

on 



i 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE 



jfdtf com 



tying, raking and stacking 144 acres of £ 



Lt* and Beaas ... ••• •■• ••• ••■ "^ 



the corn to the carts and the ricks, and 



carts ■- ••• 



m*M±rf of a roan building the ricks, say 3*. ... 



*r5 i-ll «/ • hov on the ricks or driving the cart, Is. 



±l& C&rr* A6# mi in tt . 



T: 



wofa boy driving 



Smithing ou n- : ^ -- g aV ^ 





the sides 



• • • 



• • • 



• • • 



« » t 



S 

 6 

 2 



2 

 3 

 1 

 9 



s. 

 9 





 

 

 

 15 

 2 

 



a- 



7 





 

 

 

 

 

 



d,e rick or driving the cart The money cost the Great Western, now~dall7~a^d~n^htly traversing 

 harvest will stand thus :— between London and Exeter-a space of nearly 200 mile, 1 



-inhttle more than five hours I S. Taylor, Gloucester ! 



I thick we shall before long have the steam up, and be 

 able to shout « Off she goes!" But the engine/it seems 

 Will not go upon our clumsy roads ; by common c< nt 

 it is not such a good walker in the rough field as a horce 

 or ox— for the horse has the discretion to step c - a 

 hole. But if the engine is conveyed to the field, there 

 seems a probability that it will do some heavy work 

 when once there, if it gets the proper implement to do it 

 with But a word more about the implement that is to 

 do the cultivation-what is it to be ? Authorities seem 

 sadly divided about it. 



ii.9Jd 



...£94 6 7 



Cdiivation. 



lorrespondence. 



In common, doubtless, with many 



rf vour readers, I read with considerable interest the 



d Account of "A day with f "' *" 



Cultor," which appeared in 



Pastures are generally without 

 Rdd* pr ° Spect of the ha y cro P 



Grass, and thua 



is a very bad one. 



of your reauers, i ^ B « *t»«« w^^v^^m.u +±*^+^w wj « 

 mnhicai sccount of " A day with the Steam Plough," 



•espondent 



the Ayricultmd 



Time it is not,* nor 



does it profess to be, a narrative of successful results, 

 1,1,11 irrespective of the cost at which they have been 

 ittaic'ed. and which, however unimportant to the pocket 

 of a loble projector, is a matter of life or death to the 



_ • a ■ 4 ■ _.._. 1 . _ 



tba 



..... . They cannot (some of them) 



think of putting such a noble power as steam before 

 such an antiquated implement as the plough ; but will 

 they ever find anything that will do such hard work, and 

 go through such an ordeal uninjured? When I take 

 hold of a plough in some extra hard clay corner or 

 headland, for a short time, and see it turning up dry, 

 hardened material, almost like rock, I cannot help 

 thinking that to scratch up such soil (if soil you can 

 call it) would defy the most powerful engine that we 

 can have brought into the field. I have no intention 

 as yet of dropping the motto " speed the plough." We 

 have a machine that will work well in all soils, and all 

 sorts of weather ; and if we feed the land well, we shall 

 have as good crops after it as can stand upright. What 

 we want is a power strong enough to draw this at a 



; A A " .. A , -;"" f hea P er rate than horses or cattle. For we must have 



of no common order and magnitude, has not this horses to do carting work, which is no small part of our 

 he case with mechanical inventions from the labour ; and ploughing perhaps is mostly done when we 



have not much else to set horses about. 



octettes* 



ROYAL AGRICULTURAL O] ENGLAND. 



i558. 4 oB? May 30 : Mr - MlLES ' M - p - Pre8i - 



C^\GlnZr^-^ followin S ,etter f ™» the 



Monthiv r -,° f Fr u nce ha ™S *»** >» id ^fore the 

 Monthly Conned on the 2d of May, when preliminary 



of a Deputa ion to the Agricultnral Meeting to be held 

 E £?!i m K *?.?** ° f JuDe ' was H& enbmitted 



"Monsieur 



T , . .,. a " Londres t le 28 Avril, 1855; 



Jai lhonneur de vous informer que M. !e 



cultural 

 tenant i 



reckoned one of the unsuccessful cases m our 

 agricultural practice ; but let us not be disheartened ; 

 for though— thanks to Lord Willoughby d'Eresby and 



we know that the subject is beset with diffi- 



Travaux 



P> 



en > 1An ce des dflegucs pour la repreaenter an Concours 

 Agncole qm doit avoir lieu a Paris. Son Excellence m 



been 



earliest periods of the world's history to the present 

 day! Take that of the steam-engine itself as an 

 example. It is now nearly 200 years since the Marquis 

 of Worcester promulgated Ins theories on the capa- 

 bility of turning this powerful but hitherto impracticable 

 agmt to account. Crude enough they undoubtedly 

 yet they were the pioneers of all the wonders that 

 havebeen fcinceenacttd byits means. Still it is not perfect. 

