THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



150 



•i .ti-r 





.hnva alliio.Hi to, we did not preserve the 

 *JS seed always produces a large bulk of Ml 

 generally foul with seeds. 



* ** iMeeL too, Mr. Drun.mond writes : 



ihk6U 



i mbardv we find "P on ♦«« wnole the best > as 

 sure of it growing an early and luxuriant 



i. co van spp.d is in its character fuid 



are aw** 



ly** 1 ** %l n the direct produce of Lombard}- seed, uiay 

 «*<* - V • ieain sown in the same way it will be greatly 

 *5 ** ' d in" a year or two valueless as Italian Rye-grass. 



d *** 1 * A * i^ ike use of home-saved seed we must have it from 

 Wfei« •* d ° m hardy, and saved the same \ ear in which 



tilt direct i a|< ne i n April and harvested the same season. 



ulu-[ a: ' vt d dnisi of 1ir,,ts the inferiority of the general 



n seed. L« mbardy seed h-oks had, and is 



™VJ" >iid it doefl n<>t vegetate equal to our own home 



mt u 



« of I 



^■^SV- iuires t0 be sown lather thicker; 



*°* ii /or the kind and quantity of seed and time 

 ,~V o,i the last point I may repeat, that it may 

 * wn verviate among corn; but is best sown by 

 rVjf e i t j,er as early as possible after harvest, when a 

 Steurtiflg is to beted very early next spring, and it 

 E been even known to yield a cutting in November, 

 ~\j certainly a good bite for sheep ; or in March, 

 4*1 or May, of the following year, (when if sown in 

 MircaJ) there will be a cutting towards the end of June. 

 TbepUn is to clean the land and roll it hard, and sow 

 ,1km .bushels broadcast, and brush-harrow it in and 



leaTe it. 



liquid way is the proper one 



loan every oilier thing. 



As to the produce under ordinary management, it 

 « yield 3 good cuttings in the year if watered with 

 water-cart as industriously as possible, and if the 

 be in od heart to begin with. But if watered 

 copiously— »« it can be only by a system ot pipes and 

 ranks and iorce pump— you may have 4 up to 8 cuttings, 



according to the stage of growth at which you wish to 

 take it It will stand being cut later thau ordinary 

 Itt, fox it does not become so woody at as 



those parts of Lagg and Myremill which 1 saw are 

 what would probably be called a somewhat brashy loam, 

 and Cunning Park is a light sand. Mr. Kennedy, the 

 tenant of Myremill, has for many years bad experience 

 of the value of manure applied in the liquid form by 

 ercart both on common Bye-grass and Italian; and 

 it was out of a conversation with his landlord in which 

 his own experience, along with Smith of Deanston's 

 plan for distributing the liquid sewage of towns, was 

 discussed, that the plan of underground piping for dis- 

 tributing the faim liquid was determined on. This 

 was seven or eight years ago. 



and of 



4^r acres 



pi pin o* 



a 



mile 





Myremill is a farm of 800 imperial acres, 

 these 320 are furnished with underground 

 extending, some of it, to the distance of near 

 from four tanks on the farmery, which together hold 

 300,000 gallons. The farmery is placed on the summit 

 of one of the knolls or undulations of the hind, and its 

 tanks are thus above most of the land of the farm 



but when the pump is 

 more than sufficient 

 whether on the fields 



in operation its force, whenever 

 for the work of distribution 



The plant if properly manured, and that the 



1 cannot doubt, will keep 



the 



land 



Rye- 



n 



below it or above it, opens the 

 way to a higher tank at a distance, in which, there- 

 lore, any surplus liquid is accumulated for use by gravi- 

 tation at any future time. The supply for these tanks 

 is as follows : — water ad libitum, jumped into them 

 from a neighbouring stream — the liquid of some 150 

 cattle kept pretty constantly throughout the year in 

 byres — the drainings of the open yards and sties — and 

 the whole manure of 450 sheep kept in a house on 

 boards, the spaces beneath being flooded out occasion- 

 nally, just as they are at Tiptree, as most of us have 

 seen. Besides this stock of manure Mr. Kennedy 

 purchases at 6d. a gallon the concentrated gas-water of 

 the neighbouring gas-works of Ayr and May hole, and 

 of this he procures 800 to 1000 gallons in the year. All 

 the liquid made during at least nine months of the year 

 and all this gas-water is put on 84 imperial acres 

 of Italian Rye-grass. The liquid made during about 

 three months of winter is poured on the fields intruded 

 for Mangold Wurzel and other green crops. Those, 

 then, are the means employed at Myremill* 



the was tied up in small sheaves at once and stooked 

 ai Wheat is, and carried at once to the board upon a 

 large sheet in the field, where a couple of men could 

 thresh it out almost as fast as a horse and cart could 

 fetch it ; two or three blows upon each sheaf sufficed to 

 bock the seed out. That then is all that need be said 

 Jtomt the ordinary experience of this crop. 



