





AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE 



i* 



This method of analysis 



363 



easily detteted. _ 



moreover, the additional advantage of taking 



, . *%~- fa* \t* nnmnletion— a matter which 



9* x 



*Wia sh< rr time for its completion 



Wtf o/ Laboratory, May 1 8. 



MR. CHADWICK ON INDIAN IRRIGATION. 



v*r hftTe inserted an extract from the speech of Mr. 



EMi 



Chadwick on Indian irrigation at tne society of 



, true to his fixed idea. 



carefully as Mr. Morton's paper on the crop results of 



that plan in Scotland. Sam. Sidney, Farmers' Quo 



Blackburn. ' 



Da iry 

 criticism 

 Council, 

 or some 

 examine 



i^in which that gentleman, 



flded the substitution of underground channels, 

 hree jet and I presume steam-power, for the 

 sent ample means by which at a trifling expenditure 

 Spublic manev, and a trifling application of native 

 wh^r the Indian cultivators manage to apply in the 

 Godaverv district the exact quantity of water required 

 to their craps, slightly moistening the earth by repeated 

 applications for dry grains, fruit tree?, &c., and cover- 

 in* the land with a sheet of water many weeks in suc- 

 ctaiion. where Rice is to be grown. And in apparent 

 fMc-rt of his views, Mr. Chadwick gives a table of the 



tive expenses of open and underground irriga- 

 extracted from " Minutes of the Board of Health," 

 which have already been widely circulated at public 

 expense. 



As regards Indian cultivation the recommendation is 

 perfectly absurd. In less than six years the irrigation 

 works of the Godavery, at an expense of some 200,'OOOZ., 

 hire irrigated 1,200,000 acres of delta land, levelled 

 is flat as a billiard-table. Thousands on thousands 

 of teres grow Rice, and make the people fat where 

 previously they starved on uncertain crops of dry 

 grain. Let a governor-general, of Mr. Chadwick's 

 choosing, order all irrigation works to be covered, and 

 60, not six, years would be needed to obtain the skilled 

 labour for the work. When the pipes were laid they would 

 be immediately choked. The Indian rivers most valu- 

 able for irrigation are charged with alluvial mud ; they 

 moisten and manure the land at the same time. If 

 Colonel Cotton had ''contrived a plan for filtering "and 

 piping his irrigation works, small would have been the 

 value of his labour Suppose, however, the mechanical 



?Ta ?«r« d,fficuIt,es overcome, and the channels for 

 1,000,000 acres intersected with glazed or iron pipes of 

 the Board of Heath pattern; suppose - and it 



Home Correspondence. 



Statistics.— I scarcely know how to treat- vour 

 of my statement to the Royal Agricultural 

 It occurred to me to invite Professor nds 



other individual of known competency to 

 on the spot my proceedings and mode of 

 testing results. On consideration I prefer introducing a 

 more detailed account of this at the next meeting of 

 the Council, when th • subject is again to be discussed. 

 I adhere to the statement that the whole of the cream 

 skimmed by the ordinary process from December up 

 to the present has throughout yielded, with little 

 variation, 25 oz. of butter from each quart, and I may 

 add that this butter obtains the preference in this neigh- 

 bourhood. In my experience of dairy practice I have 

 never observed so low a produce of butter from a given 

 quantity as the lower range instanced by you in Mr. 

 Telford's dairy. With the attention I am giving to this 

 matter, such a relation of milk and butter -would not 

 occur a single week without attracting 



m , ~ my notice. 



Ihomas Horsfall, Burnley Hall, Otley. [We are glad 

 that our criticism has induced Mr. Horsfall to give in 



further detail the account of his dairy experience. Our „ ro JUU1I „ n 



remarks were not intended to convey anj further doubt gardener on the other 

 ot the accuracy of his statement than what may be ' 

 thrown upon it by the mere fact of its extraordinary 

 nature. We believe for ourselves that his research 



Rape for the lambs in spring from the same cause, and 

 the lew I urmps that remained green this spring after he 

 rost were very speedily stripped; and since that they 

 have, in company with the larks, nearly destroyed all our 

 Vetches. From this experience I have arrived at the 

 conclusion that the pigeon is really more the farmer'* 

 enemy than the rook. Hairy Cox, Longford Houu, 



Minchinhampton. ^ 



Small Holdings:— Any advocate of small holdings 

 need only travel by rail to Paris to see the lamentable 

 effects of too great a subdivision of land, even among 

 an industrious and intelligent race such as are the 

 northern r rench. I only noticed one field well covered 

 with manure, whereas very many had simple, untrodden, 

 untouched straw, which they were ploughing in Very 

 few can afford a farm steading, or have cattle to make 

 sufficient manure, so that the straw is carried bodily 

 from the rick to the field. I hardly noticed a single 

 stack or rick, and this alongside of a rail established 

 some years. So that they do not always " do things 

 better in France." Somerset. 



