

THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



m 



^ >u- fall The furrows are only followed when 

 >* ^ he direct fall of the surface, and the width 

 ***i-** are intended to be put apart— Two inch 

 •* dr *\L fl are used for minor, and 3, 4, 5, and 6-inch 



oes for the mains, and collars are used where 

 cto*«k*2a£of the drains are soft or doubtful.— I never 

 * tb °iair pipes worth a trial, feeling confident that if 



Star found its way to the drains air would follow. 

 tk* **** , „ a flniv nut. at one outfall. — All kinds of 



ihout 15 acres flow out at one outfall. 

 \Id subsoils have been drained, from the most 



flravel to the most tenacious clay.— Jozh. £now- 



XTs^ermlm, Morpeth m 



■*Jf * v —The result of my drainage operations on 

 « Ascriptions of j aiK i has been satisfactory so far as 

 has proved them.— -The drainage adopted is on a 

 MTilielsN stem.— The prevailing depth of the drains is 

 fSt, and 8 yar<ls apart. 



No difference has been made 



in 



h 'mode of draining between arable and Grass land, 

 inl iKfwtion of the minor drains is aslant the fall; and 



I have found benefit by giving 

 The average number of acres 



The soil and 



_The direction 



the farrowf have generally been followed.— Two and a 

 h*l/ inch pipes have been used for the minor drains, and 

 1*4 or even 5-inch bore for the mains ; 1^ have used 

 1 ■' in quick sands.- " 

 ur at places to drains. 

 Jldurging at the several outlets is 1 

 nbeoil strung loam on red marly clay highly charged 

 with limestone, with sandy fissures at draining depth. — 

 The geological formation is a deep bed of marl upon red 

 dstone.— The height of the land drained is little 

 above the tea level. — The average depth of rainfall in 

 my neighbourhood is 40 inches. I beg leave to state that 

 whereas the land referred to has heretofore been sown 

 to Wheat, &c, on high and narrow ridges, it is now for 

 the first time sown on the flat. The benefit anticipated 

 from this result of drainage alone is considerable. 

 Allow me further to observe that as on drained or dry 

 land only we can dispense with the butt and furrow 

 principle, neither can we, except on flat land (land 

 without ridge and furrow), have equalisation, of 1st, the 

 surface soil ; 2*1, the seed sown (the drill being used) ; 

 3d, the manure spread; and 4th, of the rain that falls, 

 &c. f kc. The benefits of draining, we believe, are 

 severally very great. For Samuel Brooks, Esq., Thos. 

 Suttle, Manchester. 



Home Correspondence. 



