August i? 



1555.1 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE 



578 



use 



dnlli 



*ill nearly reach the tops of the first ami third i ing, m 

 . or rilgelets, the plough will then "split" the lie do 



• 1-* *U • i.rv 1 5 1 *• ■ 



In returning let the inner left hand, or leading hav 



walk in the space thus cleared by the plough, and 

 jjie off-hand horse walk on the top of the fourth drill or 

 riJgelet, and so on till the work is done, returning finally 



atU half-round drill, the first done. If he uses a 

 jWk mould-board plough the same rule will hold, but 

 varying a little because of 'the double space travelled by 



ahorse or horses. I hope I have made myself sufti- 

 offitlv understood to enable Mr. Hicks to get over his 

 difficulty If not, and that the matter is of sufficient 

 importance to him, let him come or Eend over his 

 ploughman to me next spring, and he shall be taught the 

 5*3e practice "with a ceadth millhe failthe." Edward 

 Carrol/, Cranemorc House, ClonegaL 



Steavi Cu vat ion* — By referring to my last letter 

 n. 459, the readers of the Gazette will see I affirmed the 

 grand condition to be fulfilled by a steam-cultivating 

 machine was, that it should do more work in less time, 

 and for lets money, than is now done by the plough, &c. ; 

 and they will further notice, that after investigation the 

 fulfilment of that condition appeared to resolve itself 

 into this simple proposition, viz., by what figure or 

 method is it possible to move a heavy body like a steam- 

 engine over a superficies, so as to overcome the greatest 

 possible amount of work by the least expenditure of 

 time and power! Now there may be many farmers 

 who do not know the value or nature of reasoning by 

 induction. Hence, for their information, I may tell 

 them it goes before experience, and is the guide of it, 

 and that all the " science" of the philosopher differs 

 only in degree from that source of information which is 

 the fruit of the commonest experience. The founda- 

 tion lies in our expecting that similar effects or 



are sure to arise from similar causes. Lord 



iTk them in a straight line before him! No 



toes noUiiD.- of the sort his in*ti«u* n -.^ hn^i^^T"^"' ; V" ""«"*■■ •« 



'tioemaki r to make a pair of shoe* from a yard of es J tea 



ask your 



n forms 



• B 



Bacon in defining the value and conduct of the meth 

 lays down the following as a fundamental aphorism i 

 "Man, the servant and interpreter of nature, can only 

 understand and act in proportion as he observes or 

 contemplates the order of nature ; more he can neither 

 know nor do.* 1 Nature stands ever ready to minister 

 to our wants and furnish us with the examples we need, 

 if we have but the sagacity to separate the essential 

 points from the cloud of perplexing circumstances with 

 which they are generally surrounded. Let us see 

 whether we can apply these principles to the useful 

 subject we have in hand, viz., how to introduce the 

 •team-engine to tillage purposes. The "conditions " to 



fulfil may be restated in these two propositions : 1st. To 

 move a great weight, such as a steam-engine, with the 

 least expenditure of power, over arable land ; 2d. How 

 to cause the definite amount of power possessed by such 

 engine to operate upon such arable land With the 

 greatest economy of time, power and expense. Let us 

 see how Nature operates when she has a heavy weight 

 to move and yet desires to execute as much work as 

 possible in a limited time. We will select as examples 

 a cow grazing, a sheep feeding, a hawk hunting, a man 

 broadcasting, or tethering a horse. We will not stop 

 to inquire whether these several illustrations are 

 prompted to operate as they may do by instinct or by 

 reason ; it will be sufficient for our purpose to discover 

 what conditions they fulfil by the modus operandi they 

 pursue, and then seek to apply it to the useful purpose 

 we have m view. The first example is that of the cow. 

