I s 



I'HE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE 



m 



2\d. per ton ; and ansnnn; tnetr u ot fits siatemer 



{\ II, no doubt, i far to many tf at the sew >g 



manure qnestion is at once tett] Unfortonately 



s not so : — the question still remains, not whether 



he sewajje water is worth . per ton, but whether 



t ' b+ tter by that mount th i water that can be 



had for not ■:. We doubt if it be. Adding 



the water suui-lv. and de- 



water RUl'I'lv, 



the htfcis 



• f the 



nothing 



the rain fall to 



ducting the evaporation, 



estimate Mr. Lawes's 1 X) tons of ammonia are 



distribute i in the contents of our sewers through 



200,000,000 tons of water : the dilution of the 



ammonia is one in twenty the nd, or s« ?- 



No wonder Mr. 



repp sible, sf ng that he 1 * it irom a pnnieu 

 irculnr obtain < from the Company, in which, by 

 oom mistake, the blank left for the amount of the 

 charge was filled up as he quoted it. 



It would be easy to enter here into a detailed 

 compai of the two o Lpanies, the General Land 

 Drainage Company and the Lands' Improvement 

 C< mpany, and attempt to justify any preference at 

 which, rsuch a comparison, we might aruve, 

 we think ti t to do this would be beyond our 



Our duty is done when, on the one hand, 

 advantages are pointed out of that 



n superin 



h 



on this. As to the comparative breadth of Italia^ R °* 

 Rye-grass, no one can speak; for not a twenti*^* 11 * 



part 



ra'i_rnig over the past five years. 



ooo 



bearing the exact proportion to the Italian, so far as C o * 



goes. 



»rovmce. 



the national q 



unlimited source of ability provided by one of the 



companies for those who have but a limited interest 



i their land; and when, on the other, the main 



.. ieatures of these companies have been, in somewhat 



elivi ; by _- -neral terms, compared, as was done the other day, 



' " espondents shall be disposed to state their 



thing like H otince per ton ! 



Lawks, i speaking of irrie ri with i', spok 



of 10,(X tons per acre as the d re desirable — a 



>se which ve fancy cannot lie 



machinery 20 miles away v% t profit. The only If any corr„ r — K . 



plan, as r-ms to I, h which town sewage can personal experience of any of these companies, we 



lade t: of is, fir*t, to hi ler all the com] ra- shall be very glad to hear them, and so no doubt will 



lively inoffensive portions of it, such as 1 I (to our i !ers. Communications of this kind from 



But wholesale dealings are not so satisfactory 

 as those which represent sales to actual cult*'** 

 of the soil ; and on this point Messrs T)r * 

 of Stirling, tell me that their retail sales al^ 

 Stirling during the last six years have been 1^,3 

 IPO, 220, 280, and 350 quarters respectively >*> 

 obvious testimony to the increasing reputation "7* 

 crop. In like manner Messrs. Gibbe, the seedsmen to w 

 Agricultural Society of England, tell me "the 



of Italian Rye-grass sent out by us increases" everyT 



and the demand is at least double what it wis J* 



j.i.i „:~~~ rri,_ - A , tafe cven^ 



eight years since. The 





shall 



as a manure wo 



tion), from finding their way into the sewers ; and, 

 m regards the remainder, to pro\ sonio plan I 

 which it shall be delivered upon Grass lands lower 



direct atten- them would be most useful, and we hope they may 



be forthcoming. But it will be better, we think, 

 fter the immediate differences which w T e have 



r _ __„. uwittingly provoked shall have been allayed, that 



having travel 1 tl her by its own the merits or demerits of the rival companies be 

 weight. If this were possible, t' n the experience of declared by their bond fide clients respectively, 

 the it ation tern in Ay hire would strengthen rather than by their office-bearers, 

 expectations of success. 

 This 



own t 



ktter subject and the Italian Rye-gnH 

 farms sf A shire were brought under the notice 

 of the Tssidsn I'armei < b on Monday, in a 



Iwhich we eive entire in the 



pape r 



we give entire in 



following 



THE CULTIVATION OF ITALIAN RYE-GRASS. 



[The following paper was read at the meeting, last Monday, 

 of the London Fanners' Club, by Mr. John C. Morton.] 