Steam Cultivation. — Everybody knows that the whole 

 office of a steam engine is simply to turn a wheel ; but 

 everybody does not know how to turn a wheel so as to 

 pulverise the surface of the earth. Everybody knows 

 that Mr. Hoskyns has demonstrated that the surface soil 

 intended for cultivation ought to be ground up into the 

 pulverulent condition by a wheel ; but, unluckily, 

 neither he nor the professed mechanists know how to 

 grind. 3Ir. Hoskyns's deductions terminated in the 

 " verticaJ/y circular," which will not answer. All that 

 I shall say at this time is, if these inventors really desire 

 to know how to grind, I advise ttiein at once to go to the 

 ■west mill ; they will there see how the upper and the 

 wther millstone operate ; and then if they know how to 

 Vflj the lesson received through their eyes they will 

 •on be able to solve the problem of cultivating land by 

 ■KShanic agency. Prediction before an event is far 



attractive to certain investigators than any obser- 

 Won after trial. On the ground that I once devoted 

 2» time to the consideration of the introduction of 

 ■"■jn to cultivation, allow me to make a few remarks 

 wruie meditation of your readers. Of course my ob- 

 wwions will only have a reference to inventions past, 



u not to those new inventions which may be prepared 

 «* toe grand trial at Carlisle next month. So far as I 

 «^qiuinted with the past attempts to apply steam to 

 2, hav : e no hesitation in affirming that the agri- 



wro mechanist has not exhibited familiarity with 

 process of invention, nor the farmer any true 

 «f *n*T C0D8e( l uence s to be expected from the advent 

 It is un P ° Wert0 another department of his practice, 

 to culti v n t ec ^ sa jy t0 particularise the past attempts 

 •ad »h ♦ • by steam-power— all are well known * 



ntnoS IS the * nference * Why, 



of mfod Ty unanim ' ltv on one point, namely, 

 ^ththes^ - W ? mUSt arrive dt the conclusion that 

 *• boon f! ' St and mechanisfc expect to obtain 

 *itW P i above power unconditionally — that is, 

 it for era °n?y 1Dg With an y " conditions/' They take 

 !.:ii I?!* ev erythiug— steam-power amongst the 

 'oiJow in the wake of the plough ; that its 



fcethods r" * l11 nofc disarrange in the least old 

 only t * . ^chines. Now I will show 



Terence J*! 1 "? from P asfc 



Th e 



from 



their 





a new power to accomplish an old purpose, it always 

 changes the • method * of proceeding. Hence what "is 

 the inference in respect to the right introduction of 

 steam into the field ? Why, that it will demand a 

 totally different " method " of operating, will demolish 

 all clod-crushers, drills, hoes, and harrows, and adapt the 

 materials to its own method of working — probal 1 y will 

 require a system of stations for manuring, cattle feeding, 

 corn threshing, and storing, <Scc. Now,of course I only infer 

 this, that is guess it (as some would term it) ; hut does the 

 farmer seem to anticipate any such consequences I From 

 what I have observed, he does not ; in fact, has made 

 up his mind nothing of the sort need occur. Has the 

 mechanical contriver of steam-cultivators, up to the pre- 

 sent day, even evidenced by his inventions, that any 

 such radical changes in "1116111011" and machinery 

 would arise on the right introduction of steam power to 

 the field % Most decidedly not, for all can observe he 

 has tacitly undertaken to gear steam power on to the 

 whole modus operandi of the farmer in the field, with- 

 out alteration. Charles Burcham, London, June 16. 



Mr. Horsf all's yield of Butter. — Observing that Mr. 

 Horsfall's statements concerning the quantity of butter 

 yielded by his cows, when fed on Rape-cake, have been 

 considered extraordinary, and his accuracy even ques- 

 tioned, I have been led to compare them with certain 

 results of different feeding, given in a tabular form in 

 No. 15 of your Journal, published April 14. From the 

 comparison it appears that the amount of butter ob- 

 tained by Mr. H. is far from extraordinary, and that 

 the peculiarity of his experience lies in this, that he 

 obtains from a given quantity of milk a much less 

 quantity of cream but of greater density, from which 

 when churned he obtains a quantity of butter greater 

 in proportion to the quantity of cream, but not greater 

 in proportion to the quantity of milk from which it 

 originates. For instance, if we compare Mr. Horsfall's 

 statements in last week's paper with No. 3 In the table 

 alluded to, we find that Mr. H. produces 25^ oz. of 

 butter from 1 quart of cream, but that it requires 

 16 quarts of milk to produce that quart of cream, 

 whereas in the case of the cows fed on the second cutting 

 of Clover, 1 quart of cream is obtained from less than 

 6 quarts of milk, and therefore though this quart when 

 churned does not produce quite 11 oz., yet as ther*, 

 were more than 2| quarts of cream obtained from 

 1 6 quarts of milk, the quantity of butter produced was 

 29£ oz., or \ lb. more butter than Mr. H. obtains from 

 the same quantity of milk. As it may be interesting in 

 the present stage of the discussion I have reduced the 

 table, which I now give in a form convenient for com- 

 parison. 



S3 



s 



P. 



x 



o 



Kind 

 and Quantity of 



Feeding 

 per head daily. 



J 





• r-» 



s s 





2 

 3 

 4 

 5 



6 

 7 



Mr. Horsfall's cows on 

 Rape-cake, &c 



70 lbs. of Mangold and 50 

 lbs. of Turnips 



Ital. Rye-grass ad libitum 



Second Cutting of Clover 



Cabbages 



Mangold leaves and Cab- 

 bages 



Mangold leaves alone ... 



50 lbs. of Mangolds and 

 60 lbs. of Turnips 



7.43 

 6.01 

 5 95 

 6.26 



o o 



DC . 



si 



Co 



5 a 



■.-. 



2 



?5 zu *&-z 



10.14 



9 



9.22 

 8.73 

 9.29 



10.8 

 9.86 



2.15 

 2.66 

 2.69 

 2.56 



2.32 

 2.4 



o c 



T. 



ox 



ij ° 



s >» 



c XJ 



O T3 



o 



6 H 



Z-5 



1.25 9.08 2.21 



25J 



13.2 



10.46 

 10.9 



10.75 



10.2 

 1 



25J 



•2S.4 

 27.8 

 29.3 

 27.5 



23.7 

 36.9 



12.76 26.2 



Will 



^froduction 



!•* 



, by quoting 



experience, that the 



fairly against such ideas on their 



fi rst I shall adduce is that of the 





'Mir 



From these results it appears that the amount of butter 

 obtained by Mr. H. from a given quantity of milk is, 

 with one exception, less than in any of the experiments 

 here recorded ; unless, therefore, there be some error in 

 the experiments, Rape-cake is far from taking the pre- 

 eminence as a butter-producing food. How far the 

 increased density, but diminished quantity, of cream in 

 Mr. Horsfall's practice is owing to Rape-cake as a food 

 would be an interesting subject of inquiry. Mangolds 

 and Turnips, as compared with the other foods in the 

 experiments, tend in a slight degree to produce this 



effect. D. 