(Cultivation at Tiptree.) 



Mr. Mechi, who, as we all know, adopts the liquid 

 manure system, states his management and experience 

 of it as follows : — 



*"Wesow 3 bushels of Italian Eye-grass per imperial acre — 

 brcidcast with the seed-barrow on the Wheat crop— before the 

 «fit horse-hoeing which works it in. As soon as the Wheat is 

 wrested, the ( >s is irrigated at the rate of 10,000 gallons per 

 ^*, which gives us abundant autumnal feed. Before Christmas 

 in irrigated once or twice, and about the 20th April to 

 May it affords an abundant mow. Last year en G acres of 



■eariv ripe, and it will do to cut very young also, and 



ir. Dickenson tells me that he has cut it even 10 times 



i one season. I do not refer at greater length to his 

 ♦iperitnee, because he is soon to publish a pamphlet N ow for a word on Mr. Tel fer's farm. As you approach 



oa the subject. If allowed to seed Italian Ryegrass A hy rai i wav irom tne north, the sea upon your right 



ieldsa fair crop. 1 once sold 90 sacks, i.e., 560 bushels, - s i lidden by a Wliste f san dv hillocks but imperfectly 



witfhing 17 lb* a bushel, oil 19 acres, and this was not a bound to £ et i )er hy tne wiry roots of the scanty Grass 



good erop ; it was a second cutting that year. The seed with which iu ])at ^ les i iere an a there they are covered, 

 difficult to save from its liability to shed. The , T1)is ig hl fact> a district of blown sea-sand, in which 



rabbits burrow. On your right, again, the same sand 

 has been levelled, and is cultivated, and by dint oi 

 manuring, is made to grow Turnips and other food for 

 sheep, which there, as everywhere, at length impart 

 fertility. Through this sand the water of Ayr finds its 

 passage to the sea, and on its banks the town is built. 

 South of the town the same kind of soil occurs, in a 

 narrower line however, along the shore, and it is soon 

 altogether stopped by the high lands, on the summit of 

 which, close by the sea, lies the farm of Lagg 

 ston's occupation. Before you reach these high-lying 

 lands — and before you leave the sandy tract — you come, 

 as you travel southwards, upon Mr. Teller's farm of 



. rit Cunning Park. It is an old enclosure from the blown 



Rested, the ( ;S is irrigated at the rate of 10,000 gallons per saD d f the shore — 50 acres in a rectangle lying between 



the south road and the sea — formerly, no doubt, a sandy 

 waste, but at what date I do not know ; and while the 

 difference which to the fanner it exhibits from the 



Mr. Ral- 



*>f, itoay, rocky soil we kept 100 fattening sheep from the 

 -wtft A;>ril to the end of August, the sheep never having been 

 **P0Tedfrom the land. They were folded, and had Rape-cake, 

 a was the second year of the Grass which had been several 

 jaws mowed in 1 3. The land was ploughed in November, 

 *ww with white Peas, which will he picked for the London 



Jrot, and followed by To mips. 1 should say that the hose 

 ■JjUet followed the sheapfold. I prefer taking broad-leaf plants 



m* Bye-grass, rather than cereals. As a general rule, our Rye- 

 w* gives us abundant food in the spring, whilst our neigh- 

 ■W are sadly deficient. It also gives much late autumnal feed. 

 *fa?*l' m ° W ' 10 ' 000 S allons are applied after each cutting; 

 obf»°i!!ui Ue nnvem cro P i n the summer. More weight can be 

 2r' ., T mowin S than by folding; the latter interferes with 



^ripJd 



growth of the plant." 



(Tux: Ayrshire Farms.) 

 1 now come to 



7^3 in Ayrshire where Italian Rye-grass 

 ™ted »« 1 hn„~ „™ v." r, 5. 



the description of such of the 



is cul- 

 are all aware that at 

 the system of irriga- 

 tor the distribution 

 applied especially to 



And such 



pipes 

 been 



1 have seen. You 

 **»l places in that county 



J* \ underground 

 ^ W»w manure has 



extr r a **° U °* * tanan Rye-grass. Aim sucu very 

 *°™j inary statements have been made about the 



is n • 5n the field and in the catt,e stalls > of 



nnme ot management, that I was sure, when this 



Farm *?3 ^ anae r for discussion before the London 

 hln*A* rS ^ ul) > tnat a great <* eal of its interest would 



ject 



K* 



Men U l P ° n t!le * rUt k or inaccurac y °f tlie statements 

 %^ to. I went to see these farms, therefore, the 



A* ujl- ^ ast > in order to make personal inquiry into 



%co k*} *' and so ^ e h kle to speak this evening with 



i* A JLi • nce of au eye-witness. There are five farms 

 ■ Ayrshire whe™ .„L ™i ~:, 





*• <*i*r 

 mild 



where pumps and pipes are in operation for 

 ibution C f liquid manure:— Myremill, about 8 



Ife, j^ of Avr > on the Mayboleroad, the property of 

 ^•Raed^f ^' ** banker'iu Ayr, and occupied by Mr. 





