

THE AGRK ULTUB VL GAZETTE. 



has its sea bo I >n the north < ist of 

 South America, and this i ind, it is said, mast not 

 be confounded with one of the same name lying near 

 that si. re, between the islands Lei Roqaes and 

 Buenayre. It is one of the more westward of 

 the Carrihean group, lying some 15<» miles west of 

 the British island < I kdaloupe, and the large deposits 

 of gnano said to be lying there aeem to have been 

 appropriated by mere " seizure and occupation.' 

 In the meantime it appears that, on the 21st of 

 December la*> . the Venezuelan Secretary of State 

 for the If mie Department signed a contract with a 

 citizen of the United States, named D. F. Wallace, 

 conceding to that person the exclusive privilege of 



Srocnring at, and exporting gnano from, Bird Island 

 uring a p* d of 15 years, in consideration of a 

 payment to Ven aela of 4 dollars a bushel thus 

 exported ; Mr. Wallace furthermore binding him- 

 self to advance to the Venezuelan Government a sum 

 of St 000 dols. on account of that contract. — The 

 sooner the worth of such a contract is tested the 

 bttter. 



in are not injurious, bui many person* suffered 

 two vears since in consequence of tfce , . 1 Y ea " ie r 



being too wet to get the seed which had 

 been dressed with arsenic, corrosive sublimate or 

 blue vitri I into the -round; and we see no reason 

 why injury to some t tent should not take place 

 when the seed is really placed in the soil, but 

 cannot germinate at all, or only slowly because 

 of its dry condition. The subject is wett worth 

 consideration, and the more so because poisonous 

 dressings are altogether needless. Quick-lime, when 

 properly applied, is perfectly efficacious and safe ; 

 and the best dressing of all is a solution of 

 Glauber's salts (sulphate of soda) succeeded when 

 the Wheat has been drained by a dredging of quick- 

 lime, the lime and sulphuric acid combining to make 

 sulphate of lime or gypsum; while the caustic soda 

 acts upon the spores of the bunt, to destroy which 

 is the main object of dressing. We shall be 

 anxious to learn whether the malady is widely 

 spread or not, and if any communications are made 

 to us confirmatory of its prevalence, we should be 



Aria/1 tn fcnnw whnt dressing has been annlied. M.J.B. 



Bum peculiar changes as have taken place durin 

 the last four months in temperature and the general 

 condition of the weather, can scarcely be expected 

 to pass by without some marked effect upon the 

 Wheat Crops. The seed was committed to the 

 ground in a season of unusual dryness, and it wa 

 six or seven weeks before the first leaf appeared 

 above the ground ; the high temperature and genial 

 weather immediately after Christmas caused a 





peculiarly rapid growth, which was checked at once 

 by nearly two months severe frost, succeeded by 



east 



Steam Cultivation having become so far practical 

 that a handsome prize is to be awarded in July to 

 the best invention able to accomplish it, we may 

 venture to offer a renewed series of observations on 

 the subject. And we may commence by congratu- 

 lating Mr. Hoskyns, and any other advocate for 

 steam-farming, upon the late rapid progress and 

 promising prospects of their cause. In the days 

 of our childood we remember sketching an out-door 

 threshing machine, with a steam boiler in place of 



quence of all which hat been that in some districts* 

 not only do the fields without close inspection appear 

 almost bare, but a great portion of the plant has 

 either already perished or is perishing rapidly. 



thinned 



in after years a Lincolnshire farmer, we believe, 

 suggested to a machine maker the first notion of 

 such a portable steam-thresher, and what was our 

 delight at seeing at a fair — now 10 or 12 years ago 

 a threshing machine mounted upon the carriage- 



we should not think it worth while to call our i frame of a portable steam-engine, and frightening all 

 readers 1 attention to the subje< , for we have known : the farmers who crowded round it to see fire and 

 cases in which there was apparently scarcely any straw in such dangerous proximity ! The enter- 

 hope, improve so rapidly after two or three careful prising firm who constructed it had it in model 

 hoeings, in consequence of excessive tillering, as to several years before, but business considerations had 

 afford ultimately a far better produce than breadths prevented them from sooner setting ud a rival to 

 which at first wore a far more favourable aspect, the universally used horse wheels. 



In the present case, however, the plants which seem 

 likely to stand do not bear a proportion of one in a 

 hundred to those which must inevitably Deris h. or 

 are already dead. 