 There are t Lings it cannot or will not do, and steam- 

 pkmghing is as yet of thera. The opinions of Mr. Hoskyns 

 od cultivation r us ploughing— the two being dif- 

 ferent in hi, view of the case both in operation and 

 rnnlt—are so well known as hardly to require more 

 thin a brief allusion to by me. All who have read— 

 who has notl-his "History of Agriculture," and 

 -*■ nore recent and highly interesting " Chronicles 



Ike still 



^.v«yr a rm,'neea but refer to page after page in 

 j*n to obtain the fullest and most lucid exposition of 

 ■J**** 8 as to the difference in the meaning of the 

 teras ; Day, the very title of one of the vignettes in the 

 chronicles will amply suffice to indicate his peculiar 

 tad favourite maxim that cultivation can be carried on 

 DJ Otoer and better means than the plough. « Steam- 

 to 1^° mo V°J With the P lou S h than a hor se has 

 I IT i a T de * Perha Ps his objections to ploughs 

 - SweraJ, and to steam-ploughs in particular, may by 



rded as rather overstrained ; but certainly 



2rjr,I n)r , thevalidit y of those objections, espe- 

 — J onstitf clays~as he well and truly observes, 

 •ttere invention of the subsoiler is a standing 

 r™*7 on the mischief done by the plough. 8 

 u^m "'> that our agricultural machinists 



air 9 t 0Wn ° n this 8ub J ect ^ as on too many former 



■™, but a small modicum of mechanical inven- 



ine point in question is not how best to draw a 



R2K a StUbb ° ni Cla ^ but whether ou such a 

 5n WheS/^ !i° lJ, . a V l0VL Sh should be drawn at 



hor is not perfectly 



*m^>> 1****$* that " a new P° wer squires a 

 'Wheard / \ recollec * the astonishment with 



* '"**Z T T 4 ? years ft g°) th e observation of 

 *^Ei2, l" g friend near Liverpool, who, 

 ** L WUh me on the m «rits of various 



"** maJJ° ^ W0UGd U P h y observing, in the 

 lkgi ^^ h r^^^ I v ^y much doubt 

 °P •• ground N » ^ Ae ^ est im P le ment for breaking 

 ^KJi U u Mr ' Hosk > ,DS has long since 



?° *3rt tl n that P ° int ^ and l now ™* di P 

 ""^•iidS ^ 8 tl 7; thout thinking of my old Liverpool 



&»iWin!7 ° f ^^tion, a good half cen- 

 ?■> ** to L? a ? 18 a ^ e ! So I ^ake up my mind to 



*"* * to Cn\! !u m " engine mere1 ^ t0 P ul1 a P lou g h 



T^ S Wr ? D S end ^ ^d, not to mince 

 J °J >er «fcn whnu ^^PPhcation of its power ; 

 *f 'rtB eom. ? y and entirelv infm. din ti,« 



^ S eo?d I 9 l th ° Ugh J 



« l - «>d v JZl T lU be bett€r cultivated than by 

 1 «»H*s JES* down the bottom of each furrow 



However, if it 

 recommend itself in point of economy, it will soon be 

 patronised. It is with pleasure I notice the plan 

 proposed by Mr. Williams, given in your report of the 

 London Farmers' Club on the 19th of May. If he is 

 to use four or six ploughs, they of course must 

 go one before the other, and of necessity there will 

 be some considerable distance from the first to the 

 last. This had better be lessened as far as possible, 

 and that I think might be done by making each plough 

 upon the principle of the most improved skim coulters, 

 so that immediately behind the share the turn-furrow 

 shall turn off, and nothing be in the way of the suc- 

 ceeding furrow being thrown into the bosom of the 

 preceding turn -furrow, and so I think the furrows 

 would clear up behind each other in less distance than 

 a foot; even then the length of the whole working 

 parts of the machine would be over 8 feet. All the 

 fixings can be above the level of the furrow ; and I do 

 not see what use handles can be to such a thinjr. A 

 steerage, such as that on Hornsby's drill, seems to me 

 best adapted for the purpose. And there must be some 

 more ingenious method of fixing anchors at the ends 

 of the field than that of digging great holes. S. 