^ Education.—" What provision is made for the educa- 

 tion of those intended to follow the agricultural profes- 

 sion ? " is a question which seems certainly not out of 

 place in these days, when so much is being said abort 

 farming and gardening. A picture might easily be 

 drawn of the young farmer on the one hand and the 



The former is sent to a board- 





has been persevered in long enough and that its results 

 have been carefully enough recorded to justify confidence 

 m his accuracy. They are nevertheless so far beyond 

 ordinary experience that for a long time to come, and 

 until supported by the testimony of additional expe- 

 rience, either on his own farm or, still better, elsewhere, 

 Mr. Horsfall must expect dairymen to attribute them 

 to accident or error rather than to causes which they 

 can wield at all times as he appears to have done.] 



Facts on the Food ofEooJcs. — In your last week's Paper 

 your correspondent near Chelmsford asserts, when speak- 

 ing of rooks, * these black-feathered gentry never feed on 

 insects if they can procure grain." In this respect I must 



^ . .. s. , suppose — „„^ J1( 



requires a very lively imagination to suppose anything of 

 J^^cUthe richest Indian peasants, who never pes- 



ETJiti.^ i 1 ? thei f HveS ' wh0 I,andle a hoe and 

 ? fa^? 5 ? u ng , ChanDels with hel *ditary Bkill, 



t5S?i T tHe h0Se > je <> and steam-engines 

 luKE • fi 8howenD 8 wate r over a dead flat ; it is 



£ £?" J"' eXC6pt aS a m0St ex Pensive imitation of 



£ Si P T W ° uld be of no ™ lue »*ate< 

 would not give the quantity. 



It 



*Wbmi«n «f * ame ot tne 1,ose > Pipe* and Jet 



5fei; a °7 -^ewly-cut greenVrops, es^e- 



3L L • ar ? Wlth great p lca * ure the 



ZuJ?l? h * mr % and mosfc instructive paper on 



k»don Farm 



Mart 



PI . . " « wliano > reaaat our 



Club in March last by Mr. J. C. 



^X^ lt fk Mor ! on took care not * ™^«2 



talJ ™ 1 ?e system toother than dairy farms. 



f 



**ter rnenrWo 7 Z w,I, P a ™on oetween the cost < 



**n ent Vmav 0SG ?* *" *"***<"' WUh a 



Prfen gind ■ but i TS J ***** " acre ° r tW ° ° f 

 ?Uh ? ' , lf } have a water meadow of 100 



overt 

 mat) 



r*pi 



^ 



heet of water of the 

 ie channel ; and that 

 any cost for labour in 

 Chadwick might just 



wrtk 

 nter 



***** garde.*' at , En S ,and > "d that all 



garde Ils round London should be covered 



*PUs. Aqf, - 4 i 77, ^"^" ouuuiu oe covered 

 ^ow .nd nV ° f i hG com P a ™tive cost of 

 S M a ni!" U " der g/ ou «d irrigation, it is worth 



a P'ece of evidence. 



■?* ho rre»re7-* e ,7 dence - Mr - L^, the gentle- 



"5» \itill • r ted the mo8t ex P^sive speci- 

 B - » wear ?t„T ( * ? r0Cess W,,ich ' a8 1 have bef <>i-e 

 »* and S . t ", d ° T te a different op^ation from 



,,,Mr - lit hit* M^, ent t0 the Duke of Suther " 



■ '"Wales, Ne.lson's, and other farms on 



* ,d «ibtedlVu'nlJ rr ' gat . lon P ,an (^ excellent plan, 



IS <*»«* m T iU 7™™**"*). and guJssed 

 J"« inspector » u/ ren, 1 hara and at Liseard "the 

 2? ir> ** so PosiHv.1 n °- , ata for the calculations he 

 5L? r *e cos if J '~r' her " t0 the C08t of exe ^" 



3^- % ir i „ w ? ,,g -- thit is 8bown b y his 



S * Star « e £ S 1 • he , report of Messrs - Ackland 



*tk#k. 