It may be right to state at the outset of this paper that 



• • • . • -- - . . __ 



paf , lh* Club accepted ail the conclusions my object in naming its subject for discussion, and m 



to which that per tended, and adopted a gathering all the information which I could upon it by cor- 

 re»> on affirming the profitableness aid the resoondence with the principal growers of the plant, and 



fitn 



of 



the 



ractice. and recommend- 



ed or me A hirs p 



U iteado] n here- We must postpone consi- 

 ders »n of the discussion which resulted in this 



olution, but the main facts on which it hinged do, 



ire think, to some extent sanction the expectation 



tha* if town sewage could find its way without 

 artificial force on to meadow land, or jecially n 

 to Italian Rye-crass, near the m polia, it migh 

 yet be profitably converted into milk. For though 

 heavy dressings of manure are applied to this crop 

 at Cunnir Park, yet they are washed in with such 

 enormous fl odings of water that they do form, in 

 fact, a very dilute liqnid mar e ; and in our climate 

 a still more dilute liquid, such as town sewage un- 

 doubtedly i might be even more suitable. 



The fact, for so it is, that Mr. Tklrb keeps 48 

 cattle on seven acres of Italian Rye-grass during 

 five mon? < and a half of the year — that, from 



by personal inspection of the farms in Ayrshire and 

 elsewhere where it is p*own, has not been to prove any- 

 thing whatever with regard to persons. Of course this 

 remark will be understood by those who have read the 

 angry discussions that ensued upon the late Tiptree 

 lathering. I shall avoid all personality, whether in the 

 way of praise or censure. No reference to past state- 

 ments on the subject shall be made — statements 

 which have been disputed, defended, and condemned, 

 with a good deal of unnecessary temper — no attempt 

 to determine where the credit is due, if there be any 

 doubt as to the originality of this, that, or the other 

 in connection with the cultivation of Italian Rye-grass. 

 In what degree Mr. Dickenson or Mr. Rodwel£ Mr. 

 Law son, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Telfer, Mr. Mechi, and 

 Mr. Ralston are copyists or originators I have not 

 tried to ascertain. There is an aspect presented by 

 the subject more important surely than the personal • I 

 hope every one will agree with me in that ; and instead 

 of trying to defend or to condemn what has been 



Scotch acres, five-and-a-half-twe.-.. _ .„ _ ir . . .. _ 



grass, especially about the 



extraordinary crops of it at Myremill and Cunning Part, 

 I have tried to forget it all, and considering the culti' 

 Tattoo of this plant simply as a subject of great agri- 

 cultural importance on its own account, I have lafely 

 r 4 « • , „ , . . , ( l° ne my best to inform myself of the actual py 



Si?? t"i 7 *Ti" 8l 4 *.#!!! ] T ld n,anUre IT 5 ""* * it9 8 rowers in -der thatl St be 

 from /Scotch acres of land-tins fact does, we think, 'able, through the London Farmers' Club, to call the 



justify the expectation tha some method of turning attention of agriculturists generally to -what «o many of 

 our sewage to a profitable account will yet be found. them D0W already perfectly know, the extraordinary 



nitrite r\f *k« T+ A U n » T> . . n . J 



that 6vi l.vbalf-twelfths of the 30,660 gallons 

 nnlk which he obtains, fiw-and-a-htlf-twelfths of 

 i tiro t/wmavd pound* and upward for which that 



quantity of milk would sell in London were obtained 



1* e have received a most important communi- 

 cation from Mr. Lawrence, of Cirenct er, on the 

 Mustard A»otw«atior ot JUmt-cimi to the nature 



nurits of the Italian Ryegrass as a forage plant. 



(Late Rapid Extension of the Crop.) 



allude. 



__ . Tl " B . ma y be Proved, first, by the rapidly increas- 



of which, a. we are forced to postpone "its mhK if,h ** •'* u wc t ,vi,1 8- U has b «n kn<, wn to Bri- 



-*- --a week, we may in a sLgle' 8 en tenefhe e *1&^lZJZ& * S2Ti ° f ' * eeDtUr ^ 