The Pheasant* — When these birds are taken young 

 into keeping they become as familiar as chickens, and 

 when they are designed for breeding they are put into a 

 yard, five hens to a cock. In her natural state the 

 female makes her nest of dry Grass and leaves ; the 

 same must be laid in the pheasantry, and she herself 

 will properly dispose them. But I keep bantam hens 

 to supply her place, which task she will perform with 

 great perseverance and success; by this means I get 

 two broods in one year. The young ones are very diffi- 

 cult to be reared, and they must be supplied with ants' 



theny 



General 



H ,;?"T ] * S ° cim R °yafe"de toirtj la^nipathTe^im/parerS 

 demarche de sa part inspirerait au Gouvernement de 1'Eia. 

 pereur. 



•«™ e ^"s P rf « done, Monsieur, do, rouloir bien faire part 

 auprochainConseilde la communication que j'af Thonneur do 

 vous adresser. Je suis d'aiitant plus heureux d'etre ici linter- 

 preteduGouyernementdeS.M. I., que connalssant lea disposi- 

 tions favorables de la Royal Agricultural Society of England^ je 

 ne dome pas de l'accueil empress* que recevra de ses membres 

 l invitation de son Excellence M. Rouher. 



iimJlfillS? R F Ch V' Monsieur les nouvelles assurances de ma 

 consideration la plus distinguee, 



"Votre tres obeissant serviteur, 



"Le Consul General de France, 



"James Hudson, Esq., 



Secretary to the Royal Agricultural Societv of England, 

 &c. &c. &c." o -f 



The following Deputation was then appointed— Mr. 

 Miles, M.P. (President), Mr. Garrett, Mr. Brandreth 

 Gibbs, Mr. Fisher Hobbs, Mr. Hudson (Castleacre), 

 Mr. Hudson (Secretary), Mr. Jonas, Mr. Milward, 

 Professor Simonds, and Professor Way. 



The Counsul- General also communicated to the 

 Council the request of the Minister of Agriculture and 

 Commerce, that they would kindly undertake to name 

 two jurors to act on the part of this country, at the 

 Paris Agricultural Show, in the classes of Short-horned 

 and other cattle, and in those of Pigs and Sheep. The 

 Council decided accordingly that Mr. Milward, of 

 Thurgarton Priory, should be requested to act in the 



former, and Mr. Fisher Hobbs in the latter, of those 



classes. 



Weekly Council, May 30. 



sident in the chair. 



[Pre 



eggs 



^* 



may not live to see it, 



J «**, ST* sZTf W ° rked ^ hor8e or 8team P°«^, 

 £' "»*** ww S i° me > to give the subsoiler a job 



U? *" this dob- ^ 1 pl ° Ugh had J U8t been d °W 

 &-«* I for o« ?- nd0,u S ? Mr ' Hoskyns has 



W, J* < » his sleev, 

 ftJjN^ly will 



tinC^ 1 ' 8 "hall 1 

 *•* W - the y «av 

 **eted, 



steam cul 



**k J:-!* their S.W "** °° thing ° f what m& y be 

 5Sl2* thou,,, fflS^ m - th e harvest field-a 



■ ' : 



though f ar from com 



7 



WMf?* 



2 ,* ntici Pated Xt a iS" Pt8 u l ra ! IWa y 9 ' Wh ° 

 J ^ seen ««.- * * he CUI11 brous locomotives 



" working by a cogged 



lors nf iu e '" * e are to,d » ^^^ 

 8 of th °ee m.ghty leviathans of 



^ l ^"S « n near ^ 



fte PrecuS 8 !°r W iL rate '" we *™ told, should 



when wild in the woods — eggs boiled hard chopped 

 small, with curds or other meats ; and the young ones 

 are to be fed with great exactness, both as to the 

 quantity and the time of their supply. This food is 

 sometimes also to be varied, and woodlice, earwigs, and 

 other insects are to be made a variety. The place 

 where they are reared must be kept extremely clean ; 

 their water must be changed twice or thrice a day ; 

 they must not be exposed till the dew is off the ground 

 in the morning, and they should always be taken in 

 before sunset. When they become adult, feed them on 

 Buckwheat, Barley, with occasionally Jerusalem Arti- 

 chokes, of which they are very fond, Cabbages, Lettuces, 

 and other vegetables. The pheasant is a very bold bird 

 when first brought into the yard among other poultry 

 not sparing the peacock, or even such young cocks and 

 hens as it can master, but after a time it will live 

 tamely among them, and at last be brought to couple 

 with a common hen. The breed thus produced take 

 much stronger after the pheasant than the hen ; and in 

 a few successions, if they be left to breed with a cock 

 pheasant — for the mixture is not barren— there will be 

 produced a species more tame, stronger, and more 

 prolific; so that it is strange why most of our phea- 

 santries are not stocked with birds produced in this 

 manner. A Young Sportsman. 



