

32 



T 



E AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



with the sconce belonging to an art wnicn rorms nis 

 daily ba*v»e»i none is more mischievous in its first 

 effect ujon his mind, or more baffling to the resolu- 

 tion, Man to be struck every now and then with the 

 feel Lag that he is -topping from the land of cer- 

 tainty, or what he believes certainty, into a sea of 

 doubt. Like a landsman who for the first time 

 feels the unaccustomed motion of the waven, and 

 experiences a sensation as much the opposite as can 

 be well i i iginad of the day's i pleasuring ' he had 

 promised himself in the gaily-painted craft to which 

 he had consigned himself and his prog-basket, he 

 begins to register a vow that — let him once set foot 

 on terra firma again, and he'll have nothing more to 

 do with an element that far from sharpening his 

 appetite for more, actually seems to put in jeopardy 

 what he had thought he cat I call his own ! Many 

 a man has left th- irst lecture-room he ever attended, 

 of i agricultural chemistry ' with just such a feeling as 

 that here faintly hinted at ; and this sensation is due 

 not merely to the chopping sea of hard words and 

 phrases he is sure to find running ahead, but 

 derives its worst qualms from a sort of ground- swell 

 he becomes writhingly conscious of, appearing to 

 affect the whole surface of the lecturer's discourse, 

 the under-current of doubt. 



To the practical man this is intolerable. For 



there is this striking difference between ' practical' 

 and i scientific ' knowledge ; that the former leads a | 

 man to trust to Himself, by concentrating his view ' 

 upon what he has acquired, however limited the 

 field, while it is the melancholy virtue of the latter 

 to teach him to distrust himself and his conclusions, 

 by opening out to his eyes part of the infinite 

 field of the unknown. They look, as it were, through 

 opposite ends of the telescope. Yet, for action, the 

 first, for knowledge the second frame of mind, is 

 indispensable. For even to her aptest scholars 

 Mature is chary of her secrets, they do but 



" Show lii* eyes, and grieve his heart, 

 Come like shadows— so depart." 



and the only wonder is that the man who in his 

 own person has proved the toilsomeness and slow 

 reward of field labour, — how much.it takes to 



when 



earn 



into the lecture-room 



result 



s 



hould 



come 



of Science expecting and 

 demanding such instantaneous rewards. Let them 

 come as plenty as blackberries or thick as hail- 

 stones, he should bear in mind they must still be 

 others' property as well as his! Knowledge is 

 no monopolist. He could carve no ' patent' out 

 of it. He must be content to share only with 

 the rest of mankind : so that the individual benefit 

 which Practice sometimes petulantly claims at the 

 hands of Science is a mere dream; beyond the 

 general saving of waste, toil, and expense, which 

 knowledge and discovery lead to, and in which all 

 are free to participate alike. The mind directs the 

 hand ; the head saves the heels : that is the history 



vet of * scientific' knowledge, like every 

 other kind of knowledge: and surely the former 

 President of the Royal Agricultural Society was 

 wrong to answer folly according to its folly, when 

 he agreed to count up, and even to extenuate, 

 the practical bequests of chemistry to agriculture, as 

 consisting hitherto onlv in " Liebig's suggestion for 

 dissolving bones in sulphuric acid and Sir Robert 

 Kanf. s for using flax-water as manure/' The Pro- 

 fessor of Gies>en- 



and answer of ' scientific 





, T . , • t , . -TO beg his pardon— now of 

 Munich holds the compliment rather cheaply, and 

 replies that " in a chemical * (we suppose he means 

 a scientihc) point of view such recipes have no 

 greater value than a recipe for good blacking," and 

 denies altogether such a limitation of the gifts of 

 chemistry to farming, declaring that "dozens of 

 prescriptions or recipes like that alluded to by Mr 

 1 trsEY may be found, in books which treat of the 

 application of Chemistry to agriculture " 

 So 



of what is called Lilbig's ■ Mineral Theory. It is a 

 'pretty quarrel as it stands/ because it embraces 

 some of the very points most important to be 

 known on ' the relation of the atmosphere and the 



oil : ■ and to give it what intelligence we may to 

 those who have not penetrated very far inco the 

 mysteries of science, we shall weary our learned 

 readers by bringing up the rear from the point we 

 lately reached, after introducing the four great 

 organic elements, which worse, by one head, than 

 Cerberus himself, may be said to guard the very 

 portals of agricultural chemistry. When the ob- 

 jection is once surmounted, which the 'natural* 

 mind entertains against the alternation o~ 

 between its visible and invisible forms 

 this difficult and narrow portal of incredulity 

 is once left behind, the road becomes altogether 

 easier : the theory of c combustion,' once explained, 

 accounts for the sudden disappearance of so 

 very large a portion of vegetable or animal 

 matter when burnt, and the term ' burning ' 

 no longer suggests the idea of annihilation, but of 

 mere resolution of the plant, or animal, into its 

 visible, and its invisible, elements ; the one part of 

 that which seemed corporeal, melting like breath 

 into the wind, as though the earth had bubbles as 

 the water has ; the other part remaining in the small 

 and tangible residuum of 'ash.' 