On Hoeing Wheat. — We notice in the Mark Lane 

 Express an inquiry as to the utility of hoeing thin plants 

 of Wheat deeply, or by keeping it free from weeds, 

 merely skimming it over. As our opinion and yours 

 appear coincident we trust our remarks in your columns 

 will be acceptable. We would say extirpate the weeds 

 decidedly, but as the season is far advanced it is advi- 

 sable not to hoe the corn deeply now, especially as the 

 drought has continued so long, and the land is in 

 sufficient pulverised state. All possible care and cir- 

 cumspection should, however, on the part of master and 

 man be exercised in uprooting all kinds of weed as they 

 appear now with a common dock spud. Old mother 

 Earth will be busy in nurturing her offsprings for a 

 month to come, and the weeds will assuredly come in 

 for the greatest share of nourishment from her resources, 



which, with some other experimented corn of several 

 acres extent, we respectfully submit to the notice of any 

 agricultural friends who may feel disposed to come and 

 see it. Hardy it Son, Seed Growers, Mai don, E$$tx. 



Sparrow Clubs. — One cause of scarcity is the con- 

 sumption of corn by birds and vermin ; and we believe 

 that the destruction of those depredators, to a certain 

 extent at least, would confer a great boon on the country 

 at large. We would spare all birds of prey, and would 

 of course spare all innocent migratory birds, destined 

 no doubt by Providence to visit our shores in due 

 season to destroy swarming insects, living almost entirely 

 on them, and taking their food upon the wing. To 

 effect this purpose, it is proposed that landowners, 

 farmers, gardeners, and other interested persons, should 

 establish sparrow clubs in every parish or district, each 

 member binding himself, under a forfeit, to produce a 

 certain number of heads or tails of destructive birds 

 or vermin to the secretary every week or month, until 

 such time as they become nearly extinct. Or a sub- 

 scription might be raised, enabling the secretary to give 

 a sum for every certain description of bird, or for every 

 dozen of eggs, from whatever source, &c. We will 

 down with our sovereign at any time when our more 

 spirited agricultural neighbours are ready to assist us 

 in carrying the object into effect. The sooner some 

 plan is devised for the destruction of these birds, if 

 before harvest, the better ; and none would ha*a muse 

 to rejoice more than the poor gleaners, for the safety of 

 their small plots of corn and seeds in their cottage 

 gardens and allotments, and their rightful share of corn 

 in the stubbles. Hardy & Son. 



octette** 



ROYAL AGRICULTURAL OF ENGLAND. 



Weekly Council, Jmxt 20. — Mr. Milks, M.P., Pre- 

 sident, in the chair. 



Butter-making and Dairy Management. — The 

 following communication was read from Mr. Thomas 

 Scott, of Charing-cross : — 



6, Charing Cross, May 30 t 1855. 

 It may not be unacceptable to the Council that I »hould give, 

 in writing, the substance of the verbal statement which I made 

 before the Weekly Meeting of the Society on the 2d inst. relative 

 to the production of butter, and I shall now endeavour, briefly, 

 to do so. My attention was especially directed to thia subject 

 two years ago by being appointed agent and receiver for the 

 Audley estate in the county of Cork, where the production of 

 butter is the mainstay both of landlords and tenants. I had 

 previously for many years been intimately connected with some 

 of the leading dairy counties, and much interested in this matter 

 as resident ageat on the estate of Lord de Tabley, in Cheshire— 

 afterwards on that of the Duke of Argyll, in Kintyre— and 

 latterly on the estates of Joseph Neild, Esq., M.I\ in North 

 Wilts and Somersetshire, all of which estates were dependent 

 mainly on dairy produce for their incomes. I shall, therefore, 

 address myself to the practical results of ray experience, just as 

 Professors Way and Hodges, and I may add, lr. Horsfall, of 

 Yorkshire, have done to the theoretical part of the subject, and 

 the abstract principles connected with it. The question of the 

 best mode of obtaining a large yield of butter from a certaio 

 number of cows, having been raised by the reading of a commu- 

 nication from Mr. Horsfall to Professor Way, before the Society 

 on the 11 th ult. I thought it a good opportunity to submit to the 

 Council some incidents that had come under my own observation 

 in connexion with dairying, and a few particulars relative to the 

 trade in butter, especially with reference to Ireland. When 

 we know that about 12^000 tons of butter are annually con- 

 sumed in this metropolis alone, costing probably 100J. a ton, 

 or 1,700,0002., the immense importance is apparent of ascer- 

 taining the best process of realising the largest extract from 

 our dairies. At the same time, this process, though ascer- 

 tained, must occasionally be modified by local circumstances, 

 such as the demand for skim or butter milk, and our ability 

 to turn either of these important residues to advantage, la 

 Ireland, for instance, the taste for skim milk is almost 

 national, and it is extensively used in all private families, and 

 in the numerous public establishments, such as barracks, work- 

 houses, and gaols, that unfortunately exist there. In Cheshire, 

 on the other hand, butter milk is universally consumed by the 

 farmers' families and their servants and others. In the south of 

 England, again, this is a beverage almost entirely avoided. 