Crops in Yorkshire. — I have recently inspected a 

 great quantity of land in Yorkshire and the adjoining 

 counties, and beg to forward you a few notes on the 

 present appearance of the forthcoming crops. Autumn- 

 sown Wheat, on land in fair cultivation, though rather 

 backward in growth, looks well. Spring-sown Wheat 

 generally looks puny, and is a bad colour. A good 

 deal of Wheat, sown upon Clover lea, has utterly failed, 

 and the land has had to be ploughed up and sown with 

 Oats or Barley. It is at present impossible to speak 

 positively as to the result of this most important crop, 

 but two negative points may, I think, be safely foretold 

 — there cannot be a great crop like that of last year, 

 neither can there be an early harvest. Oats and Beans 

 have come up well, and in general look tolerably 

 healthy. Barley on much land has come up patchy. 





Dairy Management.— Mr. Horsfall, of Burley Hall, 



favoured the Council with the following additional com- 



munications, which (with the former ones) were referred 

 to the Journal Committee : — 



" Burley Hall, May 23, 1866. 

 l% As I observe from the papers that the subject of dairy 

 produce is again to be discussed at your next council meeting, I 

 beg to introduce the following observations confirmatory of my 

 former statement. From December, 1864, when the peculiar 

 richness of my cream was first noticed up to the date of this, 

 my dairy proceedings have been closely watched by my If, and 

 more particularly by one of my family, whose care and exactness 

 may pe relied on; the result throughout haa been a yield of 

 25 oz. of butter from each quart of cream, with but slight varia- 

 tions. During the same time frequent experiments have been 

 made on the proportion of butter from milk : these have shown a 

 yield, also with little variation, of 2 quarts from 32 of milk, or 8 

 from 48, and in like proportion. When the churning took 

 place of the butter, from which the sample was sent to Prof. 

 Way for analysis, I personally superintended the process of 

 15 quarts churned at three times in equal quantity the first five 

 gave 127 oz. of butter. I measured the butter milk, and found it 

 to be barely 3 pints ; the proportion will be per cent, :— 



Butter 70 



Buttermilk 30 



■ • • 



100 

 The remaining two churnings varied but little, as will be seen 

 from my former statement. Up to the close of April the diet of 

 my cows underwent little change, Mangold being substituted for 

 Kohl Rabi. I then added the following ingredients to my steamed 

 mixture : — I J lb. of Rape seed per day for each cow, ground with 

 an equal quantity of Barley, together 3 lbs.; after this, a like 

 quantity of Linseed treated in the same manner. These experi- 

 ments were continued nearly three weeks. I did not ftwf any 

 increase in the quantity of cream, nor in its richness in butter. 

 My cows have now been more than a week on depasture, during 

 daytime; they are supplied witli two full feeds of the steamed 

 mixture evening^and morning, whilst in stall; my most recent 

 churning gave fully 24 oz. from each quart of cream. The weight 

 of the butter is ascertained after it has been made up, and in the 

 state in which it is disposed of. My observations on dairy treat- 

 ment tend to the conclusion that if you afford a cow an ample 

 supply in her food of each element, both mineral and organic, 

 suited to her requirements, constitution, and produce, she will use 

 them to the greatest advantage, and with the most complete 

 result; that if you > beyond this by an exce ve supply of 

 material suited for butter or for curd, the result will not show a 

 greater proportion of these substances. Having now explained 

 my modus operandi, and the results at which I have arrived, I beg 

 leave to state to your honourable Council, that if it should appear 

 that I have omitted anything calculated to arrive at a sound and 

 correct conclusion, I should be most willing to receive and attend 

 to instructions which may be deemed serviceable ; of if it should 

 ippear that inquiry on the spot would better serve the purpose, 

 J beg to express my willingness to afford any one your honour- 

 able Council might depute the freest and fullest information 

 I am possessed of. I am quite aware of the caution and mistrust 

 with which remarkable or extraordinary statements are viewed 

 by the agricultural mind. As some proof of this, I may instance 

 the recent remarks of an ably conducted weekly publication, 

 wl e editor has certainly no interest in trying to impugn or 

 weaken the statements of one whose communications he Ji&s 

 frequently admitted in the pages of his journal. 



Hay ^55. 



The following detailed relation of my mode of testing the 



results of my produce, and of other regulations of my dairy, wiH, 



I am led to think, not be deemed uninteresting. The ofcatriMr 



tions are on my most recent churning, early this morning, 