 J>ow, a cow has a heavy body, and she is desirous of 

 ruling her stomach with the least exertion, and in the 

 ieast possible time execute the greatest amount of her 

 work, viz., grazing. How does she behave? The 

 P« w opened. She rushes into the field and 

 »*pns to eat the Grass. Do you observe how she 

 manages that sort of work ? She does not advance 

 riLiU 8tra, 8 ht line, eating a narrow ribbon of Grass 

 «gw Across the field ; but stands nearly in one 

 •F». advancing a foot now and foot then at very slow 



ouiMri i? i. ime ; bQt mark iu what manner and how 

 aM» ' X r rects her mou th, swaying it from side to 



3£mL ? m of a 8en "circle ; J *n fact she shows a 



w^aea tendency to devour the Grass all around her 



ore | sue i moves her heavy body an inch. The same 



*<J;* , p ; and now observe that hawk. He is out 



>dus operandi as that 1 n A fulfil the conditions 



he has before him ; so observe him— he dips his han 

 in the seedlip, advances a step, stands still, and casts 

 the seeds from his hand in the form of a semi circle 

 again his foot advance?, his body stops, his hand 

 describes a semicircle, and he has found out this mode 

 of operating fulfils the conditions required— viz., that 

 of carrying his heavy body the least possible distance 

 whilst his hands perform work over the greatest 

 practicable area, thus economising time and power. 

 Again, who instructed man to tether a horse! 

 The object here is to provide the animal with 

 as much food as possible in the least time, & 

 Vo fulfil the conditions would a man fix down 

 a peg at a, and from it stretch a rope 2420 

 yards in length to another peg at n, causing the 

 A n 



horse to feed up and down Mich fixed rope ? No. 



How then does man— even a savage— contrive to fulfil 

 the conditions required! Why, as is well known (but 

 not noticed) he takes a short piece «>f line, a few yards 

 in length, fastens one end to a pe- which he knocks inl 



the ground at A, and the other 



end he attaches to the hoi- 

 foreleg at R ; the horse, with 

 this rtbitof line an hii radius, 

 is now able to describe a -real 

 circle, and the man quickh dis- 

 cerns he tin rehjr fulfils all the 

 conditions required ;aad 1 believ. 

 any farmer of even the most 



moderate "happy tite M * will 

 that if the horse's mouth were but as long as the line, he 

 could be made to bite up a tremendous surface of ( 

 in a very short time, and yet not have to carry his heavj 

 body very far to do it. Now, we want to cultivate land 

 by a heavy body called a steam tillage machine ; 

 what profitable deduction can we make from th 

 above natural illustrations! Why, backed by their 

 scrutiny and further supported by our knowledge 

 of the particular method Nature invariably pursues in 

 all her vegetable and physical labours— from a Turnip 

 to a tree, or a small stone to the great globe itself— I 

 advance the following conclusion, viz., that she always 

 includes the work to be done within the area of a 

 "circle" as this particular figure enables her to fulfil 

 the condition of doing most work with the least expendi- 

 ture of time, power, and material (money). Hence, 

 what is the course we should pursue in re- et to tin- 

 tilling of the land by the agency of steam \ Why, that 

 we also should include the work to be done by a heavy 

 Lody like a steam-engine within the area of a "circle ;*' 

 and in my next letter I will explain how this can I e done 

 without leading to any "neutralising disadvantages " in 

 relation to our present farm economics. Chas. Burcham, 

 London. 



Fences. — In a recent Number of your Paper there is a 

 communication signed "A Northern," in which it is stated 

 " that nearly all the Thorn hedges one sees are clipped 

 square, &c." As this is expressed one has difficulty 

 in getting at the true meaning. It may happen that the 

 writer spends most of "his time in some small town or 

 village, where the only hedges he seeB bound gardens or 

 paddocks, and where the fences are clipped into the 

 shape he describes, for the purpose of bleaching or 

 drying clothes upon. If this is what is intended 

 to be expressed, it is very likely true, and I have no- 

 thing to remark upon it. If, however, it is meant to 

 state that the writer is extensively acquainted with the 

 district his name denotes, and that he wishes it to be 

 understood that the practice of square clipping he 

 describes is general in that district, I beg most positively 

 to deny the allegation. You are tolerably well 

 acquainted with this district yourself, and know I am 

 justified in affirming that in the north of England are 

 many farms and some whole estates where the fences 

 are second to none. It is true there are many bad and 

 neglected fences in this as in every district, but their 

 ineffi 



or any other abaurd thing, as to ask of dans Nat ^ 

 fire you a crop of Wheat, while you supply her wijh 

 materials suitable only for a crop of atraw. 1 have 

 seen farms produce heavy crops of straw and light 

 cr i of Wheat, *hen, if there had been Irs* carbon 

 and more nitrogen in the soil, the result would have 

 been very different. Nature explains to us most esu 

 phatically,that"whataman sows that shall he also reap " 