 Now every practical dairyman will readily perceive that the 

 ability to sell skim milk in one place, and buttermilk in another, 

 or to feed calves profitably with the former, or pigs with the 

 latter, must have an important share in forming a decision 

 whe^er to churn from the whole milk, or from the cream alone, 

 especially if the difference in the produce of butter between the 

 two processes is as slight as I take it to be. Professor Trail 

 makes out the following table from an experiment with four 

 cows, in the month of June last year : — 



1st. Butter from scalded or Devonshire cream... 1.591 grains. 



2d. Do. from acid milk and cream 1.447 „ 



3d. Do. from slightly sour whole milk ...1.247 „ 



4th. Do. from sweet cream 1.137 „ 



5th. Do. from sweet milk and cream None. 



frilled J : ^ ere ^ e con ^ it ^ ons required to be 

 Aould be K 6 ^ le °^ * rac ^ or common roadway 



Wfinesv^ doned j tn e stage coaches demolished, the 

 Alt tt p /J lem abolished, «"* the roadside public-houses 

 **y ° r j r ^ilway locomotive demanded a new 

 fecund' ♦ ■ a new m0( * e °f conducting conveyance 

 *"*oitele lt8 ,. nature - Tne second illustration is 



* ?*iYeyin rap S ^ electricity ; this new method if we be not alive and watchful to our interests by up- 



* **trWi^_ m ^ 8sa o^ 3 ^ enaan ^ e( i as a premium for 



^to tS i that the method of solid sign-boards 

 *JoH k 1 n , d e ? e at certain assigned distances 



a&andaued ; the method of breaks and in- 



to* 



ftoted 



•pace be renounced, and in lieu thereof a con- 



to** J| ^^ al bt >dy be extended, and touch in one 

 ■^ Now5 y re( l uire . d Point in the line of trans- 



41 * toidrj 7' tJ T* e two "Uwtrations will serve as well 



™ show that on the right introduction of 



rooting them in due time, now in June before they have 

 mastered our crops. It will be too late when the corn 

 is in full ear to send in mischievous boys and girls, or 

 even careful women or men, to repair the injury then. 

 Some of our Wheat crops, sown in 2-feet rows, at less 

 than 1 peck to the acre, which were dug up deeply 

 between in November, February,! and \ March, with 

 Parkes' steel digging forks (admirably suited), are look- ^ 



ing splendid] and are admired^by ail who see them, and trust more to good shapes as Indexes of milking qualities, than 



[Whether this table refers to the produce of equal 

 quantities of milk taken in these different ways does 

 not appear. Perhaps Mr. Scott will be kind enough to 

 explain.] 



The quality of all these samples was good and nearly eqn ah 

 Mr. Dillon Croker, a good Irish authority, doubts the correctness 

 of the above results, and thinks the prodnce from the cream 

 alone has not been fully extracted. Even if it had, he shows 

 by calculation that it is more profitable in his district by 8*. in 

 the 1L. or 5?. 1 J ><*• per cent, on the produce, to churn from cream 

 alone, and to sell the skim milk, than to churn the milk and 

 cream and sell the butter milk. My inquiries lead me to believe 

 that this holds go.d in the majority of cases; butter from cream 

 alone is always richer in oil, and of better colour, than when 

 made from whole milk, which produces more casein in the 



irter. We have equal discrepancies as to the best breed of 

 cows for producing butter. V rot essor Trail made an experiment 

 en this point, a found the Kerry cows to rank first, the Gal- 

 loways second, and the Ayrshires third. Had the short-horns- 

 been included, I think they would have come in last. Of the 

 Kernes' milk, rh quart* yielded 1 lb. of butter; of the Gal- 

 loways', 9i quarts ; and of the Ayrshires', 102 th quarts ; and their 



average daily produce of milk was 7£, 6J, and 9 quarts. I am 

 inclined to think, after many trials during the last 13 

 years, that the old Irish and the Channel Island cows, 

 crossed with the short-horns, make the two beat butter 

 producing animals, and are otherwise suitabla for the 

 dairy. The milking qualities in different animals of 

 the same breed are, however, so various, that I am inclined to 