In 1841 a portable steam-engine was first exhibited 



at the Royal Agricultural Society's show* held atLiver- 



. . pool, and was styled in the judges' report " the great 



On the slightest touch many of novelty of the meeting." And it may perhaps be 



y step nearer to the prime 

 seeking to yoke it. ** 



1 * 



Considered in l^uJu* 

 be made moveable in the yard, field, and o ,*• 

 roads with permanent advantage, it has ^ 

 all difficulties in this respect : next, consid^ 1 

 confined to such millwork as threshing z^\* 

 sawing, pumping, with stationary maehmnf^ 

 belied the general opinion by laying hold If 

 travelling implement, and causing it to trave * 

 and down a field so as to perform its required^? 

 and it does this efficiently, and at a profit ft? 

 it can drag one tool it can another ; and the nJ2][ 

 nical possibility of some kind of steam-cuhivtfif^ 

 therefore proved. Are we then to say, l( Poss^J •* 

 may be, but it will never be found effectual wd 

 economical ] Steam-power has certainly 8 W 

 that it is not restricted to our barn machinery A/. 

 but it is adapted at most only to traction m^ 

 ments of very great draught (such as the drik 

 plough), and which perform operations previa 

 found to be highly expensive." Such a limits* 

 as this, to the last achievement of steam power * 

 may happen ^ to have seen, is hardly philosophical 

 and is certainly rather insulting to the dignity^ 

 the steam-engine. Besides it is not predicating tk 

 exact truth. Steam power has been applied folk 

 traction of common ploughs, with or without t& 

 soiling-tines, or harrows, &c, following after, -aii 

 applied, too, with success, as far as the quality of 

 performance is concerned. And improvement! n 

 the mode of connecting the power with the imple- 

 ments are being contrived from time to time so 

 that we have arrived very nearly at an economical 

 method of ploughing by steam. We allude to tit 

 long and persevering trials of the Marquis of TVro- 

 dale, Lord "VVilloughby d'Eresby, and some pi* 

 vious experimenters. 



We have strong expectations, therefore, oi i 

 speedy solution of the great problem. Never mi 

 about the plough being an imperfect implement: if 

 a steam-engine once works this tool so foreign to itt 

 abilities, we do not despair of quickly substitutii| 

 something better adapted to the new motor. But* 

 light land the plough is not to be easily beat* ; 

 and having once managed to work it well, there ii 

 no grubber, broadshare, presser, forker, &c, ik 

 need be refractory. On heavy soils, perhip, 

 steam-ploughing may be a forthcoming possibility; 

 but the desideratum is a far different order of 

 operation. I. A. C. 



those which have some little trace of green about almost a parallel to the well-known engineer's pre- 

 them separate from below, as if destroyed by wire- ! diction that a steam-vessel could not cross the 



It, however, the diseased plants are care- ; Atlantic, to record that the firm who manufactured 



lin ii Will V\£* tr\nnrl m /iAniiA/»finn •***!*!% il • - ! _ _ r> _ • ■ £ it \ .* 



As the cultivation of meadow land should at this 

 time be occupying the attention of the fanner, we 

 are induced to offer a few notes on a w 



worms. 



fully dug up, all will be found in connection with 



the 8f 1 and roots; but the roots are withered, 



and the shoot is either soft and pappy and 



in a state of 



stead of white. 



pappy 



brown 



this very engine were of opinion (we believe) that 

 however promising and ingenious, portable steam- 



be found to ansiver. At Bristol 



m- the next year, this engine was shown having four 



f v , .* .... . tion | wheels instead of only two, and was made also loco- 



ii X • te i! S \ ncl P ie , nt * ankc ]> ™ an y of the cel1 motive. There were also two others portable, but 



walls beii brown and charged with humates or ! not locomotive, by other makers. At Derby in 

 nlmates, while the spongeletsjue for the most part 1843 three 

 dead or greatly discoloured. 



since 



„ were present; and steam-engines 



f .- A - . . ihere was not a trace ; there first figured as a class in the prize list, 



of any insects and scarcely any of fungi, and there At Shrewsbury, in 1845, there were only two ; at 



3iif r f ¥ ^ geni con J dltl °? °J. 1 the Newcastle, in 1846, only one, . At the last year's 



2SS f 8UC 4 C K e€ Dg t0 the lncrease £ excitability mee ting at Lincoln, however, there were 40 portable 

 consequent on the previous warm weather has acted steam-engines, and a good many fixed engines 



^Tv l^^\f^\"*f T^ 7 an0 L h n besideS ' f ° r Wnral purposes 7 In 185 /The 

 cause may have been at work of which we shall ! number f portable steam threshing machines in 



r a the Pr ^ ZkX I ^ ^K t t0 ^ d T \ the ^™™ computed at 8000 f and ^ 

 !^Lrr7 h t Y A ™*% bef ° re ™ \ e l eel that time many firms have heen earfi turning out 



rare that the decision to drill m fresh seed, which is g^al new ones every week, and as Je^eUue 



S^ »Bditi« S ttfJ {ft?' Ir the E "li ; (Hke a CertaiD imtien?L.t of burden) S5 Z- 