2? * **** of sL?° ard °f Health m ''n"tes, I might 

 t! a «t uoir » ex . Ce P tl0Dal instances, and thence 

 *?:? Profitable & " circum fances nothing was so 



Y ^r-meadow • S ° adviBahlft «" fa "™ : - 



^^ against 



»t from 20, 1« ?a 6 watei, -meadows are con- 

 •>* of ,hl t t0 , 30s - an acre 5 an d if I wrote 



„ "vuuuj »M3 SO 



advisable in farming as an 



*iWtL prec onceiv e d th^ x. ° C01lect ev,de nce to 

 Cs 1 ? 6 .** evident ^ ° f arran Sing that evi- 

 •B"^ the it™, a 2* w y«'s brief, and circu- 



^S' * 8 °f S5L° 0fhcial authorit y in a form 

 2 to ** «ooo ^ l f co "tradiction nor criticism. 



^te *k_ P^ae ot RtP-uT^ a • -~~*"» i »ii account oi t 

 ^ *• ^rieuc^ d ft men Kq«id irrigation, tak 



° f a Sen€9 of years, drawn up as 



beg to differ irom him, though I have suffered from them 

 perhaps as much as most people. My first essay at 

 farming on my own account was a field of Peas, at 245. 

 per bushel for seed ; my idea was to get off these new 

 Peas and sow Turnips. The experiment went on well 

 till the Peas podded, when, as was the case with your 

 correspondent's Barley, the rooks made an onslaught 

 on the field and entirely destroyed them, so that I sold 

 what had cost me about 30/., m seed and manure, for 

 75. 6d. My next was a piece of Potatoes, about 3 acres, 

 planted on Mr. Johnson's plan. Well ! the rooks had 

 a few of them when planted, and all the residue soon 

 after young tubers were as large as eggs. You will say 

 this is no plea for the rooks ; true, but it is a proof, to 

 me at least, that it will not pay a farmer to attempt to 

 sow when all his neighbours have their corn safe in the 

 barn, or to attempt to ripen his crops when all the others 

 are growing. It happened, I think, on Thursday last, 

 just as I had been reading the paper referred to, that 

 we had begun to "stifle-burn" a piece of land, about 6 

 acres, which had been lying rough since its autumn 

 ploughing ; we had collected on this small plot 13 men, 

 4 women, 2 boys, and 2 horses ; we had no sooner begun 

 operations than myriads of rooks came flocking to our 

 assistance — you may easily suppose what they were 

 after — the grubs and insects exposed by the removal of 

 the clods and Couch. From this spot we can see no 

 fewer than 5 rookeries, and there are 2 more within 

 three quarters of a mile from this place ; the fields 

 immediatelyadjoining were (1) spring Wheat, just peep- 

 ing out ; (2) Oats sown yesterday ; (3) Potatoes planted 

 only a few days; (4) Vetches ditto; allotments with 

 Potatoes and grain just being planted ; and J think I 

 should be speaking within compass if I say we could see 

 30 fields of grain from the same spot, and scarce a rook 

 near them. Now, generally, the rook is a very shy bird, 

 and I think nothing but an intense craving for this sort 

 of food would have induced them to venture amongst 

 such a host of persecutors as we then presented. The 

 boys slung stones, the women halloaed, but all to no 

 purpose — they would have their grubs, an 1 that at a 

 time when they might have plenty of corn without being 

 molested. I think it would be about as well to say that 

 a thorough true-bred old Saxon would never eat beef if 

 he could get bread. Although we are surrounded with 

 so many rookeries, we suffer much more from the 

 depredations of the wood pigeons. I remember reading 

 a leading article of your paper in the autumn of last 

 year on Trifolium incarnatum, and I think you then 

 stated that its only enemy was a small white slug. I 

 sowed a piece as nearly as possible according to your 

 recommendation ; it came up and looked very promising 

 till since the frost passed away, when all of a sudden it 

 began to disappear, and is now nearly all gone. 1 had 

 observed some wood pigeons about the field, but it did not 

 strike me that they had the Clover, and I was just about 

 to lay it on the back of the rabbits and hares, when I sh< t 

 one of the pigeons ; it seemed remarkably heavy and 

 large ; its crop was very full, and on opening it I found it 

 entirely made up of the leaves of Trifolium. I made an 

 attempt to count the number of young leaves, but on 

 arriving at the number of 300 I found my heap did not 

 much diminish, and I gave up the task as a bad job, and 

 began to measure ; I found 1 had just leaves enough to 

 fill a pint cup when put loosely in ; this is new to me. I 

 had several rears endeavoured in vain to get a field of 



mg or grammar school, and learns Latin and Greek 