^ J, his tenant ; Cunning Park, a farm of 50 im- 



Avr n* Cre8 .' on tne 8ea shore, one or two miles south of 

 JL 1 oc ™pied by Mr. Teller : Enterkine, three or four 



Mr. Bell ; Lagg, 

 , . , w „, « .,igii-ijiA,g farm, nearly all 



*** roa!i W€ y er ' bome four miles lrom A y r > ou tlie 



*• oeen Z rmi8 h y tuning P**k ; and a farm in 



**■ h^ Um 0f the M **quie of Ailsa, some 4 or 5 



«W *V oml1 - Isaw Myremill, Cunning Park, 



"*5a- katerkine, I was told, was stiff clay land : 



**>pied hv' ajt, Ajr > occu P ied b y 

 ^ble 1S^ r - B^on, a high-lying 



wilderness it was is at least as great as that exhibited 

 by the richest specimens of fertility I know, that dif- 

 ference is in this case wholly due to Art and not to 

 Nature. The sand on some of its extent has been 

 heavily clayed, and has yielded heavy crops of Wheat, 

 but a great deal of it that I saw was as light a sand as 

 was ever cultivated — a pure sand soil which the severe 

 frosts of this winter have failed to make cohere. The 

 manure applied to these acres consists of (1) an endless 

 supply of water ; (2) the whole liquid and solid excre- 

 ment of 48 cattle in the byre, which are highly fed on 

 food grown and purchased ; (3) 10 cwt. per acre of 

 artificial manure over the whole of the extent in 

 Italian Rye-grass, 6h cwt. of guano per acre over the 

 Cabbage and Mangold Wurzel, and about 2£- cwt. per 

 acre over the whole of the Wheat. All these are 

 after the rate of imperial measure. There are only 21 

 Scotch acres, that is, rather more than 25 imperial acres, 

 under the irrigation system ; the other part of the farm 

 is managed in the ordinary way. 



I pass now to Lagg, some three miles further south, 

 and probably between two and three hundred feet 

 above the level of the sea. 



above the land under irrigation — so high that the liquid 

 from the cattle runs down some 40 or 50 feet, I 

 should think, to the tanks, where it accumulates 

 for use by gravitation on the fields still lower 

 down. These fields, extending over 60 imperial acres, 

 are on a slope ; the upper part probably 70 or 80 

 feet above the lower, but all sufficiently below the 

 tanks to give pressure enough for distribution of their 

 contents through flexible pipes from the fixed hydrants. 

 The soil here is much the same as at Myremill — a good 

 but somewhat brashy loam, worth, I dare say , 35s. an acre. 

 The manure used upon the land under irrigation is the 

 liquid from 60 large cattle and 20 horses — with nearly 

 2 cwt. of artificial manure per acre washed into the land 

 after each cutting of I talian Rye-grass. The extent under 

 Italian Rye-grass at Lagg each year is 12 acre*-, and this 

 receives all the liquid except during two or three 

 months of winter, when the land for root crops gets a 



The extent sown each year at Myremill is 



This, let me say, 



is sown in March or April, or late in autumn, and kept 

 on through the following year and until the end of 

 sumnurinthe year after that. So that going in the 

 summer time you would see at Myremill 42 acres of old 

 Grass and 42 acres of new Grass, and at Cunning Park 



of old Grass, and 4j acres of new Grass, 

 i. e. 70 Scotch acres on the one farm, and 7 Scotch 

 acres on the other. 



As to the mode of sowing I will give Mr. Kennedy's 

 practice. He ploughs up an Oat stubble in autumn, 

 puts the grubber and the harrow through it, and gets 

 it clean ; then he rolls as hard as he can, sows 

 4 bushels of seed broadcast — that is 70 lbs. or 80 lbs. 

 per Scotch acre — and brushes it in. That is the 

 whole affair. It comes up— gets a flooding with the 

 liquid (about 6000 gallons) as soon as well above 

 ground — is cut, it sown early enough, the first time late 

 in April, and yields three or four cuttings — and after 

 each cutting gets soaked with the liquid manure. It yields 

 again three cuttings, or perhaps four next year, and is 

 then ploughed up and goes into the regular rotation of 

 the farm. The five years 1 course prevails there— 

 I Wheat, 2 Turnips, 3 Oats, 4 seeds mown, and 5 Beeds 

 depastured ; and the Italian Rye-grass occupies 

 perfectly and without disturbance the place of the 

 two years' seeds over 42 acres of the land ; and 

 that generally is the plan followed on the other 

 farms. Mr. Telfer has, indeed, occasionally for several 

 years grown Italian Rye-grass after Italian Rye-grass, 

 and found it answer perfectly, but I understood him to 

 say that he, too, grows it as a general rule in succession 

 with other crops. . 