It appears uj Dr. Vo.r, R ', eX pe r ! were «!£« S" ^1 ed J^'Xa^riV. 1 ? ^^ 



under certain circumstances, such as maceration in >'«« J » 1840 thev were 5000 bushel^-Tn 18^ thS 



cold water, excite the formation of the poisonous *«* 40,000 bushels-by this one firm alone * 



irritant to which m:,™ ] osse s from the use *' ' 



n :i y Josses from the use of 

 adulterated Rape have been ow i ok their efficiency 

 for this pnrpoxe, are, in fact, coagulated and rendered 

 inert and powerless if the cafe containing them be 

 submitted to boiling water. JI r< Lawhswcr details 

 his < penence in con: mat ion bf these laboratory 

 results of Dr. Vomcxm. We hope to give it next 

 week ; and in the mean time, as the earliest informa- 

 tion of thi* kind may be useful, it is well to under- 

 •tand that Lability to loca by adulterated Rape-cake 

 -will be diminished, if not destroyed, by breaking 

 it down and putting it in boiling water before 



QSTBir it. 



Mr. Lawson writes to me as follows . 



The first importation took place 21 years tgo, riz. • 



t Selling price. 



In iasi 



1838 

 1836 

 1840 

 1841 



1800 

 1851 

 : 2 



185: 



1854 



• •• 



• •• 



Ml 



*•• 



• •• 



• « • 



• . . 



-.. 



• fl« 





• * • 



• • • 





» I « 



••• 



»•• 





Bushels. 

 160 



320 

 1,000 







6,000 

 25,000 



& 00 



30,000 



40,000 



.900 



• •• 



• • » 



• • t 



i . . 



• • • 



* • • 



• • * 



• • * 



• t • 



• • • 



■ • ■ 



• • • 



• • 



• • • 



42*. Otf. per bushel. 

 35 



15 

 10 

 10 



7 

 7 



6 

 I 



o 



6 



O 

 6 

 I 





 6 

 6 



71 

 tt 

 JJ 



It 



fear. 



I 



- , , . quantity, however, "act^t 



sown is no doubt much more than double, as it caii 

 be obtained from nearly all the local seedsmen " v* 

 Sutton, of Beading, tells me that their firm soldW 

 year 1096 bushels retail, against 1161 bushels of Jill 

 sorts of Rye-grass ; this is of course independent ofa 

 wholesale dealings, and of sales of both in mixtures fa 

 permanent Grass. But perhaps the most curiouaeti. 

 dence of the gradually but rapidly increasing estimate 

 in which the plant is held is given by Mr. Rendle of 

 Phmouth, who has been kind enough to exami&t'lh 

 books during the past 15 years for me, and Lis retf 

 sales alone of the seed during that time have beenyearii 

 year as follows— in 1840 only 25 bushels, and tb 

 followed in successive years by 30 bushels, 30, 50 58 

 60, 70, 90, 100, 180, 240, 400,500, 600, and 700bi4eb 

 per annum. In fact, as Mr. Rendle says, the use of 

 the seed is not now confined to a few of the more eater, 

 prising cultivators ; it is general, and everybody sow* it 



Well, then, seeing that the plant has already futy 

 established its claims to cultivation, it is aneasytiii 

 for me to advocate them. I wish, however, mor? 

 especially to call attention to that method of cultivation 

 which has been adopted on the liquid.manure farms q 

 Ayrshire and elsewhere, and to the extraordinary 

 results which have attended it. But before doing thb, 

 I must answer the questions of those who wish to com- 

 mence its cultivation and its management in tfc 

 ordinary manner. 



Cultivation of Italian Rye Grass.) 



Rye-grass prefers the adhesive class of 

 loams and clays. The quantity of seed re- 

 commended for growth by itself, is 3 to 4 busheb 

 per acre. Mr. Dickenson recommends 4 bushels: 

 Mr. Sutton, of Reading, and Mr. Drummond, oi 

 Stirling, recommend 2£ only ; their seed is, however 

 probably above the average quality. I fancy the Ayr- 

 shire practice may be safest, which is to sow 3j to 

 4 bushels per Scotch acre, corresponding to fall? 

 3 bushels per imperial acre. This, I find, is Sir. 

 Mechi's quantity. When sown with a mixture for per- 

 manent Grass, 8 lbs. or 10 lbs. per acre is an ample 

 share. When sown with Clover 1 bushel per acre. 

 with 12 lbs. of mixed Clover seeds, is sufficient. In A* s 

 case it should be sown as late as possible alon£ with the 

 grain crop. If it could be hoed in early in May H 

 would be best. If sown as early as usual it would by 

 its rapid growth materially interfere with the harreA| 

 of the crop. But for a full crop it is best sown by itself, 

 i. e. without a grain crop ; and then, as soon after 

 harvest as possible is the proper seed time. Mr. 

