 The wonder is, not that the land should become Clover 

 sick, but that it should not be sick of everything but 

 repletion. Preserving the evil, an improvement is pro- 

 posed in extending the course ; a better one would be 

 to make the two grain crops fallow ones, and sowing 

 the Clover on the Barley after a second hoeing — there 

 would then be a fallow, either a worked one or a green 

 one, every year. 



An obstacle to the more general acceptation of the 

 Lois-Weedon system lies in the novelty of its mode of 

 operation, and in its requiring other implements than 

 those in general use ; the difficulties may be more appa- 

 rent than real, but they shove people too much out of 

 their old ways. These difficulties, how T ever, may be 

 easily got rid of altogether by applying to our fallow- 

 grain crops, with the implements in common use, a 

 tillage precisely similar to that of our fallow green 

 crops, laying, like them, our grain rows at equal hoeing 

 distances ; and, except for the purpose of admitting 

 stolen crops in the wider intervals, I look upon those 

 equally distant rows as preferable for fallow purposes 

 to those of Lois-Weedon. The atmospheric action on 

 the soil is equally effectual, the deep working of the 

 soil equally practicable, the after-working as easy, while 

 the food (both aerial and mineral) is more equally sup- 

 plied to both sides of the plauts, and again the prepara- 

 tion for a future crop is just as perfect. 



The lands may be sown by a common corn drill as 

 usual, suspending the actions of the intermediate deli- 

 verers, or drills may be opened (say 2 feet apart) with 

 a double mould-board plough, and the seed dropped in 

 by a barrow-drill, and covered by a harrow. When 

 the rows appear, if not prepared then to dig, hand-hoe 

 and dig where it is proposed to be done afterwards ; I 

 consider the stirring of the soil immediately after the 

 appearance of the germs above ground as very desirable, 

 to admit air to the roots of the young plants at the 

 moment when, having exhausted the pabulum contained 

 in the seed, they become so much more dependent on 

 the soil. The after stirrings may be made by any of 

 the usual drill-hoeing implements. The last operation 

 should be with the double mould-board plough, drawn 

 by one horse, to lay the earth neatly against the rows, 

 with the view of supporting them and rendering them 

 less liable to lodge. This will also leave a furrow for 

 the succeeding sowing, which may be cleaned out after 

 the reaping, and sown without more ado : and the seed 



w 



^fi«W manures foi 

 an S mdeed, make 



Home Correspondence. 



Pigeons. — From some notice which appeared in your 

 columns I am induced to address you. * I have some 

 laughing pigeons, and besides the novel cry they make 

 they possess merits of great importance, for as breeders 

 they surpass all other kinds I ever kept, and may be 

 called the Hamburghs or everlasting layers among 

 pigeons. Asa friend of mine remarked, he never saw 

 any birds like them for laying, and they are the best of 

 nurses. They will sit on three eggs, hatch, and rear 

 them. Four young ones I find are too many for two 

 pigeons to rear, and what surprises sundry friends is 

 thai during all this cold weather they have been breeding 

 and have reared their young, as I* have now a pair all 

 feathered and another pair next to just commencing 

 being feathered. This I think is something in their 



ure that your readers who are pigeon 

 fanciers would, like me, if they only knew them, be 

 glad to keep them. I also find that as soon as they see 

 any light they immediately begin to cry, thus making 

 them as good as a dog. An Old Subscriber, Durham. 



Bricked Arches v. Tiled Roofs. — A "Northern Sub- 

 scriber" will find roofs of common brick arched and 

 made waterproof to be cheaper and more durable than 

 timber and slate for buildings not requiring a loft. 

 They must of course have proper ties and ventilation. 

 They have been largely adopted by E. W. Wilmot, Esq., 

 of Congleton, who will be very glad to show his and 

 furnish plans, &c, if wished for. The saving in cost is, 

 he tells me, about 25 per cent. I shall certainly adopt 

 the plan here for any new sheds I may require. C P.S. 