(Prouuce under the Irrigation System.) 



And now as to the produce obtained from Italian 

 Rye- grass under this cultivation. I will commence with 

 Mr. Teller's case ; and Jet me here say, that I 

 have never been on a farm where such a detailed 

 record of every operation and its result is kept as is 

 kept at Cunning Park. The result of this is, that 

 the order and cleanliness apparent everywhere are most 

 remarkable. I would rather finish the biscuit I had 

 dropped in Mr. Teller's cow-house than if 1 had to pick 

 it off the floor of many a cottage 1 have visited. A 

 record is kept of tli£ daily food consumed, and of the 

 daily produce of the four lots of cows in which the whole 

 are arranged : 47 cows of the Ayrshire breed and one 

 bull occupy the house. They receive, while on Italian 

 Rj e-grass fully, four feeds daily, amounting to from 2 tons 

 to* 50 cwt. oi the Grass among the 48. The Grass is 

 allowed to stand till on the point of putting forth its 

 seed-stem ; it is then more substantial food, containing 

 less water and more starch and sugary matter. When 

 younger it contains, along with more water, more of the 

 substances corresponding to the gluten of Flour, and 

 which chemists tell us resemble the fleshy part 

 of animal matter. Those who wish to make flesh by 

 their consumption of Italian Rye-grass may, therefore, 

 be right in cutting frequently and having it younger. 

 That is Mr. Dickinson's plan. Mr. Telfer makes butter, 

 and is right in cutting it less frequently — often only 

 three, sometimes four, or at most five times in the year. 

 He has a drier food in consequence. His object is to 

 have a food t for his cows containing 20 to 25 per cent. 

 of solid matter, and he mixes chaff and hay and meal 

 with his Man cold Wurzel during winter in order to 



Of the relative 



older Grass 



His opinion 

 and the 



is 



w 



dressing. 



42 acres, and at Cunning Park 4£ acres 



to 



obtain this result, 

 merits of the younger 



founded on analyses by Dr. Anderson, of Glasgow, 

 from which it appeared that the Italian Rye-grass 17 

 days old 17 or 18 inches high, and weighing about 9 or 

 10 tons per acre, contained 86 per cent, of water; and 

 when five weeks old, or 3 to 3 J feet high, and weighing 

 20 tons an acre, only 74 per cent ; in the former case 

 three per cent, of the protein compounds corresponding 

 to fleshy matter in the animal— in the latter only 24; while 

 the starch and sugar present in the former were only 

 5£, and in the latter 10.^ per cent. 



It is no part of my present business to state the 

 winter feeding of this cow-house, or to do more than 

 relate what share this 8§ acres of Italian Rye-grass have 

 in the maintenance of the live stock. I may say, there- 

 fore, that the Italian Rye-grass is, as a general rule, the 

 whole maintenance of the stock so far as green food 

 £oes during the months of May, June, July, August; 

 that it is most of their maintenance in September ; 

 and that it is half their maintenance in April 

 and October. This was the case last year, when 

 8| -acres of Italian Rye-grass, half of it sown in the 

 The farmery here is high spring of last vear (for the seed was not got in in the 



autumn of 1853 as usual), yielded 270 tons of green food, 

 besides a crop of hay off the old Grass, which was left 

 for hay in the autumn, the younger crop being then in 

 full bearing, and sufficient for the feeding of the cattle. 

 Now it is very little to say that 48 cattle are maintained 

 —that 30,660gallonsof milk (for that is the averageyear's 

 produce from the 47 cows), that 30,660 gallons of milk 

 were made upon 50 acres of land, half ot it under this irri- 

 gation system — that a quantity of milk worth, at 2d. a 

 quart, upwards of 1000/., or at la. 4c?. per gallon, 2044Z., 

 was made upon so little land — because the question re- 

 mains where their food came from ; and there is many a 

 Loudon dairyman with no land at all that maintains a 

 larger herd and makes a larger quantity ot milk. I will 

 therefore just add the cropping of the land last year. 

 Of the 25 acres under irrigation there were 8| acres in 

 Italian Rye-grass yielding 270 tons of green food besides 

 a crop of hay ; there were 3 J acres in Cabbage yielding 

 150 tons of Cabbage, 10Z. worth of which were sold ; 

 there were 7£ acres of Mangold Wurzel yielding 250 