Now touching this ash, Liebig lays it down in 

 the most recently published statement of his views, 

 as the 2nd of fifty c propositions', in which his prin- 

 ciples are collected and embodied, that "On the 

 most diversified soils, in the most varied climates, 

 whether in plains or on high mountains, plants 

 invariably contain a certain number of mineral sub- 

 stances, and, in fact, always the same substances ; 

 the nature and quality, or the varying proportions 

 of which are ascertained by finding the composition 

 of the ashes of the plants. The mineral substances 

 found in the ashes were originally ingredients of the 

 soil : all fertile soils contain a certain amount of 

 them ; they are never wanting in any soil in which 

 plants thrive." In his first ' Proposition' he had 

 stated that the organic elements, oxygen and carbon, 

 through their compound, carbonic-acid; and nitrogen 

 and hydrogen, through their compound, ammonia, 

 are obtained by plants from Am and Water. All 

 this is admitted and understood by men of science. 



^ Now, without entering at present on the enumera- 

 tion of the mineral substances alluded to in Prop. 2, 

 just noticed, we will plunge at once in mediam rem, by 



taking the passage quoted by Likbig from Mr. Lawss' 



Essay at p. 2 of Vol. XII., part I. of the Journal of 

 the Royal Agricultural Society, which is as follows : 

 " In the course of this inquiry, the whole tenor of 

 our result has forced upon us opinions different from 

 those of Prof. Liebig on some important points ; and 

 more especially in relation to his so-called Mineral 

 Theory, which is embodied in the following sentence, 

 to be found at p. 211 of the 3d edition of his work 

 on < Agricultural Chemistry,' where he says, < The 

 crops on a field diminish or increase in exact propor- 

 tion to the diminution or increase of the Mineral 

 substances conveyed to it in manure.' " 



Here then, we have what lawyers would call the 

 'Declaration' and the ■ Plea.' In Prof. Liebig's 

 little work just published, and entitled ' Principles 

 of Agricultural Chemistry, with special reference to 

 the late researches made in England,' we ] 

 < R<*plication,' together with the 50 l Prop 

 above referred to. *" "* " 



[May 12. 



have the 



ositions ' 



To this we hope to return, 

 when we have digested some of the ingredients or 

 rather the condiments with which it is flavoured 



colloquially 

 palate. //. 



speaking, sauced, — to the English 



they 



It was of some public interest to ascertain the 

 degree in which the reputation of the short-horn 

 breed of cattle has of late years been maintained 

 and several articles on that subject will accordingly 



may ; and many of them worthless 



enough ; like that, so confidently nut forward for' k a s „ a • l Z V~~ ~~ «^i#x«i«gijr 



fixing the volatile' ammonia of Ix$L „d dung- i A^^F^™^^^" 1 ?™ 01 ** 

 heaps by means of an insoluble and well nich imtnil k/7.7 • a I . * P ° lnt 1S ' , of course ' to 

 verable salt, the sulphate of limT But Zron be - determined ^ references to sales of herd 

 Liebig seems to have misconceived the tone and 



spirit of Mr. Posey's remark, which was not to 

 depreciate the advantages of chemical knowledge to 

 we agriculturist, but to moderate the extravagant 

 aK2l^£i hat dA y> and t0 mitigate the resulting 



±^/ OT -'>od farming, 



s 

 in- 

 brought 

 as they 



"doubtful 



■rienro wW • D "7 1» &nd expected of 



calculated t SClenCe d ? 68 n0t P rofess > and is n °t 

 acces Suh otL***' V1Z - 8udden and individual 



way of seuLrZ ? ***• Thou S h * was an °«d 



Pe.h 



and individual animals; and remarkable 

 stances of this description have been 

 under the notice of our readers as often 

 occurred. The last occasion of the kind was the 

 Hendon sale of last month. We considered and 

 believe that the prices realised by Mr. Tanqueray's 

 herd proved the increasing reputation of the breed 

 and a writer in the Mark Lane Express, whom we 

 supposed to utter more than a merely individual 

 judgment, haying expressed his opinion that the 

 prices reached, great as they were, had not been, as 

 an average, very extraordinary, we quoted him to 



settlement of a 



teemed and L ■ 1 I . armer » ,s 80 However, that the opinior 

 m Sol of ?£ Wi 1 ^ inthe P leteJ y the opinion uttered 

 Z^Vl«t^^™*W «- sale as Ling -not 



as in the discussion now pendinT 2 X c v™ 8 . 1 ?' 

 of Plant,, between the adTctt and £ ££S. 