 W heat contains gluten, and this gluten is produced by 

 nitrogen, and therefore nitrogen n sufficient quanti 

 must be present in the soil, or we shall fail to reap a 

 full crop of corn, however good and heavy our cr< 

 straw might be. \\ hen 1 make a statement 1 like to 

 give a reason for doing so. Look for a moment at tlie 

 analysis of Wheat— the Flour of Wheat. In 300 11 

 of flour there are 50 lbs. starch and 10 lbs. gluten. I 

 need not mention the ether ingredients, M ther'aiw 

 unimportant to this inq ry. The starch is com" 

 of carbon and water p lb*, carbon and 4T> 1 «.,„ 

 making 81 lbs. of ataivii), and this can be obtained iw 

 the decomposition of vegetable matter, found in faros* 

 yard manure generally iu Mifficient quantities. Tim 

 gluten the part i st nit i Kipply), is composed sf 



nitro-,n, nitrogen is essential to its i roduetion /ft 



the Hour of Wheat ; and if nitrogen be wanting in (he 

 soil, ih« re can, of iuurM\ he no gtalen formed, and eon- 

 s' ;uently no Wheat In farm-yard manure, bowerer 

 there is nitrogen, tl igh in most cases so deficient m* 



quantity, that lbs product oq of a full crop of corn may 

 not lie reasonab) . exp< cud ; and this is the time a hen 

 the farmer requires assistance in the shape of some 

 ific manure which will , him a full supph of • .is 

 fertilising pas. ow, if 1 have ss ied you "that . i he 

 »} for Wheat is nitrogen, then the question ar-es, 



how is it to be obtained at the cheapest rate ? Let us 

 reft-r r a moment to the prices of some fertilizers 

 nially recommended to supply nitrogen. Carbonate of 

 ammonia supplies, at its present mmercial value, 

 ammonia at )*. 6cf. per lb. lit should be observed In re 

 that nitrogen is taken up by plants in the shape of 

 ammonia — 14 lbs. nitrogen and 3 lbs. hydrogen m >g 

 17 lbs. of ami >nia.) Sulphate of ammonia contain 

 14 percent, of the gas in question, and at its present 

 value (1 1)1. per ton), yields ammotiia at about 1 $. W. per IU ; 

 muri.it" of ammonia produces it atbV/. per lb.; soot about 

 the same price, and .shoddy perhaps rather higher than 

 bV.; but in the best Peruvian jjuano 1 find an article 

 wheh yields ammonia at a little over 6d. per lb., i r. f 

 supposing it to coat 1 2/. per ton, which is now, [ thi , 

 bout its market value. The reason that Wheat almost 

 invariably produces a fair crop after Clover, Beans, 

 Rape, \c, is owing to the fact that ti • vegetables are 

 all collectors and dq>ositors of ammonia, and therefore 

 the natural precursors of Wheat in the usual routine of 

 farming. The heavier your crop of Clover tiie more 

 nin n will be accumulated and laid up for your future 

 crop of Wheat ; the practice therefore now prevalent ot 

 puttin ; dung on the young Clorer must be a good one. 

 1 will now give you the particulars of an <x peri meat 

 tried on a piece of land exhausted for the purpose, 

 which. I think, will show that ammonia is a specific for 

 Wheat, and that superphosphate is of little use to it. 

 The first portion, without manure, gave a produce of 

 16J bushels per acre ; the second, with 700 lbs. super- 

 phosphate, 16} bushels; third, with 14 loads dung, 

 22 bushels ; fourth, with superphosphate as above, and 

 a portion of sulphate of ammonia, 26 \ bushels, I iJii , 

 as the 700 lbs. superphosphate evidently did no good, 

 the amount of produce being the same (16} bushels) as 

 that on the unmanured Ian .. and that, as in the fourth 

 case, the produce at once rose by the application of 

 ammonia to 26$ bushels, there can be no doubt that 

 the presence of nitrogen in the soil is not only 

 necessary, but that an ample supply must l>e found 

 there, before you can reasonably expect a full crop 

 f Wheat. The experiment showed also that super- 

 phosphate did no good in that instance. . As J at first 

 htated, Wheat requires nitrogen, and generally to a 

 crater extent than farmers, frosa the size and quality o 



does 

 crow 



No. 