 [In reference to this we have received the following :— 

 It is quite impossible without further information to 

 compare the cost of a brick with that of a slate or iron 

 roof. Your correspondent does not mention the span, 

 nor whether the roof is half brick, whole brick, or 

 brick and a half thick. He says it requires ties, but of 

 what kind or how applied there is no mention made, 

 nor does he say what the abutments consist of. Lastly, 

 there is no description of the manner in which it is made 

 waterproof. I hsve used half brick arches for floors. 

 The arches are 16 feet span, and abut upon iron girders 

 tied together by wrought iron rods. The haunches are 

 made up level with brick hats and broken stones, and 

 the floor is formed of asphalte. They stand well. If 

 your correspondent means arches such as these, I dare 

 say their cost where bricks and labour are cheap may be 

 somewhat under that of a good timber and slate roof, 

 but the latter is infinitely preferable in regard to light- 

 ness and durability. /. N.] A " Northern Sub- 



scriher," who inquires about a better kind of roofing 

 than at present used, will find, I fancy, a very useful 

 proposal in what is suggested by Mr. James Barrett, 

 Assoc. Inst. C.E., on Fire proof Bu ldings, 1853. It 

 is flat, with iron or wood girders, and particularly 



It is far superior to the 

 When speaking of 



timber trimming and general foresting — an employment 



1 am very fond of — I merely wish to offer one remark. 

 Taking by observation and experience that it is always 

 wrong to cut off a large member from a tree, yet some- 

 times it must be done. When it is required, I like the 

 plan of cutting the arm (exactly into its kind of collar) 

 first on one side and then on the other, rectangular to the 

 earth, so as to form a wedge-shaped end to the cut off 

 arm, leaving a kind of sunk double cut on the tree, 

 thereby enabling the bark more quickly to gather 

 together and unite over the wound. In small trees, 

 which alone should be trimmed — i. c, from 1 inch to 



2 inches — I find it an excellent plan. Constant Reader y 

 Norfolk. 



Ploughing in Snow. — Do this on heavy clay land, and 

 you will render your soil so unmanageable that you will 

 have no chance of " a season." Such is the doctrine in 

 the locality of Sussex and Surrey, founded upon the 

 result of the experience of the last generation, so that 

 the present never dare to try the experiment. Is it 

 founded on fact, or not ? because it is not easy to com- 

 prehend why snow should, during the process of a thaw, 

 render the soii more adhesive when the thaw is under- 

 ground than when above. Gardeners are equally 

 fearful. Trench in snow, and you will never grow 

 anything all the summer : so that the clay lands are 

 inevitably behindhand. Spring will probably steal 

 upon winter with fine bright sunshiny days and bitterly 

 cold nights. Snow may remain on the ground till 

 April. All this time the plough and the trenching fork 

 are to be idle, and the labourer out of employ. If the 

 Lois-Weedon system or any other can satisfy the farmer 

 that this is a mere antiquated notion, let it explode it 

 at once. Simplex. 



Draining. — If not taking up too much space in your 

 columns may I be allowed to submit the following 

 drainage question for your own and your correspondents* 

 opinions ? The land to be drained is a very flat valley 

 about 24 feet higher than a brook running through it, 

 and this is the only outlet, so that the drains over the 

 greater part of it cannot be put deeper 30 inches. Both 

 on the north and south sides the ground rises consider- 

 ably (belonging to other proprietors) especially on the 

 south side ; the extreme south end of the drains 

 can be thus laid five feet deep. The land is now in Grass 

 or I might rather say in Rushes. I have drained about 



7 — 



suitable for farming buildings, 

 flat brick work and very cheap. 



probabl 



covered with a cross harrowing, the stubbles dug or w w/ ^ „ wuvo , A „ WT ^ „*„.» 



cut up with a skeleton plough towards Christmas, the one acre of it 2£ feet deep, and 16 feet apart, but have 

 rows having been previously hand-hoed. In this way | stopped further operations in consequence of having had 