 perhaps ; while the latter is often obliged to rest con- 

 tented with what he can ] ick up at a national school 

 It is obvious that in neither case is the youth receiving 

 the education he requires for the highly practical art he 

 is about to pursue. I cannot but think that it would 

 be a great boon if there were establishments (scholastic 

 I mean) where the science of practical agriculture could 

 be blended with the ordinary routine of school life, so 

 that the young farmer or gardener might be instructed 

 for his profession before actually entering upon it. I 

 mean nothing more than that such youths be taught 

 when at school how to use a spade, a hoe, and rake ; 

 how to plant, tend, and rear the common vegetables and 

 flowers ; the care of cows, horses, pigs, and poultry ; 

 and that they also be made acquainted with the outlines 

 of agricultural chemistry as applied to our gardens and 

 farms. By these means I think much good would be 

 done to the rising generation of small farmers and 

 gardeners. /. /. 



Blue Vitriol as a Steep for Wheat.— I have reason to 

 thank your correspondents for noticing my communi- 

 cation on the failure of my Wheat, because it has led 

 me to close investigation of the manner in which the 

 vitriol was used. After a close cross-examination I 

 found to my astonishment that the person to whom my 

 orders were given did not attend to them, a misfortune 

 to which those who cannot look to everything them- 

 selves are too liable. The m usual way m of dressing the 

 Wheat here is, as I directed, to dissolve 1 lb. of blue 

 vitriol in 2 gallons of water ; either to place the Wheat 

 in a tub or on a floor ; to saturate the Wheat and dry 

 it with lime. I find that the Wheat was wetted, and 

 that the vitriol reduced to a powder was sprinkled over 

 the Wheat. I really believe that this was the cause of 

 the failure in my crop, ; the seed not so dressed came 

 up on the same soil vigorously, and is vigorous still. I 

 ought to apologise for giving you and your correspond- 

 ents so much trouble ; but I think it will be an addi- 

 tional lesson to all who can to follow the example of 

 Mr. Taylor, and superintend in person, as I shall do for 

 the future, operations which, if not properly managed, 

 may lead to disastrous results. I asked before I wrote 

 first whether the Wheat was dressed as usual ; the 

 ready answer was — yes. /. C. C. 



Land Drainage. — As I merely gave a brief reply to a 

 question put by " Aged Practical Observer" on a point 

 of some importance, viz., the persistency of a drain apt 

 to be choked with roots, and as the subject seems 

 worthy of some attention, permit me to enter on it a 

 little more at length. Although I have been a practical 

 horticulturist for 35 years, and a pretty close observer 

 of agricultural operations all that period, yet I would 

 take no credit to myself on that account ; many a one 

 has travelled far and wide with his eyes open, but never 

 awake all the time ; and some one has observed that 

 experience to a person without genius is like light to 

 the blind. I would, therefore, permit the question to rest 

 on its own merits, and not derive any factitious aid either 

 from my age or experience. In making these remarks 

 I do not intend to be discourteous to your correspondent; 

 I hope they will be taken in good part. I recollect 

 30 years ago, in sinking a well through red till, the 

 diggers came to a thin seam of sand about 6 feet deep, 

 and half an inch thick ; water oozed out of this, and 

 although the well was sunk 26 feet none else appeared. 

 This well has never run dry since ; even in '23 enough 

 gathered to supply the family. Observe : here is a 

 natural drain of half an inch of sand permanent and 

 efficient. I have often observed the farmer cutting 

 drains, in every description of soil, and so sure as the 

 operator came on a seam of sand so certainly did he 

 catch the water which had shelved out with the sand to 

 the surface soil, and carry it away in his drain. So 

 much for seams of sand being the natural drains and 

 conductors of water where they exist. (t Aged Practica 

 Observer " cannot be acquainted with sand arainage or 

 sand filters when he compares them to stone drains 

 The openness of the stones permits muddy water, that i i 

 water containing fine particles of soil, to enter their 

 interstices, and by deposition gradually choke these up 

 and destroy the drain ; this does not and cannot take 