OS 



«row 



descrih* — " nat is it then which prompts him to 

 j. oe so many circles— now one, then another— over 



the m-th^u ? The answer ia sim P^ this > t,iat fe y 

 'Isssi d- ♦ Pursues, whilst he moves his body the 



■^ distance he executes his work (searching) over the 



that n£ amou , nt of superficies or surface. It is instinct 

 prompts him, of course ; but still it is evident to 

 hG were to fly "right ahead,* like a 

 *ttanrp"*'f .* oal< * 6°> or carry his body a long 

 hence 1S t_ trUe > * et see ver >' ,ittIe of the country ; 



seeding i &Q " u P" and - down - fieI <*" ^urse of pro- 

 ^Ubo °K ^ e ' ncons i stent w * tn tirae and economy 

 08€ 8poTr if ture nas prompted him to circumgyrate 

 k* v fc tak » . ose area contains as much surface as would 

 P«rfor*n- en "® neav y body many linear miles to traverse. 

 vUs^ing ?i« revolutions around a 10-acre field, his 

 mo ^aaiatmg to the centre, he can see in a few 



H «e is e CVery living F P eck contained in such field. 



^ethod C » n °T my0f timeand P° wer h y mean8 of ri 8 nt 

 that sb.ii l Wl ^ on 'y adduce another example, and 



** fte Kri -." man • ,, Have you watched a labourer 

 **** or m broadcastin g ? his aim is to distribute 

 f **» with , anu f e over the greatest amount of sur- 

 ***. He- i fati 8 ue and in the leaat Possihle 

 «eedt d* 18 . to bim8elf - How does he pro 



°« ue take the seeds, and rapidly advanc- 1 



ficiency most certainly does not arise from their J their manure heaps, can aflord. I have also stated 

 ing been treated as your correspondent describes. Peruvian guano is rich in this gos, producing ammonia 



at a little over 6d. per lb. the lowest price at which it 

 can be obtained in the market. I usually apply itjss- 



having 



Another Northern. 



Farmers' Clubs. 



Rea 



Manures. 



. — Ouano and Superphosphate as fyecif 

 This subject was introduced at the last 

 monthly meeting. Farm-yard manure contains all the 

 ingredients requisite for the different crops we cultivate, 

 but unfortunately we cannot, or do not, obtain it in 

 sufficient quantities, and therefore we have recourse to 

 guano and superphosphate to make up the deficiency. 

 .But how, in many cases, are these expensive adjuncts 

 used on the farm ? I have known men, when their dung 

 has run short for Wheat, apply superphosphate as a 

 substitute ; and I have knowti others use Peruvian 

 guano for Turnips, when phosphates with but little 

 ammonia would have produced them better crops. In 

 such cases there is money lost both to the producer and 

 the consumer, because the maxim of growing the greatest 

 possible amount of food at the lowest possible expense 

 is totally reversed. If you saw a man feeding his j ?gs 

 on hay and his bullocks on wash, you would say he was 

 acting absurdly ; but, in my opinion, not more so than 

 he who gives his corn crops phosphorus and his root 

 crops nitrogen. After nearly 18 years* experience, 1 

 have found one thing is pretty certain, and that is, 



* "fa-lpa,"' 



a top dressing, in the month of I 



lauds it should, I think, be drilled in at seed time, 

 I have stated that Peruvian guano is a specific for 

 Wheat, and now I shall attempt to prove that super 

 phosphate is the t t manure for Turnips. In doing 

 this, I shall confine myself to the results of experiments 

 only, made by myself and others. In the year lool I 

 made an experiment in a field of 5 acres, which was ex- 

 hausted of its fertility, and therefore suitable for the 

 purpose. The first portion wag drilled without manure ; 

 second, with ashes only ; third, with ashes and 4 cwt» 

 ammoniated peat ; fourth, with 3 cwt. ammoaiated 

 peat and 1 cwt. dissolved bones* Where no manure 

 was used, the crop was very j ad, not worth standing, in 

 fact. The ashes produced a small crop, say about 

 5 tons per acre. The ammoniated peat, with ashes, was 

 much better ; but in that portion where the dissolved 

 bones were used with ammoniated peat, the difference 

 was remarkable indeed, producing at least 20 tons per acre. 

 I regret that I did not have the different lots accurately 

 weighed, as it would have proved very strcngly the 

 superiority of superphosphate as a specific manure for 

 Turnips. It should be remarked that experiments of 

 this kind are not of much value unless made in exhausted 

 soils, as land in a fair ordinary state # of cultivation 