the latter described 

 - for an average a very 



I extraordinary one, considering the pains and cost 



and our contempora 

 to exnose his 



Mar - „. *, v **wwn F uiaijr imagining thxtZ 



was to expose his judgment V\t °^ 

 short-horn cattle, expresses his di 8p C '* 

 omission of these wnr#l« u~i. *V iea< *re a1 



• of 



But this w^\Jl * 



writer of 

 opinio 



these words- _ 

 object :-if we had supposed lhatVe * 

 that sentence was giving merely his person^ 

 we should not have noticed it at all-lit w l 

 we imagined that he was uttering the onfari 

 agriculturists that we referred to it—*- - P 



s i 

 lit 



though imperfect as toleng^rpTrfecta^tTf^ 

 for the purpose to which we have applied it WeB 

 not, indeed, quote this writer's reference to the? 

 cumstances under which, in his opinion, the Hendi 

 sale is not extraordinary ; but these circumstaS 

 do in reality enhance the value of the event mI 

 testimony to the reputation of the short-horn blood 

 For what Vnn 1 xt ~- L! - x - - .. _ 



herd ? 



for " - rf 

 was to show that the average, high as it^ft* 



reached the height to which .in i agricultural ]ui^ 



it ought to have attained. Besid 



-■ v«v xuj/u^wvu v/i mc Miort-norn blood 



has been the history of the Hendon 



Mr. Tanqueray— a gentleman not previously in 

 terested in agriculture — did not seven years ago 

 own a single short-horn : during that interval ho 

 has gathered a herd together— at great cost » 

 doubt — but^ at a cost forced upon him at the 

 sales by auction where his purchases were made- 

 a cost therefore which proves not merely the ind 

 vidual enterprise which our contemporary adoBb, 

 but the general estimation in which the breed is 

 held ; and this is the very point to which 

 remarks were directed. And that this 

 estimation 



is 

 the 



proved more 

 circumstances 



general 



incontestably than 



of this sale will 



of some of the© 



ever by 



appear from an enumeration 

 which our contemporary does not seem to have Um 

 acquainted with. For instance, though collected at 

 such cost, the herd did, we are assured by one able 

 to inform us, realise last month nearly doable the 

 sum needed to balance its account. Again : some 

 of the best animals were disposed of privately behrt 

 the sale — a Duchess heifer, especially, for 500 

 guineas — and in fact nearly five thousand pounds 

 worth of animals had been thus disposed of during 

 the past two years T Thirdly : some of the anima 

 purchased nominally by Mr. Tanqueray were it 

 reality purchased by him in partnership with Ame- 

 ricans, and having passed from his hands cannot 

 be quoted in explanation of the Hendon average 

 (the Duke of Glo'ster, for instance, for which 

 650 guineas were paid at Tortworth, and for whic 

 Mr. Tanqueray would have given 1 000 guineas, has 

 since crossed the Atlantic). Lastly : the anima 

 purchased at greatest cost are precisely those which 

 have yielded largest profits : thus, we may take 

 three, and these shall include some of the highest 

 priced animals that Mr. Tanqueray ever purchased 

 —Oxford 11th, for instance, and Oxford 16th, for 

 which 250 and 180 guineas were given at Tortw ^ 

 these three, with their produce, sold for m> 

 guineas more than had been given for then. 

 The circumstances of the sale we snbm 

 then, make it more than ever the remarkable 

 event which we believe it to have been, m 

 the writer in the Marl Lane Express cannot justuy 

 his opinion of it by any reference to them. ^ 

 constitute a sufficient answer to the first part oi m 

 angry notice of our last week's article. 



As to the second part of his critique we mm 

 simply confess that it is unanswerable, w . 

 lived more in the field than in the street we sj 

 happily saved by ignorance as well as cnoice w 

 bandying personalities in slang phrases. 



A DAY WITH THE STEAM PLOUGH. 



Having resolved to see for myself * ba ' 52 

 of success has attended Lord WillougW>7 a* ^ 



steam ploughing I lately P id » J'^colnsbir. ! 

 thorpe, his lordship's seat in South JJ» rf 



where, besides the attraction of such a neve ^ ^ 

 tillage, the tourist may find objects oi ,n «*. ,* 

 embattled towers of the castle, in tne gw ^ ^ 

 picturesque village, and an extensive park w ^ . % 

 forest trees, and fine sheet of _ _*'*„„,* ft f tbe 

 extent. 



_tb* 



I had the agreeable opportunity ot 'fP^^.poftf 

 proper order the sepa rate s teps by jtacB f ^J 

 has been successively applied to ag"^^ ^jd «* 



cand«*S 



crosse 



rerfijl 



are*" 

 >prii# 



theieft** 



ten* 



erected to bale out tne raiu-«»*« c T wo rkiag."^ 

 entire country. Were they to ce *s JJ* JU «J 

 thousands of acres now high y ^uvated, J^ ^ 

 studded over with farm buildings and uu ^^ * 

 would be one vast shallow lake £« i^ «* 

 »i,„ «:„i-.„o^<. «f tWicfl steam-oneo ren» r fafm \xfjm 



engines busily threshing ; in «"<w" and com** 1 

 were actually standing unharuesseu, ^ ef 



looking on while their welcome J elp -^ ^c 

 panting and perspiring at '"?.% steaD i 

 labour "Surely," thought I, » 9 »* 



10 



i* 