 IfriT ™ ltlon of l 7 *> ll > 1 * the only one which . being renewed from time to time, still preserving its 

 can lead to any good result. To wait for im- individuality, like a clasp-knife rftw ^STJiw 



JfT^S «2 q r- /t Venty a f eS °. Ut blades and hafts-there must be several 



or 90 m one case are h^vond bono **A ;« *v» A ^^ n „«„, u„ • r V ? ?\ ; uuu>d,lJUS 



more now busy m our farm-yards and fields. Well, 

 not indppd hp wim in t»l«i un^ « ^ this is , a bri ght beginning in the application of steam 



?J t LhT! t °° Jer "T f °^' '■"?"»'"«". : cess,, ,f tillage, steam VaWDg^SSS weTe 



remedy a, .aickly a» possible . PP 7 *£% ■ a ^ in T ^t? S_" »~" 1 



W e suspect, however, as said above, that there ; cultivators have likewise been invented con- 

 may be another element in the question. The seed structed, tried, and at last are to be exhibited for a 



S? vZ^TtUt** W '- h0Ut S er T atin «- Is H : P r5ze : . \ hat S there to prevent the"f further 

 k,jLF7 !i. ,, at ,n -> ur J r ma ^ have been im " career m becomintj established as common bnsin^ 



bibed from the metallic poisons with which the seed requirements I In 1841 the 



Steam 



was dressed 1 The inquiries which we have at 

 present been able to make tend to show this. 



Wnere the nenpta rrnn ;*. v^ul.. i- _i__ _„ 



d salt have been used, but 

 cases have been, that sulph 



tniphate of copper (I 

 ertised dressings, al 



,. ttM% steam threshing 



machine was "the great novelty;" in 1851 the 

 chief agricultural novelty was the machine which 

 excavated drains, and laid in its own pipes ; and 

 this, which was considered Utopian by so many 

 beholders, has become, through Mr. Fowler's 

 mcenuitv and extraordinary rum*™..* — . — . 



apparently much neglected, or at best only partially 

 attended to, namely the weeding of pastures. That 

 pastures require weeding is a matter which to son* 

 would admit of question we are fully aware, fat 

 many conceive that herbage of all kinds is useful a 

 pasture as tending to improve quality and make up 

 bulk, and yet it is questionable whether some i 

 even the larger plants allowed in pasture do art 

 derogate from the goodness of the sample, while a* 

 the same time they diminish the amount of crop. 

 These are facts which we hope to fully p^e J 

 discussing the natural history of some group* • 

 weeds, in the order of the following table :— 



1st. Poisonous weeds, or plants injurious to cattle. 

 2d. Weeds which prejudice a pasture by reason « 



mechanical structure. «*««■«* tf 



3d. Innntritious weeds which dilute the feeding propcm- 



the sample. , . Kr1 tv 



4th. Weeds which take up room, but do not add to w»- 



1st. That pastures frequently contain pto»JJ 

 render the fresh herbage at least highly injunjj 

 and often absolutely poisonous to cattle, w » 

 not sufficiently understood, or surely we JWJ^ 

 see year by year an increasing S™ wt Vutf* 

 meadows of so great a pest as the to 

 autumnale, Meadow Saffron. This plant wmci u 

 forth its lilac-coloured flowers without leavj m 

 pastures in autumn, to be succeeded by^^ 

 succulent herbage in the spring, is highly po % 

 in all its stages of growth. Some years h 

 farmer in the neighbourhood of Stow-on-tne- ^ 

 in Gloucestershire, lost 10 calves in one seaj^ 

 eating the flowers of this plant, which is exc ^ 

 abundant along the whole range of the ooin ^ 

 Cotteswold district, and this, notwithstanOTl^ 

 a season or two previously three cow ^ 

 poisoned from the like cause in the sam ^ 

 and probably in the same field* Here ^ 



resulted in the nsnal error of concei ^ 



from the jjj, w * 

 and smallness, so that cattle are tu ^ ottf &* 

 autumn pasture, whilst the more consp L de ^&* 

 prevent those who know the plant t ro n r^j 



the flowers are innocuous 



used 



' ucvc a ™ nigmy poisonous, 

 true that in ordinary cases 



the meadows where it occurs in 8P nn ^ fc ig trt #, ^ 

 cessful Steam draining m&^Z'*"^ ^ V"* »» made into hay, JJ™^ ita p^ 



believe, he ha. now 17 at wo* «A. ^uTl °, f l . he Poisonous pnncip le w^™ ^ai*^ 



• We speak 

 forthamptottslure 



»t"« 



•pcdaUy of tha norUwn put 



. - , , , . . »* work, and by which 

 has already drained more than 10,000 acres. 



Here we have the grand agent steam coming step 



drying. However, a little reflection* ^ 

 if it can be entirely eradicated, it v ^ e%v edi^ 9 

 than the being forced to disagree*^ e »r 