 Drummond recommends 2 or 3 lbs. of Alsike Clover* 

 be sown along with 2£ bushels of Italian Rye-grass a- 

 early in autumn as possible. At the first cutting etflv 

 in summer, this Alsike Clover was 18 inches high,** 

 the whole was a very heavy crop. Mr. Sutton recom- 

 mends to sow Italian Rye-grass by itself— making * 

 exception, however, in favour of Tri folium incarnatum 

 if it be sown in August — a very large crop of vow 

 obtained, and the Trifolium is" made surer and mo* 

 abundant for its nursing by the earlier Rye-grass* 



A great deal of the success of the crop dependsnpoo 

 the choice of seed. It may not be of a good sorv 

 there are varieties ; it may be imperfectly ri P* Ded L 

 may be imperfectly winnowed; and it may be adultera • 



(O 

 Italian 



soils - 



anent improve- *™.^ on ,ra P°rters— to what extent - rade have 



Its weight varies from 1 lbs. per bushel up to as 



" inordinary weight named ■; 



ch adulterated with Ha 

 and common stable seeds ; and its varying weig 



as 28 lbs 

 Mr. Dn 



s., which is the extraordinary weight napie; 

 nmmond. It is much adulterated with Ha| r - 



htinfr 



«uu common staoie seeds ; ana its varying . , r - f ^ 

 cates how much mere husk is often mix-d with it 

 if it be a genuine sample. Mr. Rodwell, of AW* 

 Hall, Suffolk, some years ago pointed out the necy 

 of selecting the right sort, showing that they£i^ ; 

 very materially, and Mr. Sutton writes to me as A 



land 



folio** 



" ai uch of the misapprehension and diversity of °P^ i0 ° ^S* 

 ing productiveness ot Italian Kye-grass has, we ^"fV^K* 

 we hm^^C lC1 "- 1 ? w,,at e ^tent we cannot exactl^^^ m the a umption that there is but one kino ot i^» ^ 

 ^hr^llrth7T l *? ^ lWye ^t c » r own imp^s ^. bu J graS8 ' or that ^ varieties possess the same properties or ^ 

 dom t tm/^ 6 f ° rei 5 n Feed ""warned ^ hfZ ^; whereas we have repeatedly proved that there are^ 

 aom. Of hometown seed we hav ft « rt ^.™ }?** .™g- as many varieties of Italian as of English or Scotch R? e •L.fl 



and that the productive and nutritive properties ot . son \ iI1( i «• 

 exceed others. This we found to be the case witn a , ^ 



At_„ .• \foxr Fair a V_*x*«. 



but our long exp«. n.nce in Z iT D ° me8ns « WfrW 

 that the foreiL s^d"L L 6 b?n ^^ d l.T ar ™ n !» ?> in 455 



that the foreign se«d i S to be preferred \Zv7r, T, t I* in b *y in 

 wmplainhi h*ro been urged arai^? ?t»>* t u« h,gber P rice - ■ 

 b .aid ot the tnghsl, S ,.M JK, {, " hKh , is m „ ore '»•«« "•« 



8 



e 



fan 



As to the present rate of the rent- 

 1ZSLZTL ^ L f ds ' Im P r °vement Company 

 t ST*/ ? \ ? P,U1 and interest > i« 25 yea it 

 61. ll as aS T Stated ^ Ml "- D -T y oN, but 



««t: i. * * i- , , y ^ 80Uie articles on thp ! w ' ,:i '« or me fciifcMisIi apwd Tka j i. ' "**" 4 * a iuurt! 



fiive With T.Prf.M~"" C , ttr 0ffaCt T'" l 7 US Witl1 ,lle ■^™«nlt"y«S™*^'? B ? niei,,8 »'>'r 



H I ««" l?l l he .H u . al,t 7 of the se«d by th* h^^ ltU)Us ln 8o< iety of England by Mr. Rodwell, which was ot a w ^ jr 



than other kinds, and having a brown tint to ear* er j(jrP 



lias not varied, 

 which we 



'looted by Mr. Dent 



neverthelaifi, he i s ^ot 



mmm *m which tue 'iJ'irSd'g; u£^&$g» 



v ...v.* ivjuuft, auu IiUVin^ -i frown •"•■ . 



seed ; it was a good variety, but not considering 



